by F. E. Arliss
“It’s not tofu,” Shale snorted to her silently, a gleam in his eye.
“Don’t you dare tell me what it is,” she answered back mentally. “I’m hungry and I’m, if not exactly enjoying it, at least not hating it. So shut it.” Jullian gulped down the second glass of water. “I need to get back to the ship,” she hissed at Shale. “I need to go to the bathroom.” Shale rolled his eyes.
“Humans,” he said disgustedly. Raising from his chair, he held a hand out to help her rise.
The action was so in contradiction to his tone of moment ago, that she glared at him and focused on his thoughts. What was going on? She wondered. A moment later, she gasped, leapt out of the booth without grasping his hand, and slapped him as hard as she could across his pale, smarmy face. Stomping out of the bar she stalked towards the transport.
How dare he? How dare that pale bastard think he could sell her for her energy uses to get his ship and the favor of his old queen. A queen no less, that left him stranded! An act that eventually led to his capture and torture at the hands of humans.
Even as Jullian thought these horrifying thoughts, she could feel the energy of rage and betrayal rising up through her body. Her spine tingled and the hair on her nape crawled with twisting malevolent energy. Her palms burned and her fingertips ached. Mostly she could feel the gigantic lump in the back of her throat. Betrayed again. Pushing the hurt down, she kept her eyes glued to the transport.
What she hadn’t noticed yet, in her fury and hurt, was the way the crowd parted to let her through. It was as though an invisible beam radiated from her, sweeping other energies out of her path. Even a scurvy looking dog-like animal fled at her approach. As she reached the ship and slapped her palm on the biometric scanner used to key the ramp open, she turned to glance back over the scene.
It was eerie, the way everyone seemed frozen in place. A wide path was clear where she’d sailed through in her rage. All eyes riveted to her. At the end of the cleared path, near the bar, stood Shale in the middle of the road, staring after her. Mounting the ramp, she faced him hands on hips.
Gathering the rage of his betrayal in her mind, she focused it, fashioning a spear of fury, then hurled it at him with all her strength. Her hands never left her hips. A split second later Shale flew off his feet and was slammed backwards into the ground. The alien crowd gasped. Satisfied, Jullian stalked up the ramp and slapped it closed.
Entering the bridge, she wiped his access to the transport out of the system. Bastard! Bastard! Then she lay on the bunk and wept. She hadn’t trusted him completely. But she thought they had a camaraderie. People...people of all species, were just shit!
He was going to sell her into slavery! So strong was his desire to regain favor with his Queen, he would betray Jullian to a terrible end, rather than be an outsider. Jullian had saved his life. In return, he would betray her. Profit from her.
Unbeknownst to Jullian, her fury and hurt seemed to be echoed in the spectacular lightning show and great echoing claps of thunder that enveloped the settlement. All the alien species scurried from the street to find shelter.
Night fell. Jullian simply laid there. She wasn’t sure what she would do or how she would survive. Right now, she just wasn’t going to do anything. She slept.
Chapter Eight
New Beginnings
The following morning, she showered in the tiny cubicle, then, naked, proceeded to tear the transport apart looking for different clothing. She was no longer going to wear this idiotic milkmaid outfit. Finally at the bottom of a strapped down footlocker, she found gold. Black synth-leather moto-leggings, a sleek black body-compression top with long sleeves, and an over-jacket of black synth-leather with insets of mesh for breathability. There was even a pair of moto-boots in the bottom.
She slipped the items on. At first, they seemed too big, then the nanites kicked in, and the items slowly shrank to fit every curve of her body. Jullian suspected that the suit might also be a type of armor. The boots, a kick-ass looking pair of thick, black, nanite-infused leather, sported scuff-panels that fastened over the top closure and slowly formed to her foot.
Tabbing the control panel button for a reflective surface, Jullian stared at her image. She looked as pale as an Idolum. Her blonde hair seemed the same color as her drawn skin. She looked like a ghost.
Now, for a weapon. Shale had emerged from the transport unarmed, as to build confidence, he’d said. Now she believed he’d simply not found any weapons. It was alien policy on this little rock, he informed her, to leave arms in the ships. Well, she wasn’t from around here, so she was going to protect herself.
Going back to the footlocker, she scoured the contents one last time. Nope, no weapon. Slowly, she stepped back and surveyed the living quarters of the crew. If she was them, where would she put the weapons? Sending her thoughts out into the space inside the ship, she sought patterns. It took her several minutes, but stepping forward she ripped one of the panels off the interior and there they were. A lovely energy blade that seemed to call her name, a strap-on holster in black-webbing for a laser pistol, and a set of energy rifles.
Strapping on the laser pistol, she slid the laser-blade into a mesh pocket built into one side of the moto-pants. She picked up one laser rifle, then put the panel pack in place, leaving the other laser rifle hidden. Closing the panel, she stepped back and surveyed her work. No one could tell the cabinet was even there.
Settling into the cockpit and keying up the cue for its view screen, Jullian could see that the morning routine was already afoot. Slaves scurried to and fro and some aliens seemed intent on bartering or finding a meal.
Calming her mind, she slowly let her awareness extend out over the surrounding area. She maintained a strong barrier around her own consciousness, not wanting to allow Shale any opportunity to feel her thoughts or emotions. Soon she found his signature. Concentrating on it, she could feel that he also was trying to maintain a thought barrier. Good luck with that asshole, she let the phrase slip from her mind.
Shale was going over the diagnostics he hired from a local ship rep about how to break the lock codes on the freighter. They had a plan, it seemed. The plan was crap. Jullian would simply override it.
Casting her awareness out over the rest of the settlement, Jullian tried to get a reading on the feelings and attitudes of the rest of the species represented. There was one cluster of energies, which she believed to be Idolum, that held respect for her actions of last night. Honing in on that signature, she kept its place in her mind.
She wasn’t staying on this rock and she was going to get a ship that was better than this to get herself somewhere out of Idolum space. Opening the ramp to the transport, laser rifle strapped on her back, she stepped into the open.
Once again, the entire trading settlement froze. A few seconds later Shale stepped out of the bar, followed by a few more Idolum males. Jullian almost laughed, but suppressed it. It was like a bad remake of ‘Showdown at OK Corral’. Screw it, she had nothing to lose. She slapped the ramp on the ship closed. Fuck it! If they killed her, they weren’t getting the transport. Bastards would have to dismantle it to get in, then stalked down the street towards Shale, a killing rage burning in her gut.
Little was Jullian aware that her white-gold hair seemed to spark in the light, whipping and snapping about her shoulders as though alive. Her brown eyes telegraphed death. Her every stalking step communicating her will to destroy or dominate. Shale scrutinized the new outfit and her new attitude. He didn’t seem pleased. She didn’t give a shit.
As she strode down the street, the energy she had been focusing on got stronger. Passing Shale’s still form she came to a halt several yards behind him. He turned a questioning smirk on his pale face. What happened next seemed to shock both of them. The group of males behind Shale dropped to their knees. Their action stopped her forward movement. Narrowing her eyes at them, she wondered what the hell their game was. Shale glanced back at them, grinned at Jullian, and followed suit.
She glared at him, confused by Shale’s form kneeling in the street.
“What the fuck is up?” she growled at him.
“It seems they believe you to be a Queen,” Shale stated. “My Queen,” he added, laughing silently into her mind.
“I am not your fucking Queen!” Jullian lashed back, promptly, antipathy burning in her gut. “We both know that.”
“On the contrary,” Shale said thoughtfully. “I believe you are. And these, my fellow subjects who have lost their Queen to death, shall be your new nest, and our new crew,” he added, eyes drilling into her mind.
“No!” Jullian answered, her voice hard.
“I can get us a great ship and you will be the Queen of our nest!” Shale whined. “I made a mistake to underestimate you. You are worthy to be my Queen,” he added magnanimously.
“No!” Jullian stated once again. “You are on your own.You will only betray me again. Your honor lasted only as long as it took you to reach an outpost of your own kind.” Turning her back on him, she gestured for the kneeling Idolum to rise, then swept into the bar and sat at an empty booth, mimicking the actions of the day before.
“I have a large human cargo ship for trade for a fold-space technology ship,” Jullian announced to the silent bar. Seeing the slender Vanguardian youth who had served her the day before, she nodded to him and he scurried away. Hopefully, she thought, to bring her food.
Minutes went by. Jullian waited patiently. Extending her awareness out into the ether around her, she began to concentrate on the thoughts of the surrounding aliens. She quickly honed in on Shale. His signal was now easy for her to find. He was worried. “Ought to be, asshole,” she thought. He was also angry and cunning. ‘Assassins this way come’, she almost laughed at her dramatic thoughts.
Most of the aliens in the bar wanted her as a slave. Now that Shale had touted her value as an energy vendor, they were all keen to acquire her. They also wanted her ship for trade. None of them had positive intentions.
Well, one did. The tall Idolum in the corner with the faded, discolored hair. The small group of kneeling Idolum from the street had joined him and watched her closely. Most Idolum had black hair, except for the Queens, who had white hair. This Idolum had strange gray hair that was tangled and ill-kept. While most of the Idolum she had seen on the settlement had natty looking, sleek-fitting uniforms, this one, and his followers, wore a garb that was a cross between animal fur and coarsely woven cloth. His thoughts proceeded along the line of ‘why would an ancient warrior like General Shale be so disrespectful of a powerful queen such as this?’
Well, Jullian liked that question. She knew part of the answer...he wanted his own nest back and he wanted his own Queen. He didn’t want a ‘fake’ queen. That was what he had held in his deepest mind when she’d read him. That she was powerful, and worthy to be a queen, undoubtedly. That she was powerful enough to be ‘his’ queen, perhaps. But she wasn’t ‘pure’. That was the thought that had been most predominant. He wanted a ‘pure-bred’ Idolum queen.
His thoughts reminded her of her final days on Earth when corporations chose who would survive and board their transports based on DNA profiles and skills assessments. Fucking fanatical prick. Fine with her. She didn’t need to be a queen. She just needed off this rock and a place to be safe.
Standing, she strode across the bar toward the booth with the faded looking Idolum male. Halfway there, her passage was blocked by a bulky, scaled Dreasing. “You need to learn how to obey your betters, slave”, he growled out in a gutteral huff.
Jullian stopped, looked around, then said, “I see no one better. So, no, I don’t think so.” She pushed him aside with a gust of focused energy. A few steps more and she felt his mal-intent. Without focused thought, the energy sword appeared in her hand. As the Dreasing took a step towards her with a looped garrot in his hands, she simply turned and cut him in two. Guts spewed backwards onto his now vacant table and chair. Disgusting. It stunk, and she’d never killed anyone before. Jullian was used to blood, but having spilled it herself was different. Swallowing back the acrid wave of bile that rose in her throat, Jullian fought to pull herself together.
Jullian cast a searching glance around the bar, vaguely aware that Shale stood in the door and was observing the scene within. Ignoring him, she sheathed the laser sword and turned back to face the graying Idolum and his disheveled brethren.
As she neared, he rose, then knelt. Skidding to a halt, Jullian stopped before him and concentrated on his thoughts. Respect...respect...honor…
These were the feelings that emanated from his thoughts. She could work with that. “I am Jullian Arban,” she stated. “Please rise,” she added. “Who are you?”
“I am General Monsav,” he stated gravely, gracefully rising to his feet. For such a tall, worn looking Idolum, he was very sure in his movements. It was impressive.
“Tell me, General Monsav, why do you hold no animosity towards me?” Jullian asked quietly, searching his psyche for answers, yet waiting politely for him to voice them.
“You are a Queen,” he stated quietly. “Your actions and demeanor show that. You are powerful. More powerful than many acting Idolum queens. We have seen that,” he added, many of his warriors nodding as well. “We have lost our Queen in battle. To see a great queen so ill-treated is a great sadness to us. We would be honored should such a queen come to us again in our lifetimes or the lifetimes of our descendants.” Again his men nodded.
“I see,” Jullian answered thoughtfully. “What of your nest?” she asked.
“Our nest is small. It always has been, and now it is further decimated by battle. Our ship is small, but deadly. We are here only to obtain Soclaued for light feeding and for long-term mining on our world. We were vastly outbid by wealthier nests,” he added with a long sigh. His entire face seemed to droop.
“We have been surviving on a small planet where we have learned to work with the animals native to its surface. In that way we have survived, and if not prospered, at least we have survived healthily. We sought Soclaued for a long journey we had wished to make seeking alliances. The Soclaued would have benefited by the ore on our world. We would have benefited from their mining residues.”
Residue was a nice way of saying that the waste products of the Soclaued often went for very high prices when they been feeding on the correct ores. Some of the waste products were used for an extremely advanced type of shielding.
“I see,” Jullian said impassively. “That was an excellent plan. Both species would have profited. You would have found possible allies, obtained a way to process ore from your sanctuary planet into a saleable product, and the Soclaued would have found a home. I applaud your clear thinking.”
General Monsav bowed slightly at her compliment.
“If I’m correct, you need energy, you have a small, but well defended nest ship, and you’d like to have a Queen again? Is that correct?” she asked.
“Yes. Yes, that is it exactly,” General Monsav said. He appeared to be holding his breath.
“Very well, I will help you,” Jullian stated emphatically. “We will retire to your ship to discuss our allegiance. Please secure the jump ship for trade later.”
General Monsav’s entire countenance lighted up. “You will not be sorry, my Queen. We will serve you well,” he added. “We are honored!”
Chapter Nine
Would Be Queen
A day later Jullian had ordered the jump ship traded for Soclaued as a processing group for Monsav’s home planet. She’d also demanded they be treated with the utmost respect and care. Jullian needn't have worried; General Monsav wanted the Soclaued alive and healthy to enjoy their new home and provide his nest with processed ore.
Then she ordered the nest ship to depart the planet and had been installed in a small but comfortable set of rooms aboard the strangest vessel she’d ever seen. It was neither metal nor hard, and seemed to be made of some sort of organic material. It smelled very ‘green’ and she realized
that the smell she had always associated with Shale was actually the scent of the species’ vessels. It permeated everything.
The overall shape of the nest ship was something like a giant squid from Earth’s oceans. It had a larger main body and then tentacle-like appendages that trailed behind. Her quarters seemed to be at the very heart of the ship and she made several intense sets of meditations that had allowed her to get a feel for the ship, its awareness and layout, and the contents of its stores and crew. General Monsav had been impressed with her foreknowledge when he’d taken her on a tour of the ship after settling her into her quarters.
Jullian had taken the time to meet every Idolum warrior aboard and had also seen her first ‘mite’ or Idolum slave clone, a lower caste of Idolum, that served as labor aboard the vessel. She’d been assigned two of these mites and they seemed aware of what she needed almost before she knew herself.
An hour after she boarded the Monsav nest ship, she’d been informed they were underway. She felt nothing except a type of energy build-up around them. The ship was impressive.
Settling herself for the meeting to come, Jullian considered her options. There was nothing to go back to. She was an outlaw now. She’d become an outlaw helping General Shale escape captivity by the Intergalactic Guard. She would never be anything other than a fugitive in the eyes of her own species. To most of the Idolum, she was simply a highly sought after food source.
Jullian felt a wave of grief wash over her. Like most women, she wanted a home and family. Someone who loved her for who she was, not what she could give them. That seemed an impossible dream now. Why did people only seek to use her? For a few seconds she let the sadness wash over her. Then slowly taking deep breaths, she fought to empty her mind of the overwhelming emotion of loss.
