Jack was seated with Aria's family, in the first row of the seats on the lower level. He looked up at the top of the courtroom, into the double row of seats. He saw a number of important-looking Ailians seated there, dressed in both military and civilian clothing. Looking around his own seat, Jack saw more civilians than military personnel. He supposed that they were seated in the spectator seats, while the upper level must be for the presiding court.
A door opened at one end of the room, and Jack looked over to see Li'ren entering the courtroom. She was dressed much differently than she normally did. Instead of her white, flowing robes, she was wearing a black suit of a cut much more like a military uniform, though her clothes were not as severe as those worn by the officers. The consort walked through the middle of the room, coming to the table on the raised platform. She was carrying a large stack of papers and data readers, and these she placed on the table. Then, seeing Aria's family, she came over to speak with them.
“Good morning, Jack,” she greeted him, once she had spoken with the family.
“Good morning,” Jack replied. He swallowed, looking around the room. “This all seems way too real all of a sudden. Does this sort of thing always feel so...I dunno...Bleak?”
Li'ren offered a sympathetic smile. “It does. Courtrooms are not usually for happy occasions, yes?” She smoothed down a wrinkle in her outfit. “Just try not to think about it. The trial will not start for a bit, yet.”
“Where's Aria?”
“She is waiting in a holding room. The trial cannot begin until Her Majesty arrives, and Aria will not be brought into the courtroom until then.” Li'ren reached over and touched his hand briefly. “Take heart, Jack. I am here to do my very best, and my very best has never failed before.”
Jack took a deep breath. “Alright, Li'ren. I'll try.”
******
Aria sat in the holding room, down a hall adjacent to the courtroom. She was seated in a chair in the small room, more of a cell than anything else. At least this room had a small window, though it did little other than allow a bit of outside light to filter. Most of the light in the room was provided by a single lamp hanging from the ceiling.
I feel sick...,
Aria thought to herself. Her stomach was churning, making her feel as though she was going to throw up. It didn't help matters much that she hadn't had any breakfast. Maybe if she had forced herself to choke down a little something, she wouldn't feel quite so ill.
She knew that, within the next fifteen minutes, the door to the room would open and the guards outside would bring her out. They would walk her down the hall, and then she would emerge into the courtroom. Her trial was news all across the Ascendancy by now, so her face would be transmitted live to nearly every planet in Ailian space. And then she would sit down at the table next to Li'ren, and she'd have to look up into the tiered seats, where the Empress, and Admiral Te'rou, and all the senior officers who composed the court martial would be looking down at her.
-I can do this,- Aria said quietly to herself. -I
can
do this. I have to do this. For Jack, and Sami, and father. And for the Empress.- She squeezed her hands into tight fists, closing her eyes and keeping up the encouragement to herself.
She was jerked back to reality when she heard the sound of the door opening. Expecting to see the guards coming in, she was surprised to instead see her commanding officer, Major Tal'in. The elder female Ailian stepped inside, leaving the door open behind her as she face Aria.
-I came to wish you luck, Lieutenant,- the major said. She looked Aria over, appraising her uniform with her customary hard stare. -You're looking well. I'm pleased to see that you've recovered from your...injury.-
-Yes, ma'am!- Aria said, standing up from her seat and saluting. -And thank you.- She glanced at the floor, her ears flattening to her head. -I wish I could be anywhere but here. But I guess this is where I have to be.-
-Yes, well...,- Major Tal'in said. She walked past Aria, standing behind her and gazing out of the window, her tail waving serenely behind her. -It would have been better if this had never happened. But we can't change the past. All we can change is our future.-
-I suppose you are correct about that,- Aria agreed. She pondered that statement for a few seconds. Maybe that was the real lesson that she needed to take away from all of this. Aria had been so focused on dwelling on mistakes she'd made in the past, that she couldn't see what she could do to make sure she had a future. -Thank you, Major,- she said, starting to turn. -Do you know when...-
Then there was a brutal blow to the back of her neck, and Aria's vision went black as she crumpled to the floor.
******
Li'ren knew from the atmosphere in the courtroom that something was wrong. The Empress had arrived nearly thirty minutes ago, and yet the signal to begin the trial had not yet been given. She looked towards the door through which Aria should be coming, and made a small hand gesture to one of the guards there. He shrugged at her, shaking his head as though to say that he was unsure of what was going on. She looked up at Kri'a, sitting right in the middle of the top tier of seats. The Empress met her gaze, and Li'ren saw that she seemed unsure of the situation as well. Admiral Te'rou, the ranking officer in the court, was tapping his claws impatiently on his desktop, looking distinctly upset that his time was being wasted. Li'ren was very worried now. If the admiral didn't know what was going on, what could that mean...
All of a sudden, the door leading into the courtroom was thrown open, and a junior male officer rushed in. He looked about for a few moments, then spotted Admiral Te'rou and the Empress in their seats. He fairly ran across the courtroom and up to where they were. The lieutenant leaned down to whisper in the admiral's ear. Te'rou seemed perturbed, then angry, and then very alarmed. He leaned to speak to the Empress, who reacted to what he was saying with shock. Murmurs were starting to spread through the courtroom now, as the audience noticed the commotion.
-Lady Amani!- Admiral Te'rou called. His voice was slightly shaky, and the fur on the back of his neck was standing on end. -Come at once. Something has developed that we need to discuss.-
Shocked, Li'ren stood from her seat. Admiral Te'rou, the Empress, and several of the senior officers were walking out of the courtroom. With a glance over her shoulder at Aria's family and Jack, Li'ren followed after them. They went down a short hallway and came to a smaller conference room. They all went inside, and the Empress and admirals took seats. Li'ren, still quite confused but feeling an increasing sense of foreboding, sat next to Kri'a.
-What is this all about, Kri'a?- Li'ren asked her mate, looking to the Empress in surprise. -Has the trial been postponed?-
-In a way, Li'ren,- the Empress answered. Her voice and expression were both grave, and she looked to Admiral Te'rou. -Admiral, please inform my consort what we have just been informed.-
Admiral Te'rou cleared his throat, smoothing down the fur on the back of his neck. -I just received word, Lady Amani. Your client, Lieutenant Me'lia, is no longer present in the building.-
Li'ren blinked, total shock evident on her face to all in the room. -What? How...How is that possible?-
-That's not all,- the admiral continued. His voice sounded heavy. -We just received word from our intelligence assets throughout the Outer Colonies. The thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth fleets have mobilized, moving inbound. None of them are responding to our inquiries. And several of our Inner Colony worlds have gone off the communication network.-
Li'ren covered her mouth, her eyes going wide, and her hand went to grab the Empress' leg under the table. Her mate clenched her own hands into tight fists on top of the table. Her jaw clenched, and a look of sorrow came across the Empress' face.
-So...It has begun.-
******
When Aria finally came around, her head was throbbing. She sat up, feeling that she was on some sort of low, flat surface, most likely a cot or rudimentary bed. The room she was in was dark and silent. She had no idea where she was. Putting a hand to her head, Aria winced, then opened her eyes and tried to see her surroundings, swinging her legs off of the cot so that she was sitting on the edge.
-It's nice to see you awake.-
Aria turned her head towards the source of the noise. The room was so dark that even she couldn't see very well, but her eyes were slowly adjusting to the dimness. Someone seemed to be standing at the other end of the room, looking at her. She squinted, trying to make out the figure. -Who's there?-
-You don't recognize me? Well, it has been a long time.-
The voice sounded eerily familiar. The figure began walking towards Aria, coming closer to her. Aria tensed up, apprehension growing as the unknown person began to resolve itself in her vision. Ailian...Female from stature, with white fur, wearing a crimson outfit in a very formal military cut. Finally, Aria's eyes adjusted enough to the light, and she felt herself grow faint. Her legs became weak, and she slid off of the cot, collapsing on the floor.
-Mother...-
Act Three
Madness
- 1 -
Everyone knew that something was very, very wrong when the soldiers came in and cleared the courtroom of the gathered crowd. The news people protested strongly, but when they were threatened with arrest by the lieutenant in charge of the soldiers if they didn't leave immediately, they grudgingly packed up their equipment and vacated the premises. Jack watched the entire spectacle with a growing sense of dread, wondering what in the world could have gone wrong
this
time. Aria's trial should have started nearly an hour ago, but the plans seemed to have changed. Twenty minutes ago, the Empress had left the courtroom along with Li'ren and many of the military officers who had been sitting on the court martial. Jack, knowing that he was in no position to make a scene as a mere human slave in this setting, kept his seat and held his tongue even though he wanted to stand up and scream demands for information to anyone within earshot.
One thing that Jack did notice was that several of the soldiers were keeping very close to him and the Me'lia family. In fact, several times Aria's family had tried to get up and leave the courtroom at the order of the lieutenant, like everyone else, only to be ushered back down in their seats. The soldiers around them kept their backs to the family, looking out at the people streaming from the room. Jack looked over at Sami quizzically, but she appeared just as confused and scared as he was feeling. Noticing his expression, the young Ailian shrugged at him, turning her head around as she gazed about the room, trying to figure out what was going on. Jack could see her sensitive Ailian nose twitching as she tried to make sense of the flurry of emotions in the area. But even with all of the information that her well-developed sense of smell could tell her, Jack didn't think Sami was having any luck.
When the room was empty except for the soldiers, Jack, and the Me'lia family, the lieutenant came up to them. Since Sami was the head of the family, as the eldest female in the absence of Aria, he spoke with her.
“A'kre me'lia sin hale ke ta're,”
he said to her. Jack saw Sami stiffen, and knew that whatever the Ailian lieutenant was saying to her, it wasn't anything that she wanted to hear. With what Sami had been teaching him of their language since he had been living with their family, he could understand some of the words that were being said. He recognized the family name, of course, and he recognized the words
sin
, meaning “problem”, and
ta're
, which could mean either “nothing” or “absent” depending on the context.
“Mere sin sal'a kresa le sa?”
Sami said, one hand coming up to her chin nervously. She looked at her siblings and her father, sitting around her, then back at the lieutenant. Jack understood her to be asking what the problem was.
“Te're me san li'a're,”
the lieutenant said, his tone sounding rather short.
“Ne la ai'ra me'lia sola kre'zele lupo.”
He gestured at Sami with one hand, his ears laying back. Sami blinked, appearing taken aback by his manner of speaking. The lieutenant got an impatient look on his face, his lips drawing back, exposing his sharp front teeth.
“Te're me san,”
he repeated.
“What did he say?” Jack asked, a little defensively. As the only member of Aria's family who had known about his relationship with Aria since his arrival on Lirna, Sami had been a welcoming presence since the very beginning of his ordeal. He'd even started to think of her rather as a little sister, or as little as was possible when she had almost three feet of height on him. And the way this officer was talking to Sami was pissing him off, aggravating his already bad mood.
“Ah...He say...ah...,” Sami said, struggling a little as she called upon her rudimentary knowledge of English. “Say problem with trial. Not want talk with family here.” Sami's ears were flat to her head, her robin's egg blue eyes full of worry. “Say I come. Tell more.”
“So he knows what happened? He knows what's going on?” Forgetting where he was, and forgetting the slave collar tight around his neck, Jack stood up from his seat. Before he knew what was happening, one of the soldiers around the family hammered him on the shoulder, sending him back on his ass.
“Slave!” the Ailian lieutenant spat at him in horribly accented but recognizable English. “Sit!”
“Hey, fuck you, asshole!” Jack snarled. Frustrated and in pain, he started trying to stand up again. “You don't own m-”
A firm hand on his other shoulder made him shut his mouth and stay in his seat, and Jack looked to his left to see Sami getting to her feet. The fur on the back of her neck was raised up, and he could see the muscles in her jaw trembling with barely restrained anger. Other than when Aria had put herself in the hospital, Jack couldn't remember ever seeing her angry. As she stood up straight, Jack thought he saw the lieutenant take a small step back. Sami was not an intimidating person, especially by Ailian standards, but she was upset, she was exhausted, and more than that she was at least six inches taller than the lieutenant. And even though she was a civilian, and not a military officer, she was still female, and that counted for a great deal in the Ascendancy.
Keeping her anger in check, Sami resisted the urge to take her claws to the officer's face. Instead, she leaned forward, one hand on her hip and the other shaking a finger a millimeter in front of his muzzle.
“Po'krai le tok me sha'la arai dana!”
she shouted. Her tail was thrashing the air behind her like a whip.
“Ala're masha kera'na te ra ka'i'len!”
Then she swatted him in the face with an open palm, baring her fangs.
“Po'krai! Da'na le kot!”
Jack couldn't help but be amazed by her behavior. Usually quiet and demure, he hadn't ever seen this side of Aria's younger sister. Then again, Jack realized, with Aria gone for months at a time and Sami the eldest female in the home otherwise, she had to act as the head of the household frequently. She certainly must have had a lot of practice in asserting herself when she had to.
Whatever she had said to the lieutenant, it seemed to have had an effect. The male officer stared at her for a few moments, and then he backed off, a grudging expression on his face.
“Mea'le re ka...,”
he grumbled. Words of apology, though obviously not entirely sincere. He turned half away from Sami, gesturing towards the door leading out of the courtroom.
“Tere me san li'a're. Shoka.”
Jack recognized the word for “please” this time.
Nodding, Sami watched the officer begin to move off, then she put a hand on Jack's shoulder, urging him to stand. “Come,” she said.
Looking over his shoulder, Jack put his eyes on each of the surrounding soldiers in turn. When it became clear that he wasn't about to be slammed back down again, he slowly rose from his seat and started to follow Sami as she went with the officer. “What about the rest of the family?” he asked her quietly.
“Later,” she said, a pained expression on her face. She clearly didn't like leaving them behind, but she couldn't very well bring everyone with her. And though Jack knew that Aria's father and siblings were just as terrified and confused as he was, he was glad that she was letting him come along. “They fine for now...You come.”
“If you say so.” Jack kept walking, but before they got far, the lieutenant looked back and saw him. He got a sour look on his face and stopped.
“Sala'a'kre...,”
he started to say, but Sami cut him off with a low growl.
“Le keire sola me,”
she said firmly. Sami brought Jack in front of her, placing her hands on both of his shoulders.
“Lo'krai me nar'i aria lamea. Me'lia che se're lo ara kre'na.”
Her fingers tightened on his shoulders. He tilted his head up and back, saw her staring down the other Ailian.
For a moment, it looked as though the lieutenant was going to object again. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then clenched his hands. But then he just gave a curt nod and resumed his walking.
“What did you say to him?” Jack asked Sami.
She blinked, her face returning to its normal shy demeanor. He thought she looked a bit sheepish. “He say you stay here,” Sami explained. She glanced to the side. “I tell him...Aria give me you as slave. I bring you.” She seemed apologetic at calling him a slave, even if it was technically true.
Despite his mood, Jack was able to crack a small smile. “You lied for me,” he said. “I didn't think you had it in you to lie.”
Sami managed a little smile of her own. “Ah...small lie only...” She sobered then. “Aria ask me take care you, anything happen...Think something maybe happen...” After a second of quiet, she lightly pushed him forward. “Come.” They both walked after the lieutenant, following him from the courtroom.
******
-Mother...?- Aria asked, barely able to speak past the lump in her throat. -You're...You're alive?-
Aria's head was swimming, not just because of the haziness that still lingered from being rendered unconscious. She wasn't yet convinced that what she was seeing wasn't a figment of her imagination caused by a brain injury, but she couldn't deny that the woman before her looked very much like Ara'lana Me'lia. She had the same eyes, the same snowy white fur, and even the same kind of uniform that Aria had last seen three years ago. From her position, still on the floor where she'd fallen in disbelief, she so desperately wanted to be right that it hurt.
-Yes, child,- Ara'lana assured her. She stepped towards Aria, standing right in front of her daughter. Reaching out to her, she placed a hand on the top of her head. -It's me, and I am alive.-
With a whimper, Aria fell forward, wrapping her arms around her mother's middle. -Oh, mother...,- she cried, burying her face in the older Ailian's uniform. As soon as she touched her, she knew that it was real. Somehow, after three years of knowing that she was dead, her mother was alive. -How? Where have you been?-
-Here, child. I have been here.- Ara'lana smiled down at her. -As for the how...I'll leave that for a little later. For now, come with me, daughter.- Pulling herself away from Aria, she went to the door of the small room they were in. She rapped on it with one hand, and an electronic beep signified the lock being disengaged. -Come with me.-
Blinking, Aria wiped the tears from her eyes, getting to her feet. -Where are we? And how did I get here?-
Opening the door, Ara'lana stepped out into the hall outside. -You didn't really think I would let them take my daughter from me, did you, now?- As Aria followed her, she saw that they were at the end of a nondescript hallway. The walls were painted a shade of slate gray, common to many Ascendancy military installations. Standing immediately to the right of the door in a guard position was a female Ailian soldier, dressed in a uniform of red with no unit patches or markings. She matched Aria's stare impassively, until both of them walked away.
-What do you mean?- Aria asked, looking from side to side as they walked. -The last thing I remember was waiting for my trial to begin, and then Major Tal'in came...-
-Yes, Misa has been working for me for some time,- Ara'lana said. -When I first heard about your...troubles, I asked her to keep an eye on you for me. I gave her instructions to bring you out when your trial began, and she and her people performed the task admirably.- They took a left turn down another hallway, and here Aria began to see other Ailians moving about, walking in groups of two and three. All of them were wearing the same unmarked red uniforms. All of them were armed, of course. Apart from the lack of unit identifiers, it looked like any other base throughout Ascendancy space.
Surprised, Aria looked at her mother. -Well...Thank you, mother. I am in your debt. But I don't think...- They came through a set of sliding doors, and Aria's eyes widened as she saw a huge hangar full of ships of various sizes. The majority of the ships were fighters, but the hangar also contained patrol ships, like the one Aria used to pilot, gunships, and even some heavy-lift troop transports. The vessels were all painted a deep blood red, rather than the obsidian black that most Ailian ships were painted. -What...What is all this?-
-My personal fleet,- Ara'lana said. -A part of it, at least.- She looked around the hangar, an expression of pride on her face. -Don't worry if you don't understand right now, Aria. Everything will be clear to you soon. For now, I imagine you're hungry after your ordeal. I've had dinner prepared.-
Though she was still very confused, Aria did have to admit that she was very hungry. She hadn't been able to eat breakfast that morning, and of course she had been unconscious for most of the day, if it was even the same day. She had no way of knowing, yet. But even if she had no frame of reference as far as time went, her body knew that it was mealtime. -Alright, I suppose...-
******
Ara'lana led her daughter through the halls of the military facility, until they reached an area which seemed to be more casual, with less of the cold and sterile feel that usual accompanied an Ailian base. Here the walls were paneled in a rich mahogany, decorated with framed landscape paintings from planets across the Ascendancy. After what Aria had been shown through so far, this place seemed out of sync with the rest of the complex. More than anything, the halls reminded her of her family's home in Hayikwiir City, though Aria did not feel the same sense of homelike welcome that she did when she was there. Rather, she felt a sense of dread that she could not quite explain just yet.