by KD Jones
Leader LarIS walked into the Meal room that evening hoping Lola had changed her mind. But she wasn't there. He caught the eye of a large male with a bald head. It was the Kiljorn Commander TylOR. Across the table sat his younger brother AshOR. AshOR used to be a co-leader on the Colony, but he had acted rashly, jeopardizing a female mate to the Katieran Medic SydEL. Because his intentions were good, he was given a punishment that fit his actions. His position and title as co-leader was removed and he was ordered to work with his half-brother from Kiljor. The two brothers didn't agree on anything except their sister.
“Good evening, Leader LarIS,” TylOR greeted him.
“You too. I hope you are enjoying your stay here.” LarIS sat down with his plate of food. He briefly glanced at the younger brother. “AshOR.”
“Leader LarIS.” AshOR was still bitter over his punishment. “How much longer am I restricted from the Colony?”
“Until the council decides you are done.” He turned to Commander TylOR. “How are your sister and her young?”
Both men smiled. When they did that, it made their resemblance even more profound. “They are both doing very well. We just came back from visiting them.”
LarIS nodded his head. He took a bite out of his food and paused when he noticed the commander freeze. He opened his mind up so he could see what had the other male so stiff.
Oh Goddess she is here. Maybe she will not come over this way. TylOR watched the Earth female with the strange dual colored hair. Who had hair like that? He watched with dread as she came toward their table and stopped. He frowned when his brother gave the female a huge charming smile.
“Good evening, Leader LarIS, AshOR, Commander TylOR.”
LarIS responded, “Dr. Connell. It is a pleasure to see you as always.”
“Ya’ll can call me Lizzie,” her sweet southern accent made her words sound almost musical.
TylOR glared at LarIS and grunted his response. Lizzie frowned at his manner.
AshOR stood to hold a seat out for her. “Lizzie, please dine with us this evening.”
She gave him a warm smile. “No thank you. I am actually lookin' for Lt. Daniels.” She looked around the Meal room and found the female with a small boy and another male. “There she is. Enjoy your meal.” Her hips giving a natural swing when she walked away.
TylOR couldn’t take his eyes off the small female. She was nothing like the previous female he had been interested him. Captain Jaxon Malone was a female warrior from Earth. She had been much taller, with dark brown hair and a strong physique. This female was far from a warrior. She was short, soft, curvy, and those pale blue eyes were hypnotizing. She wasn't tough enough to be a commander’s mate.
“You are not seeing everything about her, Commander,” LarIS said in between bites. He didn’t mean to listen in to the other male’s thoughts, but sometimes people projected them.
TylOR looked at him with surprise. “Are you reading my mind?”
“My apologies, sometimes people’s thoughts are so strong it is hard for me to ignore them.”
TylOR glanced at his brother who was shoveling food in his mouth and ignoring their conversation. “What am I missing?”
“The female has an inner strength. She is brave to have endured the attack by the Morins. But she also showed a tremendous courage in overcoming her fears and traveling here to help a friend.”
TylOR grunted. He glanced back up and saw the female was sitting with the other female warrior Lt. Daniels. Males walked by looking at her, but she didn’t notice any of them.
LarIS waited until Lizzie got up to leave. He followed her out. “Dr. Connell, may I have a moment of your time.”
Lizzie stopped walking and turned toward LarIS. “Leader LarIS, of course.”
He directed her to a spot further away and secluded. “I wanted to ask you about Miss Marquesa.”
“Yes?”
“How are things going with the therapy thing?”
“I can’t tell you what is said. That is confidential.”
“Of course not. I just wanted to know whether it is difficult for you to translate using the silent language.”
“No, once you learn it is pretty easy. I am teaching Dr. Garrett so she can communicate with Lola without me.”
“I wonder if you would mind teaching me the silent language. I wish to be able to speak with Miss Marquesa as well.”
Lizzie frowned. “I thought you were telepathic. Can’t you read her mind and talk to her that way?”
“Yes, but she…blocks me. I don’t think she is comfortable speaking to me that way.”
She nodded her head. “I can understand. It’s kind of an intimate thing.”
LarIS had never thought of it that way. It could be quite intimate. And for someone like Lola who experienced the worst kind of abuse, she would shy away from any kind of intimacy.
“I could teach you. My afternoons are free. Well, other than Lola’s therapy sessions in the mornings, I am free anytime.”
“Would it be okay if I have you meet me at my suite after the Midday Meals so you can teach me in private?”
She wasn’t sure about meeting a man in his room, but she got the distinct feeling he was interested in Lola romantically. It would give her a chance to make sure his intentions were good. She found she was even more protective over her friend. “Sure, we can start tomorrow if you like.”
*****
It was dark and cold, so cold. She tried to sit up but she had no strength to pull herself up with. She knew they would come again soon—her tormentors. The ugly bald men with the strange coloring and the solid yellow eyes. They had a foul smell to them, it made her want to throw up. They beat her more whenever she gave in to that impulse. They stopped feeding her to prevent that but she still dry heaved.
She heard the footsteps. They came in saying strange words. The translator didn’t work right with her deafness. She could hear some sounds like the footsteps, but the translating of the language didn’t work right. It sounded like garbled noise to her. But she didn’t need the translator. She knew they were there to hurt her again.
The one man kicked her in her ribs. It hurt and took her breath away. It wasn’t the first time. She probably had cracked ribs anyway. She yelled at them. “Vete a la mierda!”
The men shook their heads not understanding her words. These men didn't have a translator or it didn’t translate cuss words, leaving them no clue to her yelling, "Fuck off!" She hated them, and she couldn’t help but hate the Katierans a little for not protecting them better. She should never have gotten on that transport. If she ever got free, she would go to the nearest planet and never leave.
‘Where are you?’ a man’s voice asked inside her mind.
She looked around at the men but none had spoken. This was a different person. And he could reach her mind. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am here with the Katierans and Kiljorns, we are rescuing those taken by the Morins. Where are you?’ the man asked again.
She told him but felt she shouldn’t have. But the beatings were getting worse. One of the men was cutting her and she felt on the verge of passing out.
The door flew open. She thought she heard a big banging sound. She turned her head and saw a shadow walking in. He looked angry and violent. She had had enough of that. She had had enough of everything. She wanted to end it all. Her eyes fell on the gun the Morin had dropped. She reached for it—so close.
‘No!’ was all she heard in her mind.
*****
Lola sat up breathing hard and heavy. Her heartbeat was racing and it felt like it was trying to break out of her chest. Her throat hurt so she must have screamed some. She was glad Lizzie hadn’t come back yet.
She stood and went into the main room of the suite. She opened the balcony and stepped outside. The view she had was of a mountainside. It was quite lovely. There was so much green everywhere. Lush plant life. Even at night, the two moons shined down illuminating so much. She felt at times she was in
a jungle retreat, almost like Columbia had been before all the pollution had killed off the jungles and rainforests on Earth. She closed her eyes and took in the clean air and all the strange sweet scents. She used the breathing techniques Dr. Garrett taught her to help clear her mind. The nightmare faded away but she knew it would come back—it always did.
Chapter Three
“Prime Leader KadEN and Prime Leader RendEL, it is good to see both of you again,” LarIS said as he looked at the instant hologram images of other two males. Both of them were on their own home planet. They were using a three-way encoded transmission to have a brief meeting.
“Leader LarIS, it is good to see you as well.”
“It is an honor.”
Both males greeted him in return. He gave them a small smile. It was always awkward using this form of communication. He would prefer a face-to-face meeting where he could clasp each male’s forearm. This seemed so impersonal, but time was of the essence.
“Thank you for speaking with me this way. It is not our usual preferred method, but it is necessary.”
“What is it that you need?” Prime Leader RendEL asked.
“Actually, I am contacting you to offer my people’s resources. Prime Leader KadEN, it has been brought to my attention there are many of your people who are still without homes.”
KadEN looked serious. “That is true. We are doing the best to accommodate them. We have even begun to send them to the transports for temporary stays.”
“I discussed this with my people and the Colonial High Council has given approval for me to offer you the use of several of our unoccupied buildings for housing.”
Prime Leader KadEN leaned forward. “That is very generous of your people. This would be a temporary situation until we are finished rebuilding.”
“We are fine with that.”
“Thank you. When can we begin to send people your way?” Prime KadEN couldn't believe Leader LarIS and the Councils' generous offer. It would be a huge undertaking on the Colonial Planet's part. However, Kiljor was more than capable of contributing to their people's needs.
“We will have buildings modified by the end of this week,” LarIS informed the two other leaders.
“Please let me know if there is anything that the Katieran Nation can do to assist with this?” Prime Leader RendEL offered.
LarIS nodded his head. “Actually, now since the first reason I made the call to you two is over, I want to discuss with you the second reason—the Morins.”
Both of the other males perked up at the mention of their shared enemy. “What is it you wish to discuss about them?” Prime Leader KadEN asked.
“The Morins have attacked the Katieran transport—attacked the Kiljor home world—and have been found lingering near the Colonial Planet. I think it is time we go after them—hunt them down—and flush them out from where they are hiding.”
The other two males were silent as they thought about what LarIS was proposing. He knew this was going to be controversial. He spent days arguing back and forth with the Colonial High Council. LarIS didn’t make this decision lightly. He weighed the risks of sitting back doing nothing versus taking a more aggressive move. It just made sense to him for them to go after the Morins.
“I will need to discuss this with Prime Commander KydEL and the Katieran High Council,” Prime Leader RendEL answered.
Prime Leader KadEN nodded his head in agreement. “I will speak with the Kiljorn High Council as well. Though I already know after it is argued, we will give the go ahead on this joint effort. The Morins have to be stopped.”
“I agree,” RendEL said.
“I will check with you in about a week as we prepare for the arrival of the Kijorn homeless.” LarIS said goodbye and signed off his communications. If the other two nations joined the Colony efforts, they could be going after the Morin threat and ending it once and for all.
The Morins were an ancient race of people that almost succeeded in destroying the Katieran people, sending them into near extinction. Many, many years ago, the Colonists and Kiljorns had been a part of the Katieran nation, but when the Morins released a virus with the intent to kill off the people—disagreements arose.
The virus did kill a great number of Katierans. However, then it began to mutate, changing the DNA of the Katieran people. Some of the side effects from the virus caused extreme mutations in the people. Many of the Katieran people disagreed with the decisions the previous leader of Katiera had made on how to deal with the more extreme mutated people. That was when the Kiljorn people and the Colonists split into their own separate nations.
The more extreme mutated people like LarIS’s parents had chosen to move to the Colony to live. It had been years since the three nations came together about anything. It was only befitting they came together now against the Morins, since it was the Morins who caused the split.
*****
Lola was at another counseling session. She hated being there and hated discussing what happened. Fortunately, today was different. They didn’t talk about her time with the Morins.
Lizzie was there with her too. The two of them were working to teach the counselor sign language so Lizzie wouldn’t have to interpret. Lola could speak some, but with the translator implants not functioning correctly, she preferred to use sign language.
The counselor looked at her notes before looking back up so Lola could read her lips. “Why did you decide to apply to relocate to Katiera originally?”
Lola frowned. She wasn’t prepared for that question. It felt as if it had been so long ago for her. She raised her hands and did the motions.
Lizzie interpreted for her, speaking in Lola’s point of view. “My student told me about the aliens taking applications. He wished he was old enough to apply and suggested that I try for it. There had been talk of medical advancements but no one knew for sure at that time if anything could be done for the hearing impaired.”
“Your translators malfunctioned?” Dr. Garrett asked.
“The translators were designed to function differently. It takes audible language and translates it into another audible language. For someone like me, it can translate the audible language to me correctly, but I speak mostly with sign language. It cannot translate non-audible. Also, when it translates to me, it isn't the same for the hearing. I went from not hearing anything without the translator, to hearing too much. I have a hard time filtering out sounds. Everything is jumbled together. I am learning to do it manually,” Lizzie said for Lola.
“Is it the same or is it improving as you are learning to manually filter out those sounds?”
“It is taking time, but there is improvement. Maybe in a few years, I will be able to finally hear almost like a hearing person can. But I will still have to use sign language to speak. So, I’ll be in the same boat really.”
“Why not work on your speech while you are working on the hearing?”
Lola turned away looking out the window at the mountains. She could. It made sense to do that. But she felt angry at herself. “I shouldn’t have gotten the translator implanted in the first place. I can see how this would be good for young children, it would give them a chance at a more normal life,” Lola signed as Lizzie continued with the interpretation.
“But not for you?” Dr. Garrett asked.
Lola shook her head. “I know who I am. I’m a person that has been shaped by my disabilities. I have overcome many obstacles and am much stronger for it. I like who I am. I don’t need to change that.”
“You think improving your speech and hearing will take away from who you are?”
“I just want to be me without feeling like I have to change things about myself.”
“You said you felt that you shouldn’t have gotten the translator to begin with. Are you angry with yourself?”
“Sometimes.”
“Are you angry at the Katierans for bringing the technology with them?”
Lola hesitated. She would start making signals and then retrac
ting. “I do. I know it’s unreasonable to feel this way. But after being taken by the Morins, I wanted nothing to do with Katiera.”
“Is that why you refuse to go to Katiera?”
“I know it wasn’t their fault. The Morins came out of nowhere. But it’s how I feel. Right or wrong.”
“And you have every right to feel what you feel. However, at some point, you have to move on.” Dr. Garrett did something that shocked both women.
“Lizzie, you were also on board the transport when the Morins attacked. Do you also hate the Katierans for what happened?”
Lizzie looked at Lola nervous to be put on the spot like that. “I didn’t have the same experience as Lola.”
“But you did have an experience. Would you tell us what happened with you?”
“The alarms were going off. I was helping some of the security people direct the women to shuttles to take them off the ship if necessary. I saw Lola and tried to make my way to her but we were separated. A Morin had grabbed me from behind while another stood in front of me. He slapped my face when I tried to fight them. I took a few self-defense classes on Earth so I kneed the Morin in front of me in the balls…hard. He went down. The one behind me was distracted enough that I was about to pull away. But I tripped as I tried to run. Then…Commander TylOR showed up with more Katierans and Kiljorns.”
Dr. Garrett turned to Lola who was gripping the arms of her chair tightly. “Miss Marquesa, are you okay with hearing someone else speak of the events leading up to your capture?”
Lola took deep breaths and made herself relax back into the chair she was in. “It’s…strange.”
“Miss Connell, do you blame the Katierans for the Morin attack?”
“No. At first, when we realized that a number of women had been kidnapped by the Morins, I was pissed off at them and the Kiljorns. If they could have arrived sooner, it might not have happened.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
Lizzie shook her head. “For me, I have been able to work alongside both nations and have seen what lengths they take to protect everyone. If the Katieran Leader had believed the Morins were anywhere near that area, our transport would have been held from taking its voyage. It was something that was out of their control. I knew several of the Katieran men that gave their lives in fighting the Morins. I don't hold them personally responsible. But I can only speak for myself.” She looked over at Lola worried that she upset her friend.