Unwavering darkness.

The flickering shadows of revolution.

The reckless light amplified.

A world ablaze with the sounds of revolution.

Chapter 6

I sat on the floor of the fresher, staring at my own reflection. Samirah had dragged me to the fresher and helped me scrub the blood from my skin and hair. The only remnants of my injury were a large area of raised scar tissue on my left hip and a pale sheen on my skin. I stared at my reflection. Dark bruise-like splotches circled my eyes. 

Samirah sat to my right. Her fingers grazing over my palm as she worked to restore the blood I lost. Aubrey kneeled behind me. Her fingers running through my hair as she combed it and twisted it into intricate braids. Her fingers seemed to dance through my hair. 

“How are you feeling?” Samirah asked me. 

“Still a little weak.”

She gave me a short nod. “I’ve boosted your blood supply. You should start to feel better soon.”

“There,” Aubrey said, twisting a final braid into place. I glanced at my reflection. Little braids twisted around my head and into one large plait down my back. Her expression was reflected in the mirror. It was one of longing. She stood up and left the room. Samirah climbed to her feet and held out her hand to me. I let her pull me to my feet. 

I followed her out into the corridor. Voices were coming from the cockpit. Golden amber light was pouring into the cockpit as we stepped inside. Aubrey had claimed her spot at the pilot’s console. At the middle of the cabin, huddled around the nav console, were Kannan, Addi, Zeb, and Jev. Samirah had walked over to my brother at the comms console. I glanced to my left. Gabriel was slouched in the corner in the farthest jumpseat. 

“Tell us who this Scarecrow is, Jev,” Kannan said, his voice on edge. 

Jev remained silent, his eyes unfocused but looking forward towards the hologram. That symbol floated in front of them. Jev’s fingers gripped the edge of the console tightly, his knuckles white. 

“Artificer Armistyce,” Jev said quietly. “He is the most cunning military officer that ever set foot on Aten. And probably in this universe. He’s a machine. He can outthink and outmaneuver anything that is placed in front of him. The Saeris are even wary of him. He is the mastermind behind everything that has happened on Aten. I would wager even Oberon and Thule….” He bit at his lip. “We called him the Tourniquet.”

“The one who cuts off rebellions,” Samirah said. “My parents always said that the Lightning Woman was defeated by the Tourniquet. Without him, the Saeris would have lost their hold on this planet.”

Zeb hissed a Jaa curse. “This isn’t just a soldier. This is the Saeris’ Ace.”

“Why is he coming back here, though?” Addi asked. “What is happening that would bring him back to this hell hole?”

Aubrey flicked her hand as she spun her chair around. Her console lit up. Little holograms appeared in front of her. The data that we had stolen flashing by. 

“Nothing stood out in my first scan for Scarecrow,” she said. “I will set different search parameters and run more scans. There has to be something buried here.” A holo flashed. “There are several hits for Artificer.” She waved her hand back towards us. A stacked holo appeared on the nav console. Jev raised his hand and opened the file. He scrolled through the documents. He sighed and picked up a tablet from the console. He tapped away, pulling up the documents. 

“I’ll go through these,” he said. “The sooner we can get through this data, the sooner we might find answers.” 

“Tell me any search words,” Aubrey began, “and I will add them to the parameters.” She began tapping away on her console. Kannan and Addi moved from the nav console to around Aubrey. Zeb remained at the nav console, tapping away on his own search. 

I glanced back over at Gabriel. They hadn’t moved. I found myself walking towards them. They looked over at me as I came to stand next to them. I slipped into the seat next to them. Their hand slipped into mine. I ran my fingers over the rough leather of their gloves. I found it oddly comforting. 

Are you okay? Gabriel’s voice echoed through my head. 

I’ll survive. 

Shame. 

It took all I had to keep from bursting out laughing. Gabriel smiled at me. Their shoulder bumped against mine. We sat there in silence; the voices of our friends became murmurs in my ears. 

Are you okay? I thought towards Gabriel.

No, their faint reply came. It just barely brushed against my mind.

I squeezed their hand. Pain, in its many forms, was something I knew well but nothing of how to cure it. I found myself pressing closer to them, my head resting on their shoulder. I expected their body to tense and for them to move away. But they didn’t. They pressed closer to me. Their head bowed, close to mine. Our hair is the only thing separating us. 

The others paced around the ship. Their voices were muffled in my ears. My focus was not on them, but the soft breathing of the person next to me. Gabriel squeezed my hand again. 

I feel lost, Gabriel's faint voice echoed through my mind. And I don't know why.

I squeezed their hand. We'll be lost together. They turned their head slightly, their lips pressing to my temple. I turned my body towards them and let myself lean against them. 

“Colonies?” Aubrey’s voice dragged me back to the present. “As in the Human colonies?”

“I thought they were all wiped out after the Siege of Astrid,” Samirah said looking up from the comms console. 

“Yes and no,” said Jev. “The colonies formed when the Saeris invaded this planet. They were the small communities of Humans that lived around the planet. When the Saeris began to take over, they basically cut off these communities and held them hostage.” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the blonde strands out of his eyes. “Many of these colonies were underground. It’s easier to control people when they are trapped. Those underground colonies are easily erased from common knowledge. The ones in the public eye became the small villages around the planet and the underground ones became experiments.” 

“There’s a rumor that Saeris experimented on Humans early on in the invasion,” Addi said quietly. 

“It’s not a rumor,” Jev said. He set the tablet down on the console. “If they had enough Humans, I’m sure they are still doing it now.” He glanced around at us. “You all are Zahren. Where do you think the Zahren came from?”

It fell silent in the ship. It was no secret how the Zahren came to being. There have always been Zahren but for the majority of recorded history, they were just hybrids of higher-powered people and lower or non-powered people. We were not called Zahren until the early days before the invasion. When the Saeris disguised themselves as friendly neighbors that wanted to invest in the people of Aten and their dying planet. But that investment only brought hell.

“Well,” Aubrey said, breaking the silence, “this obviously isn’t good news.” She turned in her seat to face the rest of us. She flicked her hand and holograms lit up the cabin. It was the Aten’s globe. She pointed to a spot near the top of the globe. The hologram zoomed in. It was an aerial image of the high northern desert. “This was the village of Valle. It’s not there anymore.”

Jev focused on the hologram. “Move seventy-two klicks to the east and south twenty.” Aubrey flicked her hand and the image spun. Another empty swath of desert. “Rieze,” Jev muttered. “It’s gone too.”

Kannan sucked in a deep breath. “They’re destroying remote villages.”

“Those villages were mainly Zahren,” said Jev. “There was a significant number of Humans among them too.”

“Umm,” said Samirah. She tapped away on the comms console and brought her hand to her mouth. The holograms in front of us shifted. The desert wasn’t empty this time. Craggy hills among the sand dunes. The image zoomed out revealing machinery around the hills. And a deep trench.

Aubrey squeaked a curse. 

“It’s a mass grave,” said Zeb, his voice shaking.

“Just like the ones after the Siege,” Kannan said quietly. He had walked over to Samirah and placed his hand on her shoulder. Samirah was in Astrid when the Saeris laid siege to the city. Her brother was one of the missing. Samirah leaned against Kannan, silent tears running down her face. 

“There are more bodies than people that lived in those villages,” Jaymes said. “This is a large-scale operation.”

“Zeb,” Jev said, “can you search the rest of the Veil region and see if there are any more villages that have been destroyed?” Zeb gave him a sharp nod and turned back to the nav console. Jev looked towards Aubrey. “Can you search for anything relating to the remote sectors?”

“Searching the remote sectors,” she said, turning back to her console, “and machinery transport orders.”

“Good,” Jev said. He glanced around at everyone. “What else should we be looking for?”

Gabriel tensed next to me. They leaned away from me but didn’t let go of my hand. “Missing people,” they said. Eyes snapped to us as if they forgot we were here. “That Saeris we encountered in the server building was working on a report. In that report, there were mentions of large numbers of missing people from the Domes.”

I noticed Aubrey’s eyes widened.  She spun around in her seat and tapped away furiously. 

“There were numerous missing people reported to various military outposts,” she said as she typed. “The Alazander Military Complex had one hundred seventy-two reports as of last month. Mostly Zahren, a few Humans, and two no-rank Saeris.” She looked over her shoulder at us. “Did you get the Saeris’ name? I can see if I can find the report they were working on.”

“They were called Jull. They said the report was for a Corral.”

Aubrey went back to searching. 

“The missing Zahren,” Jev said, “who are they?”

Aubrey raised a hand and flicked a small hologram at the nav console. Addi moved it to the center of the console and scrolled through the list.

“It looks to mostly be Zahren from the Vy District,” Addi said. “A few from the Vallen Borough. No notable people other than a few of them owned businesses.” She continued to scan through the list. “Huh,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “The two Saeris that were reported missing both work for the Falling Gecko Inn.”

“That place is very anti-Saeris,” Samirah said. “My brother and I often got food there at the end of the day. They organized all sorts of demonstrations. I didn’t think that they survived the Siege.”

“They apparently cause a lot of trouble,” said Addi. “Twenty of the missing Zahren and three missing Humans have direct connections to them. About half of the missing people have connections to the Falling Gecko or other organizations that they are partnered with.”

“They are targeting Human allied groups,” Gabriel said. They stood up, their hand slipping from mine, as they walked to the nav console. Aubrey jumped from her chair and walked over. She raised her hand and a report sprawled out in front of us. Line after line after line of words and symbols appeared. 

“Central Core Report,” Aubrey said, her voice on edge, “Is a record of every officer, troop, and equipment movement in and out of Ryver for the last six months. Thirty-nine different remote training missions. I haven’t checked but the coordinates look to be in the general area of several of those remote villages. This information was sent to the Central Core on Janus.” She looked up at those standing around her. “This isn’t a new report. It’s at least two weeks old. This was sent as part of a data package to the new envoy that is coming in the upcoming troop rotation. The Commander currently in charge of Saeris forces is rotating back to Janus and a General is taking their place.”

“Which General?” Jev snapped. 

Aubrey sighed. “Lieutenant General Viktor Zadra. He is the one who led the initial raid in the Siege of Astrid. The Saeris are preparing for something.”

Jev bit at his lip. “Zadra is under the command of General Alazander.”

Zeb shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. “They are going to make a push somewhere. The Saeris control nearly every part of this side of the Rift. Thule still has control of its northern hemisphere. That’s the only place that does not have Janus’ fangs in it.”

Kannan crossed his arms over his chest. “The northern hemisphere is mainly dense jungles only traversed by the indigenous people. The Saeris have already taken over or destroyed anything of value on Thule. The jungles are useless to them.”

“Other than small rebel cells,” my brother said, “what else is there left for the Saeris to take?” He walked over to the rest of the group. 

Something began rattling in the back of my head. The Saeris were eliminating possible threats in the territories that they occupied. Silencing the people that stand against them. Where was the greatest voice speaking out against them? It wasn’t on dying Aten. Or the tightly controlled Oberon. Or even deep in the jungles of Thule. It was the place that just isolated itself from the rest of the galaxy.

“Cressida,” I said. “They are going to move against Cressida.” I reluctantly pulled myself out of the jumpseat and took a few steps closer to them. “We already discussed this but now…what else is there for the Saeris to do on this side of the Rift? There’s nothing left for them to control here. They are eliminating anything that could possibly hinder their movement towards Cressida. Cressida closed its borders because something is happening. Where is the greatest voice against them coming from? It’s not here. The Saeris slaughtered them. It’s on Cressida and it’s coming from their own kind.”

All eyes were on me. I could see them all thinking. They knew this already, but no one wanted to believe that it was what was happening. We had already pushed back the thought of an attack on Cressida. But what else is there? The Saeris are very content with what they have. That desire for more, for ultimate control, burns deep. The Angels and Cressan Saeris are forces to reckon with. No one stands against them. That would be a death wish. The Saeris are the only ones brazen enough to stand against them. Death is not a deterrent. 

Another thought shot through my mind. There aren’t that many people brazen enough to stand against the Saeris. I looked up at my friends. My eyes met Gabriel’s gaze. Good thing we are not brazen. We are desperate. 

“We just lit a fire on Aten and it’s burning bright in the eyes of our captors.”