by Alex Guerra
FOUR
We arrived in a large, extravagant room. A formation of tables brimming with an assortment of luxurious meals lined the walls in a foray of colors. The entourage took their seats while our team moved about the presentation of high-class dishes, piling their plates high to the point of near toppling over. Garvo set down four plates practically stacked to the ceiling with three racks of purple ribs from some exotic animal, a few jellied dishes with cubes of meat suspended within, a plate of wild berries and fruits, enough bread rolls to equal a loaf of bread, a massive bowl of soup, assorted kabobs, and a small dish of vegetables. His ravenous appetite was almost as big as the Okkar himself—almost. Half the meal disappeared in a minute, and a pang of guilt struck me as I knew The Pillar’s galley was not something to write home about. Still, it did the job and kept us fed in the interim.
I took a seat at the table with Lena and Seya, accompanied by Kayton, while the rest scattered throughout the room.
“You can imagine my level of surprise when you contacted me early this morning, Seya,” said Lena, fishing out a device from her dress.
“I’m sure you weren’t expecting it in the least,” said Seya.
“The Circles are going about their daily duties and, unfortunately, few were available on such short notice,” said Lena, placing the device in the center of the table and tapping in a few commands.
“I am happy to see anyone was available. I know how valuable your time is, and it will not be wasted,” replied the Darkkon woman.
“This is a recording device. I will take this to the Outer Circle for review later today. While the Circles are busy, they know that Seya Aranis is someone we should all listen to when she has something to say,” she said with a smile. She folded her hands in her lap, sitting upright as a serious expression replaced her smile. “Tell us what happened.”
A brief, uncomfortable silence filled the room. Even Garvo looked up and discontinued his munching.
“With the successful reclamation of Gwei-yon on Tudok, the conglomerate had enough additional resources to send to the Vallus system and attack the imperial base on the planet. Along with the addition of securing Princess Ellia of the Darkkon Empire for negotiations, the council advised us it was the perfect time to strike” said Seya.
“You kidnapped the Darkkon Princess?” asked Lena, raising an eyebrow. “Councilor Kol and her colleagues are some of the most experienced commanders the conglomerate has in that region. I trust her judgment, however bold.”
“While we successfully secured Princess Ellia, it was not without error. She suffered a severe injury during the operation but is recovering successfully, from what I’m told,” said Seya, nodding to Kayton and me.
“That was quite the risk,” said Lena.
The entourage sitting behind the woman frowned in disapproval, with deep, weathered wrinkles creasing their faces, making a roadmap of Boston look tame by comparison.
“Unfortunately, the empire also incapacitated and captured me, leading to a stalemate for future negotiations. The team sitting before you were essential in successfully rescuing me. During the escape, Arthur and his ship effectively disabled three imperial vessels before returning to planet Vallus,” she explained.
“Did you say three ships—with one?” asked Lena, in disbelief.
“That’s correct,” I said, crossing my arms.
“How is that possible?” she asked, leaning in slightly.
“Advanced ancient technology created by the Yau,” I answered.
“That would explain the strange ship you arrived in…” said Lena, tapping her chin.
“When we went back to Vallus, the council sent us a message saying the Darkkon fleet were forming together for an invasion of the planet…and that we needed to send word immediately back to Fengar,” I said. “They sent Princess Ellia offworld just behind us. We expect her vessel to arrive around two weeks from now, assuming they took a similar path as us. Now you know as much as we do.”
Lena tightened her hands into fists. The group behind her murmured with the news. This was going to change everything. From my understanding, it’s been several hundred years ago since the last time the empire openly invaded a planet. Instead, the Imperial Empire expands through market manipulation, buyouts, prolonged occupation, and immigration. Over time, they bully the civilizations they are encroaching on out of the system entirely—or force them to work off their debts by serving the empire. This would be the first time the empire openly advanced on the conglomerate in such force.
“Prince Ibram acts as the Darkkon Regent, should the Emperor and his consort be away. I’m certain he made the decision to invade, as I doubt your parents are the type to go against normality after so many years of ruling,” said Lena. “What is your brother thinking?”
“I can only speculate. He is a stranger to me now—his motives are unknown,” said Seya.
“We did kidnap his wife…” I said.
“But we were going to give her back in the negotiations,” said Seya.
“It’s clear he doesn’t want to negotiate now,” I said, waving a hand. “Maybe he’s a sore loser and doesn’t like losing his only real leverage, short of using the Darkkon fleet.”
“Still, I imagine the Vael Empire would not approve. I believe he overstepped his position,” said Lena.
“This is all speculation. There’s nothing we can do until we receive an update from Vallus,” said Seya.
“War…” Lena muttered. “A skip drone can’t travel any faster than a ship in the starlane. It could be days, or weeks before we receive a substantial update. The Circles need to hear this immediately.” She turned to the Fengar troopers behind her. “Commander, send word to the guard and fleet to be on the lookout for vessels and skip drones coming from Vallus. Priority one.”
“Right away, Councilor,” replied the commander. He and three other troopers left the room, briefly filling the space with outside noise before it returned to eerie silence once the door closed.
“I may offer a solution to hasten the Vallus reconnaissance,” Dotty spoke up, taking the group by surprise. “I am an artificial intelligence created by the Yau. One of my primary directives is to assist the Galactic Conglomerate to the best of my abilities. You may call me Dotty.”
I shifted my gaze between the group of surprised members, waiting for their shock to subside.
“Several hours ago, we acquired a wormhole manipulator able to warp our ship to distant stars in minutes, bypassing the need for starlanes,” explained the A.I.
“Yes, there was something in your arrival report of your not traveling here via starlane.” Lena nodded to herself.
“While the manipulator is Yau technology, it was modified to work with a Darkkon scout ship,” explained Dotty. “It is possible that we could use similar modifications to outfit the conglomerate fleet, but it would take some time. I propose that we create a skip drone with wormhole capabilities to use as a scout. Sending our ship back to Vallus at this time would pose too great of a risk.”
The A.I.’s words sank into the room—the revelation was too much for words as the room fell silent again.
“I know just the person who can help you with this,” said Lena, dropping a fist into her hand. “Vira Olmos. She’s one of the most skilled engineers on Fengar. I will send her a message to let her know you are coming. The sooner we get word from Vallus, the better we can assess the situation,” said Lena, beginning to tap away at her dataslate “I imagine you will be staying here for some time. I will have one of my aides available outside to show you to your quarters.”
“Thank you, Lena,” said Seya.
“I’m sorry our reunion wasn’t under better circumstances, but it’s good to see you are okay,” said the woman, tapping at the device on the table once more before returning it to her person. “I believe this will be enough for the Circles. You know how to reach me if you need anything.”
“Before you go, you wouldn’t happen to have any power cores, w
ould you?” I took out my dataslate and showed her a picture of the core room. I wasn’t going to be making the same mistake of waiting before asking for cores. “I need these for my ship to be of any real use to the conglomerate.”
Lena looked over the photo, but I could see that they were foreign to her.
“I’m sorry, I’ve never seen anything quite like these before,” she said, turning to show the group behind her the picture and receiving similar results. She handed the dataslate back to me.
“It was worth a shot,” I shrugged.
We all stood up. Lena and Seya hugged each other once again before the woman in red left with her group.
“Let’s check in with the engineer now,” said Seya, checking her dataslate for the address she received from Lena.
Kayton cleared her throat to get the troopers’ attention. “If you want to check out the quarters or go explore the city, now is the time. I will be going with these two,” she said to the others. “Ellar, I leave you in charge. Have your comms available.”
“Yes, Commander,” said Ellar.
Garvo was stuffing his pockets with more of the food now that our hosts were gone.
“And behave,” Kayton added, looking directly at Garvo as the big man smiled, grabbed another bread roll and quickly left the room before she could say more.
*****
We traveled to the address, taking a strange transport like a monorail that floated on a beam of light. Under the light was a narrow path—the origin of the light. Below, columns rose to support the path every few hundred feet. The path must have doubled as a safety mechanism, should the light shut off during transport. Having travelers plummet to their deaths from a power outage would have been a poor design otherwise.
Our pod traveled at uncomfortable speeds around the inner wall of the fortress. The teal-topped city grew larger as we screamed over busy streets. It was a utopia at face value. Pedestrians roamed the streets in elegant and brightly colored clothes without mashing into crowds. They cleaned their streets regularly. All evidence of paint and street signs were seemingly brand new as if added or touched up the day prior. The polish of Kestar was more than anything else I had seen in the past month, and the change was welcoming compared to the rough and bleak locales we had been over the last few months.
As the pod approached our exit terminal, I instinctively bent my knees and held onto the wall, not finding the support of any apparent handrail or pole. The motion left me embarrassed, as I could barely feel the sudden, almost instant stop.
Exiting the pod, we took an elevator down to the street level. We followed Seya, who checked her dataslate occasionally for the next direction. Aliens walked all around us, and I couldn’t help but gawk in awe. Unlike Tudok, the noise was tame as if I was walking through some rich community. Vendors didn’t need to shout over one another like in Gwei-yon’s flea market. Strange, inviting aromas and something akin to cinnamon and honey, wafted through the well-kept streets and venues, enticing the patrons in their alluring silence. I was not blind; however, these people were well-off, to say the least. Those who walked past us or nearby, all turned to Seya, the lone Darkkon in the heart of the conglomerate and wished her good morning. These interactions gave me a close look at the alien people, inspecting their clothes more closely.
Shiny in appearance, the material looked like fine silk, heavily embroidered with intricate designs of varying colors accenting whatever accessories they wore or carried. There wasn’t a single being that looked rough, as if everyone took three hours to get ready before starting their days—which was entirely possible. They walked with purpose, but with heavily subdued arrogance. Pride and comfort painted their faces, but not in the snobby, up-turned nose kind of way one would come to expect from a society like this. Of course, to get to such a position in the jewel of the conglomerate, they must have proven themselves somehow earlier in their lives. Everything was high class and the only rank below these individuals on appearance alone, were the military protecting them—and even that was speculation. Call me blue collar which I most assuredly am, but I tended to agree with Kayton’s earlier sentiment. I may look as if I belonged here with my new clothes, but this was foreign to me, and I don’t mean the aliens or the architecture.
Walking through the streets, unlike the lifeform, they downplayed their advertisements. Hand painted signs dominated the shops and outdoor cafes, opposed to glaring light-up billboards to grab people’s attention. It was clear the owners weren’t marketing to outsiders, most of their patrons were likely regulars ordering “the usual”. During our walk through Kestar, patrons lounged about reading their dataslates, snacking on pastries, and drinking something hot, as steam rose off their cups to catch the golden morning rays.
I didn’t recognize many of the species we came across and tried to imagine what the alien workday was like here. Did they begin their work late morning, or were they already working on their dataslates? I wondered. Perhaps they were retired. It would be impossible for me to tell their age without a reference. Was retirement even a thing here?
As I continued to question my surroundings, I accidentally walked into the back of Seya when she stopped suddenly in front of a shop. Turning around, she raised an eyebrow in a questioning look.
“Sorry,” I said. “This the place?”
“Looks like it,” she said, checking her dataslate one last time before pocketing it.
It had a small entrance with a segmented window to one side of the exotic, wooden door. Above that was a metal-engraved sign with squiggles. Dotty magnanimously allowed me to read the letters on my own, which read: OLMOS. A quick peek through the window revealed a quaint, modest home with an overabundance of elegantly cut, wooden cabinets and a smooth tile floor.
Seya rapped her knuckles on the door several times as we waited around for an answer. We were in an alleyway lined with diamond-shaped, matte black pavers with silver and teal accents. The same team must have designed the entire city during its inception. Similar homes and shops laid adjacent to our position and continued well into the nearest intersection.
To our left, a false siding split in two and slowly yawned open. We stepped back to witness the peculiar mechanism at work until it stopped. A furry head popped out suddenly, taking quick glances around to survey the area. When the two yellow eyes landed on us, they grew slightly wider. Out popped a tall, lanky alien covered in white and black fur with large, cat-shaped ears and a long, skinny tail.
“You the ones Lena sent, yeah?” it asked, reminding me of an oversized lemur and I immediately recalled Nen-Guri back on Tudok. Before any of us could answer, the alien smiled revealing many small, sharp teeth. “Come, come!” it said, waving us inside the entrance.
As I passed by it pressed a button to close the hidden door. Inside was a deceptively large area, full of tables covered in projects.
The alien spoke rapidly. “Sorry, the front door is just for show. I’m Vira, nice to meet y’all. Do ya’ want anything ta’ eat? There’s stuff over there…somewhere,” said Vira, jabbing a finger into a corner, where only more projects lay.
When we turned around to look back at the six-foot tall alien, she was off working on something else in the shop. I turned to my companions and cocked an eyebrow.
“Eccentric isn’t she,” muttered Kayton.
“I’ll be right there! Sorry, I really need ta’ finish this one thing. Been up all night with my mind racin’, and I finally figured out a solution to this damned thing,” Vira shouted from the other side of the shop.
“Very…” I answered.
The banging and electric whines finally stopped after a few more minutes, as the rest of us stood around eyeing the stuff in the workshop. Some looked like engine parts to something that would put a European supercar to shame. I hadn’t the slightest idea what the rest of the items and parts were for.
“Alright! That should do it,” said Vira, wiping her hands with a cloth as she walked over to us. Her white fur stopped at the back
of her dark hands, thinned out and scraped up from working in tight spaces. They were rough, like my own, from always tinkering away in a garage.
“What were you working on?” I asked.
“Oh, just some junk,” she said, dismissing the work with a hand, and tossing the dirtied rag aside. “The Seya Aranis. Nice ta’ meet ya’, I’ve heard a lot about your heroics. Well, everyone’s heard about ya’ and your work. Ta’ be honest, I thought Lena was playin’ a joke on me when she told me you were comin’ ta’ see me. And your friends?” she turned to Kayton and me.
“Art Holland,” I said.
“Art, got it,” she said, nodding her head with vigor, then turned to the Codari.
“Kayton Kol,” said Kayton.
“Ooh, what a pretty name, and so bright and yellow too! Yellow is my favorite color if ya’ couldn’t tell,” said Vira.
Glancing around the entire shop, I didn’t see a single yellow object but decided it was probably best not to comment.
“Lena said I could help ya’ with making somethin’? I can make anythin’,” she said, confidently.
“We want you to make a skip drone that can jump through wormholes,” I said.
“Impossible,” she said bluntly “Even I could never make that. Skip drone, sure. Wormholes though...you’re livin’ in a fantasy,” scoffed Vira.
“We have blueprints for that part,” I said, showing her my dataslate.
She quickly grabbed at the dataslate, her yellow eyes poring over the data.
“No way...ya’ actually have something here that could work. Where’d ya’ find this?” she asked.
“A Darkkon ship that ambushed us,” I replied.
“Darkkon, huh.” She swiped through a few more pages of the schematic. “Well, if you’re lookin’ ta’ put this on a skip drone, it doesn’t need ta’ be this big. I can scale it down a bit and get it goin’. I’ve got a skip drone somewhere over there too,” she said, hooking a thumb over to another empty spot.
