Chapter Fifty

Palace. The Stepstones.

Ser Jaime Lannister had not been having a good time of late. Despite the arrival of the Imperium his life hadn't changed much in recent months and when Robert died he should have felt happy about Joffrey taking the throne even with his family's scheming. He didn't much care who held what title, but it mattered to Cersei so he'd gone along with her plans, and then things had started going very wrong for him.

His job during Joffrey's ascension should have been a simple one, all he'd had to do was ensure that the Stark family didn't escape. With the Stark Lord and his daughters as captives that should have ensured that The North would stay out of affairs in the south. Alas for the man known as the Kingslayer his task had not proven to be as simple as he would have liked.

Jaime had known all about the secret ways out of the Tower of the Hand that avoided the corridors of the Red Keep because he'd been shown them when he'd been made a Kingsguard, he'd not shown these secrets to others as he'd been ordered not to back when he'd been guarding the Mad King. That knowledge had allowed him to predict where the Starks would have appeared even if Varys hadn't shared that information with Cersei.

What Ser Jaime had not been able to predict was that Lord Captain Thrax would turn on them without warning or without any good reason as far as the knight knew. If not for that betrayal things would have gone much more smoothly. The Kingslayer hadn't been able to bring any of his fighting skills to use and his words had fallen on death ears. Worse the Rogue Trader had used one if his powerful weapons to burn a hole right through Jaime's leg and while the would had been cleaned and dressed it still hurt and he'd been given nothing for the pain.

At some point after his capture he'd been transferred to a rather impressive fortress by one of the flying machines that the Imperials used. Upon landing he'd been escorted to cell and left there with no one to talk to and nothing to do other than think. Only very recently had he been taken out of his cell and brought to this chamber.

Even before he'd been strapped down to the frame he'd known what purpose this room served. He was here to be questioned for information and he just knew that the Imperials would not be kind about it, yet he could see no tools of torture anywhere in the almost empty room. Perhaps the Imperials thought that isolation and sheer boredom would have been enough to make him cooperative. If so they were mistaken. He was a knight, his will was not so easily broken.

When someone did finally enter the room he was surprised to see that the Rogue Trader had come to question him personally. Most lords employed thugs to do their dirty work for them and yet here was Thrax dressed in practical black clothing looking as if he had some important task to do.

"Forgive me for not rising to great you my lord" said Jaimie.

Thrax smirked upon hearing that and then moved over to the Kingslayer before holding out a hand. Jaime felt the room get suddenly colder to the point that he could see his breath, and while that felt odd, compared to what happened next it barely registered. The Lannister could feel something, inside his own mind, as if someone else had gotten in behind his eyes. Memories of important past events that were connected to each other came to him with a clarity he'd not experienced before.

He recalled in great detail his intimate times with Cersei and the birth of their children, all of which she told him were his, whispering it as she held each new born baby in her tired arms. He saw his discussions with Cersei about who had killed Jon Aryan as well as other scenes that would resulted in their death if King Robert had ever overheard them.

"How are you doing this?" Jaime questioned.

It had to be some sort of magic.

"That doesn't matter" said Thrax "All I care about is finding out what you and sister have been getting up to. Once I'm done with you, assuming there is anything left, you'll confess your crimes before the lords and ladies of Westeros to ensure that everyone knows that your spawn have no blood relation to King Robert".

Jaime knew that if he did that then Joffrey would lose what little support he had.

"I won't help you destroy my family" stated the knight.

This amused the Lord Captain.

"You're stronger than Littlefinger" he said "You'll resist and you'll break, I just wonder how much of you will be left after I'm done".

Thrax entered his mind again and began putting together a picture of how Tyrion Lannister ended up married. If this brother was to learn about this he might ever forgive Jaime. The Kingslayer tried to keep Thrax out only he couldn't fight in this way and the more he tried the more it hurt.

Jaime didn't know if it would take days, weeks, or even mere hours for Thrax to break him, but as soon as the Rogue Trader pulled out of his mind the knight knew that his will would shatter sooner or later. He simply had no means to defend himself.

"Maybe we can come to arrangement" suggested the Kingslayer.

Thrax didn't seem interested.

"You have nothing to offer that I can't simply take" said the merchant prince "I don't really need you to confess it will just help to make the transition of power go a bit more smoothly. You can't resit the Imperium you can only surrender or die".

Jaime understood that now. How could they resist men with weapons that spat out beams of red death, how they could fight flying machines that could take people all over the world, they couldn't even keep the Imperials out of their minds. They'd been fools to think that Lord Thrax would play the game as they did.

"I just want to keep my family safe" said Jaime "What will happen to them?".

Thrax saw no harm in sharing his information.

"Your father, Cersei and Joffrey will be executed" the Rogue Trader bluntly stated "The rest will be spared unless they do something stupid or if Viserys is feeling extra bloodthirsty. I might indulge him in that case".

Jaime knew he had no choice.

"I'll talk" he offered "I'll confess. I'll take The Black. I'll do anything you want".

Thrax just seemed amused by the knight's word.

"Yes you will" he said.

Then he went back inside the mind of Jaime Lannister and before long it began to change to better suit the Rogue Trader's needs.