by Lisa Lace
"It sounds beautiful when you describe it," I told him. "But it's not. Nothing about this light bond is wholesome if a male forces into it against her will. Let Lucina go. Call off the ceremony tomorrow."
I was trying to appeal to his inner depths.
"I won't," he said coolly, returning to his cold indifference. "This is why we're here – to mate. The ceremony will go ahead."
"Then you've just sentenced your first woman to death," I warned. "Her soul can't survive it."
"She'll have to try," he replied. He was unmoved.
I was no longer angry at myself. He was the focus of my rage. "I never should have told you to claim me. It was a mistake."
He moved behind his desk and allowed space to build between us. "You should return to Lucina," he said, refusing to acknowledge me further. "She needs your support right now. But don't think about running. I've strengthened the patrol around her quarters."
We'll see, I thought to myself.
When I returned to Lucina, she was with Gallia, and she was a lot calmer than before. Her sobs had stopped, and she seemed almost hopeful.
"I failed." It was heartbreaking to tell her. Lucina was the last person I wanted to fail. "But Kalij has been ordered to stay away. If we–"
"It's okay," Gallia said, cutting me off. "She's ready."
"I am," Lucina assured me, a wisp of a smile turning her lips. "I'm ready to show Kalij everything I have to offer."
"I don't understand," I stammered, stunned at Lucina's transformation.
"You're not meant to," Gallia answered for her. "Just let it be."
Lucina smoothed out the tangles of her blonde hair. "It's okay."
"All right," I said softly, throwing my hands into the air. "I don't know what this is, but I won't intervene."
"You've been such a good friend," Lucina said, taking my hand. "Thank you."
Her praise should have comforted me, but it left me unsettled. It was like watching a tree grow upside down. "Is there anything you need?" I asked.
"Just you with me, by my side. Stay here tonight. It'll be like when we were little girls. Who says adult women can't have slumber parties?" She turned to Gallia. "I want you both to stay."
I didn't think it was possible, but Gallia looked embarrassed. "I've never been to a slumber party before," she admitted.
The night wasn't much of a party, and there was very little slumbering. We stayed up chatting about our lives on Earth, of what we'd be going back to if we won the war. I didn't see myself staying in the desert with my parents. My brother already filled that role. He would take care of them. I would likely head north to the winter plains where the big cities were. The city seemed like a good place to be. The liberty of living in a city would be comforting after so much discipline on the Fortuna.
"You wouldn't remain in the military?" Gallia asked, appalled. "All your training will go to waste."
"This is what I trained for," I reminded her. "This war. I never thought we'd be the generation to fight it. I always thought that after my service to the Fortuna, I'd return to Earth and do some good in the world."
"But you are doing good in the world. You're one of the best we have," Galled claimed. "You're spectacular."
It was a rare compliment, gifted on a strange night that pulled our emotions out of us. I was touched, but I didn't agree with Gallia. "If you knew everything, you wouldn't think so," I said. "I keep failing."
"Failing?" Lucina was incredulous. "At the eleventh hour, you were thrown into the role of Commander. With no preparation, it fell on you to meet the Surtu and learn of their intentions. A lesser woman would have caved from the pressure. You haven't failed."
"I agree," Gallia said. "By taking on my responsibilities, you've allowed me to stay undercover in the kitchen. Your position was temporary and for show. You were never going to succeed, and yet somehow you have."
"How?" I argued. "How have I succeeded?"
"You stayed alive," Lucina said.
"And you learned valuable information," Gallia added. "Like the fact that the Surtu ships can connect into one, and that they have a hierarchy they abide by, and that their race is near extinction. Every scrap of information is an advantage."
I couldn't see what they saw. "But it's so little."
Gallia sighed and looked up at the stars. "When you're fighting an unknown enemy, a little is a lot. Stay true, Terra. You're doing well."
"Isn't this great?" Lucina chirped, watching as a meteor shot across the sky. "We should have done more stuff like this before the Surtu arrived."
"You never told us what you'll do once we win the war," Gallia said. "I'll stay in the military. Terra will go be a rogue angel. What will you do?"
I already knew the answer. We had talked about it since we were girls. Lucina wanted to teach little ones and start a family of her own. But that was not the answer she gave.
"We'll see what happens tomorrow," she said. "Then I'll tell you."
* * *
The Surtu delivered a uniform for Lucina early in the morning. Dark blue and stiff, it lacked any embellishments.
That was a good thing. The last thing Lucina needed was a white dress with flowers in her hair.
We weren't at a celebration. It was an insult to all of humanity.
A knock on the door signaled it was time to leave for the Grand Hall where Kalij was waiting.
"Are you sure you can go through with this?" I asked Lucina one last time.
"Positive," she said. She possessed a strange and awkward confidence. "I can do it."
Knowing she'd made her decision, I opened the door. I was annoyed to find Jidden standing on the other side.
"I had to make sure you didn't run off in the middle of the night," he said.
I assumed he was joking, but I wasn't in the mood. "I take it you're officiating."
"No," he answered, taking a step back as he realized he'd receive no warmth from me. "I'm not. I'm going to miss the ceremony. I have a call to take."
"You have a lot of calls."
"We're at war, remember?"
With nothing left to say, I let Lucina take the lead, resisting the urge to pull her back as we made our way to the Grand Hall. It was no secret what was happening. The women of the Fortuna looked upon Lucina with pity, but they saluted her properly as we passed, honoring her.
We entered the Grand Hall, greeted by a handful of soldiers who waited for us. There was no decor, but none was needed. The Grand Hall was magnificent on its own with marble flooring and colonnades. The tiling on the walls formed a mosaic of all of Earth's natural wonders – the rainforests and the white-capped mountains.
Until today, it had been one of my favorite places on the Fortuna, second only to the gardens. Now it felt like enemy headquarters.
At the front of the hall was Kalij with his dirty red hair and a smug smile. I didn't know how Lucina could act so brave when her destiny stood before her and looked so terrible.
I soon found out.
Lucina went to meet Kalij. He reached his hand out to her, but she did not accept the hand of the Depraved. Moving quickly, she let a hidden dagger drop from her sleeve, and she plunged it into his chest. Kalij stumbled backward, clawing at the dagger.
Instantly, two guards grabbed Lucina's arms, but she hardly noticed. Pleased with herself, she smiled broadly, a smile she'd learned from Bellona, the smile of an assassin.
Gallia ran to her.
It's over. Lucina did what I could not.
But it wasn't over. I watched with frightened awe as a light shone from Kalij like a bright rage. He pulled the dagger from his chest as the light healed him, mending his wound like an invisible seamstress.
When the light disappeared, there was only his rage remaining.
"Can you see?" he bellowed, waving the dagger in the air. "We can't be defeated. We are your destiny."
To my horror, he turned to Gallia. "You," he seethed. "You with your eyes like green poison. You convinced her to do this. Sh
e would never have thought of this on her own."
Gallia stood tall and refused to be intimidated. She said nothing.
Twirling the dagger in his hand, he stepped closer to her. "I can survive this," he said, flashing the dagger at her. "Can you?" he asked, and he stabbed her in the heart.
"No!" Lucina screamed as Gallia fell in front of her. She struggled against the soldiers who held her.
I have to get Jidden, I thought, trying not to crack into pieces as Gallia bled to death on the marble floor. He can save her, the way he saved me when they stabbed me.
But I didn't get a chance to leave.
"And you, Commander of bitches," Kalij yelled, removing the dagger from Gallia's heart. He stared deeply into my eyes.
"You're next."
Part 4: Death
TERRA
"No!" Lucina Whitmore cried, struggling against the soldiers who held her arms. At her feet lay Gallia, blood pouring from her heart where Kalij had stabbed her.
The Surtu could heal themselves. They were beings of light as well as the flesh, but the light seemed to be the higher power within them, allowing them to heal both their bodies and others.
Jidden could save Gallia. I needed to get to Jidden – my alien lover.
But I could not. He was in another part of the space station on a call. And Kalij blocked my way, flaunting a dagger in front of me, the tip of the blade stained with Gallia's blood.
"You lied to me, Commander," Kalij hissed. "You told me you had light bonded with a Surtu man, but you didn't. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Yes, I wanted to say, but I knew better. Frantically, I looked around at the handful of other soldiers in the room. "Someone save her!" I shouted, pointing at Gallia, not caring if it set Kalij off. "Claim her if you have to, but save her."
No one moved. Kalij laughed. It made me sick. "They are loyal to me. You tried to kill me. They won't betray me for you. Now beg, Commander. Beg for your life."
I wouldn't beg, and he knew it. I followed Gallia's example. I would face the same fate she did.
I straightened my shoulders and held my head high, allowing the disdain I felt towards the dirty redhead to radiate from me like the blast from the nuke that almost destroyed the Fortuna.
"Very well," he said, pleased. "You made your choice."
He flicked his wrist, ready to strike me down, but he wavered when Jidden burst into the hall.
Apparently, not all the soldiers were loyal to Kalij. One of them must have snuck out to summon Jidden – the Lead Officer in charge of the siege on the Fortuna.
"Enough, Kalij!" Jidden ordered. "Let her go!"
I was far from saved. I saw the wild look in Kalij's eyes. He was going to kill me, regardless of who was in the room.
Jidden must have seen it too. He threw his hand out in front of him, and the dagger twisted out of Kalij's grasp as if handled by an unknown puppet master.
It was a power I never knew the Surtu had. What else could they do, and how would we defeat them? They had masked it well from their enemies. When the dagger clattered to the floor, I quickly kicked it towards Jidden, and then I elbowed Kalij in the face, feeling his nose crack.
It was not like me to get joy from violence, but hurting Kalij in any way possible satisfied a dark part of me.
"Seize him!" Jidden yelled as a troop of soldiers stormed into the Grand Hall. "Seize them all."
Except for Kalij, the other men in the hall surrendered quietly. Kalij was having none of it. "What of my light bonding ceremony?" he demanded, turning his attention to Lucina, who had collapsed at Gallia's side, weeping. "She belongs to me. I've claimed her."
Ignoring him, Jidden went to Gallia. He set his hand over heart. A bright light momentarily blazed across the hall then disappeared, taking my hope with it.
Gallia did not move.
I didn't think Jidden was capable of regret until he looked at me with an unspoken sorrow. Gallia was dead. There was no bringing her back.
Slowly, in shock, I went to her, sitting on the floor next to Jidden. I didn't care that Gallia's blood stained the knees of my white jumpsuit. I smoothed away a piece of her raven-black hair, hoping that there was a special kind of heaven for women who sacrificed themselves as bravely as Gallia had.
Devastated, Lucina threw herself into my arms, and I held her.
"There will be no light bonding ceremony today," Jidden announced, loud and definite.
"You can't do that!" Kalij screamed, inciting a cluster of guards to surround him as if they were trapping a beast in his cage. "It's my right! Captain Fore gave his permission."
"Captain Fore will agree with my decision," Jidden said, standing to confront Kalij. "The life of a human woman is worth more than the life of a soldier. We are at the risk of extinction. You have betrayed your people, Kalij. The Captain will punish you accordingly."
"You are mine!" Kalij yelled to Lucina as the guards escorted him out of the hall. "I will come back for you! We will be light bonded! I should have taken you when I had the chance!"
After Kalij had left, Lucina shuddered in my arms.
"Are you okay?" Jidden asked me, his tone much softer than when he had spoken to his men.
"No," I said, looking at Gallia. "I'm not."
He addressed the soldiers once more. "This will be a day of mourning," he declared. "We will mourn for the woman and the Surtu children she would have borne. And the children they would have borne. And the children they would have borne. Especially their daughters. The greed of one man will destroy an entire line of our people."
"What will happen to Gallia?" I asked, remembering the way the Surtu sent off their dead – by summoning a light that took their bodies. It was beautiful and powerful, but it was not what Gallia would have wanted. She was loyal to her people. She had died for them and given her life to the Fortuna to protect them.
She would want an Earth burial.
Jidden understood this without me having to tell him. "She will be placed within your temple. You may mourn her as you like."
"We bury our dead," I told him. "If someone dies while they are in space, their body is sent home to be laid to rest."
"I'll see what I can do," he said, sounding uncertain. "After today, I doubt Earth will accept any ships from the Fortuna, not even a cargo ship."
"What does that mean?" I challenged.
He didn't answer.
JIDDEN
What had we become?
This was not the Surtu way. We were honorable soldiers. When we killed, it was to serve a purpose. We did not kill out of self-indulgence.
At least, not in the time of my father. My father had been honorable. He was a well-respected soldier. That was why the military was eager to take me in when he died. He had served my people well. But he was only a soldier, like me. Promotions in the military didn't come easy. The men at the top were in an elite club.
They didn't share their power with just anyone.
But they were still honorable, not like the next generation of soldiers – soldiers like Kalij and his heathen friends. They were my age, but I lived in the old world while they lived in the new. They refused to work hard, believing their uniform alone entitled them to take what they wanted.
Maybe it was true when it came to human women. A Surtu man could claim the woman of his choosing, as long as a superior approved the match. But any man who would kill a woman so recklessly, the way Kalij had, was corrupt.
The question was – had Kalij always been corrupt? Was it inherent within him, or was his failure a consequence of being trained to take without remorse?
Either way, it was not honorable. My father would never have tolerated it. And neither could I.
I did not care about the fate of the women of Earth when I believed them to be nothing more than a means of survival, but my time with Terra had changed my views. Along with our survival, they could offer us intellect and art and humor.
We needed to mate with the human women. That could not be chang
ed. However, we could allow them some dignity in the process.
We could offer them more than a generation of entitled heathens. We could offer them more than a dagger in the heart.
I sat at my desk in my office, my head in my hands. I was conflicted. I wanted to serve my people the way my father had, but I was not sure if I could.
How could I teach a pack of dogs integrity?
The light on my communicator came on. I watched the small circular device buzz on my desk, wishing it would disappear. In frustration, I picked it up and threw it against the wall.
It didn't break. Of course it didn't. Nothing about the Surtu was breakable.
"Sir, the Captain is waiting to resume your call," the soldier in charge of communications informed me, poking his head into my office.
"I know," I grumbled, and I stormed down to the communications room where Captain Fore waited on the video screen.
"What the hell was so important you had to leave your Fleet Captain waiting?" he roared, speaking in our native language, which was much more fluid than the languages on Earth. "We attack Earth today!"
"A woman has been killed," I told him. "By the hand of one of our soldiers."
Captain Fore instantly went still. There was no worse offense than killing a woman. "Who is responsible?" he asked calmly. He was still angry, but now it was like ice.
"Kalij, the soldier who was to be light bonded today. His claimed tried to stab him with a hidden dagger before the ceremony. To punish her, he killed her friend."
"And why didn't anyone stop him?"
"Because there is a problem among some of the soldiers. They forget why we are here. They believe this is a joy ride, like a raid on a candy store."
"Then bleed the corruption out," Captain Fore instructed. "I didn't get this far by playing fair. I earned everything I have by being a tyrant. My men tremble when I'm near. Yours should do the same."
"I have already sent Kalij to you on a glider," I said, speaking of the small vessels we used to transport goods between ships. "I'll take care of the rest."
Captain Fore had already lost interest. "The remainder of the fleets will arrive within the hour. Soon after, the light out will occur. It will blind the Earth, including the useless military stations that guard it. During that time, our ships will land on the planet. The takeover should be quick."