From the Ashes

by A B Lucian

  “Skrill is like family to me. I can’t let him risk his life alone. And yes, I have a daughter, but perhaps it’s time to stop teaching our children to hate humans and to live in fear of arkanians. We betrayed the humans once and worked toward their defeat, and what did that bring us? As soon as they were done with Earth, the arkanians turned their guns on Sylosia and Kohir and Lorr. I don’t know about you, but my father always filled my head with the most shameful lies about humans and I’m finally sick of it. I knew they were lies, but I enjoyed believing them. It’s nice to have someone to blame and hate for all your troubles, isn’t it?”

  Alora scowled. “How dare you?”

  Merril held up a slim hand. “I’m merely telling you I saw what they’re really like today. They deserve our help. I want to see Lorr free again as much as Yosh Farmer wants a free Earth and Skrill a free Sylosia. So I will join and do what I can to help Yosh and your Captain Dupont. And perhaps when Earth is free, Yosh Farmer will remember the wish of a foolish lorran who once bullied him in an arkanian slave colony. And perhaps he will lend us his strength when we march to free Lorr.”

  “You have my word,” Yosh said without hesitation.

  Merril continued. “Now what about you?” His slim blue finger pointed at Alora. “You wear that suit and those colors, and even though I know everyone in the Royal Guard perished, I’m willing to consider you their successor if it is your desire... So, is the Lorran Royal Guard going to lend its strength to the Protector Yosh Farmer?”

  The muscles lining Alora’s thin jaw twitched. Her eyes were wide and her blue pupils were larger than Yosh had ever seen them. Her lips flapped briefly and Yosh thought she would hit Merril, but she turned to Yosh, placed her rifle at his feet and went down on one knee. “The Lorran Royal Guard stands beside you in the battles to come. Our strength is yours to command.”

  They were all silent afterward. Skrill patted Yosh on the shoulder, almost knocking him to the ground, and then the four of them left the bridge. Yosh’s head was spinning. He was hoping to leave Ara on a planet at least—somewhere safe. She was the only non-combatant on their ship and they would be a prime target for any arkanian forces for a long time. Yosh couldn’t let anything bad happen to her, especially not after breaking his promise to save her mother.

  ◆◆◆

  “Well captain, I think she’s up for a hyperspace jump. We sealed the breaches, ejected the corpses, clamped the Archibald to the cruiser, and all systems are operational,” Headly said from his console.

  They had taken position in low orbit close to Essa’s northern magnetic pole for the past few days until everything was ready. The heavy cruiser had served as Mikail’s flagship so it made sense to use it as their base of operations instead of the Archibald. It had the best equipment the arkanian navy could field, months worth of fuel, the holds were stocked full of supplies—arkanian food tasted like bloody rubber, but it was edible, and they had enough torpedoes to level a planet even without the ship’s nuclear arsenal.

  “So what shall it be?” Bob said from the navigation console, looking at Yosh.

  “We need to find other members of the old rebellion and convince them to join us. We definitely need more ships and manpower, but I don’t really know where to look,” Yosh said hurriedly. He had rehearsed this answer in his head while they had prepared. He looked at Captain Dupont. “Captain, have you kept in touch with any other members of the old rebellion?”

  “With some, but we have not spoken in years.” Captain Dupont sighed. “They are always on the move and I’m used to them finding me, not the other way around. I honestly have no idea where to look for them. Your grandfather would have known a lot more.”

  Yosh sighed and considered what to do. He wished he would have found a solution by now, but there had been so much to do. He thought of Obelyn, the merchant. “If we can track down Obelyn, he might know more. He definitely wasn’t just a merchant, and he was definitely eager to see the rebellion bloom again.”

  “Thought of a good name for your ship, Yosh?” Sabina interrupted from the security console. “I don’t think we can pronounce the name it has in Arkanian.”

  It hadn’t occurred to Yosh. It felt premature somehow, but why not? His sister was right and the crew on the bridge looked at him expectantly. He thought about it for a moment and it just struck him. He grinned. “Yes, I do have a name for her.”

  “So it’s a her, is it?” Sabina said and grinned back.

  Yosh clasped his hands tight behind his back, like he saw Captain Dupont do a thousand times, and walked to the center of the bridge where everyone could see and hear him. “From this moment on, this ship, Mikail’s former flagship and the most advanced piece of technology the Arkanian Empire owned, belongs to the New Rebellion. From this moment on her name will be the Blue Pearl, the New Rebellion’s headquarters and the Protectors of the Earth’s new flagship, born from the courage and sacrifice of our friends and the arkanians’s arrogance.”

  The crew smiled and Captain Dupont nodded approvingly. “Good name. So, where do we find Obelyn?”

  Yosh pursed his lips. “I don’t know. He was always very secretive of the places he’d been too. I have a feeling he wasn’t entirely honest about where he docked.”

  Sabina lifted a slim finger. “If we don’t know exactly where we’re going yet, I suggest we go to the Sol system. I know a few people at Pluto Station. They might help us hide this hulking monster of a ship somewhere remote and far-away. Then we can go to Luna and inquire about rebellion contacts, discreet like.”

  Yosh rubbed his chin, nodding. “I like the idea of going to Sol.”

  “Good, my contacts on Pluto—”

  “No, we’re not going to Pluto Station.”

  “What? Where then?”

  Yosh turned to Headly. “How fast can we jump after we arrive at Sol?”

  Headly blinked and rubbed his fat cheeks. “Tough to say with this ship—the Blue Pearl I mean. I think it needs at least an hour between jumps.”

  “An hour, eh?” Yosh paced up and down the command deck. “Can you bring that time down, Mister Headly?”

  Headly’s chin trembled. “Well, I suppose I could cut a few corners, but I’d advise against it…”

  “Great, bring it down to thirty minutes please.”

  A spasm ran through Headly’s body. “Thirty? But… Well, I must admit, I am curious to see how far we can push this giant bucket of bolts.”

  Yosh smiled at him. “Good, please get on it.”

  “Yosh Farmer, what are you planning?” Captain Dupont interjected.

  Yosh held up a finger and walked to Bob’s console. “Helmsman.”

  “Yes, sir,” Bob answered, a broad smile on his face and controlled admiration in his eyes.

  “Prepare for a jump to Sol.”

  “Pluto Jump Point, sir?”

  “No,” Yosh said and turned toward Captain Dupont. “Jump us as close to Luna as you can.”

  “Understood,” Bob said uncertainly.

  Eyes widened across the bridge. Captain Dupont crossed his arms over his chest. “Yosh Farmer. Why not the Pluto Jump Point and why so close to Luna?”

  “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m sick and tired of being discreet. We just killed Mikail the Betrayer! We stole his flagship. The Arkanian Secret Police will be reeling and by now rumors have surely spread. We need to push our advantage while the arkanians are in confused. We don’t know where we can find other freedom fighters and members of the old rebellion,” he said as if talking to himself, “so we have to let them find us. We have to tell them we’re here and that we’re kicking the arkanians in the teeth. Helm, once you’ve plotted the jump take us in. Communications, prepare to broadcast on all frequencies when we arrive. We’ll blast a few arkanian installations, rattle our sabers, bang our shields, and hope someone besides the arkanians is listening.”

  “Oh, I like this plan much better,” Sabina said.

  Captain Dupont seemed speechle
ss, but he nodded his assent.

  “Ready to jump,” Bob said.

  Yosh leaned against Assai’s seat hoping he knew what he was doing. Her tail wrapped around his thigh and her fingers intertwined with his. “Let’s let our arkanian overlords know that things have changed.” He nodded to Bob. “Jump.”

  THE END… I hope you enjoyed the beginning of Yosh’s journey. Please consider giving this book a quick review on Amazon. Even a simple, “Liked it”, “Hated it”, or “Meh” helps tremendously. So please swing over to the book page [link] and leave your opinion, since the rating you leave on the next page is used by Amazon only for their recommendation engine.

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