Forging the Alliance short

by Alayna Lancaster

  “Wait!”

  “Hush. You’ll be right behind her.”

  Darius thrust his arms out, wishing the guard would hurry up with the shackles, but he took his sweet time. With every second that passed, Darius could hear Xerces’s steps getting further away, and he panicked. He hadn’t said goodbye. She didn’t know that he would fight for her to his very last breath. There was still so much to say that hadn’t been said in the space of the last few days. He felt ridiculous now, as his mind flooded with all the things he should have said in the moments they spent huddled together in the brig.

  “I love you, Xerces!” he yelled, praying that his words would make their way down the hall to her.

  “Oh, shut up.” The guard yanked the leather tether free and pulled Darius to his feet. “Just walk.”

  Darius went straight for the door, hauling the guard with him as he went. He pushed into the hallway and scanned ahead frantically, but Xerces was out of sight. The guard followed behind, a smug look on his face.

  “Where are they taking everyone?” Darius demanded.

  “There’s a transport bus waiting for the prisoners on the dock. I don’t know where it’s headed, but I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”

  Darius rolled his eyes, but kept his focus straight ahead. It wasn’t worth the energy to argue with the guard. There was no way he could convince the man that he was innocent. It wouldn’t matter if he could. The guard was not the judge or the jury.

  As they left the brig and entered the main body of the ship, a flurry of activity filled the halls with noise, but when the other soldiers saw Darius coming they froze and moved aside. He shoved past them, making a mental note of those that he had once counted among his friends. Then he pushed his way out the main bay doors and onto the ramp leading down to the dock. To his relief, he could just see Xerces boarding the transport bus. Without waiting for his escort, he took off at a run, swerving between the rows of bodies that stood waiting to be dismissed. The soldiers shouted at him, calling him names, but he ignored them.

  He reached the bus and stumbled up the steps, eyes wild and breath ragged. His approach clearly alarmed the bus driver, but Darius brushed past him and went toward the back where Xerces had just found a seat.

  “Hey! You can’t sit next to her. Find your own seat,” the driver hollered at him as if this should have been obvious.

  “Sorry. No problem.”

  Darius got up and shuffled across the aisle into the other seat, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Xerces sat across from him, a grin on her face.

  “I’m okay. Everything is okay,” she whispered.

  He nodded, but he couldn’t speak what was forming a roadblock on the tip of his tongue. The bus rumbled to life and started rolling. Darius settled back into his seat, staring at the woman he loved, speechless. Finally, the words came to him.

  “Xerces?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Will you run away with me? When all this is over?”

  She frowned and seemed to consider the idea for a moment. “Why don’t we take one day at a time? If we get out of this in one piece, I will spend the rest of my days wandering the skies with you. But for now, let’s just try to enjoy the time we have.”

  Darius nodded. He couldn’t help but the disappointment and sadness that bubbled up at the mechanical way that she was handling everything. It was like she began shutting herself down after they made love, like she was preparing for every bad outcome. He couldn’t reach her, but he desperately wanted to.

  The bus ride was short. They had travelled only a small distance from the landing docks to an annex where more guards and officers stood around waiting to receive them. This time, a guard boarded the bus and took a headcount. Upon seeing Darius’s name on the list, he gave a curious look, scanned the faces, and then nodded disapprovingly before checking him off. With everyone accounted for, they began unloading everyone.

  As soon as the prisoners were off the bus, the guards began shouting.

  “Stop, hold out your arms!” A man approached and used a wand to search their bodies for any weapons or other contraband.

  “Into the showers! We will issue you a set of uniforms on the other side.”

  Darius moved forward, step by step, having flashbacks of his first days in the Administration Army. The experience was very similar. If he had his guess, they would also take them to have their hair clipped afterward to ward off any unwanted pests in the crowded prison block.

  “Good afternoon, soldier.”

  Darius looked up, already tired of the accusatory tone in the man’s voice.

  “You’re coming with me.”

  “I can’t. I haven’t been processed, yet.”

  “No need for that. Just follow me.”

  Darius looked back at Xerces and offered her a weak smile of encouragement. It was all he had to give at this point. Still, he couldn’t shake the turmoil roiling in his stomach as he watched the guards shoving her along the line toward the showers with all the other prisoners. It did not appear that they were prepared to give her any privacy or separate accommodations from the men, and no female officers were present to assist her.

  Resolutely, he turned back toward his escort and followed quickly. He had to get this over with so he could get back to her. That was his only option.

  13

  “Sit.”

  Darius dropped into the chair as they commanded him, looking up at the panel of men who were now looking down upon him from the raised stage. There was a long silence as they each stared him down until he lowered his head submissively.

  “We have some very troubling reports about your conduct on this mission, soldier. Your superior officers alerted us to the situation, and we convened a panel to investigate and deal with the matter promptly. That is why you are here today.”

  Darius nodded his understanding, but he could tell from the look in their eyes he was not invited to speak in his own defense.

  “Darius Querick, we have charged you with three counts of assaulting an officer. It says here that you also have several counts of insubordination. Finally, after discussing the details of the matter, we also recommend that you be charged with the kidnap and rape of a civilian from the planet Faylir.”

  Shocked, Darius rose to his feet, knocking the chair back with a clatter.

  “I did not-“

  “Querick, you need to sit down and listen very closely if you want to leave here on your own two feet.”

  Shaken, Darius lowered himself back into the chair, dragging it forward until he could put his head down on his arms. He was struggling to breathe, the crushing realization of what was about to happen to him making it impossible to think. He realized he was crying as the tears ran down onto his folded arms, but he didn’t bother to wipe them away.

  “As I was saying,” the man continued, “I consider your actions regarding the civilian woman war crimes of a most grievous nature. As of this moment, you have been discharged from the Administration Army and will be released to go home.”

  “What about Xerces?” he screamed, unable to quell his fury.

  “The girl will be treated, but you cannot see her. We must protect her from you, of course. If word got out, it would only make the Administration look negligent, and we can’t have that.”

  Darius curled his fingers into tight fists, his fingernails biting into his palms. “I would never hurt her. It was you and your insane bombing raids that nearly killed her and all the children she was caring for. YOU!”

  “See? This exactly the kind of behavior that got you here, isn’t it, Darius? They warned us you had some interesting ideas about this latest mission. It is clear that you have succumbed to some kind of anti-Administration campaign and must be discharged immediately before you put your fellow soldiers at risk. Fortunately, we’ve already sent out a press briefing about this little fiasco so we could stay ahead of things. We have warned the press about taking anything you say too seriously, on account of you falling
in love with an insurgent and all that. We will let you go home and carry on with whatever life you have so long as you keep to yourself. You would be wise to take this chance.”

  The man’s words hung heavy with insinuation. Darius looked from one officer to the next, searching for an ally in this place, but finding none. He knew they were waiting for him to walk away. He knew that if he did, he could go stay with his sister for a while and find a real job. She wouldn’t ask too many questions. But then there was Xerces, and Darius could not imagine any fate worse for her than being trapped and alone at the hands of an Administration who still claimed she was an insurgent. If they didn’t sentence her to death immediately, they were sure to let her die of neglect.

  “What if I say no?” he asked slowly, raising his head to face them with all the fire he could muster in his soul.

  “No? That’s not an option.”

  “What about a trial? I get a trial, don’t I?”

  “We would not advise that. Right now, you have the chance to walk out of here with only a little black mark on your name for your disloyalty, but if this goes to a trial, we will make sure that you never find peace anywhere in this galaxy. This is your final warning.”

  The man’s voice was grim and cold, and Darius knew that the Administration already had the gears moving to destroy him, whether he complied or not. They were only making the first option look like the favorable choice, but he knew that there was no happy ending here. There was no salvaging this.

  “I’m not leaving without her,” Darius announced resolutely.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have much choice.” The officer at the head of the panel rose and gestured to a guard who was standing quietly off to one side. The guard stepped forward and quickly took Darius by the arms. “Take him outside.”

  Darius didn’t resist as the guard led him out of the building. There would be no use causing a scene inside the annex. He needed a different plan.

  “Now what?” he asked the guard as they walked out across the open yard, curious about the man’s allegiances.

  “I don’t know. I take you out front, I guess. Then you get out of here and never look back.”

  “You know that isn’t going to happen, right? I can’t just leave her in there. You heard the way those guys talked. She’ll die in there, alone.”

  The guard shrugged his shoulders, but didn’t seem to be interested in what Darius had to say. Exasperated, Darius whirled around to face the man, startling him and breaking free of his lackadaisical grasp.

  “Hey!” the man shouted, trying to get Darius back under control.

  “Look, I don’t want to give you any trouble. Really. But I am not leaving here without the girl. So we have two options. You can walk me to the front gate and take these cuffs off, and I promise you I will be back in a few days with enough munitions and friends to break her out. Or, you can take me back to where the prisoners are and put me back in line with them.”

  The guard gave him a quizzical look and then shook his head in disbelief. “You think I believe you? What kind of idiot makes a terroristic threat to the guy that’s setting him free? Besides, you don’t have what it takes to break into this place, so quit running your mouth and start walking.”

  This time the guard lunged for Darius’s arms and grabbed him on one side. Darius moved quickly, trying to wrench himself free again, but he was unsuccessful.

  “I’m begging you, just take me back to the other prisoners. Nobody down there knows I’ve been discharged yet. It’ll take them a while to sort it out once I’m there. I just need a little time to say goodbye to her. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “And what about me, huh? You don’t think I’ll get my ass chewed by the higher ups when they find out I took you back?”

  Darius threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, right. Those overstuffed uniforms up there won’t even remember who was in the room with them when this is all over. I’d bet you anything they don’t even know your name.”

  The guard gave him a dirty look at this comment, but didn’t argue. He was probably right, after all. They marched onward for a few minutes in silence, and then the guard stopped and turned Darius to face him.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?” Darius asked, bewildered.

  “Okay. I’ll take you back, and I’ll make sure you have enough time to say goodbye, but I’m not making any more promises. I can’t promise you’ll be able to kiss her, or fuck her, or any of that nonsense. All I’m saying is that I’ll get you close, and the rest is up to you. And when you get caught, you keep me out of it. I don’t care what fool story you make up, but I had nothing to do with it. Also, when they finally boot your dumb ass out of here, I expect you to return the favor to me someday. I don’t know when or where, but when I call on you for help, you better answer. You got it?”

  Darius twisted sideways and attempted to offer his hand for the man to shake. It was an awkward movement, and it didn’t have the same power that a straightforward handshake would have, but it had to do. Still, Darius had to wonder at the man’s sudden change of heart. There was something in the man’s face that told Darius he already knew what kind of favor he would ask for, and he was just biding his time.

  “What’s your name? So I can find you when I’m out of here?”

  “Trause. Last name’s Rohigni. You’ll be hearing from me before you’re out of here.”

  They trudged along toward the prison block once more, and Darius kept his questions to himself. He had a few suspicions about this man, Trause, and he wasn’t sure where to begin. Then he had a thought.

  “Hey, one more thing?” he asked as he continued his slow and steady walk.

  Trause gave him a disbelieving look, like a genie who had run out of wishes to grant.

  “For both our sakes,” Darius explained. “I need you to contact my sister. I’ll give you her name and info. Just let her know where I am and fill her in on the situation. Trust me, when the time comes to answer that favor of yours, she’s the one you’ll want to call.”

  “All right. Give me the info, quickly.”

  They paused again, and Trause pulled out a notepad. He jotted down the name Trina and a series of digits as Darius rattled them off, then tucked the pad back into his pocket. Darius felt guilty giving his sister’s information to a stranger, and worried that she might not listen to Trause at first, but he didn’t have any other way of reaching her from inside. For now, all he had to do was get back to Xerces and make sure she was okay.

  They came around a dark building, and the prison block loomed straight ahead. Trause marched Darius up through the front doors and knocked on the glass barrier at the front desk until someone unlocked a side door and he shoved Darius inside ahead of him.

  “Let’s get you to booking,” Trause said, loud enough for any onlookers to hear.

  Darius lowered his head to hide the satisfied expression on his face. Xerces was within reach.

  To be continued…

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  I have been writing since I was 6 years old. It all started with a short story about a frog who just wanted to travel the world. Since then, I have spent most of my life dreaming up stories and trying to commit them to paper. The books you see here are just the latest in my efforts at word wizardry and the alchemy of language, tempered by my study at the School of Eloquent Rejections. I am a lover of all genres, but Science Fiction and Fantasy are my true loves, and I love adding steamy subplots to go along with all of the grand adventures my characters undertake.

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