by Kahaula
She placed a hand softly on General K’Tos’s chest and twirled in a sweeping circle around him. He looked at her in confusion. His spine snapped straight at her tinkling laughter. Her hand reached up to remove her half mask. She winked and stepped back with a sly smile on her face.
“You!” General K’Tos raced after her as she laughed and spun away into the crowds. His men looked nervously back at me then ran after their general. A blink and they were gone.
I looked behind me and all that was left from our four accompaniments was myself, R’Tok, and two wide eyed and skittish officers. We hadn’t even found Welo and she had already managed to divide us. I saw a blur of red from the corner of my eye.
Welo’s beauty left me speechless.
She danced and spun with Hs’tar amongst the other spinning dancers. Her hair was in a braided crown like when we had met on the Blood Sands, except this time an actual crown circled her hair and covered her forehead like a half helm. The star map for Ula Nui had been woven in gold and silver to rest on her head with twinkling red and black gems.
All along her collar bones and shoulders, above her bare gold and bronze breasts, more star maps painted on her skin shimmered and glowed with light. Her crest was the buckle that held her black and red skirt. I had no doubt that underneath that were her red battle wraps. What held my attention more than her heart stopping beauty was the sword buckled at her waist.
My sword.
Hope bubbled up like a spring in my heart. I had sent the sword after our night together, before the High Council gave me her execution orders. I didn’t think she had received it. Or if she had, that she would have kept it, knowing that I had betrayed her.
And yet, my gift that I had R’Tok send with the first group of soldiers, was lovingly belted at her side. A black Rentok blade of new creation but from an older traditional design. At the time I hadn’t known why I was making such an effort. Now I knew. She was mine to protect, mine to love. Why wouldn’t I arm her when I knew she was in danger? She didn’t need me to protect her, but by wearing my gift, I hoped she wanted me to be there for her in whatever way I could.
She tilted her head and I blinked in shock. Had she felt me staring? She tilted her head back further and Hs’tar kissed her cheek. He gave me a deadly glare then stepped back into the crowd. She stood there and calmly watched me.
Like I had told K’Tos, I had made my decision. I left R’Tok and the others behind and made my way to stand before her. I held my hands up in the pose I had seen the other dancers use, and waited.
Welo
“Are you here to follow your orders?” I asked. L’Ryx patiently held up his hands for me to take.
“No,” his deep voice was gruff, his face full of unmasked yearning. I needed to make a decision. If he had come this far, if he wasn’t lying, if he wasn’t going to kill me... If, if, if. His eyes begged me to believe him.
I slipped my hands into his and felt his arm cradle my lower back, pushing me flush to his chest. On a breathless spin we turned and dipped with the others. I couldn’t hide my happy surprise that he had picked up the moves so quickly.
“I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised,” I laughed softly, “Fighting is just dancing with more stabbing.” L’Ryx barked out a happy laugh. His nebula eyes seemed to glimmer and my mind stuttered, wondering if he had just teared up a bit.
“I would hope at the very least I wouldn’t be stabbed with my own sword,” he teased.
“Hey now, this was a gift,” I scolded, “My sword. Mine.” I lost the battle with my fake scowl and pursed my lips to hide my smile.
“And am I yours?” L’Ryx asked. Gods, the vulnerability in his normally sure and commanding voice sliced me right open.
“You tell me,” I whispered.
“Even if you weren’t my Star Kissed I would want you, Welo,” a raw scrape of thick emotions rolled across his lips. “You are the most... devious,” we both laughed, “Beautiful, thoughtful, and strong being I have ever met.”
“I...,” I honestly didn’t know what to say to that.
“Welo, we only have 1 more left then we should be set,” Merooth’s voice in my head was like a splash of ice water. I stepped back and L’Ryx’s face fell. The black gauntlets on my forearms hummed with power. His eyes swept down and narrowed as he took in their glittering surface. I rested my hand casually on the hilt of my Rentok blade.
“Welo,” he reached out and took a step towards me. I looked down at what he was starting at. My Rentok blade also glittered with star patterns. I took in a shaky breath. The girls had altered my sword to match my gauntlets. They were both saturated with the organic metal of the facility. They were responding to my emotional state and L’Ryx’s proximity. “Welo, wait!”
I let myself disappear into the crowd. I felt L’Ryx try to follow but he was no doubt mired in the waves of guests. However he may feel about me in private, I couldn’t allow him to become a target by anything public. We could be seen as lovers or rivals, but never as Star Kissed. Not after what Mel and Ally had shown me. The girls had found damning evidence in the Rentok High Council’s archives.
I didn’t doubt that L’Ryx would have figured out their entire species had been adjusted by ancient technology, like I had. What I doubted L’Ryx knew, but suspected General K’Tos knew, was that the High Council had been killing off those who could corroborate or provide evidence of that alteration. Including their own people.
We were in our end game, avoiding him was the most that I could do for him. My people came first, always and forever.
Mel
I watched Welo duck back into the crowd as L’Ryx tried to chase after her. I snorted and shook my head. My new uniform looked badass but I think we were going to need to figure out a new material because this shit was itchy.
I wanted to scratch at the nonexistent scars that no longer lined my back. Ghost limbs, mental conditioning, all that psychobabble bullshit ran through my head as I focused on anything but the sensation.
“I think we’ve been abandoned,” a deep teasing lilt spoke behind me. Fuck! I need to pay more attention. I turned and gave Second-in-Command R’Tok a bored look.
“If you need help finding the kiddie’s table I’m sure I could get someone to direct you, Commander R’Tok,” I smiled sweetly. A smile played at the edge of his full dark lips.
“Commander Melinda,” R’Tok gave me a small bow, “I like what you did with the mines.” He winked. I turned my head away but not before he saw me smile. I coughed to hide my laugh but R’Tok had no problem laughing loudly for the both of us.
I looked at him and chuckled. His laugh was open and honest, so unlike the false humour I often performed for others. I smiled a real smile and his face matched my own.
“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” I winked and walked away.
Ally
“Come back here!”
I looked over my shoulder and bit my lip. General K’Tos was practically fuming as he pushed and shoved his way through the crowd. I was having so much fun!
“Keep him busy for a bit longer, Ally. We’re getting the last one right now,” Hs’tar’s eager words spurred me on to twist just out of reach from K’Tos’s grasping hand. I reached out mentally to the rest of the girls to check on their progress. I also did my own digging into the general’s ship the Night Flower. His ship was so much older than any others. It felt like slipping into a favourite dress or a well worn shoe as I tinkered with his systems.
As I teased him here I also left little system errors and presents sure to leave him fuming once he was on his way again. I even found systems that were hidden from K’Tos and his own crew. Neural links that I could use whenever I pleased.
Only one thing bothered me, no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find a record of why his ship was called the Night Flower.
“Ally, we’ve got the last one! The girls are cracking in now, get General K’Tos back to the main throne room,” Mel’s command put my fun at an end. I d
anced and spun us all the way back to where Welo’s throne stood on its tall dais. I swirled around one last time and came flush with K’Tos’s chest. He seemed to realise that I was no longer running and he was pressed hard against me.
I placed my hands on his uniformed chest. My form was just a particle projection but it could still relay data back to me. He felt solid. I trailed my hands higher and felt the beating of his heart under my palm. K’Tos reached down and took off my mask.
“Why Night Flower?” I asked.
“What?” His grumbly voice seemed permanently grumpy. This time it was also tinged with confusion.
“Your ship,” my hands ran lazy circles along his chest, “Your beautiful ship isn’t named after some kind of weapon. I’m curious as to why.”
“Are you telling me the woman who spent 8 hours scolding me on how to fly my ship doesn’t know everything?” His eyebrow raised and I giggled.
“Tell me please? I don’t have much time,” I rested my chin lightly on his massive chest and looked up at him patiently. I felt his breath slow before he reached out his large clawed hand. He ran his right thumb along my cheek, the sharp point of his claw a hairs breath away from my left eye.
“My grandmother,” he breathed out, “My grandfather used to call her his night flower.” I beamed up at him and rubbed my cheek into his palm that could easily cover half my face.
“Thank you for sharing that with me, K’Tos,” I leaned back and out of his arms. It felt so good but I had to go. The girls and I had work to do. I created a particle projection of a large semi-transparent black wolf with wings. The crowd around me pushed back K’Tos as they moved to get out of the wolf’s way.
I sat down comfortably on its back and waved to K’Tos with a small smile of regret. I hadn’t felt someone’s touch in a long time, I liked the feeling of K’Tos’s strong hand. K’Tos tried to step forward but the wolf’s wings expanded as he leapt into the air. From K’Tos’s perspective it looked like I had flown out the front windows, the same as the bubbles that had floated outside.
I let my projection go as I flowed back into the beautiful swirl of thoughts and information of my pod. I sent one last command back up to the party above. My mask, still held in K’Tos’s large hands, became solid and tangible. It was beyond risky to give him a piece of the organic metal but as he tucked it into a hidden pocket I knew I had made the right choice.
Welo
“Honoured Ambassadors,” I raised my glass before me, “and esteemed guests, I welcome you to Ula Nui!”
A happy cheer went up, people clapped or made other noises of appreciation. I smiled and laughed indulgently. I knew this was being live streamed free to all our viewers throughout the known galaxy, as well as on every holoscreen in the Rainbow City. All eyes were on us.
Hs’tar sat behind me to my right and Merooth to my left. Out in the crowd I could see L’Ryx and K’Tos focused on me while R’Tok peaked over at Mel in worry. I tipped back my glass and took a sip smiling at the ambassadors standing below the throne’s dais. A server came from the side and took my empty glass. I thanked her before she left and she bowed her head in respect.
Below me one of the ambassadors sneered. It might have been at the server’s deference or at my thanks. Good. I wanted the galaxy to see how we did things differently here.
“Ambassadors we thank you for coming so far from your homes in the central worlds to us,” it was a backhanded thanks but they more than deserved it. “We’ve enticed you here with captivating entertainment, profitable trade, and of course, pleasure the likes of which you have never known before,” the crowd chuckled along with me, “However, this is not the only reason we were so eager for you to visit our beautiful planet.”
I reached out my hand and Hs’tar handed me a paper scroll complete with wax seal and red tassels. I held up the scroll and smiled my most predatory grin ever. “I, Welo, Battle Queen of the Blood Sands and chosen leader to the people of Ula Nui hereby submit our official statement of independence and request Allied status with the Galactic Core of Worlds.”
People love to say things like ‘you could hear a pin drop’ but this was more like the ocean sucking back from the shore before the deafening silence that a Tsunami brings. A collective gasp could be heard from within the throne room.
“That’s not possible!” The sneering ambassador from before stepped forward and bared his ragged teeth at me. “You’re human! You-you’re nothing but a slave whore playing queen on this backwater planet,” he yelled angrily. I saw L’Ryx’s enraged face as he pushed towards the ambassador. I laughed hard and viciously. He had given me the opening I had wanted.
“I was a slave. And why was that?” I let my loud question ring out as I stared haughtily down at him, “Because the central worlds were either too lazy or too indifferent to the suffering of the worlds outside of the Core!” I finished on a hiss of disdain and watched the mood shift right before my eyes.
“Aye! It was the Battle Queen who traded food to us when we were starving,” an outlier representative stepped forward and I knew the girls were working their magic so everyone watching the live feed would see all that was unfolding.
“And it was the Battle Queen that gave us a choice,” a naked Pit worker took off her mask bearing her Pxylar pastel body and face for all to see, “She gave us our respect back.”
“It was the Battle Queen that freed us all from the cycle of slavery when the central worlds turned a blind eye,” I hadn’t expected Hs’tar to speak up but I saw the conviction in his cold gaze as he stared down the now pale ambassador.
“There hasn’t been a submission for an independent system in...,” the grey skinned ambassador’s face scrunched up in thought.
“In 568 years,” I finished his sentence for him. “Within a year that planetary system was absorbed into the Galactic Core of Worlds as the farthest central world.” The crowd shuffled about and murmuring increased as they realised we were protected by the law.
“You can’t,” sputtered the sneering ambassador, “You can’t just declare yourself an independent world!”
“Statute 6-7 gamma,” L’Ryx stepped up with a holoscreen that R’Tok had handed him, “So long as there are no less than 5 Galactic Core Ambassadors present to witness the declaration of independence, and provided there is evidence of treaties between the prospective world and other central world governments or central world governing bodies that are uncontrolled or unaffiliated with said applicant, then the submission is automatically deemed valid.”
“You are not an ambassador!” The sneering ambassador threw up his hands in frustration. I was guessing he’d no longer be one by the end of the day either.
“But all of you are,” I smirked and looked them down the line, “all five of you.” I handed the scroll back to Hs’tar and he placed it back on the silver tray table that sat next to him. I bared my fangs in a toothy grin and pointed to the scrolls, “Consider this you party favour.” Laughter could be heard from outside and in the halls.
“No central world or smart citizen of ours will touch you after this,” another ambassador tried to give me his version of a hard stare.
“Then you would be wrong,” L’Ryx stepped up to the dais and my heart fell into my stomach. NO! No, L’Ryx, do not give yourself a death sentence for me! “But my offer isn’t for the Battle Queen. It’s for the Red Empress who rules over the free and independent world of Ula Nui.”
“You do not speak for the Rentok, General L’Ryx,” General K’Tos’s rumbling voice whipped through the crowd making them restless once more.
“My declaration is only from myself to the Red Empress,” L’Ryx continued smoothly. I felt my suspicion rise as I watched their interaction. “Empress Welo, you already have 2 consorts,” he motioned to the now standing Hs’tar and Merooth. They both flanked me but stood back as L’Ryx walked the eight steps up to me and fell to his knees before me. My own gasp was covered up by the crowd’s. “I ask to be your third Imperial Consort.�
�� This whole thing is going to shit and L’Ryx is going to get himself killed. Outside and inside the throne room the noise of murmuring and shocked whispers was like a buzzing drone driving up my panic. How was I supposed to save this idiot from himself?
“Ha!” Did I really just say ‘Ha!’? “And what makes you think you are worthy?” Haughty arrogance dripped from my words. I needed him to play into it. I needed him to be safe. L’Ryx tore off his uniform shirt. Only the gold cuff I had given him adorned his right bicep. He wrapped his hands around my gauntlet covered wrists.
They began to shimmer and so did my sword. Where his skin touched mine a similar dappled star pattern spread up his arms and all over his torso. Behind him I could see the ambassador’s aides whispering in their ears and showing them things on their holoscreens. L’Ryx’s spectacle wasn’t just for he and I, he was doing it to buy me time. He, or more likely R’Tok, must have realised we were hacking into the various central world governments and mining their data like untapped veins of gold.
We were at the head of the gold rush and every little bit of knowledge we could get was the real power that was going to keep us free and safe. By the look on the ambassadors faces I could see they had finally realised how dangerous Ula Nui really was. Attack us and we would feed all their secrets right to the wolves at their doors. We allowed them discover an inkling of what we had done so that our threat would be unsaid but understood. We ensured they chose the better option: leave us be, or else. I looked down at L’Ryx in awe and the beginnings of love.
“I will always be unworthy,” the command in his statement silenced the crowd held enraptured by this drama, “Just as you will always be my Star Kissed.” He bowed his head and I couldn’t help but bring his face flush to my stomach. I encircled him in my arms.
“High General L’Ryx of the House of Loren,” I tilted his face up as I held his cheeks in my palms, “I, Welo, Battle Queen of the Blood Sands and Red Empress of Ula Nui accept your declaration. The light of your stars shine on me as my stars shine on you, not even in Darkness can our light be lost.” Mel fed the formal legal words into my ear. I watched as two tears slid from his awe soaked eyes. I wiped them away and leaned down to kiss him soundly. “Now get up you big idiot,” I whispered into his mouth. He smiled and rose up to wrap his arms around me for a punishing and possessive kiss.