Chapter 36
MARK
The council chamber was dark, save the spotlights aiming down on every chair around the roundtable. In the centre of the large platform, Karan S’Jet appeared as a hologram. One by one as the seats filled with those elected temporary Sa, or those Sa’s who chose to embark on the voyage. Naturally, the elected Soban-Sa also came, but seeing Mark already taking the seat made a bow and stepped back.
“Daiamid in session,” Karan spoke once all were present and accounted for.
“What is the meaning of this?” Spoke the Naabal-Sa first.
“I concur,” the Sa of LiirHra added. Most of the others were mumbling amongst each other as well.
Karan put a stop to the chatter. “Silence, please. I have called this session to discuss what should be done with our latest captives.”
“What should be done? Lock them up, that’s what! They almost killed us!” The Sa elect of the Manaan had said.
“Yes, we simply cannot afford the risk! It is too dangerous,” the Kaalel-Sa, one of the few actual Sa’s said.
“I understand your very valid concerns over them,” Karan responded. “However, they are your blood. You saw the derelict prison barge same as we all did,” she said.
“Even so…”
“If it is security you worry about, I can think of a compromise,” the Naabal-Sa began. All eyes were on her. “The carrier we stole. We could simply send all Kadeshi captives over there. At least then we can guarantee Mothership’s safety.”
“Aye, that would likely be the only way this occurs in any acceptable way,” the Kaalel-Sa agreed. And with him, one by one the others voiced their agreements.
“If we can guarantee Mothership’s safety I have no problem releasing them from imprisonment,” the Manaan-Sa said. “It is like you said, they are our blood.”
“We invaded their territory, not the other way around,” Mark added.
“The Bentusi did warn us,” the Kaalel-Sa said.
“How many captives do we have?” Asked the Naabal-Sa.
Karan answered. “Nearly half a thousand.”
“Five hundred? How are there so many?” The Manaan-Sa asked.
“Four hundred and forty-one to be exact,” she continued. “This includes swarmer pilots and their frigate crews, as well as a few fuel pods we also captured.”
“Will the carrier be able to support that many? There’s already a lot of prisoners aboard that vessel.”
“Taiidan as well,” Mark added. “The Kadeshi are afraid of them, believe them to be emissaries of Sajuuk himself.”
“Might I offer another suggestion?” Asked the Naabal-Sa. “We are currently working on reverse-engineering the scan of the other craft encountered in the Garden of Kadesh. Not the prison barge, but the carrier next to it. We could begin construction of a new unit. We simply need more time.” Heads began to nod in agreement.
“Do any present wish to voice opposition to this?” Karan asked.
The table was silent.
“And so it is settled. Once we reach our next destination, I will begin preparations to transfer all Kadeshi to this new carrier unit, as well as to their own vessels since I imagine these captured vessels would be more effective with crew who know their full capabilities better than us. Council adjourned,” she said before the hologram disappeared.
The room began to empty out. Mark stole some looks to the other Sa’s, who seemed unsure what to make of him. It was the Kaalel-Sa who stopped him.
“So you proclaim yourself Soban-Sa, do you?” He asked standing behind him.
“It is not something I take lightly, but yes.”
“Do you know what that even entails?” His tone was grave. It was indeed nothing to take lightly.
“More than you, yes.”
“I see. Well in that case, best of fortune to you young Sa,” he said taking his leave.
As the Naabal-Sa was making for the door, she also gave her remarks. “Well, I for one have my doubts. But I will be watching your progress, young one.” He nodded.
He decided he wanted time alone to think, and so his destination was the hangar bay and to his interceptor.
He ran a full diagnostic once inside the cockpit. Nothing anomalous detected save the already known to him damage to the engine module from using his half-hazard thrown together afterburner upgrade. It was using the same system found inside the scout units, but scaled up for an interceptor. It was an experiment more than much else, and naturally there would be some adjusting required. “It’s that bad, huh? That’ll be a hard fix,” he said noting the extent of the damage.
“Hey, Mark! You up there?” He heard Isabella calling him from below, and poked his head out to see her and Arazis standing on the deck.
“I’ll be right down!” He shouted back. Once below, he met up with them. “How’s your day going, I see you’ve not murdered each other yet.”
“Nah, we’re mostly over that. Still not gonna trust her, but no I didn’t murder her,” Isabella said. “You know me, near-impossible to hold a grudge even if I wanted to.”
“Well, well!” He said.
“Don’t push it.”
“Where did you go, out of curiosity?” Arazis asked. “We checked your room and just about everywhere for you.”
“Yeah, what’s the deal?”
“I had some uh, Sa business to take care of.”
“Doubt, but ok.”
“No seriously, I just got back from a Daiamid session.”
“What? No way, already?” Isabella asked with a look of total shock. “You proclaimed yourself Sa of the military kiith in an illegal fleet-wide broadcast and within a day you’re hanging out with Karan and the other Sas?”
“Yeah, Karan agrees with us actually, the Kadeshi are to be transferred over to a new carrier as well as their own vessels once we reach our next destination. The other Sas don’t want to see their kind imprisoned like as the other captives, but they also worry about the safety of the fleet. The compromise seems to be that as long as Mothership’s safety is guaranteed, all is well.”
“So it worked?” Arazis asked.
“It worked,” he confirmed.
“I’m curious, though. Who is this Karan person I keep hearing about? I know she’s hooked up to the core and all that but…”
“I am our eyes, ears, and mind for this entire expedition,” came her voice over the hangar speakers.
“Ah!” She exclaimed in surprise by unexpected response.
“She doesn’t bite,” Mark said. “Karan S’Jet, meet Arazis Restona, one of the best pilots I’ve ever had to go up against.”
“A pleasure.”
“Jeez, you talk about her as though you know her or something,” Isabella said.
“Well, actually…” she started.
“Should we tell them? I mean, I don’t think we’ve told anyone before actually,” Mark said.
“I don’t see why not,” she said.
“She met me before, long ago as children. I went by Elmer Paktu back then as I did not really know my heritage yet. She spent the colder seasons in the south, so every year I’d see this rich girl down by the beaches with an entire posse swarming around.”
“Don’t remind me,” she added.
“Wait, wait, wait…” Isabella said. “Mark, don’t tell me you used to date.”
They both laughed. “No, not like that.” She said. “He simply didn’t see me as a celebrity like everyone else around did. One of the few kids growing up who didn’t treat me like some kind of northern princess, so annoying.”
“When I found out I was the son of the Soban-Sa, I used that connection to get in touch after finding my way north. It had been years since last I saw her, but I needed help at the time getting my bearings.”
“I did not expect to see you show up at my doorstep, that’s for certain.”
“I need to say thank you,” Arazis said. “For my people.”
“I heard your captain’s final broadcast from the captured ships’ archives. It seems they will follow if you choose to lead,” she added.
“I—I don’t know,” she said. “We have spent our entire lives growing up with the deeply held belief that if ever Sajuuk’s Emissaries discovered us, it would mean the end of all. Now, I know that these Emissaries are just the Taiidan, and are as mortal as any of us.”
“Well, except Karan I guess,” Mark added.
“What do you mean?” Isabella asked.
“Oh, he simply means that due to the nature of hyperspace and the core focusing its energies through me, my biological processes have paused more or less.”
“So wait, you can’t age?” Isabella asked.
“Not while in the core, apparently. I mean, no one knows for sure, not even me.”
“No, that makes sense to me actually,” Arazis added. “While we don’t have a core, the Kadeshi too have found that hyperspace energy can have this effect on a life form. We have a select few such as captain Jeremiah who have undergone the process. We have figured out a way to prolong a lifespan but not full on immortality. We called this phenomenon Kadesh providing us with her essence, as to us she is the one who brought all beings to life.”
“Interesting, I am fascinated by the culture of your people,” Karan said. “So you fear Sajuuk as a nemesis god to your own?”
“Effectively, yeah. I know now that he is not, but a fearful populace is far easier to control. The story is, there was a divine Trinity once. There was Sajuuk the eldest, the Maker, representing all the masculine. Then there was Kadesh, the Animator and youngest representing all that is feminine, who breathed life into all creations of Sajuuk.”
“And the last of the three?”
“Tiamat, the destroyer. Tiamat has no gender, or both depending on interpretation. Their task is to reset the field and wash away the old to make way for the new. All who die must first pass through his crucible before one’s spirit can enter Balcora.”
Karan was quite interested now. “We have old texts who make mention of one T-mat, the nemesis of the Maker, but we only know of such a name from a book that had seen many years and was missing parts.”
“The three are the gods of our ancestors, their origins dating all the way back to prehistoric times on Hiigara,” Arazis explained. “The Codex states this: Sajuuk betrayed the Trinity, thinking himself more powerful than the others. When confronted by the other two, he slew Tiamat down. In their final act, Tiamat crystallized their heart and gave it to Kadesh so she may wield all the powers and abilities, and to command the legions of undead. Kadesh, in her first act of violent rage towards her eldest brother, made way for his most prized creation, a device capable of constructing entire star systems from dust, and destroyed it in a single blow using Tiamat’s might, which was made exponentially more when combined with her fiery will. The result was the birth of the Garden of Kadesh.”
“Truly poetic,” Karan said. “Part of me wishes to believe the tale to be true, more or less. If as you say, it is one of old Hiigara.”
“One can never know,” she said. “The Codex also states that the Garden was never meant as an eternal refuge, just a temporary one until the time of prophesy, when we with her backing would challenge Sajuuk and destroy him for good. It is said Kadesh has the power to imprison Sajuuk behind Balcora’s Gate in eternal slumber, and rob him of his very life essence. He dares not tread into the Garden himself because of this and instead acts through his Emissaries in the realm of life.”
Karan continued. “We of the Kushan revere Sajuuk like none other, but again. He, it is said, is the one who had in his ultimate judgement exiled us to Kharak for some sort of grave sin we had once committed. If He is indeed our enemy, then may Kadesh protect us all in the times to come.” She took her leave with that, and they stood in silence in the hangar.
“Well, she seemed nice,” Arazis said.
“She is, probably too kind for her own good though,” Mark said thinking back to their shared past.
ARAZIS
Once returned to Isabella’s quarters, she reached for her desk’s drawer and took out a small bottle of a dark, translucent liquid and took a swig, then winced as she swallowed. “Anyone else?” She asked holding it out to them. Mark took it, and took a drink twice what she did. “Whoa, whoa slow down, champ,” taking it back and having another. “Remember what happens if you outpace me, Mark?”
“I mean…”
“Handsy, buddy, handsy as shit.” He laughed, and took a seat at her desk’s chair.
“Here,” she said holding the bottle out to Arazis.
Confused, she grabbed it, and took a sniff at the opening and winced. “Oh! It stings!” The liquid burned her nostrils.
“Oh, trust me. It might be a little bit of a burn, but you’ll enjoy what it does.”
“If you say so…” She prepared herself, and filled her mouth with the spicy liquid. It indeed burned her throat on the way down, and she began a coughing fit while handing her back the bottle. She had to support herself with both hands on her bed, but then she became dizzy, but content somehow. “What in Kadesh’s name is that stuff?” She asked.
“We call it booze. Specifically my personal stash of rum, seventy percent alcohol content. It’s some pretty potent stuff, so don’t be embarrassed.”
“You’re right about liking it, though. Just wow, that was not fun going down.”
“How much of this do you have left, out of curiosity?” Mark asked taking another drink.
“Enough,” she said taking another for herself. “No for real, I packed enough. Like, for the whole trip. More than even I’d be able to conceivably drink on my own. I’ve got barrels of it in storage.”
“Sajuuk, Manaan.”
“Hey, in hindsight it’s a good thing I did, right?” She said holding the bottle out to her once more. “Just don’t take a huge swig like that first one, and wait a good five seconds before inhaling.”
”Okay, here goes nothing,” she said filling her mouth with about half as much as her first drink. It turned out if you indeed did not inhale immediately, your first breath did not feel like grating bits of shrapnel. And no coughing.
“Nice, there you go!” Isabella said.
The three of them polished off the entire bottle, and had to all take a seat not to fall over. “I did not think I’d be able to feel this happy, given all that’s gone on lately,” she said lying on the couch staring at the metal ceiling.
“Oh, yeah. It does that for you,” Mark said.
“I’ve got more in here somewhere, but I think it’d be unwise if we keep going,” Isabella said lying arms stretched out on her bed, also staring at the ceiling. Mark was spinning around in the desk’s chair.
“So, what do we do about the whole recruitment situation?” He asked.
“What do you mean?” Isabella asked.
“Well, we’ve lost more than a few of our pilots, even some skilled ones. Including one of our best.”
“Shit, that’s right. More training for us, I guess.” She groaned and sat up.
“You know, we even lost both our secondary wingmen for Red Squad too. Again.”
“I noticed.”
“It seems no matter what we do we can’t seem to keep ‘em alive, can we? Are we just shit?”
“Nah,” Arazis replied. “I got one of them myself. The other was taken out by another of our best. My rival, actually.”
“I see,” she said.
“Shit,” she said sitting up too. “Sorry I didn’t mean to bring that up again.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. I saw you out there. Scary good.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Hey, you wanna join Red Squad? I mean, no idea if that’ll be allowable, but since you can obviously keep up with us two it’s likely you at least wouldn’t die on us.”
“That’s actually a great idea,” Mark said stopping his spinning.
“Really? I thought it was stupid,” Isabella said.
“No, I mean like, as public relations or whatever too. I’d guess if the others of her kind saw us cooperating it would make all of this a whole lot easier for them to accept.”
“It might,” Arazis added. “I don’t know, I only know how to fly a swarmer, really. I’ve not even seen what the inside console of your interceptors looks like.”
“It’s honestly pretty idiot-proof as long as you know the controls,” Isabella said.
She thought it over. “I mean, I probably should accept, also for the reasons Mark pointed out, so yeah I suppose I will.”
“Sweet! Now I only have to find one good enough replacement,” Mark said.
“At this rate we’re gonna have to wake up some sleepers for it, we’re sort of running out of available people with any sort of training to recruit. Like, half our last batch were commercial airliner pilots for Sajuuk’s sake!”
“I know, and look how many of them actually made it out of our last fight too,” Mark said. “I checked the list of our losses. I know.”
“Shit, how bad was it?”
“Over half just didn’t make it.”
“Half?!”
“Yes.”
She sighed, then walked over to her desk, rummaging around deep near the back to find another bottle. She broke the seal and took two gulps from it. “Anyone else?” She offered.
“I’m good I think,” Mark said.
“I’ll take some,” she said. “I’m loving that stuff. I think I might’ve found my favourite thing to consume.”
“Now isn’t that the truth. Here,” she said handing it over.
“Who do you think should head Green Squad?” She asked Mark.
“I haven’t even thought about it yet to be honest, but probably Kyle.”
“Yeah I was also thinking Kyle, he gave a great speech at Jeroll’s funeral. Sad you missed that,” she said.
“Don’t be, Jeroll despised the idea anyway. He’d probably be pissed if he saw me there. I said my goodbyes in my own way.”
“Yeah, guess you’re probably right.”
“From what I’ve heard he seemed a great person to be around,” Arazis added, tears welling in her eyes, knowing she was responsible for ending his life. She took another drink.
“Definitely,” Isabella said. “I know I said I can’t really love right, and that’s why Mark and I broke it off, but he challenged my assumption on that,” she said taking the bottle back. “Of course, I was never planning on telling him.” She raised the bottle up. “Here’s to you,” and took another, then another immediately after.
“You know, it still amazes me how tough your liver is Manaan,” Mark said.
“Oh this? That’s nothing, you should see the special reserve you can’t buy. Eighty-five percent, that stuff. I’ve got none of that, though. You wanna get messed up on one shot? That’ll do most in,” she said.
“Maddening,” he replied.
“I hear our convoy leads know of a secret store somewhere beneath the ruins of Ferin Sha of outright ancient stuff too, with alcohol percentages in the unknowns. Stuff only to be used during the Festival, obviously, since all reason vanishes during it, absolute chaotic lawlessness for a solid week.”
“Your kiith is insane,” he said through laughter.
“Oh, we sure are the best to bring to a party. That’s why we invented Kharak’s biggest party, after all.”
“Wasn’t there also some kind of religious significance to it?”
“Hah! Big fat lie, by the way. Nah, we just invented an excuse for all of us to get shitfaced with no consequences, seriously.”
“Wow,” Mark said.
“Blasphemous to the very end. And yet somehow the Gaalsi liked us more than the rest of the Coalition members.”
“Probably because you were the only ones who could reliably navigate the great deserts and find out where they were all hiding,” he said.
“I mean, you’re not wrong. There’s a lot we refused to tell the Coalition about them. And I mean, my own tribe’s main ship was an old Gaalsi hover carrier with a green coat of paint.”
“Right, you’ve mentioned,” he said. “Why green though, by the way? I’ve never had that explained to me before.”
“Oh that’s just cause it stands out most against the sand. Makes it easier to find home if there’s a storm going on, also spotting other nomads to meet up and trade since we usually all travel with our transponders off.”
“Makes sense, I always thought it had something to do with the colour of vegetation or something to represent an oasis in motion.”
“Could be that too. Honestly we were all laughing at you other Coalition members for taking Naabal yellow for your colours. Yeah, good luck spotting that from any distance.”
“Hey, ours were still red at least,” he said. “And the Siidim for all their faults chose a dark blue.”
“True.”
Arazis simply sat there and listened to their banter with great interest. Their culture ran deep, same as hers. She did not know when she lost consciousness, but the last thing she remembered was Saiin’s face threatening to break her arms to prevent her from flying.