Star Minds Interregnum Read online

  Star Minds Interregnum

  by Barbara G. Tarn

  ***

  Barbara G.Tarn copyright © 2015

  electronic edition by Unicorn Productions

  cover art by Maurizio Manzieri

  September 2015

  ***

  Star Minds Interregnum

  Table of contents

  (fall of the Emperor 5203 – fall of the Triumvirate on Vilas Lok 5205)

  Arica of Silvania (5207)

  Runaway (5209)

  Psychometrist (5209-5010)

  Mirabilis (5213-5214)

  Brothers (5215)

  Looking for Home (5217)

  Haunted by Shadows (5220)

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Arica of Sylvania

  Runaway

  Psychometrist

  Mirabilis | Part 1 – Smeralda the Beautiful

  Part 2 – Camilla

  Brothers

  Looking for Home

  Haunted by Shadows | 1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  Author's note

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Further Reading: Star Minds Next Generation Diaries

  Also By Barbara G.Tarn

  Arica of Sylvania

  "I will miss Sylvania," Sindy said with a sigh, relaxing in the pool of thermal water at the palace of the Sylvanian queen. The air was slightly scented to help her relax in the water's embrace and the tiled walls were covered with droplets of water.

  Sindy closed her eyes and laid her head on the towel at the edge of the pool. She had tanned skin and short fiery red hair and freckles. The daughter of an Ypsilantian scientist, she had decided to study at the university of Sylvania, since their space travel program was more advanced than on Ypsilanti.

  She shared her relaxing sauna with Arica, who had pale gray eyes and wavy blond hair to the shoulders.

  "Don't you have places like this on Ypsilanti?" Arica asked. Born and raised on Sylvania, she'd met Sindy at a party at the capital's university where she'd sneaked in with her friends. She attended the Sylvanian Academy and was now ready to become a soldier – or a guard.

  A soldier sounded more appealing, even if the war with the Reptilians was over. She could leave her semi-desert and almost flat planet and see the Star Nations. She knew Sindy came from a much more varied planet – both in landscapes and in the mixed population – and since she'd developed some kind of crush on the Ypsilantian young woman, she really hoped she could stick with Sindy for a little longer...

  Both now twenty-two, they had finished their studies, so it was time for Sindy to go home. And Arica wasn't ready to let go of her foreign friend.

  "Yes, but I won't be able to enjoy them." Sindy looked at her. "As soon as I get home, I'll have duties, and things to attend..."

  "I want to see your home planet!" Arica grinned. "It's time I saw some of the Star Nations and Ypsilanti seems the best place to start!"

  "Really?" Sindy chuckled. "You're willing to meet men?"

  "Well, there's plenty of them out there." Arica shrugged. "Why not? Do you have any brothers you could introduce me to?"

  "Ah, no, my mother was too busy." Sindy shook her head. "She had only me. But she has sent someone to escort me home, he'll meet us on Serenaide."

  "Cool! So we'll go with a private starship! I have my own, and I was looking forward to inaugurating it!" Arica beamed.

  "You only want to try your pilot skills!" Sindy teased. "How long do you think your mother will allow you to stay away from Sylvania?"

  "Hopefully six months to a year. That should give me enough time to explore."

  Sindy nodded, thoughtful.

  Arica was very happy at the thought of traveling with her friend. Sometimes Sylvania felt like a golden prison for her. The meganet opened windows on other planets and other realities and she itched to explore and get to know the other Humanoid civilizations of the Star Nations.

  The next morning she and Sindy went to say good-bye to Arica's mother and headed for the spaceport. Arica had been gifted with a small private starship on her twentieth birthday and hadn't had time to use it yet, too busy with her studies. She had called the small Drifter Storm Demon.

  "Her maiden voyage will take us to Serenaide!" she proclaimed, sitting in the pilot seat with Sindy by her side. She wore a tight-fitting minidress on her willowy figure and colorful tights with black leather boots. "And then to Ypsilanti! And then... who knows!"

  Sindy smiled at her enthusiasm. She had a rugged, cinched garment, and her corset was richly embroidered. Arica didn't like Ypsilantian fashion, she found it too frilly.

  "If I wasn't meant to take care of much bigger spacecraft, I'd ask if I could drive," Sindy said.

  "You're not touching my ship!" Arica warned.

  "Not even if I allow you to touch me?"

  "Sindy... that's not what you want, so stop tempting me! You don't need to learn to drive a Futureo-class or a Drifter. You're meant for Hyperspace Galleons or Interstellar Sentinels!"

  Sindy shook her head, amused, and gave up.

  "I'm glad you didn't bring your crazy classmates," she said. "Bolla, Daura, Frika..."

  "We wouldn't have fit in the Storm Demon." Arica smiled, thinking about them. "And I'll be back soon enough, they won't even have time to miss me!"

  The trip to Serenaide, the closest planet, was uneventful. At the spaceport they met with the man Sindy's mother had sent to escort her daughter home.

  J'eff'erey was a tall Ulba'wissian with very dark skin and a shaved head. He had golden earrings all around his ears and a golden chain on his hairy chest, barely covered by a sleeveless shirt. He had a gun-belt and muscles that showed he was a bodyguard.

  "Nice to meet you, ladies," he said with a dazzling smile on his dark face.

  Arica thought he was quite handsome. Maybe she could have him, or keep him as bodyguard for herself as soon as they delivered Sindy to Ypsilanti. He'd been hired by Sindy's mother, maybe Arica could hire him too!

  ***

  Gari-jon huffed impatiently as he exited the great hall of the mansion. At twenty-six, he'd become the head of the House of Alligood quite unexpectedly and it was proving even worse than expected.

  The former Imperial planet was still recovering from the death of Seti-luc Vaurabi, the last Sire emperor who had been killed four years earlier. The main Houses were struggling to get back in control after years of thinking only what the Emperor wanted them to think.

  A disgruntled uncle had decided Gari-jon was more worthy than his own children to become the head of the House of Alligood, and had named him his only heir. Which had maddened Gari-jon's haughty cousins beyond anything, meaning none of them attended the funeral of the old man.

  Without turning back, Gari-jon stormed out of the mansion and headed for his flying car. He had already shoved a duffel bag containing his clothes in the trunk that very morning – he needed to get away from the planet for a while.

  He drove to his girlfriend's house, a condo in the outskirts of the town. I'zet'ta K'erans was a twenty-three-year-old Ulba'wissian with caramel skin and jet-black frizzy hair who wasn't a bodyguard. Unlike most of her people who had immigrated to Marc'harid, she had chosen to be an engineer and worked for a company that built spacecraft for the mighty Sire.

  Gari-jon was Sire and a telepath, but he loved starships and piloting them, so that had brought him close to I'zet'ta. Her radiant smile welcomed him when he rang her bell, but he didn't step inside her small apartment.

  "Let's get out of here," he said impatiently. "I need a break."
/>   "Your noble relatives are driving you nuts?" she teased. "Give me a minute."

  She had already packed a few clothes for a much needed vacation. Things had gone way too fast for both of them in the past few weeks. The redistribution of power had made for some unusual happenings on the Sire planet. After the fall of the Emperor, some families lost prestige and wealth, while others climbed the ladder.

  Gari-jon didn't own a starship – until now. The House of Alligood didn't have a fleet like the most powerful Sire families, but it did have a few cruisers for their pleasure trips. Gari-jon took one of the smallest long-distance spacecraft and took off.

  "Where to?" I'zet'ta asked, squeezing his fingers.

  "Vilas Lok?" he suggested. The pleasure planet would be perfect to relax and gather their wits.

  "Sounds good." She grinned.

  Unfortunately, midway his ship was intercepted by a much bigger one, one of those Imperial disks that weren't supposed to be around anymore.

  "They have weapons," I'zet'ta said, worried, studying the sensors. "That starship has a Friport makeover written all over it."

  "Space pirates," he muttered. "Let's see what they want."

  A tractor beam had already captured them and they found themselves onboard the bigger ship. They exited the spacecraft and met a tall blond man who must be the captain of the space pirates. Behind him was a younger man who might be his first mate. Both had shielded minds, so Gari-jon imagined they were telepaths.

  "Welcome," the captain greeted them. "I'm Star-din Makinster and I know you're the head of the House of Alligood, so I'm going to ask for an awesome ransom to send you home."

  A Sire name. Made sense. The transformed starship must have powerful computers and the space pirates had identified him quickly. Although Gari-jon had never heard of Sire becoming criminals. The fall of the Emperor had upset his home planet more than he'd ever thought. Makinster wasn't one of the richest families, but it had fallen down under the Star Nations' rule.

  "It's an honor and a pleasure to meet you," Gari-jon said. "And how much will you ask?"

  "Why do you want to know?" Star-din stared at him, startled.

  "I'll give you double if you keep me here," Gari-jon answered.

  Star-din exchanged a glance with his first mate who looked as puzzled as him.

  "Why would you do that?" he asked, nonplussed.

  "Because I inherited by disgrace," Gari-jon explained. "I wasn't the heir, just a pilot in a minor branch of the family when my powerful uncle disinherited my cousins and named me as his new heir. I hate my new position and my cousins hate me for it. In these last few days I've felt threatened – and I doubt my cousins would ransom me anyway. You just did them a huge favor."

  "Damn," Star-din muttered. "And how will you pay me to keep you here?"

  "I can get money from the House accounts," Gari-jon offered. "I still have all the passwords after all. Do you need a pilot? I wouldn't mind joining the space pirates – I had no idea there was a Sire captain out here."

  "What about your bodyguard?" Star-din's chin pointed to Gari-jon's caramel-skinned girlfriend.

  "I'zet'ta is not my bodyguard, I never had one," Gari-jon replied.

  "Your girlfriend, then," Star-din corrected himself.

  "Oh, she stays with me. She hates nobility as much as I do."

  "Looks like instead of a hostage we have two new friends," Star-din commented with a smile. "What do you think, Jan-win?"

  "I think that if Gari-jon pays us to keep him with us, we might as well keep him," the younger man replied.

  ***

  Star-din was thirty with dirty blond hair and a stocky build, Jan-win was twenty-six like Gari-jon, with black hair and blue eyes. They were cousins and belonged to a minor branch of one of the main Houses, much like Gari-jon. They'd become space pirates in the years following the end of the Galactic Empire. They had turned one of those luxury cruisers into a warship big enough for them to live in and autonomous enough that they could spend months in space without docking on Friport or anywhere else. The passengers' space was still the cruise ship's luxurious cabins and lounges, and the fuel supply was slightly above average.

  The starship, renamed Interplanetary Buckaneer, was semiautomatic, and worked on limited crew. Star-din had brought a few people from Marc'harid – non-Sire Humanoids still faithful to the now fallen House of Makinster – but Gari-jon was a stranger who needed to be tested. Yes, the newcomer had lowered his mind shields to show his good faith, but Star-din wanted to make sure Gari-jon was a valid addition to his crew.

  Star-din challenged Gari-jon's pilot abilities to a race with smaller spacecraft. The disk had a short-distance shuttle in its hangar, parked next to Gari-jon's ship. Star-din had enjoyed wandering in space with his own cruiser before losing it in the crumble of the Galactic Empire – the Buckaneer was stolen and had been enhanced on Friport to turn it into a warship.

  Gari-jon and Star-din boarded their starships and left the hangar of the bigger disk. They were in outer space between solar systems, so, after detecting a wandering asteroid, the two pilots decided to reach it and turn around it before going back to the Buckaneer.

  And then a third starship the same size as Gari-jon's recklessly joined the race.

  "Hey guys, can we join?" a cheerful male voice said through the radio.

  Having reached the asteroid, all three sped back to the Buckaneer, with Gari-jon leading the race.

  "That was fun," the newcomer commented. "Storm Demon crew requests to join you on your bigger ship."

  "That's three of them," Jan-win said as Gari-jon and Star-din reached the main deck of the Buckaneer. "Their ship is small enough to fit in our hold."

  "Ask them if they can dock it inside," Star-din said.

  "Hey, it's only a small Drifter, it's easy to dock with other ships – or inside them," came the reply.

  Soon the crew of three joined the Sire on the main deck.

  "Hi guys." The only young man of the lot greeted them with a bright smile. "My name is J'eff'erey and these are Arica and Sindy."

  "You're a great pilot," Star-din said, impressed.

  "Arica was in the pilot seat," J'eff'erey said modestly. "She's the owner of the Storm Demon."

  "Haven't you heard that the best pilots come from Sylvania?" said the girl called Arica with a mischievous smile. Star-din noticed that she had her mind shields up – a natural telepath, probably. She also had a disturbingly familiar face he couldn't place.

  Star-din saw in Sindy's unprotected mind that she was the daughter of an Ypsilantian and J'eff'erey was her bodyguard. Innocuous, both of them. And worthless. A scientist's daughter, even on Ypsilanti, wasn't really ransom material.

  "What do three Sire and an Ulba'wissian do on a starship called Buckaneer?" Arica asked. "And why only one bodyguard for the three of you?"

  "I'zet'ta isn't a bodyguard," Gari-jon replied, putting a protective arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "And not all the Sire have the means to live on Marc'harid, the most expensive planet of the galaxy."

  "I bet it is, being the former Imperial Planet." Sindy chuckled. "I'm sure this starship is equipped with all the latest Sire technology!"

  Not really, Star-din thought. He'd never had access to the Vaurabi Labs, where the best was created and often not made public. Things had gotten better after the death of the Emperor – in spite of the name now the Labs worked for the welfare of the Star Nations and didn't have top secret projects anymore – but still not everyone could afford the latest findings.

  "So is this ship what we think it is?" J'eff'erey asked, hopeful.

  Star-din could see his eagerness to join a crew of space pirates. Sindy was also quite excited at the prospect and Arica was grinning widely. Their youth made them see the Buckaneer like a new game. Except it wasn't a game – not for him who had lost everything.

  "We're space pirates," Star-din answered bluntly. "And we don't need help."

  "You sure need men if you plan on assaul
ting ships with bigger crews than yours," Arica retorted. "I've finished the Sylvanian Academy and I'm ready to try my skills on the field. Since the war with the Reptilians is over, I wouldn't mind trying space piracy."

  "Yeah, what did you have in mind?" Sindy added, excited. "Can we rob some Alahairian ship?"

  "Why would any of you want to join a crew of space pirates?" Star-din asked, frowning.

  "Why would mighty Sire turn into space pirates?" Arica retorted.

  "I believe former Imperial Prince Kol-ian Vaurabi started a new trend when he rebelled against his father and spent two years in the rogues' world," Star-din grumbled. "The lucky son of a bitch renounced his birthright, but still managed to live off his brother-in-law's wealth when he went home..."

  "So, would you like three more crew members?" Sindy asked.

  "Not unless Arica lowers her mind shields, no," Star-din replied.

  "I'd rather not," Arica said with a little shrug. "But I can tell you there's cargo headed for Sylvania that's passing nearby. Would you like to steal from the Sylvanian Queen?"

  Star-din exchanged a glance with Jan-win. If it wasn't a trap, it was a good lead.

  ***

  Arica had to prove she wasn't a traitor, or a GP member incognito trying to infiltrate the space pirates, without lowering her mind shields. But she knew what she was doing, and also knew that the cargo was important but not vital for her home planet.

  Her information was correct, and they assaulted the cargo ship that was twice their size, but had fewer human crew. In the crossing fire, she proved to be highly efficient and she covered them without missing a shot.

  Star-din was wounded during the fight and she showed herself to be proficient in battle first aid too. He was impressed and thanked her for the help.

  "You're welcome, but what do we do now that you're limping?" she said, worried. "Do you have a base where you can recover before going back into action?"

  "No, the Buckaneer is my home," he answered, averting his eyes.

  She left him alone and went back to her friends, musing on the situation. She couldn't read shielded minds any more than the Sire could read hers, and she was curious.

  The pirate captain was a quiet and shy man when he wasn't mounting an attack or planning some other trick. A brooding beau that arose her interest more than she wanted to admit. While Gari-jon and I'zet'ta were obviously in love, and there were couples among the rest of the non-Sire crew, Star-din was a loner who didn't really mingle with the others, like a prince in exile.