Deep Hydra Read online

  Deep Hydra

  Chronicles of the Orion Spur

  Book 4

  By

  Michael Formichelli

  DEEP HYDRA is COPYRIGHT © 2019 by MICHAEL FORMICHELLI

  Deep Hydra is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, organization, or event is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or any part thereof.

  Cover Art, Back Art, and Logo Art by Michael Lam © 2016-2019

  Works by Michael Formichelli

  Chronicles of the Orion Spur Series

  Blood Siren (Book One)

  Keltan’s Gambit (Book Two)

  Eye of the Abyss (Book Three)

  Deep Hydra (Book Four)

  The Golden Mean

  (Short story available exclusively on Amazon.com for Kindle)

  For the latest updates visit my blog:

  HTTP://NEROSNICHE.BLOGSPOT.COM

  Acknowledgements

  Writing books is never a solo-adventure. My thanks go to Michael Lam for his fantastic art and patience, and my wife Ellie, whose support has been eternal and enduring.

  A Quick Note on Alien Pronouns

  In the course of writing Keltan’s Gambit and the works that followed it became apparent that some additions to the English language were needed as there are some species in my universe that do not fit the standard English gender pronouns.

  Below is a table of the gender-neutral pronouns used in this book and their approximate equivalents in our present-day English.

  Pronoun (English)

  Neutral Pronoun (Solan)

  He, She, It

  Niu

  Him, Her, It

  Nium

  His, Hers, Its

  Niur

  His, Hers, Its

  Nius

  Himself, Herself, Itself

  Niuself

  For Ellie, with love & rockets.

  Table of Contents

  A Quick Note on Alien Pronouns

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Part II

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Part III

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Appendixes

  Cast of Characters

  Glossary of Terms in the 25th Century Orion Spur

  About the Author

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  The Barony

  J2400:3226

  “What the hell was that about? When I say come down to the floor, you come down. Don’t get any fancy ideas about your new position. It is temporary.” Premier Caspian Dorsky’s political ads always showed him with slicked black hair and a smooth smile, but now his face was blotchy with anger.

  “Fancy ideas? What are you talking about?” Cylus’ voice growled out, the result of the damage Zalor’s artificial bartender caused him earlier this year. “I don’t even want this stupid position.”

  The Barony session was at an end and the five-hundred or so barons were filing out of the cavernous amphitheater like bees from a hive. The noise prevented their voices from being heard throughout the echoing amphitheater for which he was grateful. The news media would love to “overhear” a fight between the Premier of the Confederation of Sovereign Systems and the Speaker of the Barony.

  “Well, that makes two of us, but you’ve got it. The Barony rules are clear.”

  “That is correct, master.” Ben approached them from behind his fiancée, Lina Olivaar. She led the way down from the Keltan seats with the well-muscled, ex-Star Corps officer they picked up on Calemni IIb, Meia Ironstar. With dark eyes gleaming, Meia’s gaze swept back and forth like a deep-space scanner as she walked.

  “The Barony rules are quite clear. As the baron with the highest value on-world, you are Speaker by default.” Ben’s pinhole eyes stared into him from behind the white mask of his face.

  “And if you bothered to learn the rules of the government you wouldn’t have embarrassed yourself,” Dorsky added.

  His bodyguards were approaching from a doorway behind him. Meia sized them up with a look and shook her head in disapproval.

  “The only reason I came here today was to talk to you; not take up some political position.” Cylus gritted his teeth.

  “Talk to me? What for?”

  He inhaled, steeling his gut. “The War Funding Bill.”

  “The War Funding Bill? That already passed, remember? It will take effect in ten days provided the hang up I heard about gets resol—No!” Deep canyons formed around Premier Dorsky’s lips. “You? You’re holding up the funding?”

  “We need to talk.” His guts felt like they were on fire, but he held his ground.

  “Cylus, you moron—” Dorsky looked at the podium and its array of microphones. “Goddess-dammit! Come to my office.”

  The smell of the bay was heavy in Cylus’ nostrils, and he glanced up at the windows of the dome in irritation. The Barony was a monster of a building, a monument to the power and prestige of those who ruled the Confederation for all to see. Built on the inner edge of Ikuzlu Bay, its location, in his opinion, left much to be desired. The air stank of salt water and Kosfanter’s version of fish which made his stomach churn.

  Lina came up beside him and gave his hand a squeeze. The Premier turned on his heel and stormed off toward the exit. His bodyguards, a woman with pale blond hair cut in a sharply rising bob and another with mocha skin, gave him a look and followed their boss.

  “Who’s the one on the right?” Cylus whispered to Lina when they were several paces off. He started walking before she answered.

  “Ben?” she asked.

  “Wait, I know.” Cylus shivered. “She was Dorsky’s date at the party when they tried to kill me.”

  “That is Cygni Lau Aragón, former reporter for the Spur Herald and present Chief of Security to Premier Dorsky,” Ben stated.

  “That’s a hell of a career change,” Meia murmured behind them.

  “Miss Ironstar is correct,” Ben stated. “It is highly unusual.”

  “Perhaps it’s just some kind of nepotism.” He assumed she was Dorsky’s escort to the party, but perhaps things were more serious than that.

  “It could be an advantage for us,” Meia transmitted to his implant as they entered the hallway. They trailed behind Dorsky’s group by several paces. “If his security head doesn’t really know what she’s doing it makes him vulnerable.”

  Cylus nodded. The more mistakes Dorsky made the better, but for now he had to concentrate on convincing the man to sign off on his treasury deal.

  Who is the blond? He sent to Ben.

  “Giselle Tauthe, formerly in the employ of Sophiathena.”

  His eyes widened. Sophi’s agent? What’s she doing with Dorsky?

  “Unknown, master.�
��

  He shook his head. Perhaps Dorsky wasn’t as stupid as he thought—or maybe he was more so. It depended on whether or not this Giselle Tauthe was a spy for Sophi or had truly changed sides.

  The Premier’s office was at the end of the hallway. It was a chamber as large as three of Cylus’ conference rooms put together. Lined with five pillars on each side, the white marble walls gave the air a smell of dry stone and ancient power. The desk separating him from Dorsky was three meters wide, half-again as deep, and he could see the premier’s reflection in its polished surface like a drowned man beneath a lake.

  Cylus drew himself up a step away from its edge. Dorsky’s pale eyes locked with his, and the premier raised an eyebrow. For a moment he looked past the man at the two women behind him. Both had a gold pin depicting a full solar eclipse on their black uniforms. His eyes lingered on them before he directed his attention to the matter at hand.

  “All right, Caspian, I’ll get to the point. I’m here for your support, and I am prepared to change certain plans that are in place. The War Funding Bill is deeply flawed. True, it will keep the war effort going, but it puts Zalor in total control of the government.”

  “The bill passed, Cylus. There is no going back,” Dorsky said.

  “The language of the bill was such that it allows any barony to fund the treasury—which will be bankrupt in a little over ten local days.”

  “And we all know whose money is going to rescue it. It’s too late to repeal the bill if that’s what you are aiming at. Zalor already lined up the finances. The treasury is nearly at the deadline. It will be a disaster if the blocks are not removed. You’re going to bankrupt the Confederation!”

  “I know.” He glanced back at his entourage.

  Dorsky paled.

  “I have other ideas as to who should control the treasury.” His mouth was dry, but he licked his lips and pressed on.

  “Are you serious?” Dorsky scowled.

  Lina moved up beside him. “Caspian, it’s time to think about where your true interests lie.”

  “Are you insane? Zalor will destroy you.”

  Cylus leaned back, feeling a strange satisfaction at watching the Premier lose his equilibrium. It took the edge off his nerves, but only just. Despite everything Ben did while they were off planet, the plan to usurp power from Zalor depended on Dorsky’s cooperation. It was a hell of a gamble to take, but not a thoughtless one. Dorsky hated Zalor, that was well known. He was treated as a whipped dog for years and this was a chance at a measure of revenge. The only problem, which was evident in the man’s face, was that he liked being premier a bit too much.

  “If you don’t support this move, I can’t loan the treasury the money. Zalor might be angry, but he’s already decided I’m going to be the next premier,” Cylus said.

  “And you think that will still be the case after I tell him what you are trying to do?” Dorsky bristled.

  “Will he believe that little, craven Cylus is defying him?” The growl of his damaged vocal cords made him sound tough, but inside he could feel his guts quiver.

  “I can show him the security footage from this meeting.”

  “No, you cannot,” Ben stated. “The recorders in this room are malfunctioning.”

  “What?” Dorsky looked at Ms. Aragón.

  Her eyes glazed for a moment and she nodded. “It’s true. They won’t respond.”

  “How did you—”

  It was an excellent question. Cylus was a bit curious about the answer himself but now was not the time to ask.

  “You have no proof we’re having this conversation, and he won’t take the word of those in your employ since your employees would back up your claims regardless of their truth value. Remember, I’m a coward; I would never attempt this. It’s known that you’re bitter about your term as premier coming to an end. Your options are to support me and break free of Zalor’s control, or risk what happens when I am premier after you’ve gone against me.” He was enjoying watching Dorsky squirm. He wouldn’t have believed it possible, but it was him, Cylus Keltan, who now had power over the Premier of the Confederation.

  Caspian Dorsky placed a hand on his chin as he stared. It took several moments for his gaze to harden from shock to anger.

  “You want me to break free of Zalor’s control? What about yours?”

  “I am not Zalor.”

  “You’re not?” Dorsky’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know where you got this new audacity. I don’t know if Zalor’s taught you, or you learned it from someone else—” He looked at Lina. “—but you’re not going to come in here and boss me around in this building which I have reigned over for a decade. I’m the goddamn Premier of the Confederation of Sovereign Systems, and I’m not without friends. I want you to remember that as you’re flying home.”

  “I’ll need a good adviser, you could—”

  “Good day to you, Baron Keltan.” Dorsky glared.

  He frowned, having hoped for better from a man who was Zalor’s abused cerberai for the length of his three terms. It seemed buying the treasury was going to be out of the question.

  I’ll make Dorsky pay for this later, he told himself.

  “I guess there’s nothing left to discuss.” He turned on his heel, hoping that the man would wise-up at the last moment, but no sound chased him to the door.

  Lina snorted and followed him.

  They were almost to the threshold when a new voice sounded behind them.

  “Pas?”

  He stiffened and turned around. Lina’s jaw fell open when her eyes took in the man standing near one of the marble pillars. He was tall and dark-skinned, with thick, tight muscle evident beneath a cheap brown tunic and pants. His sharp-looking tattoos and mop of unkempt, black dreadlocks identified him as a Gaian. It made his appearance in Caspian Dorsky’s office all that much more puzzling; the Gaians tried to kill the premier not too long ago.

  “Oh, my goddess.” Lina moved towards the man. “Biren?”

  He looked to Ben, but the artificial offered no explanation. Meia moved closer to him and put a hand on the butt of her pistol.

  “Pas, my goddess, it is you.” The man called Biren rushed forward and the two embraced at the mid-point between them. “I never thought—do you know what’s happened?”

  She nodded and hugged him again.

  Cylus felt a heat rise within him. Who was this man to hold her like that? He clenched his teeth.

  “Boss,” Meia transmitted to him on an encrypted channel. “Aren’t the Gaians fugitives?”

  He looked at her in confusion. She gestured to the desk where Dorsky, Ms. Aragón, and the blond woman stared in as much apparent surprise and anger as he felt. It took him a moment to process, then he smiled. Once again Meia was proving her value.

  Yes, they are. Well done, he sent.

  She nodded.

  “Harboring fugitives, Caspian?”

  Dorsky’s head snapped around to stare at him with the wide eyes of a guilty man. “What?”

  “This man is a Gaian.”

  “So is Heiress Olivaar.” The muscles of Dorsky’s face were twitching.

  Press the advantage, he thought.

  “Pasqualina is a baroness, and she wasn’t on this planet when you were attacked. I wonder if the same can be said for your man there.”

  “My man?”

  “Perhaps Praetor Augusta needs to be informed of this,” he continued. “My artificial is recording it. Maybe she needs to see who you are allowing to stay here.”

  “Do you really—” Dorsky stopped himself and slumped in his seat. “By the Will, you really have become like him.”

  “Why don’t you think it over? Zalor arrives in a little over forty-seven standard days, but the Treasury won’t wait on that. I’ll expect an answer by the ninth, Caspian.”

  He looked towards his love. The Gaian released her after a lengthy embrace.

  “Come on, let’s go.”

  She met his gaze and made a face he couldn�
��t discern, then turned back to the unkempt man.

  “You have my CPAd. Let’s talk,” she said.

  The Gaian nodded.

  Cylus gave him a hard look. When Lina returned to his side, he headed into the hallway with his entourage falling in behind him. He turned to her as they walked.

  She tensed under his glare.

  “So?” He could hear the gravel rattling in his throat as he struggled to control his breathing.

  She licked her lips.

  “Why are you so nervous?” He asked.

  Meia looked back and forth between them.

  “I’m not—well, okay, maybe a little. Ah, remember when I told you a Gaian agent came to me while I was on Ganymede? The one who gave me the strength to defy my mother and bring the evidence about Zalor’s plot to the Cronus sisters?”

  “The Gaian man was that agent?”

  “Yes.” She bit her lip. “Are you okay?”

  He looked at her for a moment, feeling a wave of jealousy spiking in his gut. That filthy man had something that special with his beloved Pasqualina?

  “He’s in your past, right?” He asked, but the answer was obvious from how flushed she was.

  “You are the one for me, Cy. Always and forever,” she said.

  “Yes, I know. I’m sorry. Seeing you in the arms of another man was difficult. I need you, Lina.” He felt himself blush with shame and looked to see if Meia was judging him but found her staring straight ahead as though she were alone.

  “Cy—” Lina started.

  “Never mind it. I’m fine.” He took a deep breath, watching her with careful eyes. “If that’s the Gaian agent who started all of this, maybe he can be useful to us. Right?”

  Useful as a corpse.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  “Maybe?”