As we all let each other go I took a good look at my parents.
Their former gaunt and sickly-looking skin was nowhere to be found, as they now sported a healthy physique again. Unlike most Rafarians who had pale skin, theirs was what was considered normal by people living on more habitable planets. It was the one thing that set my parents apart from being true Rafrians, as we only got light through artificial means.
Looking closely at my dad I saw that he even sported a black well-kempt beard again, and Mom’s short brown hair was let loose. Of course, they also carried several scars on their military-trained bodies, each harkening back to their days serving in the armies of the Autarch Union. I still remember the bedtime stories they told me of that time when I was a kid. Most of their scars were hidden from sight and covered up beneath their fine clothes colored in Rafarian grey, mixed in with a few strands of embroidered gold. Mom once explained to me that the color signified their ruling stance. This meant that while they were Rafars rulers and so wore bits of gold, they too walked among their populace with pride. Seeing the grey far outweigh the gold strands told one their true allegiance.
While examining them I spotted something from out of the corner of my eye. Looking over I could see a large man trying to blend into the shadows. “Hey there Xander.” I smiled. Xander smiled back for once. “Hey kid, glad to see you up again.” I raised an eyebrow. “It’s back to kid again huh?” Xander grinned. “Yup.” I shook my head and ignored him.
My parents caught me up on everything that happened while I was under. In the meantime, doctor Gustaf prepared a final set of examinations to make sure I was alright to leave.
“Our engineers managed to save the station from complete collapse, and with the help of these new construction drones of yours, the repair work seems to be going smoothly.” My mom explained.
“And that’s not all!” My dad began excitedly. “Thanks to that boarding action of you, General Thalia, and the rest of the brave souls who joined, we managed to capture both ships intact. The most urgent damage has been fixed so that they don’t fall apart while the station is being repaired, but as soon as that’s done we can fix them up and bolster our navy!” His smile dropped. “We’re going to make sure that the sacrifices everyone made that day mean something.” His shoulders slumped. “Even so, too much blood has already been spilled.”
Mom laid a hand on my dad’s shoulder as I asked him a question. “I heard you gave the healthiest soil we have to our fallen?” Father nodded. “Of course, not doing so hadn’t even crossed our minds. But how did you? Ah, Belleran.” I affirmed his guess. “We’ve been caught up on what’s been happening while we were gone. After you were interned at the hospital, Belleran personally requested to help guard you as soon as he was healed. Your actions have left a mark on the man.”
Mom smiled. “And not just them, almost everyone here spoke highly of you. Even our usually staunch Xander.” I turned to look at the suspect in question, who was firmly looking away from me and watching the door for any potential intruders.
“But to get back on track, we’ve personally compensated each family for their loss. It will put more strain on our current resources, but it will make our souls lighter.” Dad said.
“Luckily we’ve managed to gain quite a few credits after that last battle.” Said mom. I cocked an eyebrow at her. “How?” Mom showed a predatory grin. “After going through everything that’s been happening, me and my dearie Talis found out that these ‘pirates’ had quite the bounty on their head. So we went ahead and called the Galactic Bounty Board in the A.U. to have a nice long chat. It seems they’ve been to quite a few places over the years. So when we collected on their bounties there was quite the payout. Of course, the G.B.B. wanted to curb the reward payout, but I still have quite a few friends within the Union. Angry friends who would make sure that the G.B.B.’s reputation will never recover if they crossed us.” I gulped. I almost pity the fools. Almost.
“I see... Well, at least that’s good news.”
We talked a bit more about some things here and there until finally, doctor Gustaf gave the all-clear sign. Xander and my Dad helped me up and together we walked out of the door and further into the medical ward. Belleran followed in behind us. I sent a private message to Dad as we walked.
“Since when is Xander okay with Belleran?”
“Since he’s the one who kept you stabilized after the fight on the carrier. He’s taken the young man under his wing. It seems that it has helped him find a new purpose after what happened to his friends on the scout ship. Besides that, he has proven himself to be loyal and is learning at a rapid pace. We don’t usually find someone who is this suited to be a royal guard. And it’s about time we got you a new one.”
“I agree. If he wanted me dead he had every chance during that fight.”
“Don’t worry we checked E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. We won’t let traitors into our ranks again, let alone ‘guard’ you.”
“That reminds me, dad. once we are done extracting intel from the pirates we might want to do to them what we did to the traitors. At least then they are of some use to us.”
“That is not a bad idea, I’ll let Grim know to prepare the equipment.”
As we continued walking I noticed people stopped to look at us, no to be more specific me with respect? Besides that, I also noticed that there were still quite a lot of wounded...
“I’ve been out for a week and a half right Dad?”
“That’s right.”
“How are there still so many wounded left then?”
“As I said, enough blood has already been spilled…”
“Hey are those, children… How?”
“Some parents snuck their children aboard to let them see the stars. They wanted to give them a sight they would never forget… some of the staff allowed it to raise morale, besides that, they figured that it would be safe so long as they stayed inside since there is never anything dangerous up there anyway…”
Besides returning some stares and greetings we remained quiet during our walk back to the vehicle.
[Rafarian Royal palace - Rulers office]
Once the doors of the ruler's office closed I asked the question that had been burning a hole through my soul. “So who the hell are these guys, because they sure as shit ain’t pirates!” I nearly growled out with gnashed teeth.
Xander answered before Mom could. “Their from the A.U.” I looked at him stunned. “From the Union? Why? What worth is there in this corner of the galaxy that justifies two carriers, an EMP cannon, and dozens of fighter squadrons and bomber wings?!” I tried very hard to keep my anger in check. “Well ’Apparently’, it was still cheaper than having to pay our current price for dropping waste on Rafar.” Though Xander's face looked calm and collected, his clenched fists looked ready to punch a certain group of prisoners to death. Meanwhile, I felt my blood go cold as my brain kept trying to wrap my head around the information Xander just provided. “I’m sorry did I mishear? They went to fucking war, killed hundreds of civilians nearly blew up our station just to lower the dumping price? We don’t even let anyone dump their waste here anymore!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
My father nodded. “It turns out that a certain Autarch named Zerrik Gar would love to add our system to his portfolio. Or at the very least to have his dumping grounds back again, since it seems no other world is eager to become the next Rafar.”
“And It gets worse.” Xander warned. “How? How can it get worse than that.” I wondered aloud. Xander looked like he didn’t want to be the messenger here, so my father said what needed to be said. “We found the traitor in the trade alliance.” I looked around as my mom, dad, and Xander carefully seemed to gauge my reaction. “Well spit it out! Who was it? Which bastard sold us out!” My mom tore off the proverbial bandaid. “It was your former friend and fiancee, Romira Firanta Della Borg.”
What?
“She was offered a simple deal by Zerrik Gar: Turn traitor and get paid, or stay loyal and face the wrath of the Garrian Alliance Fleet. That’s all the info we could find from both the two carrier ship’s logs and by interrogating what’s left of Zerrik’s undercover pirate fleet.”
I sank into my chair too stunned for words. First came the sense of betrayal, then sadness, which turned into pain, the pain turned into rage and then those feelings kept looping for a while. After some amount of time, I did not bother tracking I managed to collect myself enough to push those feelings down deep. As deep as I could keep them, I took out a key locked the door to my heart, and threw it away. The time for feelings would come later.
Taking a deep deep breath I felt a cold focus settle in. Xander and my parents waited for my response, seemingly unsure of what to do in this case, so I helped them. “Is the trade alliance informed of her actions?” They all nodded. “So what about the trade convoy?” Though their facial expressions didn’t change, the mood grew sourer by the minute. Even so, my Dad answered. “When we summoned the alliance and revealed Romira’s wrongdoings she immediately left the virtual meeting. She has since forced everyone who was involved with the trade alliance out of her system. And since we can’t inform the A.U. about what’s been happening here without risking another Autarch like Zerrik showing up we can’t punish her let alone Zerrik and his forces.” He took a breath before continuing. “With all that’s happened here, and no way to protect any trade convoy the alliance has been dissolved as too many members are scared of losing their investments again. Everyone is on their own again.”
No, this can’t be it... After all the sacrifices we made, all the years my parents worked to get this alliance off the ground. To have a chance to better ourselves, IT CAN’T HAVE ALL BEEN FOR NOTHING.
Without another word, I got up from my seat and walked off and out of the office to go towards an old storage room that almost no one uses. Belleran quietly followed me as I exited the office. No one stopped me as I made my way there.
After finally reaching the storage room I gave Belleran one order without looking at him. “Guard the exit, let no one in.” I barely heard a “Yes, My Lord.” as I closed the office door behind me. Once I had made sure that truly no one was here I loosed my restraints.
The first thing I grabbed was some kind of small sculpture, I couldn’t tell what it was because, in the next moment, it became a million shards of stone as it broke against the wall.
They killed our people for a FUCKING PRICE DROP!
I grabbed a small wooden stool, a material that was rare on our planet, and smashed it against one of the filecases until all that was left was one of its legs.
I TRUSTED HER!
I began kicking against more of the filing cases, as I did papers flew out everywhere around me.
THOSE CHILD MURDERING SONS OF BITCHES!!
I let it all out.
THOSE FOOLISH COWARDS! DON’T THEY SEE THAT THINGS WILL STAY THE SAME UNLESS WE TAKE RISKS!
As long as it was still standing I tried to destroy it.
FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!
“FUCK!!!” I screamed.
Eventually, even anger could not keep me going as I collapsed to the ground.
I’m tired of being pushed around by others.
I’m tired of losing people.
I’m tired of eating insect protein bars.
I’m tired of acid rain…
I’m tired of drinking nasty-tasting recycled water.
I’m tired of living under ground.
I’m tired of not seeing the sun.
I’m tired of it all…
No matter what I, my family, or our people do our home is still a polluted mess.
I just laid there. Not thinking, not feeling, just laying there on the cold steel ground between all of the splinters, bent metal, and dusty papers.
I heard footsteps walk towards me. Its Belleran. He watched me, closed the door, and joined me on the ground. “I don’t know the details, nor will I pretend to understand the ones I do. But one thing I do understand is the feeling of losing everything you’ve ever loved and worked towards.”
“I am no genius, frankly I’m as dumb as they get, but Haruk and some other buddies were there for me. They helped me learn, they helped me get up when I fell. Of course, they aren’t here now. But I like to think that their still watching over me. To assure me that my purpose here ain’t done yet.”
“How..”
“How what My Lord?”
“How can you keep going despite it all..”
Belleran looked thoughtful for but a moment before smiling down at me. “A few weeks ago I couldn’t I went mad, I should have died. But some young lord saw to it that I wasn’t killed, and helped me avenge my loved ones. After that, I realized my new purpose.”
I shook my head. “Well sorry to disappoint you, but I think your faith in me is displaced, I mean looked around you. Is this what a lord would do? Are these the actions of someone that can lift up their people from this shit hole we call home?” Belleran quietly kept listening to my rambling.
“Belleran, everything I’ve worked on all these years to help better our planet and society has been but a piss in the ocean, absolutely nothing has changed. And nothing will change because there is nothing I or anyone else here can do to change our situation. We were screwed from the moment that we were born here.”
The storage room remained quiet as Belleran and I took in the quiet.
“Respectfully My Lord. Get off your stupidly fucking high horse.”Belleran said as he forced me to look him in the eyes.”Of course, no one man or woman can change a situation like ours in all but a few decades. If it were that easy hell we’d be living like kings. But no it’s not easy and no it won’t happen overnight or maybe even in a couple of decades. But the moment we give up we’re not just saying fuck you to our future, we’re also spitting on every hope, dream, and sacrifice our ancestors have made to even give us a chance at a better future.”
“And what the hell was that shit about ‘you not being able to change a single thing and everything you’ve worked on has been for nothing’ look around you! I’m standing here because of YOU! The men, women, and children recovering in the hospital are there because YOU made sure our navy and defenses were ready in case an attack happened. It was YOU who plugged some ancient ass tech into their head to give us a shot at a better future.”
I had never been helpfully cussed out before by someone who didn’t care that I was a Lord’s son. “So no my faith hasn’t been misplaced, No I’m not giving up on the man who helped me get pay back for my comrades. The man who has and will continue to save many more lives. So get up, scream kick, and do what you have to do to get all of this anger out!” Belleran’s voice quieted down. “And then rest. Tomorrow you will begin making a plan. A plan that no one here has thought of before, a plan that will seem ludicrous at first. But it will be one more plan of many more to come that will eventually see us rise from our underground shelters and make us walk back onto the surface to take in our sun, without wearing any suits. But until that day comes, I am here. And I am ready to do my part.”
My head felt clear.
“I need rest. Food. A shower. And a new arm. But after that, I will start planning. So, please. Help me get back to my quarters.” Belleran helped me up without complaint and we started walking off.