This is a fan translation of Emperors of Illusions (Императоры иллюзий) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel is a sequel to Lukyanenko's Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) novel and can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.

Part V

Arthur Curtis

Chapter 1

Karl Lemak was nervous.

On the one hand, he had gotten off pretty easy. Maybe it had been the memory of their old friendship, or maybe it was the confusion of the recent attempt, but Gray had forgiven him. The punishment for the long-ago incident with Curtis Jr. could have been a dishonorable discharge, or even death.

On the other hand, by the second day of the trip, Lemak was starting to think that he would have gladly given up his admiral's uniform for the pleasure of never laying eyes on Arthur Curtis again.

That snot-nosed punk… no matter how he measured his age… seemed to be deriving intense pleasure in what was happening. His position as the Emperor's personal representative gave him enough authority, so that Lemak couldn't avoid meeting with him. As for Curtis Jr., he seemed to see it as his duty to meet with Lemak five or six times a day. And he was always accompanied by Marjan Mohammadi… yet another factor that drove Lemak crazy.

His relationship with the mechanist had been stormy but brief. A military romance of the brief conflict with the Darloks, without much love, tragedy, or consequences. Not even the strictest moral guardian would have found anything reprehensible about that, since mechanists and cyborgs had full rights on all planets of the Empire.

But seeing this strange woman, her chiseled silver face… that silver was warm to the touch… her ideal, inhumanly correct body…

Next to Arthur Curtis, no less, in whose interrogations she had once participated!

Lemak couldn't understand what was happening. He would have paid dearly for an explanation of the events that tied Arthur and Marjan together… for the reason why Arthur had betrayed his faithful bodyguard. But no answers were forthcoming.

But Lemak had decided one thing: his relationship with Arthur needed to be sorted out once and for all. Before he threw the Emperor's personal representative out the airlock or jumped out himself.

The squadron was preparing to exit hyperspace in the vicinity of Gorra, when Arthur visited Lemak once again.

"Admiral…" Arthur bowed politely.

"Captain…" Lemak nodded without rising from his chair. He was hoping to spend the time in his quarters, sipping on a cold beer, not showing his face on the bridge, since Arthur had access to it anyway.

"What are your plans, Admiral?"

"To search," Lemak replied, stubbornly maintaining his calm. "His ship is equipped with a black hole generator; he can't disguise something like that as a cargo hauler."

"Well, Kay once managed to disguise his ship as a cargo hauler quite successfully. Isn't that right?" Arthur winked at Lemak. "May I sit?"

Karl gave a weak wave. He even pushed a few bottles of beer towards Arthur.

"He's not on Gorra," Arthur said, taking a seat. "He ran here to get help, you can believe me on this, Admiral. And he got it here."

"Who helped him?"

"I don't know. But the support group that freed me from your interrogators had been formed here."

Lemak swallowed another jab habitually and asked, "So what, are you suggesting I prepare to comb the whole planet… Captain?"

"No need. Kay switched ships here, I have no doubt of that. We're not going to find any trace of him."

"Gorra is the Family's planet…"

"Perhaps. But I doubt the mafia will give us the information if it decided to help Kay."

For a moment, Lemak forgot about his caution. He was now speaking with Arthur as just a clever young officer, and the Emperor's protégé to boot…

"We'll sift through the spaceport files and figure out what Dutch used. The archives have the hyperdrive signatures, we can get a scent. Ships don't leave planets without being monitored."

"Depends on which ships, Lemak. Yachts, boats, in-system ships…"

"What does the in-system fleet have to do with it?"

"Have you heard of Grasshoppers? What about Lapwing -class boats?"

"I give up," Lemak admitted grimly. "But it's sheer suicide to use such craft for hyperjumps."

"I wouldn't say that, Admiral. Kay and I ran away from you in a boat… and we succeeded. Although, I don't remember much about that. My condition was a little comatose, I'm sure you understand."

"Damn it!"

Lemak jumped to his feet, dropping his heavy beer mug on the rug. White foam splashed on his pants.

"Marjan, leave!"

Mohammadi gave a questioning glance to Arthur. He nodded. The bodyguard started smoothly moving to the door.

"Arthur… we need to discuss this issue."

Lemak towered over the still-sitting Arthur. The young man was looking at him innocently, "What issue, Admiral?"

"About what happened four years ago."

"Okay."

"Arthur…" Lemak sighed. "Political games are a dirty business. Pursuit of power even more so. I sincerely regret what happened to you on my base."

"Is that an apology?"

"It is. Believe me, I'm not a sadist, and I've never liked the thought that a kid was being tortured with my permission."

"I believe you," Arthur agreed after a moment's thought.

"You got involved in an unpleasant story. The information you possessed placed you outside of your age… and outside the law. If you'd only simply told us—"

"Then you would have killed me painlessly. Lemak, you can't apologize and make excuses at the same time."

"Maybe so. Arthur, you have every reason to hate me. And your position is high enough to bring me a lot of trouble. So let's decide once and for all what you want: revenge or cooperation."

"A very difficult choice," Arthur sipped his beer, grimaced, and set his glass down. "What would you prefer, Lemak?"

"Cooperation. I think we have a chance. You did forgive the mechanist… even though she had been the one to torture you personally."

"That's the thing, Lemak. All right. I choose friendship."

He reached out to the Admiral, but Lemak wasn't in a hurry to shake his hand, "Cooperation, Arthur. I see how you treat your friends based on Kay Dutch's example."

"As you wish, Admiral," Arthur's face didn't even twitch. "May I give you a word of advice… as your partner?"

"Speak."

"Kay is heading to Grail?"

"Again? What makes you say that?"

"Think of it as a brilliant guess. We have to intercept him on the way."

"We'd need a hundred squadrons for that. We don't know what type of ship he's on, his departure time, or his course."

"Kay will be using small ships. This means he'll have to stop to refuel. I had the computer run some numbers… he'll stop either on Rukh or on Fieras. Probably on Fieras… he knows history, and the Mrrshans' attitude towards you is no secret to him."

Lemak sat back down and took a swig of beer straight from the bottle. He glanced at Arthur with mild surprise, "Why are you giving him up so thoroughly, kid?"

"It's none of your business, Admiral. Are you going to risk visiting the Mrrshans?"

Karl Lemak averted his eyes.

"I don't know, Arthur."