The Cycles of Revelation Series
Artifact of the Dawn: Serendipity (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)
Episode 51: Something happens seconds before Ardyn is to be executed. Suddenly their kidnappers scatter as the ship they’re on is attacked.
After Denyra allowed Jevan to talk to Ardyn, she reassured them that those taken were going to be fed and wouldn’t be harmed, for now. However, after several hours of nothing but arguments, Denyra seemed unwavering in her determination to exterminate every Athla’naa who descended from the old Aria’asharra faction.
During a break, while waiting for refreshments to arrive, Aerys pulled Takyra aside. Jevan overheard him debating. “We should throw her into a holding cell until she lets them go,” Aerys argued.
“You know as well as I do, we can’t hold someone with her level of technology for long,” Takyra reminded him.
After more pointless arguments, they finally agreed to break for the night and return to the negotiations the next day, after everyone got some rest. They escorted Denyra and her people to some quarters after she once again promised not to proceed with her plans for executions until they had completed their discussions.
“I’m stationing some of my people to keep an eye on your quarters,” Aerys said, explaining the security techs standing outside the door.
“I have my own guards,” Denyra sneered. “They will serve me well enough.”
“They don’t know our security protocols,” Aerys reminded her. “If it’s all the same, let your guards rest. This is our ship, after all.”
Not looking pleased, Denyra reluctantly agreed, and they all went their separate ways for the night. When Jevan entered their quarters, it hit him how large and empty they felt without his friend. While speaking to Ardyn earlier had helped calm his worries, Jevan still felt anxious for his safety.
I hope Denyra will come to see reason tomorrow, Jevan thought as he flopped down onto the bed without bothering to change his clothes. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, but tossed restlessly until he grabbed Ardyn’s pillow and hugged it tightly to his chest. Breathing in Ardyn’s scent, Jevan couldn’t help the tears that pricked his eyes until he finally fell into a restless slumber.
***
What felt like only a few minutes later, the door chime awakened Jevan. Stumbling out of bed, he rubbed his eyes as he made his way to the door, greeted by Takyra with a horrified look on her face.
“I had to come tell you in person,” she explained. “It’s Denyra. She and her people are gone. She left a note stating that she plans to begin the executions as soon as she returns to her ship!”
Steadying himself by grasping the doorframe, Jevan looked at Takyra in shock. “Is there anything we can do?”
“I’m afraid not,” Takyra apologized. “We didn’t build this ship for combat and the weapons we have are buried too deep underground. The same goes for our shuttles. They are similarly stuck, and we don’t have this transmat technology she is using to travel to her ship. We’re trying to hail them now, but so far there has been no response. I will let you know when I have any news.”
“Thank you,” Jevan said, before Takyra hurried off. Stepping back into his quarters and letting the door close behind him, Jevan slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor. No, no, no, no…
***
Ardyn kept gritting his teeth, waiting for his inevitable end, when suddenly alarms around him sounded. Still immobilized, Ardyn could only look as far as his eyes could move. Flicking his eyes up toward the control platform above them, the person who had been about to murder them was gone, and the Athla’naa who had brought them into this room scattered. One cried out about the prisoners and was told to ignore them. “Leave the traitors. They have no way to get off this ship. We need to man the defenses, now!”
A moment later, the entire ship rocked, shuddering beneath Ardyn’s knees. If he hadn’t still been immobilized by the forcefield, he’d have fallen over. Those who were not on the platform all lurched or fell to the floor. What is going on?
The ship rocked again, and the next time it knocked Ardyn over as the forcefield holding him in place disappeared. Ardyn’s arms were still secured behind his back, but he was free. Doing his best to get his feet under him, he rose and ran toward the others, away from the deadly platform. Everyone followed him back out into the corridor, and they realized that all the armed guards were nowhere to be seen.
“What’s going on?” someone asked Ardyn as they worked together to free each other’s arms.
The ship rocked again, knocking them against the nearest wall. “I don’t know, but I think the ship we’re on is under attack.”
That’s when Cylaen ran up to him, holding a sobbing Myria. “What do we do? How do we get out of here?”
“First, we need to see if anyone else is still being held,” Ardyn proclaimed. “I’m sure they brought up everyone that was wearing one of those bracelets. Let’s go back the way we came and find them. Then we can worry about how to get off this ship and back down to the surface.”
Cylaen blinked at him in confusion. “Surface? The surface of what?”
“The surface of our world, Baaru’nor,” Ardyn explained. “We’re currently in a spaceship orbiting above the planet.”
“Wait… we’re in what?” Cylaen asked, dumbfounded, putting their wriggling child down. “What does any of that mean?”
Grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him, Ardyn continued. “We don’t have time for me to explain everything right now, but we’re far up in the sky, above the Aria’una.”
“We’re really up in the sky, Papa Ardyn?” Myria asked as she ran alongside her mother.
Picking up his daughter, he nodded at her. “Yes, we are. I need you to keep being brave while we find a way home, okay?”
Myria nodded and ducked her head into his shoulder. “Okay, Papa Ardyn. I’ll be brave.”
***
Jevan found Takyra in the control center. He knew there wasn’t much he could do, but he needed to know what was going on. Even if all he could do was watch helplessly, knowing that Ardyn and his people were being needlessly slaughtered inside the ship hanging in the sky far above them.
Standing off in a corner to keep out of the way, Jevan watched as Takyra and Aerys ran scans of the ship in orbit, trying to figure out what was going on. An outline of the ship appeared on the screens above Takyra’s head. “We’re tracking all the life signs,” Takyra explained, pointing at the dots scattered throughout the outline of the Pah’ora. Jevan’s heart ached when he realized that one of them was probably Ardyn.
“They appear to have groups of Ardyn’s people locked in several holds of their ship,” Takyra said aloud, pointing out the concentrations of dots on the lower decks of the ship.
“But look here,” Aerys pointed to a long line of dots. “They are lining some of them up and leading them toward this part of the ship.”
Jevan moved closer. “Do you know what’s located there?”
“It could be anything,” Aerys replied. “I’m not familiar with this class of ship and beyond basic life signs and energy signatures, our sensors are too outdated to make much sense of the interior.”
“Look, what’s happening there?” Jevan asked as five dots broke off from the long line.
They held their collective breath when the dots stopped moving, and moments later, vanished entirely. Before Jevan could even react, Takyra bowed her head. “They’ve begun the executions.”
“What! No!” Jevan let out a wail of anguish. Did I just witness Ardyn’s death? I should have been there with him. His eyes burned with emotion as another set of dots moved into the same place as the ones that had just disappeared.
Then other dots began to move chaotically when the entire sensor image shook, and a bright flare appeared on one side of the ship. Immediately Takyra’s hands flew over the controls as she zoomed away from the Pah’ora and refocused the sensors in the direction of the disturbance. The shapes of three new ships appeared and surrounded the Pah’ora, with bright flashes appearing around the ship, shaking its sensor outline.
“The Pah’ora is taking heavy damage,” Aerys reported from his console. “Their shields won’t hold much longer.”
Jevan watched as Takyra opened a communications channel to the new ships. “This is the Colony Ship Rahn’naa, hailing the attacking ships,” Takyra said with urgency. “Please, do not destroy the Pah’ora. She is holding many of our people prisoner on board!”
They watched helplessly as the ships ignored their hail and continued to fire.