Chapter 5 - In a Corner

 The doctor finally left the room and let the General and Shinna back in. “So you’re all good to go, I presume?”

“Sadly,” I said as I looked out the window of the ship in the middle of nowhere. “I want to know everything, right now.”

As Shinna took the seat she was in just by my bed, the General grabbed one and brought it closer to my bed. “Where would you like to start?” The General took a long, gasping breath as he took a seat.

“Why was my Father killed? Why was Alex killed? By what means did the Imperium justify this attack?” I asked as I turned back towards them.

Before answering, the General sighed as he put his hands over his mouth. “The attack has been framed as a group of terrorists by the Imperium. The other Houses have no clue that it was the Imperium that attacked us. They also have stated that your father, as well as you and I, were killed in the attack.”

“So they want to silence us. They want to frame us as dead so they can strengthen their grip on the Imperium.”

“Not quite, M ’L- Lucan,” the General caught himself, still remembering what I had told him on Urul. “This attack wasn’t just on Urul to assassinate your Father and you. We have reason to believe that they captured your brother and sister as well.”

“Are they still alive?” I asked solemnly

“We have reason to believe so,” Shinna said, speaking up. “However, Sina will most likely be married off before the end of the year.”

“As for your brother, he’ll be used as a puppet to make it seem like the Roslians still have a hold on their own house.”

“Damn them, this is all-” I cut myself off as I remembered something I realized while in battle. “Sir Tywin helped them.”

“I came to the same conclusion, kid,” General Hughes said as he leaned back in his chair. “We both saw his face in the meeting; he knew something he wasn’t telling us. I tried to warn your father, yet he said he would hear of it after the trip.”

“We can assume he knows more as well.” Shinna budded in again. She seemed almost out of place without Alex. It felt weird not seeing them together.

“Then we have our first move. Capture and interrogate Sir Tywin; we need to know what he knows about the attack and the war between House Barokeen and Kohta.” I said as I sat up and put my back against the wall. My body ached from the pain still present in my abdomen.

“That just isn’t possible at the moment.” The General said, “We have about 100 men on this ship and two others with less. They are the only ones who know our situation. That isn’t enough to mount an infiltration to capture Sir Tywin. Hell, it’s nowhere near enough.”

After a long sigh, I asked, “Then what do we do? General?”

“Right now, nothing; go from planet to planet, system to system, to restock supplies. You stay on the ship. We continue to do that until we grow using deserters that I will gather. My voice should be enough, but after that we’ll have to find out. As much as I would like to have a good answer to your question, there really isn’t one right now.” He said as he went to the window. “We’ll be going to the Loa system tomorrow; we’ll move you to a larger ship with a good training room. Now, however, you need to rest. I’ll be back later.” The General swiftly moved across the room and exited through the main door.

I moved to let my legs fall over the bed.

“Stop, you’ll just hurt yourself more,” Shinna said as she reached and grabbed my shoulder.

I shook her hand off. “I need to try if I want to recover quickly. I can barely feel my legs.” I quietly chuckled to myself. I jumped off my bed and planted both feet on the cold floor of the room. I kept myself upright, swaying back and forth, struggling to keep my balance. “Haha,” I laughed. just before my left foot slipped out from under me and sent me crashing to the ground.

Shinna went around the bed to help me get up. “No, no, I can do it,” I said as I struggled to use the bed to help me get back up. “Imagine if Alex could see me now,” I said, trying not to laugh.

I sat back down on the edge of my bed facing the window, and Shinna joined me. “So how are you taking it?” I asked her.

“We were trained constantly to take death and act as if it were nothing. We were supposed to be above death; it was a part of our vows, after all. ‘We will not weep for the dead as they are dead and cannot accept our gift.’” She chuckled as she turned her head down towards her lap. “I spent so much time with Alex, so it feels like I lost a brother…he almost was, if you ask me. What bullshit that vow was. I like the idea of it, but it’s almost impossible sometimes to follow it.”

“I can see why. You and Alex were always together as my guards, and even though you were different, you still cared for one another. You and him were the only friends I had. So it’s strange, but it’s hard to accept that he’s truly gone.”

“How are you taking it?”

“With my father, I can’t really say that I don’t feel the weight of him being gone.” I stared up at the light above me trying to stop the tears welling in my eyes. “Though every time everyone calls me m’Lord or Lord Roslian, I will be reminded that he’s dead.”

“Then how about this, since you made a promise to train to wield a sword? I’ll only call you Lucan from now on. None of that m’Lord stuff; I hate those formalities when I’m talking to you anyways.”

I looked over at Shinna as she did the same. “Then it’s a deal,” I said, extending my arm for her to shake.

Shinna took a firm grip of it and said, “Deal, Lucan.”

—

The next morning I was moved into a small salcarite container. We used one of the smaller transports to not have any ties to the ships on Urul. The General had one of his men buy a large cruiser that was quickly moved into orbit with all of our forces. All 286 men, along with everything they would need to live, moved into one cruiser.

The Loas were known for being great craftsmen and manufacturers, but the ship we bought was truly something to marvel at. Yet, unknowingly to them, this would be our first step in taking back House Roslian from the Imperium.

After about a week or so of constant visits from different doctors, Shinna the General came to visit the day before I would be free to leave the medbay.

“So, you’ll be good to go here soon, kid?”

“That’s what the doctors keep saying. I will say, though, I was glad when they brought the news that I would get a nice scar on my abdomen.” I said this as I raised up my shirt to show a large bandage where scarring was already formed around the bandage.

“All that from a damn metal chair.” The General said smugly.

“Oh, shut up, and it’s m’Lord to you.”

The General laughed. “You’ll still be a kid to me, at least for a little while.” I awkwardly pulled down my shirt before he finished. “Once you prove to me you’re not a kid, I’ll continue to call you it…kid”

“I’d like to discuss something with you, General.”

“Well, I’d like to do the same, but I’ll let you start us off,” He said as he put his arms behind his back.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said about not having enough forces to capture Sir Tywin,” I said as I looked toward the General. He was fully listening and interested. “I think we can capture him during transit between planets or even systems.”

“That was my same thought, though we have no way of knowing where he is going once he leaves the planet.” The General tested me further.

I cleared my throat as I continued, “I want a mole put into the government with ties to the council. I believe the best way to do that is to have someone become an assistant to Sir Barristan’s assistant.”

The General chuckled to himself. “Well, it looks like we have the same mind. I came to the same conclusion; however, I have better ties to Sir Yuko’s assistant, that young squirmy lad. He’s more loyal to the crown than the rest of the council. Though I want to know your conclusion on why you chose an assistant's assistant and not just an assistant.”

I stood up and began to pace as I gave my explanation: “Well…any changes in the council will be noticed, and most likely their assistants. But someone even lower than that is most likely going to go unnoticed.”

“The Lord Roslian always said he thought you would have a knack for these kinds of things. I think I’m beginning to understand why.” He said, congratulating me. “However, this will take at least a year to do unnoticed and to have a large enough tie to be able to relay information about his movements across the Imperium.”

“I understand; that just gives us more time to grow our strength and find allies.”

“Well, and one other thing,” The General said. “I hope you keep your promise to Urul. Cause tomorrow is your first day, in a sense.”

“I haven’t forgotten, General, just hoping you did a little,” I mumbled as I chuckled slightly to myself.

“I don’t forget things easily, kid.” The General continued, “You will begin your training tomorrow by my personal hand; with any luck, you should be ready to help us execute the plan to capture Lord Tywin in about a year.” The General walked to the door before leaving me with one final remark. “I’ll be sure to have Shinna wake you so you won’t be late.”

—

After General Hughes left, I was alone until the next day. I was awoken with a soft and polite push from someone. This insistent nudging continued and increased in intensity until I finally woke.

“Alright, Shinna, I’m up.” I stood up in my new room and quickly moved to my cabinet.

“Jeez,” I heard her say as she turned her back on me.

I grabbed the first t-shirt available and put it on. I heard the door close behind Shinna as she waited on the other side. I changed into my training clothes provided by the armory. They were sleek and white, a nice change of color to help with the change of lifestyle.

I had one year to train as much as possible until we would capture Sir Tywin and hopefully begin our attack to retake my House. Before that, however, I would need to train…and train…and train. I grabbed my sword off my desk and looked at the hawk's head on the Pommel; it looked magnificent. I don’t deserve it…yet.

I twisted it off the blade before putting the blade in its holster over my left shoulder. It was finally time to begin training to face my demons. Opening the door to the hallway, which was showering me with light, Shinna said, “Good, the General is already in the training room awaiting you.”

“What time is it anyway?” I asked as I stretched and began walking towards the training room.

“It’s about 4 if we’re going by the Rosilan’s planet time.” She chuckled to herself before saying, “I remember my first day; however, it wasn’t as luxurious.”

“How did it go?”

“It was hell on Earth; I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore in my entire life, though it was still an extremely good introduction. And it somehow didn’t get any easier.” She said, continuing to reminisce on the past. It was nice seeing her talk like this; it only confirmed my idea that she was handling the Urul attack well.

Before long, we were at the door to the training room. Shinna stopped before I opened the door.

“I’ll be watching from up above in the control room, so don’t screw it up too much.” She said, giving me her bright smile.

“I’ll do my best, just like I always have,” I said, slightly chuckling and giving her a smile back.

She quickly turned away and began walking towards the control room.

Taking a large deep breath, I opened the door. General Hughes stood in the middle of the solid white room that looked almost 30 feet high and at least double in width and length.

The General was wearing the same white suit as I was, with a metal rod and not a sword in his hand. “Good to see you made it, so where do we start?”