by Zara Zenia
They headed to Vurt. Oszul held another meeting with the Qetesh and his second Hjott officer, Dariux. He was the one who'd been wrongly imprisoned and given a full pardon. Treasure felt sorry for the guy. He also seemed a lot more approachable, humble, than a lot of the Hjotts.
They sat around the dining table, but there was no food this time. They were just there to have a meeting. Treasure assumed that Raven, Sapphina, and herself were only invited as a token gesture.
Dariux said, "We strongly believe the escaped prisoners are the ones behind all that's been going on. An Aulius criminal named Tr'Zerza is suspected to be the leader of this group of terrorists."
"I want you to research as much as you can about him," Oszul said to Treasure. "You're new to the goings on here. I want you and your agents to be up-to-speed."
"Is that all you want us to do?" asked Treasure.
"There's really nothing else to do here. As my men are busy with basic ship tasks, I don't think there's anyone else trustworthy enough. These are confidential documents."
"I see. It's too important for anyone but us, right?" asked Treasure sarcastically.
Oszul and Dariux didn't seem to pick up on her attitude. The Hjott people weren't known for being good at reading subtle emotions. "That is exactly why I want you to do it. It will help when we're making decisions on the mission together too." He smiled like he knew some big secret.
The jerk actually thought he was tricking the Qetesh women.
After they left the meeting, Treasure waited for the others to leave before doubling back down the hall. She quietly found Oszul and followed him to his quarters. Deriux soon met him there and the door was closed behind them. She pressed her ear up to the door and was relieved to realize she could hear them. They had to be standing right near the door. Otherwise it would have been too thick for the sound to travel through.
The two Hjotts were already in conversation by the time she was able to start eavesdropping. "—is how we will have to handle her and the other two Terrans."
"Are you sure that will work? I suspect she didn't believe your sincerity about this task," said Deriux. He was clearly more in touch with how the Terrans acted. Maybe that just came from being less egotistical.
"You heard her. She agrees that this little research task is too important for anyone but her and her agents."
What Oszul said next sent a jolt of pure anger through Treasure. She started to have tunnel vision, and her heart rate sped up. Then she heard footsteps from within Oszul's quarters and quickly walked away.
Heading back to her own quarters, she told Raven and Sapphina about what she'd heard. They needed to come up with a little plan of their own. A secret one about what they would do upon landing on Vurt. Oszul clearly underestimated the extent of Qetesh training. While Hjotts were a warrior race, using their might to hold power over their territory—the Qetesh were experts at gathering intel.
"And that is exactly what we'll do," Treasure finished telling the other two women. "You've trained for this. I have faith in both of you. We'll show them who's capable of doing what."
Chapter 5
Oszul
Oszul was in the cabin room of the Scorpius overseeing their progress. Things had been going to routine. Overall this was a dull mission so far.
"We will arrive at the ice planet Vurt soon," said the Hjott officer who was piloting the ship. "We should have a safe route from what I can see." Just as he said that, the comm starting beeping and lit up. It was a message coming through from outside the ship. Oszul got the immediate feeling that there was something bad going on.
"Sir, there's a message coming from the surface of Less Prorr." This was one of the moons of Prorr, which were used as Hjott bases in defense of Jatra. "It's from our men."
"Answer it," said Oszul.
"Commander Oszul?" a voice came through. It was distorted by static and hard to hear. "We have a possible location of the escaped Aulius terrorists. I am sending through the coordinates to you." They ended the communication then. There was no point staying in contact longer than necessary. That would only give enemy spies more chances to listen in. The details came through and Oszul saw that the escapees were on Vurt.
They continued on their way to Vurt. It was less worrying to now have the location of the escaped criminals they were looking for. Once they arrived near the planet, Oszul ordered a scan to be done of the surface.
Eventually the comm officer picked something up. "Sir, there's a message coming through. I'm not sure who it is. They're using an encrypted signal. Should I start trying to decrypt it?"
"Yes. Let's just see who it is first and what they want from us." He wasn't sure why he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. But it was there, and it was making him feel anxious.
"If there are any females onboard the Hjott ship, they will be captured. Repeat: if the Hjott ship orbiting Vurt lands, and there are any females onboard, they will be captured." The voice was masked with a filter. It was impossible to know who they were from their voice alone.
"I'm not going to be able to decrypt the channel they're using, Sir," said the comm officer. "I would cautiously recommend that we take their warning seriously."
The Qetesh agents came onto the bridge with concerned looks on their faces. They might have overheard what was going on. That would only make things more frustrating. These women are going to demand to be involved in our decision process now, Oszul thought.
"Dariux, what do you make of this?" Oszul asked his real second in command. He knew asking his own Hjott officer for help and ignoring the Terrans would raise their ire. He didn't care at this moment.
"I don't know if that was a warning, or a threat," replied Dariux. "Either way, I also think we need to take it very seriously. Assume that it's true for now, because we have no way to verify it."
"I knew having your agents on this mission would complicate things," said Oszul to Treasure. "I never thought you would be putting the entire mission in danger just with your presence. Otherwise I would have insisted that you were not allowed to come."
The Terran woman stood there with her mouth agape for a moment. "Are you serious? How dare you imply that—"
"I'm not implying anything. You heard that message, correct? Even though you should have been doing the research I assigned to you instead of listening in on us here."
"Listening in on a mission I'm part of? I can't even begin to express how disrespectful you're being right now," said Treasure. Her face was going red, and she looked like she wanted to physically harm him.
"However you feel about it, we mustn't worry about being attacked and protecting you and your agents. Can I have a private word with you?" Oszul asked, gesturing to a nearby supply room.
"Of course," she said, following him into the room. He closed the door and faced her. "I hope you brought me in here to apologize for your outrageous behavior."
"I will not apologize when I've done nothing wrong. Stating the facts is never a wrong doing." Oszul was starting to become tongue tied. He knew he was coming off as an ass but found it hard to control his emotions. This woman was completely out of line. The way she made him feel so allured by her was just an extra frustration. Her beautiful eyes were full of fire. Her scowling face was somehow even more attractive than usual. There was so much passion in her expression that it drove him mad.
"Well, what do you want with me? You clearly have no intentions of truly letting me be the second in command. Otherwise you would have bothered to ask my opinion on this new development—particularly since it puts my agents at risk directly."
"No, you will not be put at risk. I have a new plan. You and your two Qetesh agents are going to take the Triumphant and head directly to Less Prorr. That's the scouting ship of the Scorpius. Our military base there is capable of defending against considerably large invading forces."
"We both know that your moon base there has been taken captive before. What makes you think we'll be so safe there?" Treasure as
ked.
"Because it's Vurt that we need to worry about. That's where the signal came from. No one is looking to kidnap you and your agents from Less Prorr." Oszul straightened his posture and pushed out his chest. Just because Treasure was a woman, he had no intentions of letting her win this argument. "You don't have a choice," he added after she didn't respond for some time.
That only made her intensify her glare. She was nearly six foot tall, which was impressive for a Terran female apparently. Still, he had around a foot in height on her. Looking down at the relatively puny vixen was somehow making him nervous. What was it that made her seem so formidable? It was like he couldn't keep his wits and nerve when she was challenging him. Oszul would honestly be glad to be rid of her. He was sure of it...
"I am staying aboard this ship!" she finally said, almost shouted, up at his face. "You have no right to send us away. We were chosen to go on this mission by Premier Vorta, your acting leader."
"And the Premier has also entrusted me with making any decision I deem necessary for the mission. Having you and the other two Qetesh agents onboard will add far too much risk. It's not all about you and your ego," he added.
"My ego? You're the one who is so threatened at the thought of sharing power. You couldn't even let me have charge of my own agents. That's why you gave us this bogus research task, isn't it? You just wanted to keep us out of the way."
"What? How did you know—" he began, but he was quickly cut off once again.
Treasure stepped closer. "Do you really think your stupid charade had us fooled? I guess the Hjotts are not the most subtle people in the galaxy when it comes to emotions, huh?" He was so close that her breath was warm on his face. She smelled divine, better than anything he'd ever smelled before. Something strange started to stir inside him as she came close. The feeling was entirely, well alien. He couldn't think properly.
Flustered and at a loss for words to use in response to this, Oszul deferred to giving a command. "I'm the commander of this mission, and my word is final!" he said loudly as he opened the door. This was done so that the rest of the crew would be able to hear him from the bridge. It was a petty move, but he didn't care. Not at this point. He needed to maintain his respect as the commander of the military, and of this mission.
The Qetesh agents were ordered to pack up their belongings and board the Triumphant. Oszul had one of his men oversee that they did so. He couldn't trust them to do as he ordered. Treasure Humphrey was clearly not the kind of person to let anyone tell her what to do. How she'd managed to assume a trusted rank within her military order was beyond him. Maybe she just had a problem taking ordered from Oszul in particular. Well, he didn't need her around if that was her attitude. This was a happy coincidence as far as he was concerned. He was finally going to have the annoying Terrans out of his mission.
The Triumphant unceremoniously left the Scorpius, with the three Qetesh agents onboard. There was one Hjott with them too. None of the four were slightly happy about going on this trip.
Chapter 6
Treasure
Aboard the scout ship, the Triumphant, Treasure was fuming. The Hjott warrior chosen to pilot it was named Kezon. He was just trying to do his job, and Treasure knew that. She couldn't help taking out her anger on him.
"I understand you're not happy about being sent away from the mission," said Kezon eventually. He'd been quietly controlling the ship to take them to Less Prorr. There was only so much complaining the male could tolerate evidently.
"Oh really, you must know exactly how we feel about this," said Treasure. "I don't know how you can put up serving under such an arrogant jerk."
"He's our commander—of the entire Jatra military. I would request that you show some respect," said Kezon.
He was large and very masculine. Those were typical features of the Hjott men, so that wasn't abnormal. He didn't seem to have that spark of sensitivity that her friend had told her about. It seemed that the Hjott males were mostly just selfish brutes. They couldn't talk to a women properly if their life depended on it.
"And might I add, I was sent away from the mission to Vurt just as you were. You might want to show me some gratitude instead of whining the whole way."
That did shut Treasure up. Not because she agreed with what he'd said. It just made her feel insecure and childish. Kezon wasn't interested in her thoughts, so there was no point wasting breath trying to reason with him. He wasn't about to take them back to the Scorpius. And even if he did, then what? It wasn't like Oszul would welcome them back onboard.
They landed on Less Prorr, one of the two moons of Prorr. There was a space station there: a military base intended to help defend against invasion in Jatra's space. Kezon ordered them to get their things and start making their way off the ship. "I just need to perform some routine tasks before I can leave the ship," he said. "Don't move away from the Triumphant though, okay?"
"Yes, Sir," said Treasure with sarcasm in her voice. She realized that sarcasm was probably lost on the Hjott. He would only think she was genuinely calling him sir. Stopping to explain that seemed petty and would make her look like she cared too much about his opinion of her. She was getting more and more angry by the minute.
That was, she, Raven, and Sapphina stepped off the small scouting ship and got a look at this moon of Prorr for the first time. "Wow," said Sapphina with wide eyes and a big grin.
"Wow indeed," added Raven.
Treasure dropped her bags and stood there in awe. "It's ..."
"It's amazing," said Sapphina. Her childlike awe made the large biodome that separated them from the empty vacuum of space seem even more wondrous. They could see all the stars and planets, everything that made space, space, stretching out before them. And the clear biodome let them feel like that were really walking out in space. Like there was nothing between them and the infinity of all creation.
"Impressive, right?" said Kezon as he came out of the ship and locked the hatch behind him. He was carrying just one bag, in comparison to the two or three the Terrans had each. "Come on, stick close to me. We'll go to the headquarters."
Treasure wasn't going to argue with him. Getting lost on an alien space station on a moon wasn't a good idea. They arrived at the headquarters on foot, with the Qetesh women following roughly ten or so feet behind Kezon. "Keep on lookout, okay?" Treasure whispered to Raven and Sapphina. "I don't entirely trust that this place is secure. We all know invading enemies have gotten by the Prorr bases before. And we have no idea who sent that warning about kidnapping us."
"Would anyone really go through that much trouble and risk just to take us captive?" asked Sapphina.
"Of course they would. Look at us," said Raven with a laugh. "We're gorgeous, don't you think?"
Treasure smirked and shook her head. The severity of the thought wasn't funny though. "Well, the other races in this sector of space are sure willing to pay a lot for Terran females to keep as slaves or wives. Just keep your eyes peeled, okay."
"I need to talk with the man in charger inside. Wait out here and don't go anywhere," Kezon told the women once they arrived at the headquarter building. They waited outside as instructed. Treasure wasn't about to let any secret meeting take place though. Not when whatever they were talking about no doubt would impact Treasure and her agents.
Carefully, she crept around the building. She investigated various windows until finding Kezon inside one of the rooms. Kezon was seated opposite another Hjott man at a large desk. They were inside an office. There were military awards on the desk. There was also his name, Uza, which she could read on one of them. This was clearly a high ranking officer. They were already talking, but there was no way she could get the window open from outside. They would notice if she did anyway.
Treasure went back to the front door of the headquarters. It was thankfully unlocked, and she snuck inside. Judging from where the office's window had been, she was able to locate a door labeled as being Uza's office. She listened in, not for the first time
since being placed on this mission. Treasure knew her Qetesh training would be required for this mission. It just hadn't occurred to her that it would be utilized against their own Hjott allies in this way.
If they want to treat us like the enemy, we need to act like it a little, I suppose, she told herself. It did make her feel somewhat guilty. The last thing we wanted was to get Kezon into trouble just for doing his job. Pressing her ear carefully to the door, she could hear them talking.
"Are you sure about that?" Kezon was saying.
The other man replied in an older, raspier, voice. "Yes, we know with absolute certainty that the Aulius terrorist you seek is on Vurt."
"Tr'Zerza is there? I need to take this information personally to Commander Oszul. I can't risk letting it go out in a long range message," said Kezon.
"I agree," replied Uza. "There's too much at stake. We can't have anyone intercepting our message and decrypting it. You go then. I'll give you the coordinates. But what about the Terran women you have with you?"
Treasure felt like charging in there and telling them off. They had no right to make decisions about her and her agents like this. Not without at least consulting with her about it.
"Will you keep an eye on them here? They won't exactly be able to get into much trouble without a vehicle. They seemed to like the ecodome. Perhaps one of your men would enjoy meeting some of the renowned Terran females and giving them a tour of the base?"
"That should be easy to arrange. They are quite stunning, don't you agree? I've heard they are highly prized as mates," said Uza.
He was starting to sound creepier by the minute. Obviously, this attitude wasn't only common among the Aulius. It was disrespectful, the way the high ranking Hjott officer was talking about his own allies.
"I agree, they are incredibly attractive. But they do not stop talking. They're also very pushy, particularly for a species that is so small and weak."