Which meant by default the 12 United Sectors had fewer administrative alphas allied with the King’s Rule. If Darre persuaded his other brother Sebastian Maxis to agree with him about the breed registry, then Kane would only have nine sectors under his thumb. This was the strongest position Darre could hope for.
He would wait no longer.
There was a knock at his door.
"Yes?"
Tenbel’s pinched face and bald head inched around the partially open door. He was an average beta male in every conceivable way.
Shading his eyes when the unfiltered light hit them, he minced forward in awkward, wary steps. Dressed in the mockery of formal Administrator robes and a scribe's collar that he called his “priestly vestments,” the man looked a cross between a beetle and vulture.
Darre had employed the fool months ago, hoping the man would spread a little chaotic cheer. So far, all Darre earned for his credits was the high priest's avaricious collection of beta followers and drone slaves. Tenbel was settling in like a common slumlord.
"Well, hello, Lord Alpha. The sun is bright, yes? I can't remember the last time we had such a clear sky. Not a cloud in sight. How are you? You've called, and here I am. Perfect timing too. I have a special gift for you! Oh yes, Lord Alpha, I do. But first, what can I do for you? Why have you called me?"
Darre eyed the other man. He hated wasted words. They pinged his idiot monitor like nothing else. Tenbel would not be here if Darre hadn't wanted to see him. Why was it necessary to repeat what they both already knew?
"Lord Alpha, how are you? Bright in here, yes? What can I do for you today?" he repeated, filling the silence.
"How go your conversion efforts, priest?" Darre asked mildly.
The man threw his shoulders back. "Oh, Lord Alpha, sir, we have been sending updates via your man. The admi-stream, as you know, has given me access to all sectors. The lost ones keep trying to silence us, but truth will not be silenced. Small underground congregations are forming. Many young men are seeing the light and leading the way, bringing their females with them."
"How many congregations? How many young men? Are they finding their enlightenment and forgoing their king's duty? Isn't that what you told me—that your faithful would become runners?"
Darre eyed the bottle. Empty. Was everything so empty? It was good while it lasted, but gone so quick that it felt like a waste of his time.
Tenbel tried and failed to meet Darre's gaze. The bald beta had the mucked-up aspirations of being an alpha and thought his intelligence was enough to be a leader. A self-styled big-time priest, Tenbel and a couple of his cronies had created a whole belief system from scratch. But he had not an ounce of strength to inspire even a single alpha to follow them.
Because Tenbel was a follower. It was in his genes.
Darre had known better than to trust a beta to start a spiritual insurrection. Insurrections required leaders. Alpha brawn. But no alpha would come up with such bullshit, much less believe in it or follow it. Alphas were simple creatures in that regard; they did not believe what they couldn't see, needed proof of it before their eyes, and would not follow any who couldn't pin them in the dirt.
There were plenty of betas who would. And that, unfortunately, seemed to be what Tenbel had gathered in his underground congregations.
Discontented, whiny little betas who wanted to be reborn as something else.
"Unfortunately, I'm not seeing much evidence of this success,” Darre said at last.
"Alpha, sir, I must say, we have been working hard to spread the message. But as you know, there is the permanent travel ban from this sector. I would be able to do much more if I could cross sector lines."
Which was a roundabout way of blaming Darre for his troubles. There was a rumbling of disapproval in Darre's head.
Tenbel's eyes started to dart back and forth, rolling about like balls in a box, a game Darre had played as a child. Seeing the man's sudden fear, Darre realized his growl had been audible.
Though Tenbel had promised Darre young men and women who would be ready to stand against Administration law, the reports showed something very different: Tenbel was spending his time and energy on his personal goals.
Darre wanted men ready to die on a king's sword to prove that they were true believers. It didn't matter what they shouted, as long as they were willing to storm the border Rhineholth had erected around Sector 2.
Men stripped of civility devolved into raiders and barbarians, their inner thugs unleashed. Men just like Darre.
Tenbel's growing crowd of followers might be useful for something, though—a good meat shield for the true fighting men, if nothing else. After all, the beta population outnumbered the alphas almost five to one. No one would miss the worthless creatures.
As long as Tenbel's faithful used their bodies and spilled their blood to bring down the empire Rhineholth had built, Darre didn't care what they believed.
Results weren't too much to expect. He'd been helping Tenbel and his disciples for several years now, making it easier for them to communicate with friends in other sectors, easier to spread disinformation and sow rumors.
Unfortunately for the priest, enrollment in the King's school and the King's army had held steady with population growth. These were not the kind of numbers Darre wanted after all his output of coin.
