Betrayal 03

As Mykal briskly walked down the corridors leading to the Mecharmor hangar, his mind raced. The anger over being tricked had ebbed slightly, only to be replaced with anger at his self.

"Way to go Myk, confront the princess. Stare her down, that'll get you real far in life."

He thought, berating himself.

Shaking his head, Mykal walked into the vast, cavernous hold that was the Mecharmor hangar. Looking up at the massive war machines, he couldn't help but feel himself calm down. He was a soldier, and for the last 18 years the Mecharmor of the Davidov kingdom had been his primary weapon.

Standing at an average of seven and a half meters, the giant suits of armor were some of the most advanced technology that the human race had created. Mykal walked down the gangplank that ran the length of the hangar, at cockpit level, until he reached the machine that had helped him defend the royal family. At a light weight of just over 181 tons, his lightly armored and armed scout 'Mech had seen better days. Large chunks of the machine's armor were scorched, fused or missing entirely. Looking up and down at his beloved 'Mech, he felt pride in the fact that he had been able to do so much with such a small 'Mech.

An older man in mechanic's overalls climbed down from a scaffold, attached to the 'Mech, and walked over to Mykal. "Afternoon Captain. Came to see the old girl?"

Mykal nodded. "I may only have two machines left in my unit, but I'll be damned if I fall behind on status updates. " He looked over at the older man, a Master Chief Petty officer. "How bad is it?"

The older man scratched the back of his neck and grimaced. "Massive armor damage, we're talking 70% of the chassis. The thermal bloom from that blast you set off fused 95% of the back armor and melted about 60% of the servos in the legs, back and shoulders. Of course, the ones that didn't get melted were fried along with all your electronics when the EMP wave hit you. That wave probably saved you when your connections went into overload."

Mykal raised an eyebrow at the senior enlisted man. "Are you hiding a doctorate in those overalls Master Chief?" The senior non-commissioned officer laughed out loud.

"No Sir! I've seen enough Synaptic Overload in my eighty five years of service to know the signs." He looked over at the younger officer. "I was one of the ones that helped pop you out of that oversized coffin." He shook his head. "I am amazed that you pulled that off boy. I'm even more amazed that you survived and are standing here after only three weeks recovery time."

The younger man shook his head. "No more surprised than I am. Nothing special I did though, it was all Dr. Davidov and the Lady Brigit." His chest tightened a bit when he thought about her again and the anger that he had directed towards her. Guilt was not something he was used to feeling.

The old man nodded, seeing the flicker of emotion play over the young man's face, but said nothing about it and turned his attention back to the war machine. "Well, I'm glad you were able to do what you did. Not many would have done it."

Mykal shrugged, as if there was never an option otherwise. "So how long until she's going to be operational?" he asked with a nod toward the 'Mech.

The Master Chief shook his head and sighed, "She's served her purpose, Sir." He rested a hand on the Captain's shoulder. "Sorry son, but she's fought her last battle."

Mykal sighed and nodded. "I figured as much. I guess she's destined for the scrap pile then. It's kind of a shame. She's as responsible as I am that we made it out of there."

The Master Chief shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe there is a museum or something that would want her. You're right, it doesn't seem right to scrap her."

"I appreciate it Master Chief. " Mykal turned and walked down the cat walk to the 'Mech next to his. "What about Lieutenant Davidson's 'Mech? How is she doing?"

"Except for a couple of Grazers that were pushed way too hard, the damage is all repairable. We are going to have to completely replace those two weapons and their power runs. The armor repairs should be done before planet fall next week, but those two replacements are going to red-line her for another three weeks." He snorted in disgust, "At the very minimum, sir. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised how little damage he actually took."

Mykal pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, I wasn't doing too badly until those big bastards showed up. Freddie and his damn 'When all else fails use wild, uncontrolled bursts'."

"Hey, I made it out didn't I?" Freddie chuckled as he walked up from behind his commander. Clapping his friend on the shoulder, he smiled, "How's the new gadgetry working out?"

Being reminded of what he was put through just a few hours earlier, Mykal tensed up slightly. "Um, yeah, it's a work in progress."

Freddie's eyebrow rose. "Something up Myk?" When his friend shrugged and shook his head, Freddie knew something was wrong. Mykal never avoided vocalizing his thoughts, unless there was a great deal of emotion involved. "Everything is okay, right? You are going to be able to pilot again aren't you?"

Mykal nodded, "Yeah, that's not going to be a problem at all. I just don't know where I'm going to be going from here to be honest. Found out some information that's putting things in a weird perspective I guess." He looked over his shoulder at what used to be his 'Mech, now a defunct piece of weaponry. "Besides, I don't have a 'Mech anymore. His highness said that once I was back on my feet, he wanted to talk to me about some things, but that's all I know about the future as far as that goes."

Freddie's eyes got big and the Master Chief whistled softly. "The King wants to meet with you? Like directly with you?" the young lieutenant whispered. Mykal nodded a little, thinking hard on what it could possibly mean. "Well, I'm sure it can't be

that

bad."

Mykal looked up at his friend. "Why do you say that?"

Freddie smiled, "Cause if it was bad, you'd probably be in the brig." The Master Chief chuckled and left the two young officers to their thoughts.

********************************

Mykal was sitting in his cabin going over recordings, survivor accounts and sensor readouts from the attack on Orphus III. He shook his head, not understanding what he saw. The information didn't add up. Pushing back from the desk, he leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. "Orphus is a class one royal retreat system. There is no way the

Carthanians

could have been able to sneak in. The size of the strike force that they hit us with was way too big to slip past the orbital defense network." Mykal said out loud to the empty room. From the reports that Mykal had, the orbital defense network had never triggered that there were hostiles entering the system and setting down on the planet. Once the attack had begun, the platforms were manually activated, and quickly wiped out the three capital ships that were supposed to stop anyone from fleeing the planet.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done; the strike force had already landed three drop ships worth of infantry and light armor, and three drop ships that had carried the Omnis.

"The only way they would have tried that was if....." Mykal cut himself off as a cold fist clutched his heart, the thought completing itself. "They knew the family was there, and they had inside help to get on the surface." He whispered.

Standing quickly, Mykal started to pace around his small cabin, running his hands through his short dark hair. "Who, who, who? Who would have done this? Who

could

have done this?" The fact that someone had purposely sold out the royal family to enemies that humans had so little information, was staggering to the young officer. "I have to be missing something." He sat back down and started pouring over the data from various different tablets, trying to find a clue as to who it could have been that did the unthinkable. He didn't know how long he was going over the information when he heard the door chime to his cabin chirp at him. He barked at the ships computer, "Enter!"

The door hissed open, and he heard a pair of boots walk in. He spun his chair around, still looking down at a tablet, completely absorbed in what he was reading. "What can I do for you?"

"You can raise and greet your Queen, Captain!" was the barked reply.

His head snapped up, his eyes wide, and found himself looking into eyes that were near mirrors to the young princess.

"So that's where she got them."

was the first thought through his mind, the next was that he was looking the queen in the eyes. He immediately snapped his eyes down and bowed low. "Your Majesty! It is an honor to receive you. How can I be of service to you my queen?"

"Raise your eyes, Captain, please." Looking up he saw the still young looking and attractive face of Queen Victoria Davidov. She smiled slightly and murmured something that sounded like, "Now I see what she means."

The slight cough that sounded like a swallowed chuckle came from the young man standing next to her. Sharing the strawberry blonde hair of the woman next to him and the icy blue eyes of Hans Davidov could only mean that he was the young Tobias Davidov, heir quartos to the throne.

Looking over at the young man briefly, he gave the young man a salute; as his official rank in uniform was Colonel. The younger man seemed to straighten up a little more, if that was possible, and returned the salute. "It is an honor to have you here as well sir." Mykal said to him. The pleasure that the younger man felt at being addressed by his military rank was evident in his face.

The queen smiled as she looked between the two young men. "It is we who are honored Captain. I am to understand that you had a great deal to do with us escaping that ordeal."

Mykal found himself blushing slightly at the praise from the queen. "I only did my duty your Majesty. Anyone would have done the same in my place."

The Queen seemed to float in her long gown, and carefully sat in a chair in the corner of the room. "Tobias, if I may, I need a word with the Captain in private." Both of the young men gave her a startled look.

"Yes, mother. " He looked at pointedly at Mykal. "I'll be right outside." The tone of his voice did not hide the fact that it was a veiled threat towards the Captain. The young man turned smartly and walked out of the cabin, the doors sliding closed.

The queen sighed softly. "I'm sorry about that. He's been just about as over protective of me and his sisters the last two months as his father. Thank you too for treating him as an officer and not a royal. He has worked hard to earn the right to wear that uniform."

"I totally understand, your Majesty. I would almost expect it. I'm kind of surprised that the Lady Brigit doesn't have more guards than she does. I know that the Colonel worked hard to get his commission. There was a great deal of talk about it. " Mykal replied.

The queen chuckled softly, "She's her daddy's baby girl. She gets just about anything she wants. Thankfully, she is not as demanding as her sister, so we are okay with giving her the small things." She waved her hand towards the desk chair. "Please sit, you standing there is going to give me a cramp in my neck." As he sat, she observed the Spartan condition of the cabin.

"Your majesty, would the Princess' personal safety really be considered a small thing? I mean...I don't mean to say..." Mykal flushed as he realized what he said.

The queen held up a hand to quiet him. "I know you meant no disrespect, Mykal. You don't mind if I call you Mykal do you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mykal blushed again and shook his head in the negative.

She smiled, "I know that her safety is not a minor thing. However, as she is usually in the lab with her uncle and his guards are there as well, it is as if she is doubly protected, is it not?" Mykal nodded his agreement.

"Besides, since you are their new 'project' you are around her most days as well, are you not?" Mykal nodded slightly again, looking closely at the queen. "Well there you are. I am sure that nothing will happen to her then."

Mykal gave a start. "Majesty? I don't understand..."

The queen gave a small snort. "I know about you Captain Mykal McDaniel. I know about the official reprimand in your file, the one and only. Yet, it is one that could conceivably stop your career at this rank. You are a superior leader, a great pilot, and I understand you are even trained to use a saber and small arms and excel at that as well. Yet, you will probably be stuck as a captain for the rest of your career. As it is, I understand there was quite a bit of strings pulled to get you that rank."

Mykal grimaced slightly. "Well, striking a higher ranking officer is generally frowned upon."

"You struck a superior officer over a comment. A very nasty comment I understand. One that involved my daughters and I?" She looked him in the eyes and her gaze trapped him.

"Yes, your Majesty." He said softly.

"What was the comment? It seems that none of the accounts have that little tidbit. It's almost as if it was...erased for some reason."

"Majesty, it was rude, crass and nothing a lady should ever have to hear." he said. "It makes me dirty just thinking about it." he whispered.

"Tell my Mykal. I want to know what is so bad that you would give up a career." the queen demanded. Her eyes bored into his, as if digging through his soul to get the information she wanted.

"Your Majesty, please...." he said in a pained voice.

"Tell me Captain. That is a command from your Queen." her eyes flashed.

"He said....He said that he would love to 'tag team' you and your daughters. He said he wanted to treat you like the....the high priced royal whores you are....and that he would want to fuck you in front of your son and husband to show them how whores should be treated." Mykal couldn't keep looking at her and sucked in a shuddering breath, remembering how the comment had made him see red, and feel physically dirty. He felt the molten rage that flowed through his veins as he smashed his fists into the Captain's leering face, over and over and over until his fists were bleeding.

"Captain. Mykal! Look at me." He looked up at the queen, tears running down his face.

The queen was astonished at what the other officer had said, and that he had gotten away with it. "What you did was nothing less than what my husband or sons would have done." She stood, walked towards him and kneeled on the floor in front of him, taking his hands in hers and looking into his eyes. "You did what no one outside my own family would be willing to do. You did it twice now. You threw away your life's career to protect mine and my daughters'honor, and you knowingly subjected yourself to what you knew would be a horrendously painful death, to save my family's lives." A tear ran down her cheek. "You have an ally in me, and you have an ally in my husband. You have not been treated as you should have been for the man that you are."

She kissed him once on each cheek and on his forehead. "I will see that you are properly rewarded. I promise you that." She stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of her dress. Looking over his shoulder at the pads on his desk, she looked down at the man who seemed to have deflated from the emotional draining that he just faced. "Mykal, I am sure that my husband will most likely want to meet with you tomorrow, perhaps you should get some rest. Leave this work for another day."

Mykal couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"What is it Mykal?"

"I guess the nickname 'Mother of the Kingdom' is appropriate." He managed a small smile.

She chuckled and gave a small harrumph "Oh, hush you, and get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day, I think." Mykal caught a look at her as the mirth seemed to fade from her eyes and her face seemed to look older than she was. Then she was sweeping out of the room, her guards and son falling in step with her, as the doors closed.

Mykal sat and stared at the doors, lost in thought for almost ten minutes. Standing up, he began getting ready for bed, following his queen's command.

**********************************************************************************

Walking into the royal quarters, Elaine used the wireless connection to the ships computer to find out if her husband was still in meetings, or if he had returned yet. As the computer informed her that he was in his study, with no one in the room with him, she walked down the hall and into the lavishly furnished library. Looking up, the king's eyes showed no surprise that she was there.

"He must have someone keeping tabs on me. What an infuriating sweetheart."

she thought to herself as she walked up to the love of her life.

Pushing back from the desk, Hans made room for his wife as she immediately settled into his lap, a practice that they had been doing since they had wed over 45 years before.

"How was your day, my love?" she asked, trying to keep herself from showing how her conversation with Mykal had disturbed her.

"Meetings, meetings and more meetings. All of which got nothing done. I think I am going to start requiring my general staff to lead from the front line, maybe they would retire and get more rotation in the command staff." Hans grumbled. He looked into his wife's eyes.

"So, how was your conversation with young McDaniel? He was polite, I hope?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Elaine sighed. "How do you do you do that?" Shaking her head she leaned in and snuggled closer to her husband, needing his strength.

"That boy is smart, polite, intuitive and more loyal to us than we deserve."

His eyebrows drawing down, he looked at his wife. "Why do you say that?"

"That boy crippled his career because a pig of a man that out ranked him said things that I had to command him, not once but twice, to repeat to me and beat that same man for said comments. Hans, it was physically painful for him to repeat the vile things that man had said about me and our daughters. From what I understand, the Synaptic Overload that nearly killed him didn't cause him to shed a single tear, but repeating those words seemed to cripple him." Elaine trembled slightly at the words the disgusting man had said, and that had been repeated back to her.

"It couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Hans asked.

"I cannot bring myself to say those words out loud, but I will send you a recording of that part of the conversation we had." In a matter of seconds, the small computer in her head transmitted the recording of Mykal's repeating of the insults, and subsequent breakdown.

As the seconds ticked by, she watched her husband's face as he listened to the recording. The look of pure rage that filled his eyes was a thing that she had only seen one other time, and had spent years trying to forget.

His voice was quiet and deathly calm when he finally reigned in his rage enough to speak again. "You have the file on the incident?" She nodded. "Good. I will need to see that when we are done here."

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, Hans began to visibly calm. "You are absolutely right. He has been given a disservice. I will rectify that, as well as reward him for now two sacrifices that he has made for my family."

"He knows something is wrong with what happened on Orphus III Hans. I saw something of the information he was going over before Tobias and I visited him." Han's eyes snapped to hers. She shook her head. "No, I don't think he knows it all, and no, Tobias was not in the room when I made the Captain tell me."

She giggled and snuggled into him again. "He addressed Tobi as Colonel and never once acted as if he was a royal. You should have seen how happy Tobi was."