Free Storm Force: Book Three of the Last Legion Series by Chris Bunch Page A

remote areas they held sacred, and attack lone travelers when they can. Such nonsense should not be allowed to be repeated, and a conscientious citizen hearing such tales should report the teller to the authorities.
    “Well, humpty, humpty, humpty, and aren’t you the little tattler,” he muttered, and probed a little further into other areas, without a great deal of success.
    The next day, Njangu got a call from Celidon’s adjutant, who said Celidon “suggested he find other areas of inquiry that’d be more profitable.”
    So history was decidedly off-limits, even to a
Leiter
.
    • • •
    The ululation of sirens woke Njangu from a happy dream of visiting one of his bank vaults. He was fully alert, but had trained himself years ago to appear to wake blearily, slowly. Karig, the fourth of his companions, was already on her feet, pulling on a robe.
    “Come on! We’ve got to go down to the shelter!”
    “F’what?”
    “Maybe it’s a drill, but maybe the Cumbrians are attacking! Come on! The block warden takes roll on things like this.”
    Njangu slid into a pair of pants, shirt, bathroom slippers.
    Attacking Cumbrians, huh? Let’s hope
.
    Indeed, an officious man was bustling about the building’s basement, checking off names. Yoshitaro sat in a corner, surrounded by companions, staff, and bodyguards. Everyone was beginning to relax when, dimly, came the distant roar of missiles launching, and then an explosion.
    Pyder whimpered. “They’re really here.”
    Another explosion came, then silence for three hours. Finally the all-clear siren shrilled, and they were allowed out of the shelter.
    Njangu, not sleepy at all, went up to his roof garden and saw searchlights still sweeping the night. He wondered what the hell had actually happened, and hoped it was part of the Force’s plan. He thought of waking up one or another of his companions, but decided he had paperwork that was more important.
    An hour later, Kerman came to his office. “Sir. The Protector requires your attendance at once.”
    Not good
.
    Yoshitaro dressed, thought wistfully of taking a weapon, remembered Celidon’s warning, and was at the palace within the hour.
    Redruth and Celidon were waiting. Celidon wore his usual expression of cold amusement, Redruth’s lips were pursed tightly.
    “I am not pleased with you, Yohns,” he began, without preamble.
    “I’m sorry, sir,” Njangu said. “Might I ask?”
    “You told me a penetration raid was going to be mounted by Cumbre.”
    “That was what set off the alarms?”
    “It was,” Redruth said. “However, you said only a single attack would be made.”
    “There were at least two ships,” Celidon said. “One came from N-space in the location you’d told us to watch, but another used the same nav point as their earlier attempt. We’re grateful that the Protector, in his wisdom, had all standard nav points within the system monitored.”
    Njangu kept his face blank. Their sensors were better than the Force had thought, and they were more paranoid as well.
    “What happened?” he asked. “I heard missiles being launched.”
    “Pah,” Celidon said. “Pure panic. The capital’s defense
Leiter
panicked, shot at shadows, and has been disciplined for his stupidity. What actually happened was the first attacker, the
only
one you’d warned us of, was quickly destroyed, far out in space.”
    As we hoped would happen, when we set this up back on Cumbre
, Njangu thought. He also noted the emphasized “only.”
    “The second ship evaded us for a time,” Redruth broke in, “and made for Prime, much as the last Cumbrian ship had. I don’t know whether that first ship was a decoy, and the sabotage team you warned us about was aboard the second ship or not, but that’s my assumption.
    “We attacked, lost contact, regained it just before the ship went back into hyperspace. We were unable to put a tracer on the ship, but assume it returned to Cumbre.”
    Njangu relaxed a little.
    “This is