by Nancie Neal
"Oh," Zakkon continued. "You do have access to the leader's floor."
The three Inersiens looked at him, surprised.
Zakkon sighed, "You wanted no more secrets. I promised you that. So from now on, you are to join us in our meetings. Granted, you are still a student, but you will know what is going on."
Then Amnika understood. She will still be treated like a child. She didn't mind that so much. It meant less responsibility for a little while longer.
Chapter Thirty-Five
"It looks like you can back in without even thinking about it." Rodgistan chuckled. "I knew you could do it."
Amnika smiled as she watched Roniathan turn off the simulation. On a whim, she had asked Rodgistan to supervise her on a few more practice simulations. No suits, no flight technicians, just her and her mentor. It's been three moon-cycles since the attacks. Amnika felt as if things were returning to normal.
"Well, I needed the practice." Amnika got up and disembarked. She smiled when she saw her father. He caught her eye and walked over.
"You are about due for your first job as a citizen," Her father said. "You passed your rudimentary exams."
"I would like to…" Amnika stopped. She felt the unmistakable thump in her chest and gasped with her hand over her heart.
"Is it happening again?" Father asked.
"Yes, I felt it too." Rodgistan guided Amnika to the insulated rooms. Rhada followed them in.
"So you can feel the broken connections?" Amnika asked.
"Yes, you feel it less in here." Rodgistan motioned to Rhada to close the door. He took a deep breath. "We may have to stay in here for a while. I have a bad feeling that it's not going to be just one." Amnika could feel his struggle. She leaned on him.
For a while, she watched the walls. If she focused hard enough, she could see the slight changes as the rikta fluid pushed the energy through the walls. She sighed and grabbed her tablet and did a little more research on the distant planet. Rodgistan grabbed his tablet and did the same. Finally, she got up, walked over to the window, and cleared the entire wall. She could see the shadows lengthening. It was past midday meal. She grabbed the bar in her pouched and looked at it. She glanced at Rodgistan who studied her.
"What is to become of us?" Amnika asked.
The door opened, and Amnika immediately got a sense of general panic and unease. She realized that she wasn't the only one who had that very question. Her father stepped into the room followed by Mihka. His eyes were red and puffy.
Amnika walked over to her friend, and he kneeled for a hug.
Her father sighed. "There were more deaths, but not as many this time." He put his hand on his daughter's back, and she let go of Mihka. "You need to be in the leader's tower."
The first thing she noticed when she stepped off the lift was Anias and Zakkon had their hoods on. It took her a moment to realize what happened. The last attack was on a diplomatic fleet. Anias' mother, who was Leader by proxy, was on that fleet.
"It happened after the attack," Amnika walked over to Anias and put her hand on his back. She looked at Zakkon. "Like all the other attacks."
She hugged Anias, and he shared that even though his mother was predicted to pass on within that cycle, even a few moon-cycles early still hurt. He then buried his face in her neck. She did her best to comfort him.
Zakkon soon stood behind Anias. He put his hand on his son's back. Anias tightened his grip a little as if he didn't want to let go. After a moment, he released Amnika.
Amnika let Zakkon share with her how sad he felt, but he knew she lived her life well.
At that moment, Afkistan stepped off the lift. Anias greeted him, and Afkistan embraced his younger brother and cried.
Amnika rested her head on her father's shoulder. She shared that she felt helpless. She wished there was a way to take the pain away and she was afraid that this won't be the last time. Amnika stopped short of sharing with her father that she thought that these new raiders were trying to eliminate them. She knew that there was no proof of that.
"I think you are right." Zakkon cleared his throat. His even tone cut through the silence. "There is definitely a correlation, and I also suspect this won't be the last attack."
Realizing that he picked up on her thoughts, She straightened up and nodded.
"We've sent out beacon ships to scan the areas within the wall," He continued. "We aren't sure how they are getting past except their navigation might be better than ours."
Amnika glanced uneasily at her father. While she could not sense Zakkon's feelings, his hood covered most of his face, his voice was a clue to how angry he was. She could also sense Rodgistan's uneasiness.
"We are going to be ready for them this time?" Mihka was so quiet, Amnika almost forgot that he was there.
"Perhaps you should go see your wife." Rhada walked over and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. They embraced, and Mihka turned towards the lift.
"Curse those Destriens and may the Creator send them to the abyss!" he boomed just before the lift door shut around him.
"Indeed," Zakkon muttered. "You will have to come back soon. We have contacted the Nahborians. We will stop this. We must stop this." He lifted his hood to look at Amnika. She could sense his resentment. "We will probably need your input." He pulled his hood back over his face.
Amnika gave Anias another hug. Her father and Rhada went down with her in the lift. After skipping their floor, Amnika looked at her father with confusion.
"I thought we would go to the market. The ceremonies will be tomorrow, and I suspect this will be our last opportunity for a real meal for a while." Her father put his arm around her. "You remember what your mother taught you on cooking, right?"
"I remember."
A few Inersiens walked by with their hoods up. It took Amnika a moment to see that almost everyone had their hood up. Amnika glanced back at Rhada, but he was looking past her. She followed his gaze and saw Natia and Zonstan together.
"Go ahead and greet them," Her father said. "You haven't seen Zonstan in a while. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."
Amnika went out of the hangar and gave Natia a hug.
"It's so good to see you again!" Natia picked Amnika up off the ground in typical Natisien fashion. Her voice was not as enthusiastic. Amnika knew she already heard of the Inersien deaths.
Then Amnika shared with Zonstan how happy she was to see him.
"So you and Ishda are well?" Amnika asked.
Natia only beamed. "Not all is bad."
"I take that as a yes?"
No answer. Amnika could tell that something good to her friend. By her demeanor, her friend and childhood guardian wanted her to guess. It took only a moment for Amnika to figure it out.
"Oh!" Amnika exclaimed. "You're pregnant!"
Natia grunted her affirmation. "It isn't as soon as I would like, but now we will have little ones to look after."
Rhada chuckled. "You and Ishda wanted little ones for a while. It's about time. You would do well."
Amnika told Natia of her studies and of her first mission.
"Everyone knows about that. Mihka wasn't happy," Natia said. "But you are safe now. You know…" Natia put Zonstan on her shoulders. "Mihka paired yesterday."
"I thought he would have paired with the woman from the hunt by now." Amnika glanced up at Rhada. She remembered that Rhada mentioned it in the leader's tower. "There was so much going on, I missed out on normal everyday activities, I guess."
"After you were seriously injured, no one was in the mood, and Mihka decided to go back to the mines. She wanted to stay in the city. When he came back with you after you went for Petrez, he never went back to the mines. He's wall guard again. May try for Commander I heard."
"I heard about the wall guard, but they already put him with a mentor," Rhada said.
Amnika saw her father in an open window in one of the insulated rooms. "So he's been here for months, and I haven't seen him. What's her name?" She watched as Tan
ishia joined father, and they began talking.
"Rhania," Natia said. She was also looking at the cleared window. "She's good for Mihka. When he came back, he stayed at the caves for a short time. He was sad that Glondikia passed on, too. A lot of Natisiens were."
Zeth and Tanishia were talking about something. Amnika noticed that her father was flirting with her. She looked at Natia and shrugged. Natia chuckled and watched with Amnika.
After a few moments, Zeth brought Tanishia close and brushed her face. This was a sign that he wanted her as his wife. Tanishia, however, took his hand off of her cheek and said something.
"Rejected," Amnika sighed. "I don't understand why."
"Tanishia is finicky. She rejected your uncle several times before his persistence paid off."
Rhada grunted, "But it was never an outright rejection. She did like your uncle from the start."
"I'm surprised that she's not lonely yet. It's been a while." Amnika looked back at Zonstan.
"I heard some Inersiens handle loneliness better than others." Natia shrugged.
Amnika watched as Tanishia disappeared from the room. Her father sat at the edge of the table for a while as if to contemplate what happened. Tanishia walked out of the hangar.
"Mother!" Zonstan exclaimed.
Tanishia greeted Amnika and then walked with Natia towards the market. Zonstan happily talking how excited he was about the dinner his mother and Natia are going to make.
Chuckling, Rhada nudged Amnika. "Zonstan is going to enjoy your mother's cooking. See? Your mother did well here. Her influence is everywhere."
Amnika looked back at the hangar to see her father walk over towards them. Without a word, she pointed toward the cleared window.
"Oh, so you saw the whole thing?" Zeth put his arm around her.
"Natia said that Oshtron had to be persistent."
"Except that Tanishia's heart wasn't for someone else then." Zeth sounded discouraged.
"But there's someone else for you, I'm sure."
"The problem is that there are more males than females." They headed towards the market. "If this continues, we may have another population implosion. We cannot clone like the Nahborians can, although I'm sure that they will show us how if we needed it."
Amnika remembered Rodgistan explaining why Tanishia left with the Nahborians. They used female Inersiens to be able to clone themselves and keep some genetic diversity, but for some reason, they were unable to produce a female for themselves.
She picked up some scant meat and picked out some familiar plants. Living well meant that one's influence will persist long after they're gone. She stopped and picked up two sweets on a stick. The couple who were selling the sweets also wore their hoods. The feeling of dread came back. She decided to try to ignore it as she set her pieces down.
"Mother did live well," Amnika said to her Father as she handed one of the sweets to him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The next morning, Amnika felt Rhada's hand on her side. She opened her eyes. The walls were dim, and she could see the outline of his hulking figure next to her.
"What is it?"
"Your father wanted you to get up and go to the leader's floor as soon as possible."
Amnika sat up in her bed. "Osto nah." The walls brightened a little more. It was enough for her to see what she was doing.
After she washed up and dressed, they went up to the leader's floor. There stood her father, Zakkon, Anias, Nahaeda, and a Nahborian. He looked like an older version of Sh'iraskirish.
"Oh, good. You were quick." Zakkon motioned to the Nahborian. "This is Sannashahbor, he is the head commander of their fleet of warships."
"You can call me Sanna." The Nahborian wrapped his robe a little tighter. "Sh'iraskirish had told me so much about you."
"There was a larger attack on one of our outposts outside of Nahbor," Zakkon explained. "We were discussing that there might be a big fleet of these raiders already on their way. We already sent out the beacon ships to check it out."
"Zakkon told me about the possibility of the tumors coming from the enemy ships. So we are going to layer our ships. It's likely the Nahborian ships will be the front line. The weaponized beacon ships that you have will be controlled by the Natisiens only. Your command ships will have to stay behind."
They continued to work out the details of the battle.
In the middle of trying to calculate how many weaponized beacon ships could be made in a short time, Zakkon took out his tablet.
"It looks like the beacon ship we sent to Mahla returned. There does seem to have been an attack, but they seem okay. Looks like they can hold their own." He put his tablet down on the table. "There's that at least. Perhaps once we figure out how to build a wormhole gate, we can trade with them again."
Amnika sensed a small pulse of energy coming from Zakkon's tablet. He picked it up and studied it. "I'm afraid we will be getting into this battle a lot sooner than expected. One of the beacon ships we sent out reports a large fleet of these Destrien ships within the wall."
"Is that what you call them? Unknown bodies?" Sanna asked. "Inersien, 'mind bodies,' Natisien, 'strong bodies'..."
"Or Unknown origins, the names are not literal." Amnika was thoughtful. "I wish I could go."
"Well, you can watch from Nahbor." Sanna smiled at her.
"No." Father was firm. "Not at all."
Amnika began to protest, but quickly stopped when she saw the stern look on her father's face. It didn't prevent her from showing her disappointment.
"This is no ordinary raider attack, Amnika." Father sighed. "I will be in danger, and I do not want to worry about you."
"We do have shielding where she will be watching." Sanna shivered a little. "She will be protected. We have yet to let anything past our outer defenses. Your ships will also be there, so it's not likely they'll get past."
Father looked at Amnika for a long moment. "All right. But you are to take Roniathan with Rhada. The moment you are in danger, you will rush home."
"Yes, of course," Amnika said.
Father walked over and gave Amnika a hug. "I'm afraid to lose you," He cast a thought to her.
They suited up. Rhada had his own suit. He didn't put on a headset since they weren't researching or going into battle.
Amnika watched as many other Inersiens and Natisiens get into transport vessels. The ships then took the passengers to the larger warships in space.
"We are going into battle?" Roniathan asked. "I'm not equipped to fight."
"No," Father said. Amnika turned to see that he was suited up. "Your job is to protect Amnika. Make sure she is safe. Get her to Nahbor before the battle starts."
"I understand." The door to Roniathan lowered.
Sensing the worry and anticipation in the air, it finally sunk in how much was at stake. Amnika hugged her father. "Please be careful," Amnika cast a thought to him. She could feel him heave a sigh through his suit.
"We will be okay." Her father said. "There is another emotion you missed."
Amnika hesitated. She felt it, and it was the strongest one. "Determination."
"And that's why we will get through this." Father smiled at her.
Amnika let him go and turned towards Roniathan, but he stopped her.
"There is something I want you to promise," he said. "I'm positive that we will win, but just in case."
"Okay. What is it?"
Amnika felt a tug at her arm, forcing her to face him. "Promise me that you will wait until you established a level before you unite with anyone."
"Oh, you noticed." Amnika glanced around her. "Anias. Me."
Father nodded with a slight smile.
"I united with Petrez's mother before I had a level. I thought a twenty-two was high anyway, but as I've seen you progress, I wonder what could have been."
"Anias and I were wondering where my high level came from. I guess it came from you?"
"It appears to be." Father gave Amnika a hug. "When you
have children, you want the most for them like I want the most for you. Then you'll understand."
"I can promise you that I'll wait." Amnika let her father go.
"You know I'll hold you to that promise," Rhada said behind her as they got into the ship."
"That is part of your job." Amnika smiled at him as he sat in the Analyzer's seat.
"I will keep you safe." The voice emanated from the panels. Roniathan lifted and took off to Nahbor.
Once on the landing platform, Amnika stepped out, and the heat caught her off guard. The smell of sulfur stung her nose.
"Bah!" Rhada said and ran his hand over his face.
Chuckling, Amnika used her tablet to adjust her suit, and she felt the cooling system come on. She looked at Rhada who also had a tablet in his hand. A rumble in the distance made Amnika a little nervous.
"One of our volcanoes are active." Sh'iraskirish greeted her. "Don't worry, it's far away, but they do generate a lot of heat."
He put his arm around her and guided her to a dark underground room. The temperature wasn't any better.
"Wait, I don't understand," she said.
"It's okay, see this," he cast a thought to her.
"See what?" Amnika clung to him, afraid to walk into anything. She could hear Rhada's breathing behind her. She was glad at least he could see in the dark.
After a moment he stopped, and the room filled the holographic images of the battle.
"Oh," Amnika said in awe.
"Amnika, are you okay?" Father called to her over the communicator.
"I'm in the middle of a holographic display." Amnika couldn't speak above a whisper. "Right in the middle of it!"
She heard her father laugh as she watched Rhada waved his hand at the tiny ships that floated in front of him.
"I think I know where you are. It's an older battle room, but you are safe," Father said after explaining why he was laughing to someone else.
"There's a newer battle room?" She asked Sh'iraskirish.
He chuckled and nodded. "It's on our ships. We never use the battle room here anymore."
Amnika noticed that he never talked to her, but instead cast thoughts.