Iya and Kal stood up in shock. They gave Amos their full attention, they wanted to know the story and what had happened. Kal was trying his hardest not to lose his cool.
Amos continued explaining, “At first it was the plan to set up your initiation mission but no communication was a part of it. Artemis wanted to set up a fake kidnapping, forcing you to take on the role without know it. Now I’m starting to believe that he was actually kidnapped.” He scoffed and looked behind him as the second General Marcus joined the conversation. The last general of the youngest of the three was Surra and she came up behind Marcus wondering what the plan was. Everyone who needed to be there was in the same room waiting for orders from the newest member of all, their Commander.
Amos looked down at Iya and studied her face which looked like the wheels were turning. Everyone began to speak all at once except for Iya who stood there quietly and focused on the next move. She knew what was about to happen. This was definitely Artemis’ style. He really enjoyed throwing people in the river and forcing them to swim, so to speak. Iya felt Amos staring at her and she quickly looked up with a look of confidence. It clicked for her inside. Inside her brain, her body and most importantly, inside her heart. Amos took it as a signal to quiet everyone down so Iya could speak, “Quiet everyone! Our Commander has something to say…” Everyone stopped speaking and stood in circle, spreading from where Iya was standing. She looked around and waited for her leads to stop shuffling around. She looked up and took a deep breath than looked directly at General Amos.
“General Amos, do you believe in the Circle of Ezris?” Not making a move, Iya stood still waiting for an answer. Amos was taking back by the question but not in a bad way. He was a little confused but still answered his Commander. Everyone looked at the both of them standing there quiet trying to figure where this was going.
“Well… yes but it has not been in place for at least twenty years. After the betrayal of Commander Gerok and other members of our military, the Circle of Ezris was dismantled. Do you know what you are asking?”
“Yes I do… Kal and I and the rest of our age group may have the thirst for battle, but have never experienced it. It would be a foolish start for me to think I can walk on to Corra and know what I’m doing. The Circle of Ezris was formed for that reason alone. The power of the commander would be shared among the generals and the captain. When the commander is unable to take command, another would pick up the pieces and take my place. In this case Amos, I need your help and guidance, your wisdom and your experiences to make this mission possible without it ending in Artemis’s death or chaos. Together we will be successful and we will reunite our army piece by piece if I have to. Are you with me? We must unify our army! Amos? Marcus? Surra and Kalvanius? Together we will bring back our reputation as the fiercest army the universe has ever seen.” Iya placed her right arm across her chest and making a fist to her left shoulder. That was how they bowed in Sage. Iya was bowing to her leaders of her army. Something that has never been done before for any commander. It was the sign of ultimate respect.
The other generals looked at Amos after Iya stayed bowed to them and the rest of the team began to bow with her. The last general to bow was Amos. He looked at her with his eyes slanted with his head slightly angled upwards, he looked down at her still facing the ground. He then said, “If this is your first act as commander… it is very pleasing.” Amos gave Iya a really big smile then took his right arm and slammed his fist into his left shoulder returning the respect she just gave him, “Artemis would be very proud of you, Commander Iya…”
“Will be… let’s get him back.” Iya broke the circle and the other began to rest a little knowing there was about to be a plan put in place. The most eager to get started was, of course, Kal for his father's life was on the line. Iya walked over to Amos and followed what he was staring at. Amos was staring at the kingdom servant maids as the gathered their belongings and the exports they were carrying back to their planet Corra. Iya turned and asked Amos, “What’s the plan?”
General Amos looked down at Iya and gave her a small smirk, which was a little scary coming from him. Amos was not a smiley person, so he was definitely up to something. He looked over at the young maids then back down Iya, than back over to the maids. After they gathered up all of their belongings, younger maids huddled in a group. They started giggling and chatting about the Sagen male soldiers. “I do have a plan but it’s never been done before… The best way we can get into Corra without causing chaos is… for you to sneak into Corra… as a maid.” Amos didn’t know what Iya’s reaction was going to be.
Iya turned her head slowly towards the younger maids and she definitely could fit in their dresses it’s just, “I hate wearing dresses… but,” Iya let out a huge sigh, “It’s for Artemis and I’m willing to do anything to make sure he gets back safely. Surra and I will go in together and pretend like everything is normal. Hopefully they will not notice the change.” Iya too started looking at the maids and seeing which one would better suit her size. She saw two maids who were kind of separated from the rest of the bunch. They continued to work and gather up as much food and other kitchen items as they could before boarding the Sagen Carrier Ship. Iya felt like they were be a perfect fit for this transition.
Iya pointed out the two maids that would best fit out to Amos. He nodded and told Marcus to go gather the two maids and bring them over where they were standing. Iya and Amos watched as Marcus walked over to the two women. As he approached them, Marcus spoke a few words before things quickly got out of hand. One of the maids turned around and smacked Marcus square in the face. He quickly had to grab both of her hands then Marcus threw the maid to the ground. Iya and Amos both witnessed what had happened and ran over to them to intervene. Amos came up from behind Marcus and grabbed him by his shoulders pulling him back and off the poor lady. Amos kept pushing Marcus back, repeatedly while talking crap to him about losing his cool.
Iya saw the opportunity to make amends and walked over slowly to the maid. She knelt down and extended her hand to help to sit up. Iya waited for the older maid to get adjusted. She sat back up against the wall and dusted off the dirt from her dress. Iya looked at her and said, “I’m sorry about his behavior… that wasn’t called for. I’m Iya and…” The older maid interrupted her.
“We know who you are… you’re the new commander. King Jaron’s youngest child. What do you want with us?” She spoke quickly and was shaky. She was still a little fired up from her tussle with Marcus.
“I need your help and I have an offer for you that I’m sure you two wouldn’t want to refuse.” Iya looked at both women who were both leaning up against the wall. The other maid was much younger than the older maid but you could tell the older maid looked after her.
“What kind of offer? We don’t want any trouble I swear. We just wanna work off our debts and live on Corra in peace.” The older maid gave Iya a serious look but was curious of her offer.
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“How would you like to earn your freedom right now?” Iya reached into her pocket sack that was tied to her belt and pulled out a stack a gold coins. These coins were special though for only the super-rich had gold pieces like that. Looking at the gold pieces the maids couldn’t take their eyes off of them. The younger maid’s mouth slightly opened in awe of how much gold Iya had in her hands, “You can take the gold pieces down to the Grand Hall before sundown today and tell them I, Princess Iya, bought your freedom.” Iya held the gold pieces close enough to the maids that they could smell them.
The older maid looked up at Iya with a skeptical look on her face, “What’s the catch?” She asked.
“There is no catch, we need your maid uniforms. I promise you this is no trick. I mean what I say. I’ll even call up there myself and have them ready you two housing in the Saijerian Colonies. We just really need your uniforms. What section do you two work in anyway?” Iya replied with a seriousness in her voice. The maids were taking too long answering Iya’s offer, “or I could command my ‘not so nice’ general over there and strip you of your uniform and you can get nothing… your choice.”
The younger maid tapped the older maid on her arm and gave her a look like they should take it. The older maid looked over at the younger maid than back at Iya, “We’ll take it… We were going to start in the kitchen today, just got moved there. Commander, I do have something to ask of you… please. Is there any way we can send for our families. I’m working my father’s debts off because he can’t move around that well, you know? Is it possible?”
Iya looked up at Amos who was standing behind her. She looked up at him than back down to the maids, “We’ll make that happen…” Iya put the gold pieces back in her sack and retied it back up. She extended her hand out to give it to the maids but just before the older maid could grab it, Iya pulled the sack back and asked, “Is there anything else we need to know? About Corra? About your king?” Iya gave the women an even serious look like, don’t play with me.
“Yes!” the younger maid burst out, “The king is mad!”
“Ashta!” The older maid looked at her friend with surprise.
“What Leah? They deserve to know! She’s offering us our freedom for crying aloud. Maybe they don’t know…” Ashta looked over to Iya and began to explain what she meant by mad. “About a year ago the Blue Paw Clan of Barbarians invaded Corra. They destroyed everything they got their hands on. King Kahn sent a correspondence to Sage for help but no one answered. The Blue Paws for some reason stole the stabilizers that held the kingdom intact since the kingdom sits on top of huge tunnels and caves. We’ve been having really bad earthquakes ever since. King Kahn sent the Corran Army to fight the Blue Paws but the majority were killed, including his only son. That’s not all, when the Blue Paws reached inside the Corran Kingdom, King Kahn couldn’t fight them all. They slaughtered his wife than kidnapped his daughter. After the they left, King Kahn spent another two weeks calling for help from Sage to have never received a word back until now. Whoever you are doing this for… they’re probably already dead. King Kahn lost his mind thinking about how his daughter could be out there, still alive. I know for a fact he fully blames Sage.” Ashta explained herself with full sincerity. Iya could tell from looking at her in her eyes she was telling the truth. After Ashta finished, Iya looked behind her once more, looking directly at Amos. He looked down at his Commander and knew what to do.
Amos quickly turned around and said, “I’ll be right back…” He walked down the Communication Quarters to see what exactly was going on with Sage’s communication satellites. Sage’s most important information and data were stored on huge computers that powered and controlled everything. The computers were wall to wall and only had a few people working the desks. The technology jobs belonged to the third borns, they controlled and maintained the computers that powered multiple cities. Sage’s technology was super advanced, thanks to the payments the Sagen Army would receive from the Star Councel, the Sagens were able to purchase different types of equipment and supplies throughout the galaxies.
When Amos approached the desk, there was a young skinny light-skinned computer tech sitting behind three computers. He looked up through his thick rectangular glasses at Amos, “Hey! General Amos… It’s been a while, what brings you down here?” he asked.
“Hey Spencer, I need to know when the last time we when got a correspondence from Corra…” Amos leaned down on the circular counter waiting for the young tech to find the results. As the young tech typed away his face quickly turned serious and confused.
“We haven’t received any correspondences from Corra for more than a year. For some reason, it looks like the communication link is blocked or something. I’m not sure quite what’s happening… I’ve never seen anything like this.” Spencer turned looked up at Amos wondering how bad this situation really was.
Amos lifted off the corner and started walking away. He turned his head and called out to Spencer, “When you find out what the problem is contact me directly on my com. Thanks Spencer!” Once Amos hit that corner, he started running back to the Military Quarters to deliver the news. Spencer went right back down to his three computer screens and began researching possible viruses in the Sagen satellites. Amos knew now his plan of sneaking inside the Corran kingdom was a must.
When he returned to the Military Quarters Amos went straight back to where Iya and others were at. Iya and Surra had already had the dresses from the two maids and were putting them on. Kalvanius and Marcus waited outside the room for the ladies to be done changing their clothes. Iya peeked outside the crack door when she opened it signaling to them guys they were finished changing.
All three, Kalvanius, Marcus and Amos stood in the doorway looking at Iya and Surra taken back for how they looked. None of them had seen Iya in a dress before, even during their most important festivals, Iya still has always worn her armor. For Surra however, she likes to wear dresses outside her usually military attire. She had a nice toned body as well.
Surra was a natural blond even though her skin tone was brown. Her bright colored hair made her hazel eyes stand out more. During the missions Surra wore her hair in cornrows, but during the off seasons she loved wearing sun dresses while letting her hair loose and free. She was as beautiful as Iya but was taken by Iya's brother, Prince Jayce. He loved Surra very much.
The maid’s dress fit really snug on both of the ladies. They were a whole lot more fit and muscular than the maids were. The light blue, long sleeved dress was quite revealing around the chest area. Iya and Surra’s bosoms poked out hardcore, for the dress was a really v-cut dress. Iya turned around for Surra to tie the string in the back making the dress even snugger around the waist line. She looked up at the guys standing in the doorway and when she made eye contact with each of them, they all dispersed pretending like they weren’t just staring.
Kalvanius was especially taken away by Iya’s new appearance. His whole life he’d been around her and never come close to seeing her in anything girly. He walked over to Iya as she lifted up the long dress, knee high, to strap her knives to her thighs. As Iya concentrated on strapping the knives down right, Kal stopped right in front of her and said, “You know… you don’t look that bad in a dress…”
Iya didn’t move her head and just moved her eyes to look up at Kal, “In a maid’s dress? You think I look good in a maid’s dress?”
“I think you’d look good in any dress…” Kal met Iya’s eye when he made that comment, giving her a quick smile. Iya looked up a little amazed at what he just said. Kal had never gave her a compliment like that before. They both stood there for a brief moment looking at each other until Surra walked up from behind. She forgot to tell Iya to remove the gold pieces of jewelry from her hair. When Surra approached them, they both awkwardly turned their heads looking around in different directions.
“Everything ok over here?” Surra asked looking a little confused by both of their reactions. “Iya turned around so I can get the gold jewelry from the back of your head.” Surra started removing of the gold pieces when Amos made his announcement that it was time to leave. Amos, Marcus, Surra, Kal and Iya met for the final time to discuss the plan for getting their beloved Artemis back.
This would be a mission no one would ever forget… for this is the first rescue mission for each of them. Too much is on the line and now that they are basically walking into enemy territory, they had to treat Corrans as such.