Bringing Stella Home

by Joe Vasicek

  Anya took in a deep breath and pulled out her pistol. As she stared at it, the moment felt like eternity. The edges of her vision darkened, and her whole body went numb.

  I’m sorry, Ilya, she inwardly told herself. I’m sorry for everything.

  Without another thought, she pressed the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger. A tremor shot through her body, and the darkness swallowed her.

  * * * * *

  James felt as if he were floating in a dream. The pearly white walls and floor, the bright lights, the knowledge that his sister was close—all of it blended together to create an otherworldly sensation that was somehow more immediate than reality itself.

  He crouched and checked the map on his wrist console. Without a word, he turned and peered around the corner. Danica took her position on the other side. In the distance, he heard footsteps, but they were getting softer. The coast was clear.

  Two suppressed gunshots from Danica’s pistol made him jump. He glanced over his shoulder at her in alarm.

  “Cameras.”

  He nodded and moved ahead, crouching and keeping close to the wall. The door to Stella’s chambers was three doors down, on the right.

  He found the door and stopped in front of it. An eerie, surreal sense of deja vu swept over him. It didn’t make logical sense, but somehow he knew he’d been here before.

  He drew in a deep breath and hit the access panel. A blinking light showed that the chime had sounded.

  Nothing happened.

  “Open it!” hissed Danica. Heavy footsteps sounded down the hall, coming toward them.

  James keyed the panel again, but to no avail. The door was locked.

  “Hurry!” whispered Danica.

  James reached frantically for the panel to hit it one more time, but before he could press the button, the door hissed sharply and opened of its own accord.

  There before him stood his sister.

  Chapter 26

  Sholpan blinked and stared in disbelief.

  “James?”

  A grin spread across the short Hameji soldier’s face—a grin that was all too familiar.

  “Stella?”

  “J-James? Oh my God!”

  A cold tremor passed through her body. A wave of dizziness came over her, and she leaned on the wall for support.

  “Hurry!” hissed the soldier behind him. Before Sholpan could say or do anything, the two of them rushed into the room. Once the door was shut, Jame’s companion shut the door and took off her helmet, revealing a head of shoulder-length hair. She was a woman, about thirty years old—not a Hameji soldier at all.

  “Is there a lock?” she asked.

  “Y-yes,” said Sholpan, still in a daze.

  The woman gestured with her gun. “Then come here and lock it.”

  “Who are you?” Sholpan asked. She glanced from her brother to the woman and back again. “James? Why—”

  “We don’t have much time,” said the woman, pointing the gun at her. “Lock the door or the guards will kill us all.”

  Sholpan’s hands shook and her legs felt numb, but she did as the woman told her.

  “Stella!” said James. He took off his helmet and rushed up to embrace her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, returning his embrace with more confusion than enthusiasm.

  “To rescue you, of course!”

  “What?” Her heart skipped a beat.

  “That’s right. We’re going to get you out!”

  Her head spun. “Hold on,” she said, groping for a chair. “I need to sit down.”

  James took her by the arm and helped her down. “We don’t have much time,” he said. “The others—”

  “Oh, shit,” said the woman.

  James glanced up sharply. “What is it?”

  “Sikorsky and Ayvazyan—they’re dead.”

  James’s face went white. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” The woman pounded her fist against the wall and swore again.

  Dead? Who?

  “I’m sorry,” said Sholpan, “but could you please tell me who you are and what’s going on?”

  “This is Danica,” said James. “Anya and Ilya were back with the ship, but now—”

  At that moment, the door chimed. Everyone froze.

  “Can they hear us?” Danica asked in a hushed voice.

  “No,” said Sholpan. “Not if we speak softly.”

  “Do they know you’re here?”

  “I—I don’t know.”

  “Should we answer?”

  The door chimed again. Sholpan rose to her feet and walked to the access panel, motioning for the others to stay still.

  “Hello?” she said in Hameji creole, keying the intercom.

  “Lady Sholpan,” came the voice of the guard outside. “We have a serious security breach. Voche is dead, and the assassins are loose on this level. We must escort you to a safe location.”

  “No,” she said. “Don’t come in—I’m, uh, not dressed.”

  “Can you hurry, milady? You’re in danger!”

  “I’m in the middle of a shower,” she continued. “No one has come in here, and the doors are locked. Can’t you just post a guard?”

  For several moments, no answer came. Then, with a short crackle, the intercom came back to life.

  “As you wish, milady. But do not, under any circumstances, leave your room.”

  “Of course. Thank you.”

  She leaned heavily against the wall to catch her breath. “What’s going on?” James whispered.

  “They’re guarding the door,” Sholpan answered, keeping her voice low. “They won’t come in, but we’ll need to find another way out.”

  “Perfect,” said Danica, putting on her helmet. “Where can we find a way off this station?”

  “Wait,” said Sholpan. “I’m still confused. How did you get here?”

  “We captured a Hameji transport,” James said. “It’s docked in the military wing, but I don’t think we can get to it anymore.”

  Sholpan stared at her brother in disbelief. “You did what?”

  “We don’t have much time,” said Danica, cutting them off. “The Hameji are going to cut all outbound traffic any minute, if they haven’t already. What’s the fastest way to the docks?”

  Sholpan barely heard her. “You came all this way just to rescue me?”

  “Yes,” said James. “You and Ben.”

  “Ben?” said Stella, her eyes lighting up. “Where is he? Is he here?”

  “No. He…didn’t make it.”

  Something tightened in her gut. “Didn’t make it?”

  “He died,” said James. “The Hameji killed him.”

  Sholpan felt dizzy. She had to sit down again.

  “But don’t worry—we’re going to get you out of here.”

  “Yes,” Danica hissed. “Let’s go!”

  Sholpan could barely process what was happening to her. It was as if a time machine had miraculously brought her brother into her life again—a life she had just begun to accept. I could go home right now, she realized. I could leave ‘Sholpan’ behind and just be ‘Stella’ again.

  Her heart began to race. When she looked up, everything was somehow more vibrant, more present and clear. She felt as if she were waking up from a bad dream—from the nightmare of her life these past few months.

  “I know how we can get off,” she said. “I’ve got some contacts who could help us.”

  James’s face instantly lit up. “Really? How?”

  “Lars. He’s here with a delegation from the Colony. They could smuggle us out.”

  “Is there another way out of this room?” Danica asked calmly.

  “Yes. There’s a door behind the bathroom that connects to the main suite. We can—”

  She stopped abruptly. There’s a reason you’ve been put here, in this place at this time. As Lars’s words came to her, the floor seemed to fall out from under her.

  She realized, in that moment, that
she had to stay.

  “I can help you both escape,” she said quietly, “but I can’t go with you.”

  James froze where he stood. “What do you mean?”

  Sholpan swallowed. Her legs turned to water.

  “I can’t come with you. I’m needed here.”

  “The hell you are,” said Danica, grabbing her roughly by the arm and lifting her to her feet. “We’re going—now.”

  Before Sholpan could protest, Danica pressed the pistol into her side and force-marched her towards the door. Stars of Earth, she thought to herself. The woman’s gone mad. She glanced over her shoulder at James, pleading with her eyes for him to do something, but he only followed.

  * * * * *

  Danica walked down the corridor, briskly marching James’s sister along at gunpoint. Fortunately, the girl was smart enough to not make a scene.

  “Take us to your contact,” Danica whispered. “Have him meet us somewhere inconspicuous.”

  She led them through a relatively narrow hallway that curved to the left, making it impossible to see more than a couple dozen yards in either direction. With Danica still gripping her arm, the girl pulled out her wrist console and started typing with her index finger.

  “I’ve told Lars to meet us in the garden,” she said. “There shouldn’t be too many guards there—they’ve probably already checked it.”

  “Good,” said Danica. “Anything else?”

  “Yes. The station is on lockdown, but that won’t last too long. Lars should be able to hide you until he can get out.”

  “You mean us.”

  “I’m sorry,” said the girl, “but I can’t go with you.”

  Danica jabbed the gun a little deeper into her side, making her wince. “I didn’t sacrifice half of my crew and two of my finest officers to leave this hell-hole empty-handed. You’re coming with us, sister, whether you like it or not.”

  “Would you really shoot me?”

  Ask me again, and I just might.

  “Don’t push your luck.”

  James opened his mouth to protest, but one sharp glance silenced him.

  In less than a minute, they passed out of the white-tiled hallway and into the garden. Giant vines and creepers stretched out above them, spreading their monstrous leaves and muffling the sounds in the distance. Through the enormous glass windows beyond the foliage, the planet shone red and orange, casting its perverse, angry light on the alien scene.

  “Lars will be here in ten minutes,” said the girl, leading them into a secluded spot off the main path. “But please understand, I can’t come with you.”

  “Tough luck. You’re coming.”

  “No, I really can’t. I have a tracking device implanted in my foot—once they realize that I’m missing, the guards will hunt us down and find us.”

  Danica glanced down at the girl’s ankle. “A tracking device, eh? We’ll see what we can do about that.” From her belt, she pulled out her shock prod.

  “No,” said the girl, taking a step back. “You can’t disable it—if you do, it will set off an alarm. The guards will come down on us at once!”

  “We’ve gotta be able to do something,” said James. “It’s just a microchip.”

  “Yeah,” said Danica, replacing the shock prod and pulling out her knife. “We can amputate the foot.”

  Instantly, James was between them. “No!” he said, eyes wide and fists clenched. “We can’t do that!”

  “You got any other ideas?”

  “Please listen to me,” said the girl, pleading with her. “That’s not the only reason. If I leave, all of our friends back home are going to die.”

  Danica narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

  “My people—our people—are starving, and I’m the only one who can save them.”

  “How?”

  “By convincing Qasar to give them food and aid. I’m his wife now—he listens to me.”

  James’s face went white. Danica folded her arms and looked the girl in the eye.

  “I’m sorry about your men,” she said, “I truly am. But please—if you want their sacrifice to mean something, save my brother, and let me stay.”

  The expression on her face was surprisingly serene. Here was someone who had seen death and war, and survived the dark emptiness that came from it. She wasn’t the child she appeared—more like an old, wise woman in a young girl’s body.

  Dammit, Danica thought angrily to herself, sheathing her knife. She’s right.

  * * * * *

  James slowly shook his head.

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Stella, her voice wavering. “Please try to understand. I love you, James, but I have to do this.”

  “No!” he cried, grabbing her by the shoulders as tears came to his eyes. “What are you talking about? Come with us!”

  “No, James. I can’t.”

  James collapsed to his knees, weeping at his sister’s feet. Stella lovingly put a hand on his shoulder, but her touch did little to comfort him. Tears of pain poured out of his eyes until the world spun around him in a blur. Nothing felt real to him anymore—his world was falling apart, and he was powerless to stop it.

  “Lars is coming,” said Stella. “When he gets here, I’ll have to say goodbye.”

  “No,” said James, his voice hoarse and drained. “Please, Stella, just come with us.”

  “I can’t. If I leave, there won’t be anyone to save our home.”

  “But why you?” he pleaded. “Someone else can do it.”

  “No, James. I’m Qasar’s wife—no one else can do it but me.”

  “Qasar’s wife,” he said contemptuously, rising to his feet. “More like his slave. Do you love him?”

  “That’s not important,” she said, her face deathly somber.

  “But it is, Stella—it is! You deserve to be happy, not married to a monster. Are you ready to spend the rest of your life with him? Are you ready to bear his children?”

  “No,” she said, tears shimmering in her eyes. “No, I—”

  “You don’t have to do this,” he continued, his voice gaining strength. “Come with us. This isn’t the life you deserve, Stella—it isn’t the life you want to live.”

  “It’s not about me,” she cried. “Can’t you see that? It’s about the people I love. Do you think I wanted any of this, that I would have chosen this for myself? This isn’t something I want, James, but what can I do? I could never live with myself if the others died because I failed to save them.”

  James opened his mouth to answer, but found he had nothing to say.

  “I’m so sorry,” she continued, “but we can’t go back to the way things were. All we can do is live on and do our best with what we have.”

  He looked into her eyes and realized that she wasn’t the same sister he’d known before. She seemed much older now—more grown up. Somehow, that frightened him most of all.

  “Don’t be sad for me, James,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Wherever you go, be happy. For me.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, giving him one final, parting hug. James clung to her, as if to hold on forever. But all too soon, she let him go.

  “Will I ever see you again?” he asked.

  “Of course! Qasar holds his court on this station, and I’ll be here whenever he is.”

  He nodded. “Then I’ll come back as often as I can.”

  She smiled. “Tell Mother and Father that I’m all right. Tell them that I love them and miss them.”

  “I will.”

  “Goodbye,” said Stella.

  “Goodbye,” James whispered.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him gently away. As he turned to join Danica and Lars, he glanced over his shoulder to get one last glimpse of his sister. Stella waved to him from beneath the giant vines and enormous flowers, a reddish shadow cast across her face from the glow of the gas giant below. She smiled one last time before they rounded a corner and passed out of
view.

  Chapter 27

  Danica followed Lars onto the bridge of the Freedom’s Banner. Compared to the Tajji Flame, the cozy sublight freighter seemed fresh out of the shipyards. It didn’t feel like home, but at least it was a ride.

  “Are we ready to transmit?” she asked the captain—a stocky, white-haired man by the name of Olaf Stanislaw.

  “Anytime,” the old man said, waving her to the empty chair next to him. “She’s all yours.”

  Danica assumed her seat and settled in. She stared for several moments at the starfield out the window before bringing up the message.

  “How many weeks before we arrive in port?”

  “Two at least,” he said, yawning.

  Danica turned to her screen and leaned forward.

  Attn: MSG Krikoryan, she wrote. Cpt Nova reporting Operation Blue Phoenix has failed. Lts Ayvazyan & Sikorsky KIA. E McCoy alive, target lost.

  She paused, wondering how best to encode the coordinates. After a few moments, she typed: RP: Ensign POC.

  The captain glanced over her shoulder. “Ensign port-of-call? Where is that—Kardunash VII? And how do you expect them to find you if you don’t give ‘em a timestamp?”

  “My men will know what it means,” Danica said. Besides, she told herself, if they don’t, I could use some time to myself.

  She transmitted the message, rose to her feet, nodded to the captain, and left the bridge.

  * * * * *

  Three days into their voyage, news reached them that Gaia Nova had fallen. With the Gaian Imperial Navy scattered and broken, the Hameji had brought their mass accelerators into orbit and slagged the planet, the same as with Kardunash IV and Tajjur V. In a matter of hours, over three thousand years of human history and culture were lost forever.

  A somber, melancholy mood fell over the Freedom’s Banner at the news. Captain Stanislaw spent more and more time in his quarters, and the crew talked among themselves in hushed, subdued tones. Some of them even wept. Though few of them had ever been to to the capitol world of the once-proud Gaian Empire, its fall was the ultimate victory of the Hameji conquest. Before, the people of Karduna could dare to hope that someone would come and liberate them. Now, that hope was gone forever.