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Episode 49: Dead End
"I can't get a reading on anything, Captain."
Avatar was greeted by the unhappy voice of his executive officer. "What's going on?"
"Something's thrown all the instruments off, Sir." Sandor replied. "Nothing's giving a proper reading."
"What would cause that?" Avatar asked as he took a seat in his chair at the back of the bridge.
"I can't say for certain, Captain." Sandor replied from his station, "The only two possibilities I know of are: a massive system-wide failure of some sort, or some kind of magnetic interference."
"IQ-9, are you able to run a diagnostic of all systems?" Avatar addressed the robot, seated near Sandor's duty station.
"Not… compute… strange… things… purple… square…" the robot slumped over, his indicator lights all winking out at once.
Sandor jumped out of his seat and was instantly at IQ's side. He tried rebooting the robot, but just as soon as he was online again, he muttered another jumbled mess of words, then switched off again.
"I need to get him down to the lab." Sandor said, looking to the captain for permission to leave the bridge momentarily.
"Go ahead, but let the science team look at him. We need you up here." Avatar instructed.
"Yes, Sir." Sandor nodded, then pulled the robot into three more manageable sections before enlisting Eager and Dash to help lug the robot down to the lab.
"General, these orders come straight from Councilor Celestella. She was adamant that they be followed to the letter." Lysis's second-in-command pleaded with his superior to listen to him.
"I know." Dommel replied, "But they're barbaric. I will not hold an Iscandarian princess for ransom just because the Councilwoman doesn't like her. And I will not kill her at the whim of that deranged Jirelian."
"But, General –"
"That is final." Dommel said firmly. "I will capture her, but I will not harm her or threaten to end her life. She will be placed under the care of my most trusted Commander until such time as I deem it safe for her to be transferred to Leptopoda, where she can be kept in anonymity until the Jirelian forgets about her."
The executive officer hung his head, defeated. He was afraid to defy the Councilwoman, but he was just as afraid to disobey his General.
"Yes… Sir…" The officer finally acquiesced, "But what will I tell her when she asks if I've done what she wanted?"
"Tell her I did it." Dommel replied, "I will take the blame for deviating from her instructions. And I will be the one to tell her of my defiance."
"Yes… General." The XO bowed respectfully, relieved not to have to shoulder this burden, but concerned for the General. What would the Councilwoman do when General Lysis told her of this?
The officer shivered at the thought. Perhaps he wouldn't have to be there to see the end of this particular insubordination.
"Captain, I'm picking up an unidentified object two thousand megameters ahead. With the interference I can't get a very good reading on it. We're fortunate the radar caught it at all." Nova said as she tried to adjust the instruments at her station so she would feel less like they were flying blindly into whatever was out there.
Sandor, who was back from the lab by now, piped up, "I only have intermittent use of the sensors. The only way to find out what's out there is to go and look ourselves."
"Sandor, take a plane and investigate." Avatar ordered. "But be careful. At the first sign of trouble, get out of there."
"Yes, Sir." Sandor said, quickly disappearing to obey the captain's order.
It wasn't long before the XO took off in one of the spare fighters.
Just like the Argo, the small plane's instruments were going wild. Dials and indicator lights flashed and whirled like a carnival sideshow. Sandor paid them no mind. Instead he focused on flying. Without instruments it was much harder to keep the plane level, especially since the stabilizers weren't functioning properly. They would randomly fire, sending the plane into a roll. Every time he started to spin off one direction or the other he had to quickly compensate for the plane's error.
Five minutes into his flight he started feeling something odd.
A strange rumbling started to fill the cockpit. He couldn't hear it well with his helmet on, but he could feel the entire plane starting to shake.
"What is this?" he thought, "Some kind of current?" he looked down to check the instruments, then remembered they would do him no good.
"I'll just fly until I can see whatever Nova found on the radar." He thought, looking everywhere for the strange object Miss Forrester had spotted.
He couldn't see a thing.
The only sights to see were stars shining from thousands of light-years away.
The plane shook harder, almost like it wanted to come apart at the seams.
Sandor stopped looking for the strange object and focused on the inside of his plane.
The shaking was so terrible he could feel his seat starting to rip free of the rest of the plane.
Groans and creaks echoed so loudly that he could hear them even through his helmet.
"What's happening?" he thought, just before the fighter flew apart into a thousand pieces.
Elisa woke up in the hold of a transport ship.
It was dark – probably "night" time onboard ship. She tried to look around, to figure out who was here with her. Maybe she knew someone here. Eight days ago she was dragged from her home. Every minute since then was filled with thoughts of her husband and her unborn child. No matter what happened, she had to live for them.
"What am I going to do?!" she thought, eyes wide, staring into the darkness. "I can't stay on Leptopoda. I can't have this child there." Tears started rolling down her cheeks, "I have to find a way to leave."
The lights blazed to life, blinding Elisa. She threw her arm over her eyes to shield them from the burning brightness.
"Everybody up!" a voice ordered from the front of the transport. "We've arrived. Prepare to disembark."
Slowly lowering her arm as her eyes adjusted, she reached up and wiped away the tears still in her eyes. She wouldn't be caught showing weakness here.
On Leptopoda, that could get you killed.
A shiver ran through her as she thought of all the stories she'd heard about this place. Prisoners from the Cometine Wars were said to have been kept here until their deaths. Some Bolars were here too, as well as other low-life criminals. Even a number of murderers had been relegated to the care of the Warden of Leptopoda.
He had a reputation among a good number of the general populace back on Gamilon. Debarzo "Mad Dog" Bozen was his name. Though a number of the people Elisa had heard talk about Bozen referred to him simply as "Mad Dog."
She hoped the rumors were overstated. Perhaps Bozen was simply rather enthusiastic about his position. After all, he would have to be rather stringent to keep so many criminals in line. There was only one thing she'd heard that she was certain was true of Bozen – he was most decidedly a man of many appetites – unwholesome appetites. She'd heard from numerous sources that this was so, and it made her sick to think that she would under the authority of such a man.
The soldier in charge of off-loading the rebels – and a number of criminals – appeared before her.
Elisa looked up at him and noted just a hint of surprise in his face. The sentiment melted away when he looked down at the bonds on her hands – red as a symbol of her defiance – and realized why she was here.
"Move along, rebel." He scowled at Elisa, but did not touch her as she walked past him, following the rest of her comrades off the transport.
Once outside, she was glad she'd worn a thicker dress. The cold wind bit into her exposed face and hands. The terrain – what little of it she could see from the docks – was barren. Harsh grey rocks jutted up out of the desolate ground. Dust and sand blew into her face and she closed her eyes against its onslaught.
Her braided hair whipped around her as the wind picked up still more, forcing her to lean into the wind, lest she be blown over.
She opened her eyes, holding her hands up to shield her face.
The man in front of her was doing the same thing as he moved ahead, following the rest of the line into the wind.
Elisa followed as quickly as she could, forcing one foot forward, then the other. Finally, she made it to the guards stationed at the entrance.
"Name." One of the men asked, gruffly.
"Lysis. Elisa." She replied.
"Heritage." The man barked again.
"Gamilon-Iscandari." Elisa supplied.
"Former occupation."
Elisa hesitated to answer that question, but when she paused for too long, the guard glared at her and repeated more loudly, "Former occupation!"
"Councilor to Leader Desslok." She finally said.
The guard stared at her for a long moment, then noted her red cuffs.
"Not satisfied with things as they are, aye?" he commented smugly.
Elisa didn't respond, just looked away.
"Here." The other guard, much younger than her, shoved a pile of folded clothes into her arms. "Your new uniform, Madam Councilwoman." He quipped, his tone so sarcastic that Elisa fought the urge to slap the insolent pup.
Instead, she simply stepped into the prison, following a third guard, who led her to a room filled with other women who'd come in on the same transport she had.
"Shower and change." The man ordered before uncuffing her. Then he closed and locked the door behind him.
Elisa looked around for someplace out of the way to rinse off and get into her prison garb.
She spotted the far corner, mostly empty except for a couple of older woman who apparently knew each other. They were whispering and pointing at various other women.
Elisa set off towards the corner. On her way, she nearly tripped over several other women, all in various states of dress – or undress. She averted her eyes as much as possible, not relishing the thought of having to shower publicly. Privacy, she realized, was a luxury here, and not one she would be afforded very much of.
She reached the corner, thankful that the two old women blocked most of the others' view of her as she turned on the freezing water just long enough to rinse away the sweat and dirt from the transport ride.
She turned off the water and quickly threw on her clothes, not even bothering to dry off. Her face was still red from embarrassment when the guard returned, announcing, "The warden wants to see the lot of you. Get out into the hall and line up."
Dreading what was to come, Elisa followed the rest of the women out into the hall.
She found a place suitably towards the middle of the lineup and assumed an anonymous pose, head down, arms at her sides, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Quickly, she reached up and tucked her long, bright blonde hair into her shirt. She wanted to make absolutely sure that nothing would draw any more attention to her than necessary.
The odds were against her. Her Iscandari half showed rather plainly in her present company and any man with half a brain would realize that she was the wife of the great General Lysis, but maybe, just maybe, in the low light, she would be glossed over. At least, that was what she hoped.
The hall grew quiet as all the women shuffled into place.
Elisa didn't look up. She concentrated on breathing slowly.
What business did Bozen have with his prisoners?
She shuddered to think of why he might be here, and the thought made her feel sicker than she usually did. She fought the urge to vomit right then and there as she heard heavy footsteps coming towards her.
They stopped near the beginning of the line and fear shot through her as she heard a rough, low voice growl, "Take this one."
The footsteps kept coming closer and closer, stopping every so often and ordering one other woman to be taken away.
All too soon Bozen stood before Elisa.
She could feel her body trembling in fear – fear not just for herself, but for the life of her son or daughter.
A rough, hairy hand grabbed her chin and jerked her face upward.
"What have we here…?"
Elisa stared into beady black eyes. The man's bulbous nose, thin eyebrows, fat lips, and bald head made him look like clown who'd just taken off his makeup. But the sight was no more humorous to Elisa than seeing a friend executed.
Bozen smirked at Elisa, then chuckled as he noted the fear in her eyes.
His fat belly bounced up and down as he laughed. Then he looked at one of the guards with him and said, "Take this one too."
Elisa's heart plummeted into her gut as sheer panic washed over her. She didn't even feel the guards' hands as they dragged her out of line and down the hall, away from the rest of the prisoners.
Sandor watched helplessly as the pieces of his plane floated away.
Hoping his EVA suit was still working properly, he hit the button that would fire his propulsion unit.
He sighed in relief when the thing obeyed his command and sent him floating back towards the ship.
He sighed again, "If I can't get close to it, how are we going to figure out what it is, or how to get around it without damaging the ship?"
Ten minutes later, Sandor set foot back inside the hangar.
When the bay doors were closed, he unsealed his helmet and made his way back to the bridge to give the captain the news.
"It shook itself apart?" Wildstar asked.
"That's the only way I can explain it." Sandor replied.
The operations room was silent as the rest of the officers digested Sandor's report.
Captain Avatar stood off to the side, watching and listening as his executive officer spoke.
"You said earlier that magnetic interference could cause some of the problems we've seen on the bridge." Avatar said, "Could that also account for what happened to your plane?"
Sandor looked blankly at the captain for half a moment before something lit up in his eyes and he said, "Yes! Yes, it could! That thing you saw, Nova – it may be emitting some kind of magnetic wave strong enough to peel a small plane apart, even at this distance." His face fell again, "But if that's truly the case, then we'll start having more problems the closer we get to it. We need to get out of here."
"But Starsha's map points us straight through this area." Eager protested. "What if we get lost tryin' to go around this magnetron wave thing?"
"'Magnetic' wave." Wildstar corrected. "And I'm with Eager here. What if we do get lost going around? We don't know how long it'll take to avoid it. What if we lose too much time?"
"But if we can go around, I think we have to try." Venture said, "It's the easiest solution, and we won't risk anyone's life to do it."
"Captain?" Sandor looked to Avatar for a final judgment.
"Let's try going around first." The captain said. "It can't hurt to see if there's an alternate route that's already cleared. If we find one, our problem's solved. If we don't, well then, we haven't lost anything in trying."
"Yes, sir." Sandor nodded, then the rest of the officers murmured their supportive agreement. Though Wildstar and Eager didn't look too happy about the captain's decision, they too nodded in acceptance.
The group headed back out to the bridge to try to plot an alternate route.
"Captain." The officer addressed the head of the shadow ship. "The Eratite vessel is coming about. They appear to be trying to leave the area. They don't know that –"
The Captain raised a hand to silence his subordinate. "They'll find out what they've gotten into soon enough. Be ready to assist them should they need it. I don't want them falling prey to such a simple trick as this one."
"Yes, Sir." The officer replied, "I will tell the men to be ready."
"Good." The captain replied. "They must not fail. If they do, my revenge will be incomplete. And that must not happen." The man's fiery green eyes bored into the officer.
"Y-y-yes, Captain." The officer replied, looking away from his commander. "We will make sure that your vengeance is exacted on the usurper. And if we have to give our lives for it, we will."
"I know." The Captain grinned, "That is why I chose to take you with me instead of killing the lot of you. You failed me once. Don't do it again."
"Yes, Captain."
Wolf Frakken looked into his brother-in-law's face, a deep question in his eyes. "You intend to disobey Celestella?" he asked.
"I do." Dommel replied. "I cannot in good conscience do as she demands. I would rather go to prison with a clear conscience than live free with that much regret. Will you help me?"
Frakken sighed, then smiled, "Of course, Dommel. Just let me know what you need done, and I'll do it."
"Thank you, Wolf." Dommel replied, relieved. "The first thing we must do is find the Eratite ship. After that, you will need to board it and take Princess Astra. It will not be easy, that I can assure you. We aren't even sure of the ship's location at the moment."
"My men will find it." Wolf assured, "After all, I don't call my fleet 'Ze'evim' for nothing."
"The best wolves in the GRN." Dommel said, rather proud of what Frakken had come to call "his" fleet. The group of men and women had proven themselves to be excellent trackers and the best stealth unit in the Navy. "Go. Find that ship and bring me back the Iscandarian."
"Aye, Sir." Wolf saluted his brother-in-law casually, and with a smile, disappeared.
"I trust you to do the right thing, Wolf. Celestella has reached too far, and it's time she knew that. Godspeed, brother. Travel well."
With that final thought, Dommel watched as Frakken's pack left Balan and disappeared into subspace, hunting down the scent of the Eratite ship.
Episode 50: Drawn In
"Adjusting course." Venture announced as he changed the ship's heading. Going around this anomaly might take some times, but at least no one would die in the attempt. Mark respected Wildstar's opinion that they should just bowl through whatever it was that was out there, but he couldn't in good conscience possibly sentence his fellow crewmen to death just because he was afraid to try an alternative solution.
Mark sighed as he steered the ship away from the strange object. They were fairly certain by now that the thing was emitting some sort of super-magnetic waves. Whatever it was, it had taken Sandor's scout plane and shaken it to death. At least the crew's EVA suits didn't have any metal in them. Otherwise, the XO would be dead now.
The Argo started to move away from the area.
Mark watched the instruments, expecting their functionality to improve. They didn't.
"Engine room, what's going on down there?" Venture demanded of Orion who was with the rest of the engineering crew.
"I don't know, Venture." The old engineer replied. "I'm givin' ya all we've got, but nothin's happening. I'll have my men check everything down here. It'll take a few minutes, but we should be able to find the problem quick enough."
"Alright." Mark replied, an edge in his voice. The longer they stayed here, the more nervous he got. There was something about this place that made him agitated. Maybe it was that his instruments couldn't tell him exactly what was going on outside. In a way they were sitting here blind. If a Gamilon fleet – or even a single ship for that matter – came upon them, they wouldn't know until it was too late.
Mark looked around the bridge, anxious. The Captain was calmly sitting at the back of the bridge – as usual. Sandor was fiddling with his duty station, trying to get anything to work correctly. Nova was doing the same thing with the radar unit. Homer was being his usual self and staring wide-eyed out the front viewport, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
Mark glanced over at Wildstar. His friend was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, eyes closed, with no apparent care in the world.
How did he do that? It was like Derek wasn't afraid of anything.
Wildstar had been like that ever since Mark had first met him. Nothing seemed to faze the gunnery chief. Except that encounter with whatever had taken over the ship and put most of them in nightmarish comas not too long ago. But Derek had gotten over that fairly quickly.
The navigator looked back at Nova. She was still trying to bring something up on the radar that didn't look like a swarm of ants running all over it.
She was an interesting person, Nova was. Mark had never seen Derek so interested in anyone before. Wildstar and Nova clashed on just about everything, but that only seemed to make Derek more determined to win her over.
It seemed like every time the two talked, they got into a disagreement about something or other, but when it came time to do or die, both of them did their best to keep the ship and the crew safe. At least that was one thing they had in common.
Mark was starting to wonder about Wildstar. After they'd picked up Nova and Rowland from the jungle world, Derek had been talking about the encounter his party had had with those giant cats. Every time he mentioned the incident he talked about how Nova had taken down one of the beasts with a spear. He admired her bravery, that Mark knew. And he could understand it. He was impressed by the slight woman's ability to fight off such a creature too. But Derek wouldn't leave it alone.
Mark sighed again, then looked back at the controls. Alarm shot through him.
"Hey! The display's disappeared!" he exclaimed.
"Relax, Venture." Dash's voice came from the other side of the bridge. "Orion's restarting some systems. You're station will be back online in a minute."
Feeling silly, Mark relaxed again, hoping that most of the bridge crew hadn't noticed his sudden outburst.
He stole a glance over at Derek and noticed the look of amusement on his friend's face.
"Relax, Venture. We'll be fine." Derek said, "Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Orion knows what he's doing. After all, there aren't any more gremlins in the engine, right, Nova."
Mark looked back at Nova. The radar operator's only response was to roll her eyes.
Venture looked back down at his station and was happy to find that his displays were working again, but none of them were functioning correctly.
He sighed again. At least he had practice flying with minimal instruments. He'd had plenty of time to do that when he and Derek were stuck on Mars. Not much else to do besides watch the sand dunes blow from one place to the other.
"Orion. Anything?" Venture asked again.
"Can't find anything, but we're got minimal power to the engine, which is more than we had. I'm givin' you what I've got. For now, you'll have to work with that."
"Alright." Mark replied.
The navigator pushed the ship to go as fast as she could, given her minimal power.
The ship started moving ever so slowly, but as she did, Mark noticed that she was listing a bit starboard. The disorientation wasn't getting any worse, so Mark didn't think anything of it until he heard Nova suddenly exclaim, "I've got radar!"
Then her voice fell, "It's gone again."
"Hey! I've got communications back!" Homer announced.
"Weapons are back online." Derek said.
"Helm's back!" Mark exclaimed as his station came to life and the contents of the various screens before him now made sense again.
"We're eighteen hundred megameters away from that object! We're being pulled in!" Nova exclaimed.
"Orion!" Avatar tried to raise the engine room, "What happened?"
"Can't say, Sir." The old engineer replied. "One second she was dead. The next… she was chuggin' away again." Orion paused for a moment, then continued, "We're getting' a strange signal from the engine core. Like it's puttin' off some kind of energy."
"Well, whatever it is, let's use it to get out of here before that thing pulls us in any farther." Derek put in.
"I agree." Avatar said, "Venture, take us out of here."
Mark nodded and quickly reentered their alternate heading before setting the ship on it.
He accelerated slowly at first, then sped up as the engine got going.
His heart sank into his gut when he looked down at his indicators.
"Captain…" He turned fearful eyes towards Avatar and swallowed hard. "We're not moving."
"Yes, we are." Nova said, "But we're moving the wrong way. We're still being pulled towards that object."
"So whatever the engine's doin', it's not helpin' us." Eager commented.
"No, it is." Nova said, "Without – whatever it's doing – we wouldn't be able to use any of our instruments. It's cancelling out the jamming effect, but it can't stop the magnetic waves from pulling us in."
"We have to find a way to get close to that thing!" Derek exclaimed, then looked to the XO, "Sandor, you can't tell me you don't have any ideas right now."
The science officer tapped a thoughtful finger on his chin for a few seconds.
"I know of one way we might be able to get to it." Sandor finally said, "But I can't guarantee it'll work. I think we'll be able to get to the object, but I don't know if we'll have enough time to figure out how it works before…" He looked up at the Captain, "Before the ship is shaken apart."
"Do whatever you need to." Avatar gave the XO his consent. "Take whoever you need."
Sandor nodded, then looked at Derek, "Wildstar, we're taking the carbon fiber plane out."
"Huh?" Derek gave Sandor a skeptical look, "We have something like that onboard? How come I've never seen it in the hangar?"
"It isn't kept in the hangar." Sandor replied, "It's experimental. I haven't worked out all the problems with it yet."
"Okay, fine. Whatever. Let's just get out there and disarm – or disassemble – or whatever – to that thing." Wildstar got up and was at the door to the bridge in a few seconds, Sandor on his heels.
"Commander." One of Frakken's ships' captains appeared before him.
"Yes." Wolf replied.
"We think we found the Eratite ship. We received a transmission from one of our unmanned survey vessels out near one of the old gates – the one between Bemera and Balan."
"Good work." Wolf said, "Watch them for now. If they're still that far out, we'll have to wait until they get closer. That old gate isn't active yet, so they won't be using it to get here. I doubt they'd even know how to operate such a thing."
"Yes, Commander." The captain saluted and disappeared, the transmission ended."
Frakken looked around the interior of his flagship. It was quite cramped in the small space. His men were squeezed into their respective places, watching everything going on outside on tiny monitors.
There were not viewports, only a wide array of advanced sensors and a periscope that could be raised and lowered at will to take a look outside.
Right now the fleet was sailing through normal space, at no great speed. Stealth was their forte, and stealth required patience, not strength.
Frakken walked slowly from the front of the bridge to the back. It was not a long walk, about twenty feet in all. These ships were built for sailing beneath the surface of the visible dimensions. They were designed to delve deep into subspace – a place that few of his men had ever seen. Some of them had been aboard the prototype ship he had taken out just after Leader Desslok had given him this fleet.
Those few men who had seen that other world had great respect for it. It was not a place to take lightly. In it dwelt innumerable sights unknown to the visible world. There were things there that… he shuddered to think of them… had sent fear into even his stalwart heart. Subspace was no place for cowards. He'd made that clear to any and all who wished to serve under him.
Wolf looked at each and every man he passed. These were the best. They were the Etzuvim – men who had come through some of the most horrific times in Gamilon's history, and survived. If they couldn't face a few more devils in their time, then no one could.
Frakken brought up the engine room on the ship-comm. "Keep it steady."
"Aye." The engineer replied, "Steady as she goes."
Wolf's second-in-command, Gol Haini stepped through the door separating the bridge from the rest of the ship. "What's the plan, Commander?" He asked, his typical half-crazy, half-totally sane look on his face.
Frakken often didn't know what to do with Haini. The man could be reckless, but often times he was more careful than Frakken was. Haini had come highly recommended from Admiral Talan himself.
Frakken had been skeptical when he'd first met Gol. That had been the day they'd taken UX-01 – this flagship – out into the subspace for the first time.
Haini's reaction to seeing what so many others were petrified to face was laughter. Wolf had looked at Gol as though he'd lost his mind, and Frakken still wasn't convinced he hadn't. Wolf had asked Haini why he'd taken such sights as the ones in subspace so lightly.
Gol's response had been, "I've seen my share of devils and ghosts already, Frakken. There's not much else for me to see."
Frakken looked at Haini and replied, "For now, we wait. The Eratite ship is still too far off. But she's coming. When she's here, we'll do what we've been sent to do."
"But what if we can't find Princess Astra before we're discovered?" Haini asked.
"Playing Devil's advocate again?" Frakken asked.
"Someone's gotta do it." Haini said with a smirk. "You're too confident sometimes, Wolf."
Frakken sighed, "Perhaps. But I know what my crew can accomplish. I wasn't given Etzuvim for nothing."
"Aye. That's so." Haini chuckled and clapped his Commander on the back, "And we've all heard the stories about you too. It seems you come recommended from not only the Leader, but from the former Queen Talonka herself. That's quite a list of recommendations – even for one of us. The men respect you. You can't ask for much else."
Frakken nodded, "Waiting will be hard for some of them, but once it's time to strike, we will go in quickly and leave without a trace. That will be a challenging task for them."
"They won't take it lightly." Haini replied.
Wolf nodded, "I would expect no less."
Melda – Dara – fiddled with her communicator, trying to raise her father – Melda's father – but so far she wasn't getting any response from him. She'd been trying to call Dietz for some time now – off and on for over thirty-six hours. Surely he hadn't been away from any sort of communication for that long.
Dara thought back to her conversations with Emma. Everything the girl said was hard for Dara to hear, but though she understood Emma's plight, she couldn't agree with her.
She'd been reading through Melda's Book and notes over and over, trying to figure out exactly what the young woman had known when she'd set out aboard Cobel in the first place. Why had she come on that last mission? Surely she hadn't intended to kill anyone. And she most certainly hadn't intended to harm the Eratites.
Perhaps Melda had been the reason for Cobel's survival. Had the woman somehow sabotaged the ship so that it would leave the conflict early, thereby escaping destruction?
Dara racked her brain as she tried one more time to contact Gul Dietz.
She was just about to hang up when the face of Babette suddenly appeared before her.
"Melda! Dear girl, I'm so glad you've called!" the older woman's eyes were full of fear and she kept her voice low as she spoke to Dara. "Something terrible has happened."
"What is it?" Dara asked, concern rising in her at the housekeeper's words.
"Admiral Dietz… he's been taken away." Babette whispered, clearly petrified. "They – the soldiers – they caught him and his entire rebel group during a strike here in Belarus."
"What?!" Dara asked, sharply, surprised. She hadn't known Dietz was going to be doing any such thing. He hadn't mentioned it in any conversation she'd had with him.
"Something happened and he couldn't get away. I think he was trying to give his men time to get out of the area. He's… been taken to Leptopoda, the prison world."
"Leptopoda? I've never heard of it." Dara thought, then said to Babette, "Is he alright?"
"I don't know." The old woman replied, the sheen of tears falling over her eyes, "They won't let me speak to him. I even offered some of them bribes to let me see him, but they wouldn't take them. Please, Melda, if you can, make sure your father is alright. I hate to think of what Mad Dog Bozen might do to him – or any of the other rebels that were caught."
"I'll… do what I can." Dara replied, unsure of what she could do, if anything.
"Thank you, dear." Babette replied, looking just the slightest bit relieved. "Come home safe."
"I will." Dara nodded to the old woman.
"Take care of yourself, you hear." The housekeeper chided. "I have to get this house back in order before you and your father get home. Those soldiers trashed it."
"Thank you, Babette. We'll both be home soon." Dara reassured the woman, then ended the call. Her heart ached to have to lie to the sweet old lady like that. Melda would never come home, and the Admiral… well, there was no way of knowing if Dara could even find him.
"Computer, where is Leptopoda?" she asked.
"Leptopoda is fifty lightyears' distant." The A.I. replied.
"Could I get there in a fighter?" she asked.
"Negative. A fighter's fuel capacity is not great enough to accommodate such a journey." The computer drones.
"Then what does have enough fuel to get there?" Dara asked, a little frustrated.
"A scout ship retains enough fuel for one thousand lightyears' travel. Other options include – "
"That's fine." Dara stopped the computer. "Show me all the documentation you have on how to operate and maintain one of those scout ships."
Dara went over to the terminal set in Melda's room's wall and watched as a plethora of documents appeared before her.
"This is going to take a while…" she groaned, then settled in for a long night of reading.
"Ah… ladies." Warden Bozen greeted the three women he'd appropriated from the new arrivals. "You are all here for various… reasons."
The large man paced back and forth across the large room they now occupied. It wasn't ornate by any measure of the word, and Elisa was sure that this wasn't Bozen's quarters. In the low light Elisa saw several places on the dull walls where lights could be mounted and lit. There were sparse furnishings: a few small tables and several chairs. Across the room there were two simple beds lined up along the wall. A few other items littered the area and there was a small door near the farthest bed – most likely leading to a bathing area.
"I know you want to know why you're here." Bozen stated, leering at one of the other two women.
The man let out a gravelly laugh when the woman shrank away from him.
"Oh, don't worry too much, little prisoner." He grabbed the woman's chin and pulled her towards him. Elisa cringed and looked away as she heard the sick sound of the hideous warden kissing the frightened woman.
Bozen's footsteps sounded in Elisa's ears as she heard him approach the second woman, the one standing next to her.
"I am not a cruel host – at least, not to those whom I choose to favor."
Elisa fought the urge to be sick as she heard the man force a kiss on the other woman as well.
Her heart felt like it would beat out of her chest. The thought of that churlish pig laying so much as a hand on her scared her more than anything she'd ever faced before.
Her eyes still closed, she heard Bozen step in front of her. Head down, she avoided looking at the warden. Maybe keeping her eyes shut would help.
Bozen grabbed her by the chin, just like the first woman, and jerked her face upward so he could see her.
Elisa braced herself for what she knew would come.
"Well, well…" Bozen muttered, "Councilor, why do you not look at me when I'm trying to speak with you?"
Elisa, surprised, opened her eyes.
"That's better." Bozen let go of her face. "When I read your name on the prisoner manifest, I knew I had to have you." He leered at Elisa. "You will be the perfect candidate to assist me in my dealings with some of the higher ranking Cometine prisoners here."
Elisa's guarded face faltered and her surprise shone through.
Bozen laughed. "You really thought I was foolish enough to try to claim the wife of the great General Lysis? He would kill me where I stand." The warden chuckled. "You will be taken to your own quarters." Bozen motioned for two guards to come and take Elisa, then he said to the men, "If either of you touch her, you'll never breathe again."
The men nodded solemnly and guided Elisa out of the dim room.
Soon she found herself in a halfway decent chamber, alone. She went over to the bed and fell onto it, weeping with the overwhelming relief that both she and her son or daughter were safe – for now.
"Hey…"
Starsha turned around to see Adam walking up behind her. "Hello." She replied.
"Nice night." The young man said, coming to stand beside the Iscandari Queen as she looked out on one of the courtyards surrounding the palace.
"It is." She replied simply.
There was silence between the two for a long time as both Iscandari and Eratite were content to watch as the night deepened around them.
"What's that?" Adam pointed to a tiny light that suddenly appeared, then vanished again. "There's another one!" he pointed off in another direction.
All around them a host of tiny lights appeared.
Starsha laughed quietly, "Surely you have something like them on Erats – Earth. Alex has mentioned them before. I think you would call them 'fireflies.'" The young queen held out a hand and one of the little things lighted on one of her fingers. "Here." She held out her hand to the young man. "They don't bite."
Adam cupped his hand around the Queen's finger and took the tiny insect. "I used to play with these little guys at home… before the bombings started… Haven't seen one since I was about sixteen."
"The plague took my people, but it left the wildlife alone. Though there is no one else living here now, there are hosts of creatures here and on all the other islands. I've seen many marvelous beasts grace the palace grounds since my people were taken from me. The absence of people has made even the most timid of beasts bold enough to come near places they would once never had gone near."
"What kinds of animals?" Adam asked, curious.
Starsha pulled out her Interface and turned it on, then began bringing up images of some of the animals she'd seen as of late.
There was horses, several species of deer, birds of all shapes and sizes, something that resembled a lion, as well as other things – bears, hyenas, a wolf. All looked a bit different than the animals Adam was used to seeing on Earth, but all were just as magnificent as the ones he had once seen at home.
"Wow…" Adam said in awe, then he realized something about the images, "Did you take these pictures?"
"Yes." Starsha nodded, "I like to watch the animals come and go. There's no one else to see, other than you and Alex."
"You're a pretty good photographer." Adam said.
Starsha smiled, "Thank you, but it's only something to pass the time. There's no practical use for such a skill right now after all."
"You think you could show me?" Adam asked.
"I… suppose I could." The young queen replied, "But –"
The Interface went wild, flashing uncontrollably in brilliant bursts of light.
"Something's wrong!" Starsha turned and without another word ran past Adam back into the palace.
Adam could hear the Queen talking to herself in her own language. He caught most of what she said and realized that she was praying – calling on God to protect the crew of the ship that he and Alex were waiting for.
Adam ran after the woman, wide-eyed, adding his own prayer to Iscandari's, hoping that there was something that could be done to help the coming ship escape whatever danger they'd come upon this time.