by Maia Starr
"I am sorry to be the one to tell you this. We believe that Commander Kasian Jade is dead.”
I was stunned. I was shocked. I was silent.
"Ms. Perkins, are you all right? Can I get you a glass of water?” he asked.
I nodded my head yes. Not because I needed water, but because I needed a moment alone without someone asking me questions or staring at me. I needed to be alone to process what the guard had told me. It was impossible. It couldn't be. He could not to be dead. I wouldn't allow it.
"Here you are,” the guard said to me as he returned with a glass of water.
I took a small sip and then said, “How?” It was all that I could say as tears began to flow out of my eyes.
"Three weeks ago there was a major battle in a field up north. We have not been able to find him since and it has been assumed that he is no longer with us. That he has passed injured on the battlefield," he said to me. I looked at him startled.
"You mean he has not been found? He could still be alive?” I said, filled with hope.
"We have searched for him for over two weeks now. We have found nothing, no trace of him. The search was called off."
"No. He is still out there. You must keep searching for him. I know it. I can just feel it,” I said to him.
"I will contact the lead guard to let him know that you are here. He is in charge since Commander Kasian Jade has gone missing,” he said to me, sensing that I did not want to hear that Kasian was dead. He used the word gone missing instead, and it gave me hope.
"I will wait right here,” I said to him.
Chapter 10
COMMANDER KASIAN JADE
We had been tracking the outlaws all over the country. The taskforce from Mooreah had taken up most of the work, but I insisted on going along with them; this was my fight on more than one level. He had stolen the power receptors from me and had destroyed a marriage. I had to hunt him down.
When the battle started, none of us were prepared for the oncoming attack. We had made a camp in a field thinking that the outlaws were miles away. They caught us off guard, but we were quick to engage in battle.
"They're attacking!” I shouted. “Seek out the power receptors; they must be nearby or they wouldn't be engaging!” I shouted out orders. I saw Agent Teqin hear my direct order and grab two Drackon warriors and flew off in the direction that the outlaws had come from. I quickly looked at the faces of all of our enemies, and I did not see my brother. I knew this meant that he must be guarding his bounty.
I shouted orders, directing the small army on how to defeat this enemy in battle before launching myself into the air to head after Teqin. I punched a few Drackon warriors as I flew as the battle grew heated. But I made it out of the swarm. I could see my agents in the distance flying toward a cliff. It was the perfect hideout. Massive caves would be the perfect place to hide Drackon technology until it was sold. I landed on the ledge of a cliff. I could not see my agents anywhere. I walked toward an open cave.
“Orik! Come out and face me, you bastard!”
Bam! I was hit from the side. It was my brother and we were now tumbling across the ledge. Boom! I punched his face with enormous rage; I thought he would black out.
“You traitor!” I shouted at him. “Why did you do it?! Why did you have to go after her! You knew her photo was from the registration, that she was going to be my wife,” I shouted at him as we circled each other fighting.
"You know exactly why! Kira!"
His response shocked me. “What do you mean?!
Kira was a Drackonian female that we were friends with when we were only fifteen. She was part of our group that we spent time with when we were not in warrior training. I had messed around with her a few summers. She always initiated it. She always wanted me.
"You took her from me, so I took something from you. She was the only female that I have ever truly loved, and you stole her. Then you didn't bother to marry her; you just threw her away like all the other females from our youth!” he growled at me.
"I did not steal her. She came to me. She came to me willingly. At the time I had no idea that you felt anything for her. You were not a couple. You never said anything. She never said anything of you!"
"That does not matter. I was taking my time and making it special with her. Then you swooped in after being gone for months and stole her away.”
"I did not know, brother. That's what this is about? You have held this grudge for over fifteen years from our youth? That is the reason for your behavior?”
"It is my reason for payback with Kelly. Everything else is my own doing because it is the right way to do things. You are a slave for a king that does not give you the riches that my job does!" He grinned.
"It is wrong and dangerous! You are selling to criminals! They can do anything with the Drackon technology and kill millions of Drackon or humans,” I said to him.
"What they do with that is their business. They are going get it one way or another; I might as well be the one to profit off of it. Your trusting nature just makes it too easy. Isn't that right, Teqin?" he said as he looked at my top agent, who landed beside my brother. He had a wicked grin on his face.
"Yes, he is very trusting. Makes my job very easy,” Agent Teqin said.
"Teqin? You were in on this? How could you? The King has great trust in you,” I said in shock.
"Yes, trust, but he does not pay me. Not the way your brother does,” he said to me.
"Put him in the cave,” my brother said to the agent.
"No," I said realizing that I had blamed Kelly for somehow leaking information to my brother. I knew in my heart that it wasn't true, and now I knew the real traitor. It was my own security. I had been blinded by my trust in them.
My brother and the agent grabbed me by the arms and I struggled and was loose in the mere seconds. Bam! I punched Teqin on the jaw. Bam! Then I punched my brother. I was in such a rage. But they both piled on top of me. I felt one of my wings become injured and crack underneath their weight. I screamed out in anger. They pushed me into the cave. They threw me down a shaft. I immediately spread my wings and flew up toward the light, but I was slow with my injured wing.
Boom!
The entire cave rattled. The light in front of me grew dark. They had closed the entrance; I was trapped.
I flew up to the caved-in rocks and pushed all my weight against them. I could hear nothing. I shouted for help, hoping that my warriors had won the battle and had found these caves. But no sound was ever heard. I only had one other option.
I flew slowly down the shaft of the cave. To my surprise, the shaft opened up into a massive underground cave with many tunnels. I searched every one of them, walking in the darkness. But then after a day or two of searching, I found my way out. But I could not return to the cabin. My security had been compromised and I did not know who I could trust.
So with the struggle of having an injured wing, I hiked through the forest until I came to the Hudson River. There, I boarded a boat and made my way to New York City, to the Earth Council.
“Council, thank you for meeting with me on this most urgent news,” I said as I stood in front of them.
“Commander, you are injured. Will you not let one of our doctors treat you?” one of the councilmembers asked.
“Yes, thank you, but first I must relay this information to you and to my king on Mooreah.”
The councilmembers looked at each other and then nodded their heads in agreement. A few minutes later, the king was on screen in front of me.
“My King,” I said.
“Commander, you look like hell. What news? I have been told that you were lost in battle,” he said.
“And if the king would oblige, I would like to keep that my status for now. I have discovered that there are betrayers amongst my team and I don’t know how deep it goes. There is a series of caves miles north of the air filter project. It is there that the team you sent and a few of my agents engaged in battle in a nearby field
below those caves. But when I found and confronted my brother, he revealed to me that my most trusted agent, Agent Teqin, has been working with him. This is how he was able to get around my security. Teqin is my lead security agent and he has been working for the outlaws of Riobl all along, as well as with my brother.”
Bam! The king hit his fist on the table in anger. “This is unacceptable! Traitors amongst the Drackon are not tolerated.”
“Yes, my King. I stand by for your orders,” I said.
“I must apologize for this fiasco, Earth Council. It is our mess and we will clean it up,” the king said.
“We understand,” a councilmember said to him in response.
“Commander, stay at the Earth Council for now. I am making plans to have your security purged and caught off guard. Then we will know who is working with your brother. My last report from my team that I sent said the battle on the field was successful in capturing many outlaws, but not your brother or the power receptors. They have reason to believe that he plans to board a ship and take them to Riobl for sale. If he planned to sell it to Earth criminals, he would have done so already.”
“Yes, that makes sense. It would take him a while to commandeer a ship to fly to Riobl under the radar, and to pay them off to not speak of its passengers or cargo,” I added.
“Yes, exactly. For now, wait for further instruction. We will capture him. Every single ship signal is going to be watched closely with the help of the Earth Council,” the king said.
“Thank you, King,” I said.
“No, thank you, Commander, for your loyalty. Earth Council, thank you for your time. I will be in touch by end of your Earth day.”
Then he was gone.
“Now, about seeking treatment,” a lovely woman came up to me.
“Yes, thank you,” I said as I followed her. As I did, her brown hair and soft skin reminded me of none other than Kelly Perkins. I longed to be in the cave again in that moment. At least being trapped kept my mind off of the longing I felt for her. It gave me a task, trying to escape and live. But in the darkness of the cave, I knew that I was really fighting for the chance to see her again. I knew in that moment that I could get past what my brother had done to her. After his confession about Kira, I knew that Kelly was only caught in the middle of his grudge that he had held for so long. I felt bad after his confession. Was I the cause of how he turned out? Was that summer with Kira the turning point for him? I would never truly know. But the guilt would always be with me.
Chapter 11
KELLY PERKINS
“Well, where have you looked? Tell me? I will go look myself!” I shouted at the guard who gave me no useful information. I was so annoyed at him as I paced back and forth in the cabin.
“Ms. Perkins, we can’t have you walking out there in the woods. It is not safe for you. In truth, I’m not sure that it is safe for you here with the commander gone. Things have become very tense. I advise that you get back into that car outside and go to New York and wait there. I will be in touch when we hear of any news.”
“I already sent him away. The driver, I already sent him away. I’m not going anywhere. Now I demand to speak to someone that was there that day. This is ridiculous. Kasian is a skilled warrior and would not have just disappeared. There’s something going on here. What if he is laying in a ravine unable to fly? You should be flying high and searching!” I shouted at him.
He rolled his eyes at me and said, “We have done that for many weeks now. If you will excuse me, I am going to call another car for you to take you back to the city. You cannot stay here!”
As he walked out of the room, I felt a rumbling of the ground. At first I thought that it was just me. But then a loud noise, like thunder, roared over the house. “What the hell is going on?” I said as I stood up from my chair.
Crash! Suddenly the glass windows shattered as an Earth SWAT team broke into the house. There was a lot of chaos and shouting and I was completely freaked out and frightened. Before I could move, there were two men in black pointing guns at me.
“Put your hands up, now!” they shouted.
I put my hands up in the air and said, “What is going on here? I only just arrived. I’ve been here for thirty minutes. I am looking for Commander Kasian Jade!” I shouted as I began to cry.
“We will ask the questions! Now keep your hands in the air,” the swat member shouted at me. Then the other grabbed my hands and put them behind my back, ready to cuff me. He was being very rough with me and I had no choice but to say, “I am pregnant! Please be careful! I am with child!” I shouted.
“What? What did you say?” I heard a very familiar voice say. My heart exploded as I saw him walking toward me.
“Kasian! You’re alive! They told me you were dead!” I shouted as I broke into uncontrollable tears.
He ran to me and put his arms around me as he said, “She’s all right. Do not touch her,” to the team. They let me go and moved on to other business. I collapsed into Kasian’s arms.
“Come with me,” he whispered into my ear. Then he pulled me into a downstairs bathroom.
“Kelly, what the hell are you doing here? Do you know how this looks right now? Do you know what is going on?” he asked.
I gasped for air and through my crying fit said, “No. What the hell is going on? I just got here. I had to come tell you. The registration office tried to get in touch with you, but they couldn’t. Then I got here and they told me that you were dead. Oh, Kasian, I am so glad that you are alive.”
“Is it true? What you said out there. Is it true or were you just saying that to get out of trouble? Please tell me you are not part of this?”
“Part of what? Kasian, tell me what is going on here?”
“Is it true? Are you with child?” he asked again.
“Yes, it is true. I have been known since I returned to Los Angeles,” I said.
He smiled a big smile. He was happy. I longed to see that happy grin on his face for so long. I smiled a weak smile in response. Then his smile faded as he grabbed my arm and said, “Is it mine? Or is it my brother’s?” he asked.
I stopped smiling. I had to tell him the truth. I could not hurt him with a lie; I never wanted to hurt him again. “I don’t know, Kasian. I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don’t know. I won’t know until after the birth,” I said.
He ran his fingers through his long hair. I knew that move; he was angry. “What are you doing here? Do you know what’s going on here? Please tell me you are not part of this?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I only just arrived. Check my flight information. Check the boat I took here, and the driver. I was barely here when the SWAT team burst in.”
He sighed and said, “The SWAT team is worth the Earth Council. We discovered that some of my team is working with my brother. They are traitors. We had no way of knowing who, so the king ordered this raid. Then to find you here among them at this time.”
I gasped. This was not good. He had already thought I was working for his brother before and now for me to show up at this time. I felt sick to my stomach. I kept being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Oh, Kasian, you must believe me. I had no idea. I only came here to find you. I had to tell you about the baby. I didn’t know what else to do. You must believe me, please,” I begged.
“Commander, your brother has been captured!” a voice yelled through the door with a loud knock.
No, I thought. I was just in the process of reuniting with Kasian and now they were going to take him away. Kasian opened the door and said, “Where?”
“On the river! On a river barge heading toward the city.”
Kasian grabbed my arm and led me outside the cabin. “This is Kelly Perkins. Take her with you to the Earth Council for safety. She is with child. She is not part of this raid; she is my special guest, is that understood?”
“Yes, Commander,” the swat team man said.
“But, Kasian, wait…” I said. But
it was no use. He only looked at me as he moved away and shifted. Then he followed a group of Drackon toward the river. I sighed. But I was glad that he was alive. He was still out of reach, but he was alive and that was all that I could really ask for today. There was hope.
I waited at the Earth Council for two days, growing more and more anxious. The mission was top secret and was not able to get any information out of anyone. I was given a comfortable room in the living quarters of the council with an amazing city view. Each day I looked over the courtyard wondering if I could see Kasian walk in, but I never did.