Chapter 9

The Enigma arrived in Associate’s space. Vlad located the nearest network communication satellite. Interstellar Network Hub or INH was one of the Nessians greatest achievements. The INH was made up of thousands of minisatellites spread out through Association’s space. Once a ship linked to the network, it would be able to communicate with anyone connected to the network in real-time. It took the Nessians over thirty years to complete the project. Without the INH, it could take several years to get messages to each other.

“Link to the INH,” Lydia ordered.

“Will do,” Piet replied and connected the ship’s communication array to the INH. He opened a secured channel to the Hannibal. “The channel is open.”

“This is Lydia of the Enigma.”

A voice she didn’t recognize came over the intercom. “This is the Hannibal. What can I do for you?”

“I need to talk to Amulius.”

“Patching you through, Lydia.”

“Transfer it to the briefing room,” Lydia ordered.

“Got it,” Piet confirmed.

Lydia walked off the bridge so she could have some privacy from the others. Once she got to the briefing room, Amulius and Captain Jackson waited for her to respond. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lydia got to the purpose of the call.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Lydia asked. By her tone, Amulius and the captain knew she was upset.

“You must be talking about the shipyard,” Amulius answered in his calm demeanor.

“Yes,” Lydia snapped back.

“According to our sources,” Amulius explained. “The problem was solved and quite well I may add.”

“That isn’t the point, Amulius!”

“The point is,” the captain interjected, “your team adapted and overcame the odds. You should be pleased with them. I was surprised by the results. Was anyone hurt?”

“No,” Lydia answered.

“What is the problem?” asked the captain. “You took out a ship and the yard without leaving a trace.”

“We have the captain of the ship in our brig,” said Lydia. “We would like to transfer him to the Hannibal ASAP.”

“We will send you the coordinates to your pilot,” said Amulius. “Besides, it might be time for a face to face briefing.”

“Understood, Lydia out.” She terminated the connection. “Vlad, plot a course for the Hannibal,” she said over the intercom.

“Coordinates already plotted in, Lydia,” said Vlad. “ETA three hours.”

Simona, Zain, Piet, Ezi, and Faith joined Lydia in the briefing room. Lydia wanted to discuss what happening and what was the best way to move forward. The crew was a little tense. Something didn’t work out as the way it should. Ezi had some concerns that she wanted to address.

“Scans weren’t accurate,” Ezi said as she looked at Simona, “not even close.”

“The sensors are working,” Simona replied, “I have no logical reason why they were giving off false reading.”

“The hull could explain the inaccurate,” Zain added. “Maybe we could adjust the sensors to compensate for it.”

“Run a diagnostic,” Lydia ordered.

“I did, ma’am,” Simona said.

“Do it again,” Lydia replied back.

“Yes, ma’am,” Simona answered “How our guest?” Lydia directed the question to Piet.

“I treated his injuries after the beat down that Faith delivered,” Piet said. “He should make a full recovery, minus a hand or is it a paw. We were able to get some supplies before Faith sent the ship crashing to the yard.”

“Did he say anything?” Lydia asked.

“He questioned the relationship that I have with my mother,” Piet joked. “The translator system in the brig works great.”

“He is a warrior,” Faith said. “He isn’t happy with his current situation.”

“Talk to him, Faith,” Lydia said. “Appeal to his sense of honor. Maybe we can get something out of him before we deliver him to the Hannibal.”

“Maybe I could shock some sense into him?” Ezi said.

“He might like it too much,” Faith teased.

“I bet he isn’t the only one that will like it,” Ezi blowing Faith a light air kiss.

Faith’s fair face turned a bright red. She couldn’t hide her embarrassment or her affection. Ezi made Faith feel strange inside, a slight nervousness in her stomach and an increase of body temperature. Maybe it was the excitement, of another person finding her desirable. She had little experience in this area. Maybe she is overacting to common flirting. Maybe Ezi was picking on her, trying to get a reaction. Whatever the reason, Faith liked it.

“Let stay focus,” Lydia broke the suggestive silence between the two. “We will be reporting back to the Hannibal. It will give me the chance to provide Amilius a full briefing on our progress. It will also give us some much needed R& R.”

“Are they aware we have a Shavili?” asked Simona.

“I left that little detail out,” said Lydia. “Besides, Ezi will have a great time on the ship. Few humans have seen a Shavili in person.”

“Males on the Hannibal will have boners so hard. They will be able to poke holes in the bulkheads,” Piet commented.

“I don’t need that image in my head,” said Lydia. “Faith and Ezi I need you to stay back. The rest of you dismiss.”

The team went back to their duties. As told, Faith and Ezi stayed behind. Was Lydia going to call them out of their flirting? Neither one knew, but what Faith knew about Lydia, she wasn’t that type of person.

Lydia looked at Ezi. “I need you to assist me in breaking this shavili code before we get to Hannibal.”

“Of course,” said Ezi.

Then Lydia turned her attention to Faith. “I need you to break the drillus.”

“Not a problem,” said Faith with little excitement in her voice.

On a ship of this size, the brig was a room with one holding cell. The cell was two meters by three meters. The prisoner’s head missed the ceiling by a couple of centimeters. The cell wasn’t designed for drilli, but it was just big enough to make him uncomfortable. The door was made of a powerful magnetic screen that would repeal any attacks from the inside. Ra-Mat-Wat sat in his cell. He was thinking of ways to get back at Faith, but he thought to himself, ‘I got beaten by a better opponent, there is no dishonor in that.’ Faith walked into the room carrying a covered tray.

“Come here to boast,” the captain grunted. “Or here to break me.”

“No,” said Faith. “I got you something to eat.”

“I’m not eating the shit you humans call food,” he stared at her with hate in his piercing red eyes.

“I would never do anything like that, Captain Ra-Mat-Wat.” Faith uncovered the tray. There sat the finest cut of gractek, which was a drilli’s delicacy. It was a pungent meat that most human would vomit by the mere smell of it. Faith grew accustomed to the dish, in fact, it was her favorite. She took a big whiff, teasing the drillus. “It smells amazing.”

Ra-Mat-Wat couldn’t smell the food through the screen, but he could tell it was prepared correctly. It was slightly singed on the outside and medium rare on the inside. He could see the blood slowly oozing out as Faith cut the meat.

“Is it poison?” he asked.

“Why ruin a perfectly cooked gractek?” Faith took the knife cut piece of the meat and popped it in her mouth. The meat was tender and was to her liking. Blood was dripping from her lips. “This is so good. I used to cook this for Roat-At-Tat. It has been a while but I still got it. Do you know how hard it is to get gractek in Association space?”

“Get me the meal, slave,” the captain ordered.

Faith removed the knife and fork from the plate and placed them on the desk. “Back away from the door.” She touched the screen and it open just enough to push the tray through. “Come and get it.”

The captain grabbed it from her. The smell filled his cell. He loved the smell of gractek, as did most drilli. He took hold of the meat and ripped into it with his powerful jaws. It was the best gractek he ever tasted. “Roat-At-Tat taught you more than fighting. I’m impressed, human.”

Faith smiled. “No more calling me a slave.”

“You are a warrior,” he said. “I should have treated you as such. But I am not going to share any military secrets because you fed me.”

Faith folded her arms. “I don’t want military secrets.”

“Bullshit!” he yelled. “Why would you come deep into drilli space and attack my ship? You had some time to kill?”

“I just didn’t attack your ship,” Faith added. “I destroyed it, along with the shipyard.

“What?” the captain screamed. “You murdered over ten thousands drilli,” he said. “How could you do it? You lived with us for years. You know our culture, our language, our code. You are more drillus than human?”

“But I am human.” Faith’s fists clenched, her jaw tightened and her eyes focused on him.

“What would your former master think about your actions? You dishonor him.”

Faith walked closer to the door. “If it wasn’t for Lydia, I would strike you dead where you stand, captain.”

“So you gave up one master for another,” he said. “I guess I was right, you are just a slave. You are not equal. You are just a tool, a weapon to be fire and discard after it is no longer useful. They don’t love you? They don’t care about you? You are nothing to them.

Faith was holding back tears. “You don’t know them or me!”

“I knew Roat-At-Tat,” he said. “He cared about you and loved you like a daughter. And this is how you treated his people, by committing mass murder.”

“That’s it,” Faith banged of the lock of the door and the screen came down. She kicked him in the stomach and delivered several powerful blows to his head and face. Faith only saw red and only felt rage, she continued to punch, stomp and kick the drillus. She hated to admit, that he might be right, which pissed her off. While she was beating him, she noticed that he was not fighting back. He wanted to die. He wanted a warrior’s death, but she wasn’t going to get him one. Faith gained control of her feelings and her actions and pulled back. She stared at him as he laid on the floor bloody and beaten. His breathing labored, he couldn’t get up, but he was still conscious.

He looked at her with one eye swollen shut. He spoke only one word. “Loser.”

Faith kicked him in the head and knocked him out.

“You should have me asked for my help earlier,” said Ezi as she stared at the monitor. “You would have been going in circles for years.”

“That is why you are here now,” Lydia said. “I couldn’t make any sense of it. I know I should have gotten you earlier, but I didn’t trust you.”

“Do you trust me now?” Ezi asked.

“Not really,” replied Lydia. “But Faith trusts you. I trust her judgment.”

“She is an interesting creature.”

“How do you mean?”

Ezi pulled her attention from the monitor and redirected at Lydia. “She is strong but vulnerable. She is rough but tender. She is intimidating but so adorable. She is what you humans call a contradiction.”

“You have an interesting understanding of our language.”

“I have been reading up on terran,” said Ezi, “with the help of your ship computer. Within a few weeks, I wouldn’t need the translator in the earpiece to talk to your crew.”

“Are all shavili quick learners?”

“Yes,” said Ezi. “The intellect of the shavili and humans are very similar. We just learn differently.”

“How?”

“We practice fully exposure learning methods,” Ezi explained. “One will learn to swim faster if there a real threat of drowning. One will learn to fight if her life was in real danger.”

“Oh, I see,” said Lydia. “Sink or swim.”

Ezi smiled. “That is an interesting way of putting it, but yes.” Ezi refocused her attention on the task at hand. She entered several keystrokes and the code was broken. “There you go, my friend. Our secrets are now your secrets.”

“Thank you, Ezi.”

“What is your relationship with Faith?”

Lydia’s eyebrows shot up. “How do you mean?” She didn’t expect that question.

“I know you are her supervisor,” said Ezi, “but is there something more.”

Lydia stopped working and looked into Ezi bright yellow eyes. “I consider her a friend. I do care about her and I worried about her too, but at times she scares me. You be careful with Faith.”

Ezi laughed. “I don’t think Faith will hurt me.”

“I don’t want you to hurt her,” said Lydia. “Like you said, ‘She is strong but vulnerable.’”

“I sense some passion in your tone.”

Lydia stepped closer to Ezi. “If your relationship with Faith jeopardized our mission or you hurt her, you will find out how passionate I can be.”

Ezi’s eyes widened as she felt that she stirred something in Lydia. “I understand.”

His head throbbed, ribs broken. He looked around and noticed he was still in a cell, the screen up and running. He spat out a mouth full of blood. He can only see out of one eye. The captain tried to get up but he couldn’t keep his balance. He looked outside the cell and saw his blue eye angel of his destruction.

“You are not dead,” said Faith.

The drillus leaned against the wall. It was the only way he could sit upright. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I want to ask you some questions,” said Faith. “Questions you might know the answers too.”

“Fine, human,” he said. “If you are not only to kill me, and give me that honor. I might as well complete the process. Ask your questions?”

“Why would you work with the Svantevit?” Faith asked. “There is no way any respected captain would work with them.”

“No one in the drilli military would ever work with them,” the captain added. “They are thugs. Why do you think the drilli military is involved? They are a rogue group. They usually attack soft targets for slavers.”

“They attacked a top secret military base on Uma,” said Faith. “Does not sound like a soft target?”

“The drilli was unaware of the base,” he smirked. “How did you know about it?”

“Classified.”

“Why would we care about the shavili?” he said. “They are not a threat to us, unlike you.”

Faith walked closer to the cell. “I studied both cultures. We are so similar. We are both intelligent and ambition creatures. When we feel threatened, we attack. It was a matter of time before we start a war.”

“We are not at war, yet,” said the drillus. “But after the stunt, you pulled in the Raca system, there will be one.”

“I’m not afraid of the drilli,” said Faith. “I will kill every last one of you monkeys.”

“You bitch!“The captain snapped back.

“Don’t worry,” said Faith. “I won’t kill you. I will let you live to see the fall of the Drilli’s Republic.”