Nexus

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello! It's been too long since I've posted anything here, but Inspiration has been nothing but a real pain in the ass, seeing as I haven't had one until recently, and even then, it was only enough to get this part finished. With any luck, I should get the next part of this chapter up. Thanks to all who have read this for your patience and your support. Read on, and don't forget to leave a review!

Nexus
Chapter Four: An Unlikely Honeymoon
Part One


High, polished black boots strode over loose sand, idly kicking aside the still smoking corpse of an Avaaniite. Kanaji stopped in front of a soldier.

“Well, have you found them?”

The soldier saluted. “No, Colonel. Their bodies are nowhere to be found.”

“Is it possible that they were able to escape the planet?”

Another soldier ran up to them. “Sir! One of our fighter squadrons told me to inform you that they attempted to intercept two vessels, one matching the description of our own Espandon-class ships, leaving the planet.”

Kanaji bristled. “Attempted?”

The second soldier took a tentative step back. “Y-Yes, sir. The Espandon managed to take down thirteen of our fighters. The other ship managed to reach hyperspace shortly before the Espandon.”

Without warning, Kanaji throttled the first soldier and kicked the corpse by his feet violently. “Idiots! They were not supposed to leave the planet! They were not even supposed to know that we were coming!”

The second soldier tried to calm his superior down. “Colonel…”

Kanaji’s temper suddenly disappeared. He looked down at the Avaani corpse then to the unconscious soldier.

“I will report back and take full responsibility for the boy’s escape,” he said sullenly. He spat on the unconscious soldier’s prone body. “Make sure that your next superior has better luck finding that boy than I did.”


* * * * *


“It’ll take the better part of a day to get to Argel Seventeen,” Karissa said, kicking up her feet. “Go on and see to the Empress. I can take care of things here.”

Ariano, still in the form of an Avaaniite, turned to her. “Are you sure?”

Karissa smiled. “Ano, most mothers would kill to have a son-in-law that cares.” She waved him off, managing to hide a flicker of jealousy in her eyes. “Go. Just…make sure Edwyn’s okay, hmm?”


* * * * *


The doors opened and S’Jini stepped into the room. Edwyn glanced at Tavo, who nodded and stood to leave. He gave S’Jini a comforting smile as he passed and the doors closed behind him.

“Tol’ari ni?” she asked in Avaanian.

Edwyn shook his head, understanding her question. “No, she’s not. Tavo managed to stabilize her.” He looked at the five Cellular Replacement Apparatuses around her wounds. “It’ll be a while before these are finished their work.”

S’Jini smiled as she knelt down across from Edwyn and nodded. “Thank you. You’ve done so much for myself, my mother and for Ariano.”

Edwyn shook his head. “I haven’t done anything.”

“My mother wanted a son after I was born, Edwyn, and with mine and Ariano’s joining, she had that.” She looked down at her mother’s barely breathing form. “If she does not survive, she can at least die happy.”

Edwyn shook his head again. “She won’t die. She doesn’t deserve to die.” He stood and turned away. “She doesn’t deserve to die because of me.”

S’Jini looked up at that. “What are you talking about?”

“The people that attacked Avaani knew that I was going to be there,” Edwyn replied. “Rohadin already told your mother as such.”

S’Jini’s face went pale. “She knew?”

He looked out the window into space. “Yes, S’Jini. Your mother knew that people would attack you at your wedding.” He sighed. “I now understand what she meant when she said that she won’t be denied.”

The doors slid open and Ariano stepped in. S’Jini immediately stood and held him.

“She’s fine, Ariano.”

He nodded with a small smile. “Good.” He looked over to Edwyn. “What’s wrong?”

Edwyn shook his head. “It’s nothing, Ano.” He smiled at the two of them. “I’ll give the two of you some time alone. You haven’t been married twelve hours, and already you guys have had your share of rough spots.”

Ariano put a comforting hand on Edwyn’s shoulder and winked. “Go to the cockpit, Ed. Rissa needs some company.”


* * * * *


Karissa snorted as she looked out into the blackness of space. Despite the lack of scenery, she knew that they were moving at several thousand light years per second. She tilted her head back and stared up at the cold metal ceiling.

“I shouldn’t be jealous,” she murmured to herself with a shake of her head. She knew now why Ariano had been so hell-bent on getting the Jerraki delivery over and done with, and why she and Tavo had to talk him out of using the Crescendo to make quick tracks to Avaani. She couldn’t deny that S’Jini was beautiful. Well, she thought, beautiful for an alien, anyway.

Edwyn and Tavo had been literally drooling over S’Jini’s mother, and she had to wonder, with more than a little annoyance and jealousy, how Edwyn might have been acting at the wedding ceremony.

“Penny for your thoughts,” a voice said beside her.

She jumped and turned, seeing Edwyn sitting in the pilot’s seat with an amused look on his face. She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t do that.”

“What? Sneaking up on you?”

“Sneaking up on me and being nosy,” she replied. “And I don’t want to tell you.”

“You’re jealous,” Edwyn said, a smile growing on his face.

She stuck her nose up at him. “So what if I am?”

He sat back in his chair and looked out at the black canvas of space. “Well, for one, you’re easy to read, and two, there’s no need to be jealous.” He looked at her out of the corner of her eye and grinned. “I’m sure you’d be slobbering and thinking more than slightly nasty things if you saw some beefed up Avaaniite instead of the Empress.”

She punched him in the shoulder. “You shouldn’t be reading me that easily, dammit!” she said, her voice mixed with amusement and annoyance. “I’m supposed to be mad at you!”

He stopped an oncoming punch, put a hand to her cheek and moved so that they were nose to nose. “You know you can’t stay mad at me forever.” He grinned and kissed her…


* * *


He saw Karissa, a large stone spike impaling her against a wall, a small trickle of blood streaming down the corner of her lip.
“I…understand, Edwyn,” she murmured, coughing up blood. “I finally understand what Rohadin meant…”
“No, Karissa, this isn’t supposed to happen. You’re supposed to stick with me to the end.”
“It is the end, Edwyn,” she said weakly. She coughed again, more blood splattering onto the needle that held her against the wall. “It’s the end for me.” She took his cheek in her hand and kissed him. “Take care of her, Edwyn. She needs you, and you need her…”


* * *


Their lips parted as if they were violently thrown apart. They were both breathing heavily, their eyes wide.

“What…was that?” Karissa gasped.

Edwyn shook his head in confusion. “I…I don’t know.”

An uneasy silence followed and Edwyn and Karissa could only stare at each other blankly.

“Edwyn…”

Edwyn shook his head furiously and strode out of the cockpit, slumping against the wall just outside the doors, running his hands through blond hair nervously.

“What was that?” he asked himself again in a harsh whisper.


* * * * *


Kanaji’s headless body crumpled in a heap before a throne shrouded in shadow, the head falling onto the cold metal floor three seconds later.

“Fail me once, shame on you,” a deep voice rumbled from the shadows. “Fail me twice, shame on me.” A pale gray hand with yellowing talon-like fingernails emerged from the shadows. With but a simple wave of the hand, Kanaji’s body and head were thrown violently against the wall to the left of the hand, leaving two crimson blossoms on the cold metal. It retreated back into the shadows, and two sickly green eyes glowed from the darkness.

“You are my new officer,” the deep voice boomed again to the blond young man standing expressionlessly before the shadows, oblivious to the grisly display shown before him. “You will carry out my orders to the letter and to the intent, no questions asked.”

The young man closed his eyes, pressed a fist to his heart and bowed at the hip. “As you command, my Master.”

“Comb the Yrrigdian Sector for the boy,” the deep voice ordered. “That was where your predecessor informed me he was approaching next.”

“There are several hundred planets in that sector, my Master,” the young man said. “It will take time for me to find him, let alone glean information on your target’s whereabouts.”

“The boy will not leave the Yrrigdian Sector anytime soon. Go through the sector with a fine-toothed comb. Have spies planted on every planet and have them keep you informed every hour.”

“As you wish, Master.”


* * * * *


The Old Rifle burst out of hyperspace just outside the orbit of Argel Seventeen’s largest moon.

“Ariano, take the ship over to the other side of the moon. Rohadin will come out of hyperspace in about an hour and a half.”

Ariano frowned and turned to Edwyn. “We should head for the planet, Edwyn. She may be stable, but she needs medical attention from her people immediately.”

Edwyn shook his head. “We have to wait.”

“Is there any reason?”

“The Crescendo won’t be able to land without us,” Edwyn replied. “You remember that it was spoils from Home, and an Espandon-class scout ship, still painted like a military craft, coming in alone would put Rohadin in a bad position, not to mention putting us in a situation that’s already treading on dangerous ground.”

Ariano bristled. “How can you say that? I’m married to the daughter of their Empress!”

Karissa laid a hand on her shoulder. “Edwyn’s right, Ariano. Much as I want to make a run for the planet, we should wait for Rohadin.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you remember that this planet used to belong solely to the Puritans before the Universal Council forced them to hand it over to Avaani rule?”

Ariano’s eyes widened. He immediately recalled the political wrangling that he had seen in Council sessions during his time as Malinara.

The Puritans had been using Argel Seventeen as a base for Anjor and Supporter persecution. The leader of the persecution movement began to cry out to the Council to reveal all names of the Anjor underneath the Council’s umbrella so that they could be executed for crimes, past and future, against alien races within the Council that may have been, or would be, committed by Anjor assassins. The entire Council was appalled at the movement and, finding no grounds for a twisted act, forced the Puritans to leave the planet, and later the remainder of the Yrrigdian Sector for sector-wide disturbance. There were rumors of an uprising being planned by the Puritans, but nothing came. The Council gave Argel Seventeen to the Avaani, as the world was relatively close to their home planet.

“They’re right, Ano,” Tavo chimed in. “If you landed on Argel Seventeen with the Empress injured and S’Jini at your side, it might mean trouble. Things are still pretty uneasy in this sector, and I’m sure that the Avaani on Argel Seventeen just found out that their home planet was nearly incinerated.”

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Ariano nodded. “I guess.” He began to navigate the Old Rifle to the other side of the moon. “We’ll wait for Rohadin.”


=[ End of Part One ]=

A/N: Thanks for your time, and don't forget to leave a review!