He closed his eyes, knowing he was about to die. If he pleaded, maybe he could talk them out of it by convincing them that Zim was a tyrant and a traitor, someone intent on killing the whole of the human race, which probably included the Matrona Guard.
He reached into his pants and pulled out the papers, feebly holding them up like a white flag of surrender. Maybe after he was shot to death one of the guards would read this, believing what it said. Maybe then the human race could somehow survive.
“Put down your arm!” shouted a man wearing a Guard's outfit. He stood with his back to Devon with his gun pointed toward the office above. The guard took a step back and pushed Devon's arm down, then placed a hand on Devon's head, patting it like his dad used to do. “We got here in the nick of time. I'm Sergeant Manning.”
“What?”
Ten more guards ran past Devon, hiding behind trees to shoot at the office. Another man moved by Devon, pulling someone who was either unconscious or dead. “Able's down, Sergeant!”
“Dammit!” The sergeant retaliated by pointing his phaser at the office, discharging repeated rounds of fire. Then he flicked his head toward Devon. “Get him to the PI, now!”
Political Infirmary? Why would I go there? That was only for politicians and celebrities in the biosphere. He'd never been inside of it because he was anything but a celebrity status, and was definitely not a politician. But, before he could ask any questions, another guard grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder as he yelled, “Cover me!”
The guards took aim and fired away, providing no opportunity for return fire.
Devon’s guard ran fast, as if carrying a baby on his shoulder, instead of a full grown man. Devon bounced up and down, watching the man's boots clomping on dirt and ferns, stomping through shrubs and dodging trees.
“They have reinforcements—there are more coming!” Devon heard off in the distance, recognizing the sergeant's voice.
Devon felt something in his hand, and when he looked he was delightfully astonished. The papers were still there, locked by his grip. He smiled. These would be convenient, once he got these into the right hands. Admiral Byrd would be cleared and Zim Nocki would be thrown in jail, and no telling what else could happen.
Several guards ran past him, toward phaser fire coming from the direction of the building he had just fled. More and more ran by, until it seemed like an endless stream moving fast with their guns leveled, ready to shoot.
Then his eye caught a small yellow insignia on the back of the armored vests worn by the guards running toward the building. It was a yellow thunderbolt inside of a wheel—the insignia of the Taranis Guard, not the Matrona Guard. Then he looked down at the vest of the guard carrying him, and to his surprise it wasn't a picture of a mother holding a child—the insignia of the Matrona Guard. It was a white spear inside of the globe of Lumus, so the guard carrying him was a member of the Brigantia Guard.
Why were the Taranis and Brigantia Guard fighting the Matrona Guard? What was going on? At first he was deciphering how everyone was going to be killed and now he was in the middle of a civil war? Why me? Why was he so important that he needed to be rescued like this? What was going on?
∞
“Chase is where?” Admiral James Byrd pounded his fist on the wall beside his bed. The admiral looked at the clock on the HDC screen that read 1:17 am. He rubbed his face, trying to eradicate the sleep out of his system.
Captain Louise Stripe stood near the door, arms crossed with one leg extended in front of the other. “He's in the biosphere Political Infirmary receiving medical care.”
Admiral Byrd's nostrils flared. “Get him to our ship!” The admiral stood, slowly walking toward Louise, his eyes smoldering with anger. “He almost got assassinated!”
“I assure you, James, I tried to get him out. He is—” she had to stop. The guards outside the cell door were most likely trying to hear everything she and the admiral were discussing. “Stan and I are trying to figure out what to do.” That's all she could tell him, even though a plan had already been implemented.
The admiral stopped walking and looked down, crossing his arms. He shook his head. There was no one to trust, not even Louise. “Admiral Jenkyns? That weasel? Trusting him is not only stupid, it's insane, Louise!”
Louise was shocked. The admiral had never spoken to her in this manner. Upon occasion, he'd been blunt, but was always respectful of her judgment, and cognizant of her abilities. “James, I believe Admiral Jenkyns is on our side.”
“Jenkyns doesn't know what side he's on...!” snapped the admiral, who took a deep breath, disappointed with his captain. “I'm sorry, Louise. You must go.” He turned, swiping the air with a hand, indicating that the conversation was over. “Leave! What's done is done.”
The admiral sat down on his bed, coldly averting his eyes from hers. “I said to leave, Captain.” He lay back down, placing his hands over his eyes, massaging his eyelids.
Louise turned and knocked on the cell door. Before it opened, she glanced over her shoulder. “Chase found something.”
Admiral Byrd bolted upright, his interest clearly piqued, but it was too late. Louise was already halfway out the door and he watched her back disappear, then heard her boots hitting the floor as she walked down the darkened hallway. The door slammed shut and a sound buzzed, locking the door.
He lay back down, staring up at the gray ceiling made out of ebb, with its little nuggets of red and black specks in it. He was wide awake and wouldn't be able to get any sleep now, especially with the knowledge that a member of his family was seriously injured, having narrowly escaped death by assassination on his behalf.
There was nothing he could do to stop obsessing about the current state of affairs, except maybe count the specks in the ceiling or watch the holovid, so he glanced at the HDC. “On.” The screen blipped on but it was the news again, with a scene of himself smiling at the camera and wearing his full regulation uniform with all of its bells and whistles. The news was in the middle of doing a piece about him, and since it was now 1:26 am, this had to be a re-run from yesterday, probably the only one he hadn't yet seen about himself.
What other lies are they going to tell about me, now?
“...had a dark side. His great-grandfather, renowned for his undefeated record as a starfighter pilot in the annual Star Guild Games, was Admiral Rodrick Byrd. His Grandfather, Admiral Shae Byrd, was the longest tenured admiral in the history of Star Guild. The son of Admiral Patrick Byrd and Doris, Admiral James Byrd was descended from a prestigious line of Star Guild admirals, all passed long ago, never knowing what treachery their own bloodline would later perpetrate against the entire human race.” A picture of Louise appeared. “And, if not for Captain Louise Stripe, in addition to the efforts of Admiral Stanly Jenkyns, what we now know about Star Guild and Starbase Matrona would have been lost...forever.”
The admiral rolled his eyes. This spectacle was a system of propaganda, and he was just the scapegoat they needed, but for what? Why were they going to such great lengths to discredit him?
He sighed, thinking of his childhood...his friends...the girl that got away... Savanna. Where is she? The Overseer of Sphere Six, Savanna Levens, his dearest friend throughout the years, must surely know about his incarceration, so why hasn't she come to visit? She couldn't have been involved in this escapade. She was honorable, and someone he could trust with his life without hesitation. Had she been prevented from seeing him?
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard something blare over the holovid. It was startling and peculiar.
I lost the case?! What case?
Staring at the holovid, he saw a man nicely dressed in a suit, a lesser political figure of some type, or maybe a lawyer. “Admiral Byrd has plead guilty on all counts.”
“I...what?”
The man continued, “He has since apologized and accepts any and all punishment.”
“What is the punishment?” asked a man holding the camera.
&nbs
p; The nicely dress man wiped his forehead and cleared his throat. “The penalty for treason is death.”
The admiral's heart nearly stopped. He had already used all five of the allowable Suficell Pod sessions and, given his current age, he could only expect to live another thirty years or so, and he was okay with it. But now, it would seem that Death was knocking at his door a bit prematurely and he definitely wasn't okay with that. He stared at his tawny hands, observing the deep lines in his palms.
“...he will be terminated by this time tomorrow.”
Admiral Byrd didn't look up. This was yesterday's broadcast, so tomorrow was today. He knew the law and the punishment for treason, but it had never been exercised. He would be sent to a windowless room that would fill with carbon dioxide, making him drowsy until his life trickled away.
A clank sounded in his cell and he looked down, knowing who it was—the Matrona Guard. They were probably here to prepare him for death or to take him to the gas room, or perhaps he could eat a last meal with Savanna? They surely would at least allow him that.
It had been a good life, he thought. It had been busy and he had made admiral at a young age, beating all of his opponents by a large margin, which gained him an automatic officers position after graduation. His first and only assignment had been Starship Brigantia where he had met Fleet Admiral Sune, his mentor. “Tardiness is the sign of a selfish man.” Admiral Sune had barked at him for being one minute late the first day they'd met. “Star Guild is not of that ilk...we are here to serve...Brigantia demands it. Got it?”
Admiral Byrd felt a hand grab his wrist, yanking him back to the present. His arm was jerked behind his back, and then the other. “Come with me, Admiral.” A handcuff snapped snugly around each wrist.
“We have a far stroll to stride to the gas chamber, Admiral.”
The admiral glanced at the man. “You don't know what you're doing, son. I—,” but he stopped mid-sentence, thinking how oddly the man had just spoken. He was wearing a Matrona Guard uniform with its boldly displayed insignia of a mother and child, but then the Guard winked, which astonished Admiral Byrd until he realized that it wasn't a Matrona Guard at all, it was Brigger!
∞
Another robed figure with its face hidden walked past Eden. Besides Thomas Berard, she still hadn't seen anyone with their hood down and she wondered why. She wanted to walk up to one of them and introduce herself, but they seemed too shy, too wary, or it wasn't their custom. Maybe Thomas could explain.
Where is he? She had assumed that he'd be here by now.
For hours, she'd been sitting on the porch of the dome where she had first awakened in this new world, waiting for Thomas. She was barefoot, wearing a white robe, and sitting on a thick pillow holding the dragon crystal he'd given her. For entertainment, she watched people walking by on a wide path in front of her dome, and studied the hills beyond the path that were covered with palm trees.
She smiled when another robed person passed by, then frowned and sighed. This one was especially tall and Eden's mouth and cheeks were aching from all of the smiling. She stared at the hills, watching the trees wave at her because of occasional breezes that also made the heat of the day quite pleasant.
It seemed like just another sunny day in paradise, but, aside from the breezes, it was difficult getting used to so much heat without any devices to cool her like they had in Star Guild. Heat, in fact, had never been an issue where she used to live, nor was the cold. Everything on the starbase and ships seemed to remain about the same temperature year round. Then she suddenly realized that it was something she'd never really thought about, she'd just taken it for granted, which she thought was interesting.
Then Eden lifted her hand to wave at yet another robed figure, but dropped it by her side. She decided it was of no use because they'd simply ignore her, masked and hidden underneath their hoods.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, resting the back of her head against the glassy structure of her domicile, enjoying the contrast between the coolness against her backside and the warmth from the dragon's crystal she held in her hands.
I'm calling them all Jesse. Since she couldn't tell what gender the robed figures were, Eden felt that a unisex name would be more appropriate. Then she chortled at the thought.
“Hey, Jesse!” she called to the next one walking by, but then she stiffened. This one stopped and looked at her, its face also concealed by its big hood hanging down, but then it nodded. Eden leaned forward a bit nervously, and then stood as it approached, its hands rising to lift its hood. But, it was only Thomas.
He strolled over and sat down, next to her. “Why the glum face?” Not waiting for an answer, he winked and said with a smile, “And my name's not Jesse, just in case you forgot.”
She pushed out her lower lip, making a pouty expression as she shook her head and said, “No, no, I'm fine. And I'm calling everyone Jesse.”
He gave her an odd look. “Why? There's no one here with that name.”
“No one here talks. No one here wants to give me the time of day, either. And since no one will talk to, or even greet me, then I have no way of knowing their names or gender, so everyone's name is now Jesse.”
Thomas smiled. “Ah. I see.” He bowed. “Then Jesse befits me.”
Eden waved her hand toward the path in front of her. “Why do they hide?”
“For your own good, Eden.”
Her lower lip puffed out again. “Why hide from me?”
“You've led a sheltered life, in the sense that you've never seen races other than your own.”
In jest, Eden's eyes got big and round as she pulled the back of her hand over her mouth, tilted her head, and said, “O-oh, are they scary-looking?”
“They're beautiful, Eden, so very beautiful. But to you, they're foreign. You'll be introduced to them soon enough, but not until we feel that you're ready.” He stood up. “Come with me.”
“Where to?” asked Eden. Thomas had been showing her around ever since she had arrived on Aurora. There was a fountain named 'Eden', and then he took her to another place to see a statue of a man holding a trident—Atlas. And next to him, there was an incredibly large crystal embedded in the ground that she liked because it was gorgeous and, by the way it was explained, energy emitted from the crystal powered the entire village.
Thomas said, “Today we're going straight up the hill.”
Eden nodded and followed him across the path to the base of the hill that she'd been staring at for hours.
As they started up the well worn path, Eden thought that because she was no longer observing them from a distance, close-up, she could see that the palm trees were more like very tall fern plants. They were sporadically growing all over the hillside, and the ones along both sides of the trail shaded them nicely as they hiked.
Eden was about to speak, but instead suddenly grabbed Thomas' arm, frightened, and she stiffened up against him for protection. In the middle of the path ahead, a sleek animal as big as her was sitting with two smaller versions of itself, and it was intermittently licking the smaller versions up and down their bodies. The animal suddenly stopped what it was doing, eying Eden because of her sudden movement, but then the big animal casually sniffed the air and went back to its licking.
“She won't harm you,” said Thomas.
“What is that?” replied Eden.
“It's called a black panther. She's grooming her two kits.”
Eden released her grip on Thomas and relaxed. Already impressed by the enormity of the cat, she marveled at its amazing beauty. It's eyes were pale yellow and set in a background of shining black-purple fur, accentuated by dapples of light dropping through the palm fronds from above. Instinctively, Eden wanted to move along and leave the panther alone, but at the same time she felt compelled to study the creature and commented, “I've never seen anything like it.”
Thomas replied, “They're part of the big cat family.” Then he gave her an inquisitive look. “Do you not have any in the
biosphere? I thought you did.”
Eden looked away in thought, wondering if she had actually seen any cats in the biosphere, but eventually shook her head no. “We have something similar called bears, but no cats.”
Thomas smiled. “A bear?” He chuckled. “I know those creatures well.” Then he gestured with his hand for Eden to continue the walk with him.
Eventually, they encountered a small foot bridge arched over a gurgling creek. It was constructed out of two thick slabs, cut perfectly to form the arching bridge. The two slabs contained specks of gold, black, red and clear rock crystal throughout them.
“Go ahead,” he said.
When she took her first step onto the bridge, she gasped and immediately jumped off.
Concerned by her odd reaction to the bridge, Thomas placed his hand on her back. “Are you okay?”
She nodded a yes, while giving him a strange look. Wondering if she had just imagined it, she shrugged and placed her foot back onto the bridge, then felt another electricity like zap hit her foot and travel up her leg. She yanked her foot back and shook her foot in the air while delivering Thomas another funny look.
Thomas bowed to her, then raised his eyes to meet hers. “I must apologize. It's been a long time since I've been with an off-worlder and I have forgotten to mention a few things. You aren't used to—” He cut himself off and paused, tilting his head. “You do know ebb rock, don't you? You're from Lumus, after all. I would think you'd be used to its energy by now.”
Eden raised her brows and stared at the two slabs of rock. “That's not ebb. It's similar in appearance, but it's not ebb.”
He frowned. “I'm very certain that it is.”
Star Guild: Episodes 4, 5 & 6 (Star Guild Saga) Page 6
