Unlike Chansa, who was in powered armor, Reyes was dressed for the weather in a light shirt and shorts colored pink and green. He was a slender, wiry man with a shock of blond hair and a face that was more beautiful than handsome: thin, delicate chin, high cheekbones and full, red lips. He looked like an angel that had just stepped out of a painting by a Renaissance master. Beside him, Chansa looked like a giant troll.
Chansa knew that the innocent face and expression held a mind that reveled in things that made even his skin crawl. The orcs that made up Chansa’s legions were cruel and vicious things but within that cruelty he tried to manage them as humanely as he could. Like Celine, however, Reyes positively reveled in cruelty. Chansa had been required to sack more than one town in the quest to dominate Ropasa. When Reyes took a town it ceased to exist. The men and children were tortured to death and any of the women that didn’t catch his eye were turned over to his Durgar for brutality that made Chansa’s stomach wrench. Those that did catch his eye were, if anything, in worse condition if for no other reason than that Reyes took longer to kill them.
Chansa knew that by siding with Paul Bowman in this revolt, he had chosen the side of darkness. Paul wanted to remake the world and no matter how that was done, it would inflict pain upon those who lived in it. But Paul, for all that he seemed to be going mad towards the end, had, at heart, been a good person. He had wanted to do good in the world. Others of the “first Council” had agreed that the world simply needed a good shaking up to bring it out of its sink of apathy and stagnation before the human race disappeared from boredom.
Reyes and the others that had come into the New Destiny Council after its casualties in the first days of the war, and since, were in it purely for the power. Direct power over humans that they could torment as a child tortures insects. He wished there was some way to simply erase them and start over, along with Celine and the Demon. But they were all he had to work with and, perforce, he used them, as they used him, to satisfy his own ambitions.
As Reyes approached, Chansa noticed that there was a swirling field around him that lifted the sand off the floor and tossed it in swirls of color.
“Very pretty,” Chansa said when Reyes closed. “Good to see you looking well and enjoying yourself.”
“Oh, it’s far more than pretty,” Reyes said, smiling beatifically. “Chansa, Celine,” he added, with a slight bow.
“It’s a grav field,” Celine snapped.
“It is indeed,” Reyes replied, smiling again to reveal perfect, white teeth. “Now that the Freedom Coalition has your protection field neutralizing nannites, I thought it best to create an outer defense. Just to protect against Coalition assassins, of course.”
“Of course,” Chansa said dryly. Paul Bowman had ordered at least one assassination to retain control among the members of the ND Council. Reyes was protecting himself against far more than just New Destiny’s enemies.
“So you want me to retake the fuel ship?” Reyes said, coming to the point. “I suppose I can manage that. I’ve uploaded the schematics of the ship and the weak points are obvious. I also agree with the basic plan.”
“You’ll need to take the control room,” Chansa noted. “Which is going to be where the UFS forces head as well.”
“It’s definitely the UFS that will be used?” Reyes asked. “After Celine’s… efficient removal of their first team, I’d wondered. Ishtar has some… good fighters,” he added bitterly.
“So she does,” Chansa said neutrally. Reyes and Jassinte Arizzi had been thoroughly defeated by those forces. In Chansa’s opinion, that was less due to the quality of Ishtar’s forces than the bungling of Arizzi. But he wasn’t going to suggest that to one of the generals that had lost. “But we’re certain they will stay with the UFS managing the attack. Among other things, although we got the fighters and techs, the UFS still retains all the base-line instruction materials and training facilities. Dwarven Mining Consolidated is handling all the ground support. They’ll pull together a scratch team. I’d even lay odds on who they’ll chose.”
“Edmund Talbot?” Celine asked. “I am sure I can eliminate him.”
“Not Talbot,” Chansa said. “He’s a bit too old for ongoing combat. No, it will probably be Herzer Herrick. And I’d suspect that the council member will be Megan Travante.”
“Now that is a prize worth fighting for,” Reyes said with a chuckle and a lick of the lips. “I was so put out when Paul’s harem fled. Well, except for one poor, poor soul.”
Chansa bit his lip on what he was tempted to say and nodded.
“Herrick’s Talbot’s number one protégé,” Chansa noted. “He’s trained in a very hard school, extremely flexible and a dangerous opponent.”
“I understand he’s been a thorn in your side more than once?” Reyes said with a slight smile.
“Yes. But you’ll have your Durgar and, of course, Celine has her… additions,” Chansa said. “But I would like to commend your attention to a person of some ability I would suggest you use. Tur-uck!”
A Ropasan orc came from beyond one of the pillars, his head bowed, and threw himself to his hands and knees in the presence of the Great Ones.
“This is Group Leader Tur-uck,” Chansa said. “While most of the orcs that Celine makes seem to have been lobotomized in the Change, this one can actually use his brains for something other than keeping his ears apart.”
“He is damaged,” Celine hissed. “This one is untrustworthy.”
“Mistress!” Tur-uck whined. “I am not. I am a good orc! I have proven my trust!”
“Why do you say that?” Chansa said, quizzically. “I’ve found him to be very useful.”
“He is damaged,” Celine snapped. “He never should have been Changed. There is a plate in his head, repairs from before his Change. By a skilled surgeon, I would say. It interferes with control pathways. This one I cannot warrantee, I would recommend his elimination.”
“Interesting,” Chansa said, nodding. “Well, all I can say is that if this interference is what makes him what he is, I’d wish you’d put plates in all my orcs’ heads.”
“He cannot be trusted,” Celine repeated, raising her hand to strike.
“Hold!” Chansa said. “This is my soldier. You will not take action against him against my wishes.”
“He is a bad product,” Celine growled. “He should not be. It is… it’s bad production. He should never have been made. I have the code of the… blast and damn! He was made by that Conner fisking idiot! No wonder! None of my acolytes would have made him!”
“Made by Conner,” Chansa said, musingly. “Now that is interesting. He had the protocols, but I was not aware that he had used them. He is far beyond your wrath, however, Celine.”
Chansa considered the information for a moment. The New Destiny agent had participated in the abortive invasion of Norau and been killed, from intelligence reports, by Edmund Talbot’s daughter, who was not your normal killer. She was, in fact, a “skilled surgeon.” He nodded in thought for a moment.
“Tur-uck was probably one of the patients under the care of Edmund Talbot’s daughter, Rachel,” he mused. “I could see Conner tormenting her by Changing someone like that.”
“He should be eliminated,” Celine repeated. “He is a bad product. He is bad quality control.”
“I think that’s up to Reyes,” Chansa said. “What do you think, Reyes? I commend him to your service. I know of your Durgar and they are no more thoughtful than my own orc legionnaires. This one can think. You’ll need a good, thinking, leader, in that damned ship.”
“Hmmm,” Reyes said, tilting his head from side to side. “Celine recommends that he be killed, like a sword that has been misforged. Chansa says he is a smart leader. Capable?”