Professional Courtesy
Lotor and Gavin grabbed their trays and waited behind the other students who were also depositing them in the disposal racks. He hoped the food would be better on the carrier. They were like small cities in space, and he was hoping that at least its resources would reflect that fact. He knew that the each officer contributed a portion of their pay to their mess and that they ate slightly better than the enlisted. He was wondering if he could make a large contribution. He could go to his father and ask for the funds. The man was always concerned about his weight. He was still growing in height, but he never seemed to put on too much mass. There was no getting around it, he was scrawny.
"Lotor, you are daydreaming again. You have not heard a word I have said." Gavin gave him a shove. "What is so keeping your attention?"
"Food." Lotor said.
"Do you ever think of anything else? You have the biggest appetite I have ever seen for such a small man." Gavin said. Lotor gave him a not so pleasant look. Gavin shrugged. He knew that Lotor was sensitive about his size and should have held his tongue. His friend, he had learned, had a temper when he threw someone else into a bulkhead for making sport of this. He had not meant to offend Lotor; Gavin had the bad habit was stating the obvious. Lotor, however, controlled himself, and took it out on the towering rack of dirty dishes instead. He gave the tray a final, hard shove toppling over the rack that held the trays. The sound of breaking glass and metal utensils filled the dining rooms. Some of the officer recruits actually laughed. Lotor was not the first one to do this, it had been a common occurence as the recruits became more restless. The galley worker, a lowman, had seen it all. He shook his head in dismay. It would take a while to clean up
"Give my compliments to the cook. The cuisine has been outstanding." Lotor grumbled at the man. Gavin sighed as he followed at Lotor's heels.
"I am sorry. Please forgive us. He slipped on a spill." Gavin called out. Lotor spun around and faced him.
"What is your problem? You are so horrible to the lowmen. Just because your mad at me you should not take it out on them." Gavin was exasperated. Lotor was getting more and more belligerent as they approached their final destination.
"Who the hell trained you? Warmasters, even if they are wrong, rarely apologize. They only do that when it serves a purpose. Man up or they are going to eat you alive." Gavin was stung at Lotor's last remark.
"Here you go again, berating me for no good reason. You are so damn jealous, it is unbelievable." Gavin rushed him and both of them hit the floor. He pummeled Lotor, who eventually got the upper hand, and soon his fists were about to come down on his best friend. It was Yorak who pulled them apart.
"Just like in the barracks." The large Drule said. "You just always have to cause problems." Yorak shot Lotor a look of dismay. "We are officers now. We have to stop behaving like schoolboys. This is no longer the Academy. The Supremacy is not going to put up with your fucking temper tantrums." Lotor's eyes flew open. Yorak was being the grown up for once. He seemed different since they had boarded, more mature. He, along with the other Academy recruits, had kept out of his way the entire trip. He knew he was not well liked; but he thought they would have been more sociable. There was nothing to do on this voyage but read, listen to orientation lectures, and talk.
It did not surprise him that Yorak's demeanor had changed. Lotor knew that Yorak's father was a lowman. His son qualifying for officer school must have been a momentous moment for his family; a sign that they were moving up in the hierarchical Drule society. It did not shock him that the cadet had attached himself to Skath. He was not too bright in his academics, but he was clever enough not miss an opportunity to advance through social networking. Now, without Skath, he would have to rely on his own. Unlike Lotor, he could not screw this up. His family would be crushed if he was demoted to an enlisted rank.
Yorak gave Gavin the once over. "I think you are fine. He must like you; he only used the striking blows. He usually uses the breaking ones. I cannot tell you how many times this asshole has sent people to the infirmary. Korronite, you should choose your friends better." He shot Lotor a cold look. "You two should get cleaned up. Do you really want to present yourself to our new commander looking like this?"
Gavin got up to go to the bathrooms first. Lotor meant to follow. He did not plan to apologize, but to attempt to make some sort of peaceful gesture. Yorak held him back.
"Carris, give him a few moments to calm down. I have been watching you with him. You have been riding his ass for the last month. He knows where you went to school. He knows that you are better than he is at all this shit. He is probably pretty scared about going to serve under the commanding officers. He is so nervous that he is not even wondering why, the supposed son of a magistrate, would have no qualms about it." Lotor was a little bit taken back. Yorak, it seemed, away from Skath, was a bit more considerate than he ever imagined.
"I assumed that Skath told you who I really was. I am surprised that you did not bring it up before." Lotor whispered.
"It is your business. It serves me not. I was just happy to get off that icy piece of rock I was going to be stationed on. My father told me that the best thing for me to survive the Advance Guard was to meld in with the woodwork. Standing out, something you revel in, is not always the best strategy when dealing with Supremacy Commanders."
"Your father was in the Advance Guard? I did not know. I am impressed." Lotor said. Yorak had never mentioned that fact before. He had just assumed that his father had served in the Second Kingdom's military, not in the Empire's most elite forces. Yorak nodded.
"He received the Medal of Honor for Valor at the Battle of Gedor. He saved over thirty lives but lost his arms in the process. They had to be amputated." Yorak said as he went to his bags and pulled out a med kit. "Your right eye is going to have quite the shiner. That kid has some fight in him in order to take you down. Or were you just in a good mood today?"
"He was lucky. I never expected an attack from him. I let my guard down." Lotor looked at Yorak. "Your father earned a valor citation. This is how you scored the Academy. You had a guaranteed placement. How come you never mentioned it before?" Lotor said as Yorak kindly cleaned up his face.
"Do you think it was easy for me to be there? Either everyone was brilliant or talented or rich. And you, though we did not know it, had all three things going. Wealth aside, the other cadets were so jealous of you. They hated you for being so good at everything, being able to manage two programs and, well, because you are you. Skath even told me that you were amazing with your sword in the Arena, but he knew you would be from the moment you walked in the door."
"Now, consider me. I was just stupid Yorak, Skath's personal set of fists. Knowing how I got there, by the sole fact that my father was a hero, would have just added more fuel to the insults." The giant youth looked over his work and smiled as he placed a liquid adhesive on Lotor's skin, sealing up a bleeding cut on his lip. "You think being Skath's toady was fun. Everything I did, even when he left the barracks, was under Skath's direction. All my experience with Skath showed me was that royals should be avoided. You are pains in the asses, even when pretending to be commoners. You were not the only one who had to live a lie at the Academy, though I cannot figure out why you have chosen to deceive everyone about who you really are."
"My father wants me to have a true warrior's experience. He was a lowman. He was not in the Imperial forces, but he did pretty well for himself." Lotor gave Yorak a smile. "Skath was not too bad to you. He must have pulled some strings. You are no longer a communications officer. You have been reassigned to the infantry. I am stuck down in the dungeon. I hear that the quants are allowed to keep messy bunks. It seems that they were more concerned with us balancing the ships' engines after a jump so that the carrier does not go nuclear. I get to join the weirdoes and the freaks. Horan is there, remember him?" Lotor said, throwing back his hair. Yorak shook his head no.
"Perhaps you belong there. Carris, you are not normal; not even by the loose standards of the warmasters. You are a scary fuck." Yorak sat down next to him and sighed. "Skath did nothing for me. Nivok told me it was Charak that talked the Imperial Adjunct into switching my orders. It seems that he has some pull with the Emperor. He said it would be a waste of my talent to be sending radio relays across Sector 35. Charak was very kind to me after I failed the finals. He even kept training me on the sword. He did not have to. After I received my assignment, I almost dropped out and become a lowman. He convinced me to stay. Not that it matters much now, but he thought that I would have made an acceptable, if not great warmaster." Yorak leaned back in his chair.
"I think that you would be surprised that I actually agree with Charak. I assumed that you had gotten to the Academy due to your warlike tendencies. You can hit as hard as my father and that is saying something. You do not over think things; you make a decision and follow through on it. This is also another good trait of a warmaster." Lotor paused and looked at Yorak. "I may be an asshole, but it is better than being a fatalist. If the Imperials can change your specialty from communications to infantry with the sweep of a return button on a computer than why can you not see yourself as a future warmaster? I, it seems, have become a glorified mathematician and I passed our program with honors. Our futures are not written in stone and the pieces of paper they hand us do not even come close to defining who we are. Only the gods know what lies ahead for any of us.
"Carris, please, I do not have to listen to your theories on the gods and predestination anymore. Save it for the other engineering officers. All those science types will have a good laugh." Yorak took a deep breath. "You need to make amends with your friend. I do understand your frustration; he is quite likeable. I am as perplexed as you in how he even made it here. He is not like you and me; this is not his true nature. He is going to need help to get through this posting alive, and you need a friend. He seems to be the only one around here who can stand your insufferable personality."
"We could be friends." Lotor looked at Yorak with a smirk on his face.
"I have had it with princes and their false tongues. And you, you are the biggest liar of all. Sometimes I wonder if there is one thought in your head that is not self-serving. Your really are something. I said it to you in the barracks, and I will say it to you here. I have never met a more arrogant person in my entire life. We used to make fun of you for all the time you spent in the mediation booths wondering what gods could love such a self-centered son of a bitch."
"You do not know the gods of Korrinoth. I am a perfect acolyte." Lotor picked up his chin and threw back his hair. "In fact, I think I would make an excellent High Priest." Yorak actually laughed. Lotor gave him a serious look and lowered his voice. The other cadets had gathered at the observation port; all waiting to see the space carrier. Lotor did not think that anyone was listening, but one could never be sure. "I am not Skath. Yorak, your initial instincts were correct when you tried to advance your position with him. You just picked the wrong prince. My father is very generous to those that help me. Mogor is now commanding my father's new Tactical Attack Squad for the services he rendered. I need you to keep my secret. You need to stop calling me Carris, I am Lotor now. Do we understand each other?" Lotor whispered.
"I cannot make everyone call stop calling you Carris. People will ask why you have two names." Yorak said, wondering what lie Lotor would come up with this time.
"Oh that is easy. I will just say I used my mother's family name. People will understand. I mean it is a horrible name to bear, but I have to use it now. All the commanding officers will start calling me by it. If the others ask, we can say that the Commandant approved. Everyone remembers how small I was when I first came to school. I will say he was concerned that I would just add to the harassment I was already suffering. It is the Crown Prince thing I am worried about. As you said before, it is none of your business. Have I made myself clear?" Yorak sighed. One could always hear that slight threat in the voice when Carris wanted someone to do something for him.
"I do. I am beginning to understand all of these stupid games you Imperials play with our lives. We are nothing but pawns to you." Yorak said with a sigh.
"I am not an Imperial. I am a Doomite." Lotor shot back. Yorak associating him with the Modern Drule leadership stung.
"Really. You are what they call an Imperial Crown Prince, are you not? Royals feel it is their right make the rest of us slave away to fill your coffers and send tribute to them. It must not look to bad to you as you look down on all of us from your mighty fortresses." Yorak's voice was barely audible. Lotor was shocked. What Yorak was saying could be viewed as treasonous if heard by the wrong person. He never took Yorak as a reactionary before.
"I do not know how King Meer treats his subjects, but my father's do not slave for us." Lotor growled softly.
"Of course not, he has real slaves for that. What is it now, four slaves for each Korrinoth citizen?" Yorak looked at him and shook his head.
"Ten." Lotor flatly said. "We have ten." Yorak's information was not that out of date, the pads had been updated two years ago. His father's recent conquests and his purchasing slaves from the other kingdoms had driven up the numbers to astronomical heights. A not insubstantial part of his father's planetary defense force was being used to keep the slaves in line, taking his officers' resources. Lotor was not good with slaves. From the earliest age, his father had taught him to treat them as if they were objects and not people. Except for the pleasure slaves and the food servers, they were kept in rags and had an aura of filthiness about them. His father tended to keep non-Drule slaves in their household and had taught Lotor that they were inferior creatures. It was easier to discipline and dispose of something that looked different than you were. His father had only made one exception to that rule; he had treasured his mother. But in the end, she was no better than the rest of him. She was just Zarkon's favorite object.
"My father bought my mother from a Korronite slave auction. No one wants to marry a lowman who is armless. Most women do not want the touch of prosthetics. He said going to Korrinoth was like taking a trip to Hell." Yorak smiled at Lotor. In six years, they had never had any sort of real conversation. This was a strange time and place to start one.
"My mother was a slave too." Lotor said sadly.
"Again, you lie. Your mother was a Queen. Do not mock my lowly birth" Lotor could hear the anger rising in the young man's voice.
"Only by title. She was still his slave. She died trying to free herself from Zarkon." Lotor looked down. "See, we are more alike than you know."
"I did not know that. I remembered when she died. The media reported it as a vehicular accident. It was on the news for a month. For a human, she was very beautiful. My father, unfortunately, could not afford such a high end model. I take more after my mother." The youth gave a small smile.
"My father could not afford my mother either. She devastated his soul." Lotor closed his eyes. His face felt like it had run into a truck.
"There you go again with all that religious talk. Maybe your right,no Imperial would ever talk like that. It makes you seem uncivilized. Next thing, you will tell me, is that you dance around fires in a loin cloth" Yorak looked at Lotor who shrugged.
"You got to be kidding me?" Yorak said. He shook his head. He had heard that the Korrinites were savage pagans. Lotor, and his rages, had only confirmed the savage part. It seems what people said were true. The lack of sunlight made all Korrinites insane.
"I am not an Imperial. I want to hear you say that." Lotor said. There was no rage in his voice, it was almost a plea. "I do not want you to think I am like them."
"Lotor, be careful, you are crossing the line where a Drule starts to believe his own lies. No, you are not an Imperial. You are something far worse. You are the only cadet I was ever terrified of, and the worst part is that I still do not know why. Except for Sharra, we were all afraid that we would piss you off and then suddenly disappear. Just like that. The only reason Katte kept you around was because she was desperate to pass. Her father was impossible to please. She was a wreck when you abandoned her before finals. She called over Skath to help her get through when she should have gone off to the girls' dorms. That is when it happened." Yorak said quietly.
"Your lying. If Katte was afraid of me, I would have known." He grabbed his hair. "Do you see this? I know what people are feeling. I can sense it. She felt nothing. I was nothing to her." Lotor said. He was breathing heavily.
"You were nothing to her. She thought you were below her; just like me and Sharra. But as for your supposed abilities, they failed you. You let your emotions blind you. You were in love with her. We all knew it. It was all Sharra and her talked about when you were not there." Yorak answered slowly. He did not want Lotor to do something stupid.
"She could have gone with Skath during Survival School. Sharra would have switched, instead she stayed with me." Lotor protested. Yorak had to be wrong, him and Katte were friends.
"No, she was afraid that Skath would be to busy playing house and that they would lose. She thought that you would get there first. She really needed the points. Unless she had them, even with passing Integrated 3, her passing was going to be a close call. She was less than ten points away from being rolled back. Katte was using you. She was really mad that you did not win it for her. She thinks you lost it on purpose so that Sharra would win. They did not fight over Skath; they fought over you. Katte hated being left alone with you. She begged me to come over; but Skath would not let me. He was still mad at her for some stupid fight they had over another one of his conquests. And then you kissed her and the rest is history. I do not care what people said, I am sure that she never intended to get pregnant. In a small way, you were responsible for her downfall." Yorak shook his head and laughed. "You four were always so dramatic. Everything had to revolve around you." Yorak ran a hand over his regulation cut hair.
"How did I miss it? The signs were there." Lotor mumbled to himself. Katte was rarely kind to him unless she needed something. Mogor and Charak had warned him about her so many times; finally both of them had given up.
"Korrinites let their hormones overrule their judgment. Now look at my people, the Langorthians. Our marriages are arranged. And if our parents cannot find us a suitable mate, then we purchase or find one for ourselves. There is no emotion involved. You would do well to learn from us." Yorak looked over his shoulder. People were moving around the cabin. He looked at his watch.
"Sure, it is such a great system. Sharra told me her mother did not like her father. She would have rather been back in her warmaster's bed; He got rid of her when a suitable wife was found for him and she never found her mate to be a satisfactory replacement. And your parents, what kind of relationship did they have? I want to be in love with the woman I marry."
"My parents are quite fond of each other. She was the cast off daughter of a warmaster because she possessed the physique of one. Her father had a particularly large brood; and whatever girl he could not marry off he sold into slavery. Due to her size, the auctioneer was trying to sell her as a mine worker. My father was thrilled when he saw her. His children were guaranteed a slot at a top Imperial academy paid for by the Empire and he was hoping she would produce a warmaster. She too was happy when he bought her. She would have been dead in months had my father not stepped in. She was not beautiful. She had no domestic skills. She was vulgar. Her best attribute, as far as I could tell, was that she was grateful. She adored him for her rescue, and he was happy that a woman looked at him as a man; and not a freak. If that is not love than what is?"
"You are Korronite." Lotor looked at Yorak intently. The Korrinites did not have any whites to their eyes, but Yorak's crimson red ones did. Like Lotor, he had the pinnacled ears of a High Drule, far more common in the First and Second Kingdoms. It was not a highly unusual trait in the military classes of Korrinoth either. Unlike most of Korrinoth's civilians , they usually did some Imperial service and many of the men had brought back wives from other Drule worlds. This had gone on for generation, so much so, that they barely even looked like the averge Korrinoth anymore. It was said that a Korronite would mate with about anything on two legs, and there were times, that Lotor was sure it was true. His own background seemed to support the adage.
"Neither do you. Skath was sure you were a guildmaster's son." Yorak said.
"I wish. That would be the life." Lotor answered back. The whole Katte thing was still bothering him and was preoccupied with hoe he had read the situation so wrong. Lotor looked up to find Gavin staring over him. To be fair, Lotor had taken the brunt of the beating; and Gavin barely looked bruised. Yorak had pulled him off before he could do any serious damage.
"I want to apologize. You are right...I have been jealous. I thought I deserved it more than you, but my good friend Yorak set me straight. You know he was in charge of my barrack at the Academy. He always gave us excellent advice. He is very wise for his age." Gavin put out his hand and his arm and both the officer's clasped each others forearm. "He is an infantry officer. His mother was from Korrinoth. He is one of us." Yorak shot him a look. He would have never expected those words from Lotor; he wondered what he wanted from him.
"I thought warmasters do not apologize." Gavin said stiffly. Lotor could still see he was angry.
"Gavin, I am sorry." Lotor said. "I just...I am, as Yorak so wisely pointed out, an asshole at times."
"You are always an asshole." Gavin said as he joined the boys.
"My advice still stands true. You forget, I am not a warmaster. I am an engineering officer." Lotor said with a smirk. They all heard a chorus of excited voices in the back of the cabin and turned their heads. Twenty recruits had gathered around the observation port, staring at amazement with what they saw ahead. The space carrier, basically a mobile attack base, was immense. The size of a small city it hung in space, a metallic oasis in the emptiness of space.
Much to Lotor's surprise, he heard there were over two thousand women on board. Generally, there were no women allowed in the Advance Guard. Hazar was an unusual commander.
Yorak gave out a long whistle. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?" Lotor shook his head no.
Ensign Nivok, The Adjunct's aide, announced that those departing for the Space Carrier Kiros should get ready to depart. They would be unloading in the next hour. Several cadets started to take down their gear as the man gave further instructions. After he finished, he walked over to Lotor who was rechecking his duffel; carefully making sure that all of its sections were closed tight. He did not know if they were going to be separated from their personal belongings and he wanted to make sure things did not go amiss. Nivok walked up to him and handed him the familiar looking envelope with the Imperial Adjunct's seal.
"Let me guess, I am being reassigned again. Please, can it be in communications or maybe I could be in charge of waste disposal." Lotor sneered as he ripped open the envelope and read his new orders. He was supposed to directly report to Commander Hazar. He was to be his aide to the Strategic Planning Committee. He looked at Gavin and smiled.
"Nivok, I do not understand. The Adjunct made it clear...", Lotor stopped himself. It was below him to talk to the Adjunct's lackey about his change of fortune.
"It seems that Hazar requires another aide. The position was recently posted." The ensign bowed and left quickly. The answer seemed to convenient to Lotor, but he was not going to ask anything more. He was no longer an engineering officer. Nivok looked anxious to leave. After their initial meeting, he had steered clear of Lotor. He thought the young man was going to be removed from the transport for his previous actions. When he saw that the Adjunct had done nothing to punish the recruit, he knew to keep away. Whoever he was, he reasoned, he had some pull.
"Lotor, this is wonderful. We will be serving together." Gavin gushed, barely able to contain his joy. Sometimes, Gavin's enthusiasm got the best of him. Lotor shook his head. He was not going to only have to watch his own back, but Gavin's too. Yorak was right; he was going to need a babysitter. Lotor had never anticipated that when he shook his hand in friendship.
Lotor saw the Adjunct as he was exiting. The man pulled him aside and silently walked him back to his office.
"Is my Lord pleased with his reassignment?" The man asked. Lotor could read nothing from this man; he was a master of keeping his emotions contained.
"I am. Do I owe you, or my father, a debt of gratitude?" Lotor said, offering a bow. He was the one that put you up to making the original one, was he not?"
"Your father had no involvement with me whatsoever. Do not blame him for all of your problems. I put you in engineering because your Commandant requested it. Why does he fear you so much?" He calmly asked as he looked Lotor up and down. He could hardly believe that such a small Drule had caused so much physical damage to the other cadets at the school. But then again, he hardly believed that he sent another one to his infirmary." The question has troubled me."
"I honestly do not know." Lotor said. "My behavior was not inappropriate; but my reactions were excessive at times. It shames me, but I am working on it." Lotor said, he was biting his lower lip.
"By nature, warmasters are quarrelsome and difficult. They anger easily. I cannot accept that as an explanation." The man fingered the file he had spent a month contemplating. He had his own theories about what made the boy tick, but had no way to prove them. It was rare that he had such a tantalizing case in front of him. Their last encounter only fueled his curiosity.
"How much Wyvern blood do you harbor?" Lotor tilted his head. It was such an odd question to ask.
"Maybe none. It is only a court rumor." Lotor said.
"I have read your medical reports. The Wyvern is in your DNA to a substantial degree. A random rape would not have produced a Drule hybrid. Powerful magic, or shall we say, science that we do not understand was involved. If I recall, it was supposedly the Demon Prince that fathered Zarkon." The man leaned forward.
"Excellency, no one knows for sure. His mother claimed it but most thought she was insane. The gods deemed that Zarkon would exist and so he does. You do not believe in the gods, do you?" Lotor said. The man's office was filled with science degrees. His kind, thought Lotor, are the most skeptical.
THe imperial Adjunct leaned back in his chair. "What I believe is that we create our own fate." He knew that Korrinites were deeply religious. He did not want to offend the recruit; he was just trying to understand him.
"And this is the fate you have chosen for yourself? You are a highly educated. One might say too educated to be in this position. You drift around space most of the year, in your gilded cage, separated from your family." Lotor picked up the small video device that was displaying a sideshow of his family. And for what, to pick up recruits for the great Imperial Cause. Is this a life?' Lotor's eyes looked right through the man. The boy, he surmised, was sensing his growing dissatisfaction with his life. He had heard that trait could be very well developed in those that bore the Mark of Jain. Lotor, in reality, had sensed nothing. Every time he saw the man he looked singularly unhappy.
"It pays the bills. It provides well for my family. There is no shame in wanting them to live comfortably." The conversation had taken a decidedly uncomfortable turn. He did not like how the youth had switched the focus to him.
"You would have done well in private practice. No Imperial spends this much time in the Ten Kingdoms unless he is looking to fill a void that cannot be met in the more civilized realm. "Is it sex, drugs or pain that fills your need, Adjunct? I could reward you for reconsidering my posting. I am feeling very generous right now."
"At times, all three. My reward is in serving my Emperor." He said with a soft smile. Lotor was still trying to decide if he was telling the truth or just playing with him. "I did not ask you here to discuss my demons, but yours. I am making decisions that can cost a fellow crewman their lives." The man was surprised that he had even revealed this much to the youth.
"But Doctor, it is so therapeutic to get these things off our chest. I will show you what is behind my mask; if you show me what harbors behind yours?" Lotor flopped himself in the chair in front of the man's desk. the man glared at him. "Oh alright, if it makes you happy, it was the Demon Prince. He took my grandmother, the daughter of Vedik of Daibaza'al, in his true form and she could not bear the memory. After my father was born, she killed herself. My father was still a small child. Zarkon was left to die at the Altar of Sacrifice as Batak commanded. He owns such children. But grandfather relented and took the child back home. The official record is that Farash died from a virus. We do not discuss it." Lotor looked at the man. Suicide was an affront to the gods and carried a great social stigma. He knew that the Korrinoths would rarely marry into a family where a close relative had committed such an act. The family was cursed. He did not know that infanticide was sometimes employed. He knew that the King of the Ninth Kingdom was not born of nobility, He had been raised by a lowman's family. During his reign, he claimed he was descended from the House of Daibaza'al, the source of many legendary warmasters. Of course, like most others, he assumed the Demon King was just making up a story to cement his right to rule. The boy, he was sure, had been indoctrinated from his birth to believe it. the DNA told another story. The boy, if anything, ws hardly Drule at all.
"And how did Zarkon learn about his true father?" The man said.
"The witch Haggar told him." Lotor said.
"A witch...do you know how made up all of this sounds?" The Imperial Adjunct closed the file. He did not want to listen to a fairytale.
"She is the Wyvern witch from the Western Territories. She is very old and very powerful. She served the Demon Prince. She was sent to see what became of the boy. She serves my father now. I think she is still loyal to the Demon Prince's wishes. Do not pretend that you have never heard of her. She puts the Imperial's wizards to shame." Lotor looked at the floor.
"They say the Demon Prince could call the bloodlust at will? Can your father? It is a trait that the Wyvern easily passed on. In fact, they were the ones that introduced it into our genome." The man intertwined his fingers and put them to his lips. Lotor shook his head.
"Even if he was capable of it, he would never tell me. It is against the Law to call it forth in that way. It is an abomination. His warmasters would be forced to take his life. Why do you ask? Are you fearful that I can do this? Is that why you called me here." The boy, he thought, would make a good interrogator. He was always anticipating the Adjunct's next question. "As far as I know, Zarkon experienced the bloodlust once. His warmasters say he is fierce in battle but they have never accused him of that crime."
"Lotor, have you ever felt the bloodlust? According to the humans, you killed a boy on Arus for insulting your father. You were very young to do such a thing." The Adjunct slowly said. Lotor was biting his lip again; he had certainly caused the boy some discomfort.
"I have been trained from an early age to protect myself. The boy caused me damage first. I have never killed without sanction from the state or without cause." Lotor added.
"And who determines if the cause is justified?" The man said. "You have reached the age of majority and by virtue of your Imperial status you could call anyone into the Arena for a thousand perceived insults. You even threatened me with this. Perhaps this is what your Commandant feared?"
"The Commandant never discussed my posting with me. You are the Imperial Adjunct, why did you not ask him what he was afraid of?" Lotor was getting annoyed. It was getting late and he did not want to be viewed as tardy when reporting. It would not have been a good first impression.
"He would have never told me. I think he was afraid of your father. It does not matter. You are no longer my concern." The Adjunct pointed to the door. Lotor did not move.
"How would you know if you had experienced the bloodlust? What does it feel like?" Lotor looked at the man, waiting for an answer.
"They say it feels like pure bliss. And then after, people report that they feel like something inside them was ripped away. In religious terms, they say they feel like their soul has been untethered." The man looked into those glittering yellow eyes bearing down on him. He hated going to Korrinoth, he always felt like he was being hunted.
"I think that is what our priests mean when they say that a soul can be devastated. I tasted bliss twice, but it was not mine. As far as I know, my soul is still attached." Lotor said. "Have you ever experienced it, the bloodlust? Is that why you stay here in the Ten Kingdoms, to taste it again." Lotor looked at the man.
"It is time for you to depart. The orientation officer does not like to be kept waiting." Lotor owed and left. This time the man had faltered. Lotor was pleased that he had made him as uncomfortable as he had attempted to make him.
The man poured himself a drink. It had been a little over a month ago that he was on Neraku. During their second meeting, he had killed the young woman in the hotel. He had not meant to; in truth, he just wanted to touch her again. She did not want him and fought his affections. This time, he did not let her scream. He needed her; and he was fearful that the men would take her away. She bit him and he lost discipline. Somehow, deep down in his subconscious, he knew this would be her reaction. He was paid to predict how people would react in a stressful situation. He also knew what his would be. He was very good at his job.
A feeling of indescribable bliss took him over and he did not remember what happened next but when he regained his senses he was lying next to her dead body. The life had been choked out of her. He felt dead and empty inside and considered taking his own life. The boy was right; devastation was a better word. He knew the drill; this was not the first time it had happened. The owner of the hotel came to his room; this was a property issue. The man showed him the auction receipt and they quickly negotiated his damages. The owner had made a hefty profit on the slave who was not that amicable to begin with. The Adjunct barely noticed when they removed her. He was to overtaken with his own desolation. Yes, the Emperor paid him extremely well for his services. And it was well he did, he had a very expensive addiction. It was too bad he could not call it at will; it took so much effort to provoke it.
Bloodlust killed the human on Arus; that much he was sure of. He had read the full report on Korrinoth. It had taken him three days to make the Royal Magistrate give it to him. He had told the King that he would leave the boy behind if he did not show it to him. He already knew that the boy had been in attendance in Neraku when he was supposed to be on Hestos. He knew the official story was a lie. He wanted the intelligence officer's report. Finally, an angry Zarkon relented. He read it with interest, three other children had severe injuries but they lived. He found other parts of the report to be far more interesting. Other hints in the Academy's reports were there. He had sent many cadets to the hospital; again with severe injuries but no one was dead. Whatever was going on, the boy had some control over it. More, thought the Adjunct, then he had. His warmaster must have seen it also; it was the only explanation that he would keep him from the others. The boy, like him, was an abomination. Sometimes he felt he was the only one out there. He changed the boy's posting. He was an Imperial prince, few made it into their Emperor's service. The man did not like to make waves. But more importantly, he believed in professional courtesy. It was not often that he met another abomination.
