(Callie)
With Taniya in tow, Callie went back to her apartment, well, Dustin's apartment. "Are you really from the fringes of the Slax empire?" Taniya asked, her tone soft. They each carried two bags filled with groceries and were walking through the navy base.
"Yes, why is that so hard to believe? Is it because I use horrible comparisons?" Callie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, it's not that, it's just, your Zrixian just sounds so natural." Taniya said, with a raised eyebrow. Callie shrugged her shoulders, "I'm sorry, my friend, I can't tell you what you want to know."Callie whispered.
"Why not? I can keep a secret. Did you learn from a Zrixian that defected from the empire or something?" Taniya asked. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just I-"
Taniya shook her head and sighed, raising a bag filled hand to stop Callies deflection, "Stop right there, if you are going to spout some half truth then don't say anything!" said Taniya letting out a sigh, "I will let it go for now, but I'm going to squeeze the truth out of you eventually." Taniya said.
Taniya's light hazel eyes glimmered with amusement, and her light blond hair swirled around her, blown by the passing of an army transport shuttle. "Hey watch where you're going!" Taniya shouted, glaring at the soldier's back.
"How are you a part of the Devali? You seem so ordinary and nice."Callie asked. Taniya shrugged, "Well, most of the Devali are ok, I guess, but they are a little too intense sometimes. It is the price of our job, i guess."Taniya replied, shrugging.
The soldier on the hover cart didn't even look back as he towed a trailer piled high with pallets of tungsten shells. Taniya looked on worriedly, her eyes tracking the trailer of anti ship rounds.
Callie's stomach clenched at that look of fear and concern. If she was being honest with herself, then she felt the same way about a war on the horizon. What would it be like? Two empires spanning multiple planets going head to head in all out war.
That might accomplish Callie's goal of killing the ones responsible for conquering her home, but the casualties would be way too high.
Callie glanced at Taniya and wonder if she could live with herself if she killed Taniya, Dustin and Ferra in the process of revenge. Her thoughts drifted, and a question nagged at her. Did she allow Jerry to die at the hands of the empire? Peyton was free, not by her own efforts, but due to his own schemes. The question was, would it be worth the headache to free Jerry from potential execution?
"Hey T, do you think they are going to continue plans for the execution with only one Secari in custody?" asked Callie, her thoughts a jumble.
Taniya was oddly silent for several long seconds, her face a mask of concern as she glanced at Callie several times. Despite the young woman's smile, there was that tightness around her eyes that revealed a hint of distrust.
"Maybe, but with the political upheaval and the presence of the Slax embassy her on Proxima, I bet the execution will be delayed if not halted entirely." Taniya said, revealing she really was adept at politics.
"And why were they pushing for the execution in the first place?" Callie asked, excitement filling her. Maybe she could learn who was behind the assault on Etria?
"That is a sensitive bit of information that I don't think I should share with you."Taniya said sheepishly.
Callie blanched but wasn't offended. Yeah, she had just admitted that she had been lying to them all this time! The fact that Taniya still looked at her with trust in her eyes was a miracle. She guessed saving someone from being torchered could do that to a person. On the other hand, Taniya clearly wasn't trusting enough to tell Callie state secrets after her recent revelation.
"Don't worry Taniya, I am not upset at your weariness. After my recent deception, trusting me would be like snuggling a porcupine."Callie replied, smiling reassuringly.
"About that... Porcupines aside, did you really need to deceive Dustin like that? It's hard for him to trust people, given our profession. And I think I think your little lie shook him."Taniya said softly. Callie winced, looking away sheepishly to ignore that inquisitive look.
Callie set down both of her bags and used a small key card to open the door to Dustin's apartment. She winced as she remembered the fact that she had borrowed the key from Dustin while he wasn't paying attention.
Callie's shoulders slumped. " I am terrible at this whole earning trust thing."Callie said waving the card through the air.
"He must trust you if he gave you the card to his apartment."Taniya said, with a sly grin on her face.
"Don't give me that look. I sleep in his spare room. And i may have borrowed the card when he wasn't looking."Callie said, a sheepish smile on her face. Taniya balked at that comment, chuckling. "I hope he at least said you could stay here." Taniya said.
They enter the room, cool ventilated air washing over them. The living room was neat, and they placed their bags on the island countertop.Callie gestured to the door, "Don't forget to take off your boots at the door, Dustin might consider you an enemy if you track dust across the carpet."Callie said.
Taniya let out a soft laugh."He never changes. My brother is just as much a clean freak as when we lived with our mother."Taniya said, fondness in her voice.
"Can you chop these onions, purple peppers, and chives?" Callie asked, washing each before placing them on the cutting board.
"Isn't that a bit too much? Those purple peppers have a spice that grows more intense the more you eat."Taniya said, rolling up the sleeves on her shirt and washing her hands. The soft rhythm of chopping filled the air as Taniya set to work dicing the fist sized vegetables.
Callie pulled out three small bottles of sauces from one bag and lined up each in turn. "You would think it will be too spicy, but that is only if you don't cook the pepper for long enough."Callie said, preparing three different sauces.
She placed a pan on each of the three oven top burners and made some use out of Dustin's brand new frying pans. In each, she placed a different Vat grown meat, one was labeled pork, one beef and one chicken. Unlike the other two meats, the pork burbled happily, filling the pan with fat juices.
Callie grimaced to herself. Each of the meat looked distressingly similar to hardened cubes. The meet started to sizzle, each letting of its own aroma. "What is with your look?" Taniya asked, bringing over a chopping board overflowing with diced vegetables.
Callie placed some of each into the sizzling pans and added a dollop of butter to two of them. "Well, this is Vat grown meat, and it is just not the same as the real thing."Callie said.Taniya leaned over her shoulder, watching as Callie sprinkled several seasonings over each pan.
"This smells amazing, is that thyme, and holly? And It's hard to believe that meat grown planet side would smell better?" Taniya asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, these are some of the more expensive foreign spices." said Callie, almost mentioning how the meat on Etria had distinctive colours, and far more intensive flavor, but just caught herself. " Where is that spatula?" Callie asked, changing the subject, digging through some of the drawers.
They set about preparing the meal with a lightness of spirit that Callie hadn't experienced in what felt like months, or was that years? The war with the empire had always been looming. There was always more training and more preparation. And since the attack on Etria, her life was a constant struggle, of moving from one place to the next.
She couldn't explain it, but cooking with someone who she didn't need to be tense around made her relax immensely. Today, just cooking with Taniya felt like days long passed, like those days before training.
Those days felt so distant, like a story that was told by a stranger years before. For the first time in months, she smiled a happy, unrestrained smile as she performed the mundane, albeit highly technical, act of cooking.
Even now, war was looming, and the realization was slowly dawning that her view of the empire might have been a lie. All of those things the trainers taught them about the empire's greed and their tyranny couldn't all be a lie, could it? Callie shook herself from that thought and let herself have fun for once.
As they talked and joked about cooking, preparing and eating the main course, she couldn't help but be excited. She thought her new friend couldn't get more excited until they found a box containing something interesting in a cupboard. It was a dried mix that could be turned into a fluffy sweet cream when mixed with water.
Callie held the box aloft victorious, and Taniya grinned back. "I knew he would be hiding it somewhere. Dustin always had a box of that sweet cream back home in case of immergences."Taniya said, pumping her fist in excitement.
"Is it really that good?" Callie asked, eyeing the box of white powder dubiously. The label on the front showed a swirling tall pile of white fluffy foam on top of something weirdly similar to pancakes, but black in colour.
Taniya looked at her aghast, as though that was a silly question. "This is like the best whip cream in the entire solar system!" Taniya said, peering into the oven excitedly. After finding the famous whipped cream hidden in a secret corner on the top shelf of Dustins cabinets, Taniya was bouncing in excitement.
Callie realized Taniya was a friend, and that was both exciting and scary to think about. She only had two friends, Warren and Peyton, and they were the only people she trusted. Well, she guessed she could add Taniya to that list, as even now the woman was cutting up a bright yellow berry into thick slices for the dessert, and yet Callie didn't feel threatened when she was behind her.
By all accounts she should feel threatened, that young woman was the enemy, a Devali of all things. But even knowing all of that, Callies was relaxed and happy to cook, talk, and just hang out with Taniya.
Her knife slipped at that thought, and she sliced her finger. It was a shallow cut, but it still bled, spoiling the pile of yellow fruit on her cutting board. The cut throbbed, but it was nothing she hadn't received a hundred times before..
"You alright?" Taniya asked, approaching from the side to peer down at the cut.
"I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound," Callie said, still rattled at the realization that she had a new friend. She took a clean washcloth and wrapped it tightly around her finger. Blood quickly leaked through, staining the cloth a deep red.
"Give me a second, Dustin should have a med bag in his room for emergencies."Taniya said, skipping away unhurriedly.
Taniya disappeared into Dustin's room, returning with a backpack. She set it on the counter beside the mostly chopped vegetables. Callie glanced at the dirty plates in the sink, that were the remnant's of their delicious meal. The oven timer slowly ticked down, with twenty more minutes until the fluffy cake inside was finished. She could already see the dough rising, and was wondering if she should start whipping this cream to be ready?
Taniya pulled a finger length red and white tube from the bag and pulled off the cap, holding out a hand to Callie offering the needle. Her heart beat quickened, she dropped the knife and took the small tube, her hand shaking uncontrollably. She tried to stab the needle into her injured hand, but her fingers refused to work properly. Not only her fingers, but her whole body shook, and the needle clatter to the table rolling in place.
Taniya saw her reaction and had a dawning realization. For Callie, it wasn't seeing the needle that made her tremble but the act of holding it or trying to grab it. She was so focused on that thing rolling on the table that she barely noticed when Taniya gave her a hug from behind, wrapping her in a gentle embrace.
Callie both tensed and relaxed at the same time. It was an odd disconnect of both wanting the embrace and disliking someone being so close. "Do you want me to administer the shot?" Taniya asked softly.
"Yeah, that would be great."Callie said, her fingers trembling as Taniya brought the needle closer to her skin. Callie squeezed her eyes shut, but couldn't stop the shaking.
There was a gentle prick on her left hand and then it was over just like that, no more than a second of pain. The stabbing pain in her finger faded from a throb to nothing in moments followed by her reservoir of power draining slightly, the magic directed to heal the injury.
"It's done. You can look again."Taniya said softly. Callie opened her eyes and removed the blood soak wash cloth from her perfectly intact finger. She calmed her shaking with a few deep calming breaths, pushing the image of that horrible table and its needles from her mind.
She stood there tense, waiting for the reprimand, or the punishment for revealing her weakness.But unlike the instructors, Taniya didn't rebuke her or punish her for the weakness. On the contrary, the young woman moved away, not commenting on the bizarre reaction as she went back to cutting the yellow fruits.
Callie swallowed, her body tense with nerves as she instinctively waited for attack. But unlike back at the compound, that didn't happen. Taniya simply went back to preparing their dessert, humming softly, as though she hadn't witnessed Callie in a moment of distress.
Callie cleaned up the mess she made with her minor cut and tossed out the blood spoiled fruit, before getting back to preparing for their little pastry. She put down the knife and watched as Taniya prepared the whipped cream. It was as simple as adding water into the white mixture and stirring frantically for a minute to make a thick cream.
"What is this, the dark ages? Where is your powered mixer?" Callie asked, amused by the frantic stirring. " It's not my fault Dustin lacks any useful appliance for cooking."Taniya said, breathing deeply from the frantic stirring.
The timer on the oven beeped and Callie searched through the drawers for oven mitts, and of course, Dustin lacked those as well. With a thin wash cloth to protect her from the heat, Callie pulled the hot tray containing the fluffy steaming cake from the oven. Hot air flowed over them from the oven, heating her face uncomfortably.
Callie placed the cake on the counter and heard a soft knock on the front door. "One minute!" Callie shouted, turning off the oven. She walked over to the door and open it to a frowning Dustin, his hand resting on the butt of his pistol. It was then that she remembered the reason the man would be knocking at his own house.
Dustin glanced past her to where Taniya was spreading the whipped topping over the surface of the steaming cake. Callie would normally stop her, as the cake needed to rest before applying a cold topping, but the door distracted her.
"Oh, fancy seeing you here. How can I help you?" Callie asked, smiling as though Dustin didn't live there. "How did you get inside of my apartment?" Dustin asked accusingly, his eyes narrowed.
"Well, I tripped and fell, and somehow your key card came into my possession."Callie reply lamely. She retreated into the living room, and Dustin enter his eyes repeatedly darting from Callie to the delicious smelling cake.
"Is that my whipped cream you are using?" Dustin asked, glaring at Callie. "Dont look at me, it was Taniya that told me you had a stash of the stuff."Callie said, deflecting the blame easily.
Dustin held out a hand in front of himself, and Callie placed his key card into his callused palm, with an embarrassed smile. "Did you really let her just take your key card? Mom put us through training to combat that." Taniya asked, her attention solely focused on placing yellow slices of fruit around the cake. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she focused on her task.
Dustin's indignation faded, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yeah, and I didn't even notice it was gone until I arrived back at my door."Dustin said, his face falling. Taniya burst out laughing, clearly amused at that.
"Now I don't even feel bad for taking your whipped cream. As mom would say, it is your punishment for failing to keep track of your surroundings." Taniya said, her smile cheerful. Dustin stowed his boots on a mat at the front door and crossed to room to the island counter to watch Taniya finish a yellow flower of fruit on the cake.
"Can I at least have a slice of that cake? It smells delicious."Dustin asked, taking a seat in one of his two chairs. Taniya grinned and cut the cake neatly into seven slices. Callie took a slice and placed it onto her plate. They ate the cake and Callie was impressed at the somewhat sweet whipped cream, all the while ignoring Dustin's look.
It lacked the intense sweetness that she expected, but its texture and flavor was definitely superior to the stuff from home. In her opinion, the juicy yellow fruit more than made up for the sweetness. Callie mopped up the remaining cream with her last piece of cake, and only then did she acknowledge Dustin's questioning look.
"Allright, now that I finished my cake, you can start yelling at me."Callie said, brushing her hair from her face. Dustin glared at her, his brows furrowing as he chewed on the fluffy cake contentedly.
"I have something worse planned," Dustin said cheerily. "I thought you were going to fire me?" Callie asked, linking her fingers in her lap to stop from fidgeting.
"That would be too easy, and after your next assignment you might decide to quit."Dustin said, with a chuckle. Callie was hesitant to ask, but she had to know what they were going to do.
"Well, spill the beats, tell me your plan."Callie asked, curiously.
"Well, I volunteered us to join major Farlen in escorting the prime minister of Etria to the capital Valia, on a diplomatic mission."Dustin said, smiling. Callie blanched at those words. "Will that be enough to make you forget about my fake ID?" Callie asked with a forced smile.
"Not even close, you are simply going to do this because you are sorry for lying to me."Dustin said. Callie grumbled at that, and Taniya let out a soft, cheerful laugh. It wouldn't be so bad, well she really didn't like Major Farlen, but that was inconsequential. Excitement filled her, she was going to see Valia, the capital city orbiting Proxima!
Callie took another slice of cake, eating it slowly to avoid talking while she thought about her new predicament. Doubt filled her as she worried about this prime minister of Etria. Who were they? And did they know all the faces of the trainees from the Secari's compound?
That was unlikely, but Callie couldn't discount it. The last prime minister visited the compound several times over the years with one or two attendants. The instructors made sure to have a failsafe that wiped out every bit of information about all of them if they were attacked, but that couldn't remove memories from traitors. Despite knowing that, what if the prime minister knows Callie? They could be one of those very select few that visited the compound and met all the future assassins and spies.