“Irrational!” the nestling said the word in disgust, and Kerris was grateful she just had audio. Did Talibeth’s colours run riot in the same way with her anger? Or was she like the nestling diplomats she’d seen, so controlled that what made them unique was hidden?
“You thought you could take her that easily? What the hell gives you that right?” Kerris said, her anger rising. The fear of having her ship controlled by an outside force had never left her. She’d made damn certain it would never happen again. “You won’t ever get in that way again!”
“I didn’t expect to!” Talibeth said, and her voice had dropped several octaves. If it had been Arucken, it would have been a sign of distress. She doubted that held true for the other nestling. “You know so little about your own ship, you are a danger to yourself and to her!”
“Odd then, isn’t it, that we’ve had no problems till you interfered?” Kerris shot back, and then cursed herself. She should not rise to Talibeth’s bullying, it did neither of them any good. No-one would take Talibeth’s report seriously, she was just an annoyance snapping at their heels.
“They know now to watch you. You’ll slip up and they’ll see!” The hope in the nestling’s voice was almost painful and Kerris made herself break the communication. She found it hard to be fearful of the nestling’s childish games, although she cut a striking figure in person. The thinking seemed odd to her, did Talibeth see Octavia’s skills as a threat to herself?
She wondered if the nestling had tried to take control again, and upon failing, used the only option left. The Concordat had shown indifference, but she suspected Arucken’s people would feel compelled to respond. What history was there, to lead to this between the two first-siblings?
Talibeth was breaking no laws by tailing them, the other nestlings route could feasibly be passing through here anyway. Kerris forced herself to accept the unwelcome shadow.
Kerris sighed to herself, relaxing against the helm, feet upon the bare patch to one side of the console. The chair she sat in moulded to her shape, a pleasant hug around her tense shoulders. She wondered again what kind of childhood had raised two such distinct characters, in a species that required little new thought. Hours passed, and still Talibeth showed no signs of giving up their tail.
A blue-white sun glared across the viewscreen, rising to a dazzling height. Kerris steered Octavia with a gentle touch, repositioning her to give more visibility as they passed through. As she moved the controls, one of them vibrated under her hands and the temperature dropped around her. Alert to the oddities of her ship, she looked up.
A patch of space in front of her shimmered, resolving into an immense black ship. She sat upright with a start. Twin circular arms lay to each side of the new ship, and a barrel shape behind concealed its drive. Both arms pointed towards them, crackling with an energy she could not hear.
She shouted to wake up Arucken and he was at her side in an instant, she relayed to the Manchu to stay back. As her eyes darted across the black exterior of the ship, she turned to Arucken. She recognised the symbols, twists and curls along the side and painted in a shiny silver.
The Concordat did not allow black ships, nor the weapon that sparked blue across the point of outstretched pinnacles. This was not a registered ship.
But it was one she recognised. She’d seen it in the report about her sister.
It made no move to hail them, although the energy dancing between both spikes made the threat plain. The Manchu radioed them, requesting ideas and Kerris transmitted a quick stand down order. She battled against the hate that rose in her at the sight of the ship that had haunted her dreams in the months since they had murdered her twin. She needed calm.
All signs of fatigue dropped from Arucken’s face as he powered up Octavia’s kinetic shield. It flicked on like a firefly, and Kerris drove the ship forward. She spun towards it, diving down and the first blow the enemy ship sent shot wide across the bow.
The Manchu held back as ordered, its own shield, a powerful encirclement of purple haze, visible through the small window to their port side. The pirate ship fired again. Kerris felt like she could hear it powering up, a high pitched whining sound she couldn’t possibly have heard. The sound was in her own head, her sister screaming.
Octavia drew forward and shot her dual cannons to one side, striking the rear of the engine. The beam shook for a moment and then returned, firing again. This one hit the Manchu and the intensity of the shield faded a little, powering up again seconds later. The Manchu could take heavy damage, but it had little to fire back with. Kerris ordered it forwards, the shield dipping as several small bolts thundered out from the large container ship. The pirate ship dodged, and all but one bolt shot harmlessly to one side.
The remaining one hit, to base of one pinnacle. Octavia fired again, spinning sickeningly in space like a gymnastic. She steadied herself, and Kerris caught sight of a larger shape beneath them. Talibeth!
As if she recognised it as kin, Octavia drew back, delaying the orders Kerris sent across the console. Chiming with apology, the delays were only seconds, the adjustments minute but they added up to a concert, where she and Talibeth’s ship took charge. Working together, they altered each fire, coordinating faster than any human or alien could manage. The web of bolts sped forward, and Kerris did her best to order the Manchu to coordinate with them. Arucken beside her, managing the bursts of the shield to the best effect as the enemy ship returned bolt after bolt of powerful energy.
She felt like a zombie beside the two ships, her fast reactions left far behind the skills of Octavia. It was like she was moving in slow motion.
Under the barrage of blows the fires of the pirate faltered, flickered and died. It hung there drifting, before a spread of power went across its whole frame. In a shock of blue nova, it fired up a faster than light drive, and vanished.
The departing shots hit Octavia, and the ship thundered with the blows. Octavia screamed in distress, fires erupting in the hold which held the seedlings. Arucken abandoned his controls, flicking off the kinetic shield and dashing to put out the fires. Octavia was trying, struggling to put them out but the sprinklers did little. The pain she emitted had Kerris sobbing across the helm, stroking it as if she could breathe strength back into the little ship.
The audio channel crackled open and Talibeth’s breathless voice came through publicly. “Damage?”
“No casualties, some damage” Kerris answered, patching in the Manchu. She could see Arucken on a video feed to her right, quelling the flames. They died down slowly, but he took a moment to nod in the direction of where he knew the cameras to be. Octavia was already calming.
“Very little!” the Manchu pilot confirmed, his voice shaken up but calm. “Just cuts and bruises, no damage!”
“One casualty over here. “Talibeth said, and her voice was sober. “I’ll radio in the report to the Concordat, this system is marked safe.”
“What the hell was that?” the Manchu asked, bewildered. “Was that cloaking?”
“No, it’s gone.” Talibeth said, and her tone betrayed no uncertainty. With the same controls at her fingers, Kerris agreed. It hadn’t stopped her running her own checks though, however she may trust a ship of Octavia’s ilk.
“I’ve not seen that tech before.” Kerris said. A resolve was hardening inside her, her mind alive with thoughts of Octavia and her kin, becoming hunters.
“Nor I.” Talibeth said. The tone was quiet and the nestling signed off after promising to put in the report. Kerris knew she would be checking it over, although not as thoroughly as Arucken would.
“You recognise that type of ship?” the Manchu pilot pressed. His voice was light and excited, and she tried to put a memory to it. In the noises of the colonists, the bustle and endless questions, she’d paid little attention to her brief introduction to the short pilot. She had a murky impression of brown eyes and a quiet voice. Forgettable, although his record was impressive enough. The Concordat had been careful to send a hig
h rating pilot, for all he looked as if he had been out of the academy only moments.
“Pirates. The same as in Tao Botrus.” Kerris made herself answer. Her heart was breaking, like a snake wound through each rib, squeezing. She forced herself to breathe, choking back the thoughts of her sister. The text of that report ran through her mind. How many families had been broken by that single dispatch? And how many more would there be?
“I heard about that!” As the pilot continued chattering, Kerris saw a message pop up on the console to one side. She set the text to scroll past, red scrawls visible in the air in front of her. The excitement in the pilot’s voice was a little painful. It was hard to respond to.
That ship does not belong to you! Take better care!
A pause, and then a reluctant addendum. We will accompany you to resettle the humans.
Kerris smiled grimly to herself as she typed back her response. Acknowledged. Octavia sends her thanks to you.
“Just stay alert.” Kerris responded, a little sharply as she returned her attention to the Manchu’s pilot. She’d forgotten his name again. “We’ve chased it off, but we can’t count on it staying away!”
“Affirmative!” the Manchu pilot responded, his enthusiasm dimmed.
She signed off then, pressing both hands to where her ribs ached as if they would shatter. She took deep breaths, clear and strong in her lungs. The report of her sister’s death had been hideously impersonal. She could imagine some bastard admin in a soulless office typing it out without any thought to the lives affected. What did the deaths matter to them? How could they let them have value, when they saw hundreds, each day?
We regret to inform you….
The tears came, unbidden. She placed both hands behind her head, her fingers entwined painfully tight. She closed her eyes and rocked forward. Her right hand shot to the console, setting the buttons to let Octavia know. Moments only, that was all she had. She didn’t have the time to let go, or mourn. In seconds she would take up the helm, go back to being on constant alert, go back to never letting down her guard.
In a few moments.
Another beginning
The rest of the journey passed in a bored and uneasy silence between the three ships. Talibeth radioed in the occasional warning, when natural phenomena caused diversions. The communication between them all was text based, sparse and professional.
Arucken put out the fire in the storage chamber, and reported back minor damage. He grew silent when he found out his first-sibling was offering them protection.
In a manner unlike him she could sense him wanting to refuse the offer. His struggle was violent, but brief and he moved away without responding. Soon she saw record of movement in the exercise area, as he ran off the painful feelings. Or memories?
She didn’t ask, and she knew he wouldn’t answer but she was finding it hard to hold herself back. There would come a time, she expected, where she would need to know to help keep them all safe. For now, she was just relieved he could accept the help. The need was there, and she’d been grateful then for Talibeth’s intervention.
A pleased chime came from Octavia and then an excited voice filled the ship as she patched through a call from the Manchu. “Are we there yet?”
Kerris laughed. Some things were the same, in every space. “Give it an hour child!”
Lily chattered away about the ship and food before an adult coaxed her away. Then a familiar voice came on, and Morgan thanked them both. Her voice was steady, but there was growing excitement beneath the surface. She reported that the colonists were a little shaken, but it was not the first encounter many of them had experienced. Only the Arroyo natives had been unable to cope.
“The Medbay here has been giving out sedatives, more than medication!” Morgan said, and Kerris could hear a reluctant humour to the words.
As they entered the system, Talibeth radioed that she would hang back. Whether from a reluctance to engage with them, or the humans, Kerris didn’t bother asking. It was Octavia that the other nestling cared about, and in that they were in agreement.
They soon had the planet on their radar. It was smaller than Maylith Tara, but with far less water. Its tectonic activity was greater, but concentrated far from where the agreed upon safe land. The greater mass of useable land should help the colonists, and she suspected few of them would regret the scarcity of oceans.
They landed in the place marked by the first explorers. Kerris noticed Octavia's landing was rough, and jerky in her movements. They’d repaired the damage they could, but their girl needed more help.
The ship protested by leaving it a few seconds later to retract her landing gears and it shook them both. Arucken, secure in his coach, merely chuckled.
She’s missed us.
They helped the colonists unload and looked across at the new world that faced them. Trees lay everywhere in sight, thick trunks that towered far above them. Their long slender branches drooped down to weave a net around them. They were like odd umbrellas, furnished with buds of brilliant purple and blue.
The ground underfoot was rocky, and covered with a thick, hearty looking moss. As the people emerged from the ship carrying supplies, they greeted Kerris and Arucken with various degrees of thanks. Trin looked sullen as he stared around, until more children emerged behind him.
His face then broke into a smile, as he started pointing out new sights and sounds.
There was plenty to see, the skies were a strong blue above them with no clouds to protect them from a powerful sun. Many of the adults were squinting, and she could already hear a discussion about shades. The gravity was less than Maylith Tara, just three-quarters of what she knew from visiting her parents on Earth. It gave her a slight feeling of floating, as if each step had more power behind it.
The children ran like they were driven by the wind. The air itself was perfectly still, scented with a light aroma of almond and musk. Scattered around Kerris could see the white, sturdy housing left by the first surveyors to the planet. It was basic, but large and strong enough to endure many seasons giving the colonists time to construct their own. A lot of hard work lay ahead of them.
The people moved amongst the structures, commenting on every branch and pebble. Others unloaded items from the Manchu, placing them in large messy piles within the various buildings. Unlike Maylith Tara, there was no central hub or hall for them to congregate. Jiang stood directing, deciding a purpose for each small abode. Lyndon stood by his side, his father at two thirds the scale. His face was alive with concentration.
A fierce-looking woman began examining the trees, running her fingers along the rough bark as if she’d been in space for years rather than the three weeks it had been. She wasn’t the only one like that. Kerris could see an older man, dark haired and tall climbing up a grassy verge as if he were a toddler. A couple of children ran by his side, one of them a red-haired boy. It was the calm before some furious activity, as if they were all conscious that a storm approached.
Kerris wondered what it must be like to see the world as a living structure you could be a part of shaping. Seeing such determination made her feel adrift, as if she were not connected enough to make an impact.
Morgan approached, and her eyes held a new calm to them that Kerris had never seen before. There was an upward tilt to the side of her mouth as if the next word could break into laughter at any point. Her hair was tied back, not at all neatly. She swept it away from her eyes with a careless gesture. “Well there aren’t enough words.”
The smile that lit Morgan’s face may be tired, but there was a light in her eyes and a barely concealed impatience to her voice. It was clear she was every bit as eager to start exploring their new home as the people all around her. “Thank you.”
“Those are good enough words.” Kerris answered with a smile, as she saw Arucken making his goodbyes to one side. They’d miss the colonists, and she hoped they had the start they needed.
Lily came up, more subdued than she’d ever seen her.
Her long black hair tangled around her face, as she chewed it absently. “Will you visit?”
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