Lola IX was a far cry from what Red had expected. The entire facility was underground, completely synthetic, inside a planetoid. The exterior reminded her of Fort VI, but the interior was the polar opposite. The walls were polished to a metallic silver sheen, and there were assistant drones moving about the entire facility, similar in design to Allonsi’s own maintenance drones.
There were nine other students: Six males and three females, all adolescents. Three of the males were pale Zemorians. The other three were Raumens from different planets that had spanned the Coalition Empire. The three females were Coalition as well. None of them had known each other, though the three Zemorians had been here for several years and were close to graduating.
Her first day had been great. She had her own room, all the students did, with her own facilities. The drones had even modified the equipment to be more Vorchan-friendly. The bathing area still wasn’t complete, however, so she had to use a public Vorchan facility. However, since she was the only Vorchan, it was pretty much a massive private bathroom that nobody ever went in.
The second day, she started seeing the small friendships that had formed. Zylar, Zackary, and Lohan generally stuck together, and had been in the training program for several years, all on the cusp of graduating. They were the Zemorians and usually kept to themselves. They had been the first to greet Red when she’d arrived, and were very friendly. The other three guys were split somewhat. Two of them always hung around, Leeyam and Kang. They hadn’t spoken to Red yet, and looked to be most afraid of her. The third pair were Meko and Cindress, or Cindy, for short. They were fascinated with Red on the first day, but then continued being fascinated with each other instead, ignoring Red completely on the second day.
The final group, had ignored her completely initially, but were now having lunch with her. They were Lola and Leila. Their names were similar but they looked completely different. Lola was a redhead, short and a little fat. Leila was a brunette and tall, very tall. Taller than Red when she stood on all fours. Leila also seemed much older than Lola, and much more confident. She was the one who had sat down next to Red first in this massive cafeteria.
“How are you liking the courses?” Leila asked.
“They’re interesting.” Red said. She was put into a class with Lola, Leila, Meko, and Cindress, as the four of them had only been here for around a month. She had a bit of catching up to do, but it was mostly basic stuff, nothing she couldn’t just hide in Allonsi’s databanks and recall later, if needed.
By the end of the week she had gotten into a nice rhythm, but still felt lonely. She wondered where all of her siblings were, and why she was the only Vorchan here. She asked Mr. Kant that Monday, he was teaching basic distortions, a very Beems-heavy course. He explained that it was because they didn’t want the students to have any unfair bonds with one another. “The art of co-operation with those you know nothing of is one worth learning.”
“But they aren’t even of my species.” Red argued after class.
“It’s a life you’ll have to grow accustomed to if you choose to remain independent of the Vorchan Empire.”
Red knew nothing of the VE, just that Fawkes told her she should avoid them at all costs.
She didn’t mind basic distortions. Allonsi had used most of the manoeuvres in the few courier runs she’d done for Fort, and was comfortable with the more complex manoeuvres that involved lateral gees.
Unfortunately, Red didn’t feel too challenged by the courses, and started falling into a subtle depression. She kept thinking of Lentil and how he’d died.
A month in, and her performance began to drop. They called her into the dean’s office one afternoon after class. Sitting beside him was someone Red barely knew, a middle-aged woman by the name of Hannah.
“Hannah is a counsellor, specializing in inter-species relations. She’d be very interested in getting to know you, if you’d allow it. We know you’ve been depressed, but your parents refuse to tell us why. If you want to talk to Hannah about anything, it’s what she’s now here for. She’ll be on neural channel five, and available in person or on the net any day of the week.”
Red eyed Hannah carefully. She wasn’t smiling like the dean, or trying to put up any particular facade. Instead, she was gazing intently into Red’s eyes, which was eerie. She averted them, slightly uneasy.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Red said, leaving the office quickly.
“What did they want?” Leila asked.
“Nothing, just checking up on me.” Red said. She had been keeping in contact with Leila. Allonsi and Daze (her ship) seemed to get along really well. Daze was a Puritan, bright blue with silver stripes. When she jumped, her CKRO was silver, illuminating the blue koverans underneath the runoff and making the entire area sparkle. Allonsi thought it was very impressive, her own CKRO a bright red and black, not as noticeable in the darkness of space. When they jumped together, however, they formed an impressive violet sparkle that the other ships always gawked at but pretended not to.
“Let me know if you need anything.” Hannah transmitted on the new channel. “This is a private channel, used only by the two of us.”
“I’d rather talk in person.” Red thought.
“Do you feel like talking?”
“No.”
–
Three more months passed, and Red was doing the bare minimum to keep up with her course-work. She was also getting annoyed a lot by the Zemorians, but this was their last year, so she tolerated their bullying. It wasn’t ever anything direct, just giggles, and the occasional comment on her wings or spikes or horns. How they knew she was supposed to have black wings was beyond her.
They crossed the line one morning, however. It was supposed to be a calm morning. The morning before a test morning, which were always the super stressful mornings for most. This was just a moderately stressful morning, the morning that foreshadowed the morning to come. Anyways, she woke up and realized her tail was stuck. Someone had tied stencil around her tail’s blunt blade all the way down to the bottom of the bed and back up again. It had multiple loops, and ironically, the reason the stencil stayed in place was because of the serrated base of the blade. The blunt serrated base of the blade.
She hadn’t spoken to Hannah for the three months that had passed, but was aware of her presence on the neural channel. She would sit in on some of her courses, but never say anything, smiling occasionally. Red didn’t like being watched, but was glad she wasn’t being pressured into doing anything. Well except for this moment, where the Zemorians were pressuring her into contacting someone.
“Hannah.” Red called.
“Yes, Red?” There was a hint of excitement in the transmission, but it was swiftly stifled in a manner befitting of a disciplined mind.
“I’m stuck.”
“Stuck? In what way.”
“The literal way.”
Red looked down at her tail and transmitted the image over the band. Hannah tried really hard not to leak her amusement into the neural band, but failed, “Sorry…”
“Can you get me out?”
“Sure.”
Hannah arrived within a minute. Red was trying to cut the stencil with her claws but couldn’t reach her tail. She wasn’t as flexible as she was when she was a hatchling.
“They’ll get hell for this. Do you know who did it?” Hannah asked, cutting the stencil with scissors.
“I think it was the Zemorians. They don’t seem to like me that much.” Red said.
“Hmm… perhaps.”
“Don’t you have cameras watching my room?” Red asked.
“No, but you do.” Hannah replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Puritans generally keep a passive watch of their Captains, the last day should be in her memory banks, storable to long term data storage if needed.”
I do? Allonsi asked. Her morning session was about to begin, but she found what was happening in the chambers much more amusing.
“How do I recall that information?” Red asked.
“Now that you know it exists – it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Red felt around in the neural net for what would fit the patterns of a surveillance program. She found two. One for all of Allonsi’s maintenance drones, and one for her. She stored the one for her into the datacore and played it in her mind. To her surprise, it was the feed from a camera overlooking the entrance to her chambers. Allonsi must have accessed it subconsciously. She saw two of the Zemorians enter the room and leave: Zachary and Lohan.
Actually seeing them come in and leave enraged her. She snorted, smoke exited her nostrils.
“Didn’t say you could breathe fire.” Hannah observed.
“I haven’t tried for a while.” Red said, watching the smoke dissipate.
A smoke alarm activated.
“Well shit.” Hannah said with a laugh, taking out her datapal and silencing the alarm quickly. “Don’t go roasting them.”
Red was still in awe at the swear. She hadn’t heard a swear since Mart. “I’m so tired of how formal everything is here. Nobody ever swears or says anything bad about anyone. It’s artificial!” she glared at the metallic walls.
“Well, it’s supposed to be a learning environment. Don’t you have a class today?”
“It’s pointless anyways, and I’ll be late.”
“What subject?”
“You know what subject!” Red growled.
“I don’t think I’ve sat in on your latest classes. I was actually getting ready to leave.”
“Really? So I’ve gotten better?” Red asked.
“You haven’t gotten worse. You’ve levelled out at minimal effort. It’s a tactic, not an ailment.” Hannah said. “It’s what I used to do.” she added with a smirk.
“The courses are pointless. I’m not learning anything.” Red complained.
“These are just the fundamentals. They make sure everyone is on the same page. Application is later.” Hannah explained.
“I don’t want to be here…” Red moaned.
“Why are you here?” Hannah asked.
Red didn’t say anything, glaring at the smoke alarm that had been shrilling moments ago.
“Parents?”
“They want me to learn.”
“Learn what?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know – how not to be reckless.”
“What happened?” Hannah asked.
Red wasn’t sure where the right place was to start, and how much Hannah deserved to know. But she did cut her free…
She started with Mart, and told Hannah about how Mart had taken her hostage. She tried to make it clear Mart wasn’t a bad person, and that he was still out there somewhere, most likely in a horrible situation.
She then moved on to Lentil, stifling the tears, telling her how he’d gotten killed because of her.
“Don’t blame yourself over the deaths of others.” Hannah said.
“But I brought that shuttle in. I didn’t know it would destroy the cave. His precious home away from home… and he showed it to me, and took me there! And I destroyed it – and him!” she started to cry, snout pressed into Hannah’s shirt.
Hannah had tissues at the ready, wiping Red’s tears. “Caves have survived orbital bombardments. If it collapsed to sonic pressure then I propose that it was on the brink of destruction anyways. It was only a matter of time before it took someone’s life.”
“It’s not just that.” Red cried. “I never took him seriously.”
“Regret can be painful.” Hannah said with a knowing smile.
“I should have thanked him more. I don’t think I thanked him at all, ever. I don’t think I’ll ever find someone as selfless as him, ever.”
“Ever is a long time, Red. Accidents happen. Be grateful you survived the cave-in. If you would have followed him – you’d both be footnotes in time.
Red wished she had, but she didn’t say that, simply nodding meekly.
“You need a hobby. Isn’t there anything you enjoy doing?” Hannah asked.
“The games are boring, and most aren’t for Vorchans.” Red replied.
“Some of the boys play kickball. Have you ever heard of kickball?”
“I can’t kick.” Red said, looking at her legs.
“I think you can. You have four legs and a tail. That’s a lot of opportunities for hitting. It might loosen you up, and get the guys to like you more!”
“I’m a Vorchan, they won’t like me unless I grow breasts and start walking upright.” Red muttered.
Hannah laughed, “Well. Let me know if you need any more saving from stencil. From what I’ve heard it looks like I’ll stick around a little longer.”
Red hid her disappointment.
“Unless you’d like me to leave?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t care.”
“Good. I might as well learn what I can from you. There aren’t too many Vorchans around here, and transport is expensive. You Captains really grill the average consumer. Ha!” Hannah laughed, “No pun intended!”
Red smiled.
Grill.
–
She made her way to the Vorchan bathroom. This was a six hour session, and Allonsi’s section was independent so she wasn’t really that vital.
The tile there would make a fine target. She scoped it out with her predatory senses, pretending it was one of those Zemorian students, with their pale faces and lanky arms and legs.
She spat at it. Nothing happened.
Closing her eyes, she imagined the ball she’d fire. In her mental periphery, she could feel the space gliding by Allonsi’s hull, the strain in her terminals as the lenses were focused and refocused. Whatever they were doing, it was strenuous.
She focused back on her reality, but remembered that gravimetric lens. Oh what effort that must take to create: A globule of energy dozens of meters in diameter, with infinite energy at its core, an inverted interstice…
Red fired.
–
They came immediately, apparently it was urgent.
“Your daughter’s crazy.” said a man who’d introduced himself as Headmaster Leep, clearly distressed judging by the redness of his features. He was in a large ornate office, with red carpet and two draped windows that gave a view of the red giant nearby. There were a few other people here, most likely teachers and assistants. Flames informed him there were no weapons here, no threats, at least not in the physical nature.
“She gets that from her mother.” Fawkes teased, pretending not to notice Nyx’s glare.
“We’d like her away from here, immediately. She’s a threat to the other students, and is clearly suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder.”
“Isn’t that what counselling is for?” Fawkes asked.
“I agree.” said a woman, dressed in black with red shoes and red glasses. Fawkes hadn’t seen glasses for a while but realized they were datavisors.
“Hannah, we’ve been over this.”
“We can’t just give up on a student.” Hannah argued.
“This is no ordinary student.” Leep retorted.
“We can move her to another academy—” Fawkes said diplomatically.
“It won’t help.” Hannah interjected. “She’s clearly broken.”
“What exactly happened?” Nyx finally asked.
The people in the room stared at her for a moment before answering, not having expected her to say anything, and clearly uncomfortable with the presence of two Vorchans.
“She destroyed our newly created Vorchan lavatories.”
“How?” Nyx queried.
“Fire.”
“Good girl!” both parents sounded pleased, which made the people in the room even more uncomfortable.
“It nearly depressurized the entire facility. We can’t afford outbursts like that.”
“A flamestrike capable of damaging a reinforced composite like this?” Fawkes asked, having Flames analyze the structure.
“Yes, nine inches of type-3 composite.” said a new voice.
It was an older man, in a white suit. He had an extensive neural suite stemming from the back of his neck and across his chest like a collar. Flames tried to scan it but it reflected like a mirror. The neural suite itself was a silver and chrome black.
“Who are you?” Fawkes asked with interest.
“I am Ignatio Merridan, a researcher for the ZND.”
Fawkes found it interesting how he hadn’t noticed this Zemorian Naval Defence researcher earlier. You would think a neural suite like that would stand out, but it seemed to almost disappear if you didn’t look at him directly. Nyx apparently noticed it too, constantly trying to see him out of the corner of her eye.
“Why are you… so hard to notice?” Fawkes asked.
“Hmm?” Ignatio didn’t seem to understand the question at first, but then his expression lit up, “Aye! It’s idling. A prototype we’ve been working on. Unfortunately shutting it down is near impossible – well not impossible – but restarting it on the other hand… eh—“
“Restarting what?” Fawkes probed, sniffing.
“Nothing – nothing.”
Fawkes was coming close now, which seemed to make the researcher cower a little.
“That neural device… why are you here – what is it?” Fawkes asked, his tone more defensive.
“Well… that flameburst was beyond what we’ve seen any Vorchan accomplish.” Ignatio explained.
“I see.” Fawkes said.
“Let’s take Red and leave.” Nyx whispered uneasily.
Fawkes nodded. “We’ll be going.”
“Of course.” the Headmaster said.
“We’d pay for her assistance in our division.” Ignatio suggested.
Fawkes didn’t respond, walking to the detainment area with greater haste.
–
Red had been staring at the wall for what seemed like an eternity. Allonsi had been isolated from the other Beems and was forced to idle with her, which made the ship very irritated.
I had just started making friends… She’d transmitted.
Sorry…
Red hated herself. She really was destructive. She didn’t really understand where these urges came from. She felt like a monster….
“Red, are you alright?” Fawkes asked.
“I’m fine.”
“How did you do that flamestrike?” Nyx asked.
“I don’t know. I just thought of Allonsi’s lens and used that to keep the fire contained.”
Fawkes… Flames transmitted.
What is it?
That person. The researcher?
What about him?
He disappeared.
What?
I can’t see him anymore. He vanished.
Shit. “We have to go, Red.”
Red nodded, following behind her father meekly. “Where will I be taken to now?”
“I don’t know. We’ve gotten the attention of some unwanted company.” Fawkes replied cryptically. He took a deep breath, his paranoia kicking in. That device on Ignatio’s neck had barely been visible.
The docking bay door was in a circular room with a single corridor leading to it. Someone was waiting for them: That woman.
“What do you want?” Fawkes asked.
“Who is that man?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know.” Fawkes replied.
“They came shortly after news of what happened.” Hannah explained.
“They?” Fawkes asked.
“Him and his assistants. There were three of them.”
Scan this area Flames, full intensity. Look for anything out of the ordinary. Fawkes said.
I am. There’s nothing.
They’re using some sort of cloaking field, I’m sure of it. Fawkes growled.
“Are you alright, Fawkes?” Nyx asked worriedly.
Fawkes roared, unleashing a wall of fire that consumed half of the chambers and extended out past the corridor. Fire alarms activated, the docking hatch was sealed with blast doors. Water and foam saturated the area.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Nyx and Hannah both yelled.
The foam was making it hard to see, Flames’ sensors were bouncing off the false returns, giving phantom signals.
“Scientists… I don’t trust scientists!” Fawkes roared. “STAY OUT OF MY SHIP!”
Flames had already destroyed the blast door with a well-placed kinetic round and extended his electrostatic field over the hull breach. Type-3 composite… whatever. Type 1 Flames!
“Let’s go.” Fawkes said.
They entered the ship without incident, even with the damage to the docking port, but then Fawkes realized there was an extra footstep. He spun around to attack, realizing it was Hannah. “What are you doing here?” he hissed.
“I want to come with you.” Hannah said, looking back at the facility. Flames was already detached and ready to jump back to Emerald. The view of the facility disappeared as the docking door sealed, the electrostatic membrane shimmering as it was de-activated, redundant.
“Why?” Fawkes asked.
“Red’s interesting.” Hannah replied.
“She’s a researcher of Vorchans.” Red explained, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Fawkes smelled her, staring.
“I’m no threat.” Hannah said calmly.
“You’re a researcher.”
“Well, a counsellor, Vorchans are my interest.”
“Why?” Fawkes asked.
“I just find the species fascinating.” she replied.
“You find us fascinating?” Nyx asked.
“Yes, very. Even how you behaved there: Unleashing on that facility – it… just because one of your own was threatened.”
Fawkes stared at her quizzically.
“It’s noble.” Hannah said.
“Are you with those scientists?” Fawkes asked.
“No, I work for Galcore’s Education Division. I’m just a counsellor – really!”
Fawkes snarled, smelling her again.
“You can stop falling back to base instincts. I’m not a threat.” She cooed, palms open. For some reason, Fawkes believed her.
Suddenly something was grabbing his ear. “What are you doing?”
“You’re so amazing! Those ears! How good is your hearing?” She was stroking his horns now, and testing the sharpness of the spikes along his nostrils.
“My hearing is fine…” She was running her hand along his left side now. “What are you doing?” She started examining his left wing. “Will you stop…” She poked the webbing of his wing with her finger, making him twitch. “I’ll destroy you!” She was at his tail now, testing the three blades that jutted out. “Ask Nyx about those!”
“Why aren’t you afraid of Vorchans?” Nyx asked.
“I spent a lot of time with refugees, ex-slaves. Consoling them. You reptiles aren’t as deadly as you claim to be.” she said softly.
Fawkes let her look over his right side now. She seemed to have a particular routine for her walk-around. “You Vorchans cry, just like we do. I saw a lot of suffering after what that man did.”
“Martock.” Nyx said, her voice shaking at the mention of his name.
“Martock…” Hannah whispered.
Martock had made Nyx his personal slave, imprisoning her for years.
“You’re a counsellor?” Nyx asked.
“Yes.”
“Why did you stop helping the ex-slaves? Why go to education?”
“I still help them. It was all volunteer. Who would pay me to help Vorchans? What Raumen would, anyways?” Hannah asked.
“Do you know of me?” Nyx asked.
Hannah transferred her gaze to the Blackwing, scanning her with those datavisor covered eyes. “Hmm…” She began to walk up to her. Nyx felt apprehensive but let her put a hand on the side of her snout. “I think I do…”
She began to walk around her the way she had around Fawkes. “A space-faring Blackwing.” she said, examining her wings, seeing that extra notch that allowed her wings to lock, protecting the joint from vacuum damage and radiation. When Hannah touched it, Nyx whimpered, pulling away. Fawkes growled.
Those notches had saved her life once. When Martock had examined her, ready to have her wings removed, her body split apart and sold. It was that peculiarity that had kept her from being destroyed while so many others around her had died.
Recordings were playing in her visor, backwards to Nyx and Fawkes, but they could recognize the planet, and the screaming people.
“Sorry. But yes. I know you. Or at least I’ve heard of you. I saw you on GalNet, during the invasion of Zylar three.” She looked over at Fawkes, “And you too. You were there. At least I think you were. I’m not that great at telling Vulcans apart yet.”
“Dhrom…” Fawkes muttered, remembering the other Vulcan that had been with them back then. They had all been Nyx’s concubines; A time when Nyx’s morality had been wrested.
Hannah was looking at the scars along Nyx’s body now, mostly healed but still visible to the scrutinous eye. “It would take me lifetimes to heal you. I’m so sorry for what they did, and made you do.”
“Why do you use a visor?” Nyx asked, changing the subject. “Why not neurovision?”
“I don’t know. I think the visor’s much more fashionable, and I can use it to as a zoom and analysis lens. Most neurovision suites can’t do that.
“Mine can—“ Fawkes said.
“Well of course, Mr. Descendent Captain.” Hannah scoffed.
Fawkes growled playfully, flicking his tail.
“So can I stay?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. Do you think Ignatio will be a threat?” Fawkes asked.
“Yes.” Hannah replied. “But nothing we can’t handle.”
“What was he working on?” Fawkes asked.
“No idea, but we all saw what it looked like: Some sort of invisibility field.” Hannah said.
“Not just visual either. Flames couldn’t pick it up on any of his sensors.”
“Yet we know he was there.” Hannah said.
“We do.”
“So save the recordings and analyze them, if you aren’t already. There has to be something that can give that device away, otherwise it wouldn’t be a prototype.” Hannah explained.
“You sure you’re just a counsellor?” Fawkes asked.
“I dabble!” she replied.