by Alex Guerra
“I thought about it, but it wouldn’t help right now,” she said, then paused for a moment, her voice trembling. “I can’t stop thinking about my grandmother.”
“She was brave. The last thing she thought about was you,” I said, thinking back to the last video call we had with her as we left Vallus. “And I made her a promise to keep you safe, so you don’t have anything to worry about now.” I gave her a small smile to convey my support. She reminded me of my little sister, Josie, and I wanted her to know she wasn’t alone.
She smiled back. “You’re sweet, Art. Thank you...I wish I would have spent more time with her—with my grandmother,” she said, hanging her head in remorse, her shoulders curled in like the weight of her guilt was crushing her. “I would always find a way to sneak away from her invitations, concentrating on my job or flat out lying at times...and I can’t think of a good reason why I did that now. I’ll never get the chance to see her again.”
“Kayt…” I started, not sure what to say. “At least you got to speak with her one last time. She cared about you, and I am sure she didn’t blame you for not seeing her more.”
“I wasn’t fair to her. My parents passed away when I was very young, and she raised me,” she explained, looking at me with eyes that plead for understanding. “I should have given her more time.”
“You can’t live with that regret. She loved you, and sometimes we don’t give our elders the time they deserve. It doesn’t mean you didn’t love her back,” I said.
“You’re right, but still...I wish there were more time.” Her face slowly morphing from that of remorse to anger as she curled her small fingers into a tightly bound fist. “I’m going to make the Darkkon pay,” she seethed.
“I know you will. We’ll fight back, and I will be right there with you,” I assured her, looking directly into her coal black eyes.
“Thank you, Art. It really helped,” she said, and we both stood there for a moment, lost in out own thoughts
I thought back to Jan, the older Codari woman leading the council along with Onna Tul and the others. She was strong and wise, and when the time came, she wanted us to escape and not throw away our lives when she saw an unbeatable threat. She saved her granddaughter with her decision, something I wondered if influenced her decision to have us leave in the first place. Would she have asked us to stay had Kayton not been aboard The Pillar? I questioned. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done had the woman begged me to stay. It was in the past—and she didn’t ask. The older woman had guts, to say the least—as does Kayton. I pondered if any other ships besides ours and the one carrying Princess Ellia escaped. I hoped so, but seeing the video earlier, I doubt anyone was still alive.
Dotty, what’s the timeframe for Princess Ellia’s ship entering the Fengar system?
Her ship should arrive in the next twelve days, had they taken a similar route to our previous itinerary.
It was something to keep track of. As Prince Ibram’s wife, she was bound to know something. With the way everyone reacted today in the chamber, we would need to keep her arrival under wraps. They would string her up in the street if they got their hands on her, as she didn’t have Seya’s reputation to save her. Ellia also didn’t seem like the kind of person who would give information like that freely. It put me in a bind, and she wasn’t even in the same system yet. I made a mental note to speak with Seya and Lena, to ensure the princess’s safety upon arrival.
“Thinking about what’s next?” asked Kayton.
“That obvious?” I smirked. “I know it’s going to take some time, but I’d like for you to rein in the team a bit in the coming days. We still have a job to do, and they’ll be looking to you for guidance.”
“More training?” she asked.
“More training,” I said with finality. “You aren’t tied to this system’s chain of command, and I’d much rather have you all along with me than being transferred to Fengar forces.
“Of course, I’m going to stay with you,” she said, furrowing her brow as if there were any other alternatives. But there were.
“I have a proposal for you as well, something that you can bring up to the team in time. The next time we head out, I can drop anyone off at the planet of their choosing. Maybe your people’s homeworld of Alcon for instance?”
She turned towards me with a hard look, crossing her arms. “Are you trying to get rid of us?” she asked.
“Not at all, but I don’t want to give you the impression that you need to stay with me either,” I said. Before she could protest, I held up a hand and added, “It’s just an option; I’m not forcing anyone’s hand.”
“I’m not leaving you to fight on your own,” she said. “Besides, you wouldn’t last a day without me.”
“That right?”
“That’s a fact,” she smirked, placing a hand on her hip with her mood lifting slightly. “I’ll square the team away tomorrow morning. They’ll be so tired they won’t have the energy to think about anything else.”
“Good, I’ll leave it to you then. Seya and I will be seeing the factories tomorrow and checking their progress. Lena also wants Seya for a time to shoot some footage of her for the video we will be sending out.”
“A message from Seya Aranis herself to fight her former empire? Who would say no?” she chuckled.
“That’s the goal anyway.” I shrugged. “Getting the message out is our first priority.”
“Let’s hope we’re not too late,” said Kayton.
SEVEN
Seya and I met with Chief Foreman Unner in the morning. The squat alien started our factory tour on a small flying vehicle. As we rushed past assembly lines putting together the drones, I thought about the team. This morning in the lounge, Kayton took my advice, announcing that she would hold a training session today. I pitied those who went to the beach yesterday for a drink. Bon stood on weak legs this morning at breakfast, something he would regret today. It was for their own good—I couldn’t have a team wallowing about, getting into trouble. We were still guests on Fengar, and their actions could reflect poorly on Seya—and myself.
“How many drones can you make in a day?” asked Seya.
“Each factory makes nine a day. Nine factories make eighty-one,” replied Unner We must run diagnostics afterward and install software—to include conglomerate encryption—on the drones. Don’t want to run the risk of this tech falling into the wrong hands.” The foreman flew us to another part of the factory.
While the factory was fully automated, there were still a few workers on the ground floor. They looked to be checking certain parts on their dataslate at regular intervals—what I imagined were key points in the process. Stopping at the factory control room, numerous displays showed various stages of the assembly line as Unner explained a bit of what each station did.
The versatility of the factory was incredible. It was able to mass produce items from the size of ship parts to items as small as a tennis ball. It all depended on the configuration of the flooring to account for the space needed. The factory pumped out smaller objects at a furious pace, while the larger ship parts would take days to make. Assembly of the larger pieces needed to happen at a different location, allowing the factories to keep producing uninterrupted. The factories could supply the population with small arms in days. On the other hand, a patrol vessel—one of the conglomerate’s smallest vessels—would take a little over a week. It was too slow to allow us to build a fleet overnight. We would require additional factories to manufacture the ships to stand a chance, something that was not going to happen until we sent out the drones. I cursed under my breath.
Unner told us that the ships made in his factories alone only accounted for around twenty percent of the conglomerate fleet. He estimated his total contribution to be around six to seven hundred vessels. The rest of the fleet were like conglomerate owned pirate ships, commonly found in wild space out in the fringes of this arm of the galaxy. It was easy to forget that the Galactic Conglomerate was more of a
militia than official fighting force, something that we hoped to rectify in the coming weeks. For all I knew, we were already too late to make any difference. I reminded myself to stay positive, considering yesterday’s news of Vallus.
Vira messaged us this morning that she was on track with her creation of the fleet-based manipulators and would finish in another three days. I suggested that we continue producing drones until her work was complete. When I told Unner about the manipulator’s, he estimated that each factory would be able to make two a day. We would need to prioritize recruiting systems possessing more factories to help with the fabrication process.
Looking around the factory a bit more, I noticed there was an extreme lack of security. I didn’t want to risk the possibility of sabotage by an imperial agent, even if the likelihood appeared slim. Now was the time to proceed with extreme caution, and I made a note to ask Lena to position more security personnel around the factories over the next few weeks as a precaution.
I began making contingency plans to give to Lena as well. They included the use of the manipulators to send science and colony ships to systems that were previously out of reach. This would have to be the conglomerate’s last effort to preserve their civilizations. I stayed active with planning, cautioning on the side of going overboard. It was something that needed considering, in case everything went down the drain. There were most likely others in the Circles that were also planning, but I felt better doing my part. Not wanting to overstep my bounds, I ran each suggestion by Seya, who placed her stamp of approval on them, making it easier to get through to the Outer Circle.
It was late morning when Lena messaged Seya, asking to meet her in another part of the city—my partner was to play hero for the cameras. We thanked Unner for the tour and promised to keep in touch with him once the change in production was set. The edited video message would be ready by this evening, and we would send the first drones immediately. Seya and I split ways as I made my way to the beach to join Kayton and the rest of the team.
Taking the transport over the wall, I set the vehicle down on the beach. A group of wary faces greeted me, all huddling around a sparring match between Nadu and Ornay. Stepping close to Kayton, I gave her arm a little squeeze to let her know that I was close by.
Nadu was a good foot taller than the other Codari, but I still stood a few inches above him. He had the reach and a raw, wiry power to his attacks. Ornay was a little shorter, only a few inches over five feet—about average for a Codari. The two lunged at one another and successfully blocked each other’s blows while striking with another part of their body. The troopers had a fluid martial art they followed. It had a lot of moves where they both attacked and guarded at the same time, never leaving themselves completely open.
Nadu struck out at Ornay in a lightning-quick jab, catching the smaller Codari in the chin. Ornay flew to the sand in an instant, yielding before the next blow came.
“Enough!” shouted Kayton, marking the end of the matchup. “Ornay, are you alright?”
“Yes, Commander!” he said, taking Nadu’s hand to help himself up. He rubbed his chin and walked over to the group. Ellar took a quick look at him to make sure he was alright.
“Make sure to block your face better next time. Someone knocks you out or gets you in the eye, you won’t be alive for long,” said Kayton. “Nadu, you good for another round?”
“I can do this all day, Commander. I don’t want anyone to think that piloting is the only thing I’m good at,” said the lanky trooper.
“How about it, Art? Think you can take him?” asked Kayton.
“Let’s find out,” I said, with a shrug. I walked out of the huddle and into a circle drawn in the sand. It was about fifteen yards in diameter. “Anything I need to know about the circle?”
“If you get both feet out of the circle at that point, the match resets with you two in the center,” she said, placing a hand on her hip. “Go until one of you submits, or I stop the match for safety reasons.”
“Easy enough,” I said.
I stretched a little before taking my position across from Nadu, who gave me a quick smile. Confidence or cockiness? I thought, dropping into my ready stance.
“Begin!” shouted Kayton.
Nadu and I circled each other for a few moments sizing the other up. The combat mind prodded me, wanting me to unleash it, so it could fulfill its purpose. Allowing it to seep into my very muscles and bones, the power consumed me as I homed in on my opponent. He took a few light jabs at me with his backhand.
He’s gauging distance. If he can hit me with the back fist, he can rip me with the front with ease, I thought. It was a basic fighting technique. He exploded with a surprise kick which I blocked, then followed up with a straight one. It pushed me back a few feet, putting some distance between us.
I moved towards the center not wanting to be any closer to a reset. He didn’t repeat the same move as before, and I expected no less. Confidence grew on his face. He unleashed a series of punches, coming from all angles. While I deflected or blocked most of the strikes, he managed to land a good one on my ribs. He kept pressing, but he was off balance.
The next time I caught his arm, I rolled onto my back in the sand and drove a leg into his midsection, tossing him several feet out of the ring.
He yelped in the air and landed flat on his back. Afterward, he was lying in the sand, writhing in pain. Ellar checked on him but didn’t seem worried.
Brushing some of the sand off, I walked over to check on the pilot. “Sorry, are you alright, Nadu?” I asked.
He struggled for air but nodded at me.
“Anyone else feeling up to it?” I asked the group.
Kayton looked around at the team. “No one? Well then, I’ll show you all how it’s done,” she taunted, leaving the lineup, a profound smirk carved into her cheek.
We took our starting positions in the center of the circle.
“I’m not going to go easy on you,” I warned, dropping into a ready stance.
“Good, because I wasn’t going to go easy either,” she replied.
Her open-handed posture showed me that she was most likely to grapple. Overcommitting on the move would leave me open.
“Begin!” shouted Ellar.
Kayton didn’t grab me right away. Instead, a lot of our fighting consisted of striking and blocking. She planted her feet in spots that could hook my leg and bring the fight to the ground with ease, but she didn’t bother with the transition yet.
Is she toying with me? I thought.
I needed to keep my distance, but if we went to the ground, I would have the size. Kayton most likely weighed under a hundred pounds. With an extra foot on her and double the weight, I could muscle my way out of her grapples.
She caught my leg and yanked forward. The thought of my fight with Garvo came up, and I threw myself to the ground, preventing the inevitable split. Before I could move from my back, she recovered and punched me square in the mouth, splitting my lip over my teeth. The team let out invested gasps and cheers.
Kayton was hustling me. Her speed dwarfed my own, and she held it back the entire time.
I put an arm up just in time to block another strike towards my face. This was something she must have been waiting for, as she locked my arm between her arms and legs and rolled to the opposite side, flipping me onto my stomach. Kayton had me stuck in an arm-bar. The tendons straining around my elbow, but I wasn’t about to tap-out just yet.
Digging into the sand with my free arm, I managed to flip myself into a position where she no longer had my elbow locked. She saw my attempt to get free and threw kicks at me. I took a few lumps but succeeded in the position change.
She let go of me, knowing the change would put her at a disadvantage if she held on. With my own burst of speed, I tackled her from behind before she could get up. We landed in a sandy pile, caking every bit of the two of us. Scrambling up, I managed to get a light chokehold on her from behind. I was content with knowing I didn’t n
eed the combat mind. I was also afraid to use it, as this was a sparring match and not a life or death situation.
With my position on top of her and a light squeeze of her neck, her efforts were futile. No longer in range of any of her strikes, she struggled for a few moments before tapping out with a dissatisfied grunt.
Had she broken my elbow earlier, it would have ended the match. She had a mixed feeling of contentment and frustration at losing. It was difficult to see the extent of skill when caution was in place. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Kayton, had this been real combat.
“Good job,” I said, rubbing my elbow.
She lightly grabbed my chin, inspecting her work of my lip. “A gift for you to think about later,” she said, playfully pushing my head aside.
“Yeah…thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes. She fared better than Nadu did. I wasn’t worried about that though—his place was in an armored suit. If he had to leave it, there was a smaller rifle he could take with him. I was happy with the results, and the team continued to prove their mettle repeatedly.
“We’re not done, people. Bon, Garvo, get in there,” said Kayton, rubbing her neck. “Habi and Ellar, you’re next.”
The two of us broke off from the team and went to the shore to wash off. The ocean was warm now at midday, like bathwater. Tentatively entering the surf, I stopped when the waterline came up to my waist. A brief dive underwater allowed me to scrub the sand out of my hair before I came back up. Turning around, Kayton was standing next to me.
“I had you earlier in the match,” said Kayton.
“I know.” I shrugged.
“Sorry about your lip.”
I ran my tongue over the fresh cut, feeling it swelling beneath. “I’ll be alright,” I said. “Feeling better?”
“A little. Your suggestion to get everyone training today was good. A couple of them were upset or hungover, but no one fought me on it when I told them this morning,” she said, watching the match on the beach for a moment.