Darwin was a Desert. His skin was a pale brown, his eyes were dark brown, and his scales were harder and dryer than most other Vorchans.
It didn’t come as a surprise when the people that had decided to purchase him were from Fort II, a desert planet in the Outer Rim, hope to pirates and shady merchants.
“I’ll find you again.” he had told Lucienda, and then to Styx, and then to Seyrhe, as they had been taken one at a time.
Losing Lucienda had been the worst, his beloved mate. She was the first one to be taken. Knowing he might never see her again wretched at his heart, not knowing whether she was alive or dead, what the owners were doing to her.
They tugged on his control collar, pulling him towards a small house with very big doors.
“The collar has a death ring. But I’m sure you know that.” said the man that had taken him all the way here. He wondered if this was his owner.
“I’m aware.”
“I’ve heard of the horrors Martock has put your people through. I think it’ll benefit you to know that the worst of it is over.”
He wanted to tell him how they’d taken his family, his friends, but instead he just nodded, staring at this small Raumen creature. He showed him a bracelet on his arm. “Do you know what this is?” he asked.
Darwin shook his head.
“It’s a keep-alive. A life ring. If I die, your death ring activates and you die.”
“I wasn’t going to kill you. I don’t murder sentient beings.” Darwin growled.
“It’s just an incentive. You’re going to be our sentinel, Darwin, our body guard. You will accompany me to all of my transactions, my meetings, and you will obey all of my commands. That’s all I ask of you, and in return, you get to live a comfortable life in my mansion.”
The house he was standing before didn’t look like a mansion.
“But before we start all that – I made a deal with another owner.”
“A deal?”
“Yes, he bought a Vorchan of his own some time ago, a female. A Desert like you. Hell, you might know each other.”
There were thousands of other Deserts on that dreaded Death Ship. “I have a mate.”
“Well, that’s in the past now. You have a new life now!”
“I won’t.” Darwin said, knowing what the man wanted.
The man looked at a button on his collar. “I really don’t want to torture you into doing it. One act! Your mate doesn’t even have to know!”
He wasn’t sure, his instincts longed for a female after all this time.
“Come on. I heard she’s very attractive!”
“Where is she?” Darwin asked, peering into the house’s windows.
“Somewhere in the house. Her owner told her not to leave until she was done. Hades’ not as forgiving as me. He’ll most likely whip her again if she doesn’t comply.”
“That’s barbaric.” Darwin hissed.
“So get to it. Convince her to mate with you and save her the pain of more floggings.”
He couldn’t believe how easily he was being convinced to do this. But Lucienda would do the same, wouldn’t she? To save a Vorchan from the pain of torture? One single physical act. That was all!
“Okay, I’ll do my best.” Darwin was ashamed at the excitement he portrayed in his voice.
“I thought so! I’ll be back in one hour! That’s a long time. Enjoy your time together.” he walked over to the truck he had been carried here from. The cage on the bed rattled as he drove off, a plume of dust behind him.
“Well, nothing else to do now.” he muttered, taking a few steps towards the house.
There was a loud roar from inside the house. A defensive roar.
Darwin continued forward, cautiously, making it over to the door of the house. He gently hinged it open. He heard scurrying, a tail disappear up a flight of stairs.
He followed, curious. He wanted to at least know what she looked like.
The second floor had a hallway that separated into a cleaning chamber and a few smaller rooms. The larger one had what was left of a bed on it. It was completely broken and burnt to embers. He scanned the bedroom. She wasn’t here…
A rustling. The closet!
Was she really hiding in the closet? Really? Of all the places.
He began to skulk over to the closet intently. A growl emanated from inside, its volume increasing as he inched closer.
He had to see her, Deserts were extremely curious by nature, he had to know what she looked like, before he did anything else. He went to open the door.
It flew off its hinges, knocking him in the face and lodging in his spikes, covering his eyes. He ripped the fragments off with his paws. She was gone by the time he could see again.
He was on the hunt now. He scurried after her, listening to her footsteps. Now he had to catch her.
He followed her into a room, a dead end, he had to see what she looked like but she had disappeared again, the room was too dark and his night vision was taking too long to adjust.
He froze, listening. There was only one way out of this room, and he was standing right by it. If she wanted to sneak out she would have to skulk past him.
He rested, lying down on his paws, waiting.
The floorboard creaked, he listened. It was still a fair distance away, the other side of the room. Deserts didn’t have very good hearing, but it was good enough. He could hear her inching closer. She’d try to squeeze past him through the door.
She stopped.
He moved forward slightly, his night vision seeing her silhouette. She had a nice silhouette, maybe his owner was right about what she looked like.
He stayed between her and the door, slowly moving forward.
She lunged. He shielded himself with his wings. Her head hit his wings, the kinetic impact shuddering through his arms and along his body, sending him stumbling back.
She bolted for the door.
Darwin ran after, lunging. He bit down on her tail, keeping her from escaping.
She cried out, slashing back at his face. He closed his eyes. His world seemed to turn red as she unleashed a fury of attacks at him.
He wouldn’t let go.
Suddenly the attacks stopped. She was crying.
He opened his eyes.
“Darwin?” she asked, not believing what she was seeing.
Lucienda immediately began licking his wounds. “I didn’t know!”
Darwin was too shocked to say anything. There wasn’t a lot of light here, he was afraid to believe it, afraid that this was all some sort of trick.
“Lucienda?” the words came out ruffled. All he saw was bits of a face and a tongue avidly lapping at him, cleaning away the blood.
He instinctively licked back, pulling his head away, trying to get a closer look. They nuzzled each other. It was her. He knew it was her now. He recognized the habits, the stance, the smell. He felt bumps along her flanks. He felt them with his snout, gashes, long gashes.
“Oh Lucienda.” he cried, some of the wounds were so fresh, he could still smell the blood. He tended to them as best he could. They were both all over each other now, grooming and tending to one another’s wounds.
The desire was overpowering, he had to have her again. She stopped him.
“No. I can’t risk bringing a child into this life.”
“Then we’ll escape.”
“The death collars.”
He sniffed hers, feeling for the mechanisms that controlled it. It was a compact, efficient piece of technology. He could feel the small bumps where the neurodarts would deploy, killing her instantly if she tried to escape.
“He’ll whip you. He’ll hurt you!” the thought enraged him.
Her stance changed, submissive now. “Promise me we’ll escape.”
“I promise.”
–
–
“Looks like you had a fun time.” his owner said, looking at the wounds on his face and chest.
It had been wonderful to be with her again. His world seemed to be coming back together. Now he only had to find his children. Who knows, maybe they were on this planet too.
“It was.” Darwin admitted.
“So are you willing to change mates? You’d be doing it for her safety, of course. A noble choice. Hades will undoubtedly be very pleased that a Vorchan finally managed to copulate with his.”
“How long has she been here?”
“A few months, I’d say.”
That was when she’d been taken away.
“I would. I don’t want her to mate with anyone else.” Darwin said.
“She hasn’t, and now she won’t. Was it hard to get her to – who am I kidding.” he laughed, looking at the scars. “Hopefully it’ll get easier as time goes by.”
“When will I see her again?” Darwin asked.
“Soon. I’ll ask Don the next time I see him. But now you have work to do.”
Being a guard was interesting. All he basically had to do was follow this man around and look imposing, and he was definitely imposing. He had forgotten how much Raumens feared Vorchans. Many stared at him continuously, as if in awe, unsure of whether or not what they were seeing was real. He enjoyed the power, the way people gasped when Owen came up to him – his owner. He had heard people calling him that when they made deals with him. He had started selling things the moment he set up his bazaar. He made a note to ask him what he sold after today, it all seemed interesting. All sorts of equipment, small things.
They had set the bazaar up by the river, along with several others. Vehicles were parked haphazardly all around the area, people going to and fro, flitting between the shops, buying whatever their hearts desired. Many wore very elaborate robes and garments, some even seemed to glow as they spoke.
“Captains.” said Owen, taking a break from the customers and having a drink by one of the other stalls. Darwin was lying down next to him, head in his paws, tired from the full day.
“I have heard of them.” Darwin said, but he had never seen one in person. “They don’t seem to fear me like the others.”
“I’d imagine they wouldn’t. The obvious captains are most likely type-3’s, probably paired with Descendents.”
Descendents were space-faring creatures, biomechanoid starships, or beems, for short. He had heard about their strength, about the neural link between man and ship.
“Is it true, the neural link?” Darwin asked.
“Yes! Almost all beems share a neural link with their captain. It makes them one.” he said, putting his hands together. “See those big spheres over there, with all the Captains?”
Darwin nodded, raising his head to look at the stall set up a fair distance away. He noticed armed guards up on towers on either side of the small stall.
“Those are eggs.”
Darwin gasped, “Starship eggs?” He imagined the effort it would have taken to capture those.
“Yes. Embryos in cryostasis. A single egg sells for twenty million credits.”
There was a sonic boom, a large craft zoomed in, decelerating at what seemed like unbelievable rates. It hovered by the eggs, settling just over the floor. A cargo ramp extended from the ship. One of the eggs started to hover, men in jumpsuits began pushing the egg onto the ramp. Nobody seemed to be surprised at the sudden commotion.
“What is that massive thing?”
“Massive?” Owen laughed.
“That’s just a transport pod. Judging by the colors I’d say it belongs to a Descendent.”
The pod was a wicked red, with black stripes. It looked Vulcan to him. He imagined if a Vulcan could have grown to that size. Maybe on some planets… there were stories about Vulcans that grew to be several dozen meters long, longer than any Vorchan on Terra.
Darwin asked Owen about that. “I don’t know anything about massive Vulcans. In fact, you guys are the first influx of Vorchans we’ve seen in a long time. It’s rare somebody finds a splinter group, even rarer that it’s conquered.”
The screams from the chambers of Kahless suddenly came back to haunt him. The rumours about how their wings were ripped from their bodies, how they were skinned alive. He shuddered at the thought.
“Not all of us agree with what Martock is doing, but he is NCR, and we aren’t much better, choosing to live beyond the law.”
“The law is important, it brings order.” Darwin argued.
“And poverty.” Owen added, “I wouldn’t be able to afford what I do without breaking the law. Imagine owning a Vorchan on Zemoria. Impossible!”
Owning. Owning another sentient being.
“Do the Captains own their starships?”
“The Descendents? It depends. The only risk is in the beginning, before the ship is paired. After it chooses a Captain the risk is gone and the ship is loyal to you forever. Usually.”
“Usually?”
“There are rumours of ships going rogue, turning on their captains. But it would take a lot to turn a ship. They love their captains, and the captains love their ships. They need each other. The captain: The ship’s link to the worlds of the stars; and the ship: the captain’s link to the stars themselves, and the worlds they contain.”
“Poetic.”
“Ships have great difficulty understanding us as well, and speaking our language. Captains make wonderful liaisons, as the communication with their ships is augmented by their neural interface.”
“Neural links are used in our exosuits.” Darwin commented.
“I know, but the ones for ships are far more complicated. Every starship tailors its own neural link, and gives it to his captain when it feels they’re ready. It’s a dangerous process. One slip-up and both risk death.”
What a life that was, he’d never heard of beems in such detail before, “You know quite a bit.” Darwin said.
“Indeed. Don doesn’t shut up about them. He’s the one who sells the eggs. I sell the control collars.”
“Control collars? Like mine?” Darwin asked.
“No, for the ships!”
“But you said they choose.”
“Yes, but if they choose wrong, it’s best there are measures in place to ensure that twenty mil doesn’t go to waste.”
“That’s horrible.” Darwin said, not very surprised.
“Anyways, let’s get back to work.” Owen exclaimed, finishing his drink.
–
–
He saw Lucienda the next day. He embraced her, they entwined their bodies in the dark house, basking in each other’s scent.
“Have you found a way out yet?” she asked.
“I think I’m close. Your owner sells starships!”
“He does? Who told you this?”
“Owen, my owner. He takes me to the bazaar with him, I’m his bodyguard.”
“Don Hades almost never lets me out of my chambers. He keeps me there, checking if I’ve conceived yet.”
“And have you.” Darwin asked curiously.
“No.”
He wrapped her in his wings, not sure if this was good or bad news.
“Remember how many tries it took to get Styx? All those sleepless nights.” Darwin reminisced.
Lucienda giggled the way she did when she’d been younger. “Oh Darwin. I’m so glad you have a good owner.”
“Me too. Owen works a lot with computers, interfaces. I’ll see if I can find a catalogue of all the Vorchans on this planet. Maybe Styx and Seyrhe are here too.”
“That would be great! Then we could all escape together.”
–
–
“Not as many scars this time!” Owen observed. “Have you charmed her under your wings?”
“I think so. I really like her. Has Hades stopped hurting her?”
“He has. Don’s a high-strung fellow. He gets a lot of pressure from his higher ups. They really want to tap into the Vorchan market. From what I hear, Martock is making a killing. You yourself cost over a million credits!”
The fact that he cost five percent of a starship seemed to lift his spirits.
“I’m grateful you are my owner, Owen.” Darwin said sincerely.
“Aww, what’s with this sudden affection, Darwin? Do you need something?”
“Well, now that you mention it…”
“What?”
“I’ve always wanted to learn how to use these Raumen computers…”
–
–
Next week he was with Lucienda again. She looked very excited.
“I searched the planetary database for Deserts that match the age and profile of our children. I found eighty matches.”
“Oh Darwin, you were always such a genius. How are you going to find them? Won’t the death collar activate if you leave your owner’s side?”
“He disabled that setting. I’m free to roam as far as I want. He gave me this.”
He showed her the small chip clipped onto his right ear.
“It’s a communications device, one way. If he needs me he just calls for me through this chip and I fly over to him. The freedom is wonderful, Lucienda!”
Lucienda sighed, “I can imagine. I can’t wait to get out of here. Hades is getting more impatient with me. He thinks I’m doing something to keep myself from conceiving, he’s threatening to replace me with another Vorchan.”
That thought terrified him, but he grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“Hold still.”
He gently bit into her neck with his right incisor. The chip stuck to her skin. He licked the wound clean.
“What was that for? What did you do?”
“Do you feel it?”
“Feel what.”
“A tracking device.”
“A tracking device? You stole a tracking device.” she kissed him, “Darwin you’re so reckless.”
“It’s so I never lose you again. It doesn’t show up on scanners, only on a datavisor with the right code.”
They broke the floorboard that hour, falling from the second floor onto the first.
–
–
“How was it?” Owen asked, something was different when he came to pick him up.
“Good.” Darwin replied casually.
“I’ll give you one chance to confess to what you did.”
Was he referring to the database hack or the tracking device? “I’m sorry, Owen. I was worried about her.”
“Why?”
“I heard Hades might want to resell her.”
“Why?”
“She…” it seemed embarrassing to say it, like it was a failure on his part. Maybe it was a failure on his part. What if they started trying to pair her with other Vorchans again? But then he remembered how loyal she was.
“Darwin… that tracking device is six thousand credits. I’m not made of money!”
“I’m sorry. I really am, but I don’t want to lose her again.”
“Again?”
The jig was up. Darwin panicked, he had to tell him now. Owen wasn’t stupid.
“I—“
“I’d hope that after all this time you’d at least trust me a little.” Owen looked sincerely hurt.
“Lucienda was always my mate.” he confessed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know, I was afraid for her safety. I thought it’d be better nobody knew.”
“No wonder she accepted you. I’m happy for you, Darwin. Look, you don’t have to hide these things from me. From Hades, sure, but not from me.”
“Thanks.”
“So who were you searching for in the database?” Owen asked, eyebrow raised.
“My children.” he stammered.
“I told you to let go of the past! And here you are trying to re-unite your family.”
“Wouldn’t you do the same?!” Darwin cried.
“Hades was right. I’ve got too much heart for this business. Nova damn it. And you aren’t going to stop looking for them are you? I wouldn’t stop either.”
“I’ll search for as long as it takes.”
“Damn it Darwin. Christ. Ok, well so long as you don’t steal anymore of my items, and you don’t let this interfere with your duties to me: your owner.”
“I won’t! You’ve been too good to me.” But some of the Vorchans on that list were extremely far, he wondered how he’d be able to get to them in time. He’d be well over an hour away from him. Owen always gave an hour’s notice when he wasn’t on official duty.
Owen patted him on the snout. Darwin tucked his ears in meekly. He shouldn’t feel any loyalty to this creature, but he did.
–
–
He set out for the first Vorchan the next day. He would go for a closer one first.
It had been a long time since he’d cruised, and the desert was hot, making it more difficult to get himself up to the higher altitudes. He settled for a few thousand feet above the ground, a range where he could still see the houses and roads below, not that there were a lot down there. He noticed how barren the planet was now that he was getting away from Eve, the planet’s only river. It was artificially made, connecting a series of water reservoirs around the planet.
It only took fifteen minutes to get to the tiny village clustered around a well. The inhabitants gawked at him but didn’t seem too worried. The people of this planet were starting to acclimatize to the concept of Vorchans existing on their planet.
He landed by the house, nearly getting hit by a landcruiser that hadn’t seen his descent. It honked at him and swerved, moving on. It was heading south, probably towards Sire, the village he had come from by the river.
He knocked on the door, pattering it lightly with his fore paw.
“Who is it?” came a voice from behind the door.
He hoped the woman had a translator. “Darwin!” he replied.
There was a pause, “Are you a Vorchan?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m looking for someone. I’m wondering if your… Vorchan is who I’m looking for.”
“She’s not interested in mates. You should try the Cove down by Lake Adassyus to the north. I heard many Vorchans congregate there in their free time.”
“I’m not looking for a mate. I’m looking for my children!”
“Oh… well… I—“ She didn’t say anything else.
A man opened the door, he wore overalls and a grim expression on his face. There was a rifle in his hand. “Go away, Vorchan.”
“I don’t mean you any harm.” he said, trying now to growl, “I’m just looking for my—”
“And if this Vorchan was your daughter? Then what?”
“Then I’d be grateful knowing she was part of such a wonderful family!” he replied quickly, staring at the shotgun. It was an older, gunpowder-type one.
The kinetic shells probably hurt.
The man laughed at his response. “Yeah, a wonderful family, I’m sure. Well she’s not here.”
Something wasn’t right. Anxiety was tugging at his spikes, making his tail stand on end. How did these people manage to afford a Vorchan? It was a tiny house, smaller even than the shack he and Lucienda spent time in.
“Where is she?” Darwin asked.
The man stammered, unsure of what to say.
Fatherly instinct took over and Darwin pushed forward, knocking the man aside. He already had his powerful jaws around the shotgun, easily wrenching it out of the terrified man’s hand.
He snapped the shotgun in half.
“What are you doing! We’ll have you arrested – sent back to Martock. You’ll get skinned alive!”
Darwin roared at him, flaring his wings, they brushed up against the ceiling, knocking some insulation loose. The man cowered, his wife screamed.
He began to smell, trying to pick up the scent of another Desert. They didn’t have a strong scent, but he would be able to pick it up, he knew he would.
He followed his nose to the kitchen. He smelled it in their food, in their fridge.
“No don’t!” shrieked the woman as he opened the fridge door.
Inside, were large, neatly wrapped, pieces of meat.
He didn’t recognize it as anything the people here usually ate.
“Dave was out hunting! He saw it and mistook it for a Leopold.”
He looked at the pans, some of it was cooked. “You ate her?”
He hadn’t expected this. Not on this planet. Maybe back on the ship but not here.
“We barely make enough to pay the rent, let alone eat! That was the last hunting trip he could make before the sandstorms starting kicking in, making the Expanse too dangerous for game for a few months.”
His reality closed in on him, his vision faded. He stumbled. He wanted to throw up.
“Please, Vorchan! We didn’t have a choice. It was an accident! We’re sorry!”
“What…” it was hard to speak, his voice was guttural, ancient. All he wanted to do was roar, to rear his head back and howl as loud as he could, roar in mourning for this fallen child.
“What was her name…” Darwin asked.
“We don’t know…”
“But you registered her.”
“We had to.”
“Why!” he yelled.
“So the previous owner wouldn’t get suspicious!”
Darwin wasn’t following, that didn’t make sense. “You’re lying.”
He inched towards them, the woman hid behind her husband, crying. The man held his ground, staring down the large Vorchan. “Okay. If we tell you the truth, you have to promise not to hurt us.”
“Speak!” Darwin snorted, watching the man’s face wrinkle at his breath.
“Okay… there’s a man. He goes by the name of Heftus. He is an avid supporter of the anti-Vorchan movement of this planet.”
Darwin didn’t want to hear the details, he wanted to kill these people for what they did to this Vorchan. He wanted to rip them apart and eat them the way they’d eaten her.
“Please don’t eat us!” cried the man, watching the saliva drip from Darwin’s fangs as he growled.
“Keep talking! Tell me more!”
“Ok… ok so he goes around… buying up the Vorchans. I don’t know how he does it. And then he… and then he…”
“What does he do!” Darwin blared.
Suddenly he heard footsteps. There were others here now, they were in the room. He spun around. His muscles spasmed, he recognized the all too familiar jab of a shockstick.
His world turned black as he was covered in something. Ropes entwined his limbs. He thrashed with his wings, only to get hit by another jab of lightning.
He felt himself suffocating now, his mouth inhaling the strange plastic material he was being carried in. The harder he tried to breathe the more of the plastic he inhaled. He tried to cough it up but he couldn’t, it was too far down his throat. He vomited, clearing his airway, the fluids sloshing in the bag with him now. He had to get out of here, away from his own smell. He bit at the bag, trying to slice it with his incisors. They slipped off, he couldn’t get a grip on it.
Suddenly another spasm hit him and he was keeling over in pain again.
He whimpered, remembering the Death Ship, the Admiral. His friends being taken one by one. He remembered his arrival from his planet, Terra. How they had separated them like cattle, choosing who would live and die.
The screams, he remembered the screams from the chambers. He screamed now, a guttural roar muffled by the bag, he thrashed against it once more, fully awake again. The bag was pulled from his body. Colors returned to his reality. He focused, scanning the small chamber he was in. There was nobody here, he looked up to see the bag in the mechanical claws of some sort of device looming over him. He tried to leap free from below it but he couldn’t move. His back was stuck to the table he was on. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in, his legs above him, his world upside down.
His wings were suddenly restrained, then his tail. He heard mechanical whirring. He knew that sound, he had heard it aboard the Death Ship.
Something began to cut into his wings. He cried out, pulling against the machine with all the strength he could muster. Suddenly his wings were free, he began to flap them, trying to pull himself away from the table. On his back it made getting lift impossible. He was moving horizontally only, and not very far. The device had still snagged his tail.
He saw the buzz-saw then. Inches from his tail. He pulled harder, desperately trying to get his tail free. The saw pressed up against the tip of his tail, cutting into it. He cried out and flapped harder, terrified of losing his tail.
Another cut, the left side of his back. It was the saws meant for his wings, they were still active, spinning madly. He curled forward, trying to push his snout forward so he could bite at the clamps that held him in place.
Why was his tail still there? He could feel the buzz-saw pressed up against it. Was it the armour on his tail? He stopped panicking, realizing that he was no longer being harmed, so long as he kept clear of the active saws yearning for his wings.
He leaned, looking over at the saw against his tail. It was shuddering, but not spinning. It was broken! He had a chance.
He coiled himself up, not sure how his body would react to the sudden force of trying to pull his tail free with all his might. He worried his spine might snap.
“What the hell is going on!” someone had entered the room. He had no choice now, he uncoiled and pulled as hard as he could. He felt a piercing pain throughout his whole body but suddenly he was up against the wall on the far side of the room, free from that horrible device.
More people came in now. They were armed. They raised their rifles.
“Kill it!” someone yelled.
Darwin roared at them in defence, but to his surprise, it wasn’t sound that emerged from his throat but fire, deadly fire.
The Raumens shrieked as the fire engulfed them. They ran around, their arms flailing, some fell limp to the ground, some tried to roll.
His ancestral skill. The ability banned by the president of Terra. He had used it. He hadn’t thought he’d remembered how to.
He ran through the fire out into the hallway. More screams, from other Vorchans.
Was he back aboard Kahless, was this a bad dream?
The pain in his body told him it wasn’t. He lunged at one of the doors, hearing the sickening screams inside.
It was too heavily reinforced, he was too weak to open it. He tried to fire a burst of flame at it but he couldn’t summon his ancestral skill, all that came out of his mouth was a frail whimper.
He had to tell someone, tell Owen. He began to run, looking for ways upwards. He knew he was underground, he felt the pressure of the air around him, his aerial instincts telling him he had a ways to go.
He saw an open grate and squeezed through, disappearing into the airflow ducts.
He could hear the echoes of screams here, warbled by their passage through the ducts. He pinned his ears against the side of his head, drowning out the sounds, hoping to wake up.
The area below him was getting wet and slippery. He was filthy, covered in blood. Blood seeped from the open wounds where they had tried to sever his wings. The underside of his tail, one of the most sensitive parts of a Vorchan, throbbed painfully from its encounter with the broken saw.
He didn’t want to lick himself, it would take too long, he felt he was beyond saving. But he had to try, had to get the crusted over vomit off of his body, clean the dried out blood, disinfect the cuts.
Some parts of his body he couldn’t reach, his muscles still hurt, penalizing his flexibility. He couldn’t even believe he had made it through the airflow duct.
“It’s in the vents!” yelled a voice, echoing around his world.
“Flush him out!”
Gas grenades were thrown in after him. He began to scurry upwards, going through redirection valve after redirection valve, grateful for his inherently small body (Deserts didn’t eat or drink much, making them relatively small compared to the other races).
Suddenly his tail was caught, the valve behind him had closed over it. He flexed the muscles in his tail, pulling it free, breaking off the valve in the process. The valve above him was closed too, he slammed at it with the small spikes between his ears. It bent inwards and fell from its hinges, fluttering down to the bottom of the airflow chamber with a series of loud clangs.
He continued upwards, breaking through airflow valve after airflow valve, smelling the air above. It was a terrestrial smell, assuaging his fear that he had somehow been taken back aboard that dreaded Death Ship.
He stopped, inches from a spinning blade. It was a large fan, beyond it was the red sky. It was dark and cold in the desert now. A chill went down his spine.
He didn’t want to challenge the blade. It was bigger than him, and while it spun slowly, he could feel the momentum it carried from the air it pushed against his body.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh. He would have to think of something.
He heard a hissing sound.
Gas. It had made the choice for him, it was creeping up towards him, relentless in its advance, the fan incapable of pushing it all back. As if aware of this, it began to spin faster.
The wind was too strong now, he wouldn’t be able to break through here. He was trapped between gas and a fan.
Faster still, whoshwhoshwhopwhopwhopwhop
He saw the gas receding, losing to the powerful fan. He braced his wings against the side of the duct he was in and dug his claws in as well, afraid to get swept away by the powerful current.
Looking down, he saw one of the smaller ducts that led to other areas of the complex, barely big enough for him to fit through. He clawed his way down, carefully, making sure he didn’t lose his grip. The gas was farther down now and clearly visible, having been compressed into an ethereal green substance.
He could see shapes forming inside it. Vorchans, Raumens. He disappeared down the small redirection duct before he saw something he didn’t want to see. His offsprings’ wings severed, their flesh packaged and sold to villagers…
They could be down there somewhere! he thought in distress, feeling useless, thoughts of his children screaming and dying eating away at his reality.
He took a deep breath, scanning the corridor he was in, and realized what he had to do.
He rushed towards the sound of the screams, keeping his head high to avoid the gas that was building up along the floor of the ducts.
He reached one of the grates relatively quickly, the source of one of the screams. He faltered, not sure if he should look through. What if it was his daughter Styx, or his son Seyrhe?
He didn’t move, listening to the screams emanating from the grating. He could hear the whir of machinery, suddenly the screaming stopped.
He hated his cowardice, perhaps he could have done something.
Defeated, he collapsed against the side of the vent, wrapping himself in his wings. He would die here like all the others, he didn’t have the strength to save them, to break free. It would only be a matter of time before the gas reached a high enough concentration to kill him, or until the soldiers uncovered his location.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d lay there, but eventually he started hearing voices again from down below.
“Alright. Clamp the wings; let’s get this over with quickly.”
It was another Vorchan. He heard the sound of machinery spooling up.
“Please don’t!” came a shrill cry. He recognized the voice immediately.
“Styx!” he yelled before he could stop himself.
“Shit! It’s in here!”
Gunfire echoed across the walls as bullets ripped through the ventilation system. He fell from the compromised structure in a flurry of debris and gas.
He had to save Styx, the debris and the gas had given him enough concealment to dodge the brunt of the barrage. He rushed for the two soldiers, goring one. The other screamed in fear, fumbling with his rifle.
“It’s in here! Help!” he ran for the door, trying to pry it open. It wouldn’t budge! “What are you doing let me out!”
Gas began to enter the room through small slits in the walls.
“We’re sorry Henry. We can’t risk it getting into the holding area.”
“You bastards!” Henry yelled, clawing on the door.
Darwin ran over to Styx, testing the restraints. These ones weren’t as loose as his were, and he feared the saws may be of a better quality as well.
“Daddy!” she wailed. “Help me!”
“Henry!” roared Darwin.
Henry flinched, running for the corner of the room. “Don’t hurt me!”
“Release my daughter!”
Henry nodded, running to the control console and inputting a series of commands. The restraints loosened, and Styx nuzzled her father affectionately. She was trembling, it pained Darwin to imagine the horrors she’d endured.
“Now please help me! Get me out of here!” Henry pleaded, looking at the two Vorchans.
“Get on my back, Styx.” Darwin said, hoisting Styx up to the broken airflow duct, making sure she had a good foothold before focusing his attention back on the Raumen creature.
“Please. I have a family!” the man persisted.
Darwin looked up at the airflow duct. “Styx: I want you to cover your ears, and don’t look no matter what.”
He saw the man wet himself, collapsing against the corner of the room. “I was only doing my job.”
“Don’t do it daddy. You’ll only end up like them!” Styx called from the grates.
“Styx!” Darwin yelled scathingly. “I told you to cover your ears!”
The gas was thicker now, it started to affect Darwin’s vision, clouded his thoughts.
“What is this gas?” he asked the man.
“Chlorodyne – a sleeping agent. Look! I can help you. I can help you escape. Please, just spare my life.”
“Can you de-activate the fans that keep us from the surface?”
“Yes, yes I can. Let me up into the vents with you.”
Darwin reluctantly positioned himself under the grate. The man grabbed him, his gloved hands making him shudder as they fumbled for a grip. He hoisted himself up into the airflow chamber. Darwin followed.
“It’s so nice to see you again. I missed you so much.” Darwin said to Styx. They were following the Raumen as he used the ladder to make his way up to the upper tiers. It was a slow ascent.
“I thought I was going to die.” Styx muttered.
“Where is your brother?” Darwin asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see him in the holding cells.”
They reached the upper tier. The gas hadn’t made much progress against the fans, but it did keep them from going to the lower levels. Darwin was grateful that they had held Styx higher up. Now he just wanted to escape before his luck ran out.
Henry opened a panel at the face of the fan and began pulling wires. An alarm sounded for a few moments but quickly faded away. “Ok, it’s not being powered anymore. It’ll stop rotating once the momentum wears off.”
The three of them watched the fan slow down. Once it had reached a rotation rate Darwin considered acceptable, he grabbed the large blade with his jaws, stopping the fan.
Henry was staring at his fangs, shivering.
“Get up there, Henry, tell us if the coast is clear.”
He didn’t trust him to do such a thing, but he hoped that if someone was up there, they would question him.
Henry grabbed Darwin’s spikes and climbed up past the fan out into the desert.
They waited a few seconds. Nobody seemed to say anything to him. Styx had to go next, she was too small to get herself up without her father’s help.
“If there’s anything up there, get right back down here, okay Styx?”
She nodded obediently, scurrying up to the surface. No commotion, it was his turn. He hoisted himself up to the fan’s support struts, feeling the wind against his face. He squeezed between the fan blades and was suddenly stuck.
“What’s wrong?” Styx asked.
“I’m stuck.” Darwin said.
An alarm blared again.
“What was that?” Darwin asked.
“The fan’s switched to auxiliary power, it’s going to reactivate.” Henry said.
“I thought you disabled it!” Darwin hissed, struggling against the blades. He couldn’t move at all, the blades had pinned him against the support struts and the wall. If they’d spin he’d be crushed, sliced into three pieces.
“Daddy!” Styx began to cry, nuzzling him. “You have to get out!”
“I know that! How long do I have?”
“Three minutes.” Two beeps emanated from the vents. “Well two minutes now.” Henry said.
“Daddy no!” she began nipping at the dreaded fan, clamping her jaws around it, trying to break the blade that held him.
She cried out in pain before collapsing limply against the ground. Henry had a shockstick in his hand.
“You bastard!” Darwin roared.
“Sorry, I wasn’t about to get eaten in rage after you were killed.” Henry said, reaching over to Darwin with the shockstick.
Darwin sneezed, a small plume of fire erupted from his nostrils, hitting Henry right in the face.
Henry collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.
Beep.
He had a minute left. He roared at the blades with all his fury, hoping the fire would come.
Nothing happened.
He thought of his family. He thought of Seyrhe, and how he was still out there somewhere. He thought of Lucienda, how grateful she would be to see her daughter again.
Flame burst from his mouth and nostrils, he fired at the blade. It burnt against his skin as it was heated up but the pain served only to catalyze his rage.
The metal began to bend as it shone a violent crimson.
He broke free.
Immediately he ran to Styx’s side, checking her over, making sure she was alright. Her wings twitched, the shockstick’s effects were beginning to fade.
He wasn’t sure where he was.
“Where are we?” asked Darwin. Big welts had emerged on Henry’s face. He was kneeled down, keeling over in pain.
“Go to hell.” he replied.
He lunged for Henry, gripping the man’s throat with his jaws. “Tell me.” Darwin hissed.
“The third junction.”
That didn’t mean much, “Where is my village? Where is Sire?”
“You breathed fire, they said you couldn’t breathe fire.” he muttered.
“I did.”
“Why didn’t the others breathe fire? We thought we were so powerful, invincible. Why didn’t the other Vorchans try to save themselves?”
“Perhaps they didn’t want to descend to the level of violence your people bestowed. We left the Vorchan Empire to break the cycle of oppression, not to start it anew.”
“My face really hurts.”
“It isn’t that bad.” Darwin said. The other group of Raumens he had attacked had suffered full body burns. Henry’s face was just pink and bare.
Darwin flared his wings, about to ascend up to get a better view when he remembered the shockstick. He grabbed it and threw it into the vents. It skittered between the fan blades and disappeared down below.
For a moment he considered throwing Henry down too, he couldn’t bear the thought of him with his daughter.
Henry seemed to sense this. “Don’t!” he pleaded.
“If you so much as look at my daughter.”
“I won’t!” he cried.
Darwin flew up as high as he could, scanning the horizon for Eve. It was too dark, he couldn’t see it.
“Do you know which way Sire is?” Darwin asked.
“South, should be that way.” Henry pointed.
“Let’s go.” He beckoned to Styx, they both extended their wings and flew off.
They flew for hours in the darkness. Finally Darwin heard it: flowing water.
They landed by the river, tired from the flight. The village lights were still invisible at this distance. He hadn’t remembered traveling this far. But it made sense: Choose a remote place to commit your atrocities.
Darwin cleaned Styx intently, getting as much of the dirt and grime off as he could with the cold water’s help. It was a relief to know Seyrhe hadn’t been in the holding area. He would have to find out which Vorchans had been kept there and remove those from his list – If they were even on the list. He wondered how many people knew about this. He hoped Owen didn’t. He hoped they hadn’t decided to start exterminating them.
Styx seemed to sense his thoughts, “Do you think they’re going to hunt us, Daddy?”
“No. Owen isn’t like that. He’ll help us, I’m sure of it.” He only wished the chip in his ear was still there. It must have gotten dislodged sometime during his capture. He wondered if the Raumen was searching for him, questioning the authorities, demanding to know where his Vorchan had gone.
Darwin dipped his wings into the cold water. It assuaged the pain from the burns he’d suffered escaping from the fan, and helped clean the cuts by his wing joints.
“They’re horrible. How could they do this to you?” Styx cried, staring at her father’s wounds.
“There is a lot of hate and fear in this universe.” he replied calmly, grateful that they were safe, for the moment.
–
–
He awoke the next morning, well rested. Styx was nuzzled up against his side, he had his wing over her protectively. She was still sleeping. He carefully got up, making sure he didn’t wake her. He had to stretch his legs and wings, survey the area, make sure they weren’t being followed. He took a drink from the river. The water was cold and clean. There was a Leopold drinking off in the distance.
Styx awoke with the food already prepared for her. “You must be hungry.”
She dug into the Leopold voraciously. “They barely gave us anything. Little blocks of food if we begged long enough.”
He wondered where they had gotten the food from; it sickened him to think they’d have fed them Vorchan meat.
He kept an eye out as Styx fed, he had already feasted on another Leopold a little farther away, always making sure he was in visual range of his daughter.
When she had finished eating, they continued, using the river for reference as they flew towards where the village should be.
“Is mother okay?” Styx asked. He was surprised he hadn’t asked earlier. Maybe it was for fear of the answer.
“She’s fine.”
Styx sighed in relief, “That’s wonderful. So it’s only Seyrhe that’s missing.”
“Not for long. We’ll find him.”
They arrived at the outskirts of the village. It was strange to see Raumens again, Raumens that weren’t intent on attacking him.
They flew to Owen’s mansion.
He was eating lunch with his wife and kids. When he saw Darwin he dropped his fork, gasping in disgust. “Who did this to you!” he demanded, running over to his Vorchan, examining the wounds on his body. “These are bullet wounds! And your ear.”
Darwin hadn’t even noticed, a portion of his left ear had been sheared off. “The bastards removed the tracking device. Those thieves, insolent no-good specks of dirt. I’ll kill them, I’ll kill every last one of them!” he shouted.
Darwin had never seen him this enraged. He told him what had happened. Styx stayed close by his side, trying to hide her fear of the Raumen. Her eyes flicked nervously to and fro, scanning her surroundings continuously. He nuzzled her affectionately as he spoke with Owen.
“The complex is north, a few hours flight time away. There are vents that give away its position. The rest of it is underground.”
“Oh Darwin, and who is this.” he reached for Styx. She hissed defensively, backing away, hiding behind her father.
“It’s okay.” Darwin cooed. It was now that he knew how much he trusted the man. His innermost instincts hadn’t been triggered when he’d reached for his family.
“She has a death collar on her neck.”
“A what?! I do?” Styx craned her head, trying to see the collar.
Darwin didn’t see anything.
“It’s a nanofibre collar.” Owen said, “Very difficult to see.”
He reached out again. Styx pulled away.
“Styx, he’s trying to help.”
She let him run his hand around her neck. “There it is. I’ll be right back.”
He came back with a small tool. “Hold still.” There was a crackle, and suddenly the collar fell from her neck onto the ground. “There, now there’s no chance of them getting back at her escape from that dreadful place. Now you.”
He examined Darwin next. The death collar had been placed next to his control collar.
“I have to remove the control collar to remove the death collar.” he said.
Darwin didn’t say anything. He had almost forgotten about the collar.
“It will only be for a few moments, then I can put it back on.”
Darwin nodded.
Owen felt around for the release tab, then pressed a few commands into the device he had once threatened Darwin with. The collar fell and Owen caught it, placing it on the workbench gently. He then began working on the death collar.
He suddenly realized he could kill Owen now. He could gore him right here, impale him in his spikes, dismember him, disembowel him. He felt ashamed. The thought of killing Owen terrified him, the only decent Raumen he’d ever met, dead.
Owen put the control collar back on. It retightened with a final click.
He was avoiding eye contact, “I’m sorry.”
“I understand.” Darwin said.
He realized how afraid Owen must have been, but he had kept his hand steady, disarming the imposter death collar.
“There’s more.” Owen said, afraid to say it.
“What?”
“Uncollared Vorchans are considered rogues, and detained. So far the authorities haven’t encountered any. Your daughter would be the first. You’re lucky nobody noticed.”
“So you are going to put a control collar on my daughter?” Darwin asked.
“I have no choice. It has to be a standard issue collar, I have to register her under my name.”
“And the death ring?”
“They all – no, that’s not true, I’m a technician. I’ll disable the death ring. I promise. In fact, I’ll disable yours too.”
Darwin couldn’t believe what the man was saying.
“I had a lot of time to think about what I’d done. What our species does is unforgivable. What I did was unforgivable, enslaving another being. I thought that because you were Vorchans it would be okay. All I expected was snarls and constant threats from you, not logic and intellect.”
“Snarls and constant threats are what I give to everyone else, not to you.” Darwin said.
Owen laughed.
“Are we free?” Styx asked.
“No—“ Darwin said.
“Yes.” Owen said.
“No!” Darwin repeated. “We are not free from the debt my family owes you. I have one more of my children to find and then you will have the largest entourage of Vorchan escort this planet has ever seen. Vorchans will be at your flanks out of respect, not fear.”
“Darwin… you don’t have to do that.”
“And I will see to it that other Vorchans hear of you, and what you did for my family. Together we can change this world for the better.” Darwin felt inspired by this man.
“It’s a worthy objective, but I would feel like such a hypocrite: A man that makes a living off selling control collars.”
“It is a wonderful position to be in. You can speak to those that we wish to change. Enlighten them.”
“I’ll do what I can to help you, Darwin, but I don’t share your optimism when it comes to the people of this planet. They are here for a reason.”
Darwin knew it was probably true, but he would still try, though first, “I have to speak to Lucienda. Tell her the good news.”
“I have a day off today. Sandstorms are forecast for the evening. I’ll search the database for Seyrhe, see what I can find. I’ll let Hades know you’re coming to see his Vorchan. I’d recommend against taking your daughter, for the moment. Considering the context in which you two are supposed to—”
“I understand. Styx could stay here, if that’s alright with you, Styx.”
“I can help describe him for you.” Styx offered to Owen. She wasn’t afraid anymore; her eyes had stopped scanning the room fearfully. She had excitement in her eyes. Her old self was returning, how resilient young ones were.
He flew over to the shack on his own. It was faster than taking one of the trucks.
“Lucienda!” he exclaimed, barging through the door, excitement in his eyes.
There was a growl.
“Lucienda?” he asked.
“Who is Lucienda?” asked a Vorchan.
“Where is Lucienda?” Darwin asked, petrified.
“Are you here to accost me? It won’t work.” hissed the Vorchan.
“Where is the Vorchan that came before you!” Darwin asked.
“Hades said she wasn’t fruitful enough, he traded her in for me.”
“Where?” Darwin demanded.
“So you’re not going to accost me?” the Vorchan asked.
“No! Of course not.”
“But he told me he’ll whip me if you don’t.”
Suddenly his world turned light brown as the Vorchan was on top of him. “I’d rather not be whipped!” she growled.
“I don’t have time for this. I have to find Lucienda.”
“Why is this Lucienda so important to you?” the female Desert asked, comfortably lying on his stomach, her paws pinning his arms. Her smell was different, she looked different, she sounded different. She wasn’t Lucienda.
“Lucienda is my mate. I have to find her.”
“Then we can come to an agreement!” she replied excitedly.
“What sort of agreement?”
“I know where the shop is where they purchased me from! I can tell you where it is!”
“Tell me!” Darwin pleaded.
She kissed him affectionately. He pulled his snout away. “You know what you have to do first.”
Lucienda had risked death and torture to keep herself away from others. Now he risked her being killed and tortured if he didn’t.
The Desert waited expectantly for an answer.
“Fine, but it’ll be quick.” he said, reluctantly grasping her.
–
–
He shamefully made his way over to the shop, trying to cover the obviously Vorchan bite marks on his neck with dirt.
It was surprisingly easy to find her, trapped in one of the cages with four other Vorchans.
“Lucienda.” he whispered. They touched snouts from between the bars, lavishing in the physical contact. “I’ll get you out.”
“That’s impossible. This is a composite cage. Duchess hasn’t stopped trying.” she motioned towards the Vulcan that was gnawing intently at the cage bars.
“One moment.” Darwin flew over to the stall merchant: A plump man with flowing black hair and a diamond-shaped beard.
“The Vorchan over there. Lucienda—“
“Where is your owner?” The man demanded.
“My owner is a very busy man. I was sent here to speak on his behalf.”
The merchant considered this, perplexed. “Unorthodox, but not illegal, what is it your owner wants?”
“The Vorchan over there.” he pointed his snout at Lucienda. She looked back, her ears fully perked in an effort to hear their conversation.
“The red and black one?”
“No!”
“The green one?”
“The light brown one!”
“Ah, yes. What about it?”
“She is of interest to my owner. He demands to see her.”
“Really? I’m sorry but tell him it doesn’t work that way. You pay up front.”
“How much?”
“A million.”
“Really? Full price?” Darwin asked, a sly grin on his face. “For that?”
“She’s a fine specimen.”
“Is she?” Darwin hoped she wasn’t listening, but judging by the piercing death-glare he was receiving from her…
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
“Well I happen to know for a fact that she’s been returned once before for… issues.”
“Hades is a tough man to please…”
“And the scars? What about those scars?”
“I believe it makes it much more ferocious.”
“And less attractive, what if my owner is looking to breed his own Vorchans? He wouldn’t be very pleased with a disfigured, infertile Vorchan, would he?”
“Well—“
“Perhaps I should let everyone else know about your false advertising, how you sell defective goods at full price!”
“Okay, quiet down.” people were starting to stare.
“My owner would be very displeased if he knew of such a thing, and I’m sure your faithful customers would also want to know too!”
“Know what?” somebody asked.
“Okay, Vorchan, what do you want?” the merchant hissed.
“Let my owner examine that Vorchan himself in his own private medical lab. Do that and I’ll consider keeping my mouth shut.”
“Fine. But I expect her back in three days or I’m sending my men after you!”
“Agreed.”
Darwin watched in glee as they opened the cage and let her out. She didn’t embrace him.
“Damaged goods?” she growled.
“I—it got you out didn’t it? And I said defective! Damaged goods would be the opposite!”
She waited until they had flown a fair distance from the shop before she clamped down on his neck. They both crashed into the desert floor, tumbling over each other.
“Disfigured?” she asked, kissing him voraciously, nuzzling his body. “Those scars…” she suddenly noticed, “what happened to you Darwin?”
Darwin explained the complex he had been taken to, death chambers. He then told her about Styx.
She was ecstatic, all the dread in her expression washed away with contentment and happiness. “Oh Darwin, you’re doing it! You’re bringing our family back together!”
She was very grateful, extremely grateful, she instinctively clamped down on his neck when they coupled. “Did other Vorchans attack you too?” she asked, noticing the scar.
“Yes, the Desert that told me where you were. She was as defensive as you were when we first met each other in that house.”
“Did you…”
“No, of course not.” Darwin said quickly, fighting the urge to tuck his ears in shame.
“Oh. Well considering how Hades is, that’s very inconsiderate of you.”
“What?!”
“One small act of affection, one quick coupling and you’d have diverted hours of pain and suffering.”
“Small? Quick?” Darwin asked.
“Disfigured? Infertile?” she retorted.
“Yes but I was kidding!”
“Oh Darwin.” she said with a mocking condescendence. “Let’s get going.”
“I’m not quick, or small!” he said after a few minutes of flight.
“Be glad you’re quick. I’ll get to see Styx sooner.”
“I—” His face was red, he didn’t know what else to say, he was so glad to be with her again.
–
–
“Darwin! You’re back—by the Nova, can’t you leave without bringing back another Vorchan for once?”
Lucienda growled.
“So this is Lucienda, huh? She can join us for dinner.”
“That’s okay, you don’t have to give us dinner. We’re just fine going out and hunting.” It was what he’d always done. He had been beginning to enjoy it, going out on the prowl.
“No. I owe you a meal, and besides, you’ll need the energy of some good quality food for what awaits us next.”
“Really?” Darwin asked.
“We found Seyrhe!” Styx exclaimed.
“Styx!” Lucienda embraced her daughter, looking her over intently. “It’s so great to see you again.” She instinctively started cleaning her.
“Mom!” she protested weakly, “Stop it!”
“Where is he?”
“We’ll get to that, but first let me help Martha get the food prepared.”
“I’d really prefer it if we set out right away.” Darwin said.
“If that was possible, I’d agree, but it isn’t.”
“Why?”
“He’s aboard a Marauder.”
A Marauder. They were Coalition transports. “What?”
“He’s being taken to the Kahless.”
“What?!”
“That’s right. Admiral Martock is coming here, and he’s recalling a lot of the Vorchans.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has he recalled us?”
There was a pause.
“He did, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I told you, I don’t know! And you aren’t the only ones either. Almost all of the Vorchans are being ordered back to the Kahless. I think he’s angry at something.”
“Heftus…” Darwin said.
“Maybe. Maybe he purchased the Vorchans illegally, triggering an embargo of Vorchan goods from Martock.”
“That wouldn’t be good. But it sounds like what Heftus would want.”
“Indeed. Which is why we have to eat. The fate of your species on this planet is going to be determined tomorrow, when his city ship arrives in orbit.”
Owen talked about the plan while they ate. It had been a while since he’d eaten in a civilized manner. He couldn’t stop thinking about Seyrhe.
Owen removed their control collars after dinner. “Tomorrow we’ll fight for your rights as free men.”
–
–
The knock on the door came early the next morning. “Repossessions! We’re here for the Vorchans?”
“Sorry, nope!” replied Owen.
“What? Owen! Didn’t you hear? Martock is recalling all of the Vorchans.”
“He’s doing that out of anger. I’ll speak to him during the assembly today, with my Vorchan entourage.”
“Alright, Owen, whatever you say. Good luck.” the repo men left in their trucks, the cages full of Vorchans from other households.
They watched the trucks disappear off in the horizon.
“Where are they all being taken?” Darwin asked.
“The spaceport.” Owen said.
“He respected you.”
“Most people do.”
“You are going to talk to the Admiral yourself?”
“Yes.”
“… Who are you?”
Owen didn’t say anything. “I didn’t want to tell you. Afraid it might make you think differently of me.”
“I don’t understand?”
“There’s another reason why I happen to live here of all places. My father is Chiron, King of Fort II. I am his eldest son. Hades is my brother.”
Chiron, the way he said that name…
“I never heard of Chiron.”
“That’s good. He isn’t a good person. More like my brother than me. They’ll want to speak to me at the assembly. I’d be honoured if you and your family joined me there.”
Darwin looked over at Lucienda automatically. She nodded. “Of course.”
–
They left immediately. Darwin and Lucienda agreed to give Owen and Martha a ride on their backs.
“Where are we going?” Darwin asked.
“West, until you see the monument.” Owen said, holding onto the spikes on Darwin’s back with all his might. “How’s this for travel Martha?”
“So long as it doesn’t eat me!” she yelled back.
“I don’t bite.” Lucienda said, baring her fangs.
The monument was a massive black pillar with a red symbol at the top of it. A red line ran down the center, with dim red lines branching out from it. Darwin recognized the pillar, strangely.
“That’s a symbol of the Black Nova.” Darwin said.
“Yes. You’ve heard of him?”
“The hero of the Zemorian-Coalition war, destroyer of the Raumen Empire. The Raumen hate him – hate that symbol.”
“The Black Nova destroyed the Coalition, which happened to be the ruling empire at the time, and mostly Raumen. But the pillar symbolizes the abolition of the enslavement of the Beems species.”
“Ironic.”
“We’ll see. Perhaps today it could symbolize the end of your species’ oppression as well.”
“You’ve become quite the optimist, Owen.” Darwin said.
“Yes, thanks to you, my friend.”
They landed with a grace and elegance fit for a man of royalty. Even Chiron was impressed as the three Vorchans came down in formation, landing on their paws as softly as possible.
Owen gracefully dismounted, helping Martha off Lucienda.
“There was a time…” Chiron said, his voice was frail but strong. “When lancers rode Vorchans to battle.”
“Oh father. I should have expected that story.”
“It is true. Perhaps, in some worlds, it is done to this day!”
“It’s good to see you again, father.”
“I heard you have news for me?”
“Yes.” Owen told Chiron about the complex deep underground. “We suspect it is why Admiral Martock has chosen to make an appearance.”
“I fear you are right, but I am unsure if him knowing the existence of this facility will spare the Vorchans the fate he has decided for them.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do, father?” Owen asked.
“We’ll see.”
The royal assembly chamber was a large room with a domed roof. There were two podiums in the center of the room. One was for Chiron, the other for Admiral Martock.
Martock arrived with a full platoon of soldiers at his flanks. He was dressed in an extravagant black uniform with a red stripe that ran down the left breast. It had been the standard Coalition Captain’s uniform in the olden days.
His Vorchan was walking beside him. She was massive, Darwin immediately recognized her as a Blackwing. She was clad in dark armour with a chrome finish. An array of different weapons glinted from their hardpoints as she moved, scanning the assembly chambers for threats. She took up a position right in front of Darwin, dwarfing him, nearly twice his size with the exosuit on – probably just as tall without it, Blackwings were renowned for their size and strength… and their mating habits, if you were ever lucky enough to meet one, and then be chosen… especially if you weren’t a Blackwing, and even if you were a Blackwing you had to be—
“You’re staring.” Lucienda growled, nudging him.
“Ah, Chiron! How nice to see you again!” Martock exclaimed, smiling.
“Martock. Always a pleasure.”
“I see you’ve even brought me some Vorchans. Were these ones exceptionally hard to recover? Should Nyx rip their wings off now or later?”
The Blackwing bared her sharp, composite fangs, staring straight at Darwin. There was hunger in those eyes. It terrified him. His previous fantasies were immediately replaced by her feasting on his entrails, picking her teeth with his wing spar.
She scanned the rest of them with those fierce, red eyes, her mouth watered as she looked at Styx. She cowered behind Darwin. Darwin instinctively hissed in her defence, flaring his wings at the threat. Nyx looked over at Martock, who shook his head, “Not yet my dear.”
“These Vorchans are here because they have been a great asset to this planet. They were the ones who uncovered the location of the complex where your Vorchans were being killed.”
“Oh I don’t mind what you do to them after you purchase them, so long as they’re actually purchased! The transactions made under the name of Heftus were false, that man doesn’t exist!”
“I believe now, that we have discovered the location of the facility, we will be able to uncover the identity of this Heftus character. It is only a matter of time.”
“Chiron, you know I hold a great deal of respect for you, but your lack of foresight in this matter, having allowed such a financial tragedy to take place, makes me question your ability to govern your people effectively.”
“Martock…” Chiron said calmly, a smile on his face “I think knowing that my people are capable of deceiving a man as sly as yourself means my abilities are more than effective!”
“Chiron…” Martock replied, smiling, “I think you should return all of the Vorchans to me before I level your city!”
“Martock…” Chiron replied, pointing up at the domed glass ceiling above him. A massive starship materialized, followed by several more. “I think you should remember who it is you are threatening.”
“Apologies, Chiron. Then how do you propose we settle this?”
“Martock, I wholeheartedly agree with almost everything you have said. You have definitely been wronged, and I feel it is in our best interest to repay you for the Vorchans that were purchased illegally, as well as a bonus for being such a pleasant guest, as always.”
“Negotiating with you is always a pleasure, Chiron.” Martock replied.
“My son.” Darwin whispered to Owen.
“Martock.” Owen blurted.
“Yeees?” he replied, surprised someone other than Chiron had built up the courage to talk to him.
“These Vorchans have a favour to ask of you. They would like to have their son back. He goes by the name of Seyrhe.”
“A son? Am I correct in assuming this group of Desert Vorchans is a family?”
“Yes, almost reunited, all they need is their son.”
“Touching. He will have to be purchased, of course.”
“Father?” Owen asked.
Chiron nodded.
“Nyx, can you go grab Seyrhe for me please.”
Nyx nodded, spreading her massive biomechanical wings and disappearing through the wide chamber doors.
The transaction went smoothly. Nyx arrived with the young Vorchan within the hour. They embraced each other affectionately, grateful to have their family back together.
“Let me know if you ever find out who this bloody Heftus is.” Martock said, accepting the currency chip from Chiron.
“I will. Apologies for the inconvenience.”
“No need to apologize. You’ve now purchased those Vorchans fair and square, and I was passing by Fort II anyways.”
“Might I ask where you’re heading?” Chiron asked.
“Zemoria. With this money I can purchase the fleet Lorian has waiting for me!” Martock exclaimed delightfully.
“I wish you the best of luck in your journey for galactic conquest.” Chiron replied.
“Your ships are always welcome to join me if they’d like.”
“Eh they aren’t interested in political squabbles nowadays. Leave that to the young and daring I say!”
“Cheers! See you around.” Martock waved and turned around, exiting through the chamber doors.
Nyx followed, her wings creating a breeze as she turned.
Darwin watched her disappear through the chamber doors, having to tuck her wings in to fit through.
“I didn’t know you knew Martock.” Owen said.
“We’re old friends.”
“We’ll get your money back in no time, father.” Hades said.
Darwin turned to Owen.
“Right, this next matter doesn’t need Martock’s help. It’s a decision that would be under your control.” Owen said.
“And what’s that?”
“The Vorchans ask to be free.”
“Sure.”
“Really? You will free the Vorchans?”
“I will free these Vorchans.”
“Oh, I meant the species here as a whole.”
“That’s preposterous!” exclaimed Hades. “The Vorchan market is a big one. People will come here to purchase them for decades to come. Many of the people are buying theirs as an investment.”
“We are living beings! Not investments!” Darwin hissed.
“This is a world of compromise, my son. I’m sure you’ve learnt that by now. I’ll allow collar-less Vorchans to roam this world, and live amongst it like Fort II’s own citizens, but slave trading of all kinds will always be tolerated on Fort II.”
“All kinds?” Darwin asked, “Your own species is traded?”
“Of course. Prisoners of war, criminals… beggars. Slaves are a big industry in the outer rim.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“The Vorchans of your planet look out for each other. I envy that, but it was also why I had condoned free Vorchans on this planet. I knew that over time, if enough of you were free, you would attempt to overthrow the slave traders and free your brethren.”
Darwin had thought of doing just that, but it was a victory that would most likely be shared by his great grandchildren. “What made you change your mind?”
“Well, I calculated all the money I would make in the exosuits and rifles I would sell you all to fuel your respective war efforts, and figured the natural order of things would net a fine profit.”