Betrayer

Lyn watched as Taisen studied the ring carefully. Caressing it between his fingers and moving it around his palm before placing it in his breast pocket.

"That seems important," Lyn said. "You should wear it."

"I don't trust them," he said. "If they could betray Yavanna, they'll throw me to Malkor without a second thought."

***

Queen Venemis had never been on a Human star destroyer before.

The recently coronated queen of the Falmeri had been getting obscure visions of a faraway threat getting closer for weeks but she never expected Taisen --a dark-skinned Alien from beyond the Chaos Region-- to ever reach Arkania Prime.

"Greetings, Queen Venemis," Taisen said. "I am Commander Taisen of the UNS Arctic."

She wasn't an expert on the species known as 'Humans' and their military organizations but she had the distinct impression that Taisen was much younger and much too different from them to have achieved the rank of Ship Commander.

"Greetings to you too Commander."

Venemis stopped three feet from Taisen's command chair, did a small curtsy, a gentle flick of her left hand along the seems of her gown. Taisen who was standing in front of his chair gave a short bow. The nuances of his greeting were not lost on her.

"You're a cautious one," she said. "How may I be of service to you, Commander?"

"We need your help navigating our way back to the Cell system at the entrance of the Chaos region,"- Taisen said. "My crew and I would like to go home."

A smile flicked the corners of her wrinkled mouth. That system is under heavy blockade by Malkor. Venemis wondered if she should warn the dark human about the perils that awaited him there but she decided against it. It may raise suspicions of how she knew so much about Malkor and his Screamers. At the very least, if she sent a transmission to him ahead of time, he would find a way to pull her out of this ship before destroying it.

"Very well, I will do this thing for a friend of Yavanna."

***

The bridge was quiet as Ensign Jonathan Swan came in. Most of the crew including Commander Taisen and Lieutenant Alita were absent with only the helm, primary weapons, and primary defence stations occupied. Plus, of course, the wrinkled grey alien woman sitting at the navigation station, and the two purple-skinned armed guards standing on either side of the hatch keeping a watchful eye on her.

Ensign Camaro was seated in the command chair, her fingers tapping loudly and restlessly on the armrest as she gazed through the viewport at the psychedelic pulsation of the star stream against the black void of space in the hyperspace sky. She looked up as Jonathan came alongside her. "Sir," she greeted him while standing to her feet.

"Ensign," Jonathan greeted her in turn while motioning for her to remain seated. "Anything to report?"

"The alien woman came out of her trance again an hour ago, took a ten-minute break, then went back under," he said. "Another three-hour shift should bring us to the Cell system. We took a location reading while we were in normal space, and it looked like we were on the right vector."

"I presume you reported all this to the Commander?"

Camaro's shoulders gave a small twitch. "I sent him a transmission but haven't heard back. Whether or not he noticed is something you'd have to ask him."

Jonathan felt his eyes narrow. A disrespectful comment that managed to be not quite over the line into something actionable.

He relaxed his shoulders and placed a hand on hers.

"Is there something that you need to say to me?"

Ensign Camaro faced him while holding her anger in check. "Why hasn't he said anything about the Beluga? A lot of good men died because of his half-baked plan."

Jonathan stared back at him. His irritation gave way to understanding and his features softened. "From what Colonel Lyn told me, the Commander was friends with Admiral Usyk. He took the death much harder than any of us."

She looked up into his bird brown eyes. "Then why won't he say anything to us?"

"Actions speak louder than words," Jonathan said. "He will make sure that those responsible pay for what they did."

Curiosity overcame Camaro's anger. "How?"

Jonathan straightened. "Bring the Arctic to combat-ready status and you'll see."

Fear shot through Camaro. "I didn't realize..."

"Why? did you think we had some other reason for going back to the Cell System?"

Camaro's lips curved almost into a scowl. "I assumed Commander Taisen forgot something and we were going back to get it."

Jonathan fixed a steel gaze down at her, counting down five seconds of silence. Camaro's scowl was gone after the first two seconds, and by the fifth, she was starting to look distinctly uncomfortable.

"I will take your grief at the loss of the Beluga into account and not ring you up for insubordination but next time I suggest you keep any derogatory thoughts about the commander to yourself," Joanthan said sternly. "His mental state is not your concern, nor is his fitness to command, nor is his authority to issue orders aboard this vessel. Is that clear, Ensign?"

"Yes, sir," Camaro said in a more subdued tone. "But…are we even authorized to fight these people? They have us outgunned by a zillion to one."

"We're always authorized to defend ourselves," Jonathan reminded her. "And given the blockade ships' reaction to the Beluga on our last incursion, I suspect we won't have to wait very long on that count."

"Yes, sir," Camaro muttered, lowering her gaze.

Jonathan pressed his lips together, his annoyance at her reluctantly fading away. Unfortunately, she had a point. They'd been fine on their last run into the system, but that time they'd had the Beluga running decoy. Now it was just them.

Jonathan headed for the hatch door but stopped and turned around. "Oh, and one more thing," He said. "Don't ever refer to anyone as an alien woman. It's disrespectful. Lieutenant Alita is the second in command of the Arctic and is also an alien woman. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Camaro said.

"And just because Taisen doesn't lay out his tactics in advance for everyone to see doesn't mean he doesn't have them. Whatever he's got planned for today, he'll get us through it."

He took a deep breath, swallowed in a dry throat and looked again out the viewport. "Trust me."