***

Present Time

***

The memories fade once more as the ship tilts sideways. Bringing me back to the present. Water spilling in faster now, sloshing against the side walls. Sparks stop flying as something shorts. The only light now is from the red flashing alarm lights. I look to Lunara as she begins to slide towards the churning combination of liquified foam and water. The clawing at the edge of my mind by the black box’s demon has become fervent.

Call for me… Call for my power

“Lunara get up!” I yell to no avail as she slides further towards the abyss.

You need my power

“No – I don’t.” I say as I push with all my might against the foam that binds me.

Lunara’s legs are now swallowed by the water. Veins bulge as I dig deep, flexing every muscle, pushing. I feel the tearing of my body, but I don’t stop as the foam begins to loosen. My teeth grit as I plow deeper still.

Suddenly there is relief from the pressure as part of it pulls from the wall, just enough to move my flesh arm. I am bound still by some kind of suit that clings to my skin like a glove, it adheres to the foam firmly. She is nearly submerged now, the water licks at her shoulders. My hand reaches blindly searching for anything to cut me free.

You are weak… You need me

The demon pulls firmly at the edges of my mind now, trying to draw me into their words, trying to suck away all the resolve I have left in my bones. I will not listen to it. My eyes widen, a chord in my heart strums as I feel something sharp, like the edge of sheered metal, I wiggle it back and forth until it comes loose. I feel warm blood running down my hand, a testament to the sharpness, I carve the foam from my body as fast as I can, slicing my skin in many places. There is no time to worry, focus fills me as I fall from the seat, I move towards Lunara with haste, stumbling to the ground as the tilt becomes steeper.

Frantically grabbing her arm, I heft her up to me. She is heavier than I expected, but not so heavy that I can’t drag her from the churn. It appears that she is wearing the same kind of suit as me, except her clear mask has shattered. Only fragments remain of it. Her head seeps blood telling me her heart still beats.

The water is rising faster, soon there will be nowhere to go. I can’t swim, there was never a need to learn on my planet. Sekat. I pull her close to me, taking in the details. The pieces of foam I cut away seem to float on the surface still, will they hold our combined weight though? They seem to disintegrate faster in the water.

“Sekat!” my lips yell as I slam my metal arm against the hull.

Swallow your worthless pride… Call for me

My jaw flexes as my insides rage. Pride thrashes not wanting to give in to the demon. Not ready to give up yet. My eyes focus as the water rises to my leg, bitterly cold-water flows through the cuts in the suit. I try to shake Lunara awake, grasping her face. As I look at her, memories begin to coalesce again.

***

Two hours ago

***

I can’t help but stare at Lunara, as she moves her hair behind her ear I feel a stirring in my chest, a burn that brings hope and something else. Something I have seldom known. She moves her hand through the console’s holo displays, repeating some type of task over and over. Fennec stands behind her, good hand on his temples rubbing them.

“You’re not even close to being fast enough.” he groans.

“When the pressure is on, I know I can do it.” Lunara says, spinning her head to shoot him a look. Hair spinning with her, making a mess of her bangs and striking a chord in my heart.

Turning from her, the beauty too distracting, I move towards the back of the ships main chamber to try and speak with the older woman again. When I had tried before, she told me ‘Work first, speak after.’ She tends to the last wounded soldier, the one whose Achilles tendon I severed. She has applied some kind of brace to it that pulls the foot straight, causing the tendon to go slack. Leaning down next to her now, I see she wraps the tendon with a fabric that has tracings of lights woven in it, some type of compact electronic material maybe. I have never seen anything like it before. The tissue around the tendon does not drip blood, a thin layer of medigel seams to keep it at bay.

“Hand me that.” She says pointing to a roll of silver and white fabric.

Doing as she asks, I hand it to her. She slowly wraps it around the ankle then the foot. She places the holopad on her wrist over it, swiping through a holo, the fabric tightens around the foot, hardening.

“That should mend well enough.”

My eyes follow as she stands, moving towards Fennec now. She carries with her a bag of supplies.

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“Oi, ex-soldier, let’s have a look at that arm.” She says giving him an eyebrow raise.

“If you’re offering, I won’t say no.” Fennec says, a half grin on his mouth now.

“Yeah, yeah.” She says using a device to cut the fabric of his clothes, it does not cut his skin, even when the light touches it briefly. Strange, I have never seen anything like that either.

“Hey, I liked that shirt.” He gripes.

She looks at him with a small scowl, rolling her eyes.

“Bad break, going to need a brace. How’d you get it, playing tag with a train?” she asks while reaching into her bag.

“That slagging one right there did it.” Fennec says motioning to me.

“Did you deserve it?” she asks, holding up a large brace, sliding it over his arm.

“Probably, usually do.” he says, the brace tightens and contorts back and forth, his face makes no movement to show he is in pain. It looks more like relief as he says “Oh, you have the nerve blocker one, Gods that’s nice. Needed that, been having a proper slag of a month.”

She nods to him, moving towards me now. I straighten up as she looks me over, when she reaches my right arms shoulder she stops, tracing her finger along the streaking of fresh scars where the black box burned my flesh.

“I know this type of wound. An Edict caused this.”

She looks over it once more, then she looks up at me “Guess the rumors about the Black Edict being in this system were true. Looks like its found another victim.”

She turns and looks at Lunara now, who meets her eyes.

“Shame on you Noble, have you not already taken enough from him and his people.” She shakes her head, Lunara’s eyes fall downward to the floor.

The woman sighs, moving towards the seats that line the left side. She sits abruptly, raising her wrists in the air together, as though asking to be restrained.

“Well, get on with it.” She says to me.

“I don’t see a need.” I say sitting a few seats down from her now. I want to ask her about the words she spoke, I want to know how she knows them so well.

“Won’t look too good on me if they’re all tied up and I’m free.” She says pointing to the sedated soldiers laying on the floor, hands and ankles bound by cuffs we found in a storage compartment.

“Answer some of my questions and I’ll do as you ask.” I say, looking at my hands, pretending to pick at something. A technique I learned from Warden Akaria. I don’t want her to know how interested I am.

She chuckles softly, lowering her hands into her lap.

“Ask.”

“How did you know I am Kuwathi?”

“Well, the fierceness in your eyes and the way you moved during the fight were good indications. But your face and information being plastered all over our station was probably the best indicator. Don’t know what you did to rile up the interim prick of a Governor, but good on you.” She says with a half-smile and an eyebrow raise.

“How do you know our tongue?” I ask, abandoning the ruse and looking upon her.

She does not answer me right away, she stares off, sadness beginning to etch on her face as the smile fades.

“My lover was Kuwathi, he taught our boy the words, I picked up some of it from him I suppose.” her jaw tenses.

My heart can feel the pain from hers, her face tells a story of tragedy and loss. Fennec listens in now, his normal demeanor less abrasive as he begins to speak softly.

“What happened to them?”

She stares upwards at the ceiling now, then closes her eyes “Regime change in our home system, you know how that can go for Kuwathi and others not of the Republic’s ‘golden’ standard.”

Fennec does not answer with words, he simply nods to her. His eyes speak of understanding, the ghosts that haunt him close behind them.

“I am so sorry…” Lunara begins, having walked over without me noticing, the woman cuts her off.

“Do not patronize me with your hollow words Noble, it was your kind that tightened the noose and killed the only man I ever loved, killed my sweet innocent boy. For what? Because their eyes glow? Because they don’t fit into your standard of perfection?” Tears stream down her face, she wipes them quickly.

“I…” Lunara tries but she is interrupted again.

“It’s always your kind, if it were up to me, I’d let you and your Republic burn.” She spits, there is venom in her voice, a flaring of her nostrils as she looks at Lunara with contempt.

“I am not like…”

“You’re all the same, cut from the same wretched cloth soaked in the blood of the people you’ve sworn to protect.” The woman says, there is fierceness in her eyes.

“Why do you fight for them if you feel this way?” I ask her, trying to gain understanding from the contrast of reality and her feelings.

“I do not fight for them; I aid the wounded only.”

“Still, you tend their wounded, why?” I ask her, searching still, in her heart I feel the same hatred for the masters, yet she serves them willingly.

“The soldiers don’t always choose to join. Even if they did. They all have someone waiting for them back home, a father, a brother or sister, maybe even a child. I do this…” she pauses, closing her eyes “So that a mother somewhere out there might see their child return to their arms.”

My heart hurts as she speaks, my mind drifting to thoughts of my own mother. This woman reminds me of her, the way that she sees the world, as it is, yet still finds purpose in moving forward to help others, even if she may never receive the praise she is due. My hand moves to her shoulder without me asking as my jaw tenses. Her eyes look to the ceiling still, fighting back the embrace of sadness as she places a hand on mine grasping it firmly. Fennec steps forward and does the same to her other shoulder. There is good in him, I can see it now as he drops his guard to comfort her.

There is tragedy in more than just my corner of the universe, why is there so much pain. There are others besides my people who suffer from the cruelty of the masters. My mind replays the woman’s words about letting their Republic burn, a sentiment I feel deeply. I wonder how many more feel as she feels, how many more silently suffer, hoping against hope that someday things will change, hoping that someone will stand up and say enough is enough. My heart burns with desire to see this change.

“So, there are more of my people out among the stars?” I find myself asking her, hope in my eyes as they search her for answers.

She turns to me, tilting her head to the side. Sorrow written upon her eyes as she weighs my words.

“She makes you fight for her, yet she tells you nothing.” The woman says shaking her head now “I bet she didn’t tell you anything about that cursed Edict she makes you use.”

She turns to Lunara now. Anger on her brow.

“Bet you didn’t tell him that every person that’s used it ends up dead, one time, two times, doesn’t matter all of them go mad and die one way or another.” She spews at Lunara, there is hatred in her face, the venom from her words cuts like a knife.

My eyes blink at the information, I turn to Lunara, searching her for answers now. Her face is still covered, but by the avoidance of her gaze I can feel the truth seeping out. She knew this and didn’t tell me.

“Didn’t tell him because you need him to be obedient, you Nobles are all the same. Disgusting creatures that wear the flesh of people.” She spits on the ground towards Lunara “Shame on you.”

“I didn’t…” Lunara begins, strain in her voice, her eyes flit to meet mine for a second.

Before she continues, she is interrupted by a communication from the comm channel.

“This is Republic Space Command actual, you who have stolen a Republic vessel, I am requesting to know the status of my soldiers.” A familiar voice says.

“I thought you disabled comms?” Fennec says rushing towards the panel.

“I did, he’s sending this on open channels unencrypted for all to hear. Isn’t he worried about others finding out he’s lost a ship under his command.” Lunara says, moving towards the panel now too.

“He is well known for caring about his soldiers, he won’t care about the embarrassment of others knowing. I wouldn’t expect you to understand Noble.” The woman says, standing now.

Moving towards her bound crewmates. She pulls out an injector from her side pocket.

“Wait, please – tell me of my people.” I say, the thoughts of the black box pushed back for now.

“Oi, ex-soldier.” She says looking to Fennec, he turns to meet her gaze “Don’t be like that husk of a person you work for. He deserves answers.”

Fennec looks at me for a moment then back to her and nods. With that she injects herself and begins to sway back and forth a few seconds later.

“She is a Noble, all of them are Veduc Nar.” She says, looking at me as she stumbles “Do not trust them.”

Rushing towards her, I help her lie to the floor as the sedative pulls her towards the abyss of sleep. She grabs the side of my head firmly.

“You remind me of my boy you know.” She says, giving me a weak smile “You take that cursed thing… and you give those bastards a taste of the hells before it claims you.”

Her hand goes slack as her eyes roll back; she walks among her dreams now. Leaving me in the waking realm of reality, filled with more questions than answers. My insides churn at the thoughts that rip through me. The voice from the comms fills the air again.

“This is Republic Space Command actual, requesting the status of my soldiers.”

As Lunara and Fennec debate about the best course of action, my mind thinks on the words of the woman. In the old tongue Veduc Nar means roughly – Those who spin a web of lies to ensnare.