Chapter 40: New Kyrillopolis

Rudy watched a huge, dark space station, even bigger than the battlecruiser hulk but apparently just as abandoned, drift past as the Errant Magpie glided toward the surface of the planet. He thought he recognized some of the devices protruding from the station. He'd seen ones like them on orbital factories under Algreil Aerospace's jurisdiction.

This one didn't seem to be turning raw material into military material, or anything else. It lay dormant either from lack of scrap and unrefined ore to put in one end, or lack of men to crew whatever came out the other.

Or to make me think they don't have one or both, he thought. He wasn't sure how much he could trust the Kyrilloses, still less how much they trusted him.

Of course, he wasn't sure how much they should trust him, either.

He glanced at Chloe. She hadn't woken him with any more screaming nightmares during their two-week trip, but she didn't look good. She hadn't eaten as much as usual, and dark circles ringed her dark eyes.

He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. She looked up, as if from a daze, and smiled weakly.

"Almost there," he said.

"Yeah."

'There' was the planet New Kyrillopolis, the estate-world Stephan Kyrillos's family had retreated to after the Battle of Etemenos. Rudy didn't even know it by reputation. The nobs didn't interact much with the rest of human space since their retreat to its fringes. From what he could see on the Magpie's instruments, it looked like a fairly temperate, low-gravity world, maybe on the cold and dry side but well within the habitable range. Oceans swept over most of its southern hemisphere, while their destination lay on a sprawling continent in the northern, green blending into the white of a large polar cap. He didn't see any lights glowing on the continent. Considering that it was evening down there, it couldn't be heavily populated.

Maybe 'estate-world' was literal and the whole planet was a nob's idea of a country manor.

He'd see soon enough. The Magpie began its descent through New Kyrillopolis's atmosphere. Maybe not soon enough, Rudy amended. He'd expected the sleek shuttle to burn downwards and pull up for a tight stop, the kind that would kill anyone without inertial dampeners to fight down the gee forces, but Tarkov instead guided it gently through the cloudless blue sky.

Rudy saw why as they got closer to the ground. The landing pad they were aiming for was ringed by huge conifers, the smallest easily fifty meters, the tallest twice that.

"Wow," Chloe whispered, pressing against a nearby screen to peer at the trees. "Those are huge!"

"The trees grow tall here," Slava said, "because there is not so much gravity."

"The pinecones must be hell," Rudy said.

Chloe put a hand to her lips to stifle a laugh. Mission accomplished.

They slowly drifted down through the sea of trees until the Errant Magpie settled onto a broad concrete circle beside two transports of the same model. Rudy could see people outside, but before he could check them out in more detail, Slava said, "We are expected. Quinn, Tarkov, prepare the Magpie for storage. Highness, Mr. Algreil, let us go, yes? "

Chloe followed the ursid. Rudy didn't see much point in sticking around the ship unless he planned to steal it, and he wasn't about to do that without her on board.

They descended through the bowels of the Magpie and emerged from its main landing ramp rather than one of its personnel hatches, apparently to make their descent grander. All it did for Rudy was make it longer, and he'd had enough of long trips for a while.

At the end of the ramp stood their welcoming committee: twenty men-at-arms in sharp black-with-white-highlights dress uniforms, two other ursids, three canids and three felids among them. They raised dress sabers in a crisp salute as Slava led the way from the Magpie's hangar, then split to form two lines of ten, the shortest almost at the ramp, the tallest near the edge of the platform.

The girl who swept between the lines could have been Chloe's sister.

"Your Highness," she cried, her slightly harsh, familiar accent and olive skin betraying her as Stephan's sister. She smiled like she was greeting a boon companion and rushed up to meet them in a flurry of black dress and white lace, rushing past Slava to clasp Chloe's hands. "It's such a delight to meet you at last!"

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"Um," said Chloe.

"Lady Milissa," Slava said, bowing.

"Welcome back, Captain," the girl – Milissa Kyrillos, apparently – acknowledged him with a faint nod. When she turned to look his way, she hesitated, her eyes widening a bit as they lit on Rudy. They were the same stratosphere blue as Chloe's, a bit smaller and more tilted and set in a fuller face with a longer, more sloping nose.

Milissa started to speak, stopped. Her smile wavered. She faltered again, then, biting her lip, turned back to Chloe.

Rudy had seen that look often enough, though not lately. Seen it on the faces of tournament fangirls who thronged outside his mecha bay at all the big events.

Milissa confirmed his worst fears when she spoke again. "You doubly grace us with your presence, Highness," she said, squeezing Chloe's hands in hers, "by bringing so esteemed a mechaneer as the Crimson Phoenix with you."

Chloe recovered enough from the unexpected welcome to try to smile as she asked, "You're a fan of Rudy's?"

Milissa laughed. "It should go without saying!"

Chloe laughed along with her, weakly.

"Now," Milissa continued, "let's complete the set. Where is my dear brother?"

Chloe's face paled even more than usual. Rudy winced.

"Stephan…" Chloe fell to her knees and clasped Milissa's hands tightly. "Stephan's… Lady Milissa, I'm so sorry!"

Milissa's eyes widened. She took a step back and might have slipped off the ramp if Chloe hadn't been clinging to her. "H-Highness, you, you shouldn't –"

"He stayed behind to cover our escape from the Reformer," Chloe said. "To ensure my escape. He swore he'd follow, Lady Milissa, and I pray he did, but... He put himself in danger for me and now you may have lost him and I'm so very, very sorry."

She pressed her face to the noble girl's gloved hands.

Milissa knelt beside her. "It's all right, Highness," she said quietly. "I'm sure Stephan will be fine." Her voice almost stayed level, until she said her brother's name. She recovered quickly, smooth as silk.

"You've brought yourself," she said, "which is what Stephan and I and everyone here want. And you've brought a great pilot with you. I'm sure if Stephan had needed help, he would have asked the Crimson Phoenix for it, and with the two of them fighting together, no force of worthless Feds could have stood against them."

She sounded like she was trying to convince herself. Doing a hell of a good job of it, too. Of course, even if she was right about Rudy's ability, he didn't think the Black Rook would have trusted the Crimson Phoenix's assistance.

"Lady Milissa –"

"Please, Highness, call me Milissa," she said. Her smile looked almost genuine to Rudy. Either she was a hell of an actress, or she actually believed he and Stephan could take on the Reformer and win. "Now, you shouldn't kneel to me. What would people think?"

"Erm," Chloe said. “Right.”

Rudy had to suppress a chuckle. The only people whose thoughts seemed to trouble Chloe were her absent parents.' The mores of high society weren't exactly her forte.

Once they were both standing, Milissa relinquished Chloe's hands at last. "Captain," she said, turning to Slava, "I suppose you'll have to report to me until Stephan gets back."

Not if, when. Her confidence did either Stephan's piloting skills or her gift for self-deception credit.

"Of course, Lady Milissa. I have a report prepared –"

"Later, Captain," Milissa said, waving him off. "For the moment, Her Highness and the Crimson Phoenix must come to the estate and get settled in – and eat! You both must be bored out of your minds of spaceship food after such a trip. We have a feast ready. Only, Crimson Phoenix, I must apologize, I did not know to expect you, so I didn't include a side of beer-battered fish. I trust you'll find the local ocean breeds very flavorful once we can lay a proper spread. And Highness, we don't know your favorite dish yet, but that will be fixed soon enough. If you can forgive me?"

Rudy and Chloe stared at her.

Milissa bit her lip. "You aren't too upset, I hope?"

"Of course not," Chloe said. "You've already done so much!"

"Your Highness is far too kind. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't give you both proper welcome, especially with Stephan away."

And now he was just 'away.' Rudy wondered how often Milissa had had to rationalize her brother's absences, his possible deaths. He found her confidence infectious. Except he wasn't nearly as happy about the prospect of Stephan's return as she seemed to be.

"Milissa," he asked, "how did you know about the fish?"

Slava growled at his dispensing with the honorific before Milissa's name, but the lady herself looked pleased by it. "As I told Her Highness, Crimson Phoenix, I'm a great fan of yours. I've watched all your matches, you know."

"Really? You get those all the way out here?"

"I have them specially delivered," Milissa said. "My brother seems annoyed by it, but…" She put a hand to her lips to stifle a giggle, then, glancing into the gap in the Magpie's mecha bay where Stephan's machine should have been, let hand and smile both drop. "But I like them anyway," she finished mirthlessly.

Chloe reached out and took her hand again. "I'm sure he'll be here soon," she said. "He seemed very powerful."

"Yes," Milissa said. She took a deep breath and restored what seemed to be her customary smile. "Now, there's no point to our standing around moping! Come, I'll show both of you to the estate and get you settled in. We mustn't dally, you know. With only twenty men, it's best we reach the gates before dark."

Chloe and Rudy chorused, "Huh?"

"It is not just the trees that grow big here," Slava said, looking to the woods.

"We don't have to worry," Milissa said. "Really, Highness, most of the large predators are scared off by the sound of so many people. It's only the bandersnatches we'd have to worry about, and it's been a fruitful season, so they shouldn't come out before evening."

Neither Rudy nor Chloe had the stomach to ask what the bandersnatches were.