The Quiet Florian
Leaves-in-Rain came upon the small clearing in the dead of night and shouted out the code phrase: “The vines are growing!” A moment passed and he heard the response, “Growing over all!” This answer was good. His plucky band of would-be rebels were here, and it was almost time.
It was unconscionably dark. This planet, the one the elders call Vatka, means as much in the old Florian tongue. The atmosphere was naturally choked with gasses that were unconducive to Florian biology. The night sky itself was a thick curtain of black, and the days were naturally dimmer than most other places in the galaxy. Of course, Leaves-in-Rain had no knowledge of anywhere else. Vatka was all he knew. Occasionally, he would overhear the Albionic guards refer to this planet as the ‘Eastern Reservation.’ When he would ask the Grove-Mothers and Grove-Fathers about it, they would tell him the real story.
The residential schools on Vatka were run by the Albionic government and taught young Florians from the time they could walk that centuries ago, brave Albionic explorers came through Florian space peacefully prosthelytizing civilization and industry. The elders told a different story. If ‘peacefully prosthelytizing’ meant murdering, torturing, desecrating, burning, and erasing—then the Kingdom of Albion was very good at it. The reason given in the schools as to why these Florians were on this particular planet was chalked up to an old treaty and an unwillingness to adapt to the march of progress. The conditions of the treaty ceded two planets to the Florian people that would have human oversight but be largely run by the Florians. If that had ever truly been the case, that time had long since passed.
Nowadays, the humans that ran the schools that taught their propaganda would come around at the end of every month to take the matured Florians off-planet. Any questions were met with the answer that: ‘They chose to leave and pursue a life on a civilized world,’ and any resistance was met with violence. Leaves-in-Rain would soon be of age. Roughly 17 human ‘years’ old. Before then, however, he had a plan. It started two years ago.
Leaves-in-Rain had no parents—they were taken shortly after he was born—but he did have two adoptive siblings: his sister and brother, and they fulfilled the parental role in their own way. In addition to this, the infirmed and unfit who were allowed to stay on Vatka would eventually grow old enough to be deemed Grove-Mothers and Fathers. These elders kept the old ways alive as best they could, and Leaves-in-Rain was one of their most attentive students. Every day after he left the residential school and tried as best he could to forget everything he learned there, he would come to the elders and soak up as much knowledge about the true ways of his people as he could. Two years ago, he saw the Grove-Mother who had essentially become his grandmother murdered by the Albionic garrison. Orchids-of-Light was a kind old woman. Even after all the humans had done, she would never fight back or wish them ill. It was simply the kind of person she was. When someone in their area had slit the throat of a guardsmen in retaliation for a beating, she was dragged out of her leafy home and had a gun placed to the back of her head. She was shot under the charge of ‘inciting rebellion’ and Leaves-in-Rain was never the same. When his adoptive siblings were old enough and taken off of Vatka, all bets were off.
He began conspiring with other young Florians. Most were his age, but many were younger than he was. After his network of willing and able souls had around fifty people, he set his plan in motion. The local garrison had a sloop in drydock, and it would lift off once a month spiriting away Florians and scattering them throughout Albionic space. Leaves-in-Rain aimed to take that sloop. As often as possible over the last two years, he would instruct the members of his network to secure books on starship operations from the schools. Oddly enough, the human staff seemed almost happy that so many young Florians were taking an interest in starship mechanics. Once his people had learned enough rudimentary knowledge of how the ship would work, they moved on to phase two. Phase two involved stealing weapons and was far more dangerous. The consequences for being caught in the act would be imprisonment or execution. The consequences if the guardsmen noticed a missing weapon would be punishments visited on random Florians from the area. This could range from beatings, to forced amputation, to again—execution. In time, they had finally secured enough firearms and explosives to mount an attack with a possibility of success. Leaves-in-Rain had many close calls himself, and counted himself lucky that as the leader he was able to make it this far.
His rebels were situated in a small clearing some distance away from any settled area. All fifty of them were gathered there tonight on the eve of their inaugural operation. As Leaves-in-Rain entered the clearing, a few shouts and whoops were let out, but they were quickly quieted down for safety. Inspecting them, he saw that all of them were suitably armed and several had explosives at the ready in order to force their entry to the compound and eventually to the ship. Leaves-in-Rain quickly scanned the place for his right hand man, Branches-of-Amber. Branches-of-Amber was slightly younger than Leaves-in-Rain, and was both a quick study and dear friend. Leaves-in-Rain spotted him going over the final version of the plan at a table with a group of younger rebels. He approached the group and walked up to the table.
“Alright, everyone, by that point it will be touch and go, so finish your preparations,” Branches-of-Amber said to the group. They left the table and went in several directions, and he turned to Leaves-in-Rain, “Brother, it’s good to see you, I was beginning to worry.”
Leaves-in-Rain greeted him with a hug, “There isn’t a need to worry. It wouldn’t be much of an uprising if your fearless leader wasn’t around. How are the spirits around here?”
“High, for now. The warriors are excited to finally fight back and gain some ground. These Pahkvatgurn won’t know what hit them.” Branches-of-Amber said. ‘Pahkvatgurn’ was a word that is fundamentally and ethically unprintable in the human tongue.
Leaves-in-Rain chuckled, “Pahkvatgurn indeed. Still, I’m worried. We have the knowledge in theory, but when we’re actually on the ship I don’t know if it will be enough. We’ll only have a short window to leave Vatka.”
“Brother, you worry too much. As I understand it from the texts, starship operation has been the same for centuries. Trust your warriors, Leaves, for they trust you with their lives.”
Leaves-in-Rain simply nodded. To use only the first name meant that he and Branches-in-Amber were indeed as brothers. Neither of them would have it any other way. They conversed briefly about the minteua of the operation before deciding to walk around and survey the status of the warriors. Young men and women were reciting ancient prayers to the forests of their old worlds, carving ceremonial etchings into their bark with knives, and some were merely sitting and staring into the various fires that were made in the clearing. One group was making music. Leaves-in-Rain and Branches-in-Amber walked towards it.
A group of ten was gathered around a fire, three of them beating on drums and singing and seven dancing. Leaves-in-Rain was able to spy Petals-in-Starlight. Branches-in-Amber looked at Leaves-in-Rain, winked at him, and gestured for him to talk to her. In a different time and place, Leaves-in-Rain would’ve wanted to take Petals-in-Starlight as his mate. It was her name that originally attracted him to her. He had never seen starlight, and if it was as pretty as she was, he wouldn’t be surprised. With any luck, he would find out soon enough. She was a bit younger than he was, and he was especially worried for her safety in the coming hours, but he wouldn’t wish to keep her from their noble cause. He walked over to her.
“Petals-in-Starlight, it’s good to see you in such high spirits,” he said.
“Ah, we were wondering where you were. Glad to see you’re here. Did you run into any human pahkvatgurn along the way?” she said.
“I fought off an entire battalion, you should’ve seen it.”
She laughed, “You’ll just have to show me again in a few hours. Would you like to dance?”
“I would love to.”
They began a fast and rhythmic dance. Branches-in-Amber watched them from a distance and smiled. He walked over to another group that was partaking in carving. He sat down and asked for a knife. Slowly, he started the process of carving ceremonial runes onto his arms. First his left, then his right. The dull pain it caused served as a reminder of the pain his people had endured for centuries. The runes he chose were representative of ‘luck’, ‘honor’, ‘strength’, and finally, ‘hope’. After finishing, he thanked the warrior who lent him the knife and was on his way to his final destination: The small armory that was present and hastily built into a naturally occuring cave.
Branches-in-Amber entered and decided to finally choose a weapon for the impending battle. He settled on a laser rifle. It was light compared to the conventional arms that made up the bulk of their stolen weapons, and he knew that it could punch a hole completely through an unarmored human in a single shot. So long as he aimed for a critical organ, it would be a kill for every pull of the trigger. That was one thing the Florians had going for them—sans destruction of the brain—they were extremely hard to kill due to their lack of organs or blood. Pain could be felt intensely, but so long as the head remained intact they would likely survive. He slung the rifle behind his back and left the cave. Branches-in-Amber spotted a nice fire where some warriors were meditating and joined them until the final preparations were to be made.
Leaves-in-Rain and Petals-in-Starlight finished their dance.
“Can I talk to you privately?” he said.
“Of course,” she answered.
He gestured in a direction free of any others and when they were a suitable distance, he began speaking, “Petals-in-Starlight, Petals, if I can call you that.”
“You may, if I can call you Leaves.”
“That would make me very happy. I wish the situation was different, and I feel that you do as well. In a perfect world I wouldn’t be leading you into battle in a few hours. If anything should happen to either of us, I want you to know that I’ve considered you the most beautiful person I’ve ever known. It’s true that I’m fighting for all of our people, but I’m fighting for you as well—for the future to be worth living. The thing I fear the most is being forced to separate from you. I only wish that I was telling you this under better circumstances. I hope you feel the sa-”
She closed her eyes, pulled him in, and kissed him, “So long as we both survive, we’ll always have a chance. For what it’s worth, there’s nobody else I would want to lead me into battle.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Leaves-in-Rain smiled at her and they found a soft patch of moss to lay in. They remained like this for a time, cuddled up, and let the ebb and flow of conversation wash over them. Like clockwork, their simple moment of companionship was interrupted when a young warrior came looking for Leaves-in-Rain. “Boss, it’s almost time,” she said. They got up and walked back into the clearing. The fires were being extinguished and the warriors were doing their final checks on their arms, gathering in the center. Leaves-in-Rain stood on a small rock and Branches-in-Amber flanked his right side, staring out at their band of merry men. The crowd of warriors looked to Leaves-in-Rain expectantly.
He considered his words for a moment before speaking, “Brothers, sisters, warriors! For too long our people have been ground under the heels of human oppression! Today we take the fight to the pahkvatgurn and claim our first victory against the monsters! They have tried to keep the past hidden from us, but how can they do so when the present is no better? They beat us, choke us, kill us, and ask us to thank them for bringing ‘civilization’ to our worlds! They have raised us to be docile in their ‘schools’ and punished us for wishing to determine our self-worth. They take us from our families! They kill our elders! They do this with smiles and laughter, calling us savages and animals! Well I say they’re the animals, and it’s finally time for a hunt! What say you, warriors? Will you hunt the pahkvatgurn with me?” The warriors raised their weapons above their heads and cheered for their leader. Leaves-in-Rain was careful to not mention the very real possibility of death in his speech. There was no point in stating the obvious, and for those that would die and meet the All-Tree, he would at least want them to be in high spirits when they did. Though the plan was discussed at length in the prior weeks, Leaves-in-Rain gave one last abridged version before ordering the warriors to embark on the two hour trek to the edge of the forest next to the garrison.
The battle that would ensue would likely be decided by only a few factors: The most evident being how ready the Albionic garrison was, and how fast the Florians could move into position to take the sloop. The fact that they were attacking before dawn, when the humans were likely to still be sleeping, was a boon to the Florians. Scouts had estimated that there were roughly eighty men in the garrison, which meant that the humans had the numerical advantage. Humans had the advantage of formal training and tactics as well, as there was scant target practice within the Florian ranks in an effort to deflect unwanted attention. None of the Florians have experienced real combat, and most would be considered children by human standards. Still, perhaps the greatest factor in determining who would win this battle was that unspoken esprit de corps. The general spirit among the Florians was that of ‘do or die’ as either outcome was certain. Florians and humans were not so different in that in situations where death was both possible and probable, they would do anything to survive. For the humans of this garrison, that meant self-preservation of the self. For the Florians, it meant self-preservation of their species. In that way, the Florians had a distinct advantage over their human oppressors.
At this point, the group had come to the edge of the forest. The ranking warriors signaled their respective groups to stop and motioned for the demolition teams to move out. Luckily, there was a design flaw in the Albionic garrison in that it had no guard towers around the back wall. The two guard towers that were present were trained on the front of the compound, and the figures visible in these towers did not appear to notice the ten Florians who were quickly and quietly making their way to the back wall. Upon reaching the wall, they set their respective charges at roughly the same time and they were set to go off in one minute. The demolition team returned to the group and readied their primary weapons to deal with the ensuing firefight. Leaves-in-Rain watched the compound and waited for the explosives to go off. He couldn’t gauge the time accurately, but he didn’t need to as time seemed to slow down from his point of view. Then, explosions.
Most of the wall was blasted apart, sending concrete flying in oblique directions. In the few seconds before the garrison could react, Leaves-in-Rain shouted, “Now!” and the Florians began their advance. Branches-in-Amber took aim with his laser rifle at a figure in one of the guard towers. He fired, and the figure crumpled to the ground. Many of the warriors were rushing in and yelling, firing off randomly into the compound. At this point the klaxon alarm of the garrison started to sound and a shouting could be heard from within. Several Albionic guardsmen took positions near the intact portions of the wall and returned fire, hitting several Florians in the process. Leaves-in-Rain was advancing next to a young warrior when a bullet struck her head. She fell lifelessly to the ground. Leaves-in-Rain continued his advance and took aim at one of the humans by the wall, he pulled the trigger and sent several bullets in his direction, hitting him a few times and sending him to the ground. He could hear him scream in pain and felt no remorse.
Explosions from grenades were going off both inside and outside the compound—at this point the Florians had made it to the wall. A few of them remained behind cover whilst several rushed in and were shot apart by an unseen machine gun. Branches-in-Amber ran over to Leaves-in-Rain, “Brother, we need to reorganize the warriors, they’re letting their fury get the best of them!” he said. Leaves-in-Rain shouted out to all who could hear him: “Take cover, make yourselves as small as possible and advance!” Many Florians who heard him hit the ground and began crawling towards the wall. Leaves-in-Rain ran towards the centerline and dove towards the ground as well. He could see a searchlight from the still-manned guard tower beaming down on him and several others who were near him. He took aim and fired at it, shattering the light and hopefully hitting the man behind it.
He continued his advance into the compound along the ground and once he was past the wall, he got up to a crouching position and took cover behind several metal crates. At this point he could see their intended sloop and could make out the name, the HMS Lismore. A few warriors joined him behind the crates and returned fire at their human adversaries. The smell of smoke and sounds of screaming filled the air around the compound, and Leaves-in-Rain ordered those around him to advance towards the sloop. They moved at once and spread out, firing in directions where they could see muzzle-flashes.
It was impossible to determine the total number of casualties on either side at that moment, but Leaves-in-Rain was confident that his warriors were making progress. He looked over and saw Branches-in-Amber firing his laser rifle at an elevated window towards a group of humans who had taken cover within a building inside the compound. A shot rang out and a puff of dust came up from the ground behind where Branches-in-Amber was standing. He dropped his laser rifle and stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. Leaves-in-Rain could make out that half of his head had been blown off.
Leaves-in-Rain was temporarily frozen before his shock gave way to righteous rage. He charged the building where the bullet that killed his brother came from and kicked down the door. Upon entry, he saw two startled humans and fired two short bursts, killing both of them. He made his way towards the room where the group of humans had taken cover. The doorway leading in was open and he could see three of them. One was firing out of the window and another was reloading his weapon. The third had his back turned to the door and hadn’t noticed Leaves-in-Rain. He shot the man with his back turned first, aiming for the head, before training his gun on the one firing out the window. A quick burst ended him, and Leaves-in-Rain aimed down at the one reloading. He had a look of fear on his face, and Leaves-in-Rain hesitated for a moment before pulling the trigger. As he entered the room full of dead men, he let out a yell in anger. He did not notice the one hiding behind the doorway. All he felt was a sharp pain on the back of his head before he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
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Leaves-in-Rain came to and could see nothing. It took him a moment to realize this was because there was a bag over his head and not because he was made blind by whatever had hit him. He was also tied down to a chair and could not move his hands or his legs. He could hear voices.
“Damn savages killed Franklin and O’Doul! They’ll pay-'' one voice said, but was interrupted.
“Wait, Jonas, I think this one is finally awake,” another said.
The black bag that prevented Leaves-in-Rain from seeing was jerked off and the first thing he saw were the two red uniforms of the Albionic men who had now imprisoned him. After sizing him up for a moment, the one who had taken off the bag spoke to him again.
“Did you sleep well Cinderella? You know you’ve landed yourself and all your little friends into a mountain of shite that’s ten-thousand feet tall. You know how many men we lost last night?” he said. Leaves-in-Rain remained silent before he was punched hard across the mouth, the impact sending him to the floor. The one who hit him screamed in pain and held his hand, “You little shite!”
“They have bark for skin, you twat, of course it’ll hurt,” the other one said.
“Shut up Jonas! And bring me the bat!”
Jonas left the room and returned momentarily with a large metal bat. He handed it off to the other one. He held it in his hand before saying: “I’m gonna bash your brains in for what you did to our boys!” and raised it above his head. Before he could bring the bat down on Leaves-in-Rain, the door to the room was opened and he turned around, “Ah, Colonel Falx, I was just having some fun with the prisoner.”
The man who entered had much more regalia on his uniform, including gold epaulettes and a cord coming down from his right breast. His hands were clasped behind his back and he walked with calmness.
“Paddy, set the prisoner back up, please,” Colonel Falx said.
“Yes sir,” he set the bat down and lifted Leaves-in-Rain’s chair back to its feet.
“What is your name, boy?” the Colonel asked Leaves-in-Rain.
He remained silent.
“I asked you for your name? Do you have one?”
Silence.
“Very well, I don’t actually need to know. After your little insurrection was crushed, some of the prisoners were more than willing to fill in the details about you. Leaves-in-Rain, is it? It’s a good name, for a savage. Twenty-three of my men died last night, thanks to you. Still, that’s a lot less than you lost. You really could stand to have some tactical training, then I’d wager your plan might have actually succeeded. What you did was daft, but somewhat brave, so you have a modicum of my respect. The other prisoners will be publicly executed to serve as a warning to the rest of you savages, but as their leader, the crown has something else in mind for you. Personally, I’d have you drawn-and-quartered here, but alas, I am but a humble servant of the king. You’re to be shipped off to Dover Station until the legal system charges you with high treason and likely gives you a holovised execution on Avalon. The Lismore is prepared to launch at the moment. Paddy, Jonas, untie him and take him aboard.”
With this, the Colonel left the room and Paddy muttered something to himself as he and Jonas cut Leaves-in-Rain free from his chair and forced him to stand. They brought him out of the windowless room into the main portion of the building, and Leaves-in-Rain could see bullet holes in the walls and broken glass on the floor. Leaving the small building where he was being kept, he saw that parts of the compound were still smoking. In addition to this, a large pile of Florian bodies were being heaped together and burnt. He stopped moving due to the horror of the sight, but Paddy and Jonas forced him along and onto the gangway of the Lismore. Entering the ship, it was dimly lit and had a utilitarian design that left little in the way of aesthetics. He was forced into a small cargo bay with a slit for a window and heard the door slide shut behind him before locking. He moved over to the slit and looked outside. Its view was only that of a wall. He sat down and tried to break free of the cuffs that bound him, but he quickly realized that would only end in failure.
His thoughts were disjointed and muddled. He couldn’t tell if it was due to his head injury or because he was overwhelmed. Was Petals-in-Starlight in that pile of bodies? Did Branches-in-Amber feel any pain when he died? How many warriors escaped? What would the retribution be like for the Florians who had no part in the uprising? How long would it be until I’m executed?
These thoughts danced somberly through his mind for around thirty minutes before he felt the Lismore take off from the garrison. It rose higher and higher before they entered space and the inertia stopped entirely. He had read about that, that when a vessel breaks free of a planet’s atmosphere, the anti-gravity system kicks on. He was in space now for the first time, though not at all how he had planned it. The only sound in the small room was that of the ship’s engines droning on. The longer the droning was heard, the more dread Leaves-in-Rain began to feel. He got up and paced around the room for a time before finally looking out of the tiny slit in the wall and looking out into space.
Peering out of the Lismore’s tiny window, his fear gave way to something else. For the first time in his life, Leaves-in-Rain saw the light of one hundred billion stars. He was completely mesmerized.