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Episode 15: Blood Ties
Derek stared at the weapon in his hand. "What's this doing here?!" He exclaimed, thrown completely off guard by the sudden discovery.
"Wildstar," Nova's voice came over the suit com, "That's not all that's here. This 'rock' we're hiding behind," she paused to take a quick glance back at their attackers, "It has a metal-heavy signature. I think it might be part of the Yukikaze."
"W – why?" Derek stuttered.
"The insignia." She replied and scooted away from him so that he could see the portion of the 'rock' she'd had at her back.
Wildstar froze, his eyes glued to the spot Nova had just uncovered. The unmistakable Japanese characters stood out faintly through layers of thick ice. Titan's severe temperature and harsh wind had covered this piece of Alex's ship completely.
"How did we not see it…?" Wildstar breathed. "I should have known…"
"There was no way to know about this before now, Derek." Nova replied, "And we can't stay here for long. Those tanks will blow this ship to pieces eventually. We have to contact the Argo."
"Yeah…" Derek nodded, starting to feel numb, "Yeah, I'll do that…" he shook his head, trying to clear some of the fog of disbelief from his mind. "Argo!" he tried to call the ship from the comm in his suit. "Argo, please respond!"
There was no response.
"Great." He grunted, "They're too far away, the only way we can raise them is on the ship's comm."
"What about IQ-9?" Nova asked, wincing as enemy fire slammed into the other side of the ship debris, causing pieces of metal and chunks of half-melted ice to fly everywhere.
"Still too far for him too, I think." Derek replied, his mind more clear now.
"What about me?" the red robot suddenly appeared behind Nova, making her jump.
"IQ! Don't do that!" she exclaimed.
"Sorry." Replied IQ.
"Can you get in touch with the ship from this distance?" Derek asked.
"The ship is just out of my communicator range." The robot replied. "We will have to get back to our plane to contact the ship."
"That's what I was afraid of…" Derek mumbled under his breath.
"The enemy appears to be very bad at shooting targets." IQ commented, "Or perhaps they aren't supposed to kill us."
"Not kill us…" Wildstar echoed quietly, an idea suddenly coming to him. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out, right."
"Derek, no!" Nova reached out to haul him back, but Wildstar caught her hand and looked her in the eye.
"Let me try this." He said and squeezed her hand.
Nova felt something strange shoot through her just then, but couldn't figure out exactly what it was. "Okay…" she relented, "But if they shoot you, I'm making IQ drag you back to the ship."
Derek chuckled; a sudden feeling of levity fell over him and for just a second he didn't care if he got himself blown away if it meant his crewmates could get back to the ship in one piece. Maybe it had something to do with his finding Alex's gun so unexpectedly. After all, his brother had given all so that his fellow soldiers could come home. Would it be so bad for him to die the same way?
Derek shot out from behind the remains of the Yukikaze, headed for it at a dead run.
Nova stared after him intently, holding her breath.
Suddenly the ground in front of Wildstar exploded and Derek yelped right before falling into the small crater the tank had just made.
A gasping wheeze came over the radio, "I'm fine." Derek announced. "I'm okay, just –" he coughed, "Got the wind knocked out of me." He took a deep breath and bolted out of the crater, setting his course for the ship again.
He was stopped short not fifty yards from the ship by another explosion, closer to him this time, but definitely nowhere near lethal.
He stopped faster than he ever had, a split second before he would have fallen face-first again into a crater.
"Oh great…" Derek muttered whipping out his astro-automatic and squeezing off several rounds at something Nova couldn't see.
She peeked around the ship remains, trying to see what was going on.
She gasped. Enemy soldiers swarmed down the cliff, some managing to shoot in the vicinity of Wildstar.
"This could end badly…" Nova thought, "Even if they don't want us dead, we can't let them take us." She wracked her brain. Finding only one solution, she looked at IQ-9 and said, "Follow me as fast as you can."
"I do not recommend the course of action you are about to take, Lieutenant Forrester." IQ cautioned.
"I know, IQ. Just follow me." Nova replied soberly. "I can't let him do this alone."
Nova watched the enemy soldiers intently, waiting for the right time to run.
Then, for just an instant, all of the men coming down the cliff looked away.
Nova dashed out from behind the ship remains, sprinting as fast as she could in her EV suit. When she was a few feet out from behind her refuge, she could hear bolts of electric energy flying around her and IQ's crackling protests coming through the radio.
Miraculously she caught up to Derek unscathed.
"Nova, what are you doing?!" Wildstar protested.
"Helping you." She replied, drawing her own weapon and training it on one of the enemy soldiers who'd made it down the cliff. It was only then that she noticed something strange about the soldiers' movements, and the gait of those running or walking towards them. It seemed… mechanical somehow.
"IQ, can you scan those soldiers?" Nova asked.
"Yes." Came the monotone reply, "After I reinitiate my locomotion protocols."
"Your what?" Nova asked, turning to look at the strange robot, "Oh…" she grimaced, just now realizing that, though she hadn't been hit, their metal friend had been. "What's wrong with you?"
"I was hit by some sort of stun blast." IQ replied, "It shorted out some of my circuits. I must adapt to the disability. I am ready now. Scanning the first soldier." There was a moment's pause. "That soldier is not constructed of organic material." The robot announced. "They bear more resemblance to my own makeup than yours."
"They're robots…" Nova whispered under her breath.
"What's that?" Derek asked.
"They're robots, Wildstar. That's why they're so good at missing us. You were right, IQ, they're not here to kill us."
Derek looked at Nova sharply, "They're not taking either of us anywhere."
Nova nodded back, mirroring the purpose in Derek's eyes. "We can't let them get anything from the ship either – or IQ for that matter." She said.
"None of them can leave this canyon." Wildstar said soberly. "We're lucky they're robots."
"And why is that exactly?" Nova asked.
Derek smirked a little, "Because they follow orders without question. That means that, even if we pick them off, they won't change their minds and decide to go after us."
"Let's hope so." Nova said under her breath, then drew a bead on the closest robotic enemy and fired.
"They'd have done better if they'd stayed in their tanks." Nova commented, "Are they all gone now?"
"Yeah, I think so." Wildstar replied as he picked his way through the pieces of metal and something that looked like metal but wasn't. He scooped a few of the pieces of the stuff into one of his suit storage pockets, knowing that Sandor would chide him if he didn't at least get something from those tanks. "Let's get outta here."
"Roger that." Nova replied, relieved. She quickly started for the plane, looking forward to getting back aboard ship where – at least for now – no one was shooting at them.
Derek ran to catch up with her with IQ trailing behind them.
Nova was the first to get to the plane and she reached to open the boarding ramp.
She yelped and jumped back when a bolt of energy exploded into the hull right beside her hand.
Derek turned and drew his weapon on instinct, pulling Nova down to the cold ground and shielding her.
"IQ what's going –"
Derek's question was cut off by another shot, this one knocking his gun right out of his hand and throwing it quite a few yards away, unreachable. He started to let out a few expletives, but was interrupted when he saw a single enemy soldier walking towards them, weapon pointed directly at Derek's helmet. One direct hit with anywhere close to the power that had sent his weapon flying would surely leave him with a leaky suit – an experience he didn't want to repeat.
He slowly started to raise his hands, standing up slowly careful to keep Nova in his shadow.
The enemy soldier drew closer, its stiff movements more noticeable now.
It pointed to Nova and motioned for her to stand up too and throw her own weapon a good distance away, then it pointed to IQ, indicating that he was to stay put or he would be shot without a second thought, and this time the shot wouldn't be just a stun bolt.
"I don't think it likes me very much." The robot quipped.
"Shut up, IQ." Derek replied, then added, "Can you get into the plane's systems from here and contact the ship?"
"Yes."
"Then do it, you bucket of bolts."
"Already working on it."
The enemy soldier looked from the robot to Derek and back, then abruptly shot the ground right next to Derek's foot.
"Okay, shutting up now." Derek muttered. "If only I had half a second…" he thought, feeling the weight of Alex's astro-automatic tucked into the back of his utility belt. "Come on you stupid tin head, give me a chance to blow you away." Derek gritted his teeth in frustration.
They all stood deathly still for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly IQ's domed head lit up like obnoxious, blinking Christmas lights.
The enemy soldier whirled around to look at the other robot.
In a flash Derek whipped out his brothers gun, took aim, and shot the enemy soldier right through its metal head.
The thing's limp body fell to the icy ground, twitching.
"Thanks, IQ." Derek breathed, adrenaline still running through him.
"I was only doing what you told me, Wildstar. The plane's systems were exceptionally hard to interface with. We should inform Science Officer Sandor when we return to the ship."
At this Wildstar let out a brief, but hearty laugh, the relief of the moment washing over him. "You are something, IQ."
"Yes I am." The robot replied, having no idea what he was really saying.
"What do you say we bring this one back?" Derek turned to ask Nova, but instead of seeing her attentive face, he saw only the back of her suit helmet. "Nova?" he asked, starting to get concerned. He took a step towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh – I'm sorry, Wildstar." She looked back at him, "I was just… thinking…" she said, turning around to look at the enemy soldier's remains, "What if your brother Alex hadn't stayed to fight that day…? After all… we'd have been without a defense today… Maybe we'd be on a Gamilon ship headed for their homeworld… Perhaps worse."
Derek took in a sharp breath, then clenched his jaw, fighting off the tears that threatened to come at the thought of his brother. "Yeah." He said simply and nodded in agreement, "I know."
He looked down at the battered weapon and thought, "So you're still looking out for me, big brother… even now…"
"This is the most important find we've had regarding Gamilon's fighting force." Sandor exclaimed, trying to hold back a huge grin. "This could answer so many questions, fill in so many gaps in our knowledge." Sandor took a long look at the remains of the machine Derek, Nova, and IQ had hauled back along with their load of Titanite. "I regret that you had to retrieve it under such circumstances, but –"
Derek held up a hand, "I get it, Sandor; you're welcome."
Sandor nodded, "Thank you."
"And that Titanite you brought back should last us the rest of the journey – barring too many more, um, incidents." Orion added.
"Good. Because I don't want to have to do that again." Wildstar smirked, "Though IQ's idea of dancing is pretty funny, not to mention his traffic accident impression."
The Argo's engines started up and she slowly pulled away from the ringed giant's moon. The stars around her glowed in the blackness of space, like jewels on velvet. The perpetual night seemed to engulf everything except the flickering light that almost glowed around the Erath ship as she sailed onward, fighting towards her goal over a hundred thousand light-years away.
But if the crew had looked closely they might have seen the barest shadow of something following them.
On the dark bridge of the shadow ship, a troubled, bitter man stares out at the Earth ship, his green eyes boring into the ancient hulk's very soul.
"They intend to go the whole way, don't they…?" the man breathed, his voice gravely with anger, "What makes them think they can get through all the might of Gamilon and the forces of the universe too? They are so arrogant." He growled.
He took a few steps towards the front viewport, then ordered, "Stay with them." He narrowed his eyes at the ship, "But stay in the shadows. We mustn't be seen by them or by the Gamilon fleet."
"Yes, Captain!" came the simple reply.
"You failed! Again!" Gantz exclaimed. "How am I supposed to explain this to Leader Desslok?"
"Sir, the battalion did exactly what we programmed them to do, but it seems that… the Eratites had a very strange robot companion with them. It proved too distracting for the battalion."
"Too distracting?!" Gantz asked in disbelief.
"It lured their attention away from the two Eratite crewmen who proceeded to wipe out the entire unit."
"Only two of them? Who programmed that unit? I want him replaced immediately." Gantz ordered.
"Yes, Colonel."
"And continue following the Eratite ship – at a distance. We don't want them seeing us just yet." The Colonel ordered.
"Of course, Colonel.
With that the Gamilon fleet pulled back to watch the strange enemy ship from a safe distance.
"Captain, we're intercepting a message from the Gamilon fleet to the homeworld." The comm officer aboard the shadow ship informed his captain.
"Play it." The man ordered.
"Yes, Sir."
The message audio began streaming through the ship's comm system for all the bridge crew to hear.
"Leader Desslok," the apparent captain's voice began, "I regret to say that we have again failed to apprehend the Eratite ship. Even an attempt to capture two of their crew failed."
"And…?"
The ship captain hissed at the sound of the Leader's voice.
"Sire, I thought you would be… angry about such a development."
"I am not overjoyed, Colonel, but I am not surprised either." The Leader replied. "What made you think it would be easy to defeat an enemy that is fighting for their very existence?"
There was silence between the two men for a long moment. Then the "Colonel" replied.
"I see your point, Sire. We will continue to follow them. Our next attempt will be at our base on Pluto."
"Very well." The Leader replied, then cut off the transmission.
The shadow ship's captain nodded, "Well men, we know where our next move will be made."
The crew nodded back.
"Our revenge must come to fruition. To do that we must see that the impossible becomes possible. We must see that strange ship safely to the very doorstep of that rebel's palace."
A hearty agreement echoed through the dark bridge.
Nova stood alone, looking out on Saturn for what little time they would be close to the world.
She'd never seen any of the planets up close – except for Mars in their recent warp there, and Jupiter too though she hadn't had much time to admire the gas giant as they'd been fighting for their lives at the time.
She smiled as she remembered them both. Even though the situations hadn't been ideal, the experiences had been invaluable. She'd learned so much in just the short amount of time she'd been aboard this ship.
Coming aboard with a higher rank than others of her same age had been awkward at first, and she was fairly certain that a number of the crewmen that didn't know her thought she'd come by her rank through unsavory methods, though nothing could be further from the truth.
This was a strange crew she had to admit. Just the bridge crew alone was made up of mostly new graduates of the Academy. Sure, there were a few veterans, but their numbers were far less than their inexperienced counterparts. In some ways she knew this was a very bad idea, but something in her also said that this was the best thing this ship could ever have had. New minds tempered the cautiousness of the old, spurring them to do things they would have never dared do had the crew been made up solely of veterans.
She leaned on the railing letting her eyes wander over the many stars, including their own sun.
This was going to be quite a journey, one she was sure she would be telling stories about for many years to come. She only hoped they were stories of triumph in the face of adversity, and not of bitter defeat.
She was just about to leave the tiny observation area when her eye caught something strange a ways off.
She squinted, trying to see whatever it was that had caught her eye again.
She looked and looked for a long time, but whatever it was had gone.
A strange feeling started to knot up in her gut. She tried to push it away, rationalizing that it must be from the knowledge that the Gamilon fleet was undoubtedly following them and that she was anxious about their next meeting.
She looked outside one more time and, seeing nothing, she tried again to convince herself she was just jumpy, but the feeling continued to haunt her, even after she'd left the observation area and was safely in her own quarters.
Episode 16: Winds of Change
"Attention all crew. Repairs to the ship are complete. We will now return to the homeworld." Captain Raphan's announcement came as a relief to them all. Their time spent on repairs had been grueling. Round the clock shifts had left them all tired and ready to return to the fight to fend off the Eratites.
Melda sat on her small bed, staring at the floor. She felt strange in this uniform. It was much like the ones she'd seen Desslok's officers wearing before she'd left Gamilon to find her daughter. The green and black were somehow calming to her. Perhaps it was the shred of familiarity they offered; but though the material was comfortable, the ensemble felt wrong.
She got up and stepped to the tiny closet. She opened it and perused the few things in it. She found one of the violet pilot's uniforms she'd seen several of the other crewmen wearing. Then there was a set of casual clothes the girl must have worn when she'd been off-duty. Lastly, there was a uniform she'd never seen before. It was a stunning red – close to her bold hair color – with plain black pants and shined boots.
The last one caught her attention and she took it out of the closet. She laid the garment out on the bed and stared at it.
She ran her fingers over the material. It was soft, well-made.
The insignia on the garment caught her eye. It was surrounded by a curious phrase. "Lower Storm Leader."
"What in the Shamayim is this?" she thought, fingering the insignia.
"Computer, what is a 'Lower Storm Leader'?" she asked.
The computer immediately responded, "The 'Lower Storm Leader' ranks below the Commander of Gamilon's armed forces and the Prime Minister. Their responsibilities include the recruitment of pilots, maintaining a communications link with the Prime Minister during any and all recruitment trips, and representing the Gamilon Royal Navy Pilot Corps in all matters deemed necessary by the Commander of all GRN forces."
"Who is the Commander of the GRN?" she asked.
"General Dommel Lysis."
"Dommel? She thought, surprised, "And the Prime Minister?"
"The Prime Minister of Gamilon is Masterson Talan."
Dara's eyes widened, "What was this girl doing here?" she took a deep breath, "What's happened while I've been gone…?" she sat down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering.
Her thoughts were short-lived however when she felt something in the floor beneath her foot move. She jerked her foot back from the spot and her eyes shot to the floor.
A hidden compartment?
Her mind started racing again. What could be hidden in here? Were Dommel and Masterson secretly planning something? Had this girl been spying for them? But why would they need a spy?
Dara slowly reached down and flipped open the secret compartment. The space was dark and she couldn't see what was down in the small hole. She thought about just closing it back up, but her curiosity got the better of her and she reached in.
Her fingers found purchase on something that felt like leather. A book?
She got her hand around part of the object and pulled it up.
It was a book – an old one by the look of it. The cover was worn and in some places had started to tear a little, but despite that, it was clear that it had been well-used and loved. There were no markings on the cover – likely worn off with the years – so Dara opened it and turned to the first page that had any writing on it.
There was only one word on the page.
"Tanakh?"
The Rakiah Cobel sailed through the void, her crew on edge. They'd just escaped death at the hands of the Eratite ship only to end up temporarily stranded on a strange world none of them had ever seen before and never wanted to see again. The whole crew looked forward to their return home. What would the Leader have for them to do now that they had made it through this ordeal?
Captain Raphan sat on the bridge staring out into the space before them. They'd just completed their last warp on their journey home and the familiar green sphere of Gamilon would soon loom before them. Their uncalculated warp away from Erats had mercifully sent them much closer to home than they'd first realized. Even though he knew they would all soon be sent out again, it felt good to be home.
"At least the Storm Leader is alright." Thought Raphan. "I don't want to know what General Lysis would have said if she'd been wounded, or – forbid the thought – lost in the battle." He shook his head, "So why do I feel so uneasy about our return now…?" he watched his bridge crew prepare to enter Gamilon's orbit and then her atmosphere.
The air seemed to get thicker the closer they came to their world.
"We're receiving a hail from the capitol." The comm officer broke the silence.
"Put it on screen." Raphan replied.
The image of Leader Desslok himself appeared before them all and every one of them stood and saluted their ruler.
"Leader Desslok." Raphan bowed his head to the other man. "We are at your service, Sire."
The Leader stared back at Raphan blankly for a half-second, then nodded to the captain and replied, "Yes Captain, and I am glad to see that you and your ship are still intact after the encounter Colonel Gantz had with the Eratite ship. The reports I received were… incomplete at best. Perhaps your ship logs will provide a better understanding of the… incident."
"Of course, Sir. We'll provide you with everything we have regarding the encounter."
"Very good." The Leader replied, "Preparations have been made for your ships to land here in Belarus. Upon your arrival, you will allow your crew to disperse until you receive further instructions."
"Thank you, Sir."
The Leader nodded, "Your new orders will arrive within two days. Your crew should remain within a day's journey from Belarus."
"Understood." The Captain replied.
The Leader's face disappeared.
"You heard him, my friends." Raphan's eyes roamed from one person to another, "We're going home for two days."
The tension on the bridge melted and slowly, smiles began to appear on every face. None of them had expected to come home any time soon, and few of them expected to have much if any time with friends or family. Two days wasn't much time, but it would have to be good enough.
"Incoming message." The computer's announcement startled Dara.
She didn't know what to say for a couple of seconds, which prompted he computer to repeat itself. She took a deep breath and replied, "Put it through."
She turned to face the computer, assuming the message would come through there as she didn't see any other way to receive outside communication.
She sighed with relief when a face appeared on the screen, but her relief vanished when she recognized the man as the one in the picture with the girl she was impersonating.
"Melda!" the man exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're alright! We heard about the encounter with the Eratite ship, but the initial reports said that there were only a few ships that made it out and Rakiah Cobel wasn't on the list. How did you escape?"
Dara stood there speechless, her heart feeling like it was shredding into a thousand tiny pieces. This man – Melda's father she now presumed – thought his beloved child was alive and well. For a long moment she thought about telling the man the truth, but when she opened her mouth to tell him she found that she just couldn't.
"We… The Captain warped the ship out. It was uncalculated… It's a miracle we're ever alive I would say…" Dara replied, thankful now that she'd read the ship logs from those few days before and after the Eratite encounter.
"How did you end up in our galaxy from such a great distance?" the man asked.
"I don't know…" Dara said softly, then added under her breath with the most sincerity she'd ever expressed, "By the hand of Adonai I suppose…"
"Perhaps so." The man replied.
Dara looked away, embarrassed that he had heard her.
"No need to hide your sentiments, Melda." The man smiled softly, "I've known about your adoption of the Christians' faith for some time."
Dara's eyes widened in surprise.
"And that is why… I've come to see this conflict with the Eratites in a new light. I dare not speak of this more here. Come home for a while. We'll discuss everything then."
"Yes, of course. I'll come as soon as I can get my things together."
"I'll see you soon, Melda."
With that the transmission ended and there was silence in the small room.
Dara sighed, "How am I supposed to go somewhere I've never been?" then she had a thought. "Computer, how do I get home?"
Dara stood in front of the unfamiliar house and tentatively asked for entry. The door opened readily, welcoming her, and she stepped in, her heart beating faster than a bee's tiny wings. She felt like she might pass out for a moment, but the feeling passed.
"Melda! You've made it." The exclamation startled her so much that a bolt of fear shot through her. What if she was discovered? How would she explain?
She shook the terror from her mind and turned to face the one who'd greeted her.
In the entryway to her right stood an old, woman with graying hair, a kind face, and a generous girth.
"H – hello?" Dara said hesitantly, not sure who this was and how she should address her. She didn't look like the woman she assumed was Melda's mother from the hologram in the girl's quarters.
Seeing the hesitation in Dara's face, the woman stepped towards her, arms outstretched, and said, "Oh Melda, have you been gone so long that you've forgotten old Babette?" she wrapped her arms around the girl in a friendly hug.
Dara relaxed. Obviously she was a housekeeper or something, and if she didn't recognize Dara's mask, then perhaps no one would.
Hope started to kindle in her again that maybe – just maybe – she might be able to get away with this for longer than she had initially thought.
"No, of course not. I just… I didn't think I would be home so soon after our deployment."
"Ah, yes. That would make anyone feel a bit out of place – especially in times like these." Babette patted Dara on the back and stepped back, holding her at arm's length. "Now, let me get a good look at you." The woman looked Dara over for a moment, "My, my you have grown a bit thin. Have they been feeding you on that ship of yours?"
"Yes, Babette," Dara nodded, "Though the food here at home is much better than ship rations."
"Of course it is." Babette said, looking pleased with herself, "No ship – GRN though it be – can make food like I can."
"Melda!" the same man who had called her earlier aboard the ship appeared behind Babette, a smile on his face. Suddenly Dara saw the strange scar that ran over his right eye and the wrinkles running through his aging face more clearly.
Babette stepped aside, "I'll let you two talk. If you need me I will be preparing some tea." The woman left quietly.
The man looked at Dara for a long moment.
Dara's heart began to race again. The longer the man remained silent, the more nervous Dara felt.
"I am… very happy you've returned unharmed." He said quietly. "But there is much I must talk with you about. Please, come." He turned and led Dara into another room. It was furnished comfortably and Dara thought she would have felt at home if she wasn't so nervous about what this man was about to say.
He walked slowly to a chair and sat, then he motioned for Dara to take a seat across from him.
She did as she was told and sat.
"So what do you think of these Eratites?" the man asked.
Dara was quiet for a while, trying to remember the things she'd read in the brief notes that this girl Melda had left. In truth, she had written very little down. Most of her thoughts must have remained locked inside her own head, perhaps in the event that her endeavors were ever discovered. Dara had had to read between the lines to really find out what the girl had thought of the strange race.
"They are…" Dara looked down at the floor, "Different… but in a lot of ways they are the same as we are." Dara looked back up at the man as she shifted to something more easily discussed, "They appear to only have one real battleship – the one that attacked us. Other than that, their resources are too depleted to offer much more resistance than that, but that one ship…" she paused, remembering Melda's notes again, "It is a strange ship… it seems to have been salvaged from some ancient wreck they were able to uncover. It should not be able to wield the power that it does, but somehow it was able to destroy ships much more advanced. And yet…" she stopped, something she'd read suddenly sticking out in her mind. "They did not launch an attack unless we fired first. Never once did they attack us unprovoked."
"Hmm…" the man let his eyes drop to his booted feet. "So they are not savages, nor are they mindless idiots."
"No, I have not seen evidence of either of those things." Dara replied. "They are… a lot… like us." She said softly.
The man was silent for a long time, sitting with his hands folded in front of him, his eyes trained on the floor.
Dara waited in silence, wondering what was going through this man's mind.
Suddenly he looked up at her and said, "You have told me for so long that Adonai would not have us to kill these Eratites – even in the name of our own survival. You have long held that we should have asked them for help instead of killing them off in the hopes of taking over their world. I did not agree with you then. I thought that the only way to save ourselves was to sacrifice them." He took a deep breath, "I am Admiral Gul Dietz, second in command to the Commander of all GRN forces, Dommel Lysis, and yet… I know when I am wrong… And you, my own daughter, though I do not ascribe to your beliefs, I must agree with you now in regards to our plans concerning the Eratites. And there are others who do not agree with the Leader's offensive against them. I must spread the word regarding the things you have told me today."
"You're thinking of starting a rebellion?" Dara suddenly asked, utterly taken aback.
"I do not know yet, Melda." Dietz replied, "I must speak with the others first."
Dara nodded, "Of course." Then she thought to herself, "What have I done?"
Rakiah Cobel had never looked better to Dara. The past day and a half had been the most tiring of her life. Pretending to be someone else was harder than she had first thought. She had to think about everything she said, did, or even thought before she did or said it.
She had to pay attention to everything her "family" said, trying to piece together everything she didn't really know about the girl whose face she wore. One thing was certain however. This girl – this "Melda" was deeply entrenched in something serious, and Dara had to find out exactly what was going on as soon as possible. How exactly that would happen, she didn't know, but she had her work cut out for her and she saw many a sleepless night in her future.
And then there was Constance… Thus far she had had no chance to even think about finding a way to continue her search for her lost daughter. She had thought many a time over the past several days about simply disappearing – taking a ship and leaving. But every time she started to think about that something inside her held her back. What would Melda's father do if his only child suddenly felt for no reason? What would her new shipmates do if their friend left them without warning or reason? It would leave too many people with questions she couldn't afford to have them asking. And then there was her conscience… Even though she didn't owe these people anything, she still felt like she did owe Melda everything for the use of her identity. She owed Melda's father something for making him continue to believe that his daughter was alive when she wasn't.
She hurried to her quarters where she locked the door, unpacked her things, and sat down on her bunk, the feelings of confusion she had managed to hold at bay now breaking through what resolve she still held and crashing over her mind.
The feeling overwhelmed her and she gave in. She crawled into her bunk and curled herself up into the tiniest ball she could manage and began to weep.
"Captain, we're ready to leave. Rakiah Cobel has been repaired. Some of our company haven't arrived yet, but they will meet us at a designated rendezvous point between here and Balan." Pauker reported.
"Good," Captain Raphan nodded, "Very good. Begin the launch sequence and let the rest of our company know that we will be departing shortly."
"Yes, Captain."
Far away on a bleak world covered in snow and ice a young woman watched as the snow fell all around her. She could not feel the cold, nor the little bit of heat that the sun was able to give through the thick clouds and heavy air.
She looked at the strange towers where the men called "Sentinels" lived. She had been watching them for some time now. They never saw her as she walked among them, looking at their home, hearing every order sent to them from their master, and planning a way to get rid of them.
"Mariposa?" a voice pulled her back from her roamings about the planet. "It is Elazar."
"Elazar, you've returned." The young woman left her ethereal avatar to return to her own mind, residing in a stasis pod along with The Nine who slept along with her.
Elazar had saved her when she was dropped off here on the planet known as Phantom. The Sentinels had been assigned to hold her captive until that witch – the Malha Aurelia Guardiana – returned to claim her and mold her to become the next in line to be possessed of the shêd who held Aurelia, a devil that called itself "Diana." Mariposa did not want to be given such a foul "inheritance," and she had tried to escape on her own, but she hadn't been able to make it far before beginning to succumb to the bitter cold. It was then that Elazar had come to her in the form of a white fox and led her here to this haven within the planet's heart.
"There is something happening." Elazar's voice echoed in Mariposa's mind, "There are rumors of something happening in a far galaxy, something that has upset the Sentinels and especially the Malha."
"I have not heard of such a thing." Mariposa replied, "I have been watching them all for many days now."
"They have tried to keep the problem quiet. I only chanced to be outside the Sentinels' abode when one of them received a message form the Malha herself. It seems that she has sent an envoy to find out more about the situation. A strange ship has appeared with a weapon far beyond the people who wield it."
"And she is afraid that they will find her and use it against her?" Mariposa asked.
"I do not know…" Elazar replied quietly, "It would be strange for the Malha to fear a weapon of any magnitude. I do not think it is the weapon she fears, so much as the ones who possess it."
"They must be mighty indeed for her to fear them."
Elazar did not say anything for a moment and Mariposa thought he had gone, but then he said, "Perhaps it isn't their might she fears so such as the Spirit they bear with them."