by Maia Starr
"Where do you think you're going?” I asked her.
"To see if there is anything to eat on the ship,” she said.
"No you don't. You are going to come back and sit in the seat and not get up until we are on Mooreah,” I said to her, pointing at the seat.
She stomped to me, getting beside me. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked at me with anger in her eyes.
"Am I your prisoner, Kuvo? Why am I not allowed to search for food?” She said.
"You think I believe you? You think I trust you to leave you alone on the ship? You will probably try to hatch some other plan with some other pirate bandit. You might disengage something on the ship that will put us in danger. This ship has been sitting in the graveyard for years; no way in hell is there food on this ship,” I said to her, looking at her suspiciously.
"You think I would do that? You think I would try to hatch another plan with a bandit? Or mess with something on the ship?” she asked me.
"You ask me that as though I have no reason at all to think you would do those things. You have given me plenty of reason, Andrene. I will never trust you ever again, and right now while you are in my care, you will not leave my sight. Is that clear? Or would you like me to lock you up in the bunker? It is up to you,” I said to her.
"So I am your prisoner. What do you plan to do with me when we are in front of your king? Are you going to have me arrested?" she asked.
"I've already told you. Sit down. Shut up. Let me concentrate,” I said to her, not answering her question.
The fact was I didn't know what I was going to do. What she had done was more than enough to lock her up, not only on Mooreah, but on Earth. She was on a peace mission between Earth and Mooreah, a very timely mission. She put her own needs before that mission, whatever her need was to run away. She jeopardized a highly classified an important mission and put more weapons and an Earth ship into the hands of a known criminal. She had paid him to do so; everything she had done would put her in prison. She would deserve her punishment.
But I didn't know if I could do it; as much as I hated to admit it, she had gotten under my skin. I wanted to hate her with every fiber of my being and yet I would still risk my life for her, and I knew it had nothing to do with the fact that she was my assignment. It was because my heart had grown fond of her, but how could I allow myself to have any feelings for such a criminal? She was the arrogant brat that I thought her to be the first time that I met her. She was now proving to me that she was just like the females of my own planet: incompetent and naïve.
But unlike the females of my planet, this particular female put her incompetence into action, into a plan that harmed everyone over money. I could not give my heart to someone like that. After I saw her safely back to her father, I would leave and never see her again. That was the only way to deal with this, to deal with the pain in the pit of my stomach.
"This is Special Squadron Leader Kuvo Bane, requesting emergency landing at Cerista port. I have Ambassador Representative Andrene Novan on board,” I said into the communication line as we moved into the atmosphere of Mooreah.
"Confirming entrance, Squad Leader Kuvo Bane. We were expecting you a few days ago. We lost contact with the Cosmo,” the radio operator said in return. “We received your emergency signal, but could not find sign of the ship on the scouting mission we sent.”
"The Cosmo was commandeered; we are on a different ship requesting landing," I said.
"Hold,” the operator said. I looked over at Andrene. She was nervous. Her hands were fidgeting.
"Request for landing accepted,” the operator said.
When we landed, an armed squad of Drackon met us at the ramp of the ship, as they should.
"Walk down the ramp with your arms in the air,” I said to Andrene.
"What? Why?” she whispered to me.
"It looks suspicious that we are not on the Cosmo. They need to check us out first. Don't worry; all will be well,” I whispered back. She put her hands in the air and both of us walked down the ramp to the guards. One guard held up a holographic photo; it was Andrene.
"ID of the ambassador checks out. Where is the rest of your crew?” he said, looking at me.
"There is much to discuss; our crew was captured. We barely escaped. I would like to take the ambassador to King Caspin Rykor as soon as possible. Time is of the essence,” I said to him. He nodded, and they escorted us to the castle gates. I heard Andrene gasp when she saw it. Clearly she admired the capital of Mooreah. I did too. I realized just how much I had missed it. It was my home, after all. I was very proud of the towering castle spires and the massive stone gates. The cliff behind it protected it from enemies, and the waterfall beside it made it look magical. It was beautiful.
"Kuvo Bane, it is great to see you again. I am sorry that we have lost you to the private sector of security detail, but I am glad that you have been the one to escort the ambassador representative here. Ambassador Representative Novan, I am honored to meet you. I am honored to speak of the issue of Drackon weapons being used on Earth. We shall get to it soon. But first, tell me of your peril in space. Are you injured?" King Caspin Rykor asked.
"Thank you, King Caspin Rykor. I am not injured. I am thankful to your Drackon warrior, Kuvo Bane. Neither of us are injured. Perhaps just thirsty and hungry,” she said.
"Of course, please sit at the table with me," King Caspin Rykor said as his servants poured water, wine, and served us food.
"Now, tell me what has happened," the king said as we drank and ate.
"King Caspin Rykor, allow me to explain. You see, this is all my fault…” Andrene said. Before she could continue, I interrupted her.
"No, allow me. Excuse me, Ambassador, but I know more about Riolb, Rubla Von, and the terms that the king is familiar with.”
"Rubla Von? He is the one behind this?” the king said sternly.
"Yes, King Caspin Rykor, allow me. Our ship, the Cosmo, was captured and locked on by Rubla Von. He took the ambassador and the crew consisting, of two human males, and myself as captives. He has an inside man on Earth, particularly at the area that the embassy is in, where Ambassador Novan is stationed. He gained word that she would be on the Cosmo and captured the ship in order to take her hostage and sell her as a slave. Ambassador females are highly prized. That is why the ambassador thinks it is her fault. But it is not. I managed to escape and free the ambassador, but only with enough time for us to escape. I commandeered a ship from the graveyard of Cix. She was to be taken to Mzech the next day for sale. Then we made our way here," I said.
I could feel Andrene looking at me with wide eyes; she must have been wondering why I had not told the king the truth. Why I had not told him that she had arranged for the Cosmo to be captured. In truth, I didn't know. But I couldn't tell him. No one knew except for her, Rubla Von, and I. No one would believe Rubla Von, not that he would ever be spoken to, so there was no reason to put Andrene in danger with the king of Mooreah. He would not be kind to her.
"That is most unfortunate, Kuvo Bane. I am glad that you were assigned to the ambassador and were able to get her free. Ambassador, I apologize to you for such a capture by one of our own. But you must know that Rubla Von, even though he is a Drackon, he is nothing like the real Drackon of Mooreah. He had gone rogue long ago, chose the life of a criminal. He has nothing to do with anything that goes on here on Mooreah,” the king said to her.
"I understand,” she said to the king. It was obvious that she was confused and nervous. She was still on edge that at any moment, I was going to tell the king the truth about her. She said very little and kept quiet as we ate and drank.
"I must ask permission. The two crewmembers are still prisoners of Rubla Von, and the longer we wait, the more I will lose track of them. If the king will allow me to take a squad in to rescue them, it would not only please me, but it would please the embassy and Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan. They are his men, after all. I think we owe them at least an attempt
at rescue,” I said as I stood up from the table, standing at attention in front of my king.
"Yes, of course. Pick your squad, pick your ship, pick your weapons, and go as fast as you can. I have no doubt that you will return victorious,” the king said to me.
"Thank you, King Caspin Rykor. I will go now,” I said to him. I looked at Andrene and gave her a quick bow and said, “Ambassador." She nodded to me in return, still in complete confusion. Then I left. I could no longer be at her side. I did not trust myself to not give in to temptation, to a woman that deserved nothing, especially not my trust. I had no choice but to leave. I had to rescue those men. They were in the hands of Rubla Von because of me. I had failed them and allowed this woman’s idiotic mistake to put them in danger. It was my responsibility to fix her mistake.
Chapter 7
ANDRENE NOVAN, AMBASSADOR REPRESENTATIVE
I was in complete shock that Kuvo Bane was not telling the king the truth. He had spoken so much about duty, responsibility, and loyalty to his king, and yet here he was telling him that Rubla Von had orchestrated the capture of the Cosmo and of us all by himself. He was leaving out the part that I had arranged all of it, that I had paid Rubla Von to do so. At any moment, I thought he would change his mind and tell the king the truth, and I would be arrested and sent to prison on Mooreah. But he never did. Instead he did something more valiant: he got a squad together and went back to rescue Winfrey and Simon. He was an honorable Drackon and I did not deserve him after what I had done, yet I yearned for him.
After he left, I met with the king privately after I had been given a bedchamber and a shower with fresh clothes, a beautiful dress of blue and yellow.
"Ambassador, I must apologize once more for everything that has happened. I promise you that on your return to Earth, you will be sent in one of our largest battleships with a heavy infantry of guards. No pirate would dare try to attack such a massive ship. You will get to Earth safely,” King Caspin Rykor said to me.
"I thank you for that, King Caspin Rykor.”
"Now this business of your embassy, the attack,” he said as he pointed to a chair in his conference room. I sat down, ready to give the speech that my father had laid out for me, but then I remembered that I knew more than my father. I was an ambassador and I could deal with this situation. I did not need my father's words.
"Yes, I have new information. Rubla Von confessed to me that he is responsible for providing Drackon weaponry to Earth. He also said he provides it to any other race and planet that pays him.”
"That makes sense. He was a very big problem to us a few years ago on Sala. He was stealing weaponry and storing it at the various outposts. But then we lost track of him. Now with this information you have brought me it makes sense that he is selling weaponry. Thank you for that information. With that, we have reason to send a squadron to Riolb until he has been found. He is interrupting international relations in a very dangerous way. We cannot have that, can we?"
"No, we cannot,” I said, knowing very well that I had done the same thing. I had put international relations at risk by putting this mission at risk. I was no better than Rubla Von.
"You can assure Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan that this will be handled on our end. It is very important to us that Earth knows that we at the capital and I, the king, did not send weaponry to any Earthlings. That it is an outlaw Drackon, and we are handling it as soon as possible. We will also try to figure out who Rubla Von's contacts are on Earth and eliminate them.”
"Speaking of that, my fa... I mean, Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan, wanted me to pass a message to you. He wanted to open a communication line and have a meeting with you, but he wanted it after you and I discussed that Earth, and the embassy in particular, is not blaming Mooreah or you for the weaponry,” I said to him.
"Yes, of course. Please establish a line to Embassy Earth Africa, open communications with Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan,” the king shouted to one of his assistants. The assistant went into action immediately.
Soon both the king and I were standing in front of a hologram communication of my father. It was startling to see him, simply because I had planned on never seeing him again after that moment I had said goodbye to him.
"King Caspin Rykor, it is an honor to communicate with you,” my father said.
"And you, Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan. The ambassador has explained everything to me, and indeed she has uncovered the culprit on her own,” the king said as though he was impressed by me.
"Ambassador, we lost contact with the Cosmo,” my father said to me.
"The Cosmo was captured by an outlaw Drackon. Kuvo Bane escaped and brought the ambassador to safety on Mooreah at the capital of Cerista. Know that she is now in complete safety,” the king said, answering for me. It felt good to have him answer because I felt like my father was going to scold me.
"That is unfortunate. We hope that no one was injured. Now you have news of the culprit of the weaponry here on Earth you said?”
The king looked at me and nodded; he wanted me to answer. So I did. “Yes, the outlaw that captured the Cosmo is also the one responsible for the weaponry on Earth. He admitted as much to me. The outlaw’s name is Rubla Von and the king here is taking action to bring him into custody and to also find out his contacts on Earth. He is selling Drackon weaponry to groups on various planets,” I said proudly to my father.
"That sounds very dangerous. We will get on top of it here as well to find out who is the contact with this outlaw called Rubla Von," my father said as he failed to acknowledge my work in getting the information. I don't know why I expected him to be impressed or to give me a word of gratitude; it would not be like him if he did.
"We will communicate again, Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan. For now, we will both work on both ends to see through this in a peaceful manner. The ambassador will be returned on a Mooreah ship of the utmost military prestige to ensure her safe return,” King Caspin Rykor said as he prepared to say goodbye.
"Thank you, King Caspin Rykor. We shall speak again,” my father said, nodding and without saying goodbye to me. The communication was ended and the king gave me a look.
"Your father seems very hard to please. It must be hard growing up under him. Now go get some rest; you earned it. I will know more once Kuvo Bane returns,” he said as he patted me on the shoulder and walked out of the room. It was as though he was patting me on the back because my father refused to. But I was shocked that he knew that Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan was my father. I guess having the same last name gave it away. It was a bit embarrassing.
I took the King's advice and went to my bedchamber and threw myself on the bed. Before I knew it, I fell into a very deep sleep feeling safe for the first time in days. The exhaustion and torment had finally hit me. I needed the rest.
The days were long as they passed. I learned all that there was to learn about the castle. King Caspin had made sure that I had a tutor teaching me the ways of the Drackon. I learned about the hybrid Drackon, which the king was. It was important to know; he insisted upon it. I enjoyed walking the castle. It was like something out of an old English fairy tale. The castle was made of stone and the entire town below it was like a fairy tale village, but with modern technology. Their technology was far advanced compared to ours and it was an interesting mix to see how they coexisted with nature, but with the best technology.
I longed to see outside the castle and to see the animals of Mooreah. But I did not want to leave. I thought that at any moment Kuvo would send a communication and I would miss it. I thought that at any moment he might return and I would not be there to greet him. So I never strayed from the castle. I took dinner with the King every evening and he told me of some looming threat that he called the purists. They were Drackon that believed that the Drackon should stop mating with human females because it was thinning the blood of the Drackon. It was creating hybrids like the king. I could tell that this greatly troubled him when he spoke of it
because he was in fact a hybrid. But he said the opposing purists group was small and so far just talk. He hoped that it would not turn violent, but the way he spoke about it let me know that he knew it was heading that way. As much as I enjoyed my time at the castle, I could not stop worrying about Kuvo and the rescue mission. It was my fault after all that he had to go in the first place and the guilt weighed heavily on me.
Before I knew it, two weeks had passed. There was no word from Kuvo Bane. I was very worried. I was sick to my stomach all the time. If anything happened to Kuvo Bane on this rescue, I would not forgive myself. It was my fault that he had to go back and get the crew in the first place. It was very strange considering that he had planned and executed a quick rescue for me. Now after two weeks, he had not returned, and we had not received communication. I feared the worse.
