Rebea shifted, confusion painted across her angular features. Rage burned in Somnu's glare.
Taessen broke the silence. "What did you discover, and how?"
"I came here and sifted through old records to unearth the truth. I suggest we do a group skin interrogation. I can pass along the information, verify my sources as accurate, and establish that none of you were the ones who committed the crime."
Kilawren held out her arm, bare skinned, and offered all to touch. Graeber and Bauleel laid hands upon her upper arm, a testament to their faith that Vida wouldn't destroy them as she had Terem. Rai was moved by the depth of their trust, and continuing friendship, despite the current circumstances. The other Core members shrank back, although Raza appeared to be fair game, she no doubt wanted to move with the others.
"I will not be judged by a traitor!" Cerry replied. "Show us this information source, and we will judge for ourselves.
"Alas, there is no more time," Kilawren answered.
"Don't be silly, take us to the data terminal!" Somnu ordered.
"I'm afraid you're out of time. Submit now, or things are going to become much more uncomfortable for you," Kilawren replied.
Raza looked at her with fear in her eyes, and Kilawren knew she'd won Raza over, save for fear of retribution by the others. The other four were enraged.
"We will not be ordered around by a traitor! Especially not by one who's supposed to already be executed!" Rebea exclaimed.
Kilawren dropped her arm. "Fine, it's too late now anyway. We have guests."
Chapter 27
“Guests?" Taessen asked.
Kilawren pointed to the sky. "A Juggernaut shuttle is arriving, although it's been jammed on your sensors. Raza, call in your Guardians so they don't get injured in the disturbance. The shuttle will have a small team on board, so keeping the humans together will minimize casualties."
Raza looked puzzled, but pulled out her communications device and sent orders to her team.
Kilawren turned to Graeber, Bauleel, and Rilte. "The Assessor is coming, and if I give him the Rai he's looking for, that should put him in a more favorable mood." She shook her head and body loosely, like you'd shake out your stiff joints, and transformed back into the form of Rai.
Graeber's face fell, resigned to her transformation.
Vidaaquar heard a body hit the ground and turned to see Cerry flat on the ground, having fainted dead away. Somnu appeared ten shades of livid, while Raza was holding her head between her hands. Taessen and Rebea stood dumbfounded, unsure of what to make of Kilawren turned Rai. The gathering Guardians tensed, awaiting Raza's order to strike at Rai.
The Juggernaut shuttle landed in the open clearing in front of the storage caverns. The humans regarded it with extreme fear as if this was the worst thing that could be happening.
"You don't need to worry about them," Vidaaquar spoke, her melodious voice carrying easily across the crowd. "But stay close, and don't even dream of running. You can't outrun me. Nothing on this planet can."
Vidaaquar walked a short distance towards the shuttle, with Graeber close on her heels.
"You're not concerned about the Juggernaut, the most powerful race in the universe?" he asked.
"Oh, are they now?" she laughed.
He gave her a confused look. "Do you know anything about them?"
"Oh, yes, I would say I do." Vidaaquar nodded. "Although I am a bit out of date. It has been a few millennia since I've connected with another of my kind via the hive mind we share. I've been busy here, for eons, terraforming this world and shaping it to my will until I was interrupted by your people." She emphasized this with a finger poke to the chest. "I knew the Juggernaut at their inception."
Graeber shrugged off this sophisticated reply. "Still, won't they complicate things?" he asked.
"They will. When the Juggernaut discover your founder's crimes, they are likely to wipe your colony off the map." Vidaaquar answered.
This visibly unsettled Graeber. "Not all are responsible."
"No, but it's no different than what I was planning."
"There's another way. Punish those responsible and use those remaining for source components." He touched Rai's arm. "This vessel has served a purpose, after all. Perhaps others could as well. We're all just material to be molded, yes?"
Vidaaquar smiled, pleased at his insight. "You're bright for a human."
"I've lived a long time. It's given me more time to mature." He smiled back and dropped his arm, and they both watched the Juggernaut envoy approach. They had a human in tow. "That's Ponar Durmah," Graeber said.
"Rai recognizes him as well. He appears in good health."
They waited a few minutes in silence for the Juggernaut to approach, not wanting their conversation to be overheard by the envoy. Stillness hung in the air as the envoy came to a halt, Ponar and Assessor Brague face to face with Vidaaquar and Graeber. The rest of the Assessor's retinue held back. Vidaaquar recognized Brague from the communications bursts which kept floating through the sub-stream around the planet.
"Rai Durmah, the rumors of your death were greatly exaggerated, I see. That will need to be addressed at a later time. I do appreciate your escort handing you over into my care. Are you ready to depart?" the Assessor asked.
Vidaaquar was aware of Graeber folding his arms and taking a sharp intake of breath next to her, but a short glance reminded him to keep his tongue in check.
"Assessor Brague, it is a pleasure to look upon a Juggernaut after all this time. Welcome to my territory. I offer you safe passage." She spoke in her usual lyrical tones, but this time the words reverberated, and she used the full range of her multi-dimensional speech capability, layering in messages only for the Assessor. Including, "my precious one" and "the humans are the intruders" and "let us deal with them together."
The Assessor cocked his head, and switched to his native tongue, also multi-dimensional by design. I came searching Rai / You wear her form, yet imply, and appear to be, much more / Please, be direct, and if you are who I hope you are, you will have my entire fleet at your disposal.
Vidaaquar smiled, but it was a smile filled with distaste. If you search the oceans, you will find my Seed Marker / Or do you require miracles? / Acts of destruction? / My ability to speak to you, as such, should quell your fears, mighty one.
A look of wonder overwhelmed Brague's eyes, and he rocked from side to side. No! / There was no Seed Marker! / Our scans would have detected!
Your scans are flawed! / And the humans hid the marker / I do not know how, but I will have a confession today / Do your scans again, and be thorough this time. Full visual scans off of the Jeweled Cove area. You will find me!
The Assessor ordered the oceanic scans via his arm console, his voice an angry tirade echoing throughout the meadow. The human Ponar cowered at his side, silent through this entire exchange. Vidaaquar sensed Rai's concern for Ponar but also knew he was in good health and had not been abused. In fact, he looked forward to this day with great fervor. He too wanted revenge, just of a slightly different flavor. Well, well. Perhaps she could serve up enough to satisfy the lot of them.
Next, she heard the Assessor open a private channel to his Queen Klimitzi, he shielded himself and told her he thought he'd found one, after all this time. The Queen was astonished and was sending a personal envoy to verify. The planet was to be deemed a sanctuary. And so on, and so forth. Vidaaquar realized she was stunned by their communications, and Rai empathized to console her.
To be found? Were her kind somehow absent? Busy, yes surely, that must be the reason. Too busy to be bothered.
The Assessor finished his call and turned to Vidaaquar. I have ordered the scans / I will inform you promptly when we find your Seed Marker / Until then, it would be my utmost honor to continue the interrogations for you / I am quite skilled / I offer my humble service.
He bowed and offered his neck, the proper sign of respect to a superior. However, Vidaaquar's temperament had darkened fro
m overhearing the Assessor's conversation. Vidaaquar stepped into his space, the ground under her feet shattering and crumbling in direct response to her mood, and gripped his upper carapace with hands strong as steel. Her teeth elongated into razor-sharp weapons. She bit a few millimeters deep into his vulnerable, exposed folds, just to get her point across. To the Assessor's credit, he didn't flinch, not one iota. His pulse held calm and steady under her flicking tongue. The Assessor's retinue, stunned, began to raise weapons, but he waved them off, and Vidaaquar growled in approval. Rai within was mortified, yet awed. Who'd ever witnessed a petite redhead cower a Juggernaut before? Not that it was her doing, of course. Ponar, however, was terrified, held in place by one of the Assessor's Juggernaut.
Vidaaquar pushed him away, not ripping the vulnerable folds of his neck, and retracted her teeth. He did not move. "You may give your Queen Klimitzi my regards when next you speak." His eyes rose to hers in shock, unaware she'd been able to hear everything through his impermeable shield. "You may observe my work, and assist as I see fit / Do not interfere with me / My thanks for returning Ponar / He will be of use."
Assessor Brague brought himself up to his full height, his motions stiff. "You truly are a Progenitor / Praise be to this day / I am honored beyond words to be in your presence / I did have promises to Ponar / They must be kept."
Vidaaquar tilted her head, ignoring the honorifics. "What promises to the human? / Let's hope you can keep them."
Brague guffawed. "No worries, honored spirit / He despises the way women are used as lowly breeders here / I am shocked you perpetuate a system which limits their influence and shortens their lifespans / I promised to destroy the Temple system for him."
Vidaaquar turned to Ponar and smiled, shifting back to human speech. "It's good to see you again, Ponar. I understand you wish to see the end of Temple service. You'll have that by the end of the day. All that, and perhaps a bit more."
Ponar scuffed his feet nervously under their scrutiny, but who wouldn't? "Rai?"
"Yes, and no," Vidaaquar replied. "When she jumped off that tower, she found me in the ocean. She liberated me, and I saved her from drowning. We are bonded together now." She turned to the Juggernaut holding him. "Release him. He will come with us willingly."
The Juggernaut soldier turned to the Assessor, who barked an order, and then they complied, releasing Ponar.
"Now, we find ourselves the traitor," Vidaaquar announced, leading the envoy back to the awaiting group of Core and Guardians, who looked none too happy to see them return.
Despite Rai's secondary seat of power within her own body, she now contemplated the utter irony of the power shift she'd witnessed since the last time she'd seen Ponar. Back then, she was a simple girl, with little power within her own Sept, and now she was, what, a vessel to a Progenitor, whatever that was, with an entire fleet of Juggernaut ships backing her, and another on the way.
Again, she wasn't exactly in charge. But she did at least get a front row seat.
"Progenitor," the Assessor politely continued in human speech, as she had shifted over to it, "how do you expect to find the traitor? The colony is over 600 years old. Whoever committed the crime is now long gone."
"Ah, that's where you're wrong, Assessor. And you will call me Vidaaquar, or Vida if you prefer. I am not one for titles. I insist."
The Assessor's mandibles clattered, but he recovered gracefully. "Then, by all means, Vida, you must call me Brague."
At this point, they'd rejoined the Core and Guardians, who waited wide-eyed. The five Core sat in a small circle while the Guardians occupied a separate and much larger patch of ground. Bauleel and Rilte stood off to the side, watching to see that none attempted to escape. Graeber and Ponar joined them.
"You see, Brague, the original crew took Methuselah treatments to increase their chances of surviving the initial trip to the colonization site. Thus, the original traitors are likely still among us."
"You're a liar! They did no such thing!" Rebea exclaimed. Cerry and Somnu sat and fumed next to her. Taessen held his head in his hands, and Raza stared wide-eyed at Vida.
"Don't bother," replied Rilte. "I've done scans on Bauleel myself, and Vida here has examined my mind. You can't make her un-know the truth of it."
Rebea turned shades of red that should have been impossible for a human, but held her tongue, realizing she'd lost the argument. She slumped in resignation, a host of words held behind her lips.
"Methuselah treatments?" Brague roared, and Vida shot him a warning look, which he ignored. "No, Progenitor, my pardons, Vida, this goes against the Hegemonic law, and renders their colony charter null and void."
Vida smiled the sweetest of smiles. "So? Render it void. Tear it up. Consider the settlement of Az'Unda no more."
Brague paused, and then pulled up his communications console. Cerry and Rebea began crying, desolate at this outcome, while Somnu was even more incensed. Despite the language barrier, you could hear the relish in Brague's voice as he delivered the news to whomever he spoke.
"But Brague," Vida interrupted.
"Yes," he paused, turning back to her.
"Keep in mind; I have marked this planet as my own. And I claim all inhabitants upon it as my property, to do with as I see fit. If I wish them relocated, I will ask it of you."
His form grew stiff. "I can also dispose of them for you. I do have resources at the ready. Surely they were not in your original design matrix?"
"No, they were not, but my initial efforts to remove them altered their genetics to a small degree. Some more than others." She eyed Bauleel, Graeber, and the Core members. "But do not concern yourself with such trivial matters. Any I feel are superfluous, I can render down into their material components." She gestured at the pile, which had been Terem, and as Brague comprehended, he shivered in appreciation. The Core members and Guardians appeared visibly shaken.
"As you wish. But concerning the legalities, the colony charter will be declared void, and the planet a fitting sanctuary to the Progenitor Vidaaquar. Sanctuary Vidaaquar." He bowed low, the scent of victory rolling off of him.
Rai took the opportunity to roll her metaphorical eyes.
How long had it been since he'd seen one of her kind, Vidaaquar wondered? But that was a discussion for another day.
Vida nodded her assent to the Assessor. "Now, Graeber, please identify for Brague, the locations of all Core members so he can retrieve them for us now. I wish to interrogate them all at once."
"Don't!" cried out Taessen.
"Why?" asked Graeber. "Are you the traitor?"
"Of course not!" Taessen shot to his feet. "But we can't expose all of us to them like this!"
Graeber placed a hand on his shoulder to calm Taessen, but it had no visible effect. "Look, I know all of this is a lot to take in, but Vida's in charge now, and we're not."
"That's fine for you, you're one of the enemy's pets! What did she offer you to sell out your own kind? How little did it take, eh? You're the traitor!"
Graeber took one calm, level look at Taessen, and decked him square in the jaw. Taessen crumpled to the ground unconscious.
Graeber, face calm as stone, fished his comm unit from his gear and keyed up the necessary files, and walked the group over to Brague. "This data lists all of the Core members, all of the founding colonists. They aren't always attentive to their private comm units, we keep these hidden, so you might need to make some sort of special announcement to get their attention, and then wait for them to get online. Regardless, they keep the comm units close at hand, and only they can unlock them. They will attempt to flee, but their faces are identified."
"And Brague," Vida interrupted, "tell your men that once cornered, they may try to run, and shape-shift their faces. They have that gift from me. However, it won't occur to them to shift their scent. So key first to their scent, and then they can't elude you."
Brague chattered in anticipation of the hunt. "We will not fail. All Core members will be rounded up
within two solar hours." Brague accepted the unit and went to work, returning to his shuttle. His envoy remained to keep guard over the prisoners.
Bauleel stepped up to Graeber, reached out to touch him but then thought better of it. Vida could see the waves of anger emanating off of him as he reacted to Taessen's remarks.
"The real traitor here was the one who hid the Seed Marker from all of us," Bauleel said under her breath to Graeber. "They kept us from making an informed decision on where to set up our colony. They brought this day to pass."
"Agreed," Graeber replied. "But that's not to say we haven't acted selfishly, is it?" His eyes met Vida's, and thus Rai's. Vida faded in contemplation, allowing Rai into the foreground.
Rai searched her heart for regrets and found none. "No regrets." The words formed in her mind, and she saw instant recognition in Graeber's eyes. Interesting. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, but his heart wasn't in it.
"Vida is taking a meditative break, and we have some time before the Core is rounded up. Perhaps we should get some rest and eat?" Rai suggested.
"I suppose we have some rations left in the saddlebags," Bauleel replied. "Let me grab them."
"No, wait," Ponar said, speaking just above a whisper. "Vida is a Progenitor, a venerated species to the Juggernaut. Rai's her vessel. You three are her esteemed companions, yes?"
"What are you getting at?" Graeber asked.
"That you're not understanding your present status, my friends. I've been on their ships. I've seen their wealth. Their prosperity. I say we avail ourselves of their hospitality."
Chapter 28
“I think you've spent a little too much time around our dear Assessor, Ponar," Rai said, eyebrow arched.
Ponar audibly, at least to Rai's hearing, ground his teeth. "I fought for you up there, Sis. It wasn't at all pleasant, but I know how they think. Perhaps even better than you or Vidaaquar. He said his entire fleet is at your disposal, didn't he?"
"Well, yes, but his offer meant military force," Rai replied.
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