The darkness of the Void was mind-numbingly vast. To get a bit of visual stimulation, Alekai kept his eyes on the blue marble that was to one side of them.
Since they were strapped into their chairs, it wasn't as if they were floating around and feeling discombobulated. Still, it was not bad. He could get used to this rather quickly.
"Alekai." Jesse's voice came in, soft and weak through their intercom.
"Yeah?"
"Are you…" she paused.
Silence.
Alekai sat with his eyes closed, waiting for her to finish the sentence.
After ten minutes of silence, he decided that whatever it was she wanted to ask him, it wasn't something that was so urgent.
It had been almost three hours. They were hovering out there in the middle of nothing and nowhere, waiting for the 25% power bar to creep upwards.
They were now at 60% power. It was certainly enough to fly back to The Jungle. They didn't really have to wait for 100% to move from this spot.
But Alekai did not suggest doing that to Jesse. The feeling of being out in space was so exhilarating that he did not want to end it that quickly.
The fact that they had been betrayed by the Captain of the Caravan strangely did not devastate him. It pissed him off, but it was also strangely exhilarating. He was finally doing something that was radically different from his daily humdrum life.
The idea that he was destined for something huge and out-of-this world was so grand and intoxicating that he had to keep reminding himself he was not just dreaming all of this.
"Alekai," Jesse's voice came through the intercom again, this time even more weak and breathless.
"Yeah?"
"You must be super angry at me, huh?"
Alekai blinked.
His brain wasn't quite ready for this one-two knock out punch type of Q&A from Jesse just yet.
"About what?"
"Well I was the one who went looking for you, and then took you out of your safe happy world. I nearly got you killed, not once but several times. And now you're stranded out here in space with nobody around but me, and oh God, I'm such an idiot! I can't believe I trust that woman!"
Jesse began crying again.
Alekai sighed.
"I wish that." He stopped.
He couldn't say that. No way could he say that to her.
"You wish what?"
He sighed. Why the hell not.
"I wish that I wasn't stuck up here in the Command Deck. I wish that I could come down where you are and give you a hug."
Alekai grimaced and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he had actually said that to her, but she sounded as if she needed a bit of comfort.
"Really???" (sniff, sniff)
"Really."
"Thank you Alekai. That makes me feel better, that you're not super mad at me."
"I'm not super mad at you. I'm not mad at you at all. Why would you think that?"
"Because all of this is my fault. I even yelled at you because you were doing your job as a Striker."
Alekai smiled. "It's okay. You didn't know you would be betrayed so badly by a commanding officer that you trusted."
He pressed his lips together. "What are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, do you plan to rendezvous back to this spot in two years to be picked up by that bitch woman?"
Through the intercom, he could hear Jesse growling. The sound was like a female tigress snarling at her foe.
It made him shiver with delicious fear.
"They won't be picking me up."
"Because?"
"I quit! I am no longer Second Lieutenant. There is no longer such an entity as Black Warrior Team 5883JCAV."
Alekai blinked. His confusion grew. "I don't seem to recall you having given them your notice of resignation. And besides, are you even allowed to just quit being an officer of the Force?"
"They left me to die!"
"And?"
"That is enough to—"
"I don't think that is enough of a reason for you to simply quit the Force. At least they won't think it's a good enough reason. It's your job to die, if need be, to complete your mission. In fact, if you just leave the Force, they could even call you out for desertion."
"Arrrggghhh!!!" Jesse growled again. "What can I do???"
"Stay with the Force. That will give you a chance to return to your post in two years."
"And then do what?"
"Once you are back within the folds of the Force, you can then go about extracting your revenge against this Captain."
His amber eyes turned cold. "This is a woman who ruthlessly abandoned you out in the depths of space. She even sicced an apoidean scout ship on you to make sure you die as quickly as possible."
Jesse sighed. "In two years, she's not going to even remember who I am."
"But we will never forget, Jesse." Alekai grinned with evil intent, his snake fangs gleaming in the reflected glow of the bright Earth below.
"I made a copy of that Assignment Order." He gave an inadvertent hiss from the back of his throat. "I'll be playing it every morning to you as a reminder of what we have to look forward to."
"We?"
"Of course. You weren't the only bait she left out here to die. I am here too, with you."
He gave a bloodcurdling laughed. "Her biggest mistake was in thinking that I am an idiot. Her second biggest mistake was thinking that you would just quietly acquiesce to whatever fate she decided to dump upon you."
For a moment, Jesse said nothing. He could hear her chuckle.
Good. Her sense of humor was returning.
He leaned his head back onto the Command chair. "Jesse. I'm still a civilian, right?"
"Yes. You have not been served any type of draft papers, nor have you signed any documents volunteering yourself. You were supposed to have done that once we reached the Caravan but you never made it there. You are technically still a civilian."
He grimaced. "You said my family is Royalty?"
"Yes. The Vartis family rules Taranhara"
"Do I have any sort of rank or title within that family? Or am I just a mutt dog to them?"
"Of course you are not a mutt dog!" Jesse huffed. "Although you can never be a Crown Prince, you are still a Prince."
"So I'm Prince Alekai Vartis."
Alekai snarled.
That title sounded strange and pretentious to him, especially since he was such a disposable commodity that his family had been willing to use him as a throw-away decoy so their precious Crown Prince could remain safe.
"Technically yes. But you have no granted powers or lands."
"So it's just an empty title." Alekai grinned wolfishly. "Well since my parents didn't give me anything, I'll just take what I need."
Jesse's eyes grew round. "You mean you're going to break the laws?"
He scoffed. "Jesse, dead men can't break laws."