Chapter 19
Rayne, Bob, and I got back onto my ship through the door at the side of the cockpit. While Rayne took a seat, I went into the living compartment and found Lifion lying on the bed with his eyes closed and his hands clasped across his chest.
“How’re you doing?” I asked as I leaned against the doorframe.
“Considering I was in stasis for years, I have never been so relieved to be allowed a rest,” the Lilacron replied.
I chuckled as I rambled into the room and took a seat at the front of the bed. From such a close distance, I was able to see firsthand how badly Lifion and all of the other slaves had been treated.
There were sections of skin around his ankles that had been rubbed raw. He had clearly been shackled when he wasn’t forced into servitude by Seelan and his gang of thugs. His body was covered in cuts, swelling, and deep, violet bruises that covered so much of his body that he hardly had any normal skin left on him. All he had on was a sort of sack that had been fashioned into something that resembled a long t-shirt that reached his knees, and I could tell that he was glad of the warmth inside the ship.
“I’m sorry you had to go through what you did on that ship,” I said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he replied as he sat up to speak to me. “It’s because of you that we are all free. Besides, I wasn’t there for very long. Some of them had been there for years.”
“I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for them,” I sighed. “I will never understand how some people can be so cruel.”
“Greed goes a long way for some people,” he replied.
“I suppose so,” I sighed. “Anyway, I’m sure that the others will be ecstatic when we take you back to the colony.”
“And I will be, too,” he said excitedly. “All I could think about while I was locked up in that ship was my people. My home was destroyed, but I knew that some of them had escaped the planet before the Karaak attacked. I was not so lucky, but I have been given a second chance at life, and I will do everything I can to keep my species alive.”
“You’re a good person, Lifion,” I said. “They’re lucky to have you. But, like I said earlier, we do have to make a small detour back to Kytr first. There are some… loose ends that I need to tie up.”
“Loose ends?” he asked.
“Well, I have a deal with their leader, and I need to make sure she holds up her end of the bargain,” I replied. “And I also have a few questions for her. It shouldn’t take long, so you can stay on the ship if you like. Or you could join us. It’s probably going to be a hell of a show.”
“I think I will take you up on that,” he chuckled. “It sounds entertaining, to say the least.”
“It most definitely will be,” Francine said through Bob as the robot walked into the room.
“Ah, a taste of home,” Lifion chortled when he heard Francine’s voice come from the bot.
“I know you need the rest,” I said. “But for now, do you mind coming into the cockpit and strapping in? It’s a bumpy ride back down to Kytr, and I think you might be thrown out of this bed if you try to sleep through the descent.”
I helped the exhausted man out of the bed and took him through into the cockpit. I helped to lower him into the seat at the back of the small room and secured his safety harness over his torso. I tried not to touch any of the fresh bruises on his body, and he smiled at the care I was taking with him.
Once he was safely buckled in, I went over to my seat and fired up the thrusters. The hangar had been cleared and the Kytran ships were loaded and ready to go, and as I brought the ship up off the floor, the airlock opened for us to leave.
I flew out first, and the rest of the supply ships fell into line behind me. I decided to take this journey slowly on the way back in. I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes at the final hurdle. Besides, it would have been too ironic for us to die on reentry after all we had just been through on the slaver ship.
As we entered the nebula, the dust washed over the ship like a glittery shower, and for a moment, my scanners were disorientated. But the nebula wasn’t very deep, and we shot out of the other side a couple of minutes later. Not long after that, Kytr came back into view. It rotated innocently in all its radioactive glory, and as we drew nearer, Francine brought the map up on the HUD to show me the exact path we had to take in order to ensure the Kytrans in the ships behind us survived the descent.
“Hold on to your hats, ladies and gents,” I said as I flew over to the exact place we needed to reenter through. “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”
Rayne wrapped her hands around her harness and braced herself. Bob used one of his robot arms to grab hold of my chair, and I tightened my grip on the joysticks as I pushed us down into the radiation cloud.
It was just as difficult getting back through it as it had been getting out. I had to go slower than I had when I first flew down to Kytr because the supply ships needed to follow me, even though they had traveled the route before. Their scanners still didn’t work well in this mess, and Francine was the only thing we could really count on.
Despite our slower pace, the re-entry through the atmosphere might have been even rougher. But we made it, and I took us over to the concealed entrance of the Kytran underground city. The supply ships all drifted down around us, and we hovered a couple of feet above the smooth, black glass plain until the panel slid open and we flew down into the darkness.
I hadn’t entered the Kytran city this way before, so I let the supply ships take the lead. Still, anything was better than having to do that long staircase again. I was pretty sure that after the one hundred versus one battle I’d had on the slave ship, my body would have given up if I’d tried to hike down the steps again.
The well we flew down was deeper than I’d expected, but eventually, the floor rushed up to meet us, and we all landed softly on the smooth floor. The section of glass that had opened for us closed overhead, and once the all clear was given, the ramps for the supply ships opened and several crewmen began to move some of the boxes from the ships.
I gave Lifion some trousers and a sweatshirt for warmth, and Bob trotted over with a breathing tube that he could wear temporarily while we were underground in the city. I saw Lifion stroke the fabric and smile before he disappeared back into the living quarters to change.
“Ready to go?” I asked when he reappeared.
“Yes,” he said and smiled. “I can’t wait to see this strange world.”
We climbed down to the cargo hold and then walked down the ramp together. I was surprised that no one else had appeared to help the crews unload the ships, but before I could comment on that, Bysern and a group of Kytrans ran over to our small posse.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Bysern said. “You’ve done so much for us. Both of you.”
“No one was waiting for you,” I said and pointed to the double doors. “And no one has shown up to help unload the ships. Is that normal?”
“No,” the second-in-command replied as he frowned at the doors. “No, it isn’t.”
“It’s almost like someone didn’t expect us to come back,” I replied with a pointed look at Bysern.
“I don’t want to believe that one of my own people told the slavers we were coming,” he said as he shook his head, but it was obvious he’d been having the same thoughts we’d had.
“You might not want to believe it, but it’s what happened,” Rayne said.
“But who would betray us like that?” he sighed. “It’s unimaginable.”
“I have my suspicions,” I replied. “But I doubt anyone will believe us unless we can get that person to confess.”
“That doesn’t seem likely,” Bysern replied. “Even after everything you did for us, you’re still the outsider.”
“Yeah,” I sighed and then smiled. “Well, I do have one idea. If you’ll permit me?”
“I’ll follow your lead,” Bysern replied.
“Well, they clearly weren’t expecting us to come back,” I said. “So let’s give them a shock, shall we?”
Bysern nodded with a curious twinkle in his eye.
“Everyone, listen up,” I called out, and the Kytrans stopped what they were doing and turned to look at us. “You can all leave the supplies where they are. You’ve all been through enough, and there are plenty of other people who can unload the ships.”
Some of the Kytrans looked at one another in confusion, but most of them just looked relieved that they weren’t expected to work after the ordeal they’d been put through.
“As you all probably noticed, no one was waiting for us when we arrived,” Rayne said. “That’s because someone didn’t think we were coming back at all.”
There was a troubled murmur from the crowd that quickly hushed to allow us to keep talking.
“I learned from one of the slavers that they were tipped off that we would be heading to the space station today,” I said. “I think I know exactly who did it, and I want to see the look on that person’s face when we walk into that city. How about you?”
All of them nodded, and some even cheered.
“Great,” I said. “Then let’s go show them just how strong the Kytrans are.”
The crews started to cheer, and somewhere near the back of the crowd, a few Kytrans started to chant Bysern’s name. Bysern acknowledged his name with a wave, and then he nodded at me and Rayne. The three of us marched side by side toward the doors with the rest of the volunteers right behind us.
“You were right,” Lifion said as we walked through the glass tunnels. “This is much more exciting than staying on the ship.”
I chuckled at that, but my laughter quickly faded. I had to admit that I was nervous about the reaction to what I was about to tell the Kytran people. If my suspicions were correct, and the person who had tipped off the slavers was who I thought it was, then it was possible that things could get ugly fast. No one liked to see their leader brought down, but there was no one else who could have pulled it off.
After about ten minutes of walking through identical hallways and one rickety elevator down to a lower floor, we arrived at what appeared to be a dead end. However, I now knew better than to think we had taken a wrong turn. Bysern walked over to the wall and pressed a hidden button on one of the panels, and it slid open.
We had entered through a different door than last time, and I found myself looking over the main cavern from opposite the infirmary. However, instead of all the Kytrans bustling around as they had been before, a huge group of them were gathered in the center of the room. They were all looking in the opposite direction at one person on a podium who was addressing them.
It was Callora, their queen, and she was clearly in full politician mode. The rest of the cavern was packed with Kytrans, but there were cameras all around Callora to televise her statement to anyone who couldn’t fit in the room.
“And while we will remember their sacrifice forever,” she said sadly. “We will never forget their bravery. They risked their lives to bring us the supplies we so desperately need, but unfortunately, they were intercepted by…” She trailed off when she suddenly saw us from the other end of the room.
She gawked at our bedraggled group as we marched into the cave like an avenging army, and soon, every one of the Kytran citizens that were in the room had turned to look at us. Even the cameras swiveled around to face us, and for a moment, everyone was still.
“Surprise,” I said.
Suddenly, people started to dart out of the crowd and came running toward some of the supply ship crew. They looked beyond relieved to see them, and I was pretty sure that it was because Callora had just falsely informed them of their capture and demise.
All the queen could do was stare at us in complete shock, and though she quickly tried to cover that with a smile at our miraculous arrival, even from my position, I could see the burning anger in her face. That was all the confirmation I needed, but I followed Bysern toward the stage with Rayne by my side.
“That sounded like a nice speech,” I said as we walked onto the stage. “I wish we could have heard more of it. I’d be interested to know what other lies you were gonna feed them.”
“T-they weren’t lies,” she blustered. “I watched your ships get intercepted by a slave ship. It was only logical for me to assume that you had all either been captured or killed.”
“How’d you know it was a slave ship?” I asked.
“I wasn’t born yesterday,” she said with a steely gaze in her black eyes. “I’ve seen them before.”
“Have you met any of them?” I asked innocently.
“Of course not,” she said.
“Really?” I replied. “Huh.”
“You don’t believe me?” she asked.
“Well, you are the Queen,” I said with a shrug. “It seems like you might have negotiated with them in the past or something.”
Rayne and Bysern looked surprised that I hadn’t accused Callora right away, and when Bysern stepped forward like he was about to take a swing at her, I held him back and gave him a quick shake of the head to tell him to wait.
“Well, I can only thank you for bringing these people back home,” she said too brightly. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am. If it wasn’t for you--”
“Don’t mention it,” I interjected. “Listen, Rayne and I really need to get back to the Lilacrons, so we’ll need to see the weapon now.”
“But you only just got back,” she said. “And you’ve obviously been through an ordeal. Why not let our medical team help you? And then we could enjoy a feast to celebrate your success.”
“I think I’ve had enough of banquets for the time being,” I replied. “And everyone was already assessed at the space station. Oh, the supplies for your people are in the hangar, by the way. The path I had mapped for you was a success. Your supply ships should be able to safely navigate the radiation belt again. And the station said they would be happy to help Kytr in any way they can.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Are you sure I can’t tempt you to dine with us?”
“We’ll pass,” Rayne said bluntly.
“Bysern,” Callora cooed as she turned to her second-in-command. “I’m so happy to see you.”
Bysern didn’t reply. He stiffened as Callora placed her navy-blue hands on his shoulders and touched her forehead to his.
“Although, you did disobey my orders and go with the supply ships,” she said. “I wasn’t pleased when I learned you had gone with them, but I’m so relieved you’re back that I can’t hold it against you.”
Bysern nodded awkwardly and looked over at me.
“Why were you so against your right-hand man showing solidarity and joining the other crew members on the mission?” I asked.
“Like I told you, I didn’t want to lose any more people, especially those in high-ranking positions,” she said. “And Bysern is also my friend.”
Bysern couldn’t even look at her, and he was so offended by her betrayal that he couldn’t even speak. His jaw was clenched tightly, and I could have sworn I heard him grind his teeth.
I looked over at the crowd of Kytrans as they greeted the weary travelers who had escaped the slavers’ clutches. I also noticed Lifion watching us close by, and he looked enthralled by the scene that was unraveling before him.
“So, about the weapon,” I said. “We need to see it.”
“But--” Callora began.
“Why are you stalling?” I asked.
“I’m not stalling,” she protested.
“You are,” I replied. “We held up our end of the deal. Now it’s time you held up yours.”
“Why should I?” she suddenly asked with a new mean streak in her tone. “I have what I need. You’re outnumbered. Why should I share this information with you when it’s clearly so important?”
“Wow,” Rayne scoffed. “And there I was thinking you couldn’t sink any lower.”
“You’re lucky I haven’t removed you from my planet already,” Callora said with a raised voice as she rounded on Rayne. “You’ve had a problem with me from the very beginning--”
“And rightfully so,” I said.
I noticed that a hush had descended on the room. The crowd had heard our raised voices, and now all of their attention had been turned to us. I had tried to deal with this delicately, but apparently, Callora didn’t want to play it like that. Fine, I thought to myself, she could have it her way.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked defensively.
“The slavers were tipped off that we would be there today,” I said. “They were waiting for us. If Rayne and I hadn’t been there, then all your people would have been captured or worse.”
“I’m aware of that,” she said. “And as I said, I am grateful--”
“No, you’re not grateful about that,” I replied. “You’re grateful that I killed all the slavers and blew up their ship because it means you don’t have to send any more of your people to them.”
A unified gasp rippled through the crowd. Callora looked at them and tried to remain composed, but I could tell that she was rattled. The cameras were still on as well, and that meant that billions of her people were watching her every move.
“That is a very strong accusation,” the queen said. “How dare you say something like that to me. You are an outsider on this planet. You have no say about--”
“And yet, I was the one who was interested in protecting your people,” I said. “You, on the other hand…”
“This is ludicrous,” she said and pushed past me to try and leave.
Bysern stepped into her path to stop her from going down the steps.
“Not you as well,” she said. “They got to you, didn’t they? They poisoned your mind and made you believe that I could do something like this.”
Bysern stared at her with a pained look in his eyes.
“Move out of my way,” she pressed.
“Why did you do it, Callora?” he managed to ask even though the lump of betrayal was still stuck in his throat. “Why did you sacrifice our people to those monsters?”
No one in the room took a single breath. They hung onto every word that was being said, and the room buzzed with anticipation as they waited for Callora’s response.
“I am the queen of this planet,” Callora said as she chose her words carefully. “We have just suffered a huge loss after the Karaak’s attack on our home. We survived, but our world has been crippled, and we can no longer support our population.”
“We were all there, Callora, we know what happened,” Bysern said.
“And as queen,” she continued as she spoke over Bysern. “Sometimes I am required to make difficult decisions.”
“And was what happened today one of those decisions?” Bysern asked. “Did you decide that sacrificing a few people to the slavers was worth whatever they gave you in return?”
Callora looked over her people with a defiant stare, and then she turned back to her second-in-command with her head held high.
“Yes,” she said.
Another gasp of shock erupted from the crowd and was quickly followed by shouts of anger and rage from her citizens.
“Shout at me all you want, but I am trying to keep you safe!” she yelled at them, and a stunned silence at her outburst descended on the crowd once more. “We are vulnerable, and if the Karaak return, we have no real way to fight them other than our one weapon. But we have no ground forces, no supplies, and no realistic way to keep everyone alive.”
She shot a look at Rayne and me, but I held her gaze.
“We needed supplies from the space station,” she continued. “We were so low on food that we would have starved before the month was through. I didn’t tell you that because I didn’t want to start a panic. I see now that my dishonesty was not the best decision.”
“That’s an understatement,” I replied.
“However, I have no regrets regarding my actions,” she said, but that didn’t go down so well with her citizens, who started to yell at her angrily again. “And here is why.”
She raised her hands and waited for quiet, though it took some time for the riled-up onlookers to finish shouting at her.
“Thank you,” she said when they were finally silent. “I was made aware of the slave ship two days ago. Unbeknownst to you all, I had sent a supply ship off the planet to try and break through the radiation. They made it, but the slavers were waiting for them.”
This news was met with some angry grumbling, but Callora still had their attention. Even Bysern was standing nearby as he waited to hear the rest of her story, though he looked like he might be sick at any moment.
“After the attack, the slavers knew we would need supplies in order to rebuild,” the queen continued. “But they weren’t going to let any ships through unless we offered them something in return. So, I made a deal. I told them that I would send up some supply ships and that they should be waiting to intercept them. After that, the slavers would depart to follow the Karaak to the next planet. When Will and Rayne arrived, I saw an opportunity to develop a map of the radiation belt as well, one we could use to bring in supplies once the slavers left.”
The crowd finally erupted, and the cavern rang with boos and hisses. Shouts of ‘traitor’ were soon added to the mix, and the crowd began to press against the stage. There was fury in their eyes, but hurt as well. This was the woman they had believed in, and it was hard not to feel the pain of betrayal.
“I am so, so sorry,” she said as she dropped the politician act. “But this was the only way to save us. A few hundred sacrificed to save billions. I didn’t see another way.”
“There is always another way,” Bysern said. “Why didn’t you come to me with this? We could have talked about it. We could have come up with another way out of it together.”
“You’re not in command, Bysern, I am,” she said, and I could see that her words hurt him. “At the end of the day, it’s me who makes the final decisions for my people.”
“But you didn’t even let them know what was happening,” he said. “And I think you meant well, but that doesn’t justify what you did. We would have found another way, and with Rayne and Will, we did.”
“Rayne and Will!” hundreds of Kytrans chanted.
“And yet, you were willing to sacrifice them as well,” Bysern continued. “Even though you’d agreed to help them. So really, you betrayed them twice.”
The crowd started to boo again, and Callora cast an angry glare at her people.
“And what if I did?” she demanded.
“That is not who we are,” Bysern replied. “We might as well surrender ourselves to the Karaak if you would destroy us with these lies.”
“Bysern,” she huffed. “Please, you have to understand--”
“And that is why you can’t be our queen anymore,” he said.
“What?” she exploded. “You can’t decide that.”
“You’re right about that,” he said. “The council must decide, and it must be unanimous. How say you?”
Bysern turned to the small group of advisors that were gathered near the stage. They had been strangely quiet during the confrontation, which made me wonder how innocent they really were, but one by one, they nodded in solidarity with Bysern.
Callora’s face fell, and she turned to face the crowd again. But there was no support for her there, either, and her head drooped as her shoulders sagged.
“You risked the lives of your people,” Bysern said as he rounded on her with a newfound strength in his eyes. “You made deals with known criminals. You put lives at risk and didn’t bother to consult any of your advisors. Frankly, I don’t care if you meant well. A good queen would at least have taken the advice from her peers before making a deal like that, though a negotiation with abusive, murderous slavers shouldn’t have even been an option in your head.”
“I was just trying to do the right thing,” she whimpered.
“And you failed,” he said. “And because you’re my friend, it pains me to do this, but you are stripped of your title, and you are hereby under arrest for crimes against the people of this planet.”
Callora lifted her head for a moment as she tried to gather her strength, but the look on her face told me that she knew Bysern was right. She had done something unforgivable in the name of her people, but she had failed them.
I was sure that she would be treated well in custody, but most of the people would never forgive her for her treachery. I knew she thought she had done what was necessary for the greater good, and maybe there were times when a few people had to be sacrificed for the many, but I personally felt that Callora had reached the decision much too quickly and much too easily.
Bysern signaled to a few soldiers who were standing nearby, and the three men and two women walked onto the stage. Callora looked at them for a moment, but then she let the group form a ring around her and lead her away. The crowd cursed and shouted at her as the group made its way across the cavern, but at least no one tried to do anything worse than throw a few pieces of rotten fruit at her.
“I’m sorry, Bysern,” Rayne said, and I turned back to him. “That must have been hard.”
“But it was right,” he sighed. “And that’s what matters.”
He looked over the sea of Kytrans and took a deep, steadying breath.
“They’re your people now,” I said. “And I know you’ll be the leader they need.”
“I hope so,” he sighed. “I have to admit, it’s a little terrifying. It’s one thing to stand on the sidelines and criticize, but it’s a lot harder when you’re the one who has to make the decisions.”
“You won’t always make the right choices,” I replied. “But I doubt you’ll ever make such a huge mistake.”
“Thanks,” he said and shook his head. “Well, I can start by making my first decision right now. First, you have the thanks of the people of Kytr. You have done more for us than I would have believed possible, and more importantly, you left no one behind. For that, you have lifelong friends among the Kytr.”
The crowd cheered, and I felt myself going red. I appreciated their support, but I felt awkward up there on the stage while the Kytrans all cheered me on.
“Smile,” Francine chuckled. “The cameras are still on.”
I laughed at that and then turned my attention back to Bysern.
“And now for my second decision,” he said. “As you said, you held up your end of the bargain, and now I will honor it. Would you like to see the weapon we used to beat the Karaak?”
I glanced at Rayne and Lifion, and then looked back at Bysern with a grin.
“Hell, yeah,” I replied.