“Are you staring again, Cassiana? I swear, we can’t take you anywhere,” Tressarah whispered next to her ear. Cassiana felt her face burn at being caught in the act. Her mother would have a few choice words for her if she knew how rude her daughter was being. Most of which would be along the lines of ‘where did I go wrong? I know I raised her better than this. What did her father do?’ Cassiana cast an apologetic look at Tressarah, who chuckled with a slight shake of her head that made her white, pink, and silver ponytail sway. “Jeeze, Cassiana. You are so cute when you blush.” Which, of course, made Cassiana blush even more.
“Leave her alone, Tressarah. After all, you were staring, too,” Breeanna said, lightly smacking Tressarah’s arm.
“Ow! I was not,” Tressarah protested, rubbing her arm.
Breeanna snorted. “You so were. I saw you considering whether or not you could get away with plucking one of those pretty feathers.”
Tressarah’s eyes widened. “I would never!”
“All right, maybe you wouldn’t actually do it. But you must admit that you were considering it,” Breeanna relented.
“Who wouldn’t? Those damn feathers are so pretty.” Catching Cassiana’s renewed blush, Tressarah grinned. “And you have to admit that Cassiana is cute when she’s embarrassed. She blushes at everything; swearing, getting caught doing something even if it isn’t bad, if a really hot guy catches her eye …” She said, ticking off her fingers as Breeanna considered.
Getting stared at was apparently another thing that made Cassiana blush, she realized, as she felt her face heat up again. Tressarah laughed and Breeanna nodded. “You’re right. She is adorable.”
“I feel like a little sister,” Cassianna grumbled.
Samkara, with her fiery hair, sighed and turned to look at them with her hands on her hips. She looked like exactly what she was, with her red, gold, and orange hair and posture —she was the most dramatic of the lot. “I can’t take any of you anywhere.” She rolled her eyes when Tressarah laughed even harder. “Oh, whatever. Let’s check in before they kick us out because of Tressarah’s behavior”
“There is nothing wrong with being easily amused,” Tressarah managed to say, still sniggering. Samkara tossed her hair and strode to the front desk. The other three followed her.
Cassiana followed behind the rest. Her eyes wondered about the grand lobby of the hotel. Near the front desk was a comfortable gathering of sofas and fashionable easy-chairs. A handsome dark wood table inlayed with shimmershells took center stage of the arrangement. A large decorative rug tied the arrangement together. Potted palms and other waxy leafed plants were scattered about the spacious room. Smaller seating arrangements were scattered tastefully against the walls. Cassiana could still hear the outside fountain’s burbling and tinkling chimes. On the other side of the room from the front desk was a café entrance. A couple of tables lined the café’s inside windows. There were a few people sitting at those tables, most alone and preoccupied with tablets in front of them. There was a kina gentleman, with black, green, and blue hair, sitting at one of those tables looking as relaxed as a cat in the sun. A glass of some red drink was in his hand. Cassiana figured he was people watching. The touristy hotel was certainly a prime spot for the sport.
Cassiana sidled up to the desk next to her friends and saw a decorative ‘forest’ of candles arranged along the back wall in a bed of amber crystals. The candles were some variation of turquois with a blue-white flame each. But that was where the similarities ended. Some were votive candles on candle trees. Some were long tapered sticks in antique-looking candelabras. There were also fat, layered candles sitting right on the amber crystals. The crystals reflected the little flames, making it look like there were tiny flames in each stone. It was pretty and was something to look at while she listened to Samkara speak to the man behind the desk. Cassiana focused on the little flames and she could feel the lightest bit of their heat.
She figured everyone at some time or other would stare into the heart of a flame and pretend to have some connection to it. Either they would imagine to see things in the dancing flames or they would pretend to have some control over the fire. That they could make it dim or make it grow. At least, that was something she thought other people did. When she was a little girl, she would always do that. Then one day, she had felt a pulsing heat that resonated with something in her. She would play with it and eventually she noticed that she could make the flame dim or grow. It made her feel special, but she knew what people would think if she told them about it. Especially now. They would say she was too old to believe in such nonsense. So, she had kept it as her secret. Something that she would do every now and again because it made her happy. As far as she could tell, it wasn’t really useful. Maybe if she went camping and was impatient for the fire to grow or something, it would be something practical. But right now it was just a source of personal entertainment. One that she was always careful no one noticed. She would do no harm with it.
Her mother may not have a strange gift like her, but she had taught Cassiana to always do what she could to make things better in the world, to do no harm. It was something she tried to live by, especially with her little talent. Focusing on a little votive candle, she made it burn brighter for a second, feeding it somehow, before letting it dim right back down. Smiling slightly, Cassiana chose another candle and made that one dim till it was barely there, absorbing its heat before letting it go again. She glanced at the others to see if they noticed anything, but they hadn’t; they were focused on the man reading his computer screen.
Cassiana was turning back to her fun when the man turned back to her friends. “You say that you’re here to celebrate your university graduation?” At Sam’s nod, he smiled. “Well, good news, then. We offer a special discount on rooms for recently graduated students. Even better, I have a deluxe suite free if you would like it?”
“How much is it?” Breeanna asked.
“Usually it is a hundred thirty credits a night.” The girls winced but he continued on. “However, with the discount, it’s seventy credits a night.”
“Really?” Samkara said in surprise. The man nodded and Samkara glanced at her companions. Cassiana and the others were grinning and nodding enthusiastically. That was much cheaper than they were thinking to spend for a room on this little vacation of theirs. “We’ll take it,” Samkara said, turning back to the man with a broad grin on her face.
“Excellent. Whose name shall I put on the bill?”
“Samkara Verris. Do you need to see my license?” And that was when Cassiana lost interest in the proceedings. Too excited to play with the little flames, she turned her back on them and listened to Tress and Bree making plans. Across the room, she noticed the people-watching gentleman looking their way. He was smiling as he put down his glass on his table. Everybody seemed to be happy. Cassiana smiled, too, and laughed at Tressarah’s latest crazy plan. The next three days were going to be amazing.
“So, what room number are we looking for?” Breeanna asked, once they stepped off the lift on the fifth floor of the hotel.
“510,” Samkara replied, after checking envelope the key cards were in.
“So, it’s this way, then,” Breeanna said, leading the way to the right. Cassiana found herself looking to the left often enough to almost run into Samkara once or twice. But she couldn’t help it, the open view of the city was beautiful. To her right were the doors to the rooms. They were counting down as the girls went by— 517, 516 … “I can’t wait to get a shower and just relax tonight,” Bree continued, combing her fingers through her white, blue, and green pixy cut hair.
“Relax?” Samkara asked incredulously. “We can do that tomorrow on the beach. Tonight we party!”
Tressarah cheered while Breeanna and Cassiana traded a look. “But we have a few hours left till dark. Surely we can relax till then,” Cassiana reasoned. She and Breeanna had been looking forward to the simple joy of not having to do anything. It would make a nice change
of pace since they had worked hard all spring semester at Kingarum University on their senior seminars. They both just wanted to relax in peace and quiet. Sadly, they should have kept in mind exactly who their friends were.
Samkara and Tressarah had been smarter (and luckier with scheduling) and did their seminars in the fall, which was why they didn’t have the tension to relieve that the others did. They were also the social butterflies of the group. They needed lots of people having fun around them to unwind.
Samkara shrugged. “True. Just don’t fall asleep on us. The nightlife here is amazing. Here we are,” she said, stopping at a door with the number ‘510’ engraved on it. The scanner by the lock chirped when she held the key card to it and its light turned green.
“Oh, boy! Did we hit the jackpot or what?” Tressarah squealed, as they flicked on the lights to reveal a spacious room decorated in soothing blues and browns. Two king-sized beds dominated the room with quiet dignity. A large viewing screen occupied the wall opposite the beds for comfortable viewing. A dark wood dresser resided under it with neatly stacked tourist flyers, a channel listing, and a bowl of miztas. A desk and lamp were near the window, overlooking the walkway and the cityscape. A full-sized bath and a closet that was the same size separated the bedroom off the kitchen and small dining room. Past a gauzy curtain was a sliding-glass door opening out on a private balcony overlooking the Kesstella Sea. A shimmer shell-inlayed table large enough to seat four presided over the view.
It was beautiful and way more than the four graduates were expecting to get. They felt like queens. Cassiana just wished that was all she felt like. As beautiful as the suite was, she felt … like they were in danger. She couldn’t explain it, but dread was crawling on her skin. What is wrong with you, Cassi? she demanded silently. You are on vacation. You are here to relax … and party. Why do you have to think that there is something bad about this place? We are going to have fun. No more of this ‘something is wrong’ nonsense. But even with the private pep talk, she still felt uneasy. They were in a trap and the way to freedom was snapping shut — their time was counting down like those door numbers — seven, six … Oh, enough already, she snarled silently at herself. Deciding that she needed to do something to keep herself from worrying so much, she walked determinedly to the dresser with her bag to begin unpacking for the next three days.
Kneeling before the dresser, she unzipped her bag and opened the top drawer. She figured since she was the first one unpacking the others couldn’t fault her for having first dibs. The brass handles clacked as she grasped them and pulled the drawer out. It slid out easily with a swoosh. Cassiana went very still. Something is wrong. Something is wrong, was the only thought that made any sense and it was spiraling around in her head like a mad wasp. Cassiana bit her lip before turning to the others. “We are sure that this is the right room, right?” she asked.
Setting up her tablet at the desk, Tressarah said, “Of course we are. The key worked, remember?”
“Yeah … but what if the guy at the desk was wrong and this room is occupied?” Cassiana pressed.
“What’s wrong, Cassiana?” Bree asked with a frown, coming over from checking out the view from the balcony.
“There are clothes in the dresser,” Cassiana pointed out. And it wasn’t just a sock or something. It looked like someone had just unpacked, left, and hadn’t yet returned. Both Tressarah and Breeanna peered into the drawer with matching quizzical frowns.
“That’s weird. Are they all like that?” Tressarah asked. Cassiana shrugged and closed the top drawer and opened the next one down. It also had clothes in it, this time obviously belonging to a kid. The third was empty. The fourth held what looked to be the contents of a businessman’s suitcase.
“Why did they leave their clothes?” Breeanna asked.
“And why didn’t room service take them out?” Tress added.
“That isn’t the only mystery here,” Samkara called from the kitchen. Morbidly curious, Bree, Cassiana, and Tress went to see what she meant. Samkara stood in front of the refrigerator, peering inside. Noticing her friends’ arrival, she opened the door wider. The fridge was stocked with enough food to feed four people for a week.
“There is something wrong here,” Cassiana said.
“I’ll admit it’s strange, but maybe someone had asked for the fridge to be stocked and then changed their plans, which is how we got the room.”
“That only works with the food,” Cassiana said, shaking her head. “What about the clothes in the dresser?”
“I don’t know,” Samkara admitted.
“Maybe they just didn’t want those clothes anymore … or they were in a rush or something,” Tressarah suggested. “And the cleaning people missed it. An honest mistake.”
Cassiana glanced between the two of them incredulously. “This doesn’t bother you at all?”
“Yeah, but strange things happen once and a while. It isn’t like we found a dead body or something,” Samkara pointed out. “We’ll just mention the clothes at the front desk when we head out tonight. We’ll make it into an exciting story when we get home,” she said, closing the fridge. The other three nodded and decided to put the strangeness behind them. Cassiana turned back to her unpacking before deciding that until the dresser was taken care of, she would just live out of her bag. She tried desperately to forget the oddities and the dread that intensified with their discovery. But the dread wouldn’t dissolve. Instead, she became more and more convinced that something was wrong. She just didn’t know where the escape was.
… Three, Two …
Chapter 13 – The Stupid Plan
Race
LFH Hail Mary
Zar’daken Empire
Many months (and some misadventures) later, the Hail Mary had arrived on the edge of traditional Zar’daken space. A couple more light years and they would be at the Zar’daken capital. Throughout those many months and between those misadventures, Race had been scouring what was known about Zar’daken space. He and the poor souls he dragged into the quest for knowledge came up with very little. The sum total of what was known could easily be counted as it was under ten. Ironically, it was the same number as the Zar’daken’s leg count. They were a six-legged insectoid race with four arms and inverted pyramid-shaped heads. Large, many-faceted eyes dominated the head. The language was one of clicks and hisses, the hisses of which transferred to Imperial. They could obviously learn languages rather well, and they had advanced technology that was a very close match to the Spectral Empire. They did not like the Spectral Empire. History didn’t record who had been the first to fire at the beginning of the hostilities between the two empires, but that hardly mattered now. Neither was going to give up without a fight. That was it, other than where the traditional Zar’daken Empire began (which was near the capital).
Race was surprised that was all that was known. If he had been in charge of intelligence gathering, he would have dug up much more.
THERE HAD BEEN MORE, Luna said, leaning against his command chair on the bridge.
Then where is it?
IF YOU CAN’T FIND IT, THEN IT WAS DELETED.
Why in the stars would someone do that?!
IF YOU WERE TRYING TO WEAKEN THE EMPIRE, HOW WOULD YOU DO IT? she asked in return.
Race’s eyes narrowed. One way would be to have them going into a situation blind. Not knowing anything at all about who you were up against made it very hard to come out on top. You mean that enemy who Braeden was talking about did this?
PROBABLY. BUT I KNOW WHERE THE CAPITAL PLANET IS.
Give me the coordinates, please. Is there anything else that you know about the Zar’dakens? Race continued as he relayed the coordinates Luna gave him to Evens.
Luna peered up at him. IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE I LAST VISITED THE ZAR’DAKENS. THEY WERE VERY MUCH INTO HONOR AND THE GLORY FOUND IN WAR. I DON’T BELIEVE THAT HAS CHANGED MUCH, BUT MORE SPECIFIC DETAILS MAY NO LONGER BE ACCURATE.
Every little bit helps, Race
thought back to her before ordering the ghost drive to be activated. The drive was similar to a conventional cloak in that it masked where a ship was, but the ghost drive didn’t just make the ship invisible, it created a pocket just slightly out of sync with the surrounding space they were in. It shifted their emissions, so it was even more difficult for another ship to track them.
Thus disguised, the Hail Mary jumped to the coordinates Luna had given them. A large planet appeared before them. The land masses were red in color, the clouds blue, the oceans silver. Two small moons orbited the planet in geostationary paths … a fact that had obviously been taken advantage of by the large elevator tubes that connected the moons to the planet like umbilical cords.
Sadly, that was all Race and his crew got to see of the planet before warning klaxons went off.
“Sir, the ghost drive just went down and two Zar’daken warships have seen us,” reported the newly appointed chief engineer, Lieutenant-Commander Zeph Cory.
Of course, the technology would go down when we needed it, Race mused ironically. “Get us out of here!”
“Any specific coordinates, Sir?” Evens asked.
“I don’t care, Evens! Any that are not here,” Race snapped.
“Right, Sir!” The ship jumped before her audience could stop her.
Once they were safe, Race turned to his chief engineer. “Why did the ghost drive fail us?”
Cory shook his head. “Unclear, but it might have been the dust around the planet.”
“Is there any way to compensate?”
“Perhaps … “ Cory replied, working with his console.
Race glanced at Luna. Is this one of those things you weren’t sure would be the same?
Defender of the Empire: Chaos Page 10