The Chronicles of Ki
Book 1: In The Beginning
© Copyright 2024 Frank Walters Clark ~ All Rights Reserved
“Careful, son. What you speak of could be considered treasonous.”
Inside a huge hanger at the main gravship base outside the city of Don, Lord Major General Qox and his second, Lord Minor General Tsebin, sit at a control floatable near a secondary assembly line. They are here to observe and report their findings to their leader, Lord Xib.
Minor General Tsebin realizes his leader has misinterpreted his suggestion.
“I meant no disloyalty, sir. When I spoke of changing my fealty over to the side of Dalu and the Black Gloves, I was only thinking in terms of possible surveillance of the enemy’s actions.”
Nearby, a team of engtechs are refitting two T-8s with newly designed, internally mounted, ejection-style bomb racks. Both birds have already been fitted with side bulkhead bay doors cut through their outer shells, so all that remains is to mount the racks and integrate their e-controls with onboard compudatas.
One of the engtechs cautiously approaches and salutes.
“EngTech Six BirNo, at your command leaders!”
Minor General Tsebin weakly returns his salute.
“What is it, Lead BirNo? Can you not see we are busy?”
“I do, sir, but I must report the integration is complete on the first system and we are ready to run the firing test.
Happy with the team’s progress, Major General Qox rises and moves around the floatable to clap BirNo on the shoulder.
“Good work, BirNo. Let us execute the test then, shall we?”
“At your command, Major General! Our progress can be monitored on tactical channel M-2, if you care to listen in, leaders.”
Trotting back to the assembly line, EngTech Six BirNo picks up a control module that has a long cable on it plugged into a side panel of the black T-8’s fuselage. He turns to give his leaders a thumbs up, and two-finger activates his temple com set.
Even at a distance it is obvious the tech is nervous. Even more so when he speaks over the com set.
“Sirs. A dummy load has been mounted in the rack, and the ejection cycle will occur in two stages. The first stage will vaporshift the bay doors open and put the rack in a high-alert ready mode. The second stage will fire the load and reclose the bay doors almost instantly.
“I will manually control the cycling stages of this first test, but the compudata will automatically control the actual procedure under battle conditions. The entire firing cycle is a window of exactly 1.29 seconds in duration.
In preparation for firing, EngTech Six BirNo holds up his fist. When he points one finger up, the bay doors vaporshift and a two- tone alarm can be heard coming from inside.
Then his second finger goes up and the dummy load comes rocketing out at a forty- five-degree angle upwards. The bay doors instantly reappear and re-secure the hold and the alarm goes quiet.
However, the dummy load continues shooting in a straight line for the hanger’s upper structural members and crashes through, wiping out several large lights along the way and leaving a huge, ragged hole in its trail. The metal and glass debris crashes to the pad below, sending pieces scattering around the hanger floor and ricocheting off equipment and benches.
Ducking, Major General Qox roars with laughter and holds Tsebin’s arm to keep from falling.
“Did you see that Tsebin? What a demo that was!”
Slowly standing erect Tsebin shakes his head and says, “Dangerous sir, but truly entertaining.”
He gives EngTech Six BirNo the “come hither” sign, then steps away from his leader to consult with the man. Momentarily disoriented, BirNo stands at attention before Tsebin, waiting for the axe to fall.
“I can explain, sir!”
“It better be good engtech, or someone has an unending journey ahead.”
“It is the ejector tensioning sir. We haven’t had the time as yet to calibrate the upper limits.”
“Get it fixed, BirNo. There will not be a second chance. Get this mess cleaned up first, get your adjustments made and report to me thereafter.”
* * *
Later, inside a small command center located at one triangled-corner of the hanger, Major General Qox and Minor General Tsebin stand before grid-like sector maps, e-screened on a large floatable, plotting skyship battle strategies.
Despite multiple satellite passes, his spectechs are unable to locate the main body of the Black Glove forces, and it has left a bad taste in Major General Qox’s mouth. His frustration has been building since the attack on the airbase.
“We need someone on the inside, uncle. Someone with sufficient knowledge of large- scale martialing tactics, to be able to understand Dalu’s action plans and report those observations back to us.”
“And who would you recommend for this insider job, Tsebin?”
“Myself! Who better than a traitorous royal to convince Dalu?”
Qox studies his second’s face with narrowed eyes. Tsebin’s suggestion reveals the characteristics of a true leader, but his willingness to carry out the action himself leaves serious doubts in Qox’s mind. A very dangerous action, one that could ripple up to the king.
“You do realize, Tsebin, if you go over there’ll be no turning back. You’ll be stripped of your blood-royal signet and condemned as a traitor.”
“For my king, Major General, I would willingly give my life.”
“I can’t know what your father will say, much less the king. The Council of Twelve will need to be informed.”
“Forgive me, my lord, but we can’t tell anyone, not even the king. My betrayal must appear complete to the royals and my father— and especially to my uncle Lord Dalu. There is no other way.”
His tension growing and his mindset wavering, Major General Qox inadvertently shapeshifts in and out of the royal eagle’s head profile. Conscious of the slip, he touches his temple and phases back in, then stands with hand cradling chin, and stares at the young man.
“I do not like this, Tsebin. There’s royal blood at stake and penalties to be paid. Anyway, who would believe it possible?”
“Everyone, granduncle. I must play it so, to make the impression. The rewards are far greater than the risks.”
The Major General agrees, the rewards would be great. But surrendering to the plan is difficult—but inevitable, he realizes.
“The only consideration I will require is the inclusion of your father, Lord Xib. If you relent on that count, we will proceed.”
“Done and done, my Major General!”