Chapter XIII

The corridors were wide and spacious, bursting with soldiers, engineers and various crew members wandering about, chatting amicably; that is, until they saw us. The older lady, whom I had figured held a high ranking position, turned around suddenly to stare at us and the two soldiers on her flanks followed, turning half-way and holding a military stance. She smiled wide, a mischievous air surrounded her and a shiver ran down my spine.

“Let us make some things clear, gentlemen,” she began, pressing her hands down gently over her garments, one on top of the other. “My name is Captain Jorgana Edrarde. Refer to me formally every time we meet. I am in charge of this ship and this,” she motioned around her cautiously, “is my crew, these are my people. Seeing how now you officially belong to it, you will be assigned a basic military course that will help your bodies get accustomed to our lifestyle, our diet, and our customs.” The Captain paused for a second, giving a single tap with her cane silently as if to allow us to digest the information. “This will also vest you with the basic knowledge required to survive aboard this ship, and in space. This is a military frigate, designated with a special operation and you are part of the final objective so, as long as you do not make things harder for us, we may be able to coexist peacefully within the same environment. The ship is big, but if we find ourselves unable to live together within a sizable feeling of harmony, it just won’t do.” She frowned and became serious, but a tone of nostalgia trickled beneath her words. “Remarkable generals of countless races are out there in depths of space unbeknown to you, perishing in attempts to settle over entire systems or even whole galaxies. It simply isn’t a matter of space: if two species cannot coexist, there will always be place for conflict. So,” she tapped her cane again, and with a wave of her arm, she introduced us to our new home, “welcome aboard the Elite Trans-Galactic Grand Cruiser, Talvehtia,” she bellowed with satisfaction.

I quietly listened to her words. She wasn’t wrong about the ‘ Grand’ part. This vessel was big. How big? I had no idea. But it felt BIG. Massive. And absolutely overwhelming in the flawless coordination with which it was managed. But besides that, there was something that I could not evade admiring. This woman… her words; they were like small doorways that opened out into nebulas of wisdom and whole constellations of knowledge. I could not help it. I immediately took a liking to the figure before me. Her wisdom was unparalleled. My thoughts became obvious enough on my face which won me a kind and quiet smile from her.

The whole room was hanging on her every word, even breath held and every person on the edge of their seat and on their toes. There wasn’t any helping it. She had a presence that drew attention and turned heads. We all observed her anxiously. “Since I see you are willing to follow instructions, I will escort you to your quarters and leave you in the care of my sentries. They will provide you further directions,” she clarified before turning away from us. We stayed put for a second, absorbing the whole encounter. Ignis and Sebastian started ahead so I followed behind in complete silence, contemplating the atmosphere that lingered behind.

Soon after, we emerged into an enormous room, so tall that the roof faded among the shadows above and noises dwindled away. A red, metal bridge opened up ahead as we continued to pace forward, taking us to another section of the ship. As we crossed the bridge, I could not help turning back to take in how incredibly vast was the room. With an oval characteristic to the design as a whole the chamber was supported by heavy inward folds of the metal wall and coated by a strange layering along certain sections of a far rougher metal, full of symmetrically arranged holes all over. The purpose of the room evaded me. I simply couldn’t figure out what function this place had. I still don’t, to be perfectly honest. It was absolutely breathtaking and made it much more obvious how utterly huge was this ship.

Every step our group took clicked against the metal flooring, echoing lightly as we crossed long hallways and repetitive corridors, marking the rhythm of our excursion. I half wished someone would remark points of interest or relevant items for our agenda, but not a word was said. The tension was still fresh, and the grip the officers had over their armed wrist was firm and steady, clutched along the uniform pacing. I decided to dismiss it for once, and keep my eyes open for any abnormal situa—well, as abnormal as any hazardous situation had to get aboard the galaxy cruising alien ship. I had a nagging feeling that something was off. To be perfectly fair, I could attribute it to the exhaustion. Zero-G had us all worn out, all the new sights and events simply bled us dry emotionally and the stairs… oh dear, those accursed stairs… Instinctively, my body shivered once and I reached into my pants for a cigar, only to find a promptly pressed fist against the back of my neck.

“What are you doing?” skeptically asked the guard.

“Cigar. Mind reaching it for me, if you must?” I murmured in reply, briefly pointing to my right pocket as I did so. “And while you’re at it, get my lighter? Same pocket.”

The officer wasn’t amused but seeing the futility of arguing with me here, proceeded to press a gloved hand into my pocket and reach for the items. I displayed the contents of the box and proceeded to light up the smoke as we resumed the walk. Suspicious and skeptical, I felt two pairs of eyes digging on my back as I paced between the squad, so I decided to disregard the notion whilst I kept up my guard. My instincts had saved me before from petty squabbles, but seeing how they had never failed me before, I was not about to turn a blind eye to something that could potentially save my hide.

Soon enough, the party made a left at a narrow hallway and turned into a darker section of the unit that we were crossing. The pacing continued as the lights grew dimmer. An odd sensation began to pester me more and more as we paced away from the light which faded behind the corner of the hallway. A short murmur from the front of the party. Taking a deep breath, I closed shut my eyes and continued walking by the sound of the steps. In that absolute darkness, all my senses were peaking, and I was naturally on my toes by now. And abruptly, as soon as the hallway opened up into a room, sure enough we found ourselves marked by the triangle triple greet dots. We stood motionless for a second, spreading out intuitively as the four figures surrounded us in the room, blocking all the corners and exit.

“Had to happen sooner than later, Earthlings,” a voice began contemptuously, coming from my frontal left flank. “If it hadn’t been us, it would have been anybody else in this ship,” the voice loomed as the dots were raised and aimed over my face. I opened my eyes slowly and averted them from the light.

I’m not going to deny it: my mind was racing. As I tried my best not to appear obvious, I tried to measure my distance to them. Since I had been careful enough to adjust my eyes to the light, I could see more of the room than anybody else, or so I hoped, wishing that they did not have night vision technology. Everything was possible, and we did not know what we were faced against. Breathing deeply, I felt the wooden makeshift knife pressed against my shin and readied myself for whatever was to come. I waved for Sebastian and Ignis to stay put as I tried to sort out the menace that threatened us.

“What have you against us?” I demanded firmly, hoping to attract more attention of anybody that may be nearby.

“Fools. You understand nothing. This was only a field trip for you and, most unfortunately, it has come to its end,” the figure on my rear right taunted as it took a step forward, pressing their fist against my neck. It was the same officer from before then. I dashed through all the possible outcomes if I fought back. It was three; that is, if we all fought back and two of us unarmed, versus four armed trained operatives. I sighed at the grim prospect.

“Could you at least grace us with an explanation of why we’re about to die?” I fired back to the figure behind me. A whimper answered me silently from my right, where I could see Sebastian squatting. ‘That could help…,’ I slowly realized Ignis suggestion, as he gradually squatted beside Sebastian and nodded towards the guard in front. I acknowledged his meaning by clearing my throat, but decided not to risk looking back at him. We had four pairs of trained eyes upon us. ‘Three versus four…’ I repeated to myself silently. We would have to make-do. These bastards had clearly planned this long before us, and our chances of having anyone dropping by to rescue us were pretty slim. And, perhaps, if someone did happen to appear, there were good chances that they would turn a blind eye. I brought the cigarette to my lips ever so slowly, struggling not to startle the sentries, puffing it gently to calm my nerves.

“Why not?” the same figure answered. By now, I was speculating that this persistent figure was the leader of the rogue squad and made sure to make it my prime target. “Did you think it was a unanimous decision to bring you here? Oh, no. Your stop is vastly unwelcome and imposed over a discord held by the majority of the crew,” they paused and turned around, pacing. The other guards held their sights still, still over the target, but their eyes turned idly to follow the figure every once in a while. I took hasty notice of this and readied myself. As he spoke I shifted in position and slipped my hand on my pocket grabbing my lighter in a loose grip to avoid making it evident. “Our beloved Captain’s eccentric and preposterous schemes need to come to an end. The people must be heard, and this will mark the first step-- ” the individual managed to say as they thrust their fist upwards in defiance, catching the attention of two, hopefully all three of them. I couldn’t see the other figure behind me, but I took the chance. It was now or never. I fiercely hurled my lighter to the floor and aimed to the space between both soldiers in front of me. The loud bang and flash, that the outburst of the lighter’s detonation caused, startled both figures; so, seizing the opportunity I managed to fling my still lit cigarette to the luckily, oh so fortunately, towards the exposed face of the sentry in my rear-left and hit them with unexpected, pinpoint accuracy, square in the eye. I heard a brief beaming sound and a green flash scorched me deeply through my left shoulder. Blind with adrenaline, I eagerly drew the infamous dagger and charged forward, plunging it vigorously in a single movement, on the soldier’s neck with both hands. I felt something warm spray my face, neck and chest. There was utter silence for a second. A gurgling sound broke the silence, followed by the dumbfounded horror that drowned the gasps of the other three sentries. I will never forget those sounds.

“FREEZE,” out cried the first voice, cracking at the end of the word. I turned around, my eyes open wide in search of the source of the voice. I jerked hard over the makeshift handle of the dagger until it came loose, spraying even more blood. I turned my head around and saw the sentry whose eye I had aimed for with the cigarette hollering in pain towards the corner. I groaned and lowered my face, averting my eyes from the soldier.

I am not ready to die. Not yet. Not here. Not like this.

Fweep . I felt a dreadful jolt brush my face. I could feel an awful sting burning my cheek.

“Mother ff--” I was able to howl before I saw a figure rising from the floor and charging against one of the sentries. Ignis thrusted into the soldier with his full weight and tackled them violently down to the floor, landing with a heavy thud over the figure. The figure that remained hesitated for a second and yelling in horror, shifted in place and began shooting wildly towards Ignis. Without losing a second I launched a second assault over the figure, leaping wildly with the improvised dagger, plunging it as deeply as I could into their arm. The sentry shrieked in pain, tumbling backwards and finally losing balance, falling to the floor. I stood there, becoming aware that the terrified sentry was unable to use their gauntlet-weapon.

“Enough!” a voice at the end of the hallway snapped in a callous ferocity that was very much familiar. “Enooooooooooooough!” this time, keener, the person vociferated sternly and asserted herself with a solid tap of her cane against the floor, silencing all banters.

We all turned towards the voice, one by one. Lit from behind, it took me a second to recognize the figure. ‘The Captain,’ I murmured, disoriented. She began pacing towards us, followed by sentries, too many to count. It felt like an eternity, seeing her pace forward, getting closer. I felt a chill run down my spine and freeze my legs in place only for it to sprout again from the warm stains on my chest. I took a deep breath and raised my eyes to meet the figure eclipsed by the light, as she approached us silently.

“What in the world happened here?” she demanded apprehensively at the sight. No one answered.

Even though all eyes were on her, no one dared an answer.

“Sentries!” she called to her patrol, “apprehend everyone,” she made sure to entail as she examined the scene with more detail. “Take those injured to the medical wing and the rest down to the penal complex, immediately!” she commanded mercilessly.

We were brutally apprehended as the sentries tackled us to the floor. As I was plunged backwards, an unfathomable feeling of hollowness enveloped my insides and abruptly, I felt the back of my skull clack against the metal surface.