by J Palliser
"As you wish, Lord Aris," Casana relented, bowing her head. Dejah sat heavily into a large, plush chair, resting her head on one arm.
"I am not without kindness," she sighed. "Announce that upon completion of the harbor facilities, the workers will be paid in full, with an additional reward for completing the project early."
"I do not think we can afford to do such a thing," Casana pointed out.
"I know. It does not matter. I want that harbor finished so that work may begin on the temple."
"As you wish, Milord."
Dejah yawned, looking out the window. "Shayla, I desire your services," she said offhandedly. "With pleasure, Lord," Sonya replied. She hurried over to the chair and knelt between Dejah's knees. But as Sonya pulled the robes aside, the doors opened and a guard rushed into the room.
"Lord Aris, your sister has arrived," he reported. "Damn," Dejah grunted. She stood, pushing Sonya to the ground roughly. "We will continue this later. I must speak with my sister." Dejah rushed from the room, followed by Casana, Kara, and Sonya. They followed her back down the hallway and up the first flight of stairs. As Dejah continued up to her room, the others stopped on the landing.
"Leave us," she yelled to her guards, and they filed out of the room. Casana and Kara exchanged glances, and Casana took Sonya by the hand.
"Shayla, might I have a word with you?" she asked sweetly.
"As you wish, milady," Sonya replied, hanging her head. "Please, call me Milan," Casana smiled, leading Sonya to her room. Kara opened the door, and locked it behind them, waiting outside. Casana released Sonya's hand when the door closed and walked over to the window, staring out at the city.
"W-what is it you need of me, milady?" Sonya asked nervously.
"Do you enjoy your duties?" Casana asked casually.
"Of course, milady. The service of my Master is my sole purpose, and gives my life meaning," she said from memory. "Do not simply repeat your oath," Casana said, turning to face her. "Does fulfilling your duties bring you pleasure?" she asked again.
"No, milady," Sonya answered, blushing in shame.
"Do you not wish it would?" Casana asked pointedly. "Do you not wish that you were sworn to please one who would return that pleasure?"
"Milady?" "Would you not prefer to serve one who would treasure your service?" she asked, walking slowly towards Sonya. "Who would take you in their arm, whispering their gratitude in your ear? Someone who does not strike you, does not use you and dismiss you? Who returns to you all the pleasures you bring them, who keeps you in their embrace once you are spent?" They were face to face, only inches apart, staring into each other's eyes.
"Yes, milady," Sonya whispered. "Then be mine," Casana said softly, brushing the dark hair out of Sonya's eyes. She leaned in, gently grazing her lips against Sonya's. "Serve me."
Sonya recoiled in horror. "Milady, I cannot! I am sworn to Lord Aris!" Casana grasped her gently by the shoulders. "To hell with Aris!" she cried. "He will not remain in power long. If he is not deposed, the kingdom will collapse! One way or another, Aris's reign will soon be over. Serve me, help me depose him, and I will reward you. And I will love you." Sonya stared at her silently for a long moment.
"Yes, my Mistress," she finally answered, kneeling before Casana. Casana brought her hand to Sonya's chin and raised her head.
"You need not bow to me," she whispered tearfully. Casana pulled her up and pressed her lips gently against Sonya's. Casana wrapped her arms around Sonya, and felt the taller woman melt against her. She tried to move them to the bed, but their legs became tangled and they fell to the floor, with Casana landing on top of Sonya. She pushed herself up on her hands and knees, but Sonya immediately pulled her back down.
"Please, Mistress, don't stop touching me," she whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It has been so long since I have been touched with such gentle care."
"I won't, Shayla," Casana smiled, pulling away briefly. As she gazed down into Sonya's eyes, something tugged at the back of her mind again. There was the same alarm as before, but there was also regret. Though she could not remember what it was, she knew there was something she regretted, and that she was about to make it right.
But as Casana lowered herself back down to Sonya, they were interrupted by a terrible crash. They both looked up to see Dejah standing in the doorway, the door itself on the floor, knocked from its hinges. Her eyes were filled with blind fury.
Casana tried to speak, but before she could open her mouth, Dejah crossed the distance between them kicked her in the flank with all her strength. With a sickening crunch, Casana was sent twisting through the air, landing on the bed. She was gripped by a burning pain in her side, and tasted metal in her mouth. Casana coughed, and looked down to see the white sheets stained red with blood.
"Whores!" Dejah screamed powerfully, causing the walls to reverberate. "You would betray me?! I will make you pay!" She moved to step forward, but stopped when Kara struck the back of her head with candlestick. But instead of collapsing, Dejah wheeled about to face her.
"Die!" Kara screamed as she produced a dagger. She raised the blade above her head and brought it down, but Dejah grasped her wrist before she could strike. Dejah squeezed with her hand, crushing the bones in Kara's wrist with a crack.
Kara shrieked in pain, but Dejah struck again, striking Kara in the chest with her palm and sending her hurdling into the stone wall. The impact knocked the air from Kara's lungs, and she felt a horrible pain in her chest. She tried to breathe, but could not get her lungs to work.
"Now for you, harlot," Dejah growled down at Sonya. Her eyes widened and she tried to crawl away, but Dejah pinned her to the ground. "I shall visit upon you the humiliation you have brought me," Dejah hissed into Sonya's ear as she pushed her victim's robe up past her ass.
"No!" Sonya screamed pitifully. "Please, Master, I had no choice!" "You had a choice: me, or death! And you chose poorly!" Dejah yelled, untying her own robe. Sonya felt something push against her anus, and began to cry in shame and fear. Sonya looked towards the door and saw Kara, hopelessly trying to breathe. She turned her head to see Casana twitching on the bed, coughing blood. Sonya gritted her teeth and shut her eyes, awaiting the pain of her impending rape.
Then, a powerful, deafening cry split the air. " Brother!" screamed a voice from the doorway, and Sonya opened her eyes to look. In the doorway stood a woman, clad in simple steel armor from the neck down. The metal was bare and unpolished, like that used for training new recruits. Her hands and feet were bare, with exception of simple gold bangles on her wrists and ankles.
"Stay out of this!" Dejah yelled at the woman, her face turning red. "I will not! This has gone on long enough! These people are not your playthings," she yelled back. Her light brown hair fell around her shoulders, framing her pale face and soft blue eyes.
"Leave me," Dejah growled at her. Without responding, the woman crossed the room in only a few steps. Grabbing Dejah by the back of the neck, she pulled her off of Sonya and hurled her into the wall. The stone cracked under the impact, shaking the building to its foundation. The woman again crossed the room in only a few steps, raising one leg as she closed the gap.
As Dejah got to her feet, the woman's boot landed powerfully on Dejah's chest, sending her back into the wall, cracking it further. The woman drew her fist back, but as she punched, Dejah caught the hand in her fist. Dejah stood, head-butting the woman and sending her back a few steps.
Dejah reached for a sword hanging from the wall, bringing it down towards the woman with both hands. As the blade came down, a large bronze shield grew from the woman's left arm. She raised it above her head, falling to one knee and blocking the sword. At the same time, a spear materialized in her other hand as it shot forward. The woman buried the spear in Dejah's chest, striking the wall behind her.
A small purple flower fell silently to the grass. Sonya's hand pulled back from the stone reflexively and she looked around, eyes wide. She saw Casana a few meters away,
in her Kriegsmarine uniform, a small purple flower at her feet. Beyond her, Kara was standing at the entrance to the city. Both of them were staring at her in shock and confusion. Sonya heard the humming of a scanner behind her, and spun her head around to see Dejah, scanner in hand, staring at her.
"What the fuck," Sonya muttered. ***
City Gate, 0630 hours local
"Did you all just...?" Casana asked softly.
"Yeah," Kara whispered in response.
"Interesting," Dejah said calmly.
"Is everyone okay?" Sonya blurted out.
"Uhh, yeah," Casana said as she felt her sides.
"I can breathe, so I think so," Kara mumbled.
"I am uninjured," Dejah said, looking down at her scanner. "It is 0630 hours local, on the second day on the surface."
"What?" Sonya said, turning to face her. She walked over and looked at the scanner. "Fuck, it is."
"Okay, what the hell just happened? Did we imagine that?" Casana cried. "I don't think so," Kara said, her mouth gaping open as she looked through the gate into the city. "Take a look at this."
"Holy crap," Casana gasped. The city lay in ruins. Most of the buildings were collapsed and overgrown with vegetation. The palace was mostly intact, but the stone was cracked and faded, worn away by time. Even the walls were in ruins, covered with vines and missing whole sections.
They slowly walked down the street towards the palace, stepping over chunks of stone littering the roadway. The carvings on the streets had been worn down by time, and were now almost unrecognizable. In the distance, on the far side of the palace, stood the enormous metal statue of the woman from the palace, gleaming in the morning sun as though it were brand new. But instead of standing, the woman was on one knee, her spear thrusting forward, the shield raised above her head in protection.
The great doors to the palace lay on the floor of the foyer, covered in dust. Vines ran through cracks in the roof, and the dome had collapsed inward. Sonya led the way as they climbed over the rubble and up the stairs. They walked down the long hallway, the tapping of their boots the only sound, the curtains having long since rotted away.
They climbed the first set of stairs together and stopped at the landing. Sonya stepped through the doorway, over the shattered door. The bed was rotted away, as was all of the furniture. But there was a crater in the wall near the door.
"This is where I hit," Kara whispered, running her hands over the cracked stone. "Look," Sonya said, pointing to the wall. The area she pointed to was crushed, with a deep indentation in the stone. Parts of the wall had fallen away, revealing a storage room on the other side.
Buried in the stone was a single spear.
"What the bloody hell fucking happened?" Kara yelled.
"Dejah, are there any power signatures? Any subspace distortions? Anything at all unusual?" Sonya asked.
"No," she responded, staring at her scanner. "There is nothing out of the ordinary."
"No, there's something here," Casana whispered. "I can feel it."
"What is it?" asked Kara. "I don't know. But when I was in here... before, I remember that I felt something. Like something was wrong."
"When?" said Sonya.
"When I was..." She hesitated. "When I was with Kara. Or Iris, or whomever." "I was someone else. I felt perfectly at ease, like there was nothing wrong at all," Kara said. "Well, until Dejah tried to kill me."
"I did not try to kill you. I believe we were shown something," Dejah explained.
"Shown what?" Sonya asked curiously.
"I believe we were shown a crucial event in this city's history."
"Yeah, but how?" Kara cried.
"Telepathy," Casana said quietly.
"Telepathy?" Sonya repeated.
"Yes. From the moment we first saw the city, our minds were being influenced."
"I remember that I have felt agitated since we beamed down," Dejah added.
"Centuri's are telepathic, so you may have been affected first. Something altered our perception of reality."
"Why?" Kara asked.
"To show us what happened to the city."
"But the scanner isn't reading anything unusual," Sonya protested.
"Sensors cannot detect the telepathic messages used by Delkan's . At least, scanners can't," Casana pointed out. "Okay, but why?" Kara asked again. "I mean, why show us this? We didn't see what happened to this city. We saw what happened to these people. The city wouldn't have known about what we saw as it happened."
"The city's leaders were killed," Sonya said. "Society must have fallen apart." "No," Kara objected. "Look around. Nothing has changed. The only difference is the statue. There are no signs of chaos. No evidence of looting, of rioting, not even of a mass exodus. It's like they put up that statue and left."
"Great," Sonya said, throwing up her hands. "So, to recap, we don't know who the people here were, we don't know where they came from, we don't know where they went, and we don't know what happened to them. Do we know anything?"
"Aris and his sister were not of the same race as Shayla, Iris, and Milan," Dejah observed.
"Oh, so we don't know anything about two races, not one," Casana smiled. "We know that Aris lived much longer than his subjects. He told Milan that he had a deal with her ancestors," Sonya said.
"So, we know that there were two races here, one more powerful than the other," Kara stated. "The weaker ones owed some debt to the stronger, otherwise they would not have pledged their service. They also didn't think that Aris's people were gods. You don't stage a coup against a god. What else?"
"They didn't collapse after Aris's death," Casana said.
"We don't know that Aris was killed," Dejah pointed out. "Though we can assume he was deposed."
"Okay, they didn't collapse after Aris was deposed," Casana corrected herself. "But they did disappear."
"I don't think they died," Sonya added. "There are no bodies or remains anywhere. Anything else?"
"They loved his sister," Kara said quietly.
"Why did you come to that conclusion?" Dejah asked.
"Because she beat the hell out of that twat. Besides, they built her a bloody statue." "I know one other thing," Sonya said, flipping open her communicator. "We better get the fuck out outta here. Lieutenant Mueller toBismarck, requesting immediate beamout."
***
Deck 7, Sonya's Quarters, 0230 hours Sonya tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She took comfort in Kara's embrace, but it was not enough to calm her. Frustrated, she slid out of bed and walked over to the window. As she stared out at the stars, she heard the woman's voice in her head.
"I will be watching you."
25
Twenty-Four
First Contact...
2302, Deck 10, Main Crew Lounge, 1800 hours, KMS Bismarck, in orbit around Mako XI
"You will only have one opportunity, Lieutenant," Dejah warned her. "It must be correct on your first attempt." "Everything is riding on this, Harry," Casana said, her eyes wide as she sat vibrating with anticipation. "Get this right and everything else is cake."
"Come on love, you can do this," Kara reassured her, squeezing Sonya's hand. "Okay, here goes," Sonya sighed, closing her eyes. After a brief pause she opened her mouth and spoke. The words flowed out beautifully. Soft, delicate tones, sweeping gently up or down, were punctuated by an occasional dramatic jump in pitch. The sound was beautiful and rhythmic, lasting only a few seconds. When she finished, Sonya opened her eyes and looked up. The others were wide-eyed. "How was that?" she asked nervously.
"Interesting," Dejah remarked, cocking her head.
"Wow. Just... wow," Casana gaped. Sonya turned to Kara, who stared silently at her for an instant. Then she exploded in uncontrolled laughter, clutching her stomach and falling from her chair. Sonya scowled at her.
"That was incorrect, Lieutenant," Dejah told her.
"It was perfect!" she protested as Kara rolled on the ground next to her.
"No, not really," Ca
sana said, starting to giggle herself. "The Makovian language is very nuanced, Lieutenant," Dejah reminded her as Casana clasped both hands over her mouth. "Several frequency sweeps were reversed, and your inflection was off on three occasions."
"So what did I say?" Sonya asked, hanging her head. Casana lost her control and laughed incessantly, grasping the table to stay in her chair.
"You were supposed to express your delight at having the privilege of bearing witness to this great occasion," Dejah reminded her. "And?" "Instead, you expressed your enthusiasm for your assigned task of cataloging his daughter's carnal skills." Sonya blinked at her.
"Well, I can hold my own in a fight," she sighed, taking a sip from her sharbat as Casana lost her grip on the table and collapsed on top of Kara.
"Actually," Dejah said, "given Makovian society's general sexual permissiveness, especially in regards to voyeurism and homosexuality, your statement would likely have been greeted favorably."
"Oh," Sonya smiled, leaning back in her chair. "Maybe I should keep it at that, then."
"You said 'catalog', not 'sample'!" Kara howled from beneath the table. "Hey, Harry, ya' think I can come along for your visit?" Casana squealed from under the table. Sonya kicked out a leg.
"Ow!" Kara yelped as Casana laughed harder. "Bloody hell, what was that for?" "Wanted to know who was who down there. And for laughing at me." Sonya adjusted her aim, and kicked out harder.
"Hey!" Casana cried.
"That's for calling me Harry," Sonya scolded her as she kicked again. "Twice."
***
Deck 7, Officer's Quarters, 1930 hours Sonya plodded slowly across the room and threw her limp body onto the bed, whimpering pitifully. "Wow," Kara remarked, "that was really pathetic."
"I'm trying," Sonya sighed, rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling.
"I meant that flop onto the bed, love," she laughed softly, sitting down next to Sonya.
