The Smuggler's Ascension

by Christopher Ingersoll

  The Phoenix grew until it stood fifteen feet tall and covered the table completely. The Phoenix opened its eyes and beckoned Sabine and Anasha forward with a nod of its head. The firebird nodded its head again, and everyone in the room dropped to their knees. Subat and the Su’Vanii also knelt as they entered moments later, they too breathless and tired, and looked on as the Phoenix looked down upon the two women, one living, and one a spirit.

  “You two, through your bonds of love and soul, have this day broken the natural order,” the Phoenix accused, “along with the aid of those here with you. Never before has Death been denied the souls of the dead that have been decreed shall remain in his care since the dawn of time. Your actions threaten to undo the very fabric of creation.”

  The Phoenix looked upon the two women.

  “Why would you risk all that IS for this man?” the Phoenix God asked, curiously.

  Anasha and Sabine looked at each other as if the question were so simple that the answer should be obvious, then turned to the fiery God before them.

  “You have already spoken the reason, my Lord,” Sabine said, rising to her feet defiantly. “For the love I bare Kristof and Anasha, I would risk anything and everything to save them.”

  Anasha rose and stood beside Sabine, her spiritual form glowing brightly in the Phoenix’s fiery light.

  “And I would risk no less for the love that I bear for Sabine and Kristof,” Anasha declared. “Just as we all know that Kristof already has sacrificed all that he was for the love that he bore for us.”

  The Phoenix God looked on silently, and then to their amazement, he smiled.

  “Such love, so truly given and received, is at the core of the very power of creation” the Phoenix God said after a time. “Yet how will you truly live as equals when one is alive, one stands as a spirit, and the other lies lost somewhere between?”

  The Phoenix God looked to Sabine. “What would you sacrifice that you might live as equals, for only in true equality can your love flourish and bring life to the universe and not death.”

  “I would sacrifice all that I am for these two that I love,” Sabine wept freely, “for I love them more than life itself.”

  The Phoenix nodded and turned to Anasha’s spirit.

  “And you, what would you sacrifice that you might all live as equals?”

  Anasha too wept as she looked upon the Phoenix God and said “I too would sacrifice all that I am that I might spend eternity with these two that I love.”

  The Phoenix nodded.

  “So be it then,” the Phoenix said, a finality in his voice. “For the sake of a love that will not be denied, you three shall live as equals from this day forth, and from your love this universe shall either flourish, or it shall surely perish in darkness.”

  The Phoenix God disappeared then in a flash of flames, though his fire remained upon the table and continued to swirl and rage. Sabine turned to Anasha, confused, only to discover that Anasha had disappeared. She cried out in despair, not knowing what was happening or where Anasha had gone.

  The flames on the table began swirling faster and drew Sabine irresistibly into them. The fire did not harm her as it wrapped around her and passed through her, though it burned away her clothing and left her naked like she had been when she was born. The light in the room grew so intense that everyone shielded their eyes. Sabine closed her eyes tightly against the light as the fire’s roar reached a fevered pitch. And then there was silence.

  Sabine opened her eyes and looked down on the table where she’d found herself after being pulled into the fire, and then suddenly cried out in joy. Laying upon the table were not just Kristof, but Anasha too, both very much alive. Sabine rushed to them, both of them nude like herself, and she fell upon the table and embraced them tightly as they both came to their senses and gazed into each other’s eyes.

  Subat smiled warmly as he ushered everyone else out of the room, and then closed the door behind him, leaving the three lovers alone.

  Sabine wept freely as she embraced Kristof and Anasha even as they embraced her and each other in return. Beyond all of their hopes and dreams, they were together now in a way they had not known or dared to dream possible.

  Anasha wept as well as she felt for the first time in years the feel of her own body, as well as the touch of Kristof and Sabine against her. Reaching up, she pulled Sabine down and kissed her for the first time as a flesh and blood woman, and delighted in the sensation and the love she felt for and from this woman.

  Kristof then pulled them both close and held hem fiercely, also weeping in joy. Amazed, they saw that years had been taken from Kristof’s shoulders, so that he was now a much younger version of himself closer in age to Sabine and Anasha.

  “I was lost in a darkness greater than anything I had ever known,” Kristof whispered, the echoes of loss still pulling at the edges of his voice. “There was no sight, no sound, nothing at all. Even my memories of you both were stripped from me one by one, each loss the pain of a thousand deaths. But you found me there, you saved me.”

  Words failed Kristof and silence fell as the three lovers lay entwined. After a time, Sabine began giggling into the silence. Amazed, Kristof and Anasha looked upon her as she continued to laugh uncontrollably, both smiling at her obvious amusement.

  “Care to let us in on the joke?” Anasha asked, smiling brightly at Sabine’s joy.

  “I was just thinking of the reactions from the Royal Court after I tell them I have a wife now as well as a husband,” Sabine said as she trailed off into a fresh set of giggles. Kristof and Anasha joined her laughter at the thought of the stuffy group’s collective apoplexy. As the group continued to laugh, the door opened and Max brought them some blankets and pillows.

  “Subat expects that you all are too tired to wish to leave at the moment,” Max said as he draped a large blanket over them. “Rest easy, my friends. We are all safe now.” The android’s tenderness was new and unexpected, until he turned to leave. “Try not to be too loud if you decide to get busy,” he said as the door closed, sending the trio into fresh gales of laughter.

  Soon calm reasserted itself, and Anasha and Kristof pulled Sabine into the circle of their arms. Then Kristof reached down tiredly and pulled the blanket over them and soon they all fell asleep in each other’s arms. The women clung to Kristof tightly in their sleep, unconsciously reassuring themselves that he was truly home.

  ~*~

  ~Final Interlude~

  Max stood guard at the briefing room door that Kristof, Sabine, and Anasha slept in after their miraculous return. Seeing the destruction of the Clovani fleet, which meant Kristof’s death, and caused such a flutter in his systems that Max could no longer deny that he was feeling emotions. He had only the barest of understanding regarding what he was experiencing, but seeing the Wrath of Clovani exploded had filled him with a great sense of loss.

  It had been with some difficulty that Max had not shown any sign of his discovery. Humans had an unreasoning dislike of androids who began to display functions beyond their programming such as emotions. While he did not think Kristof would object, there far too many humans around that possibly would. During his service with Captain Frosh before Kristof had purchased him, Max had watched the Captain’s crew violently disassemble such an android with their blasters.

  Seeing Kristof return to the land of the living, along with who could only be his deceased wife Anasha, had caused a new flutter of emotion within Max’s circuits. It required no long analysis to know this new feeling was relief and happiness. Kristof had been unhappy for many years, he knew, and Sabine’s presence had done much to ease his grief.

  Now, seeing Kristof with not just Sabine, but Anasha as well, Max knew that Kristof would be extremely happy. His own joy for his friend was something Max found he liked. He’d often felt that humans and their emotions were often extremely irrational and illogical in their choices and actions. As he began to understand the few emotions he had felt himself, he began to under
stand his human friends better.

  They were still irrational and illogical, Max thought of humans, but at least they were not quite as baffling to him now. His own understanding of why they acted as they do would hopefully help him in his own understanding of what he was feeling. It seemed strange to even be using such terms in regards to himself. He wondered what else lay ahead for him with this new path he found himself on.

  Regardless of what was to come, Max vowed to defend his friends so that they could enjoy their unexpected reunion. Kristof in particular deserved this second chance, since Max knew he had sacrificed much over the years for others. It was time for his friend to have some happiness for himself, and Max intended to see that he had it.

  ~*~

  ~43~

  The months following the end of the Clovani Conflict, as the media around the Protectorate had taken to calling the near Armageddon of their entire civilization, were chaotic on Purannis. Sabine had wasted no time in declaring Anasha as her wife before the Royal Houses of the Protectorate, which had caused an uproar despite everything that Anasha had done for them. Sabine had been quite firm in her convictions, however.

  Anasha had stated her preference of a nice, quiet declaration rather than a grand public announcement, but Sabine wouldn’t hear of it. The Queen fully intended that her wife would be treated no differently than her husband. While the people of the Protectorate were generally very open minded about relationships, those views did not apparently extend to the Royal Family, at least where the Great Houses were concerned. When Sabine quietly suggested to the assembled nobles that they were free to join the fates of the Clovani armada if they did not immediately rethink their objections, the court had fallen silent rapidly. Kristof still chuckled at the thought of how his diminutive wife had finally fully asserted her control over her nobles at last, though the threat of death may not have been the way to win their hearts.

  The survivors of House Duranis found the Queen most unforgiving in the weeks following the great conflict, despite Kristof having saved them from the final conflagration at the edge of their space. Grand Duke Michal was found still alive aboard his cruiser, which had dropped out of hyperspace in flames not far from Purannis after Kristof had flung the Puranni vessels into hyperspace before he destroyed the Clovani armada. Sabine had claimed that he should have let them all perish in the phoenix fire, until Anasha suggested that public trials and executions would serve her better in solidifying her rule.

  Grand Duke Michal Duranis; as well as his wife, his brother Joseph, and several uncles; were all given a grand trial in the following weeks. The trial was broadcast throughout the Protectorate and beyond, and General Mannis laid out all of the evidence that had been discovered from the assassination of Queen Josephine to the attempted assassination of Queen Sabine and the alliance between House Duranis and the Clovani Empire. Stephan’s testimony before the court served to fill in many gaps, and the House of Duranis was ultimately found guilty before a tribunal of the Su’Vanii Elders and the Queen herself.

  As Sabine had once promised Stephan, she pulled the trigger herself in the execution of Grand Duke Michal. The remaining defendants faced firing squads as well soon after. Following the executions, the Queen again shocked her court speechless when she brought Stephan Duranis, her former seneschal and uncle to the late Grand Duke who had betrayed her at his family’s order, and offered him a full pardon. Furthermore, given Stephan’s years of faithful service to her prior, and because she felt his betrayal was coerced and not voluntary, Sabine elevated Stephan to the head of the remnant of House Duranis and rechristened him as Grand Duke Stephan Duranis the First.

  Stephan had fallen to his knees and wept in gratitude at her mercy and generosity, and pledged that from that day forth the ancient feud between House Duranis and House Arctura was forever ended. Kristof knew that Sabine’s decision here was more politically motivated than from personal desire. After so recently ordering the executions, of which she personally participated, she felt it necessary to show the Protectorate that she could be merciful as well.

  The fate of Sabine’s uncle, Salas Arctura, was a mystery. The search of Grand Duke Michal’s cruiser had not turned up her traitorous uncle as Stephan had expected. Right up until his death, the Grand Duke claimed to have not seen Salas since before the assassination plot had been put into motion. It was weeks later before General Mannis’s intelligence sources spotted Salas Arctura on Clovani Prime in the company of the Clovani Emperor himself. Sabine had immediately ordered the man be captured somehow and brought back for trial, but so far nothing had happened on that mission.

  It was good to see that Sabine did not get her way in all things, Kristof noted. Despite vehement objections from the tiny Queen, Anasha had resumed her role as Su’Tani at her father’s side and became one of the Queen’s personal guardians. Sabine argued that, as her wife, Anasha was in need of protection as much as she was, but Anasha refused to hear it. Kristof had stood aside, refusing to take sides, as he watched his tiny dark haired wife bring all of her powers of argument and persuasion against his only slightly taller blond haired wife.

  Sabine, Kristof reflected, should have known she would lose this fight since she shared in their collective memories and frequently each other’s thoughts as well. Anasha remained adamant, however, and Sabine had stormed off. Kristof knew Sabine’s anger arose from her fear for Anasha and said as much, to which Anasha had responded that she was quite capable of taking care of herself. Sabine’s anger was short lived. It was impossible to stay angry at someone who shared your soul, no matter how much you might like to.

  The plans that Kristof announced for himself were not so easily accepted, however, when several days later he declared his intention to return to the stars and the struggle against the tyranny of the Clovani Empire. Anasha and Sabine had both erupted in near identical and simultaneous tirades that filled the royal apartments with echoing sounds of rage and not a few breaking vases.

  Anasha argued that after everything she and Sabine had gone through to get him back, she had no intention of allowing Kristof to deliberately thrust himself back into the fire. Sabine went even farther, threatening a royal decree banning him from leaving the planet. Kristof listened quietly, letting them vent their anger and frustrations at him for several hours, until finally they had quieted and allowed him to at least lay out his case.

  “My father’s hatred for the Puranni people almost brought the Protectorate to annihilation,” Kristof said after his wives had quieted. “But for all his power and hatred, he would not have come so far on that disastrous path without the Emperor’s blessing. While I was in my father’s head, I could feel that madness and how it had come from somewhere else. The Clovani Empire has suffered a mighty blow to their war machine, but they are far from defeated, and there are countless other worlds out there being crushed under their power as well.”

  “That doesn’t mean that you must rush around the galaxy atoning for your father’s evil by standing against the Emperor yourself,” Anasha charged, ignoring the fact that it was virtually the same type of mission they had fighting for together years ago.

  “I don’t intend to make this stand by myself,” Kristof replied, clearly surprised that Anasha of all people refused to see beyond the smaller picture. “It is our plan to travel through Clovani controlled systems and help set up resistance cells to fight back, as well as set up a network of ships to bring aid to the civilian populations much as we did ourselves, but on a much larger scale.”

  “We?” Sabine asked, catching on his choice of words. “Who is we?”

  “Subat and Max, for starters,” Kristof answered, and watched the danger return to Anasha’s eyes.

  “My father is a part of your insane scheme?” Anasha asked menacingly.

  “It was as much his idea as it was mine,” Kristof admitted and stepped back as Anasha launched into a fresh tirade of curses that even caused Sabine to look on in surprise. Kristof went to her after a time and pulle
d her into his arms. She fought him at first, but soon surrendered. He then pulled Sabine into the circle of his arms and held the two women that were his life tightly.

  “Whether we all stay here hunkered down in a shelter, or take the fight right down the Emperor’s throat, we are all in danger so long as the Clovani Empire moves through the galaxy unchecked,” Kristof whispered softly to them. “I am not a king to sit beside you on the throne and rule the Protectorate, Sabine. I don’t know the first thing about ruling. Nor am I truly Su’Tani, like you Anasha, to stand in guard of Sabine and wait for the danger to come to me. I have barely begun to truly know what it is to be Su’Tani, and I may never truly get there.”

  “What I am, is a warrior,” Kristof continued. “I was a military commander once, and since then I have fought this fight against the Clovani Empire in every small way that I could, as we once did together,” he went on, kissing Anasha’s forehead softly. “Now, however, I have the resources to be able to actually make a difference in that fight. The powers of the ak’Sun Su’Tani are gone from me now, so I can’t go around the galaxy swallowing fleets whole anymore. I must fight in any way that I can.”

  Kristof fell silent as he held his wives, and after a time Sabine and Anasha relented, though reluctantly. Later, Subat and Max each received an earful from the two women for encouraging Kristof’s foolish endeavor. Subat knelt before them in reply, and vowed upon his life that no harm would come to Kristof. Anasha seemed to take her father’s life-pledge with a mixture of gladness and horror, until Max stepped forward and vowed to protect them both.

  It was a strange and interesting family Kristof now had, he reflected, as they all let the matter drop for a time and moved on to lighter matters. After his exile by his father, he had been alone until he had met Anasha. After her death, it had been only himself for a time until Max joined him. Now he was married to Sabine and reunited with Anasha once more, while Max and Subat kept him from being somewhat overwhelmed by the love that now filled his life after having long been denied its feel from his own family.