“It has been settled. They will be brought to the Vorkathian meeting room, reserved for only our most honored of guests.”
“Thank you,” Darla said, finally speaking up now that Heydar had worked his princely magic. “It really,reallymeans a lot to me.”
“I am so pleased to be able to be of service to you both. Now, if you will follow me, I will escort you personally. It will take a short moment for them to be brought to you as they are currently in the competitors’ lodging and dining area, but it should not be long.”
“Thanks. You’re the best.”
The walk was short, and their guide excitedly pointed out the many features offered during the games. Food areas as well as drinking and gaming halls, naturally, in addition to the wide assortment of other forms of entertainment which were all being put to good use on this day off from competition.
The room they arrived in was actually a standalone building, small and circular with a domed roof and ornately decorated walls, water and plant features spreading all the way around it. When the doors silently slid open, they found that the interior was equally impressive. Comfortable couches and chairs, as well as what looked like a bed folded up into the far wall.
From what Heydar had informed her on the way, sometimes patrons wanted a little something more out of those they supported. It was an unspoken thing, but it reminded her of what she’d heard of old Roman gladiators pleasuring the elites of Rome. It seemed even here the ruling class liked to get their freak on with the commoners from time to time.
“Please, make yourselves comfortable. They will be with you shortly. And if you need anything, please do not hesitate to call.”
“Thank you,” Heydar said, shaking the man’s hand, something he’d probably brag to his friends about when his shift was over, so overwhelmed was he by the whole experience. Normally he was treated like a piece of furniture. But this? To actually beseenby a prince? It was heady stuff to say the least.
The door closed, leaving them alone and Heydar wasted no time walking the room, looking around with an impressed expression on his face as if appreciating the decor. His hands, however, were busy in his pockets. He motioned for Darla to come sit with him.
“As I expected, there are a wide array of spying devices in the room.”
“And you disabled them, of course.”
“Actually, no. I have muted them for the moment, but the technology is rather basic. Nothing my tools cannot handle. Once the others arrive, we will capture their likenesses from these very systems, then an altered signal will be relayed back. Whatever we speak of, whatever we do, it will look like we aremerely discussing your home, the games, and other randomly generated talking points.”
“You have all the best toys.”
“A benefit of my position. But we will first need to interact with them for a few minutes to collect enough baseline data.”
“Got it.”
“Good. I’m unmuting us now, but I’ve reduced the sensitivity of their listening devices by the couches and those chairs. We can key them in there.”
“Will do. But how did you know they would be listening in on us? Not that I mind your taking precautions.”
He chuckled, kissing her on the forehead. “You forget, my love. I am a Nimenni general. And these overconfident ‘elites’ as they call themselves? They have no tricks I have not seen a hundred times. Now, let us prepare for our visitors.”
The couple relaxed, putting on a show for the observation systems. The tiny device in Heydar’s pocket was a very powerful tool from his people. As a prince he had access to pretty much everything, but he was also a decorated general, and one who led his men from the front, following the truest example of leadership with but two words.Follow me. As a result, his men would do anything for him. More than that, he had firsthand working expertise with pretty much all of the tools his special forces team used.
And this? Spycraft was easy compared to most of what they usually had to do.
Dorrin and Ziana were ushered in a short while later, the door closing behind them. It took them a moment, but each of them reacted more or less the same way, though for different reasons.
“Another human!” Ziana blurted, her eyes widening in shock.
“It cannot be. A Nimenni general? I heard one was on our world but thought it was just a rumor,” Dorrin said, equally surprised.
“Yes to both counts,” Darla replied with a laugh. “Come on, you two. Come sit with us. We have so much to talk about.”
Dorrin and Ziana did as they were asked, sitting between the two visitors, the seating carefully arranged to seem casual but actually quite intentional in its spacing, allowing each pair to lean closer as they spoke.
Darla smiled as she whispered to Ziana in her best ventriloquist impersonation. “Act normal. We need to make small talk for a minute before we can speak freely. Don’t nod or react, just chat, okay?”
“It’s so great seeing someone from back home. You don’t know what this means to me!” was Ziana’s reply.
Heydar and Dorrin had more or less the same sort of brief heads up and subsequent small talk, the group talking casually for several minutes. A little vibration notification in Heydar’s pocket changed all of that.
“We are clear,” he said. “There is now a decoy signal generated and fed into their systems. We may speak freely.”
