FORGIVEN

The Baruk flagship crumpled inward upon itself as the containment field fully collapsed around the store of massive gravity weapons within its core. Ranul and Estall watched with their bridge crew as the whole superstructure imploded.

The numerous escape pods trying to jettison into open space quickly succumbed to the gravitational pull. They were cast back upon their mother-ship, joining the imploding mass.

The other Baruk ships, many of which were already drifting or damaged, were now pulled toward the implosion. Then without warning, the whole thing burst outward again destroying or damaging nearly all of those ships being pulled to it.

The bridge crew of the Esyia howled their approval as the whole conflagration went up before their eyes. Only three ships of the Castillian army remained. They were nearly out of shield power, but the fight appeared to be over. They had won against the odds.

☼

“Get the medics in here!” shouted Grod to those who were monitoring from the control room.

Tiet laid his brother to the floor as gently as he could. Kale’s expression was fixed on his brother. His face was a mask of blood as he tried to speak to Tiet.

“Forgive?” he asked through the pain.

Tears welled up in Tiet’s eyes as he watched the brother he had only recently known, dying before him. He could not hold them back as they fell upon the damaged body.

“Forgive?” Kale strained again.

“Kale, I forgive you all, my brother,” he managed.

Kale’s expression turned from anguish to peace. He stopped his struggle and laid his head back to the floor. The light of life in his eyes soon faded to nothing.

The Horva medics rushed into the chamber, but Grod bade them to hold with a wave of his hand. The Barudii warrior was dead and they could not have saved him.

Tiet moved away from his body as the Horva prepared to remove him.

“I am sorry for your loss,” Grod said genuinely.

Tiet could only look at him. He had no words now.

“My men will show you where you can rest awhile. I will contact your people in Baeth Periege and we will arrange transport for you back to the city.”

Tiet nodded as he choked back his emotions. He followed one of the warriors out of the room as the medics loaded Kale’s body onto a carrier.

“What do you want to do with this tissue that came through the portal?” asked the transgate tech.

“Have it taken to the incinerator. Make sure it’s completely destroyed,” said Grod as he followed the medics out of the room.

The transgate technician left his station, after shutting down the control board, and went to find a suitable container in order to remove the tissue. He found an old metal box and scooped the symbyte flesh into it. With the lid shut, he headed for the incinerator to dispose of the specimen.

☼

The trip back to Baeth Periege was lengthy but uneventful. Tiet did not speak to anyone and no one attempted conversation with him. General Grod sat behind him on the shuttle flight along with a contingent of his warriors—a proper escort for the Barudii King.

When they arrived within the city, Wynn was there to meet Tiet at the port, along with thousands of people. Tiet followed the casement carrying Kale’s body as the Horva warriors carried it from the shuttle toward the main port building.

The crowd clapped and cheered for their young king as he passed through them on the walkway. He tried to be as cheerful as possible, waving several times to the people who had come to see him home, but the pain of losing his brother after so short a time of knowing him ate at him. Tiet believed Kale had truly repented of his many crimes against their people and he was glad for it. But other than these few days, he had never known him. He was reminded of his other loved ones who had died around him in so short a time. He never doubted the purposes of Elithias, but it seemed so senseless to him. When he entered the main port building, Mirah was there to meet him.

“I thought we had lost you,” Mirah said.

Wynn was relieved to see him safe. Tiet would grieve for Kale, but he would certainly bounce back in time. They remained in the south gate only minutes longer before going on to the medical complex where he would receive treatment for any lingering effects of the neurotoxin. When the time was right, they would have a very serious talk about the true nature of their relationship and an honest discussion of how they felt for one another.

☼

Resnior watched the alarm on the transgate with frustration. This wasn’t his station and he wasn’t quite sure how to silence the alarm. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the new equipment, just a finicky piece of hardware wanting to have its parameters set, or shutdown or something.

“Where did Merin go? He’s been gone for hours and he’s the only one trained on the shutdown procedures for the transgate until Orikel comes on tonight.”

“I think Grod sent him on some errand to the incinerator,” said one of the other techs in the control room. “But that was hours ago.”

“Well, someone needs to take care of shutting this thing down. I’m not messing around with it. I’m going to see if I can find him.”

Resnior got up from his station and walked out of the control room and found the lift to take him down to the incinerator. When he came down the main corridor he found the debris port was open. There was a metal container on the floor next to the port, but no Merin. He walked over to the container, which was open laying on its side. On the ground was some sort of oily residue. Resnior bent down to examine it. He noticed that there was also blood mingled with it.

When he stood and turned to return to the lift, Merin was standing there almost on top of him. Resnoir only had a moment before Merin caught his head in his hands and snapped his neck. His body fell to the ground.

Merin tapped the switch to open the disposal chamber with his elbow. He hoisted Resnoir’s body up and pushed him inside the incinerator. Merin picked up the metal container from the floor that he had carried the symbyte tissue in and threw the empty casing inside with Resnior’s body.

After shutting the chamber door again, Merin switched the incinerator on and turned to leave. He reached down on his abdomen and began to close the uniform shirt he wore. Underneath it, fluid from the symbyte tissue began to bleed through the cloth. He covered it up with his vestment and walked to the lift, letting the doors close behind him. A Horva wasn’t ideal for Lucin. Another body would have to be found before the man’s natural defenses could respond. Fortunately this planet had many to offer.