Surprised to find how energetic and pain free she felt, Leptis followed the commander down the corridor. The light from the command core no longer glared, her nerves were healing. They came upon the first cell where she saw a small figure on the floor and eight feet across a lone man sat. She wanted to overstep her welcome by looking into the other cell.

The commander called her to Delah's cell and deactivated the shield rods that pulled up into the hull with a wave of his hand.

“She’s still sleeping. I put her where I’m holding another informant.”

“Is there anyone else you’ve extracted?”

“This girl is the only Araidian taken aboard my ship.”

“Did you capture a young Shatarian boy with unusually long hair?”

Le-Yetal smiled in response with a twinkle in his eye. “Why?”

She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “He confiscated my hydro-lift, that's why. I don't need to answer to you.”

“You have the trait of a true Araidian dignitary.”

Leptis narrowed one eye and pursed her lips.

“Madam, it's stubbornness. Was the lift yellow?”

Her features relaxed and she smiled. She liked this commander's wit. “Yes, I’d like to see him.”

Giving into that need to peek at the adjoining cell, Leptis sidestepped the commander. She looked into the other cell with four energy shield rods all vertical, glowing a bright light blue. Teeabu lay on the floor like a baby in peaceful sleep. His hair sprawled around him and one arm tucked under his head while he lay on his side. His tunic showed signs of the struggle they went through, the fire and fighting. It was torn, full of holes. She turned away from the forlorn child. A lump grew in her throat. Nearly everyone the boy loved was left behind, dead, or now a slave. She wrestled back the tears that nearly escaped.

She turned from the cell with her head high.

“Once we land,” the commander tilted his head toward the other cell, “you'll be able to join him. By that time, he should be awake. However, you can see your daughter now.” He led her by the arm and opened the cell, where Delah lay, for her to enter.

●

On the floor, the child Leptis had raised as her own curled into a sleeping position. Delah’s eyes were closed. Her clothes were stained, her cute tunic skirt was torn. Leptis wiped her eyes, chest heaving, tears were coming. She caressed the girl’s soft hair that she had just fixed in the morning. Little Delah’s boot was missing. Where was her boot?

Leptis turned around a few times in the cell. The shock of seeing most of Irema vaporized and escaping death in the nick of time left Leptis's mind in a fog. She had to bring herself back. Yutvah, Boon, the school, everything and everyone had been destroyed. Leptis sat on a slab protruding from the hull where Delah lay.

Across the cell, a man sat on an identical slab, staring at her, probably wanting something from her.

“You’re an Araidian, like her.”

She nodded.

“Informants belong in here.” He smiled showing missing teeth.

Turning away, she ignored the hideous balding man with strands of mustard colored hair. She put her mind to find a way of escape for Delah. First plan was to get her niece out of Araidia. Second, she would hide in the city away from the Watchman. Third, she had to somehow convince Yal, once a champion for the Shatarians, to help get Teeabu out of Araidia and renew the treaty. As a last resort, she could join the rebellion. Revolutionaries were everywhere there and could help her to hide.

She had hoped what little knowledge she had sent about the Shatarians would prove to the Araidians that humans were acceptable. Somehow her agenda had backfired. Her heart sank as she placed the hood back over her head and pulled her cloak tighter around her so the informant and guards wouldn’t see what she was about to do.

The Araidian spaceship carried them further away from Irema and Delah hadn’t stirred yet. It was time to take action after they docked.

Leptis’s motto from the Araidian days of royalty was to always prepare for times of adversity. She quietly placed her left leg on the slab. Before she moved again she checked for any soldier guarding the cell. It was clear. She gently swung the cloak over her leg. Her fingers touched an artificial layer of skin, rubbery and hard, above her ankle and slowly peeled it back to reveal a flat gray pouch of processed Reedpod leaves.

Even though no guards were around, she felt someone watching her. She quickly hooked the pouch to her belt and looked around the cell to find the man staring at her. Wrinkles cut deeper at the corner of his eyes while he sneered.

“Reedpods! You're not like me. You want to kill the soldiers,” he cried out.

A sinking sensation gripped her heart. She'd be exposed. “Don't you move or say anything.”

That scrawny man laughed and yelled out. “Guards! Guards! In here!”

Leptis leaped from the slab and grabbed the man, poking a finger on his neck. She held him captive in a chokehold.

“Scream one more time and I'll put my finger straight through your neck. I can do it. Have you forgotten? I'm Araidian.” He tried struggling against her hold. She heard footfalls on the grating coming from the Command Core.

She quickly put her arm over his shoulders and pressed her fingers on his neck. Finally one of the crew members, she figured it was Nav Ru that came to the cell's doorway.

“What's all the racket about?”

“Nothing,” the informant said barely able to speak.

“Everything's fine, Navigator.” Leptis gave her best smile that went to her eyes.

“Commander ordered if anymore noise is made, I'll need to shoot you.” Nav Ru directed that statement to the nuisance she held captive. “And if he makes one move against you, ma'am, holler. I'll be here in a heartbeat.”

She kept her arm around the man's shoulders until the soldier left. “And I will give you a worse death if I even smell you turning on me. Do you hear me?” The man nodded incessantly.

They landed in the outskirts of Irema. The commander quickly placed a hand on Leptis's shoulder and stopped her before entering the bottleneck to the hatch that would open to Irema's atmosphere.

“Ma'am, you need this so our men won't see anything unusual like an Araidian walking around without a mask. I won't need this. It's depleted of oxygen.” He reached up his left nostril and removed the small hose, pulled it from his cheek, behind his ears, neck, and finally pinched loose the end under his netted tee-shirt. She grimaced and took the gummy black hose, squirming like snake.

“I suppose we're sharing germs.” Leptis gave a weak smile. “Shall I put it on?”

“It won't hurt a bit. I have one more for your daughter compliments of Nav Ru.” He pulled out a badge with the Araidian military logo of a black circle with a red circle overlapping it. The black circle appeared like a crescent. “And you'll need this to get through. The Ident Badge won't be scanned. We'll be too busy getting the captives out of here. Before you leave, my question is why do you champion this race? They're weak, submissive, and they don't even live that long.”

Leptis put her hand up and wiggled her nose. The end hooked in her nostrils and the tail of the mask neatly adhered to her skin. Tucking the last portion of the hose in her bra, she answered the commander's question.

“They're passionate and stronger than you think. Maybe not physically, but they persevere and stick to their beliefs. That's why I must contact Yal.” Leptis stashed the other nose mask and badge into her hip pocket.

“Yes, I understand now. He's a champion for our people and them, too.”

“What's your name?”

“Commander Ronull Le-Yetal of the Araidia's Elite Force.”

She squeezed his thick and course hand. “I'll never forget you, Commander Le-Yetal. Thank you.”

He nodded and stepped away, watching her leave. He was very helpful, Leptis thought. Actually, he had gone beyond the call of duty. She would put in a good word about him to Yal.

The partition shield came down as she entered the tube, dividing the commander and his crew from contaminated air. The section decompressed and the hatch door opened. She and her unconscious loved ones on the antigravity gurneys were met by Araidian guards.

“Make sure these two stay together.” Leptis flashed her badge and the men slightly bowed their heads and guided the gurneys with a remote.

The commander had dropped them off near one of the barges, larger than five scout ships. His ship and the five others left them there and flew away, colorful like round iridescent prisms disappearing against a muddied sky.

Newly arrived scout ships, clean and black, hummed above Leptis as she followed her loved ones on antigravity gurneys guided by guards from the barges. It might as well have been all of Araidia's military there bringing their higher technology, ships, barges, robotic droids, plasma whips, rifles, and whatever else that could down a human. The flying barges contrails convoluted the sky and the dying city, already gray and black.

How could she have landed right in the middle of a raid? All her Araidian upbringing cringed at the awful sight of the colossus movement of ships and peoples. How could she wrap her mind around this?

Goosebumps prickled on her arm at the horrific and awesome sight. Three bulky cargo ships, long and gray were to carry the slaves. At least they could've left the city in tact, Leptis thought. Even by spraying a smoke bomb to render everyone unconscious would have been much more efficient than singularly burning, shooting, whipping, and extracting people.

This black mark would forever render them as a hostile and unreasonable race. She pulled her hood tighter around her face while she looked down at Teeabu still knocked out on the gurney. Delah was on the other gurney, to Leptis's surprise, being taken to the opposite end of the barge by a guard.

They can't take my niece away! Her throat dried and heart thumped in her chest.

Teeabu and Delah needed to stay together. Leptis waved at the soldier that quickly guided Delah away on the antigravity gurney. Leptis couldn't decide whether to stay with Teeabu or to catch up with Delah. Her mind reverted back to the normalcy of life in Irema. As a boy, even a priest, Teeabu could take care of himself. She decided the youngest child needed her more. 

                                                                                                                                                      To be continued...