The Federation leader said, “They would not surrender, and their men are all dead because they fought with this continuously. You know that; besides, the planet has one of the few remaining wormholes left in the universe and we need it for trade routes. All they had to do was agree, but they chose not to. They chose to die. You keep that in mind.”
He left that memory and walked through more. He watched Bates order deaths that he wished he didn’t have to order. He watched as the general read several pieces of classified information, and put his head in his hands and wept with pity for whoever it was that was going to die.
Then he saw what the general was hiding. He knew that was the thing he needed most to see because every time he drew near it, the general pushed him back, trying his best to hold secret whatever it was that was there.
What was there, was a man.
Not just any man either: a pirate named Blade that he and his siblings actually knew well. But in the general’s memories, the pirate, known to be not only bloodthirsty but fully against The Federation, and to the point, where he would often take Federation ships even though it meant losing much of his crew, stood in front of the general—much younger and far less battle-scarred, saying, “Why can’t you see what they are, Father? Why do you uphold them? You can see that they are destroying the entire universe, and yet you go along with it. You are complicit in their crimes.”
He was his son! The human pirate called Blade that The Federation had been trying to capture for many years was the general’s son!
No wonder the general hid that!
But he had more as well. He had faked his son’s death, pretending that his son had been lost in an accident on a pleasure planet. He had personally killed several people who might have been able to say otherwise. He’d killed people in order to protect his son and to send his son away and into a new life.
That was not all well. His son had recently raided a very large Federation stronghold and had uncovered secret and highly sensitive documents. The general had no idea of what was in them; he only knew that now that his son was in possession of them, his son’s life was as good as over. He also knew that his son would use whatever was in those documents to try to strike out at The Federation.
The rest was even more interesting. The general had been falsifying documents for years and killing anyone who would point out the discrepancies. He had been hiding the fact that for years his son had been amassing a vast rebel army, mobilizing them in the largest and most isolated outposts. The general, however, had all of that information. He hid it from The Federation and all who were within it, but he knew. He knew that his son was about to strike against The Federation in a way that would guarantee war across the universe.
A war that the general was no longer willing to sit out. He had come to the decision to join forces with his son, the son who had no idea that his father was now attempting to drum up an even larger army.
A single thought floated through the general’s head, and Jeval heard it. The words struck him right to his soul.
Is there anything a father would not do for his son?
He went deeper, probing every recess, looking for blocks and implanted memories. Looking for telltale signs that a tech or a scientist had somehow altered or tampered with the general’s brain, but he found nothing.
The truth was right in front of him. He had seen the pirate who was the son of this general seated before him. He knew their faces were similar, too similar to ignore the resemblance.
He spoke hastily to his siblings, all while keeping Bates in his trance. They took the news with as much shock as he had expected, but they quickly arranged their faces into blank and inscrutable expressions so that he could awaken the general, who would likely not even know that his brain had been probed when he did awaken. He brought the general out of it with a quick snap of his fingers.
The general blinked and said, “Again, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I assure you that the fight against The Federation is my fight. I have culled from the ranks of The Federation military those who would stand against it.”
Talon, not willing to let go of the advantage of their knowing his secret said, “How can you trust them?”
The general said, “Many of those who are in Federation service are not there of their own free will. You must know this. Many are forced into service due to labor and service laws handed down to the generations.”
Renall spoke softly, “When The Federation took over their planets, they demanded their sons and daughters for military service for eternity. They will forever be enslaved to that service to The Federation. Many of them rebel against it, I am sure, but how can you be sure that the ones who are with you are truly against The Federation?”
Bates said, “I checked into each and every one of their families. Many of them have families in the rebellion on their home planets. You know that the uprising has begun. It began several years ago. There are quite a few worlds engaged in war, flagrant and open warfare, with The Federation. Because we’ve never been able to actually hunt down their weapons suppliers, squashing the actual rebellion has been difficult.”
They all knew why that was now. They had always assumed that that pirate was the luckiest creature in the universe. The truth was he was being aided and assisted by a father who was a high-ranking general in The Federation army.
Did he even know that his father was on his side?
Bates said, “I need your help. I cannot go where you would lead. I am willing to follow for a change.”
Jeval said, “If you truly wish to rebel against The Federation, you will need every skill you’ve ever learned in your lifetime of waging war at hand. If you truly intend to join up with the rebellion, they will practically insist that you remain in charge, at least in charge of your own troops.”
The general nodded. “I am aware of that. I have always been a man who followed orders. I have always been a man who believed in the greater good. The greater good is no longer being served so I can no longer follow the orders that I have been given. The Federation must fall.”
Jeval nodded. He didn’t want to agree. He didn’t want to go to war. He was tired of fighting and running and hiding. He was sick and tired of a life spent dealing with the scars and wounds and bloody consequences of war.
But the universe had been at war for centuries, many of them. The period of peace that The Federation had brought had been short-lived as The Federation grew greedier and more demanding of its citizens. It took more for itself and left less for those who were merely citizens of a planet that The Federation ruled.
Talon looked down at the table. “There is one thing that I demand in order to join up with you and to assist you.”
General Bates face took on a hopeful expression. “So you would consider it then?”
