by Taki Drake
Ruth smiled to herself and quietly left the room.
Chapter 13 – Gathering In
It had been a busy six days. As more staff were brought on board the problem ships were dealt with in multiples rather than one by one. Since all of the urgent trouble spots had been resolved, today was the day that Ruth had decided to bring the remainder of the ships into communications with their group of 48. Several of the ship’s crew had been discussing how to open connections with such a large number of ships. Some people took the position that the ones that had live people on them were the most important and that all other ships could remain isolated. Others took the opposing position that the dealing with the depopulated ships and getting them out of the way was the more reasonable first step.
The discussion had gotten rather heated by the time that Ruth countered it. The group, which included both Pawlik and Cal, as well as Sgt. Gray and Norm, looked somewhat abashed when she started to laugh. “You are still thinking in the old ways. You have forgotten again that the rules that you once operated under are no longer in effect. Don’t you think that someone who can move an entire ship over to another one has the capabilities to facilitate this problem? How about if I just create a broadcast and connect all the ships into that broadcast?”
After a brief, embarrassed pause, the discussion shifted to the best location to hold the broadcast. It quickly resolved into two options: the command deck or the briefing room. While there were advantages to either, the consensus turned out to be a preference for the bridge. All agreed that it would provide the best reinforcement of the Dragon Flame’s ability to enforce the Mage’s mandates.
“Well, people come on. There’s no benefit in delay and no time like the present. I could say something like, let’s get this show on the road or any one of a few more stupid metaphors, but it boils down to this. Let’s do it now.”
Thirty minutes later and Ruth was standing beside the captain’s chair on the command bridge, dressed in her judicial garments. Flicking her hands in an elongated circle, Ruth created a sphere of light that seemed to explode away from her and the ship. Suddenly the air on the surface of the command bridge walls was covered with what appeared to be small video screens. Different scenes were displayed on each one. Different races, different genders, different people. All sharing common expressions. Amazement, shock, fright.
Showing no signs of nervousness, Ruth explained that she is the emergent Mage and that she has destroyed all of the Insectoids. Many of the beings shown on the screens reacted in a manner that told Ruth that they understood exactly what that meant. She went on to explain the general plan and to introduce both Pawlik and Cal. Several of the groups had one or more members waving limbs in an attempt to communicate. Ruth felt compelled to address them, “For those of you that have questions and need to contact the ship, we will be creating a simpler way of asking for help and clarification.”
Cal opened his mouth to say something just as Ruth cupped her hands around brilliant yellow light and threw it toward the little windows, slipping her magic into each ship. Cal leaned forward, whispering urgently, “Mom, what did you just do?”
Ruth grinned at him, saying, “I just created a ‘simple button.’”
Cal drowned in helpless laughter trying desperately to control his mirth. Pawlik provided a diversion by reaching out and grabbing the Comms officer from the deck, pushing him in front of the other ships’ view and announcing that there would be scheduled times for asking questions and that the Comms officer would be in charge of it. The Comms officer, Martik, said that he would be setting up a rotation for communications and that because of the number of ships that a hierarchy would be developed as needed. He asked that everyone please be as patient as possible.
Several of the visual screens were flashing red. Ruth murmured quietly, so only Martic and Pawlik could hear, “Just point at the screen that you want to hear.”
Martic pointed at a display that had two large men determinedly waving their arms. “Yes? What is your urgent issue?”
The larger of the two men answered, “We have a large contingent of spacers and support clerks on the ship. We might be able to assist in some of your logistics.”
At that comment, windows started lighting up all over the walls. Pawlik stepped up beside Martic and said, “Those of you that wish to volunteer to join the Mage’s staff and Navy, create a consolidated list of names, experience, age, rank. A collection mechanism will be built to allow you to send that information to us easily. Martic will keep you informed, but I am very pleased that the Insectoids were not capable of destroying your bravery or your honor.”
It was a horrible job, but someone had to do it. In order to bring closure to those that had lost family to the Insectoids and to be able to trace back to the worlds that the former slaves had been captured on, someone had to watch the Insectoids videos. The team of six people had been at it for several hours. They had many snapshots organized into world groups and others that were in an undetermined pile. Each of them had been forced at least once to leave the room and cry or throw up. As horrific as their experience had been with the Insectoids the video footage was worse.
They had opened a new world file because the Insectoids log showed a new stardate and location. The world was a blue-green world with a good portion of its surface covered by water. There were multiple major land masses and icecaps. It was not a large world, but one that was apparently heavily settled. The view from space had shown lights at night and discernible construction during the day. The beauty of the planet was quickly a faint memory as the visual record started to display the Insectoids harvest of the inhabitants.
One of the observers straightened with a gasp as a familiar face flashed across her screen. It was Ruth. Frozen in a kind of semi-conscious state the viewers watched as the Insectoids rampaged through an area of homes with stationary collections of vehicles. They sat in voyeuristic horror as a middle-aged man attempted to protect Ruth and was callously ripped apart. Ruth could be seen pushing a small animal into another woman’s arms and pushing her away to run. Ruth turned to meet her death head on, only to have small four-legged animals fling their bodies between her and the Insectoids. The valiant defense was to no avail. The screeching laugh of the invaders was interrupted only by a split second as they snapped the small furred ones in half, dropping the bloody remains. The sight of Ruth gathering their small bloody bodies to her chest, weeping, was the last thing that showed before the video was obscured by a large claw of a slaver.
The horrible images continued. The next video showed a harvest action in a city of packed people and sandy soil. The slavers were advancing on the crowds from two directions. One of the watchers sobbed in helpless response as a man in the crowd grabbed a small girl and threw her into the arms of one of the Insectoids, before turning and running as fast as he could in the other direction. A woman that many remembered from before the Insectoid’s destruction charged after the little girl. Unseen by his mother, a male child ran after her and his sister. The video flashed around the square, capturing a glimpse of the man that had sacrificed his family. His face was in focus for just a few seconds. The video record heartlessly and accurately recorded his look of faint regret and the shrug of his shoulders before he turned and ran out of view.
The video progression was relentless. It recorded the capture of Pawlik and his men, showing how they were delivered unconscious to the slavers by a party of men dressed in some form of uniform. They saw the exchange of currency and the pleased smiles on the seller’s faces.
A short while later in the video archive, they recognized another face. It was the Sargeant that had sacrificed himself to protect Ruth at her initial Mage change. On this footage, they saw how he had fought to try to keep his weapon but was overpowered. They saw him attempting to protect Pawlik’s unconscious body but failing.
One of the viewers made a startled exclamation and turned to look at the wall to the left of the video display. The entire wall consis
ted of what appeared to be fronted glass cubbies of different collectibles. He stood up and quickly went over to examine the contents of one of the cubbies. It was the sergeant’s weapon. Looking at the wall with its thousands of items, his eyes filled with tears, and he leaned over helplessly to vomit again and again.
Tears in many of their eyes, saltwater on their faces, nausea filling their senses. The viewers had enough horror for one day. The man by the trophy wall straightened up and looked back at them. His eyes widened in alarm, and his focus shifted to an area behind them. Spinning quickly in place, the five others turned to see that Ruth was standing behind them, watching the same screen with fire running up and down her arms. She looked at them with eyes that showed bottomless pain, before she abruptly disappeared.
Chapter 13 – Arkken Planetfall
Approaching Orbit around Arkken-
“Arkken Space Control, this is the LMS Dragon Flame requesting orbital coordinates and shuttle landing instructions. Be advised that this ship is a prize of battle and under the command of Lady Mage Ruth.”
“Dragon Flame, orbital coordinates are transmitting now. Shuttle landing instructions will be sent by separate communications. Welcome to Arkken, Dragon Flame.”
“Thank you, Arkken Space Control.”
The communications officer began to handle the list of messages that Pawlik and the others had queued up for when they got into Arkken’s orbit. The top one on the list was to notify the ruling Arkken Council of Pawlik’s return and to schedule the mandated appearance before the Council for returning space travelers. Notification was also sent to Pawlik’s planet-bound staff of his return. Even before the outgoing messages had been sent, the Council had responded with a request for Pawlik’s immediate presence.
Pawlik appeared to be thinking deeply about the Council request. “Such scheduling speed is not usual. Generally, appearances before the Council upon planetary return take anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks to arrange. I wonder what else is going on.”
“If it were acceptable and appropriate, I would like to accompany you,” Ruth said. “I would prefer to not be the primary focus but getting a read on the Council dynamics and participants would be helpful.”
Just then, Pawlik’s message queue pinged with an incoming secure call from Pawlik’s steward, Harril. “My Lord, welcome home! We had been very concerned about rumors of your death. The lack of communications also has caused some problems.”
“My apologies, Harril. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond our control caused a temporary inhibition of communications. I am required and requested to appear before the Council immediately. What do you know that contributes to that urgency, and what extremely high priority items are there that I need to deal with?”
“There’s been a higher level of political machinations than usual, sir. The rumors of your death certainly did not help. Several of your properties have had unexpected visits from your cousin Stefar or his staff. Also, some interesting audit requests have come through for financial transactions with many of our companies. The combination of Stefar’s interest and audits that could only be authorized by the Council have raised a lot of concern here.”
“So you believe that there is some form of treachery being planned by Stefar and the Council?”
“Yes my Lord, but it may not be the entire Council. You know that Councilor Fergali has significantly changed the way that the Council interacts with the rest of the planet since he was elected its head. He also has regarded you as an enemy since the two of you were children and he appears to be continuing that posture even now. The Council as an entity now should not be considered a friend, but more like a partial enemy.”
“Fergali has never been pleased with the fact that the charter for our estate and grant is not subject to Council laws. The fact that we are an allied entity, rather than a vassal sticks in his craw. If you have anything more that I should know before I appear before the Council, please send me a secure message.”
“Of course, my Lord. Just one last caution. I would be very careful about transport from the ship to the planet surface. There have been several accidents involving shuttles in the last two months. Strangely enough, most of them resulted in death or serious injury to Councilor Fergali’s enemies or critics.”
Pawlik closed the communications channel and paused for a moment, appearing to be thinking deeply. Shaking himself back to awareness, he requested that Sgt. Gray and Cal, along with several other men from his original crew join Ruth and him in the captain’s briefing room. All of the men arrived at a run.
Although Cal was alert for reactions from the planetary government, the wary posture of Pawlik’s people changed Cal’s alertness into concern. He glanced from Ruth to Pawlik in question.
“We may be dealing with a problem bigger than I initially thought,” said Pawlik. “We knew that we were betrayed and sold to the slavers, but that was a faceless betrayal. It is starting to look like the rot may stem from both insider and Council sources. I have been warned about the safety of any transport to and from the planet.”
“How about we use the ship’s shuttle for transport and use a secondary shuttle for protection?” suggested Sgt. Gray.
Ruth put an immediate stop to the discussion. “The safety of this ship is paramount. We will maintain the ship in a high orbit and not allow any transport to and from the planet surface via shuttles. Instead, until we know what the situation is, I will handle transport.”
The men in the room looked somewhat abashed since the use of magic had not been on any of their minds. It was going to take some getting used to, this incorporation of magic into their world. Pawlik’s eyes started to gleam, as he thought of some options and he gave Ruth a smile and a nod of agreement.
Sgt. Gray drew Pawlik’s attention, “My Lord, it is traditional that returning warriors of our people offer a tithe of our spoils to the Council. Will we be doing that as a group or individually?”
“Perhaps we should tithe the deaths also. That would make it easy to thin out the Council,” offered one of the other men. The room echoed with pain-filled laughter and shadowed with stark memories. A moment of silence stretched for several seconds before Sgt. Gray broke the mood by suggesting, “Perhaps we could offer them some of the ships that we may not want.”
Pawlik’s rejoinder was, “Those ships do not belong to us. They belong to the Mage.”
“That is ridiculous! You and your men were instrumental in my survival and the acquisition of all of the ships that we have. I would be pleased to offer you as many ships as you want so that you have something to donate to your world,” Ruth half-shouted, visibly upset.
Pawlik resisted taking anything approaching an equal share of the ships that Ruth now controlled. His statement that the very fact that she had won them in battle with the Insectoids meant that she was the clear owner. After all, the Auditor Guild would find for her, not Pawlik or his men.
Since it didn’t look like Pawlik would agree to ownership, Ruth suggested that he take a number of ships as payment for services. The final transfer of title would have to wait until after the Auditor Guild ruling, but in the meantime, they could agree on numbers and types of ships. After a fair amount of argument, they agreed on 162 ships. The ship type would be distributed among trading vessels, transports, courier ship, and warships. Pawlik insisted that only four warships be included. Even that number would double the fleet size for Arkken.
One of Pawlik’s men said jokingly that Pawlik donating such a large gift as a warship to Arkken would upset the Council head since the man hated Pawlik. Sgt. Gray smiled in agreement and suggested that perhaps the ship should be painted orange since the Councilor Fergali was known to detest the color.
The very mention of the man’s name kicked off a discussion that was very enlightening for both Ruth and Cal. They heard all about this current head of the planetary government, including how he was constantly smiling and very genial acting. One of Pawlik’s men mentioned that the pleasant exterior con
cealed a very different man in private. His level of corruption and violent behavior was notorious in some circles. He hid all of that darkness behind closed doors.
Sgt. Gray’s cousin had firsthand experience with this aspect of Councilor Fergali. The former administrative assistant was still using a cane after he had battered her in his fury for a misfiled document. She quit but had been the target of several attacks afterward. It was so bad that she had moved off planet to protect her family. Learning in the middle of her recovery that others that had quit his employ seemed to suffer many accidents, some fatal, raised the level of worry. Since she was aware of the man’s violent hatred for children, concern for her small children caused a rapid relocation off the planet, including a name change.
Another Marine, coming into the room in the middle of the discussion, told of a situation that caused Ruth’s arms to start trailing tendrils of light. Apparently, a groundskeeper at Councilor Fergali’s had been ordered to come to work on his day off. Since the summons was unexpected, the groundskeeper was forced to bring his two children with him for transfer to a caretaker on the estate grounds. How the councilor knew about the children’s presence was not known, but he had appeared in full fury. He physically threw the children off of the grounds, informing their father that his job was forfeit if he paid any attention to the “brats” instead of working.
The children huddled outside the gates, by the side of the road for over two hours before someone leaving the estate quietly picked them up and took them to their home. They were cold, thirsty and hungry. And terrified. The groundskeeper was forced to stay at work for over ten hours. He also quit but was involved in a fatal accident less than a month later. His orphaned children were sent to relatives at a remote farm.
“That is enough about this disgusting version of a man!” stormed Ruth. The light flames on her arms were pulsating through spectrums of light. She grabbed a cloak from over the back of a chair next to her and flung it over her body, pulling the hood up to conceal her face. A swift motion of her hands wrapped the light around Pawlik, Sgt. Gray and two other of the Marines, before the room flashed and they all were suddenly standing on the ground in front of the Council building.
