The Indoctrination

by K. L. Bone

“Damn-it! What was going on out there? Was there a fight?” Pictures of Chrissa flashed through his mind. Her blood splattering the walls. Chrissa’s body being dragged as those of her enemies had been dragged before her in the past. Darin opened his eyes. No, he did not want to see those images. “What the hell was taking so damn long?”

  The lights in the cell were neither bright nor dark, but a medium level, like the light produced by an evening sky after the last rays of sunlight had left the sky. He heard voices, but they were distant; a low, indistinguishable mumble. His eyes closed again and then flew open, trying to destroy the images which continued to float through his mind. “Was Chrissa all right? What were they doing to her?” His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of many clanking footsteps outside his door. Before he could so much as sit up, the door flew open and three men stepped into the room. Expecting a type of rescue party, Darin was unprepared to find himself roughly grabbed as he attempted to rise from the bed.

  “Wait!” he said as they forced him to the ground. The men who had entered were human, so he switched from basic to English and tried again. Two men hit him on his left side, turning his plea into a gasp of pain. His arms were grabbed roughly, something sharp digging into his left wrist. “Wait! I am a prisoner from the rebellion!” Darin shouted to seemingly deaf ears. A heavy boot was placed on his left ankle and he grimaced in pain. “I am a Setian prisoner from the resistance!” Darin called yet again. He was then jerked from the floor and dragged down the hallway.

  Darin felt a small trickle of blood running down his left wrist. “Please,” he pleaded with his captors. His stolen glance showed that he was being dragged toward the bridge and was far from the only victim receiving this rather cruel treatment. The troops stopped upon the bridge. Darin’s eyes searched the room for Chrissa, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  Instead, his eyes found Lord Kavra’s. Kavra was staring down a corridor, face slack of all expression. Yet as Darin came into his view, Kavra’s eyes moved to meet his own. “Where is she?” Darin asked as though oblivious to the men surrounding him.

  “That man is a prisoner.” Kavra told the guards surrounding him. “A former leader of the earth resistance. We had him here for interrogation.”

  The guard finally turned his attention to Darin. “Is that true?” the man asked.

  “Yes!” Darin replied, but his eyes were only for Kavra’s.

  They started prodding him forward and out of the room. He walked with them until they reached the door where Darin stopped walking, almost standing directly beside Lord Kavra. “Where is she?” He asked again. Kavra stared at him. “Is she alive?” Darin demanded. “Damn-it tell me!”

  “Yes,” he finally replied. “She is alive. They took her aboard the ship.”

  “The ship?”

  “Yes,” Kavra paused staring at him. “I… tell her.”

  “I will,” Darin replied before being ushered through the door to board the other ship.

  The ship was an older model, designed for defense and power not luxury. Darin took in the dull features and poorly-dressed crew of the ship. Once this had been a fine army and the ship, was the best in the field. Now the army was nothing more than a group of rebels despised and hunted wherever they go. How this shameful group of people had managed to capture the greatest Empress, he failed to understand.

  He was taken to the bridge where a Lorid and human captain stood side by side, quietly discussing their victory. As Darin reached the bridge, he watched the Empress’ ship leave, carrying five members of the council to safety. Darin briefly thought of telling the captains what they truly had within their grasp, but decided against it despite himself.

  “Hello, stranger. You are safe now and the fiends will no longer harm you, but I am curious to know who you are? Obviously someone of importance considering you were being held on the ship of the empress herself. Did you know she was the Empress?”

  Darin took a deep breath. “My name is Darin Hoyle and yes, I knew she was the Empress.”

  It was the commanders turn to take a deep breath, “The Darin? As in the former high commander of the Earth’s resistance? They said you were captured and you, along with all those who fought with you, were killed.”

  “Most were,” Darin replied, “but a few of us were taken prisoner and held captive by the Empire.”

  The human commander, the same person the Empress had surrendered to, gave Darin a genuine smile. “Commander Darin, I am honored to be in your presence. You are a hero and legend among the rebels. Your courage at the beginning of the war still inspire and give hope to those fighting today. I can think of no greater pleasure than to give you back your freedom. We are on our way to headquarters where the Empress shall be tried and executed. Once there, you will be free to do as you wish, but it is my sincerest hope that you choose to meet with the council and once again lead your people to freedom.”

  Darin was led to a room and given a bed to lie on. He slept most of the trip and did not really speak to anyone. When he arrived at the rebel headquarters, he found himself on a baron planet on the outskirts of a place nicknamed the Shallow Galaxy. It was named for its planets, which often held a sky of sickly yellow gasses that no normal species could live in. The ground was coarse sand and rough rocks. No tree had ever graced this surface. The complex where the headquarters stood was encased in a large glass dome which provided oxygen and other such necessities of life.

  Darin was greeted by members of the high rebellion council and welcomed as a hero. He was given the best quarters the rebels had to offer, which were pale in comparison to the luxurious surroundings Darin had grown accustomed to. The walls were a dirty off-white, the floor was wooden, and the bed was small with thin cotton sheets and an old worn blanket. When the trial, which spanned over the course of five days, began Darin sat quietly in the back listening to the story.

  Chrissa sat in a wooden box, her hands cuffed in front of her with something far stronger than steel which gave off electric shots every time she moved to quickly or too much pressure was applied. She wore the same blue gown she had been captured in, but her hair was pulled back just behind her ears and she sat straight and tall in her chair as her story spun its spell over the courtroom. Some of her story Darin knew but other parts, such as how the Empress came to the Empire in the first place and what she had been before being Empress came to him as a surprise. Darin listened to Chrissa’s story with a sad fascination as she told the major events of her life, leading her to this moment where she finally stood at the mercy of her enemies.

  On the second night of the trial, one of the leaders of the rebellion came to see Darin. “I have no doubt that the Empress shall die,” the leader said, “but I would like to give you a chance to testify against her. I am sure you must despise her. I have heard legend of her torture tactics and I’m sure you have suffered greatly. I cannot imagine what she put you through. You survived years under her rule and stand here today alive to tell the story. I am surprised she did not kill you when she realized that she would lose the ship. I have never heard of anyone in her grasp living to tell of her terrors before.”

  Darin looked at the young man before him. “I appreciate the gesture, but I cannot and will not testify against her. Nor will I tell my story. The story of the Empress and myself is to be told as Chrissa sees fit. If you wish a story then hear her out, I will not change her words nor argue the truth behind them. If Chrissa is going to die then I will allow her to tell the story her own way and that shall forever be the way the story is told. Even helpless and in the chains of your power, she is the Empress. I fear her wrath. I will not tempt her, even now.”

  The young man looked carefully at Darin. “There is no reason to fear her. She will never leave this planet; not alive. If I had my way, she would already be dead. This trial is for her legacy; her last words before death. She will die. There is no question. In fact, the only real question lies in you. What really happened between the empress and yourself? Why do you call her
Chrissa?”

  He paused, but then continued when Darin gave no answer. “You were a prisoner of war and were held in the hands of the powerful and deadly Empress imaginable. Yet without thinking, you, her prisoner, call her merely ‘Chrissa.’ Furthermore, you continually say that she is in our power. Why do you exclude yourself from that statement? Unless I misunderstand, this is the rebellion you started. These are your people, yet you exclude yourself from whose power the Empress is now under. Then you refuse to testify against her. I find this most peculiar.”

  To this Darin replied, “If you do not fear her, then you are a fool.” Then the man walked out of the room in disgust and left Darin to his thoughts. It was true that in formality Darin always addressed Chrissa as simply “my Lady” or “Empress.” Yet when they were alone in the heat of the night, he was one of the few people allowed to call her by her real name. It was a strict tradition among the Setians that when one rose to a distinctive title, they were called by that title and their names forgotten. Yet Darin was Chrissa’s lover and she had allowed him a partial exception to the rule. Though Darin always spoke formally to his Lady away from the bedchamber, she was always Chrissa in his mind.

  The sight of her sitting in the court chamber surrounded by her enemies was difficult for Darin to watch. Chrissa, his strong, beautiful Chrissa, sat helpless in their power. She had always been a very powerful force not only in her position in the Empire, but as a presence within herself. She had not won every battle in which she had fought merely by position. She carried an aura about her that commanded obedience and offered strength. When times seemed at their darkest and her forces at their weakest, the Empress could walk into a room and with nothing more than a few words; inspire hope within her tired troops, once more compelling them to fight long after their strength was gone. She was a fierce leader and was fast to come up with plans. Many claimed that at times when the Empire seemed on the verge of destruction, Chrissa pulled her army through the battles by sheer force of her will.

  As the trial continued, Darin heard the story that was his life from another side. She told the good and the bad with no excuse for her actions, admitting to every act that she had committed and bespelled the courtroom with the strange twists and dark truths of her life. She told a deep tale of darkness, despair and triumph. She told her tale with a lack of emotion, with the perfection of feelings properly hidden by her training. Only he saw the moments of pain that flashed in her eyes at brief moments throughout her story. Those glimpses were deeply hidden and could only be seen by one who intimately knew her until the very end when, for a brief moment, she begged for help and Darin could not force himself not to give it. For in that brief moment, he knew she was terrified.

  At the end of the trial, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Empress would be sentenced to death. As Chrissa was taken from the courtroom for the last time, Darin stood by the door. As he looked at her, Darin saw an utter defeat which he had never imagined to see on Chrissa’s once proud face. Her simple gown was unclean and torn in several places, as though she had been beaten and used roughly, as Darin was almost sure she had. Pity was not something to be held for the worst enemy of the rebellion.

  That night, Darin rose to a knock on the door. The apartment was so small, he did not have far to walk, only a few steps from the twin bed on which he was lying to the door. He opened the door to a young man standing on the other side. He was tall, dressed in a bright red t-shirt tucked in a pair of blue jeans. His skin was pale as though he had been out of the sun for far too long. Three deep scars ran down the side of his left arm as though scratched with a three pronged blade. As Darin’s gaze rose, he found himself starting into a pair of dark brown eyes, a perfect match to his short dark hair. “Brian,” he finally said.

  “Darin,” the man replied. “God Darin, it’s really you.” The man suddenly stepped forward to pull Darin into a quick embrace. “My god when I heard that they found you I could hardly believe it was true. I wanted to come see you immediately, but I was off planet when I got the news and couldn’t make it back until now.”

  “Brian,” Darin said again to one of his former comrades in arms. “You survived capture.”

  “I got lucky,” he replied. “God, I am so sorry you didn’t.” His voice was soft filled with a touch of emotion that Darin could not quite place.

  “Come in,” Darin said, motioning Brian inside.

  “Thanks.” The two men walked into the room. Darin sat on the edge of the two seat couch while Brian took the chair across from him. The couch was brown, plain with that ratty look that items seem to have moments before they fall apart. The material was rough under his fingertips.

  “I have been watching the trial via hologram,” Brian said. “She certainly is an evil little thing isn’t she? All those people she has killed, pleading guilty to them all. I hope that someone has at least given her a good beating when the Lorid’s backs were turned.” Brian rattled on. “She was standing there, her head held high. Who does she think she is, acting so mightily?” Darin had heard enough.

  “What do you mean, who does she think she is?” he asked. “She is only the highest ranked and decorated commander, highest ranking member of the council on high, and divine Empress of the Setian Empire. And she doesn’t think that is who she is, it is who she is, and you would do well to remember it.”

  There was a long moment of silence before Brian said, “What?” Darin didn’t respond. “Look, I know you have been through a lot, but you have got to know that she can no longer harm you. You’re free, my friend; no more cells and rotten food. That bitch is firmly in our custody. She will be dead in a matter of days, don’t worry.”

  At Brian’s words, Darin was surprised to find himself angry; very angry. Before he could put much thought into it, Darin said, “She didn’t give me rotten food and she certainly did not keep me in a cell!” It was Brian’s turn to not respond. “This apartment,” he informed his friend, “was about the size of my private bathroom. My bed was covered in sheets of silk. The food I ate was the best the Empire had to offer.”

  “But you were found in a cell.”

  “For my protection!” Darin shook his head slightly. “She put me in the cell so the enemy ship would not think I was one of her troops. She was protecting me.”

  “Enemy ship? Don’t you mean your rescuers?”

  Darin said nothing. “My god, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you are sitting here defending her. Darin, she’s evil.”

  “How would you know?” Darin asked. “You know nothing about her. The closest you have ever come to her was that glance from afar today. I have spent years, years, on her ships.”

  “Are you telling me that you…” he searched for the word, “support her now?”

  “No,” Darin said quickly. “All I am saying is…well, just,” his eyes searched the air in frustration, “I don’t know, okay? I just don’t know. All I know is that she does not deserve all of what you just said. She is harsh and cruel at times, but not evil.”

  “Yes she is! They are all evil, Darin. You taught me that!”

  “A lot of them are,” Darin replied, his voice operating on a much calmer level than before. “But Chrissa, she is…something else.” He kind of stared off, as though seeing something that wasn’t there. “Now don’t get me wrong. Chrissa can be a cruel, heartless woman. She kills indiscriminately and without a conscious. However at other times…at other times she can be a good leader.” A slight smile crept onto his face, “Oh yes, she can lead. And protective, god is she ever protective of her people…I have never seen one to match her when it comes to that.”

  “Umm, Darin?” Darin shook himself slightly and turned back to Brian, as though he had momentarily forgotten Brian was in the room.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Darin replied.

  “No, it is okay.” A few moments of silence and Brian said, “So, I guess it wasn’t as horrible as I had thought.”

  “Only at first,” he said h
esitantly. “But then, it wasn’t so bad.”

  “I have been listening to the testimony,” Brian said. “Umm.”

  “What?”

  “Darin,” he continued to stumble over his words, “rape was on the list. Your rape.” Darin said nothing. “Don’t you at least hate her for that?”

  Darin could not look him in the eye. “Yes,” his voice was a whisper, “and no. At first, but not later. She didn’t hurt me,” Darin said. “Not during sex.” He sighed, voice still in a whisper, a slight blush heating his cheeks. “She never hurt me.”

  “Oh,” the two remained in further silence.

  “Brian look,” Darin said. “We have been friends since we were six years old. But well, I was there for a long time and it is not something I can just brush off, my friend. A part of me agrees with you, that she is a wicked and horrible person, but you have to understand I have been with her for a long time. Being back here, away from her, I just don’t know how to feel right now. It was horrible at first, but later it wasn’t. Some of it…some of it was well, it was amazing, exhilarating, wonderful.”

  “Are you saying you were willing?”

  He took a confused breath. “She is a beautiful woman. Well, maybe; perhaps. I just,” his voice went up a level, “I just don’t know, okay? I just…just don’t know what happened. I was a prisoner, but I swear there were moments when being her prisoner was better than being anywhere else free.”

  The two men looked at each other as though they sat across a vast and deep ocean instead of a low coffee table. They searched each other’s gaze for what, they were not sure. Finally, Brian said, “I’m sorry, Darin. Truly sorry for what happened.”

  Darin offered a small smile. “Not your fault. It was our own mistake, Ryan’s, Kathleen’s and mine, that got us captured. That got them all captured. I am the one who should be sorry. If we had been more careful, it all might have turned out differently.” A look of slight understanding passed between them before Brian gave a slight nod, then seemed to shake himself as though fighting off a trance.