Royal Rebellion by Blair Bancroft

Author:Blair Bancroft [Bancroft, Blair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kone Enterprises
Published: 2018-06-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

“After talking with the three captains from Deimos,” Tal said to the crowd around the conference table in his ready room, “I suspect there may be a stronger resistance movement there than we thought. Possibly enough to be an active force beyond disrupting communications. I also want to get the feel for the average citizen—are they living well enough they’re content with Reg rule? Or is resentment the order of the day?”

Tal paused, taking in the expressions of his audience which included the entire group that had ventured into Jingar’s. “Our researchers have gone all the way back to the initial colonization of Deimos and pointed out a few things I never thought about before. When overpopulation forced our ancestors to reach for the stars, the expeditions tended to be ethnically grouped. Those who settled Reg Prime were mostly from the north and east of the European continent back on Earth. The Psys are mostly descended from countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The Hercs come from just a narrow portion of that area. But the Deimosians? They’re from a different continent altogether. Different culture, different attitudes. A polyglot of cultures from some place called North America. Headstrong, independent—”

“More than the Hercs?” B’aela broke in, clearly skeptical.

“Add in arrogant and overprivileged,” Tal returned, “and yes, worse than the Hercs. They ruled Earth for centuries until the Asians outstripped them in both technology and the birthrate.”

“So our down-and-out spacers are descended from some master race?” T’kal drawled.

Tal offered a wry smile. “Frankly, it was a surprise to me too. Deimos was a blip in the history I learned in school. Even our intel reports are just current facts, nothing about Demosian history. But it now appears the Deims may be ripe for revolt—at least enough to keep their Reg overlords busy while we take down Darroch. And that’s what we need to confirm.”

“And just how do we do that?” Kelan challenged. “Stroll down the street, picking up attitudes by telepathy? I mean, does anyone here speak Deimosian?”

Tal regarded his brother with surprising tolerance. “K’kadi could probably do just that, but I believe you can accomplish your mission with no more than his talent for invisibility. Tal studied the faces around the table—the overeager, the thoughtful, and the carefully dispassionate. “We’ve had contacts on Deimos for some time, but we have to rely on merchant ships who lumber through space like snails. After talking to the Deim captains on Tat, I’m hoping for more support than we’d anticipated. Hoping Deimos will be among our strongest allies after our battle is won.” Tal paused, allowing time for the significance of planning for “after” to sink in.

“We have operatives who will contact past informants on Deimos,” Tal continued. “What I need from our civilian party is a feel for the people as they are right—”

Erik interrupted Tal mid-sentence. “Who gets to go?”

“Hush!” Yuliya and Dayna hissed in unison.

“A fair question,” Tal said, waving all three young people to silence. “As much as I’d like to, I’m not going.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.