The room we held the child in was dark and gloomy. In fact, this is defiantly not a room a child should be in, however, there is no plan for her to be staying here, this is clearly temporary, but something is telling me that's going to change. Oniv and Clara enter the room. I stand at the entrance, in hopes of making sure nothing crazy happens. The child, visibly nervous of Oniv, backs into the bed. Clara walks ahead of him, to try and turn her attention to her.
"Hey. Are you ok? We are here to take you home."
"Home?" the kid asks.
"Yeah, home, there will be a man here to come pick you up."
The girl lights up with a little excitement.
"Daddy?"
"Daddy?" Oniv asks. "I thought..."
"Quiet, Oniv." Clara whispers before returning to the child, "I don't know about your dad, but we'll make sure you get home. Ok?"
The kid nods. Clara reaches out her hand and the child grabs it. She is then led off the bed and toward the door. I back off a little to give them space as they exit the room. Angel phases next to Oniv and I as we watch the kid walk down the hall.
"What are you thinking?" She asks.
"I don't know, something feels off."
"Off?"
"Like...why was there a child in the middle of an abandoned war-torn area? How did she even get there?"
"Those are good questions." Oniv says
"There was a whole army waiting for us in that building. They called us blues. Who are the blues, anyway?"
"The imperial army of Meklar." Angels said. "They're uniforms are known for the blue strip that runs diagonal across the chest."
"Imperial? Why were they expecting imperials?" I ask.
"I don't know. Ax, I'll need you on overwatch."
"Expecting trouble?"
"I hope not, make sure you are near a jump station.
"Jump station? Why?"
"Just in case. Get going. They'll be here soon."
Angel phases away and I run down the hall toward the hanger. Sometime would pass before the shuttle would arrive. I sat on the catwalk above the ship's hanger. A jump station sat at the end of the walkway. Normally we would use them when preparing to jump. The actual action of passing through jump space requires a lot of energy and is incredibly violent. If not strapped in, you could be sent flying across the room. Anyways, I don't see myself using it, but I also don't see what Oniv is planning. I could only watch and wonder.
The shuttle finally arrives from the Halo spark. It is sleek and minimalistic in design. Very expensive looking for a military ship. In fact, it doesn't look military at all. It's thrusters, were mounted to a single ring that rotates in multiple directions. I have seen a similar design on a ship used by the king of Sulis, I think. The ship gently touches down, and a door and ramp open on one side of the ship. Oniv, Clara, and the child are already waiting at the base of the ship for whoever exits. The child is nervous. She hides behind Clara as the ramp touches the ground. Rom calls on the radio while I get into position.
"Dern, Axton, do you copy?" he says.
"Loud and clear." Dern said
"I am good here." I reply.
"Good. If Oniv gives the word, open fire."
"Ready when he is."
Three men exit the ship and stand at the top of the ramp. The wore black, long and exquisite robes, long enough to touch the ground. Their heads are covered by head pieces of foreign design. The robes had a holographic inscription, and a planetary system fully animated on the front of the robe. They are not of the ship, and they are not of the military. Two armed guards walk down the ramp with them. They had a blue strip running diagonal across their uniform. Whoever our original contact is, they are very important. The kid continues to hide behind Clara. She's not happy to see them.
Oniv keeps his radio on so we can listen to the conversation more easily.
"Oniv and Clara of the SSS Brotherhood. It is an honor to meet the both of you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Oniv says, attempting a shallow bow. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but who exactly are you?"
"Ahh, but you know not our ways. We are the patriots of blue affairs. We handle any business regarding any deep responsibility within the Meklar Sector."
"Blue affairs?" Clara asks. "You mean anyone deep within the queen's family?"
"You would be correct ma'am."
"Why would the queen have an invested interest in this?"
The man looks around for a moment.
"A concerned family member. Besides it's not the queen. She has far more important things to be worrying about. Now for the child."
"Wait a minute." Oniv says, "The payment first."
The man nods his head and turns to the soldier next to him, who pulls out a bad and hands it to Oniv. He opens it, to find hundreds of stones and crystals inside.
"Varian Crystals as promised. Those should sell very well in the right markets."
He turns to Clara who is still holding the kid. She starts to freak out, grabbing her by the leg and not letting go. Clara tries to separate herself from her but not before the soldiers' approach and pry her off of her. The kid is now screaming her heart out. That gut wrenching scream that would make your body squirm. It wasn't a tantrum, it wasn't anger, it was fear. This girl was screaming because of the men in the black robes.
Clara, now worried, yells of the screaming child, "Oniv. Oniv, please! Do something, please!"
Oniv stops for a moment after looking through the bag and thinks for a second, through all the screaming of the child. Something was going through his head, and he was thinking really hard about it. He then turns back around.
"You know, I meant to ask something." He says
"Excuse me?" he's shortly haver hushing the child
"When we were in the midst of saving the child, I overheard her say something that had me curious."
"You were not paid to ask questions."
"I know but you know I have rules, too. And there is one that I absolutely hate when its broken."
"We know."
"So, then I have to ask, why was this child out in the middle of a war-torn planet? And why were we not told that we would be ambushed by troops who originally thought that we were you? Were you supposed to be there?"
The robed man, clearly annoyed through the tone in his voice quickly turns back to Oniv and gets in his face.
"You need to stop asking questions. Drop this!"
"Final question then. Why do I get the feeling we didn't kill the actual father? Is your contact's husband not the father?"
"Oniv. You have crossed the line."
"No! You crossed the line when you broke my one rule! Who are you hiding?"
"That is it!"
The man backs away and pulls his weapon from under his robe, the other men do the same. The armed guards release the safety with the exception of the one holding the child.
"For insulting the queen and her men, you and your crew will be imprisoned, and this ship will be seized in accordance with Meklaren law. Lay down your weapons or you will be killed."
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Dern! Axton!"
"Firing!" We both say.
We fire one shot each, that's all it took. Both soldiers went down at the same time, allowing the child to be released and return to Clara. The two other robed men are shot by Clara and Oniv till only one was left. Dern fires another shot, disarming him and he falls back onto the ramp of the ship.
"You don't know what you have done. You have killed a patriot of the blue. This will not stand. When word gets out, you will be hunted to the ends of the galaxy until justice has been served."
"Then you better start looking."
Oniv aims his weapon and fires a single shot. He turns back to Clara and the kid, who for once smiles at him. Oniv then pulls out the radio.
"Rom, Angel, prepare the jump sequence."
"May I ask why, sir?" Rom asks.
"We are going to have company!"