by Lisa Lace
The healers themselves may be able to help, but Leanne didn’t want to risk asking them. Most of the injured soldiers who came through were in shock, or high on hastily applied pain meds. They could easily forget her questions and not say anything to Resek. The healers had to be highly focused. Nothing could pass under their attention, or people would die. They’d be much more likely to remember and report her questions about getting off the planet.
That night, Resek sat her down and told her that if she’d rather be a healer than a fighter, they could arrange it. Leanne tried not to let her horror show. She’d rather be cannon fodder than a healer. She didn’t know how they did it.
“No, that’s alright. I need to know basic first aid, but I think training with you for battle is the best way to go.”
Resek looked relieved at that, and Leanne quickly changed the subject.
It had taken three more days before she had enough information to go on. One man confirmed that the off-the-books transport was smugglers, who would get anything off or on the planet for a price. One of the rare female soldiers whispered a name – Resaku.
Leanne retreated to her stolen communicator and worked on trying to contact the smugglers. She tried searching "Resaku" with no results, which didn’t entirely surprise her. She’d have to find out more. That meant more time with the healers.
It took another week before she finally got what she needed: a contact name. Edil. From what she understood, Edil was his legal name, but Resaku was the one he used among the smuggler rings.
Leanne waited up late until her eyes were itching with tiredness, but she couldn’t risk Resek hearing the conversation. Once she was sure he was asleep, she searched for Edil, and the communicator managed to connect to him without any further problems.
“Edil speaking.”
“Hi Edil, my name is Leanne.”
“How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for transfer off the planet.”
She had to admit, he was very good. Had she not known who he was, his tone of polite confusion would have taken her in completely.
“Well, I suppose you should log a request with the ground-space authority. I’m just a soldier. I don’t have any jurisdiction there.”
“Actually, I was looking for something a little less official. I heard that Resaku may be able to help me.”
“I’m sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else.”
“I’ll pay,” Leanne blurted out before he could hang up the phone. “Whatever you want. I’m not interested in turning you over to the authorities. I just have to get out of here.”
He hesitated, and she took advantage.
“I’ll hardly be any trouble. All I want is to get away from this awful war, and I’d be happy to pay you for your trouble.”
Another pause.
“Transport doesn’t come cheap.”
“I wouldn’t expect it to. I can have a payment ready to go in three days.”
“I’ve got a ship leaving tomorrow. If you have sufficient payment, you can hop on that one before we leave.”
Leanne wasn’t sure if she could have everything sorted out by then, but it didn’t sound like the date was exactly open to negotiation.
“Thank you. Where should I meet you?”
They made arrangements to meet, and Leanne hung up, buzzing with excitement and nerves. Of course, she didn’t have any money, but she had that part worked out.
Resek had been mentioning for a while that he needed to go be with his soldiers for a day for some kind of strike mission. Now, Leanne had to persuade him to do it the very next day, or all her plans were off.
“You should go tomorrow, to be with your soldiers. I need a day’s break anyway, and I’d like to watch the monitors of you fighting again. I learned a lot last time.”
“Tomorrow… that could work. A bit of a short notice, but we can make it work. Good idea.”
To her surprise, Resek leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. That bothered her. There was nothing sexual about it. It was just a sweet gesture of affection. Tomorrow, she’d be leaving him and any potential they had between them behind.
The next day, Leanne waited anxiously for Resek to leave. She watched him until he was out of sight, then went to his room, trying not to let parts of last night flash into her mind. She scrambled onto the bed and reached up for a glass case in the wall.
The Wescra hadn’t used swords in years, but they were still symbols of warrior’s past. Resek had a jeweled ornamental sword in a case, proudly displayed right above his bed.
Leanne hesitated. She didn’t want to steal from Resek. That sword was her ticket home, though. She put her qualms aside and opened the case, which was unlocked. Resek had brought her here. He may not have kidnapped her himself, but it had been on his orders. She didn’t owe him anything.
Somehow, her heart felt differently. But she ignored it, taking the sword down and making sure it was firmly in its jeweled scabbard. She wrapped it in a cloak, then set to the second part of her plan.
She wasn’t sure if Edil would feel comfortable taking a human, and she didn’t want to find out. She’d raided the kitchen and bathroom cupboards until she’d found what she needed: ingredients to make blue dye.
One of them was a cleaning product, and the other she thought was body cream. Mixing the two together, she managed to get a close approximation of Wescra skin. She just hoped the cleaning product wouldn’t start burning her skin.
After spreading the blue cream over all of her exposed parts, Leanne waited a few minutes for it to dry before setting off. She dressed in her combat uniform. Hopefully, if people thought she was a soldier, they’d assume she was on important business and not bother her.
She made it to the shipyard unmolested and found Edil’s ship quite easily. As he’d said, it had a green flag hanging from the door. He looked around before ushering her inside.
“First, payment.” He held out his hand.
“Here.” Leanne held out the sword to him. “This will be more than enough.”
Edil unwrapped the sword, and for a moment he lit up, his eyes gleeful. Then he blanched and thrust the sword back at her.
“Are you insane?” His voice hissed as his eyes darted toward the door.
“What? That – that is enough, isn’t it?”
“This? This is a small fortune, enough to buy you your own ship, but no one in their right mind would do something like that. What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you not know what this is? If you got it from some black-market source, you had better return it right now before you’re caught with it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“This is a highly valuable ornamental sword, passed down from Commander to Commander for centuries. It currently belongs to Commander Resek. Believe me, you do not want to cross him.”
“So – so you’re not going to take it as payment?”
“Of course I’m not! Now get it out of here at once!”
Leanne stayed where she was. She didn’t know what to do. This was her only option.
Maybe she had bigger problems. Edil was eyeing her suspiciously. “What’s this?”
Before Leanne could stop him, he swiped at her arm, and some of her cream came away on his fingers, leaving a smear of pale, human skin underneath.
She hadn’t thought it was possible for Edil to look more terrified than he already was, but he did. “You’re her. The iluni girl.” He gaped at her, seemingly incapable of saying anything else. His shaking hands found a communicator, and he made a call.
“Commander Resek, please. Tell him it’s urgent. I have his woman and his sword. We’re at the shipyard.”
Leanne tried to slap the communicator out of his hand, but it was too late. “You’re insane!” she hissed, echoing him. “He’ll realize what’s going on here. You’ll be ruined.”
“Being caught for smuggling is nothing compared to letting any
harm come to you, or letting this sword get lost.”
Leanne had heard enough. She turned to run, but Edil had been expecting it and took off after her. He was taller than her, and his long legs were soon making up for her split second’s head start. Leanne tried to lose herself in the maze of ships, but before she could get out of his sight, Edil had her.
He tackled her to the ground and dragged her back to his ship.
“You shut up.” He snapped at her as he tied her up. “We’re both going to wait quietly here for the Commander and hope he’s feeling in a forgiving mood today.”
His fear was infectious, and Leanne struggled fruitlessly against her bonds. What would Resek do when he found out she’d tried to escape again? She didn’t think he’d hurt her, but by the look on Edil’s face, he may as well be facing the gallows. What if she’d misjudged Resek? What was he going to do to her?
Chapter Nine
Leanne couldn’t help it; she cringed as she saw Resek striding towards her. When he got close enough for her to make out his expression, she could see that he was furious. Of course he was furious. She’d tried to escape again.
Resek didn’t speak to her, but if looks could kill, she would have been in trouble. Well, worse trouble than she was in now. And the trouble she was in now seemed quite extensive.
“You have my gratitude.” Resek spoke stiffly to Edil. Edil just looked relieved that Resek wasn’t blaming him for Leanne’s escape. He hovered nervously, maybe wondering if his sideline smuggling business was about to be trashed. But Resek wasn’t interested in Edil anymore. Maybe he was turning a blind eye to reward Edil for doing the right thing.
Resek’s hand clenched Leanne’s upper arm, and he started dragging her away. His grip was just short of painful. But there was no way to twist away. Despite the fact that he was obviously making an effort not to hurt her, Leanne was terrified.
“Resek…”
He didn’t pause, or even so much as look at her. She could still see he was quietly seething, and the worst thing was that she understood. He needed her to help save his people. If she’d been in his position, she’d probably be just as angry. Though if she’d been in his position, she probably would have drawn the line at kidnapping people.
Leanne kept her mouth shut, deciding she’d better let him be the one to break the silence. He didn’t until they were all the way back home. Then, he pushed her onto the couch in the lounge and stalked out. He was back a minute later with what looked like a high-tech projector.
He fiddled around with the flat screen that was as close to a television as the Wescra had. When he spoke, his voice shook with anger.
“I have perhaps not done enough to show you the stakes of this war. I thought you understood what we were fighting for. Your actions today have shown me that I am wrong. What you have seen so far is but the tip of the iceberg of what the Greli can do, of what they have done. I hoped to spare you this, but it seems it is now necessary for you to see it.”
“Resek, I had to try. You know that. This isn’t my world. I want to go home.”
He turned to look at her. “I don’t understand you, Leanne.” He spoke softly. “I had thought you were happier here now. I thought you’d stay with me.”
Leanne was shocked to see a flicker of hurt cross his face. Resek wasn’t just angry that she’d put his stupid war in jeopardy. He was hurt, wounded that she’d left him. She forced down the wave of guilt. She wasn’t going to stop fighting just to spare his feelings.
The pain disappeared so quickly from his face that for a moment, Leanne wasn’t sure she’d really seen it. Resek turned away from her, breathing hard. Leanne didn’t know how it made her feel that he was clearly starting to care for her as a person, not just as a battle strategy.
Her thoughts were confused as she turned to the screen. Images started flashing across it. At first, she didn’t realize what she was seeing. Finally, the shapes and colors began to make sense. Leanne tried to avert her eyes, but they stayed glued to the screen, widening in horror.
The first thing she saw was a village of Wescra, consisting of mostly women and children. Some of the women were doing the washing, and the children ran around playing. It was a peaceful scene.
A shadow fell from above, and the villagers looked up to see a Greli warship. They scattered, screaming. Leanne expected soldiers to be sent down at any moment to massacre the helpless Wescra.
It didn’t happen as she expected. No one came down from the ship. Instead, a faint hissing sounded, and she could just make out a pale blue gas coming from nozzles in the ship’s underside. It floated down to the village, looking almost pretty.
Then the people started screaming. Everywhere, they were falling to their knees, their hands over their throats. They were choking. Even as she watched, one of the women started coughing up blood. She shook in horror, wanting to look away, but unable to.
She expected it to last only seconds. Again, it didn’t happen as she thought it would. The ship flew away, leaving the villagers to die. It wasn’t the quick death Leanne had imagined. It was horrific and drawn out. There was blood everywhere, and children were screaming in agony. Their mothers tried to comfort them, to no avail.
Their bodies contorted into gruesome shapes as they were wracked with the effects of the gas. There was a little timer on the bottom right corner of the screen. It had passed the hour mark before the Wescra finally started dying.
“The Greli use brutality to discourage resistance.” Resek stood behind her. “It worked in some places. Fearing what would happen if they fought, they gave in and became slaves.”
Leanne was going to be sick. She fought to keep her mouth shut as her stomach heaved. The screen didn’t care about her distress. It kept going.
There were scenes of torture, of gruesome murders, of things Leanne didn’t even know how to describe. She was sure they would haunt her nightmares for years.
Leanne leaned over the edge of the couch and threw up. The video just kept playing, and eventually, there was nothing left in her stomach.
“They filmed it all, you know.” Resek was still behind her. Leanne didn’t know how his voice could be so steady. “They distributed the videos so that all Wescra would see them, see the price of resistance.”
Leanne tried to get up. She couldn’t watch this anymore. Resek’s glare held her in place.
“The least you can do for the people you would abandon is watch their final moments.”
She didn’t want to see any more, but Resek was obviously determined to have her watch this. She was sure he could find some way to force her if she resisted. Then she’d only succeed in making him even angrier. She tried to tell herself that watching was giving her a tactical advantage rather than just making her sick.
On and on the recordings played. One scene after another, each seemingly more horrific than the last. Leanne lost track of the times she leaned over the side of the couch, retching, with nothing for her body to bring up. Her eyes were almost swollen shut from crying.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before Resek finally turned off the screen. From the angle of the light, she knew it had to be hours, at least.
“Why?” Her voice was a whisper, but he heard her. “Why would they do this?”
Resek sighed and sat down next to her. “For some people, the lust to rule makes them crazy. For a lot of the Greli soldiers, they are just following orders. War is all they know. Maybe, if things had been different, they would have been farmers or carpenters. They choose to follow leaders who turn them into remorseless killers because it’s easy, easier than starting a civil war. This is the life they know.”
“A civil war would be better than this.” Leanne’s eyes were still fixed on the screen, even though it was now blank. “A quick, painless removal of crazy leaders, not this torture, this madness.”
Resek nodded. “You’re probably right. The Greli aren’t using their capacity to think, though, and that’s where everything goes so wrong.
The leaders are mad, but without the soldiers, they could not have this war. This war isn’t caused by hatred or even a quest for power. It’s caused by people blindly following, absolving themselves of their responsibility to think for themselves, to stand up for what’s right and fight against what’s wrong.”
“They need to be destroyed.” Perhaps a day ago, those words would have surprised Leanne, coming from her own lips. Not now. Maybe the Greli had been good people once, but no more. Now, they had degenerated into nothing more than rabid dogs that needed to be put down.
“Alright. I’ll help you. I’ll help you end this war willingly, and stop trying to escape. On one condition. You tell me my part in this. Tell me why I’m so special.”
Resek leaned back, looking wearier than Leanne had ever seen him. “You may not like what I have to say.”
“I want to know. Why me? Why my friends?”
Resek began speaking, staring off into space, as though not really seeing the room before him. “Our scientists chose Earth from a variety of possible planets because of the strength and resilience of your species. Though we needed you, it was decided that it would be immoral to steal humans away from their lives.”
Leanne gasped. “Then why did you do it?”
“Because your lives were never your own.” Resek's voice was grim. “They selected five children, all girls. All stillborn. Our scientists gave them life again, implanting genetic code to make them perfect mates for the Wescra Commanders they were destined for. They were then returned to their mothers. It was a gift from us – a chance to grow up with your own people, rather than spend your childhoods in a place where war was everywhere.
“While you were sitting on your parents’ laps, listening to them tell stories, I was standing over the dead body of my father. While your mother sang you to sleep, mine was sleeping under the stars, too far away for me to even get her body for a proper burial. While you laughed, I cried. While you played, I learned to kill. While you try to run away, I defend my people.