by Stella Cassy
“And Moddoc?” I asked.
Dashel sighed. “He’s with Tarion.”
“Has he explained himself?” I demanded.
“He made a mistake, Ranel,” Dashel said with forced patience that made my blood boil hot in my veins. “He understands the oversight he made—"
“Oversight?” I repeated furiously. “It was far more than an oversight—"
“I’m not disagreeing with you—"
“But you are defending him.”
“He is willing to make amends.”
“He should be tried,” I said. “He should be brought before a tribunal and made to answer for his mistakes.”
“That is… extreme, Ranel.”
“Extreme?” I asked, wondering if it was possible for my eyeballs to jump out of their sockets. “His mistakes cost us our home planet, not to mention the countless lives that were lost in the battle.”
“Mistakes are made in war,” Dashel said softly. “Tarion has already questioned Moddoc—"
“Tarion is a good commander but he can also be a fool,” I spat. “I didn’t take you for a fool though.”
I saw Dashel’s expression shift immediately. His eyes turned cold and he angled his body away from me in silent protest.
“I think you’re overtired,” Dashel said. “Maybe you should retire for the night. I can speak with my second commanders alone.”
It was a firm dismissal and once that I could not ignore. He was the leading commander given that this was his ship. I had no choice but to nod my head and make for the door.
I exited Dashel’s circular solar and headed straight for the medical unit. It was still early and I knew that Yvette would be tending to the sick and injured there. She had become devoted to their safety and comfort and more often than not she arrived at my chambers after me.
The medical bay on Gyygnar had been transformed. The few single beds we possessed formed a line down one wall and at least a dozen or so makeshift beds had been arranged around the rest of the large space. The center island, which was usually kept clean and free of any unnecessary objects, was now teeming with different medical aids, ready for use at a moment’s notice.
I noticed Natalie in one corner attending to a young Nortian slave who had severe burns on both arms. I spotted Yvette in the corner of the medical wing with Urie, the Drakon she had befriended. He was laughing at something she had just said and I felt an unexpected flair of anger ignite inside me.
Was this jealousy? It was all consuming, almost tangible and I had no idea what to do with it. My first instinct was aggression, but I was a commander of the Hielsrane fleet. I didn’t have the luxury of acting impulsively. In any case, neither Urie nor Yvette had done anything wrong. I was keenly aware that my emotions were unjustified and that made me feel even more uncomfortable.
I walked towards Yvette and Urie and I saw the latter straighten when he saw me approach. “Commander,” he said, bowing his head respectfully.
Yvette turned to me and smiled. Her eyes brightened immediately and I felt shame for my earlier jealousy.
“How are your wounds healing?” I asked.
Urie looked down at his broken leg. “Yvette thinks I should be able to start walking tomorrow—"
“On crutches,” Yvette said quickly. “And small walks… just around the medical bay.”
“That’s all?"
“Just until we can assess how well the leg is healing.”
“I feel good.”
“Because you haven’t used it yet,” Yvette said firmly. She had an air of authority about her and it suited her well. “His fractured wing is healing nicely too,” she added. “But I wouldn’t recommend any shifting, not until it’s completely healed.”
I watched how Urie hung on Yvette’s every word. The disdain with which most Drakon used to look at her had disappeared. Now there was a certain amount of respect mixed in with obvious liking and she was thriving on it.
“Get a good night’s rest,” Yvette said. “I’ll come by in the morning for your inaugural walk.”
Urie smiled and nodded. “See you tomorrow,” he said, before he turned to me. “Commander.”
I nodded and turned to leave, knowing that Yvette was following close behind. Several of the slave patients and other Drakon called out farewells to her as we left the medical wing. I was almost out of the door when I caught Natalie’s eye. She gave me a knowing smile and turned back to her patient. I tried not to read too much into it.
We walked back to my chambers in silence, our footsteps left a subtle echo drumming against the walls of the broad tunnels that connected one pathway to the next.
“There were no deaths today,” Yvette said the moment we entered my chambers.
There was no fire in the hearth, so I moved to light it while Yvette pulled off her roughly sewn white garment in favor of the night slip she usually wore to bed.
I adjusted the logs in the hearth and then sent a hard puff of hot breath right onto the uneven pile. It sparked only slightly, so I sent another, harder breath towards it. This time the sparks danced, then burst into little flames that grabbed ahold of the supple wood.
“I know,” I nodded with relief as I turned towards her. “Today was a good day.”
I watched as Yvette’s white garment fell to the floor to reveal the beautiful curves of her body. I felt myself stiffen slightly at the sight. Her milky skin had a tawny glow from the fire I had just kindled. She reached for her night slip and it flowed over her, clinging to her body like water.
“Come here,” I growled.
She walked over to me and I sat down on my favorite chair, pulling her down on top of me. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and rested her forehead against mine.
“How did your meeting go with Dashel today?” Yvette asked.
“Tarion and Lehar were able to link into the meeting via the coms system,” I admitted. “We didn’t have video, but it felt good to be able to communicate properly with one another.”
“Horick’s parents,” Yvette said immediately. “Did you ask about them?”
“No,” I admitted. “I’ll ask them tomorrow.”
I stroked her hip in slow circles. “Tarion is furious,” I said. “He’s swearing revenge on the Pax.”
Yvette nodded. “I’m not surprised, but you will need to be careful,” she said. “I don’t know if you’re ready for another war with the Pax.”
“They need to pay for what they’ve done,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You’ve lost many of your people, Ranel,” Yvette said gently. “You need to recuperate first. Jumping into another fight with the Pax is not going to end well for you.”
She was right and I knew it, but it still stung to hear. We Drakons prided ourselves on our strength and our power. It seemed that the rodents of the galaxy had outdone us on both fronts. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
“We should have seen this coming,” I said under my breath. “We should have known…”
“No one could have known they were coming after Thirren,” Yvette said gently.
“The Pax are in the business of conquest,” I said. “And any species who rises up to threaten their power is immediately targeted. It happened to the Jibrechts… the Pax hunted their species into near extinction. Brecht is now a colony planet of the Pax. Soon the universe will be overrun with those monsters and every planet will just be another spoke in the Pax wheel of conquest.”
“Don’t say that,” Yvette said, shuddering against me. “There are a lot of planets in the galaxy and as many if not more species. The Pax can’t destroy them all.”
“No, but they can subjugate them all,” I pointed out. “The Pax’s goal was not just to extinguish the threat of my species; it was to enslave us.”
“They didn’t succeed,” Yvette said, with new fear in her eyes. “No Drakon will ever agree to be a slave.”
“I never thought Thirren would ever fall into the hands of those fowl rodents,” I spat. “But here we
are… a nation without a home. Sometimes circumstances change and the perspective with which we view the world and ourselves changes to reflect that.”
I saw tears glisten softly in Yvette’s eyes and I immediately regretted confiding in her. I knew she was strong enough to hear all this, I just didn’t want her to have to. The instinctive need to protect her flared hot inside me and reminded me that I had much to lose now.
“You’ll find a way forward,” Yvette said with conviction. “I know you will.”
“Where does your belief come from?” I asked.
She pulled my face to hers. “From you,” she said simply.
27
Yvette
I woke up and reached for Ranel but his side of the bed was glaringly empty. I turned around and squinted against the bright sunlight that was streaming through the windows into Ranel’s chambers.
Sunlight?
We were supposed to be in space. How was it possible that I could see blue-grey sky and cotton candy cloud formations? I stumbled out of bed and nearly tripped over the long sheets in an attempt to reach the windows.
I craned my neck to look down and saw the still blotchy design of land and water that formed a fuzzy canvas below me. I rushed back to the bed and grabbed my clothes. I dressed hurriedly and rushed down to the medical wing, hoping that Natalie would be there.
Of course she wasn’t. If we were landing on Nort soon, she would be in the control room with Dashel. I knew that Ranel would be there too and I felt a small bubble of isolation knowing that I wasn’t included. Urie was standing by the center island in the medical wing when I entered. His leg had made great progress and he could walk around for longer stretches than I had anticipated. In another few days, I was pretty sure we would be able to remove his crutches altogether.
“Nice morning, isn’t it?” he asked pleasantly when I walked in.
“We’re landing soon?” I asked.
“That seems to be the case,” Urie nodded. “Nervous?”
“Should I be?” I wondered.
“We’re colonizing on a foreign planet,” Urie pointed out. “Drakons have always stayed on other planets but it’s always been temporary… a stop gap on the way to the next pillage.”
“Well… sometimes circumstances change,” I said, thinking about Ranel’s words a few nights ago. “How’s your leg?”
“Almost completely healed.”
“And your wing?”
“Hurts a little when I unfold it, but much better than it used to be.”
“No shifting for a while,” I told him.
“Yes, Homina Helasa.”
I smiled. No one had ever used the title on me directly and I found that I quite liked it. It was nice to be seen as something other than a slave. It was nice to know that you were making a contribution that was not only appreciated, but respected too.
I excused myself and headed to the main pantheon of Gyygnar where the central viewing decks were located. The glass stretched from floor to ceiling, almost twenty feet tall and gave you a spectacular view of the surrounding area. When I reached the viewing deck, I saw that a few other Drakon had gathered there. I wondered if they would take offense at my presence, but apart from a few side-glances, no one said a word to me.
I found an empty spot at the front of the deck and looked out over Nort. I was struck by how barren and lifeless a planet it looked. The landscape was made up of dull browns, sad greys and confused whites. Parts of the land looked like they had been excavated recently. As Gyygnar descended, I could see huge mining tunnels deface dusty mounds of brown soil.
There were no trees and almost no foliage that I could see. There were a few plants that reminded me of cacti because of the small thorns protruding from their spines, but they were brown in color and seemed to sag to one side as though they had given up already.
I couldn’t see much water either. There was nothing in the way of natural lakes or rivers. Nort looked more like a ravaged desert that had been stripped of all its natural beauty. My chest felt heavy with the knowledge that this would be our home for the foreseeable future. I would have much rather been floating around in space indefinitely, but I knew the fleet was weak now and needed someplace secure to recuperate.
I felt a shadow over my shoulder and I turned to see Meratte walking toward me. “Who is with the hatchlings?” I asked.
Meratte looked unconcerned. Her eyes were fixed on the arid land before us. “I am not the only nanny,” she replied, her tone biting. “The others can take care of the little monsters.”
“Hey,” I said gently.
Meratte didn’t even seen to register my words. Her eyes were large and unblinking and I realized that this was an emotional moment for her. I imagined what it would feel like for me if we were landing on Earth.
“How long has it been?” I asked. “Since you were on Nort?”
“Many moons,” Meratte replied. “I was a much younger, much more gullible Nortian.”
“I never asked you,” I said. “Your story?”
“My slave story, you mean?” Meratte asked, turning her golden eyes on me.
“Yes,” I said. “But if you’d rather not—"
“There was a large ravine down from my village,” Meratte said, interrupting me. “I went down one morning to collect some water. My mother was making Gampari for supper; it was my favorite. I liked helping her cook and I was eager to get the water back to our hut so she could start boiling the Gampari.”
“I had just finished filling both pails when I heard it. At first it was just a quiet whirr in the air, then it became louder and louder. I looked up and saw tiny aircrafts in the sky. They were black and gold and they had blasting sirens that made me feel like the mountains were shaking. They flew over the ravine and headed straight for my village.”
I felt my body grow cold as Meratte continued her story with a stony eyed detachment that told me just how hurtful the memory still was.
“Microns later, I heard screams and explosions and turrets of sand kicked into the air like a storm. I left my water soaking up the soil and ran as fast as I could in the direction of the explosions. By the time I reached my village… it was too late. Half our huts had been destroyed by the bombs and the survivors were being rounded up by the Pax.”
“Your mother…?” I asked nervously.
“Dead,” Meratte replied curtly. “Both my brothers were killed trying to fight the Pax and my sisters were taken as slaves, just like me. They’re out there somewhere in this vast galaxy... I just don’t know where. We were put on the same auction block but were sold to different slavers.”
I realized I had tears in my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Meratte,” I said fervently.
She shrugged, holding in her emotion like it was a shield against the pain. “They have destroyed our land,” she said. “It is not the Nort I remember. They strangled out the beauty and left behind only sand and dirt. This is not the home I recognize.”
I wanted to reach out and touch her hand, but I knew she would not allow that. It was enough to know she had shared her story with me. I resolved to tell her mine one day. There was a loud beep and then the internal intercom went off alerting us that we would be landing shortly. I glanced towards the large exit ramps that would lead us out into our new home.
As we kept descending, I realized that there were several ships already on the ground. I recognized them immediately as part of the Hielsrane fleet.
“Do you recognize where we are?” I asked, glancing at Meratte.
“We’re on the North Western side of Nort,” she replied. “Where the Mehmet Planes meet the Hizkandar Valley.”
“Are we close to your village by any chance?” I asked.
“No,” Meratte said, and I detected a note of relief in her tone. “My village is much further South.”
As the Gyygnar landed, I tried to count the ships that had taken over the surrounding landscape. There were at least eleven that I could see and I hoped that that number would inc
rease in the next few weeks. The fleet was strongest together, as Ranel often pointed out to me.
I could see that the larger spaceships had been positioned in a semi-circle of sorts that acted as a barrier. Within that protective circle, settlements were being erected.
Maybe this will be a new beginning for us all, I thought.
“Don’t be a fool,” Meratte said, making me gasp. I hadn’t realized that I’d said the words out loud. “We may be on a new planet but make no mistake… we are still slaves.”
I gulped, feeling an uncomfortable itch just beneath the surface of my skin. Meratte’s beautiful large eyes looked down at me and there was a certain amount of resentment on her face.
“Of course I speak only for those who do not share a bed with a Drakon commander.”
I felt my cheeks burst into flame but before I could say anything in response, Meratte turned and left the viewing decks. I saw her head back in the direction of the nursery and I was left standing there alone. Within microns, the Drakon on duty opened the exit doors and the ramps were released. The slaves were ushered into their corners and it reminded me of the day that we had been hoarded off Gyygnar and onto the Wyvern like cattle.
Given that I was still wearing my slave collar, I was bunched in with the slaves and we were made to form a single file line in front of the exit ramp. The line had just started moving when I saw Ranel turn a corner and approach the viewing decks that directly preceded the exit ramp. He caught sight of me immediately and I saw his expression turn sour.
“Yvette,” he barked. “What are you doing there?”
The Drakon on duty exchanged nervous glances when they realized their mistake. “We’re sorry, Commander,” a young Drakon with thick, orange-brown scales said quickly. “We didn’t see her there.”
“Yes Commander,” another Drakon added. “If we had, we would have made sure to keep her separate from the slaves.”
I closed my eyes in frustration, wishing that this conversation had happened far from the ears of all the other slaves on board. Already, I could feel their eyes boring into me with barely concealed bitterness. Why did Ranel have to make a scene? Why did Drakon always speak so loudly? It was infuriating.