by L P Peace
As she walked into the main room, the doors to the suite opened and Prince Devorak walked in.
He stopped when he saw her, his eyes travelling down and back up her body. ‘You look like you belong here,’ he smiled.
‘I don’t,’ she snapped quickly, wanting to make her position clear.
The Prince walked farther into the room. ‘Of course not. Don’t worry. I’m going to return you to the High-Protector.’
‘You’ve spoken to Thanesh?’ She could hear hope in her voice.
‘I’ve sent a message with a rendezvous.’ Prince Devorak stopped in front of her, his eyes searching her face. ‘He hasn’t responded, but for you, I don’t doubt he’ll be there.
Do you like the clothes?’ He looked her over with an appraising look. It reminded Alethia of the Fedhith slaver.
‘Not particularly,’ Alethia scowled, imagining her mother’s shocked gasp at her tone. ‘They don’t really fit. But thank you for trying.’
The Prince nodded. ‘What is your name?’ he asked. ‘Kallis will only refer to you as ‘mine.’ I don’t think you want to be called that?’
‘Alethia Wilkinson. Alethia.’
‘Alethia.’ He bowed. ‘You may call me Devorak.’ He glanced down her body. ‘Cealin females are taller, skinnier.’ When his eyes met hers, they were full of heat. ‘I find I prefer your soft, delicate beauty. Would you like a drink? It will be a while before we reach the rendezvous.’
‘I wouldn’t say no to water, or tea if you have it.’
‘Tea?’ Devorak’s head tilted. ‘I don’t know what that is. We don’t seem to have an alternative for my translator.’ He tapped his mastoid bone where the chips were transplanted. ‘We do have a nice drink called Palla. It’s a heated fruit drink?’
Alethia nodded. ‘That’s what my mother would have considered a kind of tea,’ she said.
‘Ah. Something we have in common then.’ Devorak walked to the wall and touched a button on the only black thing in the room. It was a small screen Alethia hadn’t paid any attention to before.
‘Two glasses of hot Palla,’ he said. He turned back to her. ‘Palla is very rare on my world. Our climate is freezing. We don’t grow much there.’
‘How did you evolve on a planet where much doesn’t grow?’
‘Excellent question,’ Devorak said, seemingly genuinely delighted in her interest, ‘and to answer it simply, we didn’t. Cealis was the second habitable planet in our system. My ancestors managed to destroy the planet we evolved on. It’s still there.’ He waved his hand in the same gesture he had used earlier with Kallis. ‘But it’s completely uninhabitable.’ He crossed over to the white sofa as he spoke and sat on the arm, propping himself on the back and pointing to the couch in invitation.
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Alethia said. ‘My people almost did the same to our planet.’
Hesitantly, she crossed and took the seat furthest from him.
‘Seems we have a lot in common. Our two races.’
‘I think you’ll find you have a lot in common with most people if you give them a minute of your time,’ Alethia said.
‘Ah.’ Devorak smiled. ‘Possibly.’
The door opened and a Cealin female walked in. She was tall, slim, elegant. She looked the exact opposite Alethia felt in the dress she wore.
The female sneered at her but then quickly smiled when the Prince turned towards her. She held a tray with two steaming glass cups out to them.
Devorak took one and nodded to Alethia, who took the other.
The female left without being acknowledged.
The steam wafted the fruity smell of the drink to her. Alethia held the drink to her lips but was intercepted when Devorak placed a hand over the cup and shook his head almost imperceptibly.
‘Why are your people conducting these experiments?’
Devorak glanced around the room, as though checking they were alone, then shook his head. ‘Not here.’ His voice was barely audible. ‘I’ve wanted to meet with High-Protector Thanesh for some time,’ he said, louder. ‘He always rejects my advances. He can’t do that now.’ Devorak gave Alethia an embarrassed smile.
Alethia chuckled. ‘There it is.’
‘Yes, I have an ulterior motive.’ Devorak nodded. ‘But it would have been worth it just to rescue you. Forgive me?’
‘It makes me like you,’ she admitted.
‘You didn’t like me before?’ Devorak said in mock offence.
The door opened and a male Cealin walked in. He was huge, dwarfing Devorak even though he was all the way across the room. He was wearing a silver and ice blue uniform with huge pauldrons that must have been utterly unnecessary in space. He had evidence of scarring on his wrists that peeked out from under the sleeves of his uniform. More scars appeared from under his neckline. Another scar ran diagonally across his face from his forehead, across one eye, which was spared, over his nose, slicing across the corner of his mouth and continued down to his chin. Despite the scar, he was beautiful with a long, aquiline nose, sharp cheekbones, his angular, wide eyes and soft, generous lips. Just like the rest of the Cealin, his ears were long and pointed, emerging from the thick of hair that every Cealin Alethia had seen seemed to wear long.
‘Ah, General Damaron, meet Alethia, the human we rescued.’
The general’s face was impassive as he turned to Alethia and bowed.
‘Alethia, General Damaron.’
Alethia nodded once, not sure what to make of the giant, scarred Cealin. ‘Are your pauldrons a snow fractal?’ she asked.
‘Indeed,’ he said, his face unchanged.
‘You must forgive Damaron. His manners are brusque at best.’ Devorak smiled at the general. ‘Indeed, they are. Our world is too far from the sun to benefit it in climate. We are covered in ice and snow and so snow plays a large part of our people’s aesthetic.’
‘What’s it like, living on a planet that cold?’
‘Not as bad as you might think. Of course, we don’t live on the surface. We live underground.’
‘Apologies for the interruption, my Prince,’ the general said quickly. ‘We’re about to reach the rendezvous point.’
‘Have you heard from high-protector Thanesh?’
The general glanced at Alethia and nodded. ‘He’s agreed to your terms.’
Devorak smiled and nodded. ‘Excellent. Time to go.’ He looked at Alethia.
‘Go?’ Alethia tensed.
‘I’m going to fly you over to Thanesh’s ship myself.’
‘Oh.’ Alethia glanced at the general, expecting him to protest. ‘Okay, then.’
Alethia turned to put her cup down.
‘Bring your Palla,’ Devorak called over his shoulder, his own cup still cradled in his hands.
Devorak led Alethia through the ship and back to the docking bay.
‘Didn’t think I’d be back here,’ Alethia said as they entered the docking bay and she noticed the ship that was being prepared for their departure. Kallis’s ship.
Devorak flashed Alethia a brief smile. ‘You have everything on board, Damaron?’
‘Yes, my Prince,’ the general said. ‘I will give you enough time. The tracking systems on all weapons have developed a fault after the last software update. There’ll be a full investigation once this is all over. I expect it’ll be a development fault.’
‘I probably should have allowed those weapons tests last week,’ Devorak said, looking around the docking bay.
The party stopped in front of the ship's entrance. The two males faced each other.
‘I will remember this, my friend,’ Devorak said, ‘When I come back to claim my throne.’ Damaron nodded and for the first time, Alethia saw emotion on the male’s face.
‘My King.’ He bowed.
Devorak slowly bowed, a sign of respect that startled the larger Cealin. Damaron gritted his teeth and drew in a shaking breath as the door shut between the two men. Devorak stood there for a moment before gathering himself. He flashe
d a smile at Alethia and led her to the bridge. Alethia took the seat she had run from hours before. There was no sign of the restraints Kallis had used or his blood. She strapped herself in and, taking her cue from Devorak, didn’t say a thing about what she had heard outside the ship.
When they cleared the docking bay, Alethia looked at him.
‘What was that about?’
Devorak looked at her. For the first time, she could see evidence of his nerves. ‘Not here. We’re almost there. Don’t drink the Palla,’ he said, almost as an afterthought. Alethia looked down at the small cup and thought about the exchange in the dock. Carefully, she put the drink down as though it was a wild animal that might bite her.
Alethia looked out of the viewscreen and saw a brown dwarf orbited by two small, dead planets. Brown dwarfs weren’t quite stars, but they were too big to be gas giants. It was like a failed star, a failed solar system. The thought made her sad.
The ship banked and another vessel came into view.
‘Invictus,’ Alethia breathed. Her sadness evaporated. She had been right. With a bit more time, they would have caught up to her.
‘That’s my ship,’ she smiled. ‘Well, me and my brother.’
Devorak’s eyebrows rose. ‘Impressive. If they hadn’t sent the last message, we never would have detected it.’
‘It’s the perfect ship to escape on,’ Alethia said pointedly. ‘For smugglers.’
‘For smugglers,’ Devorak agreed. ‘Is that what you are, Alethia?’
‘No.’ She laughed.
‘Then, what are you?’
Alethia swallowed. That was a complicated question right now. ‘I free slaves,’ she settled on.
‘A worthwhile endeavour,’ he agreed. ‘My world is littered with them.’
‘They’re people,’ Alethia snapped.
‘Apologies,’ he sighed. ‘I didn’t mean it against them, rather, against my people’s dependence on them. It makes us think we’re better than we are. It makes us weak.’
‘Weak?’
‘If we rely on others to do things for us, we forget how to do them for ourselves. My people have become very weak. Weak and arrogant. People like Kallis are the result of that.’
Invictus was growing bigger in the viewscreen. Devorak reached out and tapped a few buttons and Thanesh’s face appeared on the screen. The butterflies in Alethia’s stomach erupted.
‘Thanesh.’ For the first time since she had woken up on this ship, Kallis at her side, Alethia allowed herself to hope.
Lines of tension eased on Thanesh’s face. ‘Alethia, are you all right?’
Alethia nodded. ‘I’m fine.’
‘I promise I have allowed no harm to come to her high-protector Thanesh.’ Devorak shook his head. ‘You need to come up with better titles for your ranks.’ He grinned at Thanesh, who scowled back.
‘I’m sending you the approach and docking information.’ Dairon’s face appeared for a brief moment. Alethia suppressed a smile.
‘Excellent.’ Devorak smiled. ‘We’ll see you in a few minutes.’
Thanesh turned and looked at Alethia. She smiled back, hoping it was a reassuring smile, but barely feeling reassured herself.
‘What are you up to?’ she asked Devorak when the screen went blank.
‘That would be telling,’ he winked at her.
Thanesh stood in the corridor facing the docking hatch. He was alone, just as the Cealin had demanded.
He watched as the ship docked with Invictus. Thanesh stood at the umbilicus connection and watched the door on the other end open. Devorak led Alethia through. The arrogant vrokker was carrying a cup and a bag.
The door on their end closed, and Thanesh hit the door release on his end. There was a hiss before the door jerked back slightly and settled against the hull to one side.
Devorak stepped through, and Alethia rushed into Thanesh’s arms. He enveloped her, lifted her and turned, placing her far away from Devorak and anything that might happen from here. Letting his eyes run over her once, he turned to the Cealin Prince.
‘I seek asylum,’ the Prince said.
Of all of the outcomes of this meeting, this was not a scenario Thanesh had envisioned.
‘My people are going to start firing on this ship in a moment. If they hit, they will claim you killed me when I arrived and they avenged my death.’
‘How long have your people been planning to assassinate you?’
‘A while now, there’s been several attempts,’ he held out the cup, ‘this was one of them.’
‘You never took a single sip,’ Alethia said. ‘I didn’t realise until you stopped me from drinking mine.’
‘I’m sure yours was fine,’ Devorak smiled at her, ‘but I couldn’t be positive and I couldn’t risk such a beauty.’ He smiled seductively at Alethia.
Thanesh considered shoving him back into the umbilicus and hitting the release before he could reach his ship.
‘We should really detach if we’re going to stealth out of here.’ Devorak said.
Thanesh hit the comm on the wall. ‘Dairon, that quick escape we predicted might be on. Scan the Cealin ship, what are they doing?’
‘Is Alethia there?’ his voice replied.
Thanesh hit the comm and looked at Alethia.
‘I’m right here,’ she said.
Dairon whispered something under his breath. ‘Okay, yeah, they’re powering up weapons.’
Thanesh closed the door and released the umbilicus. The ship was set adrift and the umbilicus retracted back towards the door.
‘Get us out of here. We are coming to the bridge.’ Thanesh walked over to Devorak. ‘If this is a trick, I will cut your throat and jettison your body into Cealis’s atmosphere. All that will be left is a gooey violet mess in the snow.’
‘What a visual.’ The Cealin swallowed. ‘Understood.’ He held out his bag towards Thanesh.
‘What’s this?’
'My defection pack. Some personal things, I felt I couldn't live without. A picture of my mother, clothes, toiletries. Information on the illegal ships, weapons and stations my people are building in preparation for an expansion campaign. That sort of thing.' His face went solemn. ‘I’ve gotten as far as I can to work against these factions on my own. They’re destroying my people, destroying my world. I need help.’
‘So you came to me?’ Thanesh cocked an eyebrow at the Cealin.
‘My government made terrible decisions.’ Devorak swallowed. ‘My people’s lives are getting worse, and the power of those who seek to do you harm is growing.’
‘For now, I grant you asylum.’
‘Then we can negotiate the rest later.’
Thanesh nodded. ‘Welcome on board. Are you coming?’
Thanesh turned and, for the first time, really took in Alethia. He’d been so relieved to see her during the comm call to Devorak’s ship and when she came on board that he had barely noticed the bruising to her face.
‘Kallis struck her,’ Devorak said behind him. ‘I didn’t trust my medical team to see to her.’
‘You should have brought him with you,’ Thanesh said gruffly. He reached out to the bruise, Alethia pushed her face into the palm of his hand.
An explosion rocked the ship.
‘The bridge.’ Thanesh scooted Alethia in front of him and placed himself as a barrier between her and the Cealin Prince. Another explosion shook the ship as they entered the bridge.
Thanesh’s eyes moved to the viewscreen. The Cealin ship was too far away to see on the ships viewers, but the sensors were scrolling everything they could detect in a side panel that was superimposed over the backdrop of the brown dwarf. Thanesh grinned; they could see everything the Cealin ship was doing, but thanks to the nature of the Erathan, the Cealin couldn’t see them.
‘They’re firing at the Cealin ship. I think they believe we’re still attached to it,’ Dairon said, glancing at them. He smiled, then frowned at Alethia when he saw the bruise, then glared at the Cealin Prince.
‘What did you do to piss your people off?’
‘Suggested we weren’t the centre of the universe,’ the Prince answered. ‘My government has the people convinced it’s our divine right to rule over everyone else. I would dissuade them of that notion.’
‘Well, that was stupid,’ Dairon snorted.
‘Wasn’t it?’ The Prince grinned. Despite himself and his apparent interest in Alethia, Thanesh found himself liking Devorak.
‘Why now?’ Thanesh grabbed a handhold on the ceiling with one hand and pulled Alethia against his side with the other.
‘My father is mortally sick,’ Devorak said, taking a seat.
‘Don’t you have brothers?’ Thanesh frowned. ‘Two?’
‘Did, they both met unfortunate accidents in the last few cycles. They left me till last as they consider me the idiot of the family.’ Devorak looked at Alethia. ‘A carefully assumed persona, I assure you.’ He winked at her.
Another explosion rocked the Cealin ship, blast waves rocked Invictus.
Thanesh turned from the Cealin to Dairon. ‘Do you have weapons on this thing?’
‘You want to fight?’
‘I want to stick around long enough for my Amaran and Seliika allies to get here. Which should be any moment now.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better if we used the stealth of Invictus to hide?’ Alethia said.
‘May I suggest Alethia is right?’ Devorak agreed. ‘If you have allies coming, use the stealth you have, move away from my ship. They will send people to check that we have been destroyed, that will take time.’
Dairon looked to Thanesh for confirmation. It was the better plan—Alethia’s plan, not Devorak’s.
‘Move us away,’ he confirmed.
‘Perhaps closer to the brown dwarf,’ Alethia suggested from the back.
‘Alethia, can you take co-pilot?’ Dairon called.
Alethia slipped from Thanesh’s side and into the seat as Vella left it. Vella sat next to Devorak.
‘Devorak.’ He smiled at her.