Dhakhar

by Annabelle Rex

  “Captain,” Taph says, his expression somewhere near a grin. “To what do I owe the pleasure. Looking for an update on the smugglers? I’ve been feeding whatever I can find in to your team, you know, they could probably update you just as well. Save me the chore.”

  “Taph, shut up and listen to me,” I say. “I’m being held by the Protectorate. This is the first comm they’ve allowed me to make and it will probably be the only one.”

  Taph frowns, every trace of amusement gone from his face in an instant, his bioluminescent markings flashing.

  “What do you mean ‘held by the Protectorate’ you are the Protectorate.”

  “I work for them, Taph, doesn’t make me exempt from the law.”

  “And exactly what law have you broken?”

  Thinking about it, not even the one I thought I’d broken.

  “None,” I say. “This is about Charlie. The princess. Who isn’t, as it turns out, a princess.”

  Taph raises an eyebrow. “And you didn’t think to check that?”

  “Only so far as to make sure that H’Varak believed it, Taph. I didn’t want her not to be. It kept her safe from him. I never stopped to consider that he’d blame all this on me.”

  And that was really vecking stupid, because of course he was going to blame it all on me. Never mind that I was just following his orders. I should have let Loran do the searches, should have checked the information for myself.

  And then what? Let H’Varak have his fun?

  The answer comes with a jolt of rage that makes my scales harden. H’Varak has no right to touch her. None. I’d rather spend the rest of my life in prison than give him the opportunity to prey on her. She’s mine. Only mine.

  My Garvenian side objects to these possessive thoughts, but my Dravosic side is louder. Charlie is mine and if this is the price I have to pay for keeping her safe from another man who would take advantage of her, then it’s a price I gladly pay.

  Taph is quiet throughout this little internal battle, deep in thought.

  “There will be evidence on Xentra’s systems that H’Varak was the one who did the searches, made all the decisions. But Dhak, you have to realise that it’s probably not going to make a damn bit of difference.”

  “I know,” I say. “I know that. I’m not calling you to try to save me. I’m calling you because you’re sensible enough not to waste time on that.”

  Taph’s bioluminescent markings pulsate, light playing over his cheeks.

  “What do you want me to do, Captain?” he says.

  “Use your influence,” I say. “You’ve got enough of it to nudge H’Varak in the right direction. Don’t let him hire some other idiot to replace me. Make sure he gives the job to Mylan.”

  “Should be easy enough. Any other last requests?”

  “Yeah, make sure none of my crew do anything stupid. I don’t want to take anyone else down with me.”

  “That might be a little more difficult.”

  Then, to my great surprise, Taph slams his fist down on his desk, his tail flicking about behind him.

  “Vecking Vetruen idiots and the vecking useless Protectorate.”

  Taph getting all aggrieved on my behalf? I’m strangely touched.

  “You really aren’t as much of an asshole as you pretend to be,” I say.

  “Stop talking like you’re never going to see me again, Captain. You haven’t been sent down yet.”

  But why waste time fighting the inevitable?

  “Thanks, Taph,” I say, and shut him off.

  The very next day, I’m listed for a hearing. It’s fast, but there’s a slight reprieve, as H’Varak has been summoned to give his account in person, and it will take him at least three days to get here.

  Three days to enjoy life not as a convicted felon.

  I do try to be optimistic about my chances, but I’ve been here before. It didn’t go my way last time, and it’s not going to go my way this time. Even the charge they’re holding me on is bovi-shit. Conspiracy to commit fraud. What time was there to commit a conspiracy? Charlie had only just woken up when the first word out of her mouth was ‘princess’ and this whole mess got kicked off. I couldn’t have planned that with her, she’d been sedated for the entire journey back, as Dantari and R’Shaad’s medical records will show. And sure, I could have conspired with her after the fact, once we were alone on the Starlight, but what did I stand to gain? What possible benefit could I have derived from the situation, even if she’d told me straight away? Who conspires to commit fraud for laughs?

  If she’d told me straight away, maybe I could have averted the disaster before it unfolded.

  Before H’Varak had time to brag to all his Vetruen friends about the princess in his care.

  Probably not. But maybe.

  I keep wondering about why she never said anything. Then Jaxran’s words come back to me - she was alone, vulnerable, probably terrified. She didn’t know me then, and she’d already seen how being a princess afforded her better treatment, protection. In her position, would I have told the truth?

  I don’t think so.

  Still, it hurts that she never said anything to me at the end. Did she think I wouldn’t understand? Did she think I’d hate her for it? I’d have been annoyed, yes, but more out of fear for her. Did she not trust me enough?

  And then I remember - a cautious question I’d assumed was asked in a kind of hopeful jest.

  What if I wasn’t a princess?

  She’d tried to tell me. She’d tried to edge her way into a conversation about it and I’d told her about the mind wipe. I should have let her talk, should have understood what she was trying to say. Should have sensed there was something deeper to her question. If it had come out then, maybe we could have come up with a plan. A way of avoiding the mess we’re in now. Me in custody and her back home. Memories gone.

  But no. If we ran, we’d be fugitives, and no one can stay on the run forever. If we tried to talk to them, we’d be here, still. Even if we’d tried to explain the situation, there’s still the fact that H’Varak was never going to take the fall for his screw up. There always needs to be an enemy, someone to blame. And in this Universe, it’s always going to be me. No matter what way I try to work it, there isn’t an outcome to the situation that doesn’t end up exactly like this. Me in prison, her with her memories erased.

  And it says a lot about the state of my head that the thought that she doesn’t remember anything about me is far, far worse than the thought of the rest of my life on Renza Seven.

  Chapter 28

  Dhakhar

  By the time my hearing rolls round, I’ve given up any hope of ever seeing freedom again. H’Varak has the slot before me. We’re seeing the same judge - Judge J’Nesric, so a Vetruen.

  So, basically, I’m screwed.

  They cuff me when they take me from my cell - just another humiliation to bear. UP-LE guidance says you don’t have to cuff non-violent criminals who’ve offered no resistance and have been compliant throughout. But the Vetruen officers do them up nice and tight, smirking at me the entire time.

  I’m escorted in to the judge’s room. It’s a small space - a large desk taking up the bulk of the room, old fashioned book shelves with old fashioned books on line the wall behind it. No one has old fashioned books these days. No one except the very wealthy. If there was a spark of hope left, the books dash ice water on it.

  But then the judge looks up and frowns.

  “Take those cuffs off him,” he says, tone terse. “They aren’t required.”

  “Sir…” one of the Vetruen officers start, but the judge spears him with a look and, wisely, he shuts up, uncuffing my wrists without another word.

  “You may leave now,” Judge J’Nesric says, and the two guards slink out, shutting the door behind them with a snap.

  J’Nesric is dressed less ostentatiously than H’Varak on a normal day - the kind of non-show off outfit that doesn’t say ‘I have simple tastes and needs’ but rather ‘I�
�m so powerful I don’t even need to wear obviously expensive clothing to prove it’. He is typically sharp featured, his skin a pale green colour. He regards me with bright yellow eyes, everything about him oozing power and control.

  “This business is a right royal mess,” he says, slight emphasis on the word ‘royal’.

  “Yes, sir,” I say, sinking into my military posture like a comfort blanket.

  “Commander H’Varak has given me his account this morning and he had a number of interesting things to say.”

  Of course he did. I wish I knew exactly how H’Varak has spun things. I can picture him clear as day, sat at his desk tap tapping his fingers as he worked through the scenario in his head and came up with the best way to paint me into a corner.

  Or maybe he didn’t even bother. Maybe he knows J’Nesric and the two of them just had a good laugh about how they’re going to send me down.

  “Before I question you about anything specific,” J’Nesric says. “I’d like you to give me your account of things. I don’t suppose I need to impress the importance of telling the truth on a UP-LE Captain?”

  “No, sir,” I say.

  I give him my account. I keep it as simple as I can. Charlie waking up. H’Varak throwing me and my staff out of the med bay. That H’Varak did all the checks. I miss out Loran confirming the findings for me, just state that as H’Varak is my superior officer, I had no reason to distrust him, that he has greater access to the Protectorate databases than I or anyone on my team does. That he instructed me to transport the princess to her home planet, where we would meet with diplomats. That I was as surprised as anyone when we met those diplomats and it turned out she wasn’t a princess at all. I don’t talk about Denestra or Chasira until he prompts me. When he does, I tell him Charlie’s version of events. That we stopped on Denestra for clothes and she wanted to look around and I obliged her. Because she was in control, and I had to follow her orders.

  “Commander H’Varak ordered me to take her to Chasira,” I say. “There will be a recording of the comm on the Starlight’s systems. The hotel at Chasria was booked by him.”

  J’Nesric says nothing, his face far too blank to give anything away.

  “Is there anything further you would like to add?” he asks, after a moment.

  “No, sir.”

  He nods. “I expect you know that your account is in direct contradiction to Commander H’Varak’s on a number of points?”

  I say nothing. What can I say?

  He closes off his screen, knits his fingers together then looks at me.

  “You’ve been in this position before, Captain. A room just like this for a hearing just like this. During the war. Insubordination - specifically defying the orders of a superior officer. You argued that you had no choice but to disobey. The judge clearly felt otherwise. You were demoted and transferred to a different unit. What do you have to say regarding that?”

  I remember the smug face of the general as he gave his evidence about my insubordination, the bland face of the judge as he listened to my evidence about the general’s bad orders, the risk he put my unit under for minimal gain and all the other reasons why I’d felt it the right thing to do to ignore him. To disobey.

  “I think the judge had already made his mind up before I even stepped in the room,” I say, because I have nothing left to lose at this point, I may as well go all in. “I think it wouldn’t have mattered a damn what I said, or what my general said. I was always going to take the fall. Just like I’m going to end up taking it now.”

  The judge is silent for a long moment. Then he nods.

  “Honest. I appreciate that.”

  He gestures to the chair on the other side of his desk, adding, “Sit, please,” when I fail to move.

  I sit.

  “I want to show you something, Captain,” J’Nesric says, pressing a button that drops the light in the room. On one of the walls, a screen lights up a video of people walking round on a ship appearing.

  “This is the footage from the Equity,” J’Nesric says. He taps buttons and the footage speeds up. I see Charlie and myself walking through the corridors at triple speed, meeting with the boarding party. Their faces are stern. If I’d been concentrating less on trying to keep myself together, maybe I would have noticed something wasn’t right then.

  J’Nesric plays through the moment where Charlie admits that she’s not a princess. That the diplomat states real princess is just a child. Universal Standard Time, I think. The UP database had information in UST and the Vetruen looking it up had just assumed it was in Vetruen years because it fit the picture they wanted it to make.

  “She gave an account, you know,” J’Nesric says. “Vain, vapid little thing. Talking about how she thought it was brilliant that you’d mistaken her identity. That she enjoyed being able to boss people around and buy nice things.”

  That’s not the Charlie I know. Charlie who apologised for being demanding. Charlie who turned down more clothes and nice things on Chasira because she was too upset about the way the shopkeepers had talked about me.

  “Yes,” J’Nesric says. “The overall impression that the people who spoke to her had was of young woman who wasn’t very bright.”

  Not my Charlie. But maybe the Charlie her family thought her to be. She said she slipped in to that role when she felt frightened or threatened by people - by men - in power. Is that what she did? Wrapped that persona round her like armour?

  “She had a lot to say about you.” J’Nesric is watching me closely now, scrutinising my expression. I keep my face blank. I will not give myself away. “About how you were terribly dull. Bad company. Good for bossing around and not much else. Said she didn’t think you were very clever and all you could do was follow someone else’s orders. Questioned whether you’d been dropped on your head at birth.”

  Keeping my features flat, bland, is an effort.

  “She was of the opinion,” J’Nesric says, “that Commander H’Varak would have been better company. Said he was far more intelligent. Which I find very interesting, don’t you?”

  This whole experience has thrown a great many things in to doubt, but not Charlie’s feelings for H’Varak. She feared him. Spending two weeks alone on a small ship with him would have terrified her.

  “But, I was going to show you something,” J’Nesric says. He’s scanning through the footage now, looking for a specific point. “Here we are.”

  He hits pause, and on the screen, Charlie is walking away from the camera - from me, just off screen - but she’s turned back to face it. And her expression…

  “That,” J’Nesric says. “Is not the face of a woman who doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”

  No. Frozen in that moment she looked back at me - the last time she looked back at me - Charlie’s eyes hold all the hurt and fear that she was feeling. Her lips slightly parted, cheeks flush. I miss her with a pain that hollows out my gut.

  “Interesting, don’t you think, that she plays on almost every single stereotype the Universe holds about hybrids? That she takes extra care to heap praise on H’Varak - to call him intelligent, while saying that you are absolutely not. Almost as if she’s trying to make it clear exactly where the blame for this situation lies.” J’Nesric holds my gaze. “Perhaps the only way she thought she would be believed.”

  Oh, Charlie. I wish I could tell you again how much I love you.

  “She knew about the mind wipe, didn’t she?” J’Nesric says.

  “She did.”

  “She knew about the mind wipe and I don’t think it’s the only thing she knew. I think she knew that her actions would land you in trouble. I think this,” he gestures at the footage, “was her gift to you. Evidence - caught on camera or witnessed by the people around you - that you were completely in the dark about the truth of her identity. Proof that you were not complicit in any way with her actions, as Commander H’Varak’s account tried to insinuate. I think she quite deliberately played the idiot so she could say al
l those things and have people believe her upfront. I think she tried to absolve you, Captain.”

  I honestly don’t know how to respond. J’Nesric just nods, as if my silence is all the confirmation he needs.

  “The likes of Tesson H’Varak are an embarrassment to the Vetruen people,” he says. “Relics who fail to see the need for evolution and change. They resist the rule of the Protectorate, hide out in out of the way places and behave as if the Prenetash War was the fault of the Prenetashi people. It’s a bad name, really. We ought to rename it the War of Vetruen Hubris.”

  We are so far off the expected script, now, I don’t even dare try to speak.

  “You’re quiet, Captain. You’re cautious of me. I understand that. I’m sorry if my pushing you before called to mind how others of my species have treated you. I wanted to know how you would respond. With honesty and integrity, as it turns out. But I wasn’t pushing you to ascertain whether your account was truthful. H’Varak was too lazy, too convinced of his own victory to even bother making up a convincing story. He told me you did all the checks, which is impossible, because you don’t have the required access.” He pauses a moment, fingers drumming against the desk in a quiet, steady rhythm. “You never asked anyone else to double check. You could have sent a request to the Protectorate, but you didn’t. I have my suspicions why, but I would like to hear what you have to say about it.”

  “It didn’t matter to me whether it was true or not,” I say, finally finding my tongue. “Only that H’Varak believed it. If he believed it… It protected her from him.”

  “That’s an impeccably polite way of putting it,” Judge J’Nesric says. “I’m relieving Tesson H’Varak of his command of Xentra Station, a command he didn’t deserve to be given in the first place. Xentra might feel like the dead end of the Universe, but there are a lot of assets out there that are of great value to the Protectorate. The miner colonies do an admirable job of protecting themselves, but having a UP-LE unit stationed out there is a reassuring back up for those communities. Especially if it’s one they trust. From the evidence I’ve gathered, in particular the evidence of one rather belligerent Menarzi, it seems the Junkers of Xentra and the miner communities trust you a great deal. I wanted to be sure that trust wasn’t misplaced.”