End of Empire
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: As usual, I own none of this. Rating: K. Time: Centuries after my stories beginning with The Pilot.
Lord Telford's office was also a mix of the ultra-modern and the ancient. A modern AI welcomed them and bade them to go into Lord Telford's office. The door was opened by one of two devils squatting on the floor, using a rope attached to the door. Both wore brown shorts and white short sleeved shirts, that were none too clean.
Lord Telford rose from behind his desk to greet them. He was tall and slender but had the beginnings of a pot belly. He was dressed in very baggy blue trousers, a ruffled white shirt and a bright orange jacket.
"Greetings, Captain Beckett?" He looked back and forth between Rick and Kate. He didn't know which one was the captain,
"I'm Captain Kate Beckett. This is Mr. Richard Castle a business partner of mine."
"Ah, then welcome to you both to Kleber."
"Perhaps we could get down to business?"
Telford smiled.
"Ah, that's the Empire for you, always in a rush to get things done. I'm afraid we operate at a more leisurely pace here on Kleber. We'll be going to my estate." Telford operated a small device on his belt and one of the devils came running in.
"Yaz, Bazz?"
"Get the car and make it snappy." He touched the device on his belt and the devil jerked in pain, then ran off. Telford looked at Rick and Kate. "That's an obedience collar. It delivers a small electrical jolt to them. They're really just children you know. Lazy, willful, disobedient, ignorant, stupid children. We've done so much for them; you'd think they'd be more appreciative."
The car was a ground vehicle and quite luxurious. The seats were soft, pleasant music played and there were drinks and food to be had. As they drove through the city, Telford pointed out various interesting spots. Well, they were probably interesting to Kleber's humans, but not to Rick and Kate.
Telford's estate was set in a large forest. It was a low rambling building occasionally interrupted by a tower or two. There were different architectural styles which indicated to Rick that the original home had been added onto many times. Telford took them on a tour of his estate which only proved to Rick that Telford had stunningly bad taste. But he smiled and nodded as did Kate.
Then dinner was served by a half a dozen female devils, all of whom looked terrified at being in Telford's presence. The dinner featured dishes from the Empire and Telford seemed quite pleased with himself to have gotten such treats for his guests. Rick and Kate just smiled and nodded.
Over Earth brandy after dinner, Kate suggested that perhaps they could conclude their business.
"Now?" Telford said. "I fear not. I'm going to have another brandy and then be off to bed."
"Perhaps you could have your driver take us back to our ship so that we can get your medicines ready?"
"What? Have that idiot driver of mine drive in the dark? He'd get lost or wreck my car. Or worse. No, you'll stay the night, won't you?" Without getting an answer, he touched the obedience collar control on his belt. A female devil came running in.
"Debla, take my guests to their suite. Be quick about it." Then he poured himself a large brandy.
Debla led them upstairs to their suite. They found that it had one large bed.
"I'm afraid this…" Kate began.
"...is just perfect." Rick said loudly. "This will do just fine."
Debla turned and fled as quickly as she could. Kate turned and glared at Rick.
"Kate, I don't know what Telford might, or might not have done, to Debla if we complained about anything, and I don't want to find out. Besides, I'm not taking off my clothes or my weapons until we're back on the ship and away from this planet."
She nodded.
"You're right. And I'm not getting undressed or taking my guns off either."
They turned off the lights and laid down on the bed, fully clothed.
"Have a good sleep, Kate."
"You too, Rick."
They didn't.
They were woken by screams. They bolted out of bed and drew their weapons. Kate opened the bedroom door quickly while Rick covered whoever was outside. What they found were four devils writhing in agony, tearing at the obedience collars on their necks. Nearby were kitchen knives and a makeshift club.
"There's a light on down the hall." Rick said. They headed to it. Inside they found four more devils, likewise in agony and Telford with a knife jammed into his eye. He was sitting at a desk with the control of the collar in front of him.
"He's dead." Rick said, checking his pulse. "He must have kept the collar control on automatically as he died."
"Should we turn it off?" Kate asked.
"Once we get away from here." Castle grabbed the remote and then saw something on the desk. He picked it up. "Nice. Telford had just filled out a draft made out to us for the medicines. It's drawn on an Imperial bank, too." He then saw something else in a desk drawer. "Imperial credits." He picked up the sheaf of bills. "And we get a nice bonus. Or rather you do."
"Can we just get the hell out of here?" Kate barked.
They heard more yelling and the sounds of destruction coming from other parts of the estate.
"More than just these guys." Castle said, heading for the door. "The garage is this way." He pointed down the hallway.
When they got to the end of the hall, he stopped and turned the collars off. The four devils outside their bedroom staggered to their feet and headed for them, screaming in their native language.
"Look, we're not…" Rick began, but then they charged, followed by the four that had been in Telford's office.
"Oh, shit." He said as he and Kate shot the devils down.
They found a stairway leading downwards and took it. They found themselves in the garage.
"Do you know how to drive this thing?" Kate demanded.
"Maybe. I'm always interested in how things work so I paid attention to what the driver was doing. There's just one…" Then he turned and grabbed something off the wall. "Got it."
"What's it?" Kate asked.
"A key. You use it to open the car and to start it. I hope."
He found where they key went and soon had the motor running.
"We need to open the garage door." He said. "I think it's one of these buttons."
He pushed one button, and the lights came on. He pushed the button again and the lights went off. He kept pushing. One button gave the soft, pleasant music. Another one had a pleasant female voice telling them what food and drinks were available in the car. The next began opening the roof.
"Castle, I can hear them coming down the stairs. Quick."
"This has got to be it. "He said, pushing the last button. That turned on the lights in the garage.
"Open the window so I can shoot!" Kate yelled.
As the angry devils pushed through the door, Kate opened fire. One devil got through. She was a female with a knife in one hand and a baby in the other. Luckily, she was hanging onto the car with one hand and holding her baby with the other. She was, understandably, unwilling to batter Castle with her child.
Castle gave up trying to open the garage door and pushed down on the accelerator. The car shot through the splintered door and into a dozen or more devils, all armed with knives, garden tools or simple clubs. The car wasn't going fast, but it was heavy and that was enough to plow through their assailants. One managed to jump onto the hood and bashed away at the car with a club. Castle slammed on the brakes which sent him spinning off the hood. Castle drove away, quickly outdistancing the mob behind them.
"More problems. There's a gate ahead. There's no time to try to figure out how to open it. I'm going to ram it." He yelled.
Luckily, the gate was made of hollow, lightweight metal tubes and they shot out into the street. As they did, a woman's voice spoke.
"To open the garage door or the gate, please say "Open the garage door" or "Open the gate.""
"Thanks a lot." Castle snarked.
"You're welcome." Said the voice.
"Castle, look!"
All around them they could see the estates of the human overlords in flames.
"There are fires in the city, too." Kate said. "We can't drive through the city. We'll have to go around and come at the spaceport from the other side."
"Try to find a map or ask the car how to get to the spaceport."
The car made no reply and Kate couldn't find a map.
Coming around a curve they found themselves facing a mob of over a hundred devils, blocking the road.
"Hang on." He yelled as he plowed through the mob. The car slowed as it hit the mob, but it kept going.
"We're killing the wrong people." Kate said. "People like Telford deserve to die."
"The devils are going to kill us whether we deserve it or not."
The next group of devils was worse.
"Someone ahead." Kate yelled.
"Oh, shit. Those are devil soldiers. They've got guns."
The devils fired at them, and the windshield was starred where the bullets hit the car, but none penetrated. They shot through the group of devil soldiers and went on their way. However, after about two miles, the engine stopped, and the car began to slow down.
"What is it?" Kate demanded.
"The soldiers must have hit something."
He managed to drive the car behind a hedge where it wouldn't be seen, at least until the sun came up.
"There's a wall over there. Probably another estate."
The wall was some seven feet tall and covered with some sort of ivy like plant.
"I'll boost you up." Rick said.
"Okay."
He grabbed her around the thighs and boosted her up.
"Hey, don't be grabbing my butt."
"Pay attention. What's over the wall?"
"There's another estate in flames. It's half a mile from us and there are fifty or sixty devils standing around singing and dancing. There are trees and stuff on this side of the wall so we can stay hidden and get to the next estate. I don't see any fire there, but it's a ways off."
Castle leaped up and caught the top of the wall and began pulling himself up. He got one leg over the wall and began to slip back. Kate grabbed his belt and pulled him up.
"Don't grab my butt." He said with a smile.
"Don't worry, Castle, when I grab your butt, you'll know it."
They dropped to the ground and began working their way through the trees and foliage.
"Someone ahead." Rick whispered. "I can hear them."
What they found was a dead human female, badly chopped up and a female devil pinned to a tree by a spear. The devil was still alive, but just barely.
"The devil doesn't have an obedience collar. Maybe she was some sort of trustee or something."
"Is there anything we can do for her?" Kate asked.
"Is we use a blaster the other devils will see it. I don't have a knife or anything else that's silent. Do you?"
"No."
They left the two.
They made it to the far wall and were in luck. There was a gate in the wall which opened with no problems.
"Better and better." Rick said. "The whole place looks deserted. No devils in sight. Let's go."
They made it to the garage which had a switch that opened it. Inside was an aircar.
"An Imperial aircar. I can drive this. I can even start it without a key if I have to."
He didn't have to. The engine started up without a key and the aircar lifted silently and left the garage. Then it shot into the air. Castle and Beckett were headed for the spaceport in style.
TBC