Abduction - Chapter 16
Not even being sick this week could stop me from getting this written - though I must say it did slow me down... Bleh! Hopefully a bit more sleep and cough drops and I’ll be good to go!
Reading this to some of my friends really helped. Not only did they give me some good ideas, but also I noticed a lot of things about my story as I went through it. There are a lot of things I thought I’d made clear, but didn’t, or thoughts I was going somewhere with, but have kind of abandoned. This is definitely a first-draft process for me- but posting it as I go has REALLY been helpful. Not only do I feel more accountable to keep writing, but the feedback I get is really worth its weight in gold. I know I’m not a perfect writer and I know this is a first draft, so I am open to constructive criticism or recommendations, so feel free to let me know what you think - you’ve no idea how much it does for me!
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“It's going to take time. Time and parts. Both of which are a bit tight lately, all things considered.”
That's not good. Not what you want to hear from a mechanic.
“How much time are we talking about?” Captain Salora's gaze wandered from the mechanic to the rest of the Rock Base docking Bay. Unlike the last time they'd visited, it was full - very full, and very busy. All the bays were. There had been very few ships that had made it out of the battle without intense damage.
“We're doing what we can with what we have on hand,” the mechanic, a tired-looking tibet replied. Its long red fur was matted and covered in oil. “We’re waiting on a shipment now, parts, supplies, assistance. As soon as they arrive,” they gestured with a long, hairy red arm to the vast, very full docking bay, “we’ll be able to get all this sorted out.”
Captain Salora glared at the scene. What a mess. With a sigh, she turned back to the tibet. “And how long until help arrives?”
The mechanic picked at a small matte on their arm with their wrench. “Who’s to say? I expect that it will be coming in at different times. Some of it is coming from Karcheer, some from Earth- and not all their ships are warp-capable yet. The earliest shipments should be here within a solar rotation or two.”
“Very well. Is there anything my crew and I can do to help until then?”
“Honestly,” the tibet stretched his arms behind him before straightening back up, “The best thing to do now is just to sit tight and let us work. Once the shipments get here, there’ll be more to help with.”
“I see. Thank you,” Salora turned to leave. “If you’ll excuse me then.” She headed toward the hangar’s exit. The claws on her feet clacked dully against the stone and metal floor. Her crew. Or at least what was left of her crew. They’d lost nine during the attack, including the humans. She’d lost nine.
As she walked through corridors, she spotted a familiar shape slumped in a corner. Internally, Salora braced herself back up. Nine of her crew were gone, if that was her fault or not was not important now. She still had to be the captain for those she still had. They needed her as much as she needed them.
“Thurrin,” the small booka lifted her head, her fur brightened a bit, “What are you doing out here? Where is everyone else?”
“Everyone… oh,” Thurrin pawed the sleep from her eyes, “They’re still up on level twelve. When I slipped out, it looked like almost everyone was just about asleep. I just… I needed some time alone to think, so I came down here.” Her fur darkened again. Salora tried to hide her frown, it was a rare sight to see Thurrin’s fur so dull, and it was not a sight she liked to see.
“Do you...” the small booka sounded like she was trying to not let her voice break, “Do you think they made it? Is it possible they could have made it? The humans and Jebannuck? Is there any possibility that they’re still alive?” Salora had wondered the same question, though not as much or as deeply as Thurrin obviously had. Part of her felt a little guilty for that, though it was safe to say she had a lot of other issues vying for attention since the attack. Jebannuck Sefra was one of her most trusted and reliable officers, his absence these past solar cycles had certainly left a hole. She had tried not to think much about its permanence. The humans, though she hadn’t had much opportunity to bond with them, had seemed endearing in their own ways. They certainly did not deserve their supposed fate.
“I’m sorry Thurrin,” she paused. She didn’t want to have to be the one to say this, but it had to be done. It was in the best interest of the rest of the crew if Thurrin finished the grieving cycle sooner rather than later. But still. “I… I suppose it might have been a possibility, but not a probability. We lost a lot of good Confederation soldiers. The blast to the ship could have killed them, and if not, the vacuum could have taken them.”
Thurrin kept her eyes down, absently watching her back paws. It was silent for quite a while. Thankfully, no one came down this section of corridor, it was just silent.
“Captain,” Thurrin muttered hesitantly, “Is it bad if… am I a terrible person if I…” small flickers lifted off from the tips of her ears. Her fur really looked like a dying fire now, about to go out. She gasped a quick breath and began sobbing, “It’s the possibility that’s killing me. The not knowing. I just… I just wish I knew if they were gone, I just wish I could be sure so I could- so I could mourn them properly, but instead - instead I’m stuck somewhere between hope and grief and it’s - it’s tearing me apart!” Captain Salora pulled her head back. This was not what she’d been expecting. Thurrin was usually so collected, so bright and cheery. She’d never seen her lieutenant like this.
“Am I a terrible person if part of me just wishes I knew they were dead? I hope they’re not - oh frewan I hope they’re not! But... I know - I know they must be.” Her tail lashed angrily, “But, but what kind of person wishes they knew their friends were… were…” She buried her face into her arms. Her whole body seemed to try to squeeze in on itself. Her tail, usually a long, bright puff of faux flames, wrapped tight and small around her.
Salora was unsure of what to say. What wouldn’t make things worse?
As an Akeno, Salora was not usually one for physical expression, but as a captain over several various species, she’d learned the importance touch has among many of her crew.
She rested a claw on Thurrin’s shoulder. For her own people, such contact would be outrageously intimate and inappropriate, but for bookas, well, it was probably nowhere near enough. It was a start though. Thurrin seemed to notice it. Her fur flickered slightly at the touch.
“Thurrin, they were your friends. What you’re feeling now is… well it’s painful, but it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You are not a bad person for wanting closure, for wanting to mourn for them.” Thurrin raised her head up to look her captain in the eyes. For a moment, she looked like she might say something. Instead, she leaned into Salora’s crouched form, trying to bury her fur into the captain’s side.
Salora froze. This was… new. And a bit uncomfortable. Quite uncomfortable actually. What was she supposed to do now? This was a lot of touching. Thurrin’s fur was warm, which felt nice, but still, she tried to not let her discomfort show. Thurrin must have sensed it anyway. She pulled back quickly, a mortified look on her face. Her fur blazed up in flashes of bright oranges and yellows.
“Oh, Captain, sorry I’m - I’m so sorry, I… oh that was so unprofessional! I was so - I’m such a mess! I’m sorry!” In a mad scramble, Thurrin was up on her hind legs, fidgeting with her front paws. She looked at the ground as she slowly shuffled backward, still murmuring apologies.
“Thurrin,” the murmuring and shuffling stopped, “It’s alright. You’ve nothing to apologize for, you’re alright.” Salora stood back up, her legs thankful to be fully-extended once again. She rested one hand on Thurrin’s shoulder, the touch helped calm down the embarrassed flickers in the booka’s fur. “Come on, let’s get back up to level twelve. I think we both need a rest.”
They walked in silence most of the way. Thankfully, the corridors remained deserted for the most part. When they reached level twelve, Salora stopped in front of the door where the majority of the crew had been assigned communal quarters.
“Thurrin, I’m sorry for what you’re going through. I wish I could tell you for sure what happened to them. I wish I could give you hope, or at least help you find closure. I’m afraid all I can offer is a listening ear if you need one, and whatever comfort I can give. Please don’t feel like you have to go through this alone.”
Thurrin nodded, her eyes flickered for a moment to meet Salora’s before dropping back down to her paws.
“I was told we will have a few solar cycles before more supplies come in. Until then, I suppose we have a few days reprieve. Try to get some rest.” She turned started towards the door to the quarters she had been assigned, but paused and looked back at the smaller crewmember. “If you need anything Thurrin, feel free to ask me. Anytime you need.”
“Thank you Captain.”
What a ship! Wenona could not get enough of just how… how elegant it all looked. The way the doors seemed to open like they were gliding on ice, the way the lights blended seamlessly into the ceiling and walls, heck, even the occasional service panel seemed to hang on the walls like a piece of fine art. This was a nice ship! And she wasn’t just saying that just because she’d started to get used to Simmo’s scrappy ‘Junk Lego.’
It was aggravating how nice this ship felt as she took in the sights while they were led through the maze of corridors. Partly because she wanted to stop and admire, mostly because she couldn’t due to the fact that she was handcuffed and being led by armed guards.
Just before they’d been escorted from Simmo’s ship, Jebannuck had told them to remain calm. No matter what, remain calm. She and Mike were not individually allied with the Galactic Confederation. At the very least, their status as civilians should insure certain levels of care.
That's what he'd said. As Wenona and the others were marched through corridor after gorgeous corridor, she felt like staying calm might actually be feasible. Except for the fact that the only reason they were aboard this masterpiece of engineering was because they’d basically been brought here by gunpoint.
Oh yeah. No that really takes the “fun” and “calm” out of things.
To be honest though, this was probably the best “prisoner” treatment she’d received so far. Not that that was hard to do. The guards, who looked like large featherless birds, ushered them along with calm, emotionless expressions on their narrow yellow faces. Their eyes, which to Wenona looked a little too large for their heads, mostly stayed locked straight ahead, though Wenona noticed a few would occasionally shoot a glance at her or Mike.
Fantastic, we’re celebrities all over again. Better that than test subjects. She turned her head just enough to be able to look back at Simmo in the corner of her eye. The guards on her side caught the motion and nudged her forward. She would have growled at them, had it not been for the fact that they were carrying blasters. Best not risk it. Not yet. Instead, she gave them the meanest glare she could muster and kept walking. It didn’t take much longer to arrive at their destination.
Well it wasn’t the bridge, or at least it didn’t look anything like any bridge she’d been in lately (and she’d been on a surprising amount of bridges in the space of really not that many months). Instead, it looked more like a throne room? Do aliens have throne rooms? They must, there was a giant chair. On top of that sat a very important-looking alien.
Unlike the guards, this alien was covered in regal-looking orange and red feathers. They were dressed in a long elegant-looking sash that draped down to the floor. A few large feathers on the end of its tail and near the back of its head were tipped with purple. It’s body shape vaguely resembled a sloth with a long sweeping tail, though the shape of its body was where the similarities ended. It was not cute. It was not slow. It had a slight predatory look to it. Definitely not a sloth.
The guards stopped about three quarters of the way into the room and dipped their heads.
“Sir, the crew of the trespassing ship, as you ordered.” Four of the guards bowed and tipped their heads up before retreating back to the door they’d all just come through. What the heck was that? Some sort of salute? Weird. She turned her head back to look at the alien that apparently had been the one to summon them all here.
It leaned forward in its throne. Its massive eyes were a piercing yellow that matched the gold of its crown. Wenona stared those eyes down, refusing to look down or away. If this creep wanted to intimidate her, it was going to have to do better than a staring contest!
Then it started to laugh.
Or at least it sounded like it could be laughter. It reared its head back and it was making hacking and clicking noises, so either it was laughing it having a coughing fit.
“Humans! By all things bright and shining, you were the last beings I was expecting to find out here.”
Wenona looked over to Mike, who looked like he had the same confused expression she had.
“My, my,” the feathered alien continued. It’s voice was deeper than she expected. It echoed around the throne room and felt… warm. “I knew your people were space-faring, but this is quite a distance from your home world. Earth, isn’t it?”
It took a few moments before Wenona realized the alien was actually waiting for an answer. “Uh, yes. Earth,” she nodded.
“Excellent,” the alien stood, never breaking its stare as it took a few steps toward them. Wenona shuffled uneasily at its approach. It didn’t seem to be noticed. “My name is Fleet Commander Rozar.” He slowly continued walking closer, seemingly enthralled by his new guests as he was able to get a better look at their disheveled appearance and still-not-quite-healed wounds. “You look like you’ve quite a story or two to tell.”
Wenona continued to stare silently at him. She felt she should say something, but no words came to mind. Not that she really had any desire to say anything anyway.
Mike finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “Well, I guess that’s one way of putting it. We’ve definitely had a long couple of months, or partecs, or whatever it is that you guys use to tell time.” Rozar’s stare shifted slightly to Mike. “It’s been a lot of time, is... what I’m saying. Since we were home.”
The Fleet Commander nodded slowly before turning sharply to a guard waiting behind him. The guard, a gray-ish hulking figure with skin the texture of tree bark, stood at attention as Commander Rozar began gesturing to him in some sort of sign language. The gray figure gave the same weird salute as the other guards and marched out of the room.
Wenona and Mike shared a worried look before glaning back at Jeb. The sefra showed no emotion on his streaked gray face, but nodded to Wenona as the Commander turned back to them, mouthing the words, ‘say it.’
“Commander Rozar,” the gold eyes locked on to her again. Stick with the plan, stick with the plan. Wenona took a deep breath before continuing, “My name is Wenona Peters, this is Mike Rockwell. Whatever you and the Galactic Confederation have between you, we are not a part of it. We’re civilians in all this.”
The corners of Commander Rozar’s mouth twitched upwards as he focused on the four of them, ending up on Jebannuck. “Smart, sefra, very clever. Am I supposed to fall for that? I do hope you aren’t underestimating the Empire. We are not as ignorant of your affairs as the Confederation would like to believe. You’ve blocked us for decapartecs - from trade with the Synx System, from the calciar and trubinian mines, from expansion to the Outer Coun Sector,” Rozar’s tone remained dangerously calm and even, but Wenona noticed his feathers on his neck were starting to ruffle a bit. “You kept us blocked us from Earth, made sure you were the only option of allies for the humans to make after what you saw what they did to the Kahsk fleet.”
Wenona caught Mike’s head jerk to look back at Jebanuck. The Kahsks. That had been what had started all this mess. Their invasion, their failed invasion had been years ago. Their technology, reverse engineered and altered by NASA, Near Star, Boeing, and many private companies were what had finally sent humanity into the stars. What did the Burnti Empire know about the Kahsks? And more importantly, what did it have to do with her and Mike now?
Commander Rozar saw the confused looks of the humans and paused his rant to turn back to them. “Oh yes, we know about Earth’s alliance with the Galactic Confederation, as misguided and uninformed a decision as it was,” he jeered back at Jebannuck, who looked like his tough, expressionless facade was starting to crack. Wenona wasn’t sure if the trembling she saw was from anger or from his wounds that were not completely healed. “Perhaps,” Rozar continued, “we can still do something about that.”
With a quick nod from Commander Rozar, several of the yellow guards that had escorted them before rushed up and surrounded Jebannuck. He gave a grunt as the guards began moving him toward a door on the side of the room.
“Jeb!” Mike yelled. He started towards him but was stopped by the guard next to him.
“Bring him back!” Wenona dodged her own guard and slapped away the reach of another. She grabbed one of the guards pulling Jeb away and threw them to the floor. Her own guards caught up and pulled her back. She kicked the legs out from under one and elbowed the other in the face. It screeched in pain and was about to retaliate when Mike appeared seemingly out of nowhere and punched it in the gut.
Another guard grabbed Mike’s bad arm and twisted it behind his back, pushing him to the ground. He yelled in pain, but the guard did not let up as he pinned him down. Two more guards tackled Wenona. Using her own move from before, they kicked her legs out from under her and held her arms tightly at an awkward angle against her back. Blasters were now out and hummed quietly as they charged up.
In all this, Commander Rozar didn’t move. He hardly seemed fazed.
“Fascinating,” he drawed out each syllable. The three guards they had downed groaned and struggled to get back kup. “For being just ‘civilians in all this,’ you both seem to be eager to protect a Confederation officer.” In the corner of her eye, Wenona noticed Simmo, still standing where they’d all been brought in. There were no guards around her. Perfect! She could get them out of this! She could- but she didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at the spectacle, still as a statue.
“Simmo!” The montauk focused on her, but still made no move to help. Any more words she had died on her lips. She… no. Her stomach fell. What was she thinking? Why should Simmo help? Their alliance was one of forced circumstances, and the circumstances had changed.
“Apparently I still have much to read up on about on how humans form bonds,” Commander Rozar chuckled to himself. “How very interesting.” His feathered tail swept side to side smugly behind him. “I must warn against such behavior in the future. You’ll quickly find out escaping here won’t be so easy as overtaking a small Montauk smuggler’s ship.” Wenona’s breath caught as she stared at the Burnti Fleet Commander. Her mind didn’t seem to completely grasp what she’d just heard. Did he just-? How did he know? What?!
“Don’t fret, Human Wenona Peters, Human Mike Rockwell. As it currently stands, you and your little friends are my guests.” With a nod, the guards hauled them both back up to their feet, though they didn’t let go of their holds on their arms. “As guests, I expect a certain level of civility and decorum. Further… outbreaks… in behavior would not be recommended.”
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