Daughter of Ethos

by L M Lacee

  Darby grinned saying. ‘Of course she is, she is your friend after all.’

  ‘So funny, well I better find out where the hell she is.’

  Melody tagged her friend and placed it on speaker. When Netta answered, it took everything Heather and Darby had not to laugh as Melody snarled.

  ‘Where have you been Netta, I have been calling you for months?’

  ‘Don’t growl at me general. I’m not in your unit now.’ A woman’s slightly husky voice snarled back.

  Melody laughed. ‘What unit, as if you didn’t already know. This is what I have been calling you for, they kicked the lot of us out, well at least all the female soldiers.’

  ‘What the hell! I heard it was just the troops?’

  ‘Nope, officers as well, all of us.’

  Melody waited, she grinned at Heather and Darby, as they all heard Netta breathing softly. Melody mouthed, thinking!

  ‘So…’ Netta casually drawled. ‘Whatcha doing?’

  Melody returned. ‘What you doing, girlfriend?’

  ‘Killing this and that.’

  Darby’s gasp made her smile as she shook her head, telling her Netta did not mean it… well probably not.

  ‘Well, stop the killing and find your way to Runnerdale.’

  ‘I have three hundred soldiers and four hundred civilians with me.’

  ‘All welcome, it is safe here Netta.’

  ‘We leaving Melody?’

  ‘Yeah, with the alien boys.’

  ‘Well hell! Be there soon and Melody…’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Glad you called.’

  ‘As if I would go without you Netta. Friends don’t leave friends behind. I did teach you that?’

  ‘So you did!’

  ‘How long?’

  They could all hear her laughing, she got herself under control and said. ‘Almost there, another week maybe, depending on what happens on my way.’

  ‘Shit, Netta. I’m guessing you don’t need directions?’

  Laughter was her only answer, Melody growled loudly. ‘You could have called?’

  ‘Where would the fun be in that… bye Melody?’

  Melody disconnected, her mind rolling with her thoughts, sparked by talking to Netta. She sipped her drink and felt the heat from the whiskey burn a path to her stomach as the other two watched her carefully. She looked angry and sad all at once.

  Melody was angry, especially at her own foolish naivety, she thought about that for a minute. Then amended that to, just straight out denial! She had denied everything. She knew before the Government had signed that Agreement, that they were lying, but she stuck to her sense of denial, treating everything as normal.

  Even when only a matter of days later the conditions of the agreement were spelled out by the Government’s propaganda department, she still believed in their word.

  She had read the agreement and on the surface it seemed harmless and practical. Earth would be accepted into the Coalition, which subjected everyone to the rules and regulations of said Coalition. One of those rules entitled the Coalition for the good of the planet and its populace was to offer an alternative planet to live on, they of course would be compensated well, for helping to populate their new home worlds. Of people from other worlds would come to Earth.

  Melody, at the time, had not questioned this clause or the fact the Virus was not number one of importance, for either the Government of the Coalition. She like everyone else, assumed the cure had been found. Confirmed later by the Government who told the populace that, of course, for the help in eradicating the planet of the Virus, the Coalition would start introducing technology unseen and unheard of before on Earth.

  At that time she had no idea what technology had to do with the Virus but being the good little soldier she was. She did not question this directive until the public broadcasts changed and the new messages echoed around the world. Informing everyone a new armed force from the Coalition would now police the world. Personal weapons were deemed illegal unless permitted by the Government, which meant only the Warriors carried weapons. Heavy fines or punishments were enforced if a citizen was found with one. Melody could not help wincing when she remembered the weapons she carried. She like Netta, loved knives, although she was nowhere as good as Netta was with them.

  Melody frowned as she remembered that Peyton carried a small hand gun and was proficient in it. All her soldiers carried weapons and she bet Netta and her people were armed. She thought it might be a good idea to let Commander Roeah know about the weapons. Although she thought he probably already knew, he seemed that kind of man. She came back to her surroundings as she muttered. ‘Netta, has always been such a smart ass!’

  Darby asked. ‘So, she was already on her way?’

  ‘Yep!’

  Heather grinned. ‘How did she find out, do you suppose?’

  Melody shrugged and sipped her whiskey. ‘Netta is smart and very skilled. I am guessing she found out I was trying to contact her and started making her own inquiries and her way here.’

  Darby asked with a confused frown. ‘I don’t understand, if she knew you were trying to contact her. Why hasn’t she got in touch with you or is here already? You have been here for months.’

  ‘Who knows, it is Netta. If I had to guess she was probably running her own missions. It has been years since she and I served together, even though we kept in touch, it was spasmodic. Netta did not leave the army on good terms, and that is all I will say about that. It is not my story to tell.’

  ‘But…’ Heather placed her hand on Darby’s arm and shook her head as Melody sighed. ‘She was my only true friend in the army; I missed her every day she was gone from my life and I never expected to find that closeness again, imagine my surprise when I found that in you three.’ She laughed with the other two.

  ‘When Netta arrives, my family unit will be complete, so to answer your question. I am as close to her as we four are to each other.’

  Heather had to ask her because she seemed so enamoured of the woman. ‘So I guess she is trustworthy?’

  ‘With your life, right Melody?’ Peyton asked as she moved from the shadows.

  Melody smiled at her. ‘Yes Peyton, I would trust her with my life and have done so on many occasions. I would trust her with your lives. She is Netta!’

  Peyton solemnly said. ‘Good enough for me then.’

  ‘And us.’ Darby saluted her with her glass as Heather agreed. ‘Yes, to that!’

  ‘Beers in the cooler!’

  ‘Thanks Darby thought you were mad at me?’

  ‘No, just… I just felt unsettled and angry but not at you.’ She burst out. ‘Sunshoona is a cold and unfeeling bitch, at least in the way she talks about what we have all gone through.’

  ‘Yeah, I think it’s a case of being so long lived, our lives to them are so very short. I wonder how many worlds, she and others like her have seen come and go. Maybe we expect too much of them, the grief they must have endured over the eons, boggles the mind, well it boggles mine.’ She sighed then suggested. ‘Maybe hardening their hearts, is the only way they know how to survive. I am not excusing Sunshoona or the others like her. I am just trying to understand what she must have endured.’

  Heather sipped her wine then looked at Peyton and asked. ‘Are we going to talk about Gaea and what she has done?’

  ‘No!’

  The feeling of shock at her stark answer rippled through the three women as Heather demanded. ‘Why, for heaven’s sake, it needs talking about?’

  ‘Probably! But here isn’t the time or place.’

  Melody asked in a tone that for its very softness screamed outrage. ‘Meaning what?’

  ‘Meaning, if you think about what I am saying you will understand.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Enough please, think about who is listening.’

  Surprised, Melody said. ‘Oh… oh, yes, I see!’

  They all nodded as Peyton breathed a sigh of relief. Melody, with a sw
ift look around, returned to the conversation about Sunshoona. ‘I would think that longed lived beings like the stars would find it necessary to hide that side of their nature, to insulate themselves against pain.’

  ‘Yes, that kind of agony must haunt you throughout your lifetime.’ Peyton agreed sadly.

  Darby agreed, then said. ‘Yeah I see that, still…’

  ‘I won’t leave you Darby.’ Peyton said as she sat next to her. ‘None of you!’

  ‘Yeah, okay.’ Darby shrugged as her hand snuck out and grabbed Peyton’s. They remained that way while they sat and talked into the early hours of the morning.

  SEVENTEEN:

  Seventy-two hours, from the time of the momentous meeting at Peyton’s home. The royal family of Jenersar woke to find the Warriors and Warships patrolling their world were gone. When the Emperor's ministers were told, they immediately went into damage control to contain the information and stop it leaking to their citizens.

  Jenersar has a population of twenty million people; their industry is minimal with a high demand for technology. Against continued opposition from the advisory council, the Emperor has allowed industry and agriculture to wane, to the point the Warriors have become Jenersar's only commodity.

  Uthar Jenerika, present Emperor of Jenersar was distraught as he paced his chambers. Messages had arrived, even before he had risen for the day, confirming Warriors and ships were also missing from other worlds. Uthar was placed between a rock and a hard place, credits had been paid to not only the world of Jenersar but to him personally, and there was the matter of Jenersar’s reputation and standing at the Capital.

  As he stepped into his shower, the unbidden thought came to him. If he did not recall warriors from assigned worlds to fill the void, the missing Warriors had caused on his world. There could be a possibility other worlds may consider invading Jenersar and overthrowing him. He thought about retrieving the Warriors in stasis but quickly discarded that idea. Unfortunately, he had been coerced into disavowing all knowledge of them. He had publicly sworn on his honor that he had ceased the Warriors experiment. He had also discounted the rumor that thousands of Warriors existed, and with a hand on his hearts, swore that all Warriors were accounted for.

  He ruefully acknowledged as he dressed, that whoever had caused these events had literally tied his hands. As he paced, he went through all the people who he considered enemies and discovered the list was longer than he thought. Suddenly he rocked to a stop as it came to him, the only one able to command his Warriors other than himself was that basterad Roeah.

  Storming around his bed chamber, he knew Roeah had somehow discovered a way to extract himself; from the yoke he had placed him under.

  He stopped pacing once more as a thought came to him, maybe he could wake Warriors from stasis and slip them on to his world as easily as it seemed Roeah had slipped them off? He could have a memory implanted of training off world, no one would think that was unusual. Warriors often used dead moons to live and train on. Yes, that could work and if it did, he could replace the other missing Warriors on the other worlds in the same way.

  He started to smile; he had just solved his immediate problem. The cloud hanging over him since rising this morn, grew lighter and his mind cleared of worry. Allowing him to start to work through the steps he would have to take to accomplish his plan. Then as he reached out to place his palm on the scanner to unlock his bedroom door, a thought came to him. If he did order the revival of the Warriors from stasis, what would stop them leaving to join Roeah in his rebellion. Somehow the basterad had convinced the Warriors here and obviously on the other worlds to follow him. So what was there to stop him doing the same again?

  He, Uthar had no way of knowing how he had managed to subvert his Warriors in the first place, he shook his head. No, it was too risky, he could not replenish the Warriors. He would just have to hope Thanikis could find Roeah and return him to Uthar, so an example could be made.

  Sighing loudly, he wondered how many Warriors he would have to execute to make them understand they belonged to him and he was their only leader. Losing Roeah would be annoying, just as much as deciding which of his brothers to wake from stasis would be.

  He paced some more as he cursed Thanikis for losing control of Roeah. This mission was meant to be a simple matter of policing some small world in an obscure universe, how was this possible.

  Suddenly an idea came to him, should he make contact with the worlds that had not reported missing Warriors? Although if he did, and the Warriors were still there, mayhap that would look suspicious to the rulers of those worlds. Especially as he would be breaking protocol. Of course he could just bypass the rulers altogether and contact the Warriors directly, again this came with problems. Would that spur the Warriors into finding out about the rebellion and leaving to join Roeah? He decided not to contact anyone and wait to see how far Roeah’s influence had spread, before notifying other worlds. The last thing he wanted to do was let anyone know he was experiencing problems.

  That alone could cause long reaching ramifications, especially if other rulers realized he had no Warriors to defend his world. Jenersar could suffer, worlds might stop paying the credits they owed and his people could begin demanding answers, which could mean unrest, even civil war. This was an impossible situation Thanikis had landed him in, and if he, Uthar were to lose his position as Emperor. Then Thanikis, brother or not would lose his life.

  His mind shied away from those thought, as he found his pacing had brought him to his dressing scanner. Regardless of what was happening, he knew it must appear to his people and the rulers of other worlds that he, Emperor Uthar Jenerika was still in control.

  So he took his time to scrutinize his face and body for telltale signs of stress, seeing none, he stared admiringly at his reflection. He was still the most handsome of his brothers, brushing back his long black hair, which he seldom tied or braided as he had not this morn, he turned his face from side to side, looking for flaws. He smirked as he thought of his last mistress, before he had her dismissed to some distant planet as someone’s breeder. She often told him his body belonged to a much younger male, and he knew she was right. He was as lean and just as muscled as he had been in his youth. He sighed gustily as he remembered he had always liked how she flattered him with her honest observations, along with her willingness to try anything new. Sadly, she had become far too enamoured of her position as his mistress. He despised arrogance in others; it was hard enough being mated to an arrogant female, having one as a lover was more than any reasonable male could tolerate. Although he would admit, he may have acted in haste, because he also hated an empty bed.

  Maybe as a diversion from his recent worries, he would look around court and see who would benefit from becoming his lover. Suddenly anger at the situation he found himself in overcame him once more, removing any pleasure he had about finding a new lover.

  Turning he slammed from his bedroom and strode from his suite, at six foot six Uthar was well over the normal height of most Jenersar males, and was without doubt an imposing male, especially when his eyes flashed silver as they were now, he snarled out vicious curses as he walked through his private sitting room.

  Spying one of his hapless cousins, who was acting as his secretary for the moment, he demanded. ‘Comm` my brother, the erstwhile Ambassador to the Coalition and inform the fool, I wish to speak to him. NOW!’

  As he walked into the corridor, he knew the idiot would be on the link as soon as he left the room.

  Uthar growled under his breath, somehow Thanikis had caused this and he would have to fix it before it escalated. It was a simple arrangement, he Uthar pulled the strings and Roeah the basterad complied with his demands. How in all the stars had Thanikis failed at that?

  As he did every morn for propriety’s sake and because she demanded it, he entered his mate’s personal dining room and heard her ask. ‘Tell me Uthar. How much worse can this get?’

  ‘I do not know.’ He replied as he he
lped himself to tea. ‘At least we have heard nothing from the Capital!’

  ‘Thank the stars for that.’

  As if saying the name tempted the fates, a messenger, rushed in and handed Uthar a missive. Hurriedly departing when he saw his thunderous expression.

  Violently slamming his fist down on the table, rattling Quara’s fine crockery and upsetting the platters of food, he let loose a long string of curses.

  Well used to his outbursts Quara muttered. ‘Furin hayda!’

  Thumping the table again Uthar snarled. ‘Well it seems our luck just ran out. The Governor, demands I comm` him.’

  Quara whispered. ‘They have gone from there as well, what will you tell him?’

  ‘How the furin hayda do I know, Quara!’

  ‘Tone! This is not my fault Uthar. I told you not to pull so hard on Roeah’s yoke. You and Thanikis thought you knew better, now see what you have wrought!’

  ‘Enough Quara! You are not that valuable to me. I will not replace you!’

  Quara barked out a laugh. ‘Try my dearle, just try!’ She stood and left the room with a smirk for her mate.

  Uthar threw his cup against the wall, one day he would end her life, when the time was right and he could not be held accountable. He growled as his link sounded demanding he answers the comm` from the Capital’s Governor.

  EIGHTEEN

  The inhabitants on the world named the Capital, home to the Coalition, retired the night before secure in the knowledge they would be safe in their beds. Warriors patrolled their world and Battleships orbiting the world. Only to wake the next morning and find empty streets and an equally empty air space.

  The Governor of the Capital after learning of this disastrous situation ordered the Commander of the Capital’s armed forces to his office just after dawn. Whereby, he demanded from Commander Dantara Lewen, the whereabouts of the Jenersar Warriors and Battleships.

  Commander Lewen could only state, he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Warriors. His conscience did twinge a little at speaking a near truth. On reflection, he felt justified as he believed the question he was asked, was where the Warriors and ships were. Not when did they leave, and had he helped them leave, by piloting the shuttles to the Warships?