by Maia Starr
I watched as the atmosphere of Brokl came into view outside the windshield, the black of space gave way to a blue sky. It was now time. I led the soldiers to my living quarters. I was the only one that would be able to open the door.
“Put the wrist chain on her before taking the ankle chain off. Make sure that the bag is over her head before you do anything at all,” I ordered. They nodded in agreement.
I pressed my palm against the door panel lock. It opened. I stayed in the hallway, not able to face her. I could hear the chain rattle with each movement she made.
“What is going on? What are you doing? Where is the lieutenant?” she shouted at them. I could hear the panic in her voice. It was making me ache. But I had to do what I had to do.
I left the copper sphere in my safe in my office; I wasn't ready to hand it over to the Commander Reiq Jos just yet. I would eventually, but something held me back. I needed to learn more about what I was dealing with. So I kept it to myself.
Suddenly the two soldiers emerged pulling Gina by the chain. She was shouting protests and being angry; I wouldn't expect less from her. I turned and led the soldiers to the door of the ship. We had just landed. I opened the door, and the ramp emerged. We walked down the ramp and toward the headquarter base. This was where the Commander Reiq Jos lived. This was where he ruled from.
“The Commander Reiq Jos is waiting for you. He has requested that you be brought to straight to him, with the prisoner,” a guard said as we approach the entrance.
“The Commander Reiq Jos is here?”
“Yes, his arrival was earlier than expected. This way,” the guard said.
“Dyzon? Is that you?” Gina said. Her voice cut through me like glass. I did not answer.
I followed the guard, and my soldiers followed me, pulling Gina along. She called out to me, knowing that I was there. I did my best to ignore her, even though I could hear her. She was pleading, begging for me to say something. She wanted me to acknowledge her; she was right to want that. I owed it to her, but I needed to be the dark soldier Dyzon Draxel. That was who I was, not someone that would give into a human female in her request. We walked down the hallways, passing guards and through various entrances. Finally, I was in the throne room, standing in front of the Commander Reiq Jos with Gina next to me being held by the two soldiers.
“You have finally arrived. I was expecting you yesterday,” he said.
“We had a slight delay, but I am here now. I have accomplished the mission and brought you the human female just as General Xun had requested of me,” I said.
“Yes, you have. Let's see her,” he said as he waved his hand in the air. Using Ition strength, he lifted the bag off her head. Her eyes were watering with tears. She looked around wildly, trying to get her bearings.
“Why am I here? Let me go,” she sneered at Commander Reiq Jos.
He laughed. “I see the journey has not broken your spirit, human female. That is good. I need you to be strong for what I have planned for you.”
But she wasn't looking at him; she was now looking at me. I looked straight ahead at the Commander Reiq Jos, but I could feel her gaze burning into me. “Dyzon?” she whispered.
I did not answer her. I swallowed hard. I couldn't look at her. I could not see the pain in her eyes.
“My lieutenant cannot help you. Now, I would like to get started right away. Guards,” the Commander Reiq Jos said.
Even I was unsure what he had planned specifically. Then I saw two guards bring out a chair; it was daunting. It looked like a torture device. They set it down next to Gina. Then they grabbed her and put her in the chair. She screamed and protested the entire time.
“No! What is that? Don’t! Don’t touch me!” she shouted.
The Commander Reiq Jos stood up from his throne. He walked to the chair as the guards put the clamps on her wrists and ankles.
“I was not able to use Ition strength on you. I was not able to use it on your human female friends either, so I have been thinking a lot about a way to make sure that there are no creatures that are immune to Ition strength on any planet. In order to do this, many experiments will be needed.
I watched as various white electrodes were put on her skin. A screen on the back of the chair showed her vitals, different parts of her body as the electrodes were attached. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. If he was just going to measure the activity of her body while trying to use Ition strength on her, then that would not be bad for her. He needed to keep her strong, so she would be fed and sheltered. I have nothing to worry about.
The Commander Reiq Jos stood at the screen. He put his hand in the air hovering over her; he tried to use Ition strength. He watched the screen; there was no movement of her vitals. Then he put his hand on her head and try it again. I watched as he put his hand on various parts of her trying again to see if any would take effect. There was an Ition next to him writing everything down. I had never seen him before, but I did not spend a lot of time on Brokl.
“Just as I thought, none of this is working. Let's move to phase two,” the Commander Reiq Jos said.
“What is phase two?” I asked.
“Lieutenant, I almost forgot you were standing there,” he said looking at me. I did not like hearing that. I did not like that he was so easy to dismiss my presence, and it made me glad that I did not share the copper sphere with him just yet.
“It is an experiment my colleague here has thought of, one of many. Ition strength works on objects, but not this human female. But what if there was an object inside of her and I held the object?” he said.
Just then a case was rolled over to the chair. The Ition that was writing things down opened it. He pulled out a long needle, a foot long but very thin. Gina looked at it with wide eyes and began to struggle.
“Hold her,” the Commander Reiq Jos said. The guards held her. I felt heat rush through my body, anger and rage. What the hell was he going to do with that? I could not let them do this. The Ition moved to her arm and rolled up her sleeve. He placed the point on her forearm; it made me feel a little relieved for I thought they were going to push it into her skull.
Then he pushed it into her arm, and she screamed. Her scream made me feel sick. I could not watch this. The Commander Reiq Jos grabbed the other end of the needle and closed his eyes; I knew that he was trying to send Ition strength into her. The other Ition watched the screen of her vitals. Then she turned and looked at me.
“How can you let them do this to me? You are a monster!”
The Commander Reiq Jos opened his eyes. He looked at her shouting at me; he looked confused. I walked over and stood directly in front of her.
“I have completed my mission. I was to bring you here to Brokl, and now that is done. I am leaving now; you are no longer in my hands. It is no longer my mission to protect you,” I said as coldly as I could. Even though I was saying the words, I knew that they were a lie. I knew that I was not being truthful, but it was what was needed to be said.
“Yes, you have completed your mission. Go take your leave and rest before your next departure,” the Commander Reiq Jos said. I nodded to him and turned and walked towards the exit.
“Coward! You are nothing but a coward! Monster!” she shouted as I left. Her words cut like a knife through me; they were all true.
I walked out, and I heard her scream once more from the pain of the torture they were putting her under. I walked faster; I could not be near her. I needed to leave now. I couldn't wait for any time to rest. I needed to get off Brokl. I walked down the hallways, making my way back to the landing port. I would need to leave immediately, if even just to hover outside the planet; I could not be on land. I walked up the ramp of my ship. I stood there, thinking. I could still hear her screams echoing in my head. I could still see her blue eyes looking at me, disgusted.
Chapter Thirteen
Dr. Gina Gonzales
I could not believe what Dyzon was doing. When I first had the bag put over my head, I thoug
ht it was some sort of mistake. Did he know that the soldiers were doing this to me? He couldn't, but then again, I knew that he was the only one that could open the door. Then I heard him speak; it was true. He was going through with this. After everything that we had shared, after I let him be inside me, he was still a cruel monster, and I had let myself lose sight of that. I was angry with myself for that.
But as I sat there being tortured by the Commander Reiq Jos, I could not believe that he was doing absolutely nothing to stop him. He was just standing there, cold-hearted watching it all. Then he gave me that cold parting speech, that he had done what he set out to do: deliver me like some piece of cargo. I hated him. I hated him for tricking me and seducing me. I hated him for making me feel like I was broken all of a sudden. My heart was broken. I was in complete despair, but most of all I hated myself for allowing this to happen. I had lost sight of who I was: a female warrior of the doctors and scientists. I had let that go by getting close to this Ition Soldier. Was this his plan all along? To subdue me and stop me from trying to escape by making me his friend? It was a cruel plan: a plan worthy of a cruel monster just like him. I felt like a fool. I had given in; I had given up. Now, I was with the enemy. I would be on Brokl for the rest of my life being experimented on by these Ition aliens. This was now my fate; it was what I deserved for letting go of my warrior sensibilities.
“The puniform is not working either. We will try and different parts of her body,” the Commander Reiq Jos said as he withdrew the metal needle that he'd stuck in my arm. I gritted my teeth and screamed as he did so. It hurt. I was not looking forward to having him slip it inside other areas of my body.
“Why are you doing this? What is your fascination with me?” I said out of breath.
“As I told you before, human female, it is to figure out why you are immune to the energy of Ition strength. You should feel special. You are going to answer many questions. It is information that is needed when we attack your home, the Earth, in seventy-two hours. My fleet is preparing as we speak,” he said.
“What? No! Leave them alone. They are peaceful,” I shouted. I was panicked. We had always known the invasion was coming, but we thought it was in the future by months, or even the end of the year, not hours. I needed to get out of there and warn them.
“I cannot leave them alone. The Earth system has many resources, and we need those resources to power the fleet. It is important now more than ever because I will be taking down Dorian. I need the resources of the Earth system to do that. That traitor will pay for what he has done; once I have the energy from the Earth system there will be no stopping my armies. His face on the Galactica Planet will cease to exist, and there will be no opposition to my power,” he said.
“The Earth system does not belong in your war between each other. Just leave them alone, and the Ition should fight with each other, leaving the rest of the galaxies out of it,” I said.
The Commander Reiq Jos began to laugh. He threw his head back laughing like a madman. I knew that he would attack the Earth system no matter what, but there was a reason for my shouting at him. I was stalling. I need to figure out a way to get out of there. But I was strapped to a chair; I didn't know what I could do. He clearly wanted to keep me there forever in order to find out why human females were immune to his powers, but I was not going to let that be my fate. I had just retrieved information from him: he told me of his attack on the Earth system and on the base of Dorian, where my friends would be. I now knew that they were on a planet called Galactica. I needed to get to them. I didn't know how, but something had to happen. I looked at the Commander Reiq Jos as he laughed. Then, out of nowhere, he lifted in the air and flew across the massive room, hitting the wall very hard. His body went limp, and he slid to the floor down the wall. The other Ition in the room were lifted at once all together and were thrown to various walls, knocking them unconscious.
I turned to the doorway entrance; Dyzon ran toward me. I couldn't believe it. The clamps on my wrists and ankles came undone.
“I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave you,” he said as he reached me.
“Dyzon…” I whispered as he helped me to my feet. Then he pressed his lips against mine. His kiss melted me instantly. He had come back for me. I had been wrong about him. It was obvious that he was fighting something against himself on the inside. Rescuing me meant he had to put aside everything that he was to the Order of the Ition Domain; I now knew which side had won. His body felt strong against mine. I wanted to savor the moment, but he stopped kissing me.
“We don't have much time. They will wake; they are only unconscious,” he said as he ripped a piece of his uniform and wrapped it around my bleeding forearm.
“How do we get out of here?” I asked.
“I have an idea. We will have to stay calm,” he said as he moved to the cloth bag on the floor. He put it on top of my head, but before putting it down over my face, he said, “Do you trust me?”
“Yes, I do,” I said looking at him. I truly did.
“Good, we are going to pretend that I am transporting you, the prisoner, to somewhere else. Hopefully, no one will ask.” He picked up the chains that were on my wrist and put them back on. Then he pulled on the chain leading me across the room. I heard the door open, and we stepped through, then it closed behind us. I could barely see anything, just light and movement.
I knew that we didn't have much time. Either the Itions in the throne room would wake up from being knocked out unconscious, or someone would find them and sound the alert. I felt Dyzon speeding up. I walked quickly, faster and faster trying to take longer strides. Then I felt the sun on my skin. We had made it outside to the landing port. This was good.
“Up the ramp…” he whispered.
I picked up my feet, feeling the incline of the ramp of his ship underneath my feet. We were going to make it. I felt darkness come over my eyes as we entered the ship. The sound of the door closing behind us gave me relief. The bag was pulled off my head. I looked around quickly; we were in a smaller ship as he lifted the wrist chains off of me.
“This isn't your ship,” I said.
“No, it is not. We can't use that ship; it is too big and it is full of soldiers. This is a smaller ship; no one will notice this when leaving it is routine,” he said while flipping switches on the console, getting it ready for flight. I sat down in the seat and put my seatbelt on getting ready.
“We're going to take off fast. Get ready,” he said as the engine roared to life. Then it took off in the air, quickly. It darted toward the blue sky. I felt relief; we had made it off of the land, and now we just needed to get out of from firing range.
“Identify your flight path,” a voice came on over the radio.
“Shit, we’ve been spotted,” he said.
“What do we do?” I said in a panic.
“I have to jump to hyperspeed right now. I’m plotting in a destination,” he said.
“The Galactica Planet. Do you know where that is? We need to go there,” I said.
“In the Dekiba system,” he said.
“That is where Dorian’s base is. That is where my friends are, the other human females. We need to go there; it is important,” I said.
“Dorian will kill me on sight,” he said.
“We will figure it out. Please, just make our way there,” I said.
“Identify your flight path, pilot,” the radio said again.
Dyzon looked at the radio, then me.
“Well, the Order of the Ition Domain definitely won’t follow us there,” he said. “Plotting course for Dekiba System,” he said.
“Pilot, without identification, you will be shot down in ten seconds,” the radio said. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…”
Boom. We jumped to hyperspeed. The radio communication cut off.
I shouted in celebration. “Woohoo! We did it!”
Dyzon laughed. The blur of space in front of us made me feel very safe. We had jumped into hyperspeed and were out o
f range of the Order of the Ition Domain. But that was not the only source of my joy; I looked over at the alien that had come back for me. I looked over at the alien that had saved me, rescued me once more.
“Thank you, Dyzon. Thank you for coming back for me,” I said.
“I never should have taken you to that planet in the first place. I should have done what we are doing now the moment I woke up at your side. I hope that you can forgive me, Gina. I don't know who this new Ition is inside of me, I am just getting to know him now; it does not know how to make decisions based on his heart, he never has,” he said looking at me with a sincere look on his face.
“I forgive you. It is a heavy and brave thing that you did. We will get through this together, I promise,” I said.