by JP Raymond
He sighed. He couldn’t do this alone. Still, he was the one who had tracked Kitekh Galesh to her home world. He could still take credit for the apprehension and command any support ships.
“Zin,” he said to his first officer, “order Magnificent Glory to the secondary approach vector. I do not want the terrorists slipping out the side door while this imbecile keeps us tied up here. Then contact the Imperial High Command. Inform them we have traced Cataan’s Claw to Grakur and that the local authorities are refusing to cooperate. Ask them for support vessels to convince the Graur we mean business.”
Zin’s eyes widened. He was obviously mortified by Horay’s intentions. What the hell was the matter with him? The Empire was falling towards chaos. If the military didn’t hold it together, enforce Imperial law, who would?
“Yes, Captain,” Zin said.
He turned awkwardly and went to the comms station to obey. Horay returned his attention to the Graur vessels. Captain Krihm was no doubt grinning smugly, convinced Horay wouldn’t dare to escalate this situation. He was sadly mistaken, and Horay looked forward to teaching the insolent felinoid the error of his ways.
JaQuan set the lander gently down on the designated landing pad in Catraal. His guts twisted up inside him as he cut power to the engines. Shit was about to get real, as his friends back in Ferguson used to say.
They were now officially trapped. Kitekh had bullshitted their way down to the surface by telling the patrol fighters they were bringing soil samples back from Korenka for the Grakur Geological Survey. But now that they were down on the planet, it would take more than fast-talk to get them where they needed to go.
Worse, everyone on Grakur spoke Graul. The patrol fighters who’d intercepted them on the way here questioned them in the Graur’s native language. All the instructions from the spaceport’s control tower had also come in Graul. JaQuan had had to rely on Kitekh’s translations to pilot the ship to the landing pad. He felt naked, unarmed, and lost surrounded by the giant felinoids he couldn’t understand and who very well might wish him harm.
And inside Grakur’s planetary defenses, with nothing but a cargo shuttle to carry them away, escape would be impossible if anything went wrong.
Given that Kitekh was about to throw herself on the mercy of the Tribal Council when everyone in the galaxy was looking for her, JaQuan saw no way for things to go right.
His heart pounded. His stomach hurt. And sweat beaded on his forehead. With a heavy sigh, he turned to Kitekh.
“Okay,” he said. “Now what?”
“Now we divide our forces,” she replied.
“Man, that never works in the books,” Alan said.
JaQuan snorted in mild amusement. Alan’s continual desire to see life through the lens of an adventure novel was ridiculous. But in this case, JaQuan agreed with him.
“This is not a work of fiction, Alan,” Kitekh said. “And because we have multiple objectives, we must work in small teams.”
Alan rolled his eyes. If Kitekh saw it, she didn’t react.
“Shinzaa, Rischa, take Lanaliel to the nearest medical facility,” Kitekh ordered.
“What? Kitekh, no,” Shinzaa said. “You can’t mean to take two of your best fighters out of the confrontation. We don’t know what the Tribal Council will do. We don’t know how it will react.”
The unease in JaQuan’s stomach grew. The very fact that Shinzaa was worried about not being able to defend Kitekh scared the hell out of him.
“Shinzaa, listen to me,” Kitekh said. “Lanaliel will die if we don’t get him treatment. You know this. He is already in great danger. I cannot allow him to expire without at least trying to save him.
“You are the closest thing to a medic we have. You are familiar with his injuries. You have treated them to date. You are therefore the logical person to accompany him to the hospital.”
“And me?” Rischa asked.
“Lanaliel dwarfs us all,” she replied. “If his condition worsens before you can get him aid, it may require two people to get him there. You and Shinzaa are two of the strongest we have.”
Rischa nodded, though she didn’t look happy about it. Lanaliel said nothing. His face remained a mask of pain.
“Aarghun,” Kitekh continued, “you will accompany me to the Tribal Council. Your testimony is critical.
“The rest of you will remain here, guarding the prisoners.”
“What?” JaQuan said. “No fucking way.”
“JaQuan, we cannot bring the captives with us,” Kitekh said, her voice melodious, her tone soothing. “Too many things could go wrong, and they are our only bargaining chip. Plus, I need my pilot at the controls of our only means of escape.”
“I’m not waiting here like sitting duck,” JaQuan protested. “I don’t speak the language, and eventually someone is going to wonder why we haven’t offloaded the samples we supposedly brought back. If they start asking questions, I won’t be able to answer them.”
“That’s why I’m leaving Rorgun with you,” she countered. “He’ll be able to handle the authorities should they decide to make trouble.”
“Someone’s gotta drive the getaway car, JaQuan,” Alan said.
“Fuck that shit!” JaQuan practically shouted. “This ain’t no getaway car. There is no ship on this planet it could get away from. Even the shuttles are faster and better-armed. They’re fucking Graur ships for Christ’s sake. If we stay here, we’re dead.”
Fury and frustration poured off him. What the hell was she thinking? Did she not understand she would be condemning Alan and him?
“JaQuan,” she said, her face infuriatingly passive, her eyes ridiculously soothing. “We cannot herd Brody and Cooressa through the streets of Catraal to the Council. Even if we had some way to prevent them from attempting escape or causing a scene, if we take them to the Council we give away our leverage. They’ll be able to seize them from us and leave us with nothing.
“We must keep the prisoners in a safe and separate location. Otherwise, we’re just surrendering.”
“Ain’t nothing fucking safe about this location!” JaQuan shouted. “All they have to do is wait for you to leave. As soon as you approach the Tribal Council, they’ll send people to bring us all in.”
Mrahr, Shinzaa, and Rischa all started shouting. JaQuan didn’t care what they said. He had no ears to listen to them. He was damned if he was going to sit here and let Kitekh make a target of him.
“Enough!” Rorgun said.
The cabin fell quiet. Rorgun crossed his arms and sent his yellow-eyed gaze around the room before bringing it to rest on Kitekh.
“This plan is unacceptable,” he said. “My place is at your side, Kitekh. You are walking into danger, and you are injured. I will not allow this.”
“Rorgun . . .” Kitekh said, sounding tired.
“I can defend her,” Mrahr said. “Let’s not forget that Kitekh was my crewmate in the GDF. That I was her first officer before you, Rorgun.”
“Jesus, are we gonna have a pissing match now?” Alan said.
JaQuan nodded in agreement. His heart was pounding. Kitekh hadn’t discussed her plan with anyone before they left Cataan’s Claw. Now, no one would follow it, including himself. Disaster was looming.
“That is immaterial,” Rorgun said, ignoring Alan. “I do not insult you, Aarghun. I have complete respect for you. That does not change the fact that I must be at Kitekh’s side.”
“Why?” Rischa asked. “What do you know that you’re not telling us?”
JaQuan studied her for a moment. Her black face blazed with mistrust. She still hadn’t forgiven Rorgun for working with the Kwin Faan, for nearly getting Alan and him killed.
“I know nothing specific about the future,” Rorgun replied. “Nor do I know how the Tribal Council will react to Kitekh’s plea.”
“Despite the fact that you’re the one who wanted us to come here,” Alan said, a look as accusing as Rischa’s on his face.
“There is no conspiracy
at work,” Rorgun said. “I know only my purpose.”
No one said anything for several seconds. JaQuan stared at the first officer in irritation. He was sick to death of people claiming righteous paths and higher purposes for their actions. That kind of thinking had his race on the brink of extinction.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Rorgun?” Alan asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes, please explain yourself,” Mrahr added.
Rorgun didn’t sigh or bow his head as JaQuan might have. He continued to hold Kitekh with his piercing gaze.
“I am not here by accident,” he said. “I was a member of the Kwin Faan – a warrior battling to save the Empire.”
“A traitor,” Rischa said.
“I survived the Empire’s final assault,” Rorgun continued, ignoring her. “Most of my friends died. I despaired. I could not understand why God would allow this to happen. I saw no purpose to allowing the Empire to rot from corruption until it could no longer be saved.
“I prayed, asking God for wisdom, asking for an answer. And wondering why I should be spared to watch this horror unfold, when so many of my friends had gone to their final reward in the Great Beyond.
“That night, God answered me. He sent me a vision. In it, he told me I would one day meet a Graur captain who had been wrongly disgraced. She would be seeking vengeance but be unable to get it. He told me I must serve her, that I must preserve her.
“I asked him who this captain was and why I must protect her. I wondered what higher purpose she was to serve. God did not answer my questions. He only told me the work of the Kwin Faan was not done and that this disgraced captain must be preserved, so she could earn redemption.
“I awoke, shaken to my very core. God had given me a purpose, but he had not revealed how it would come about. He’d given me no instructions or clues on how to locate this destiny.
“Three years passed with no sign. I hid with the remnants of the Kwin Faan on Sigba Station, avoiding arrest and waiting for my destiny to arrive. I fell into depression. I thought I would never find this purpose God had given me. I believed I had imagined it all along.
“But as you know, three is the Holy Number, and God was simply waiting to put me in the right place to fulfill my purpose. On the third anniversary of my vision, news reached us of the fall of Cataan Galesh. He had been disgraced. The Tribal Council recalled him from the Senate and condemned his entire clan. But he committed ritual suicide to protect his family from the wrath of the Council. His daughter, Kitekh, was expelled from the Graur Defense Force. She swore revenge.
“I knew then that she was the disgraced captain I was destined to protect. I believed that I must find her.
“Mutakh Kairee, the last commander of the Kwin Faan tried to persuade me that my place remained with him. He said that if God wanted me to protect Kitekh Galesh, she would come to The Outpost. I waited for three months, but her vessel did not arrive.
“Unable to stand to wait any longer to fulfill God’s mission, I told Mutakh I was leaving. He called me a fool, said I would never find one Graur in a galaxy this big. He told me God would bring her to me if indeed that was what he wanted.
“But I left anyway. I searched the galaxy for three years.
“And then Cataan’s Claw docked at Lindrada, where I was awaiting transport. They were seeking a tactical officer. I thought working on a freighter would be a more efficient way of getting around the Empire, searching for one disgraced Graur. So I applied.
“Kitekh Galesh was the captain. I had found my destiny.”
Rorgun fell silent. JaQuan gaped at him. The story was outrageous. But he saw in Kitekh’s gaze it was absolutely true. There was recognition in her green eyes.
Suddenly, things fell into place. Kitekh had been reluctant to send Rorgun to Sigba to acquire the Myollnar Crystal. She’d known he would have to face Kairee again. Rorgun himself had been testy with Rischa when she discovered he was former Kwin Faan. And Kairee had chided Rorgun for wanting to return to Cataan’s Claw. He’d condemned them for being involved in the kidnapping.
Mutakh Kairee didn’t believe Kitekh was worthy of Rorgun’s service. He didn’t think she was the disgraced captain God had told Rorgun to save.
“Wait,” Alan said. “Your father’s name was Cataan?”
“Yes,” Kitekh said.
“So the ship isn’t named for Cataan Muur,” Alan said. “You’re not trying to invoke the name of the greatest hero in Graur history. You’re honoring your father.”
JaQuan’s head snapped back to Kitekh. Her face confirmed Alan’s theory.
“Yes,” she said. “I will be his claw to carve out Idrib Mol’s heart.”
JaQuan struggled to process everything he’d heard. He wasn’t sure any of it mattered. He didn’t believe in God’s perfect destiny for anyone. Everyone made their own choices, the people around them had to live with the consequences.
But if Rorgun was acting because he thought he had to protect Kitekh, because he thought God told him to help her redeem herself, that would color his decisions. Rorgun was on Kitekh’s side and no one else’s. He would sacrifice anyone and anything to protect her. JaQuan’s blood froze at the prospect.
“So you see, Aarghun,” Rorgun said, resuming his narrative. “It has nothing to do with trusting you or believing you incapable of defending Kitekh. God put me by her side to protect and preserve her.”
He returned his gaze to Kitekh.
“I therefore cannot allow you to approach the Tribal Council without me. You know very well they will require some sort of trial. You are without the use of one of your arms. You will require a proxy.
“God has put me here to be that person.”
“You son of a bitch,” JaQuan said.
Rorgun turned to him, surprise covering his face.
“Yes, you,” JaQuan said, rage rising in his heart. “You only ever gave a fuck about getting Kitekh to her so-called destiny. You didn’t give a shit about Alan and I being sent to die by your ‘old buddy’, Mutakh Kairee. If you had to sacrifice us to get Kitekh her crystal, you were totally fine with that.
“I used to think you had a thing for her, but that ain’t it. You think you’re on some sort of holy mission and so is Kitekh.”
“JaQuan you misunderstand,” Rorgun began.
“Fuck you, Rorgun!” JaQuan shouted. “You’re just another God-damned zealot! An asshole true-believer who thinks a non-existent, invisible man in the sky told him what to do. You’re no fucking different from Cooressa or Brody or Idrib fucking Mol.”
“JaQuan!” Kitekh barked.
“No, fuck this shit, Kitekh,” JaQuan said. “I’m through with outer-space Jesus freaks trying to get me killed. You leave me here with this asshole, and I will shoot him between the eyes and dump his sorry ass on the landing pad. I don’t trust him, and I’m not going to let him fuck me again.
“In fact, if you leave us behind, not only will I shoot Mr. God-Told-Me-To-Do-It, I will dump Cooressa and Brody too. Alan and I will jet out of here, and you can clean up your own fucking mess.”
“Enough!” Kitekh roared.
She jumped up from her seat. But JaQuan was ready. He already had his beamer in his hand, and he leveled it at her.
“Do something, Kitekh,” he said. “You’ve already tried to kill me twice. You caught me by surprise then. I’m ready now. Think you can take me?”
“Move and I’ll fry your ass, Rorgun,” Alan said.
JaQuan didn’t dare to take his eyes off Kitekh, but he presumed Alan had drawn on Rorgun – and that Rorgun had given him cause.
“He’s right, Kitekh,” Rischa said. “Rorgun’s a traitor, a member of the Kwin Faan. He joined a rebellion against the Empire. He can’t be trusted. JaQuan’s never been anything but loyal to you.”
“And yet he holds a pistol on her now,” Mrahr said.
“My friends,” Lanaliel said, his voice weak but steady. “This is what our enemies want. If they keep us divided, we
will surely fall. If we shoot each other, tear each other apart, Idrib Mol wins. The only way to stop him is to take our story to the Tribal Council. To do that, we must cooperate.”
For a moment, no one spoke. Tension filled the cabin so thickly it was difficult to breathe. JaQuan set a determined smile on his face.
“Your move, Kitekh,” he said.
She hung her head. Then she slumped in her seat.
“Damn you, JaQuan,” she said. “Why must you be so stubborn?”
“It keeps me alive,” he said.
She flashed him a smile that did not convey amusement. He didn’t care. Fuck all this shit. He was perfectly willing to blast off right now. He had no idea where he’d run, but anywhere seemed better than this.
“All right,” Kitekh said. “You win, JaQuan. Shinzaa, Rischa, take Lanaliel to the hospital. I want him safely away so he at least has a chance to survive this. The rest of us will stay here.”
“What?” Mrahr said.
“And do what?” Alan asked.
“Once we know Rischa, Shinzaa, and Lanaliel are safely away, I will signal the Tribal Council,” she answered. “We can’t safely bring the prisoners through the city to the Council. So we will bring the Council to us. Anyone who wants out should disembark with the hospital party.”
JaQuan was tempted. This whole plan to beg the Tribal Council for mercy was Rorgun’s idea, and JaQuan didn’t trust him anymore. Kitekh had given everyone an out, and the smart thing to do was take it.
But they were on Grakur. JaQuan didn’t speak Graul, and he couldn’t account for how he’d gotten here. If he left Kitekh, he wasn’t sure how he’d get off-world again.
He was well and truly fucked no matter what he did.
To his surprise, he suddenly missed Gwen. Why had he fought so bitterly against her joining the Space Rangers? He’d loved her hadn’t he? Being a cop, making a difference, was her dream. Why couldn’t he support that?
He knew why. But it didn’t make him feel any better. At the moment, he thought he might give anything just to spend one more night with her. Dinner, wine, talk. And then making love until all the hurt went away.
But that was never going to happen. If Gwen ever saw him again – and she had to be on her way here after getting Cooressa’s message – she would just try to shoot him. Like any other cop.
