“Go on, Craetorian. I enjoy her hearing the truth. The woman’s growing mistrust is priceless,” Fornax goaded.
Soldar now remembered. It was all there, like water flowing into the well of his brain. Bits and pieces of memory settled into their proper places. He was all Fornax claimed. But he needed Lyra to understand. She
must
.
“Part of the Volan began to suppress their darker urges and eventually succeeded,” he softly explained. “They fought bitterly with their brethren when the more aggressive members of the population wouldn’t accept peaceful coexistence with others. A war between the two sides almost obliterated the entire population.”
Lyra began to slowly shake her head. The growing wariness in her expression frightened him far more than anything Fornax could do.
“Lyra, you must listen,” he repeated. “For my people to exist, a severe compromise was finally reached … those who believed in the savagery inherent in the Volan race would separate from those who embraced the light. Because their original planet was decimated by fighting, it was left behind by both sides. Eventually, the half intent on ruling all beings became the Condorians. The other half accepting peace and an adoration of all life became the Craetorians. The names of our two peoples are so similar for a single purpose,” he explained. “My race … the Craetorians … wished to be forever reminded of that darker origin from which they sprang. They chose a name very near the one the Condorians chose, to remind them they were only one step away from becoming the hideous, savage monsters Fornax and his people have become.” He tried to speak faster. Lyra’s eyes were turning colder by the moment. “In suppressing that terrible side that still resides within us, a few Craetorian males were thought to experience a strange shape shifting ability. But this was only a myth — ”
“Apparently not, Craetorian! You shifted readily enough in my father’s quarters. All it took was one of my men suggesting they would fuck your woman to death,” Fornax laughingly supplied.
“Lyra, I need you to understand.” Soldar tried again even as he ignored Fornax’s taunts, “I don’t know that I can say much more. We haven’t time.”
“I should’ve been told the truth,” she whispered.
“How sad, Craetorian. You are losing her affection.” Fornax cruelly laughed. “Is there anything more tragic than unrequited love?” He put his hand over his heart and rolled his eyes in a gesture of sarcasm.
Lyra faced Fornax and took several steps toward him. “Why should I believe
you
? Soldar wanted to kill all of you.”
“But not for the reasons you think, stupid woman!”
She swallowed hard and turned to Soldar again. “There
has
to be some explanation. I know you and you could never — ”
To stop her questions, Fornax viciously shoved the bed where his foot rested. His display of temper was so violent the entire dais moved several feet to the right.
“Let me make it plain, since your Craetorian lover isn’t getting to the point,” Fornax chided. “Right before the war started, Soldar Nar was one of several Craetorian traitors who were giving us vital information concerning military tactics. They were about to be captured on their home world and put to death for their treachery. They stole a shuttle and headed into space. Aercos, my father’s lover, was among them, and was killed when that shuttle was fired upon by the Craetorian High Guard.”
“I and several others survived that attack and managed to lose the patrol in the Andromeda sector. Our craft was badly damaged, so we were finally run down by intra-galactic constabularies. We were imprisoned on Signus Mondi,” Soldar quietly added as his memory slowly returned. “Those of us still alive were awaiting extradition back to Craetoria. Aigean had connections on Signus and helped us escape. We gave her an enormous fee in exchange for that help.” He shook his head. “To escape further detection, we agreed to head our separate ways. I don’t know where the others are now, but I’ve been hiding out — ”
“Until quite lately,” Fornax interrupted as he continued the explanation. “Aigean kept track of him and found a way to bring Soldar to Reisen Four. She convinced my father that Soldar could take Aercos’ place. But to do so, Soldar would need a safe harbor. He’d need my father’s promise of protection and
she’d
need a great deal of remuneration in exchange.”
“This is all a lie,” Lyra whispered. “None of it is true.”
“With the lack of intelligence some freedom fighters show, it is a wonder they have survived as long as they have,” Fornax complained.
The Condorian guards accompanying him laughed in response, but he angrily continued.
“Aigean isn’t on your side, you stupid slut! She’s been working with us until quite recently. Her loyalty failed when a fleet of pirate ships attacked her world, and my father would not send aid since her race claimed neutrality.” Fornax circled Lyra in a stalking fashion as he spoke. “Father and she quarreled over the matter. So she eventually decided to get revenge. Soldar, with his shape shifting skills and position as Father’s new lover made a perfect weapon. So you see, woman, Soldar is little more than a paid assassin. He is a traitor to his kind and a common criminal. Aigean is pulling his strings.”
Lyra’s fingers curled into fists. She visibly shook.
Soldar moved toward her but she backed away. His heart broke into shards. Tears ran down her face and he could do nothing to comfort her. Everything Fornax said was true. There was no excuse he could offer.
“Aigean had Soldar tucked in a cave until she had thoroughly conditioned him with her mind control tricks. Her talents in that regard are singularly powerful.” Fornax paused for effect then continued. “The story he fed you was one of many she implanted, depending on who might locate him before she was ready to bring him aboard. She took a chance that none of the allied fighters resisting on Reisen Four … assuming they encountered him … would know his criminal history. The story he subconsciously chose for
you
was that he was an undercover Craetorian officer who’d lost his team during a crash landing. Since Aigean put him in an unmarked uniform and gave him an allied weapon she picked up on some scavenging foray, you accepted his story.” He shrugged. “We knew a new lover, especially meant for my father, was on the way but not what Aigean would put in his head as a means of revenge.”
“You needed him to appear just as he is … a Craetorian,” Lyra quietly reasoned. “That’s what your father wanted.”
“Ah! The little cunt is making progress.” Fornax laughed again and pointed at Soldar. “This man you so willingly screwed is wanted in twelve sectors. He couldn’t walk into a surgical salon and have his features or body altered. Constabularies had distributed his image, and had offered a very substantial reward for his capture. Plus … appearing as nearly like Aercos was vital. As you’ve surmised, Father craves Craetorian men and had to want him. Aigean had to make sure
this
Craetorian could get very close to him and in some private space aboard this ship.”
Lyra dragged her hands through her hair. “But Soldar killed the Condorians chasing me.”
“Our fighters are low-breeds. They are little more than sociopaths. Even your own superiors recognize that.” He snorted in disdain. “We have billions more where they came from. Our elite classes control them. Are you so new to battle that you do not know this?” He stared at her while his men chuckled yet again.
“W-what was my part in all this?” she softly asked. “Why was I needed? Why didn’t Aigean have Soldar leave me in the wilderness?”
“Aigean claims she was shocked when Soldar picked you up in the wilderness of this barren rock and brought you along. For some reason, he would not leave you behind no matter what subtle mind control techniques she tried. She had no time to deal with the matter because Father was insistent. He wanted his Craetorian plaything — the very same man who’d befriended his dearly beloved Aercos. In fact … Father threatened Aigean if she didn’t give him his heart’s desire.” Fornax frowned as he nodded. “The Elderian did the best she could to cater to Father’s whims while explaining your presence, woman.
You
were a glitch in Soldar’s mental programming that Aigean couldn’t solve. And she feared you would interfere with her plans.”
“She used me. Soldar gave her a way to do it,” Lyra whispered.
Everyone turned to look at the one Craetorian in the room but he remained silent. There was nothing left to say. He was nothing more than a source of ridicule and disgust.
The guard’s amusement was apparent. Sickening smiles were plastered over their faces. To them, the evolving story served as an unexpected bit of entertainment, one far more diverting than the sex act they’d probably just witnessed. He didn’t dare look at Lyra. Her anger was palpable.
His soul was dead. The man Fornax just described
was
him. And he was worse than any Condorian. How could he have come to this sad, sorry state?
“Aigean didn’t want me talking to her crew and telling them that she’s not the kindly benefactor they believe her to be,” Lyra quietly mused. “I was suspicious of her and she knew it. She made sure I was alone as little as possible. Soldar was almost always with me and I trusted him.”
“Now she gets the picture,” Fornax laughingly said as he glanced at his men.
They, in turn, nudged one another. Their enjoyment over an allied fighter’s betrayal was obvious.
Soldar kept his gaze down. He was no better than the dirt blowing in the wind outside the ship. He wished himself dead a thousand times over as he heard the deep bitterness and resentment in Lyra’s voice. He could have endured anything but her hatred.
“You begin to see … don’t you, woman?” Fornax persisted in his gloating account of the facts. “Aigean has always had her own scheme. Even her own people trusted her when she promised freedom. But in truth, they’re little more than slaves. She’s used our occupation of her ship as an excuse not to pay them, feed them well, or even offer medicine when needed. She required their cooperation to achieve her ends. She needed victims she could control.”
Lyra shook her head in confusion. “But she helped me get on the bridge — ”
“Get it through your head!” he angrily replied. “She cannot control
you
. Her powers do not extend to certain races, one of which is Earthlings. Another is ours. Because of this she had to convince you she was on your side.”
“All that covert crap helped confirm Aigean’s political beliefs to her crew,” Lyra confirmed. “No wonder it was so easy to make that transmission. To find out what she was up to, you
let
me on the bridge. In fact … there was probably no one on Taurean Seti-Seven. Soldar never had any authentication codes.” Her eyes opened wide and she took several stumbling steps backward. “I sent a trash message into empty space and attached sequencing Aigean made up for Soldar. She had several chances to be alone with him even after we boarded. She suggested actions to accommodate my needs and my behavior. No matter what I said, she had control over him the entire time.”
“Did I not promise you a night to remember, my brothers?” Fornax glanced over his shoulder as he spoke to his minions. “Do you not see why these freedom-loving allied vermin are better off dead?”
A low rumble of acknowledgement resonated from the other Condorians present.
“Even as they tout themselves morally and mentally superior, these so-called allied warriors are so easily outwitted. It takes nothing more than an Elderian witch with mind-control capabilities to utterly destroy their reason. Look at the woman’s face. She is confounded.”
Fornax’s men growled, lifted their weapons, and closed in around Lyra.
Soldar couldn’t move. He couldn’t save her. He was, in all ways, a coward with no moral fiber. In that instant, part of him wished he could have been that Colonel she claimed to love. But that was not his life and never had been. All he could do was stand there, continuing to exemplify self-serving inconstancy. All he’d done was for money. Now was no different. He could save himself and beg D’uhr’s mercy. Nothing was left for Lyra but death. And the more he thought of his predicament, the less important she became. It was as if his mind was starting to turn back. He was losing the vestiges of her heroic vision and reconnecting with his true persona.
“You should have seen our reaction when she told us you would perform so …
explicitly
,” Fornax said as he looked her over. “That alone kept us from breaking Soldar’s illusion. The whole spy playact provided many hours of amusement. We even took bets on what this insipid Craetorian toad would do next.” He chuckled even as he glared at Soldar. “I’ve never seen Father so entertained. Sadly, he is still enamored of this mind-controlled idiot. Soldar is very like Aercos and my sire still desires him. Even this duplicity and chicanery has not shaken that resolve. In fact, the whole incident seems to have cemented his determination to have a man he can utterly control.”
“Your father realizes that Soldar was being used by Aigean. That he wasn’t responsible for what she put in his head. Is that it?” Lyra asked.
The smirk finally faded from Fornax’s face. “That will not last long. I will see you both dead. But you will go first.” He turned to his men. “Take her!”
“Wait … just tell me one more thing,” Lyra insisted as she backed away and held up her hands. “You took the time to explain all this just so you could see the look on my face and make fun of me. So there shouldn’t be any problem in my asking one more question.”
“Ask then. It only serves my purpose for you to know any of this.” He moved very close to her and glared down into her face. The maliciousness of his countenance even made his own minions back away. “I want the entire crew to see your expression as you’re tortured. If any of them had similar plans of helping another allied conspirator to the bridge, they will quickly change their minds when they see how you die. They will know how Aigean has betrayed you and them. Worse …
you
will know it as the last bit of blood leaves your body. So ask your question.”
Lyra lifted her chin. Her gaze never wavered from his. “How did you make Aigean reveal her plans? What did you do to her and when? I’ve seen no sign that she’s been tortured and you’ve obviously known about her scheme for some time,” she blurted.