by TylerRose.
The little bit of weight she had gained with Sta’s baby—the sharp, stabbing pain through her body stopped her thought. Like a bolt of lightning shot down vertically from her right shoulder, through her heart to her belly. It took her breath and her strength, taking her down to her knees.
Much like what she’d felt from Hades, but more painful. Rather than being all-consuming, this was focused, specific to the center of her chest and womb. And her mind. Guilt that she didn’t pay enough attention, that she didn’t insist Pisod should come with them to the picnic. Guilt for falling asleep rather than remaining alert. Regret for all those same things. Regret for not taking better care of her unborn daughter.
She crawled up into bed, the sensations of regret and guilt as debilitating as a beating. Much as she wanted to, she could not cry. She fell asleep again. She would have to contact Encito and let him know she was alive and, all things considered, well.
Had they been trying to find her? Had they been looking for her? They could not be sure who had taken her. Could have been someone previously instructed by Earnol to get back at her, for all they knew. Could have been some random sleeper cell, an old team of enemies that wanted to prevent her learning about being the Immaculate.
Voices in the corridor froze her in place. A push on the door, beeps of it being locked, the pair on patrol moved on. She spent the next ten minutes shaking uncontrollably and trying to calm down again. Failing miserably, she got out of bed and started to jog in place to burn off the anxiety. The room was too small to pace with any satisfaction. The shakes and jitters gone, she started to practice the Kung Fu forms Chen had taught her.
While she had learned from him, she had not been dedicated to the art or diligent in her practice. She thought it might be time to change that. If she was going to take this all the way, she needed to really know how to defend herself and others. Not just street dirty, but seriously trained in the use of as many weapons as she could learn. Chen had taught her the basics in nunchaku and staff. She could go back to the warehouse and learn more from him; but Demitrius was there. She didn’t want to deal with him right now. She didn’t want to deal with any former lovers.
Movement halted, she felt a cold jolt of reality. At this moment, she could not fathom ever wanting to have sex with anyone ever again. What she really wanted was a long soak in a far too hot bath. She settled for a wash down in the small sink with a clean cloth and the soap provided. She spent a few minutes rubbing skin off her wrists, the best she could do for removing part of the callouses that had been forming around the cuffs.
As she was rubbing the cloth in a circle over her belly, she felt that same something. A tingling of energy deep within, the same as when she’d conceived Shestna’s child. She had to sit down a moment.
Had she just conceived the spawn of her most hated enemy? Or had it already been conceived and she’d felt it implant? No way was she going to carry that fucker’s spawn. Especially not so soon after losing Sta’s baby. She had to get back to civilization and get rid of it. No two ways about it. She’d never thought she would consider an abortion; but now there was no way she’d consider carrying this child created in hate, violence and rape. It wasn’t the baby’s fault, but she would not curse its life with that kind of start.
Her friend came by not much later, to tell her the torpedo was going to be shot out of the ship the next morning. He could sneak her into it just before it was loaded into the tube. Regardless the noise and jostling, she had to remain absolutely silent and as motionless as possible. He was prepared with a false test report to run when they did a final test. Then the torpedo would be launched and she had to wait.
“The torpedo itself is new technology. The firing mechanism requires a pressurized atmosphere in order to remain stable. When that atmosphere is removed, containment fails and it explodes. I may be able to put you into stasis for that period of time, so you’re not awake inside that tiny capsule. Maybe I should not tell you all this, but I think you should be aware that you’re going to be sleeping with a bomb capable of destroying a large starship or a small asteroid.”
He left her with that thought. Much as she wanted to sleep, she was consumed with worry over all the possible outcomes. Solomon might have hunted her down. He could shoot the torpedo out of space. The life support system might fail.
Well, if that happened, her worries would be over. She’d be asleep and not able to keep her conscious mind and her energy together. She’d be done in a flash. She couldn’t say that would be all that bad an outcome.
Chen had once said that death was not something to be feared, that it was an old friend. She remembered watching the movie Circle of Iron and the lead male Cort seeing Death and telling it to come by any time. He had called it “old friend.” Maybe that was how she should see it also. After all, she had had many other lives. If she had lived before, she had died before. She simply didn’t remember doing it.
If she was going to lie in an active and armed torpedo tube that was going to be shot out of a ship toward another ship, then she had to be prepared for death. If it happened, she wanted to be awake. She would decline stasis. An explosion could actually be her best opportunity to propel herself down the path she intended to follow.
At peace with herself for the first time since waking up to gunfire, she fell asleep.
He came for her. She told him she didn’t want to be put into stasis. He didn’t ask why. He accepted her decision as was and hurried her out the door and into a panel at the end of the corridor. A ladder down between the walls. They took it down three levels before stopping on a small platform. He looked out and she followed him around a corner and into the empty torpedo bay.
The torpedo was about nine feet long, three feet wide and two feet high. The propulsion mechanism took up the end three feet. Atmosphere ran along both sides and the head. The explosive part was within the panel over her legs as she slid in.
“You won’t hurt it if you bump it but try not to bump too much,” he told her as she slid in with her feet toward the propulsion end.
She grabbed his hand as he reached for the button to return the open panel to its correct position.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” was all he said, and closed it.
She was in pitch blackness, not a single dot of light coming from anywhere. Steeling herself to endure whatever was to come, the pod pressurized around her. It spun around and slid forward on its tracks, clanging a bit as it entered the launching tube head first. She lay there listening to her own breathing and her own heartbeat for some time before she heard a series of beeps. The tube around her geared up, noise so loud she had to cover her ears.
The pod shot forward and she knew why she had to have her head away from it. She could brace with her feet. If she’d been the other way around, she could easily have broken her neck with the force of launch. Pressurized didn’t mean motionless.
She remembered he’d rattled off some numbers about how fast the thing would go. That kind of thing was irrelevant to her. She’d not understood a word. It moves really fast was all she’d gotten out of his string of numbers and technical words.
The sound changed to silence. She was out. She was away. G forces inside the tube leveled out and she didn’t have to brace anymore. She adjusted to be more comfortable and…started to sing. She had nothing else to do. She went through every song she could think of, singing until she was too tired to sing anymore. She fell asleep and lost all track of time.
In the blackness of deepest space, where little happens, the smallest discovery can become a focal point of interest for people bored of the sameness, Vanja wrote in his electronic journal.
A small light, so far away, is called birth-home. So far away as to be almost non-existent. It may as well not exist anymore, since I will likely never see it again. Having left mother and father to go forth into the galaxy, the Drakkorian never goes back. It is not in our nature to dwell on what is past, what is lost. It is not really l
ost. It lives in our hearts, surrounded by affection and love; but that is not where we live.
We live here, now. We live looking forward to what will be found in the next hour, the next day, the next year. When the urge to stop compels us, we do precisely that. We stop. We make a new home. We make stationary but not sedentary lives, a new base for the next generation to call birth-home. A new place from which the future springs forth and continues the exploration outward.
It was more profound when the galaxy was not so populated. Two thousand years ago, our people were consummate explorers finding new things never before seen.
What “new” remains to be discovered that no one else has ever seen? That is the voice from the ancient past that speaks to me.
Beeping and flashing from Vanja’s console drew his eyes up from the electronic device in his hands.
[Captain, the torpedo has come into sensor range] he said telepathically, reaching forward to press a flat pad and bring up the initial scans already to be looked at. [Balnaatrus signature but a new design not already in the database. It’s the one we want.]
[I wouldn’t expect there to be others this far out. How long to intercept?] his Captain asked.
[At present speed, three hours. This is very strange, Captain. We were told the mechanism itself requires an atmosphere. We were not told it was alive.]
[What do you mean, Lieutenant?]
[There’s someone inside. Two someones] he corrected himself, and pressed a new flashing button. [There’s an encoded message coming from the torpedo.] A series of buttons and the code translated. He read it telepathically so the Captain and others on the Bridge could hear. [Brother, protect and care for this precious vessel and its burdens.] The last word did not translate. [It’s from my younger brother. He’s on the ship that sent us the torpedo.]
[Can we teleport the torpedo into our shuttle bay?] the Captain asked.
[We need to be in range and slow it down with tractor beams before we can teleport it] the Operations Technician said from her station.
[Increase speed so we intercept in half an hour. As soon as we are within tractor range, grab it and slow it down. Let me know when we’re ready to bring it aboard.]
[Yes, Sir] the Operations Tech and Pilot both replied at the same time.
Precious vessel and its burdens. Not the torpedo. The larger lifeform was a Sistarian female. The smaller one within was half Sistarian and half Deek’Traiian. He couldn’t tell from which Deek’Trai planet, unfortunately.
Sistarian female…Accessing the Congressional notifications board, Vanja searched for a reference he remembered reading. The First Prince Voran had been murdered and his wife, a Sistarian/Earth hybrid, had been taken.
Vanja scanned that torpedo again. The larger lifeform was 75% Sistarian and 25% Earth Homo sapien. He erased his search and returned to the previous search parameters and left his seat to go knock on the Captain’s door. Beckoned in, he stopped the appropriate distance from the big desk and saluted. Right elbow bent to bring the hand up vertically to a fist, then touched briefly to the temple.
[I think I know who is in the torpedo, Sir.]
[Who?]
[The First Daughter of Voran III. Prince Shestna was assassinated on Voran some time ago. His wife went missing. They’d been on a picnic alone. He was found shot by a small hand weapon. She was gone and hasn’t been found. The Voranians and Congressional Administration have been searching for her. Should I contact them?]
[No. Not until we have confirmed that’s who she is. What is the second life form?]
[Her baby. Very early gestation. I was barely able to get the computer to scan for its genetic makeup. It’s Sistarian and Deek’Traiian. The bulletin said they had suspected she’d been abducted by a Deek’Trai citizen who has abducted her previously] Vanja said.
[Then we will definitely wait until we have her and she can speak for herself as to what is going on. It’s possible she will be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit murder. We cannot know she didn’t take part in the assassination.]
[I had read her report on K’Tran’s application to the Congress and accounts of her from Voran. If she was going to kill someone, Sir, she’d do it herself. She’s not the conspiracy kind if the accounts are accurate.]
[Why do you know so much about the Voranian First Prince and his bride? We’re all the way out here where the Congress barely even reaches.]
[I have a sister who works in Drakkar’s office on the Congress. She tells me things that are happening. If this is the woman I think it is, she has brought down corrupt K’Tran Rosaas. She was the reason the former Administrator stepped down and confessed to misconduct.]
[We’ll see, Lieutenant. Don’t go into this with your mind made up when we have no facts and only bulletins and reports to go on.]
[I will know her when I see her. My sister sent me pictures.]
[Very good. We will treat her with kindness; but we will conduct our own investigation into this current situation. Understood?]
[Yes, Captain.]
[Return to your station.]
Vanja saluted again and exited. The Captain was doing his job in telling him to hold back; but Vanja trusted his own gut and knowledge above all things. This was the missing First Daughter. She’d been held captive by the same Deek’Trai bastard that had kidnapped her before and was now carrying his child. The question was if she’d carried the royal child to term or been forced to abort.
Happily married as the comments said the royal couple had been, there was no way she’d conspire to kill the Prince and run away. That didn’t make any sense. He knew enough about Prince Shestna to know the man would have let her roam if she wanted to. If she’d been unhappy and wanted to live her own life, he wouldn’t have forced her to stay. She had stayed because she loved him.
[Tractor beam range, Captain. Engaging now at minimal force and increasing intensity to slow the torpedo to teleport speed] the Operations Tech said. [Five minutes to speed.]
[Captain, may I suggest Medical meet us in the shuttle bay?] Vanja asked.
[Medical and Security. We don’t know the full story] the Captain said, maintaining his objective caution.
He headed for the lift, Vanja two steps behind and issuing the order for Medical and Security both to report to Shuttle Bay 1.
[Torpedo is stationary, 500 strides off our bow] the Bay Tech said to the group. [Ready, Captain.]
[Weapons on immobilize] the Captain said, Security taking their energy guns from holsters and checking settings. [Bring it on board.]
Fingers bouncing on the panel activated the square pad. The outer bay door opened. External tractor beams slid the capsule forward until the internal beams could take over and guide it the rest of the way. Lowered to the floor in the middle of the room, doors shut. In three seconds, the red light turned to blue and the group went in from the hub.
[How do we get into it?] the Captain asked, seeing no control board or seams for an access hatch.
[I suggest we teleport the person out rather than open the pod] Vanja said. [In case it’s sabotaged. We know nothing of this technology.]
The Captain lifted his eyes to look at his Communications Officer. [Agreed. Teleport Tech, lock onto the person and bring her out of the pod.]
Fingers pressing buttons. [Activating now.]
In seconds, a young blonde humanoid was lying on her side next to the torpedo. Change in temperature, change in air, she startled on the spot. Eyes opened and closed, her arm coming up to block the blinding light.
[Dim the lights] Vanja said. [She’s been in complete darkness.]
The glaringly bright room became dim and she slowly lowered her arm to let her eyes adjust. Faces looked down at her, eyes imploring like she was supposed to be hearing them speak.
[You said she was the First Daughter of Voran. She’s supposed to be telepathic but she can’t even hear us] the Captain said to Vanja.
[The band around her neck] the Security Chief pointed. [It looks like one of the
newer Sistarian penal devices. They call it a mental chain. Take it off and any telepathic abilities will return.]
[Okay. How do we get it off?] the Captain asked, running his fingers along it. [I don’t feel a latch. Take her to Medical. We’ll look more closely there.]
“You speak Landers, yes?” Vanja said aloud.
“Yes, I do,” she replied, shaking. “I’m cold.”
“What is your name?”
“Tyler, First Daughter of Voran.”
He smiled in triumph, nodding to his Captain. [Told you it was she.]
[Very good. I’ll buy you a drink when we go planet-side.]
“We will send a message and tell them you are safe.”
“No,” she grabbed his arm. “Not yet. I’ll send a message when I am ready. Just get this thing off me.”
“How long have you been inside the torpedo?” he asked, helping her to stand.
“I don’t know. I was told it would be a day at most; but there was no way to measure time and I didn’t know the date when I got into it. Where’s the nearest toilet? I gotta go!”
She was bent over in pain and barely able to walk from needing to use a facility. Vanja took her directly to his, which was on the same deck as the teleport room. She spent ten minutes on the toilet before finishing up.
“What planet are you from?” she asked when she came out.
“Drakkar,” he replied, putting a blanket around her shoulders.
“Oh, so that’s why you were all staring at me like you expected me to answer. You speak telepathically with each other and vocally only with nontelepaths and on the Congress.”
“You know much about our culture?” Vanja asked in the corridor.
“It’s not one I’ve studied, no. I understand that once you leave your home planet, you don’t ever go back to it. That’s true?”