The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Howard Weinstein

Author:Howard Weinstein [Weinstein, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure
ISBN: 9781416534518
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2007-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Just as Kang poured himself some bloodwine, the door to his cabin opened. Mara entered, accompanied by two burly guards and Klaa, his hands and feet securely bound by sturdy manacles. Kang, whose hair had started to turn gray, studied the younger officer for several moments. “You asked to see me.”

Klaa nodded eagerly. “Yes, Kang. I was not lying about this alien weapon. I was engaged in negotiations to gain possession of it, for the glory of the empire.”

“Negotiations? With whom?”

“A group of renegades from Mestiko called the Torye. They stole the weapon from their own people, and made it look like a terrorist attack. They were supposed to share it with us.”

“And what happened?”

“They are without honor. They used it on us, and then they fled.”

Mara eyed Klaa suspiciously. “Fled where?”

“I do not know. But I can help you track them down.”

“You don’t seem smart enough to think of this plan on your own,” Mara said with a smirk.

Klaa’s eyes flashed at the insult and he jerked his shackled hands toward Mara, trying to hit her. She deftly sidestepped the attempt, landed a crushing kick behind his knee, and clubbed him on the back of the head as he crumpled to the deck, grunting at the searing pain from his buckled leg.

Kang used his foot to roll Klaa onto his back, then looked down at him. “If your foolish defiance was intended to impress us with your courage, it served only to reinforce my wife’s appraisal of your intelligence. And even without those shackles, Mara would have little trouble beating the baktag out of you.”

“I did not work alone,” Klaa offered. “I am part of an alliance of brother officers, most of us young.”

“And impatient,” Kang intoned.

“Yes! We are impatient with the old women of the High Council who cower at the thought of crossing swords with the Federation. Their inaction forced us to create this conspiracy. The Torye weapon would give us all the advantage we need to crush the Federation and the Romulans. Our empire would once again be invincible.”

Kang pressed his boot on Klaa’s ribs. “I have seen no weapon.”

Now Mara leaned over him as well. “And if you are telling the truth,” she said softly, “the Torye seem to have changed their minds about sharing it with you. When you’re ready to tell us the whole truth, we’ll listen. Take him back.”

The guards hauled Klaa up and out.

Alone with Mara, Kang retrieved his wine and took a pensive sip. “So… what do we make of our prisoners?”

“The general is guarding a secret he’s willing to take to his grave. No one of his stature would risk being caught with Federation spies unless he was playing for very high stakes. We need to know his secret before he is executed.”

“Agreed. And Klaa?”

Mara shook her head in contempt. “He is a pitiful liar. And he doesn’t have the brains to make up what he’s already told us.”

“So you think this weapon exists?”

“I do. And whatever it is, it apparently made short work of Klaa’s defenses.

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