Star Spark

by Day Leitao

  There were so many words Dess wanted to scream right now. He kept his face steady. “Of course.”

  Tarel had a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Good to hear it, boy.”

  Dess walked out of that room trying to process what had just happened. They’d just threatened Saytera and her friends. How could that be? How could he know? Could he gleam so much just from the way Dess looked at her? Not unlikely.

  “Dess!” The second voice he most hated in the world.

  He turned to face Nadia. “What?”

  She approached him, concern written on her face. “What was that about?”

  Or was that fake concern? “Your father. Can’t you guess?”

  “I… don’t know. Is everything alright with you?”

  He stared at her wondering if she was really as oblivious as she looked. He had no idea. “I’m just feeling really tired and need to rest. We can talk later.” Dess noticed her father at the end of the room, looking at them.

  Dess kissed her cheek fast. She stepped back, startled, then turned to check what he was looking at, and Dess took the opportunity to turn around and hurry home. Perhaps she should ask her father what that had been about. Assuming she didn’t know what it was, of course. Dess felt almost sick. Sick with worry, too, now that he knew that Saytera could be in danger.

  26

  Enemies and Allies

  Saytera started to feel and think only after drinking water, eating a thick soup, and receiving an intravenous fluid. She and her friends were in some kind of hospital room with four beds. Christina unfortunately had to relinquish her weapons, and her face was almost pained as she did so. A female soldier sat at a chair, watching them.

  Here they were, in the custody of the enemy. That said, they had received medical attention and care. Combined with the fact they would give them precious information, there was probably little reason to worry. She still wished she could have talked to Dess a little more. She could almost still feel his fingers on her hair, the way he looked at her. He managed to be even more beautiful than she remembered. Just looking at him caused an almost physical pain.

  But then he disappeared. Marcus had walked all the way to the door but left as well. It was scary to be in Sapphirlune without any acquaintance. Without any clue as to what was going to happen to them, or someone to guide them on what exactly to do with their information.

  Larissa took a sip from her juice. “We survived.”

  Saytera smiled at her friend. “Sounds like you were doubting it.”

  The girl raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

  Christina put a finger and thumb together. “It was this close.” She also had a relieved smile, though.

  Larissa glanced at the female soldier sitting in the room. “So, what’s your name?”

  The girl was young, perhaps a little older than they were, and had brown hair and blue eyes. She seemed not to have noticed the question.

  “Yo, you. Lunar,” Larissa insisted. “Do you have a name?”

  The girl was startled. “I, I’m not supposed to talk to you.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”

  Larissa turned to her friends. “Should we just pretend she’s not here?”

  “Not sure we have a choice,” Christina said.

  “So rude.” Larissa grimaced.

  Saytera laughed. “I guess we need to wait for them to want to talk to us.”

  “And make sure they keep us alive,” Christina added.

  Saytera didn’t think they should worry that much. “They’re not monsters.”

  Larissa rolled her eyes. “You have your… bias. But the issue is that once we tell them what we know, we have nothing left to negotiate.” She then whispered, “And Mainland doesn’t want us. It’s not like they can’t hurt us from fear of repercussions.”

  She had a point, but at the same time… “People don’t kill for the kick of it. What do they have to gain by killing us?”

  “What do they have to lose?” Larissa scoffed.

  Saytera tried to think. It would be so much easier if Dess was there, if they could talk to him, get some guidance. But now… “We can ask them to give their word they won’t harm us.”

  Larissa shook her head. “Yes. We could do a contract. Then who’s going to go after them if they break it?”

  “Dess,” Saytera mouthed. They had at least one ally there.

  Christina was quiet and thoughtful. Larissa looked uncertain, but didn’t have time to say anything, as the door was opened.

  A stern-looking woman accompanied by two guards entered. She might have been in the port when they came in, Saytera had been so out of it.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Much better,” Saytera replied.

  The woman looked at them and nodded. “I’m Commander Serra and I’m going to set up your deposition. You said you have important information for us, and I think you’re feeling well enough. Is that correct?”

  Saytera felt a chill in her stomach. One thing was to imagine coming into Sapphirlune and giving them their information, another was to actually do it.

  Larissa raised her hand. “Yes, but… we would like the pilot who brought us here to be there, too. Because… he saved us.”

  The woman stared at Larissa as if examining her, then said, “That’s a fair request. We’ll arrange it. Anything else you need?”

  “We want our safety,” Saytera said.

  She arched an eyebrow. “Well, obviously. You’ll depose in front of a formal board and you’ll be important war witnesses. We need you alive. No question about it.”

  Her words put Saytera more at ease.

  About half an hour later, Saytera and her friends were being taken through even more corridors. In one of them there was a glass wall through which she could see a city in daylight. It had tall buildings with glass and steel. Saytera looked up to try to see the frame around their shield, but it was too sunny. The Mainland planet was huge in the horizon, blue and grey, with its wild ocean. The view was great.

  The room they entered had chairs around a large circle, empty in the middle. Saytera’s heart was pounding as she sat. The woman was waiting for them, together with three more people. A woman and two men. One of the men was wearing a dark suit that wasn’t from their army. No sign of Dess. It had been a good thing that Larissa asked for him. It would make her much more at ease. And yet, the fact that he had turned around and disappeared didn’t sit right. Either he was ignoring her or he was being told to stay away. Then maybe he didn’t want anyone to know that they knew each other.

  After some time, he came in, together with a petite blonde girl. She might have been in the dock when they arrived. Maybe… Could she be the one who was hugging him? Saytera felt something cold inside her. Dess sat without ever even glancing at Saytera and her friends. He was still impossibly good looking. Painful to look at, even more painful when she realized that she meant nothing to him. She felt as if she’d swallowed a ball of lead.

  Everything was blurry. He proceeded to explain how he’d rescued them. He claimed he intercepted a call for help and saw an opportunity to get more hostages.

  One of the women stared at him. “Their shuttle was examined. Their radio wasn’t working.”

  He looked unfazed. “True. After a while it stopped working.”

  The woman looked at Saytera and her friends. “Do you confirm that?”

  “Yes,” Larissa said. “I mean, I was likely half passed out.”

  A good thing that Larissa was doing the talking.

  The woman nodded. “And you have important information for us?”

  “We do,” Larissa siad. “But we’d like a promise that we’ll be kept safe until we can return to our planet, or else be given refugee status here.”

  “You will be safe. As to granting refugee status, it will depend on a lot of factors. We still don’t know who you are, your intentions, and if what you are going to tell us is true.”

  The blonde girl slammed a hand on the tab
le. “You can’t be serious. They want to help us.”

  Dess glared at the girl then looked away, as if uninterested in what she said.

  The woman scowled. “Ms. Tarel, you can talk when it’s your turn.” She turned to Saytera and her friends. “We are being honest, and I hope you appreciate our honesty. We have a mandate to protect our fragile city, and we need to be sure this isn’t a plan by Mainland.”

  “Of course,” Saytera mumbled.

  It wasn’t as if they could just decide to withhold what they knew and then stay there waiting for the day a Mainland shieldbreaker came and toasted the city with them in it.

  She had to say it, and she was going to ignore the rude black-haired guy sitting there. Saytera got up. The guards pointed pistols at her. She raised her hands.

  “The Mainland government, they are planning on bringing a shieldbreaker.” The old people listening to her didn’t seem impressed. “It can break the shield protecting this city. The idea is to annihilate Sapphirlune.”

  The man in the suit frowned. “That’s impossible.”

  “Well, it’s the plan. It’s in the documents we found. It’s from Mainland, but it’s not something our people are being told. It’s for whoever is sending this warship. They are the ones who are going to get the Tahari Moon, they are the ones who are going to profit, while we bring death and devastation to innocent people. For no reason. It’s time we stop bickering. This war has only harmed everyone in this city, everyone on our planet. We gained nothing from it. There’s nothing to be gained with it. We need an agreement. We need your help in guiding the people on Mainland to refusing this nonsense. Together, we can be one system again.”

  Saytera sat down, wondering if she had said too much or if her words had been stupid. And she felt stupid noticing Dess was looking elsewhere while the girl by his side was staring at her in curiosity.

  The woman had a hard stare. “Can you prove your allegations?”

  Larissa had her information stick. Was it a good idea to give it to them? The girl was the one who replied, “We can’t. We just read it. Our only proof that we’re saying the truth is that our government tried to kill us. You can imagine there was a good reason for that.”

  Saytera doubted they were going to believe them. Still, she pleaded, “We have to do something. Mainland is a democracy. If people don’t vote for this, it won’t happen. Instead of a truce, we need a peace agreement. Help us convince our people.”

  The woman had a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “We will investigate your allegations and do our very best to reach an agreement with the planet. Peace is what we most want. We’ll forever be thankful for your help.”

  Her words should be calming, but they weren’t. They sounded empty. Saytera felt hollow. Maybe there were things she and her friends didn’t know, maybe the Lunars would just try to outbid whoever was selling the shieldbreaker. So many horrible possibilities.

  They were escorted back to that hospital room, but this time they were left alone. The door was barred, though.

  Christina sat on a bed. “I’m not sure it worked.”

  Larissa laughed. “I guess we’ll find out in a few days. In case a shieldbreaker looms above us and kills us, we’ll know what happened.” She looked around. “Right? People hearing us.”

  “You think they are listening?” Saytera asked.

  Larissa rolled her eyes. “Think? More like sure. What would you do if you were them?”

  “Listen to us when we depose and tell them what we know?”

  Larissa shrugged. “Maybe they think we’ll spill some juicy secrets.”

  Christina was thoughtful. “They are scared. It’s normal to be cautious.”

  Saytera sighed. “It’s just… What was the point of getting this information? If it’s not going to make any difference?”

  Larissa was quiet for a moment, then said, “Maybe they already knew it? Maybe it’s like they said: they’ll do their own investigation?”

  There was something Saytera didn’t understand, but she couldn’t ask knowing that they might be heard. She tried, “If only we had some piece of evidence!”

  “It would be the same,” Larissa said. “They could then use it to attack the planet. Or, let’s say if we had more information about this shieldbreaker, they could just find a way to counter attack them or something. And if we had this information, it would still not mean it was true. I mean, they could claim we faked it.”

  “It would have been more convincing.”

  Larissa smirked. “Pity we don’t have anything, then.”

  Saytera stared at her friend, wondering what she had done with it, but she wasn’t going to ask.

  “Right. Pity.” Saytera sighed. “This information shouldn’t have come here. It was meant for Mainlanders.”

  “There.” Christina cocked her head. “What I said.”

  By that she meant treason.

  Larissa scoffed. “No kidding, right? But it’s not like they gave us much choice.”

  “They didn’t shoot us down.” Suddenly that sounded weirder than ever.

  Christina was thoughtful. “Maybe they couldn’t.”

  Larissa cocked her head. “Maybe they wouldn’t dare. Imagine them having to explain shooting one of their own?”

  “They could just blame it on Lunars,” Saytera said.

  Larissa was frowning, thoughtful. “Our tracker was down. So they lost us. And they didn’t hear our radio signal for help.”

  “But…” Saytera was going to say “neither did Dess”, but caught herself. “Yeah, that explains it.”

  Christina gave her a questioning look.

  Dess’s story that their radio was working only at the beginning wasn’t totally convincing. But then, the other explanation was that he’d heard Saytera’s call, and more than ever she doubted it, seeing the way he acted among his people.

  Christina took a deep breath. “Again, we’re alive. I guess. That counts, right?”

  “I hope we’re interesting as hostages,” Saytera said.

  “Of course we are.” Larissa smiled, then yelled, “Yo, we’re super great hostages. And allies.”

  They laughed. At least her friends were there for some levity. The truth was that they were imprisoned, even if in a very nice cell, that they’d given confidential information to their enemy, and that none of it was going the way Saytera had thought it would. Instead of peace, it was possible that they were only bringing more war, more conflict. Unless there wasn’t anything they could do, in which case, it was just a matter of waiting for the shield destroyer to blast them all. Including Dess. Maybe not, maybe he would be among the few people saved, if he were in one of his planet incursions.

  Saytera was upset, and it wasn’t just because Dess had been one of her most prominent thoughts in the last few days. He should have understood that they were in an unknown place, scared, trying to help. A friendly smile could do wonders. The only friendly smile they got was from that woman, and it reeked of fakeness. That, and Dess’s blond friend. Saytera’s stomach turned thinking that she was more than just a friend. Why did these things keep happening? Perhaps it was Saytera’s own fault, imagining things that weren’t true, letting her heart project feelings that were hers only. But they had bigger issues. And no way to deal with them.

  After Saytera and her friends left, Tarel stared at Dess. “Let’s make sure these words don’t leave this room.”

  “I don’t think they were lying,” Nadia protested.

  Why couldn’t she shut up? It could just make matters worse with her father.

  “That’s quite possible,” her mother said. “But remember that they might have been manipulated into a complex hoax. There’s no evidence that this technology exists or that anyone would provide it to Mainland. The girls are either accomplices or victims.”

  Nadia was about to say something, but Dess whispered, “Leave it.”

  He feared the girl would only make things worse. Tarel watched him closely as he left the
conference room. So much to take in. So little time.

  “We have to do something,” Nadia said as they left the building.

  “For what? Your dear parents are already investigating it, in case you didn’t notice.”

  “You’re angry at them. I understand. I am, too.”

  She had no clue, but he nodded.

  She continued, “Perhaps we could investigate.”

  Dess stopped. “Absolutely not. No.”

  “You want them to blow up our city?”

  “I trust your parents to act on their own self interest. I’m pretty sure they don’t want this city to blow up any more than we do. I would just leave it if I were you.”

  “Leave it?” Nadia looked horrified. “When we just learned that there’s someone behind this war?”

  “They’ll deal with it.” Dess was shaking, trying to come up with a solution, with a plan, while at the same time having this pointless conversation with a girl he now hated. “I’m tired, if you don’t mind. Can we talk tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow? You’re going to act as if nothing happened.”

  “A lot happened. Maybe you should ask your father. Or did you ask your father?”

  Nadia stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing. It was a tough trip. I am tired.”

  She touched his arm. “You acted like a hero, Dess. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Heroes deserve rest, right?”

  She looked down and bit her lip. “Yes, it’s just… I already wanted to talk to you. I had to beg my mother to let you back in…”

  “Effort noted. Thank you.”

  “No, no. It was my duty. Now, it’s our duty to see this matter resolved.”

  Dess closed his eyes. “If this story leaks, who do you think will pay for it?”