by Chris Reher
“Gods,” Ciela moaned.
“Who did this?” Seth barely dared to breathe as he awaited the woman’s reply. In spite of what he told Ciela, not all Air Command patrols cared about the difference between a rebel and a mere sympathizer. Their willingness to follow orders without question was probably the main reason he left the Air Command Academy the moment his flight training had concluded. Having witnessed the extremes with which some soldiers carried out those orders ensured that he never regretted his choice.
Her haunted eyes moved to him and he suddenly felt cowardly standing here with his coveralls and air filters and the gun that arrived too late to help them. He silenced the scanner persistently warning him about the hazards in the air.
“What difference does it make?” she said. “When Arawaj oppose Arawaj, what does anything matter? They came to find the spanners and just taking them wasn’t enough. We now know what will happen to those of us who refuse to bow to the Shri-Lan. We can’t hide, even out here.”
“This was Sebasta and his goons. His ship left this system a couple of hours ago.” Ruthala swore like someone used to swearing loudly and often. “We heard he took Velen Phar’s crew.” She shot Ciela a meaningful glance. “And his spanners. I guess he made them tell about this place.”
“Where is he taking them?” Seth said.
“We have to get these people out,” Ciela interrupted. “There are decon stations and a hospital at the delta. We can fit a bunch into the Dutchman.”
Seth nodded. “Then we need to get you away, Ciela. They may come back for you. You’re a danger to any of… of your people if you stay with them.”
“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. “I guess I don’t have much choice.”
“Let’s get these people out of here and to the hospital,” Ruthala said. “We’ll regroup in town. I have more bad news.”
A shuttle arrived not long later and hours passed as they combed the hills for survivors and marked off the contaminated area with warning signs. Besides the three missing spanners working for Hariah, the toll amounted to six dead and two dozen hurt. The shuttle began to move people to another village while Ruthala and Seth used their faster planes to move the injured to the hospital.
No one asked about Seth or how he came to be in Ciela’s company, assuming him to be another Arawaj from some distant place. This wasn’t his first time posing as a rebel and he was comfortable with their ways. The measure of distrust shown by Ruthala even for her own gang, however, was new to him. She did not mention the spanners in front of the others again and Ciela seemed to be just another villager, recently returned from abroad.
They cleared the village of survivors by nightfall and returned to the delta city where Seth found himself locked out of his own ship by the decon crew. When Ciela enthusiastically accepted the invitation, he had little choice but to also agree to stay overnight at Ruthala’s home.
A ground vehicle took them into the hills and he wondered how things had turned so quickly. Friendly or not, he now found himself tightly wedged between two burly Arawaj rebels, both holding their guns as if expecting some imminent attack. Ruthala, sitting across from him, carried a laser in a shoulder holster although she seemed occupied with untangling her wiry black hair from the bonds that kept it in place. As if all that wasn’t enough, even the driver sat with a rifle propped between his knees.
Ciela, slouching in the seat beside Ruthala, smirked when she guessed Seth’s thoughts. Just a word from her would set her free and leave him, no doubt, with a bullet in his brain. He drew his brows together but she only grinned more broadly and quite meaningfully shifted her eyes to the capable-looking Human beside him.
The carriage brought them to a single-storied private home seemingly stuck to the side of the hill leading up into the mountains. The simple panels of which it was built made a serene counterpoint to the carefully designed garden that surrounded it. But it was the view of the distant coast that made both Ciela and Seth stare in wonder when they left the shuttle. Some sort of phosphorescence rode the waves along the shore, offering a stunning display of color and motion.
“Monopods in the water,” Ruthala explained. “Their filaments glow at night near the shore to attract insects. In the autumn they turn red.” She tipped her head toward the house behind them. “This is my father’s home. We are quite safe here.” She paused for a moment, perhaps remembering that, until recently, the people of Ciela’s home had felt quite safe, too. “I suppose many of us will leave now that the Commonwealth has arrived. Some of us want to stay and fight the takeover. Make them build every wall three times before their damn base is finished.” She pointed across the town to a cleared patch at the far side.
“They’re putting a garrison on Tadonna?”
“Yes. They know we’re here. But Father wants no trouble in this place. This has been a haven for us. These people are our friends. The governors’ greed isn’t their fault and many of them don’t understand what goes on in other places. This only makes it clearer that we have work to do elsewhere. We’ve lost this planet but others see reason. We’ll continue out fight, if not here then elsewhere.” She gazed out over the sprawling town, one of only a few places where settlement was possible on Tadonna’s thin soil. “Well, so it goes. Come in. We’ll have some food. And we need to talk.”
She ushered them and two of her companions into the house and then a tiled room strewn with thickly padded mats and pillows to be arranged in whatever way they pleased. A few low tables were soon stacked with plates and bowls and Seth was happy to see some favorite Magran dishes among them. Nothing here was reported by his scanner as objectionable and he ate with appreciation for whoever did the cooking in this place.
Their companions also enjoyed their meal and he saw no signs of weapons or guards nearby. Ruthala reclined comfortably on her mat, sharing a platter with another Human. In contrast to the woman’s deep brown skin and generous curves, he seemed almost unhealthily pallid, like someone who spent more time in the air than on the ground. The third rebel, a Centauri woman, devoted herself to picking bones out of a plate of tiny sea creatures, cursing them even as she declared them to be her favorite.
Ciela picked listlessly at her bowl of fish and charred vegetables, only half-listening to the easy banter traded around the room. Seth came to sit beside her and offered a small dish of pink berries. “Try these,” he suggested. “Good for you, I’m sure.”
She peered into the bowl. “Those’ll put me to sleep.”
“Maybe that’s what you need right now.” He’d come to appreciate her tough, if not terribly thick-skinned, exterior but she was not a fighter like these people, nor had she gown up among the sort of barbarism her people were capable of, as he had. These past few days had brought more upheaval into her life than a dozen years of space travel.
She started to reply when Ruthala dropped into the pillows beside them. “Now then: business,” she said. “I’m afraid the sky is getting darker over the Arawaj.”
Seth looked up, wishing the woman and her bad news would go away and give Ciela a reprieve from all this. “How so?”
Ruthala weighed her words. “Tell me, how did Ciela end up with you?”
He stopped chewing the stalk of aromatic herb they had been served to finish their meal. “Uh, with me?”
“Yes.” Ruthala pointed her own twig at him. “Last we heard, she was taken aboard Bastard Sebasta’s ship. That’s when Chonny decided to get out of Tayako and return here.” She nodded to the Centauri sitting by the window.
Ciela leaned back into her pillow. “Yes, Seth, why don’t you tell our story.” That devilish grin was back on her face as she regarded him expectantly and wide-eyed.
He smiled back at her with more meaning than Ruthala was likely to interpret. “Well, there’s not much, really. Ciela and I are old friends. She’s always on the go so I try to see her when I can. When she said they’re stopping over on Tayako I thought, well, what’s a little coolant to burn for a chanc
e to see my girl. A night of love and wine is all I ask.”
Ciela’s eyebrows rose into the fringe of bangs across her forehead.
He reached out to flick her chin with the edge of his finger. “And she misses me terribly, so far away on that old barge. Don’t you, Sweetness?”
Ciela rolled her eyes when Ruthala, perhaps a little embarrassed, turned to pick up a long-necked bottle.
“Anyway,” Seth continued. “When I got to the Othani, Velen told me she’d been taken. I tracked her down and tried to get her off Sebasta’s ship but we lost the others during all that.”
“We got away on an escape pod,” Ciela said. “That was interesting, I tell you.”
“Hmm,” Ruthala pondered. “It’s true then. He’s got them all. Except for you, Ciela.” The rebel turned to Seth. “It’s best not to discuss them around… others. These days it’s hard to know whom to trust. Not only do we have to fear the damn Air Command, now we can’t even trust our own.”
Ciela’s smile faded. “So what’s this bad news you have on top of all this today?”
Ruthala looked up when someone came to take their plates away and, with a friendly gesture, asked them to return later. Once the doors closed, she sat up on her pillows, closer to Seth and Ciela.
“First, Velen Phar got away but he’s got himself a price on his head now.” She waved Ciela’s response to that aside. “Serves him right. What was he thinking? We have a million places to hide you and instead he decides to give away the single biggest asset we own? To the Union? Idiot deserves whatever he gets. He’s a traitor as much as Sebasta is and I’d shoot him myself if he were here. He sold you and betrayed you and because of him Hariah’s girls are gone, too, remember that. We’ve lost a major advantage because of this. Now you’re the only one left.”
“Air Command is still better than the Shri-Lan getting them, don’t you think?” Ciela ventured.
Ruthala scowled. “No, it isn’t. At least the Shri-Lan will use them to do some good, even if their goals are ridiculous. But the big issue is Sebasta’s trade. Practically begging the Shri-Lan to take over and bribing them with our spanners. It’s an insult. For what? Wealth and power over some backwoods outposts!”
“You heard about the trade, too?”
“Lots of folks have. They’re meeting the Brothers themselves for this.”
Seth frowned. “Are you sure? Those two don’t travel well or often.”
“This is what I heard. Apparently, the Brothers are offering a full partnership of the Ud Mrak racket. And that’ll mean Sebasta will get to run the operation out of Callas as well.”
Seth whistled. “How many has Sebasta convinced to join Shri-Lan?”
Ruthala shrugged. “He’s got a dozen other commanders following him now. Sebasta’s own people are running at least thirty ships. Mostly just transports, but he’s got a handful of Tridents that’ll give your ship a good run. Plus he’s already got everyone on Callas who’s still Arawaj convinced that this is what needs to happen. Who knows how many others will turn over our assets, change their views in the fight against Commonwealth control and follow blindly.”
“Or be forced to follow,” Ciela said.
Seth regarded her thoughtfully. “High stakes, for a bunch of spanners.” He did not miss the furtive glance exchanged by the women. “And bad news for what’ll end up a weakened Arawaj base. It’s likely that more commanders will follow.”
“Exactly. But we still have a chance. A message I got just before we left here earlier said some others are going to try to sabotage the deal.”
“Sabotage how?”
“No idea but whatever it is, it’s not going to be good. I can only imagine the sort of security they’ll have for the Brothers, so it’ll be messy. I’ve sent a message packet to Magra to see what’s going on.” She held up her wrist band. “I’ll hear the moment the packet gets back here.”
“And the spanners will get caught in the middle,” Ciela said. “Miko and Luanie and the girls… We can’t let this happen!”
“Surely they’ll be all right,” Ruthala said. “They’ll have tight security on those spanners. No one wants to lose them.”
“If the only choice is between letting the Shri-Lan have the… the spanners and nobody having them, what do you think would happen? What would you do?”
Ruthala fell silent.
Seth came to his feet and pulled Ciela up along with him. “I think we could use some sleep,” he said. “You’ll wake us as soon as you get that message, Ruthala?”
“Of course,” she said, a little bewildered by their abrupt departure. “Follow the terrace to the last room at the end. It’s a comfortable space.”
* * *
Only the sound of wind in the trees outside and the soft gurgling of some stream or fountain nearby intruded upon the silence of the house now. Three open windows allowed enough light from Tadonna’s two moons to make lamps unnecessary. Seth sat on a bench in front of a window, his arms propped on his knees.
“Why didn’t you tell them?” he said finally.
Ciela lay curled on her side, without a blanket on this warm night. “Who you are, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“They’d kill you. You know that.”
“And you don’t want that?”
“No,” she said after some thought. “I don’t. You’re not like them.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “They are not like them, Ciela. Just like not all of you are the Arawaj whose tales of terror are told to frighten children. I learned that a long time ago.”
“And the Shri-Lan?”
“Shri-Lan are bloody bastards.”
She smiled tiredly but he saw tears reflect the light of the moons.
“You’re not all right, are you?” he said.
“No. I need to cry. I lost family today. Everyone. And all I can do is run away and hide on Delphi so I don’t get lost, too.” She held her hand out to him. “Lie down here with me. Please. I guess after your tall tale you have to sleep with me, anyway.”
“I didn’t really think that through before she sorted out the sleeping arrangements.” He removed his guns and jacket and walked over to her mats to stretch out behind her. She reached for his hand and pulled his arm to drape over her shoulder. He waited for her to start sobbing, to let her grief break through that Arawaj exterior that had, in some ways, left her as reserved as the Delphians she no longer resembled. But she lay quietly, letting tears run over her face and onto the pillows without a sound. He stroked her hair, too aware of the small space they shared. It had been a long while since he held a woman like this and he had to remind himself that he fell to their charms far too easily. He knew himself well enough to realize that Ciela had slipped under his skin at some point during these past few restless days and that he welcomed the intrusion.
“Ciela,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Are you going to tell me why the Shri-Lan value you so much?”
“I want to.”
“And will you?”
She turned halfway toward him to look into his eyes reflecting some of the dim light in a mellow gleam of violet. Her hand reached out as if to touch his face but then she pulled it back with a small sigh. “Let’s see what the morning brings,” she said.
“Are you as valuable to the Arawaj as to everyone else?”
“Yes.”
“So what makes you think Ruthala will let you leave here to run back to Delphi, no matter who I am in all this?”
“They wouldn’t… I mean…”
“People died because of this. And it looks like a whole lot more will get drawn into this little rebel rebellion. They need you. You seem more like a piece of property than a member of the team.”
She started to reply when raised voices in another part of the house reached them. A woman, probably Ruthala, called for someone and a man answered. Another voice joined them, now coming closer. Seth sat up quickly to pull his shirt over his head and then covered them bot
h to the waist with a blanket. Ciela gasped when he drew her close but then relaxed against him.
A brief knock on the screen door to the terrace was immediately followed by Ruthala’s entrance; apparently the woman wasn’t worried about disturbing her guests. “The packet came back from Magra,” she announced and touched the light strip above the door.
Ciela rubbed her face to hide the signs of her tears. “Already?”
“Yes! We’ve got a group on Magra Torley ready to go within days. They’ve been working their way into Sebasta’s command over these past few months and he’s sending them ahead to the meeting. Part of his show to the Brothers that he’s got something to offer.”
“What’s the plan?” Seth said.
“They’re going to disrupt the meeting to demonstrate what the Shri-Lan can expect from the rest of us if they try to absorb our faction. Something big.”
“How big?”
“Well, if I know anything about Pacoby’s methods, they’ll just blow the place.”
“Pacoby?” Seth said. “I think you’re right. He likes fireworks.”
“You know of him?” Ciela said.
“Yes, he runs suicide missions. Strangely, he’s never there when things happen. This doesn’t look good for the spanners.” He looked to Ruthala with that last sentence.
The Human nodded. “His ways are… extreme. But effective. Air Command has backed off from him in the past. The Shri-Lan may, too.”
“Air Command is a bit more concerned about collateral damage,” Seth said but then bit his lip. “Where is this happening?”
“They didn’t say.”
Ciela’s expression had turned into one of utter despair. “Pacoby’s bunch stops at nothing. They’ll turn this into some senseless stunt and blow up whatever they can blow up. It won’t accomplish anything except their name in the news. People will die and we will get blamed for yet another list of casualties.” She turned to Seth. “We have to go, too. We have to help. Get them out, I mean.”