“How is she?” I asked.
“She’s not breathing,” the medic said, pressing a breathing mask over Astrid’s mouth and nose and pumping air into her lungs. They began working on her, chattering in medical Imperial, which I was not well-versed in.
“Will she live?” I asked, more frantically this time.
One of the medics barked at me. “Will you let us save our Emperor!”
I opened my mouth to argue, but had nothing to say. How could I get in the way of them rescuing the woman I loved? So, instead, I rounded on Lyudmyla. “Where are we at?”
To her credit, Lyudmyla straightened and began a military situation report. “We’ve taken the armory. The Stelsylvanians barricaded most of the Federation delegation in their quarters, but a few of the bastards escaped. Their locations are unknown. Yezhidian sky troops just landed near the barracks. Archduke Darius is leading the assault but has encountered resistance.” The demon shifted uncomfortably. “We would have had them under control, but we needed to seize the arsenal first to arm all our forces, which cost us the element of surprise.”
“I understand,” I said assuredly. “Where are we with the prisoners? With the main hall?”
“We did not have the troops for both thrusts,” Lyudmyla began, but then one of the medics cried triumphantly.
“We have a heartbeat!”
I hurried over as the healers injected fluids into Astrid’s unbroken arm, and the heartbeat on the portable readout started slow, jumped abnormally high, then settled to normal levels.
“Brain activity is normal. She’s unconscious, but healthy.” The healer turned to me. “Consort, you saved the Emperor’s life.”
ASSAULT AND BATTERY
MY HELMET COMMLINKbuzzed. I answered, “This is the Consort.”
“Captain Boylan? You’re alive?” Princess Marie sounded truly shocked.
“For the moment. What’s your status?” I asked.
“We have the Federation delegation mostly blockaded in their quarters, but a few of them got away, including that hateful d’Lyre woman. I just heard from my scouts – they’re assembling in the main hall. The Federation, Selnikov’s Imperials, even the Commonwealth prince, they’re going to sign the treaty early so our uprising cannot disrupt their schemes.”
I cursed. “Slow them down if you can, but don’t risk your troops. If Federation forces join the battle, we’ll be overwhelmed.” Clicking my commlink to Darius’s channel, I asked, “Archduke, how goes your advance?”
“Levar, how… I saw you get sucked into space!” The archduke sounded more disbelieving than Marie had.
“Technically the stratosphere, but we don’t have time to mince words. Status report.”
“We’ve encountered heavy resistance outside the barracks and have been unable to push the enemy back indoors. We’re outnumbered, but we have lancers and they only have zeroblades. If any more of them get out, though, we’ll be overwhelmed unless we receive reinforcements.”
“What about the loyalist and Urgan prisoners?” I asked.
“We can’t break away from the barracks. We’re having a hard enough time keeping them pinned down as it is,” Darius replied.
I looked around the armory, considering my options. There were plenty of lancers and zeroblades here, heavy weapons even, but I knew my plan the moment I saw the hoversteeds.
“How long until she’s conscious?” I asked the healer.
The main medic shook his head. “Uncertain, maybe minutes, maybe hours.”
“We don’t have much time,” I said, then turned to Lyudmyla. “You wait here. Defend the Emperor until she wakes. As soon as she can be moved, take everyone who can wield a lancer or zeroblade, load them up with as much firepower as you can, and drive on the main hall.”
“What about the armory?” she asked.
“Destroy it,” I ordered. “Use explosives. If you can rig it to take a few dissidents with it, great. If not, torch the place. Better to see it burn than in enemy hands. We did it all the time in the war.”
“What about you?” Lyudmyla asked.
“I need every able-bodied demon capable of flying a hoversteed armed and mounted. We’re going to go assist the archduke,” I said, pointing to the rack of Imperial machines.
