The Altian Plague
Copyright© 2026 by D M Arnold
Chapter 14: Assassination Attempt
The transport touched down on a private landing strip adjacent to the palace. Janna took Andra’s hand and Nyk followed them to a bunker, down steps and to a tunnel. An awaiting cart whisked them to a lift and Janna called for a floor in the chancellor’s residence inside the palace.
Nyk gazed out of a window in Janna’s private office. He surveyed the rugged highlands against which the Lexalese capital nestled. Janna and Andra carried on a lively conversation punctuated with laughs and giggles. Janna interrupted herself to press her hand against a proximity pad. “I wonder where Venn is?”
“Who’s Venn?” Nyk asked.
“He’s my assistant,” Janna replied. “He’s new at the job.” She pressed the proximity pad again, then looked at Andra. The two women put their hands to their mouths and giggled.
“You two are behaving like a couple of giggly schoolgirls,” Nyk said.
“It’s why I so enjoy Andra’s company,” Janna replied. “When she’s with me, the years melt away.”
“We can talk...” Andra interjected.
“ ... and laugh...”
“ ... and complete each other’s sentences...”
“ ... just like when we were at Vebinad Academy. Andra takes my mind off the pressures of office.”
“Even during a crisis like this one?” Nyk asked.
“Especially like this one,” Janna replied.
“Everyone needs release,” Andra added.
A tall, slim young man stepped into the office and stopped short. “Highness ... I wasn’t...” His eyes shifted between the two women.
“Venn,” Janna said, composing herself. “Where have you been?”
Venn blushed. “I ... I posted for some personal time to run some errands. I thought, since Highness was scheduled offworld...”
“It’s all right, Venn. You are entitled to your personal time.”
“I hope Highness wasn’t inconvenienced...”
“Not at all. Venn -- this is Nykkyo Kyhana.”
Venn snapped a bow in Nyk’s direction.
“Mr Kyhana is liaison from an ExoService task force helping us to deal with the latest round of Altian threats. He is to be quartered in the guest suites and is to have office facilities with Chancellor’s staff. Instruct staff Mr Kyhana is to be regarded as a peer among Chancellor’s ministers.”
“As you wish, Princess. Access?”
“Open door.”
“Very good. And the lady?”
“Andra is a member of my closest and innermost circle of personal friends.” Janna raised her eyebrows, lowered her chin and gazed at him from under her brow.
“Understood, Princess. Anything else?”
“No, Venn. Please get Mr Kyhana situated.”
Venn snapped a bow. “This way, Mr Kyhana.” He led Nyk down a corridor. “For a moment I thought I was seeing double,” Nyk heard him mutter.
“What did you say?”
“I’m sorry, Mr Kyhana. I was thinking aloud. It sha’n’t happen again.”
“Venn -- aren’t you permitted to have your own opinions?”
“No, sir.” He cracked a smile. “Not while I’m in this part of the palace, at least.”
“They do look alike, don’t they?” Nyk said.
“I’m sorry?”
“Janna and Andra -- they were roommates at Vebinad Academy. Their classmates referred to them as the twins.”
“I see.” Venn gestured into a guest room. “Your quarters, sir. What shall the Lady Andra require?”
“It’s just Andra, Venn.”
“I beg your pardon -- I don’t understand. When Princess said she was a member of her innermost circle, I assumed...”
“Venn -- once in a while an ax’amfin escapes and takes refuge among ordinary mortals like you and me. Andra is one of those fortunate escapees.”
“I see.”
“She shall share this guest room with me.”
“Very good, sir.”
“No sense using two when one will do -- wouldn’t you agree, Venn?”
“If you say so, Mr Kyhana -- very economical. I’ll set your case in here and then show you to your office.”
Nyk stepped into the private dining room in the Chancellor’s living quarters. He poured himself a cup of tea, took a breakfast cake and sat beside Andra. “How did the Lady Andra sleep last night?” he asked.
“You know how I slept -- I always sleep well in your arms. What’s the lady business?”
Nyk smiled. “Venn ... He thought...”
Janna swept into the room with Venn to her left and one step behind. “We’ll start the inoculations today,” she said. “Our security forces have worked all night to get the vaccine in place.”
“Aren’t you concerned The Seven could have spies watching?”
“Not overly,” she replied. “All this took place after curfew. The only way onto our planet is through our single shuttleport, and our entrance and exit control officers keep a close eye on who comes and goes. Out of curiosity, I had our security chief run a report of offworld visitors from Altia. There are right now two hundred fifty Altians on this world.”
“How many are ore-workers?” Nyk asked.
“Hmm ... I didn’t ask for a breakdown by profession. Why the interest in ore-workers?”
“We believe ore-workers make up the bulk of The Seven’s foot soldiers.”
Janna made a signal to Venn and he approached. “Get me a report of all Altians onworld sorted by profession.” He snapped a bow, turned and left.
“Why not just round them up?” Andra asked.
“Because,” Mykko replied as he walked into the room, “we must prove the Altian plague weapon is worthless. If we tip our hand by rounding up ore- workers, The Seven will simply switch targets.” Wygann helped himself to some tea. “If I were running an outfit like The Seven...” He glanced toward Nyk. “Actually, I did run such an outfit once. If it were I running it, I’d make sure the operatives charged with deploying the virus blend as well as possible with the native population until the moment of the attack. Because our immigration control is so strict, the best they can do is to appear to be ordinary tourists or visitors. We’ll get an opportunity to look at them during the drill today.”
“What is the plan?” Nyk asked.
“We are consigning the first batch of vaccine to the capital and a few outlying towns. We will call a general air-raid drill later this morning. We have designated shelters in each sector and neighborhood. Each Lexalese knows where he is to report in such an event. Our staff are making ready as we speak. The civil defense measures we implemented after the insurrection are paying dividends during this crisis.”
“What if,” Nyk mused, “ ... what if we were wrong and The Seven attacks another colony?”
“I agree with your assessment that Lexal is the likeliest target. If not -- well, it’s really not my problem. Come -- I’d like you to observe our operation in action. This palace is a designated shelter for about ten thousand people.”
Venn returned and handed a vidisplay to Janna. “Thank you, Venn.”
“Highness.” He returned to his post near the door.
“Interesting,” Janna said and handed the vidisplay to Nyk. “There are about two hundred ore-workers onworld right now. They’re registered as tourists.”
Nyk reviewed the display and handed it to Wygann. “Dyppa tells me ore- work is the job of last resort on Altia. It seems odd so many would be tourists on Lexal.”
“Unless there’s an ore-worker convention held here,” Andra added.
Wygann snorted. “Not likely,” he replied and handed the vidisplay back to Janna.
“Venn,” Janna said, “inform chief of security of this. Have each of these ore-workers monitored.”
“So -- the attackers are already here and in place,” Nyk observed.
“We thought nothing less,” Wygann replied. “Let’s proceed to the shelter.”
Nyk and Andra followed Janna and Wygann into the lower level of the palace. They walked to an entrance, one with an overhead door, closed. “We’ll open this door for the drill. The people check in here. Offworlders will be sent to this waiting area,” Wygann gestured. “Lexalese will be processed on the other side.”
Nyk followed Wygann as he inspected the staff. He saw nurses and doctors with technicians and assistants filling syringes. Folding chairs had been set up in a briefing area and security officers conferred among themselves.
“Chancellor,” Nyk said. “Have you and Janna received your inoculations?”
“I had almost forgot,” he said and motioned Janna. They approached two of the nurses. “Your first customers,” he said as he slipped off his jacket.
“An honor, Chancellor,” the nurse said and examined his arm for a vein.
Wygann consulted a timepiece and slipped it back in his pocket. He stepped to a vidisplay and touched the screen. An image of his security chief appeared. “We’re ready.”
The overhead door rolled open. Nyk heard sirens wail and announcements came over a city-wide public address system and the vidisplays.
“This is an alert,” the message said. “All inhabitants are to report to their designated shelters. This is an alert...” The message repeated over and over.
Nyk watched as people approached and entered the shelter, scanning their wrists and being directed toward one room or the other. On the Lexalese side security officers divided them into groups and directed them to the folding chairs. Another officer stood and explained they were to receive an injection and stressed the urgency of keeping the fact secret.
In groups they lined up and received their doses, the nurses and doctors handing spent syringes to assistants who cleaned, disinfected and recharged them.
“It’s amazing,” Nyk remarked to Andra. “Like a well-oiled machine.”
“The Lexalese are well-disciplined,” she replied. “Our adversaries might feel Lexal is the perfect target, but the nature of this population makes it a poor one. Every Lexalese considers himself a militiaman loyal to his commander- in-chief.”
“I can’t see Florans submitting to such.”
“This wouldn’t work on any other colony.”
The Lexalese sun crossed the meridian. Wygann had declared an all-clear and the palace shelter emptied out. Nyk looked down from the living quarters high in the palace. “Two more days of this.”
“Yes,” Andra replied. “Janna told me Wygann will address the population tonight and tell them he was disappointed with how long it took to fill the shelters, and to expect more drills in the next few days.”
Nyk’s handheld vidisplay warbled. He drew it from a pocket and scanned his wrist. The vidphone requested his comm cipher. He retrieved it from his pocket and slipped the datacel into the display to see Kronta. “There’s been a problem,” Kronta said. “One of our replication plants went offline.”
“Sabotage?” Nyk asked.
“Poor maintenance. We won’t have the last batch of vaccine ready until day after tomorrow.”
“That’s Grand Assembly day,” Nyk replied. “It’ll be here too late.”
“It’s the best we can do. We can send a partial shipment -- maybe two hundred barrels.”
“I’ll speak with Mykko.” The vidphone went dark.
“Problem?” Andra asked.
“Yes -- we’ll be short eight hundred barrels for the third day of vaccinations.”
Nyk sat with Wygann and his security advisor in the chancellor’s office. Andra sat beside Janna on a settee and held her hand. “We’ll go into the Grand Assembly short nearly a third of our vaccine,” Mykko said. “Based on our allocation plan, that means the southern third of the continent will be unprotected.”
“We can stage a drill in the morning,” the security chief suggested.
“We can’t be staging drills during the Grand Assembly.”
“Besides,” Nyk replied, “the vaccine needs at least a half a day to build immunity,”
“No -- we’ll have to go ahead and take our chances.”
“We can’t do that,” Janna said. “Worst case we’d be looking at thirty million casualties.”
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