by Stella Cassy
I stretched my wings as far as I could. They hit the sides of the wall at two-thirds their capacity. I unfurled my caudal, which finally had all the feeling back after the Nadegvum shot me. Only the tip of it touched the glass wall. I thumped it again. If I were in the middle of the room, I might be able to damage it enough to break the glass, especially if I could heat it with my breath.
Whoever this group was, they knew enough to muzzle me, to contain my Drakon heat. A dry laugh erupted from my throat. They need not have bothered. My inner dragon had not shown itself since my family had died.
Were they part of the Pax Alliance? Did the Pax have them lying in wait as their backup?
On Thirren’s soil or at the end of one of the cursed Pax’s blasters was how I expected to cross into spirit form. Not at the hands of this human commander’s hands, incarcerated like a common slave. No Hielsrane could ever countenance remaining a slave for long. Especially not me. If not for the human revolt on Hythjn, Almordae would be on Thirren learning to be one of the future leaders of the Hielsrane. To be held by a human was a fate worse than death.
“You conscious yet?” the raspy voice called out.
“He has no trans chip, perhaps,” a lighter voice came from down the row. How many prisoners did they have? Their accents were not Drakon, different from my captors and definitely not Pax.
I stood and fell against the bars, bashing my nose against them. Zarkenite, native to the Pax’s homeland. Ringing vibrated through my ear canal. A warm trickle ran down the side of my face onto the floor just outside of the bars.
What were they planning to do with me? At least the rest of the fleet were clear of these renegades, led by what appeared to be a female from Earth. I continued bashing my head against the bars, reveling in the pain.
Kill me, you bastards, kill me now.
5
Esmerelda
I paused on the threshold of the bridge as the kid wrenched away from me. He plopped down in my chair and twirled while eating a fistful of protein-nectar cones. Oyna looked on as if he were performing a magic trick. Any minute, I expected her to start clapping and cheering.
I couldn’t decide which of the two spectacles to focus on: the fluffball kid or the footage of the Drakon’s cell on the center screen.
“Enziji let the kid just run around the ship unattended, use the lift like it’s one of Tyloa’s carnival rides and raid the incidental food supply. The universe only knows what else it was up to since it doesn’t talk.” Or refused to. One of my former foster siblings had selective mutism according to his social workers. His fist had worked just fine, though, when no one was looking.
Oyna looked down at the kid with a half-smile. Her expression switched to quizzical when she looked up at me.
What kind of reaction did she expect from a mother who had lost her kids? Judging by the look on her face, my reaction to this kid was disappointing. Fortunately, I was the only human she knew well. The sooner we got rid of this munchkin the better. I didn’t need my top officers questioning my character and spreading their doubts to the rest of our fleet.
“Sorry, Captain.” Oyna lifted it by the waist and sat it on her lap. It burrowed into her side. “There’s nowhere to keep him.”
“Can’t you keep him in one of the half empty cargo stalls? They should be secure enough.”
“Alone?” The censure in her tone was only detectable by someone who had known her for a decade.
“Not just any old bay. Lognx hangs out in one sometimes when he needs some R&R. We’ll have to find something,” I said. “Have Enziji or Lognx check its translator chip or fit it with one of ours. Maybe it just doesn’t understand what we’re saying.”
“He can stay in my room,” she said.
I unclipped my comms device from my waist and scribbled with my fingertip: it could be dangerous. I leaned over and held it in front of her face.
“How?” She lifted its stubby limbs and blunt nails and said, “Smile, young one.” She pulled its chin down to reveal a set of tiny, flat white teeth.
I slid into my chair, eyes not leaving the screen. “What about this situation?” I pointed to the Drakon who was banging his silvery head into the bars of its cell.
“There’s no way he can get out.” Oyna patted the kid and rocked it back and forth like it was a newborn. Its eyes closed halfway and the noises that came out of its mouth were similar to a mewing cat.
“A bad reaction to the tranquillizer?” Oyna leaned forward, patting the kid on its back. “He got a higher dosage than most.”
“Where’s Wrigo?”
“Cataloging the Drakon’s ship.” Her smile broadened. “He has enough food rations and extra fuel to power him to the other side of this solar system and back.”
“That’ll come in handy.” I rose and went to the door. “Since Wrigo is busy I’ll go and have a chat with our guest.”
“Good idea. There’s no sign of any other Drakon vessels in the vicinity.”
“Keep me abreast ASAP if there are any changes.”
“Yes, Captain.” She shifted the kid to her shoulder, faced forward, and tapped away at her console. The screen filled with text and graphical reports. “Should I send the doctor to his cell?”
“No.” I snagged a first aid kit and headed downstairs, hoping my prize prisoner wasn’t unconscious by the time I arrived. We had gotten, at a minimum, a nugget or two of information from every prisoner that passed through our cells and no one had ever died. I didn’t intend to let him be the first.
I trotted all the way to the other side of the ship, not stopping to even glance into the other cells as the detainees rushed to the bars and called out in their usual whining manner, until I got to the last cell.
A puddle of orange-red blood marred the pristine white of the metallic floor. Even more startling was the patch of it matted in his dark hair.
I sidestepped the sticky glob on the floor and propped a foot against the wall, out of sight of the other prisoners and at a safe distance from my guest. “I hate to interrupt your fun, but I need some information from you.”
His head banging paused but his eyelids, fringed with dusty gray lashes, didn’t lift. He was listening. That was all I needed.
“So, Drakon are masochistic. I’ve heard otherwise, but it’s good to know.” I might as well get on with the interrogation. “Where were you headed? Is your fleet following you?”
“Captain, he does not comprehend you,” shouted the Luhap.
“No chip,” another prisoner said.
Were they right? I wasn’t up on my Drakon trivia, but I was confident that they had, at a minimum, translators comparable to ours, which could process over a thousand major languages throughout this solar system.
“Let me in there with him.” The Luhap snorted. “I can get the information out of him, out of anybody.”
“Quiet, if you want breakfast and dinner while you’re here.” I injected as much vibrato as I could in my voice, all the while standing just a foot away from a being who could easily turn me into a pile of ash.
His head turned left, toward me. A puff of cool air ruffled the tendrils of hair that had escaped the pins at my right temple. I shoved the stray hairs behind my ear and stepped closer.
I unclipped my mini taser and stuck it through the bars, pressing it into his shoulder. “We won’t need to resort to those barbaric techniques, will we, Drakon? By the way, what should I call you?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners and the veins in his neck jumped. “Interrogation isn’t my specialty, but I could use the practice.” I tapped the laser in the middle of his chest. His shoulders curved forward, but he did not say a word, nor open an eye.
There was more to be gleaned from the eyes of any being, no matter what the species was. Kindness, cruelty; all lay there if you looked long enough.
“Listen, fire breather, I have other goods to retrieve.” He bashed his head against the bars again. I zapped his side. “Stop it.”
Maybe
he did like the pain.
Those pretty scales would make a good necklace. I could sell it as easily as those credit chips we recently acquired. Some were pearly cream, others, crystal clear, reflecting flashes of the colors.
I pressed a finger along one. “Permanent jewelry.”
A vein rippled across his square jaw, but his mouth remained shut. I racked my memory for everything I could remember about the Drakon. Rich, arrogant, ruthless, and virile, with fleets of ships bigger and more powerful than most. Females all over the universe hoped to spend some time with one. Or was that just part of their bloated propaganda? Like breathing fire. Legends were easy targets, relentlessly pursued. Much better to remain as anonymous as possible.
I inhaled and took a half step back. Even though he was muzzled, just the thought of flames coming from those slits was enough to raise my body temperature. “Who are you? What is your name?”
He snarled and clinked the muzzle against the bars.
“What’s your story, Drakon? Why are you traveling alone?” I flipped the switch on my taser to elongate it, then stuck it into the cell and poked his shoulder. “What is your name?”
He glared at me. I lowered the taser to his inner thigh and tapped lightly. As the muscles tightened, I traced the muscles moving closer to my next target in the middle of his crotch.
“Maybe you’ll respond better to one of my male officers. Some males are funny that way.” I ran the taser against his neck, along the interweaved rivulets of silver etched beside the scales.
His eyelids lowered and his wings, which had loops of gray and silver at the outer edges, shuffled behind him as I retracted the taser.
“Silver, that’s what I’ll call you.” I turned away.
A muffled noise—a word?
All right, he’s ready for our little tête-à-tête, then.
When I turned to face him, he lowered his eyes briefly then returned his gaze to my face. A single muffled word came from him. Of course, he couldn’t speak.
I thumped the side of the muzzle. “If I open this, will you behave?”
Unblinking, he stared at me with opaque eyes.
“Do you understand or not?” I stepped over the blood, moved to the left side and nodded my head up and down slowly, “Yes.” I shook my head from side to side. “No.”
He nodded.
“I don’t want you to develop any life-threatening infections before we chat.” I squirted a generous amount of antiseptic gel on his forehead, which generated a grunt from him, then slapped a bandage the size of his entire forehead over it. The absorbent pad had enough cushioning to minimize injury from any future head banging. I unhooked the release lock on the left side of the muzzle, then the one on the right and pivoted away with one foot behind the barrier wall, which separated each cell.
The Luhap cleared his throat behind me. He would be the first to be sold off.
The Drakon opened his mouth wide and flexed his jaw. I braced myself and stepped back further. I hoped I wasn’t a fool for releasing his mouth, but he seemed more self-destructive than murderous right now. “What did you say?”
“Blue.” The croaked word was barely audible. “That is your name. Moddoc is mine.” A voice like creamy white chocolate with dark chocolate cookie crumbles flowed from his mouth.
I chewed on my inner cheek to control my smile. Gloating wouldn’t get him to confide in me. “I believe Drakon have surnames.”
“Moddoc of Thirren, home of the Drakon.” His eyelids lowered. “It is currently under attack and I had to take refuge off planet.”
“Right.” I stepped closer. “The Drakon’s home planet is at war?”
“Yes, former allies turned on us.”
“That’s why a shitload of Drakon vessels were in the vicinity.”
“They will regain control...” His voice trailed off like he wasn’t so sure. He hung his head.
“Who is the former ally?” The traitor.
“What are you?” He cocked his head to the left and pressed his gray nose to the bars.
“Captain Black,” I said. “Your attacker?”
“The Pax Alliance. What are your thoughts on them?”
“We’ve traded with them plenty of times. I can’t say I trust the squirrely rascals, but I didn’t know they had switched to taking whole planets. What else can you tell me, Moddoc?”
“My arms are aching.” He leaned his head on his right arm. “Untie my hands and we can talk further.”
“No, and the muzzle goes back on.” I stepped forward. He didn’t lean away or move closer. His dry, coarse laugh stopped me in my tracks. A flash at the back of his eyes held something more sinister than his laugh. My feet knew better than I and had backed me away before I was fully aware.
I turned my back on what looked like a nasty little smile.
“Captain Esmerelda Black,” he shouted.
I swung back around. “Congratulations, you know my name.”
He was standing at his full height. He bent his head. “I’m thirsty.”
“Right.” I looked back. He spread his wings filled the entire cell. They flapped behind him. My hair whipped over my shoulder. His wings slapped the walls so hard, a couple of the inmates gasped at the commotion. He had to have broken something.
He wanted me to look back again, so I didn’t, stepped around the barrier, and headed up the hall. The Luhap opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, I barked at him, “Shut your trunk.”
I tapped my wrist and said into my comms device, “Lognx, get someone to secure the Drakon’s mouthpiece immediately. Oh, and give him a snack and some water.” Maybe sustenance would make him more cooperative during our next session.
6
Moddoc
In the dimly lit hall, only an occasional sound came from the other prisoners. Almordae’s spirit being came to me again. I blinked, squinted, shook my head until it throbbed, and the ringing returned. The tiny creature did not disappear, but crept closer and lifted a bottle of liquid to my cracked lips until I had drained it.
She pressed some sweet crunchy stick to my lips, then another. I ate four of them. “It is you, isn’t it, my daughter? You love all that is sweet.”
She lay there on the floor on her stomach, the way she always did when I read her one of my stories. “You want to hear your favorite story, Almordae?”
She folded her arms in front of her and rested her chin on them.
“At the very first solar rise, our sun, a brilliant deep orange, lit Thirren’s skies. The king, queen, and a sole prince were the only survivors of the Great Drakon line after the storm fires. The imperial family crawled out of their cave for the first time to claim all that had been prophesized: a bride for their only child. At the lagoon is where you will find her, they were told. From solar to lunar, they searched the land far and wide from one lagoon to the next. The king and queen fretted over the Drakon’s demise. Before they could rise, the prince, alone, ventured out to the last known lagoon.
“There, a Tzmeroc with fire in his nose, mouth, and eyes stood between him and the lagoon. If his bride had been there, how could she have survived? He backed away. From above, a breeze averted the Tzmeroc’s fire enough for the prince to charge past the beast. His spirits buoyed, but the Tzmeroc’s fire returned. It was clear to the prince what had happened to his bride: the Tzmeroc had killed her, so he must die. With only his fist as a visible weapon, the prince charged at him. At the last micron, the prince opened his mouth wide and swallowed the Tzmeroc and his fire. The heat licked deep inside his belly. Then, the prince quenched his thirst by draining the entire lagoon, in a mighty slurping gulp.
“There, in lunar’s light, he wept himself to sleep for his lost bride. When he opened his eyes to the solar light, he scanned the dried lagoon one last time, and turned to go back where he had left his parents, but a breeze circulated around him. To the skies, he lifted his eyes. A winged Drakon circled the lagoon— his bride...”
I watched the even
rise and fall of her little body until I could not hold my eyes open any longer.
Pain fissured through my upper arm and I shook it to get some feeling back in it, but that didn’t relieve the stinging. I opened one eye. A species I’d only seen on a screen snickered. Its yellow and black striped neck and lunar-black head were too distinct to forget. Golmdairs rarely traveled in this part of the solar system. He wore a black uniform with a bronze line down the middle of his chest from neck to waist like the rest of the crew.
He reached inside the bars with his stick and tapped the top of my left boot, then the right one. His middle horn jabbed my left arm.
“Have a good nap, Drakon?” He pressed the stick into my tricep on the other arm.
I locked my muscles against the vibration. He laughed again and sauntered away. “See you in a solar, maybe less. Don’t set yourself on fire while I’m gone.”
My eyelids drifted. After what seemed like no more than a few minutes, a prickle in my side grew to a throb and forced my eyes open. A grunt leapt out of my mouth before I could swallow it down.
The Golmdair removed the weapon from between the bars and backed away with a smirk. “You’re not sleepy, are you?” he asked. “When you wake the next time, you might be missing a part or two if Captain Esmerelda doesn’t clip you first.” He rammed the prod into my side and poked my wing before I could move it out of the way.
If I didn’t have this mouthpiece on, I could easily take that taser wand from his fingers with my caudal alone, but then what would I do with my hands tied and my feet strapped to the chair? My growl petered out. I could only open my mouth a quarter of the way.
I told their human captain more than I should have, and her people were still poking at me, most likely at her command. At least she did not know she had a Hielsrane, not just any Drakon. The first name was the problem, but she did not know that. So who was this faction, with their rogue female captain? No single species seemed to dominate. Were they pirates? A mercenary force allied with some other group?