Chapter 154 Samantha’s Justice

  Samantha was not stunned when her son struck her. She had expected it, no, welcomed it. The sting on her face allowed her to feel something. When she saw him, he looked too much like his father. The memories came flooding back, and she was angry at Amos for what he represented. She knew he was not to blame, but still, she felt nothing for him—only bitterness for what he was and how he represented her weakness.

  No words had been exchanged, and that was okay. At least Amos knew she was alive. She had never had any more children because of her failure with Amos. She was not fit to be a mother. No matter how much she worked to atone for her past mistakes.

  Maybe she could find some salvation in dealing with Ashton, who now called himself Lazarus. Samantha remained in the viewing room and stared out into the starscape. She deserved this. Admiral LaRoche had given her a chance at redemption, and she completely invested herself in defending the Federation for the last fifteen years.

  When Deven Wellspring showed up, she immediately told the Admiral about their past history. Admiral LaRoche immediately came up with a strategy to use it. They devised a plan to use her to bring about a stronger alliance and hopefully get access to the technology he had demonstrated.

  And the technology was impressive: high-speed subspace travel, power armor, and heavy fighters. After they reviewed the combat footage, Admiral LaRoche was willing to do whatever it took to make allies of Deven. The joint operation against the quadrupeds was going to be the first step. Samantha was the liaison to make sure the joint operation was successful.

  The shuttle flared in the view screen as her son was departing the Fateweaver. He was better off without her. She was just a tool now, her humanity gone. She did not know why she was shedding tears as the shuttle disappeared into the blackness of space.

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  Three bots arrived to take Lazarus from his cell. At first, he was confused. He was never let out of his cell. What had changed? Rae’Ver’s mind pressed in on his, looking through his eyes and forcing him to ask questions. The bots ignored his questions and prepared him for transport.

  Rae’Ver was in a nearby cell and was the only other person alive on the penal asteroid. After the first ten years of playing inside the only mind Rae’Ver could reach, he had given up. The space elf meditated for long stretches now, and they even conversed every few weeks with Lazarus. But Lazarus thought he might be imagining the conversations. At least his captors gave Lazarus a terminal with access to vids and two synth bots to talk to. Lazarus considered himself too strong to lose his sanity…

  As he was shackled and marched past Rae’Ver, the Sylvan scrambled to put ordered thoughts into Lazarus’ mind. Lazarus just laughed loudly and no longer cared. His existence had been abysmal for the last twelve years. Broderick was the only person who commed him and that was because the stupid engineer thought they were friends. That was a ridiculous notion. Of course, Lazarus played along, as he might be able to use the na?ve engineer sometime in the future.

  Somehow, his dense engineer had married Desdemona. That made no sense. How could she choose someone so easily manipulated? Broderick was so….weak. She was the strongest and most dominant person he had ever met. She was way too good for the likes of the spineless engineer.

  His headache grew as Rae’Ver pressed harder on his mind before he escaped his influence. He was in shock as he approached the automated shuttle and stepped inside. There were people inside! He stared, his mind not working as he realized actual humans were in front of him. It had been what twelve years?

  And they were within the range of Rae’Ver’s mind influence. How could they be this stupid? The ramp closed, and suddenly, his mind was quiet. Quiet and his own. Rae’Ver was silenced. How? One of the officers was running medical scans on him and explained they had a material to block the brain wave patterns of the Sylvan. The crew was monitoring a lot of devices that measured the brain waves and interference. So they were using him to test their defenses against the Sylvan mind control?

  Lazarus was confused as the shuttle lifted off. He was relieved to get away from Rae’Ver. They did not tell him where or why he was being removed from the facility. He had no more useful information to tell them. He also knew Rae’Ver had embedded some deep programming in his mind. Over the years, he had practiced how to access it…there…Rae’Ver wanted him to contact the Sylvan city ships. He wanted other First Citizens to know he was being held captive.

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  He doubted they would give him a chance to send a message. His arms and legs were shackled together. He knew if the opportunity presented itself, the compulsion to do so would be too great to resist. He had no defenses against Rae’Ver—but after such a long exposure to his mental manipulations, he could at least decipher the programming.

  The shuttle left the asteroid, and he smiled. Maybe he was being sent to the planet? Living among people again would be amazing! Better yet, maybe they needed captains for their fleet and knew how good he was! Or maybe Desdemona figured out what a loser Broderick was and wanted him instead! Yes. That made the most sense.

  The shuttle skip-jumped into subspace. Lazarus was confused because they were too far in the system. That should not be possible. At least he had a window seat. The cruiser they were docking with was nothing like he had ever seen. It was impressive, and the shuttle bay had aliens running about. Blue-skinned humanoids and the annoying squirrel people. He hoped this was Desdemona’s ship. She would be happy to see him again. Maybe she called him here to serve her?

  Four men in light combat armor encircled him as he was marched through the ship. He inhaled deeply. This ship had that new ship smell to it. Freshly fabricated ceramic, plastic, and metal. He guessed the ship was less than two years old. His eyes darted everywhere to try and figure things out as he was marched. He was searching subconsciously for a communication station. The implanted directive from Rae’Ver still active in his subconscious.

  He was brought into a large promenade. A massive view screen dominated the luxury room. A single woman with blond, short hair stood facing the screen. It was not Desdemona, he thought bitterly. Well, whoever it was, it was still a female. His natural charm would win her over, even if he was a bit rusty.

  She turned around, and Lazarus’ heart missed a few beats. Ah, fuck. All his fantasy bubbles were burst. He was sure he was going to be sent to an airlock without a suit. He put on his best charming smile anyway and said he was happy to see Samantha healthy and that she was absolutely glowing.

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  Samantha watched as Lazarus went into his duplicitous charm. He obviously did not realize how old, haggard, and thin he looked. He had not aged well, which made Samantha happy. She remained impassive as he tried to talk himself into her good graces. She had only hatred for this man. She was supposed to meet him with Amos as a united front, but he had already stormed off. Now, it was just her.

  It was minutes before he talked himself out. She smiled devilishly and told him he was being transferred to her custody. They were going back to her battleship. That was right; to his surprise, she commanded a battleship and was wearing an admiral’s uniform. Lazarus made a foolish mistake and asked what nation would have given her command of a battleship?

  Samantha pursed her lips. She was going to like this next part. She announced to Lazarus that he had been convicted in absentia for piracy and was to be returned to the Federation to be executed. Lazarus seemed to digest her pronouncement for a few minutes before asking if she was joking. Samantha had been a member of his crew so that made her guilty as well, right?

  Samantha did not find his attempts at levity and worming his way out of his death sentence. She called two marines into the room. They escorted him to a holding cell. They said his transfer to Samantha’s battleship was in two days.

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  Broderick heard Lazarus had been released. Well, transferred to the Fateweaver. The Fateweaver was on a docking slip just a few ships down from Desdemona’s flagship. She was in the process of transferring her command to a new ship.

  Broderick thought Lazarus might want to see him in person. He had commed his old captain on the first of every month to keep his spirits up. Lararus was the first person to show confidence in his abilities as an engineer. He had pushed Broderick hard and made Broderick a better engineer because of it.

  Yes, Lazarus was not a good person. But as Lazarus had explained to him, leaders needed to be harsh to get the most out of their subordinates. Without Larazus’ pushing he would not be where he was today. His family with Desdemona, and the chief engineer on an advanced warship.

  Lazarus looked beaten and old in the cell. They did not give prisoners SNAIL treatments after all. He stood and greeted Broderick with a smile. Broderick began speaking but suddenly felt a pressure on his mind…what…is was coming from Larazurs but not Lazarus. It quickly subsided, and they had a nice conversation.

  When Broderick returned to his ship he slid into a navigation station. He programmed a message into one of the new advanced FTL message drones, overrode safety protocols, and launched it. He had been on autopilot and realized what he had done too late. He had sent a message to the Sylvan using a drone equipped with their advanced subspace systems. The Marines burst into engineering and quickly shackled him. He did not know what had made him do what he did. But he was in big trouble.

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