Prisoners of Pallene (Mastery of the Stars Book 7) by M J Dees

Author:M J Dees [Dees, M J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9: THE ENEMY’S CHOICE

Ay-ttho, Tori and Sevan were led out of the basement, across a courtyard and into a large hall. Sevan immediately recognised Llessur and Enyaw at the far end. They were led to the middle, where they were told to stop. Next to Llessur and Enyaw, Sevan could see a machine containing the same type of formless cloud of indeterminate substance with a yellow, orange light that he had witnessed outside the palace.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” a voice emanated from the machine. “You don’t recognise me. I have changed a great deal since our last meeting.”

“You will kneel when addressed by the great Akpom Chuba!” shouted a guard, hitting them in the back.

They fell to their knees.

“Yes, that’s right,” said the voice. “What you see is the remains of the great Akpom Chuba of the Cheng-Huang colony.”

“I thought you were dead,” said Ay-ttho.

“Everyone did. In fact, you might say that I was. If it wasn’t for my followers using a particle preserver, I would have been. Unfortunately, as you can see, the process is far from perfected and, as a result, I am trapped in this form until we can straighten out a few technical problems.”

“Why did you say that we killed President Man?” asked Tori.

“Ah, yes. That was necessary, I’m afraid. Unfortunately, the situation did not work out quite as I had planned and, instead of you being exiled on Aitne and me enjoying the presidential palace on Future, we are all here in this starless place.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” Tori protested.

“Silence!” the guard delivered another blow to the back of Tori’s head.

“What do you want with us?” asked Ay-ttho, in defiance of the guard.

“For centuries, there has been a struggle for power in the Republic,” Chuba explained. “For a long time, the Man dynasty was successful. They usurped my ancestors, and I thought I had brought their reign to an end. Unfortunately, Kirkland got in the way. My offspring dealt with him, but then you helped Matthews to regain the presidency. You owe me.”

“How so?” asked Ay-ttho.

“You helped steal the presidency from my family, now you must help to restore it.”

“How do you expect us to do that?”

“You will assassinate Matthews.”

Ay-ttho, Tori, and Sevan looked at each other in disbelief.

“That’s difficult when we are stranded here.”

“You will leave Ogenus, find Matthews, and kill him. You will then return here with a fleet of ships to take us to our rightful place on Future.”

“Impossible,” said Tori.

“And why should we help you?” asked Ay-ttho. “Even if we could leave the planet, the last thing we would do is track down and assassinate the president.”

“Oh, but you will.”

A guard brought in another prisoner, Nadio.

“And I have some help for you,” Chuba continued.

Another two guards brought in Scotmax and Yor. Yor was taken to Nadio, and they dumped Scotmax next to the others.

“Nadio! Thank the gods you are safe,” said Scotmax.

“Scotmax, my love. Oh how I’ve missed you.”

“This is so touching,” said Chuba. “Scotmax is going to help you with your mission.

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