Fourth Vector Ch. 18

Jack swallowed. "So you knew? You knew what would happen when you met me?"

Kat turned her attention to him and nodded. "This is why it wasn't so far-fetched for me to seek you. I believed in that seer. When I was older and I found out what my father was doing, it was also part of my reasoning to stop him. I didn't want him to come after you if what the seer said was true."

"Did he hear what the seer said? What was his reaction?"

Kat chuckled lightly. "Furious, as you can imagine." Her face then turned back to being expressionless. "Although I didn't know it at the time, he set out another hunting party to find you. I think he realized that if the prophecy was true, it would mean we would be replaced eventually."

"If it were true, it would mean you were still ruling in Galicia though, Kat," he argued. "If you were to be my wife, you'd be queen instead of regent. I think that would be a step up."

Kat shook her head. "Queens don't have the power in Galicia, only the king does. Without a king, then the regent does. He'd rather us be the ones calling the shots, instead of being passively in power as the queen."

"That's an odd justification for that," said Jack with confusion.

Kat shrugged. "My father could be very conflicted with his thoughts and actions. But that was my first real indication that you existed out there, Jack. I knew it from such a young age, and I always wondered what you would be like. If you would actually get a chance to take the throne, and what it would mean for Galicians everywhere. I dreamed about you not only as my husband, but as my king." Kat closed her eyes and smiled. "I used to picture that day when I would finally meet you."

Jack slid his fingers through his hair. "I hope I didn't disappoint you in Sorella then. Our meeting wasn't really that great."

Kat opened her eyes and shook her head. "You saved my life in Sorella. Our meeting was just how I always pictured it, even if not for the danger. I think I started to fall in love with you the first moment I laid eyes on you."

Jack couldn't help but smile at that. It was hard to stay angry at her, especially after hearing her entire backstory. Kat's life had been a sad one up until that point, and he still wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"How did you find Evelyn then? How did you and Jacob track her down?"

"It wasn't easy," said Kat with a deep breath. "It took a long time, but luckily, before I called the search off, we'd managed to narrow down her location to one of three different islands. Remembering where they were, Jacob and I searched them, always trying to remain two steps ahead of my cousin's army. We picked up every book on prophecy that we could get our hands on, and that's how I came across the one mentioning your birth, Jack." Kat taped at the notebook within her bag.

"I wrote down everything about that prophecy and studied it as best as I could. Unfortunately, I thought the same thing as you did when I first saw it—just a bunch of gibberish. I was untrained in interpreting prophecy so I needed help. Luckily for us, that's when I found Evelyn."

"I can only imagine how she felt to find the former regent showing up on her doorstep," said Jack.

Kat giggled. "It took a lot of convincing. She had a gun trained on me for that first week until I'd proven that I wasn't there to kill her. She expected everything and anything at that point—you didn't live as long as Evelyn has without expecting the worst at any turn. Once she understood my story, and she believed that I was desperately trying to help your family instead of killing them, she opened up to me."

"That must have been a surreal experience then," added Jack. "To finally meet her and realize that my family was really alive."

"I never really doubted that part though, Jack. I knew your family was still alive. My father wouldn't have wasted that time for no reason. It was a unique experience though to finally see her in front of me. And realize that we were the two most hunted people in Galicia at any moment. I think that shared experience really bonded us together more than anything."

Jack nodded. "Did it take more than the week for her to open up to you?"

Kat let out a small smile. "It took a little longer than that. Almost a few months I think before she trusted me fully. She helped me with interpreting the prophecy and figuring out when you might arrive. Unfortunately for us though, it was at that point that Eric's army showed up."

She pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and looked back to the floor. "Fortunately, we got wind of them being there before they got to the house. Evelyn was used to it, and thankfully she was prepared. It meant saying goodbye to the house though. When we left the island, I could see smoke on the horizon. I have no doubt that it was her house. We barely escaped Galicia without being caught. I think it was at that point we realized we'd never be safe there."

"Is that how you got the house in Picardy?"

Kat nodded. "It's where we went next. I knew Aedan from state visits when his father still ruled. We ascended to ruling around the same time. I think he felt sorry for me when I showed up in Daban two years ago. He agreed that I couldn't go back to Galicia, but he didn't want me to stay in Picardy either. At the time, I think he still had hope for maintaining the traditional alliance, even if it was still with my cousin."

"That had to sting," said Jack. "You knew him forever and he still wanted to work with your cousin."

Kat shrugged. "It's politics, Jack. Aedan probably hates Eric just as much as I do, but he needed Galicia at the time, so he had to work with what was available to him. However, that was before he caught the assassin."

"What assassin?"

"The one that Eric sent to find me. He correctly guessed that I was in Picardy, thinking I would run to one of our normal allies for help. I was asleep in my bed when I heard the commotion outside. Apparently, the assassin killed one of the guards assigned to watch my room in the palace, and he had made it into my room, poised to strike. Another guard had heard the commotion and killed the assassin before he could reach me." She looked up at him and brought her fingers up. "I was this close to death."

"It's lucky you were able to get a second chance then."

Kat nodded. "I think Aedan pitied me at the time, which turned his heart against throwing me out of Picardy. He said I couldn't stay in Daban though, as it would be too conspicuous for me to be there. That's when we got the island and the little blue house on the coast." Kat's lips formed into a smile. "Evelyn and I were happy there, in our remote corner of the world. No one knew we were there, and for once, we could stop fearing that we were being hunted and focus on finding you. We spent the next two years studying prophecy and looking for you, using that house as our home base."

Jack stood up from his desk and approached the corner where he had his sword. He ran his fingertips over the pommel. "How did you get the sword?"

Kat gave him a guilty look. "I stole it."

Jack chuckled. "How did you manage that?"

"It wasn't easy, I can assure you that. No doubt you've noticed that only the heir of Galicia can pick it up easily?"

Jack nodded. "Greg tried to lift it, and even with all his strength, he could barely get it to budge."

"That's what the box was for," said Kat with a smile. "The box that contained the sword back at the house. That's the only way someone can carry it with them, as long as they aren't physically touching the blade. Of course, no one can wield it in that case. It's just a blunt instrument so the best anyone can do with it is smack someone in the chest with it. But that's how we were able to get it out of the palace. I figured if I did really find you, the sword would confirm what I told you."

Jack wrapped his hand around the grip and watched as the pommel lit up with the brilliant-blue light. He watched as the blue light reflected from Kat's own eyes before she looked back to his.

"It would seem that was one thing I did right," she said quietly.

He watched her from the other side of the room as Kat hung her head in silence. In that moment, after hearing her entire backstory, he actually felt bad for her. He knew that her life was bound up in some form of misery—obvious when she first told him she couldn't go back to Galicia, but he had no idea just how far that story went. To spend so much time unloved by her own family, and eventually deposed by them while the common people of Galicia didn't lift a finger to help her was mind-numbing.

"How do you do it, Kat?" he asked quietly after some time had passed. "Why do you still care for Galicia?"

Her head snapped up to focus on his eyes. "What do you mean, Jack?"

"Your people abandoned you. Your family did too. I feel for your story, I really do. If it were me, it would be hard for me not to turn my back on Galicia. Why are you still so loyal to a country that doesn't care one bit for you?"

She took a few moments to think of her answer before she locked eyes on him. "I'm loyal to you, Jack. As far as I'm concerned, youare Galicia. You represent what Galicia used to be before the regents took over. And to me, you are the embodiment of what Galicia can be once you retake your throne. There were many times when I could've given up and lived my life in relative peace on Picardy, but I chose not to. I remembered the injustice that's been done to your family by mine. I remembered what that seer told me, Jack."

Jack gulped hard and stood up from his desk. He approached the one corner that was furthest from her, turning his body away. "The hardest part of all of this for me is facing the fact that your father killed mine, Kat. He killed my father, mother, and grandfather. Your family spent years trying to exterminate mine. I don't doubt your intent or your sacrifice, but that's a very hard thing for me to reconcile."

Tears slipped down her cheeks once more. "I can't say how sorry I am for that, Jack," she squeaked as she tried to control her tears. "I would never hurt you, or your family, had it been in my power. That's the reason I called it off."

"Yet your cousin continues it now."

"Because he's the same fool my father was," insisted Kat. "Because he doesn't know any better. But I firmly believe I'm here to correct that wrong, Jack. I put my life on the line every day for three years to find you. I don't want a medal for that, but I'm saying that because it's the truth and because I'm trying to right the wrongs of my family."

Kat finally slipped off the bed and approached him. Tentatively, she slipped her arms around his waist and looked at him with vulnerable eyes. "I love you, Jack. I know I can't bring your family back for what my father did, but to me, this is the next best option. I love you with all that I can muster. Every feeling, every fiber in my body. Maybe this is the way I can correct the wrongs. By loving you and by being your wife one day, if you would have me. You're the only man I've ever loved and the only man I've ever been intimate with. Maybe our love can erase all those years of hate."

He watched her and contemplated her words. He had no doubts about the sincerity, and it wasn't hard to tell she was on the edge of a complete breakdown for the rift it had caused between them. He understood now why she kept it from him for so long. There was no easy way to tell him the truth about their two families, especially with the relationship growing between them.

Was she right though? Could any love between them erase the past? He shook his head internally. It could never erase what was done, but perhaps there was a way it could mend what was broken.

Jack leaned down and placed a soft kiss against her lips. Kat's eyes opened wide as soon as he pulled away, searching his own for some meaning to the gesture. He wiped away the tears from her cheek.

"No more secrets, Kat. I know that you aren't your father or your cousin. I know what's in your heart, and I don't doubt what you've said today. But we can't have any more secrets."

She nodded quickly. "There is one more thing I will tell you then, to show you how I won't keep any more secrets from you. I don't want to tell you, though Jack. I really don't."

A frown quickly formed on his face. "What is it? How bad is it?"

Kat bit her lip and started crying again. "It's truly awful, but I must tell you. I won't ever hold anything from you again."

Jack steeled himself for what he was about to hear. The look in her eyes was tragic, and he had to wonder what was going to come out of her mouth next. "Tell me, Kat."

"The prophecy, Jack. It says you must sire children before you go into your final battle. Because . . . because . . . "

Jack shook his head slightly. "Because why, Kat?"

She fixed her gaze on his. "Because we don't know if you'll live or die after it," she squeaked. She pressed her face against his chest and squeezed him tightly.

Jack swallowed heavily. His arms felt heavy as he wrapped them around Kat, and internally, his heart beat faster. "So before I do whatever it is that I'm prophesied to do, it's going to kill me."

"We don't know," whispered Kat. "Only that you must have children before you do. By the language of the prophecy, that seems to suggest death."

"Who is we, Kat? Who else knows? Evelyn?"

"Evelyn told Vera and Abigail back at the house. When you were down by the water. She made all of us promise not to tell you, fearful of what that foreknowledge might do to you."

Jack felt his mouth go dry.So there it is, he thought.I don't even get to enjoy the kingship for long. It will be the death of me.

Kat forced him to look at her. "I didn't want to tell you that, but I won't have any more secrets getting between us. Please just know that what I've told you tonight was essential to my safety. If anyone found out who I really am, it could mean my life, Jack. I had to keep it quiet."

Jack swallowed. "I understand, Kat," he whispered.

She placed her head back on his chest and cried softly. The only thing he could do was hold her in that moment, even if part of him felt like joining her. In the quietness of his cabin, they held each other for dear life, even as he felt more confused than ever.

Am I really going to die after all this?

*****

"Frankly, what they're asking us to do is madness. How are we supposed to protect the invasion force with a small force of cruisers and destroyers and only one battleship? Did they forget that the rest of our fleet is bottled up in Aberdeen?"

Bancroft looked at the admiral who had just spoken up, regarding the man silently. Vice Admiral Harvey Kuntz was no idiot, and that's why he had this seat on his own war council. Even still, his frank assessment just now could get him demoted if heard by the wrong person.

"It's wartime, gentlemen," replied Bancroft as he turned his attention back to the channel between Java and Occitania. "Sometimes in war, we have to make due with the forces we have instead of the forces wewish we had. For that reason, we need a plan to ensure the safety of the invasion force as it reaches the Occie homeland."

"What exactly is being asked of us?" asked Vice Admiral Walter McKenzie, the very man who had led the successful raid against the Occitanian capital city of Montauban at the start of the war. Like the rest of them, he'd seen no such action since that raid, and being as he was the only man in the room that had engaged with the Occitanians in this current war, his opinion carried extra weight. "What is our time frame? How many troops are we moving? What's the situation with resupply? What forces are available at our disposal?"

Bancroft took his pointer and positioned it over the narrow channel where the distance between Occitania and Java was at its narrowest. "This channel is twenty-five miles from one side to the other. As you know, it's the shortest distance between our two countries. We have to ferry across a force of thirty thousand soldiers using approximately eighty-five transport craft. We have about a day to do it before the Occitanians can muster a force big enough to disrupt the landings."

"About that, Admiral," piped up Rear Admiral Jasper Strong, the youngest member of the council. "Do we know what kind of vessels might be in the channel?"

"We have the current array of their forces in the briefing report in front of you," said Bancroft, tapping the one that was in front of Admiral Strong. "While most of their force is outside Aberdeen blockading ours, they do have a fast patrol task force that operates in the channel. Seeing as the channel takes about three days to traverse from east to west, and seeing as this invasion spot is near the middle, that means at most, we'd have two days to get across before they could summon that fleet to intercept us. For the sake of caution, I'm giving you one day to get the bulk of the troops across."

"And resupply?" asked McKenzie again. "If that force gets back in the channel, how are we to keep the invasion force supplied? Are they a match for the forces we have available?"

"Currently, we have available one new battleship, theCharles IX, just recently commissioned and ready for war," said Bancroft. "We also have five cruisers and twelve destroyers. I've now designated this as its own task force, henceforth Task Force 78. It will be under the command of Vice Admiral Henrik here."

Admiral Gary Henrik nodded his head in acknowledgment. "What about them? What can they throw at us?"

"We estimate that they have a force of several battleships with them, just as many cruisers, and at least ten destroyers," said Bancroft. "With most of their force being at Aberdeen, we've been able to account for a good portion of the Occie fleet. Those that are missing from Aberdeen, we can surmise are probably protecting Montauban, Chambery, or patrolling the channel. Luckily, we know we've taken down a force of two battleships and four cruisers in the Fourth Vector, thanks to Commodore Jack Easterbrook. What remains for the Occies is now protecting the approaches to their homeland."

"So we have limited time and we're outgunned," summarized Admiral Kuntz. "And I'm to assume that the generals and the emperor know this as well?"

Bancroft scoffed. "They are the ones that are pushing forward to make this happen regardless of our forces."

"And if we are truthful with them? That we can't guarantee the safety of the invasion force?" asked McKenzie.

"Then you'll be replaced with someone who will sugarcoat it and tell them everything will be just dandy," replied Bancroft acidly. "You all know what we're dealing with so let's not mince facts. If we come out against this, all of our jobs are on the line. Maybe our heads too, if I'm being honest. So we find a way to make it work."

"That's going to be hard given the short timetable," grumbled Admiral Strong. "And that's not saying how we're supposed to disguise the invasion fleet. The Occies will take one look at the massed transports on our shoreline and know exactly what's coming."

"That particular detail has been thought out already," said Bancroft, pointing to a staging area behind the coast. "The army is not on the coast, but they will travel over the evening hours the day before to the beaches to load up the ships during the night. They will leave at dawn. All of the build-up and the troop deployments will be far away from the coast."

"I more meant the actual transport ships though, Admiral," said Strong. "How are we to disguise those?"

Bancroft took a deep breath. "As you know, ships of that size are going to be hard to disguise. The Occies will know exactly what they are the moment they see them, so instead of leaving them massed at the channel, they will await out the time in Lockhaven further down the coast. It's a two day sail for those vessels to get to the assembly point on the channel."