Carpathia IV: Episode 45 - Scarabs and Striploin
Space, NCCS Sentinel
With the permission of Voxx and Sylvar, Ryuu performed the same mind technique on them as he did with Kain and Faelon earlier. After Ryuu determined that their intentions were also honest, Aire guided the group to a private dining area deeper into the ship. It was a slow walk, for Voxx and Sylvar spent much time gawking at the diverse crew. The most thrilling moment came when they passed a pair of crew members, one a young, female, grey-skinned elf kneeling on the deck and the other, an older, male, light-skinned elf, repairing a damaged conduit. As they passed, the female elf reached into a case and handed a tool to the male elf.
Neither Voxx nor Sylvar did well in containing their awe in seeing this sight. Both trotted ahead to Aire and stopped him in his tracks.
Voxx: Commander! Is that... I mean... Are they...
Aire already knew what Voxx was thinking, but turned to glance at the two crew members anyway, unable to hide the big grin on his face.
Aire: Specialist Vinya enlisted a couple of years ago, so she's one rank lower than Chief Nojor. With some years of hard work and some command training, either one could be captain of their own ship someday.
Voxx wordlessly leaned to the side to gape at the two crew members again until he was jolted from his awed stupor by a hearty poke in the ribs.
Sylvar: Ha! I told you all this was worth the risk! We sure got lucky!
Sylvar gleefully pranced down the corridor, checking down each junction for anything else interesting to see, like a kid's first time in a toy store.
Upon arriving at the dining room, they didn't have to wait long for the food. Voxx and Sylvar delayed their progress enough that there was no time for small talk before the meal arrived. In the end, it was a party of seven, for Teren left to attend bridge duties and Faelon elected not to join them, preferring to have a private meal in his cabin, not yet ready for social excitement. After Aire directed each to a chair, they sat and surveyed the spread.
Sylvar: This beats the rations we've been living with for the last year! I don't think I could take another bite of that protein bread.
Aire: I hope you like what we have to offer. I wasn't expecting a komodo to join us, but I called the kitchen while Ryuu was checking you out and we are fortunate to have a selection of braised scarab beetles and millipedes for you, Voxx.
Voxx eyeballed a dish near him full of shiny beetles.
Voxx: Oh, this must be what you're talking about!
Aire continued pointing out the various dishes.
Aire: We have fried polpa, steamed carrots and cauliflower, grilled striploin... I could be here all day naming these and explaining what they are. Take what you like and feel free to ask questions, especially if there's any sort of food you can't or don't eat.
Voxx and Sylvar took Aire's statement, "Take what you like," as something akin to a starer's pistol and immediately began to shovel food onto their plates, with Voxx taking generous helpings of beetles and millipedes and Sylvar helping himself to all the meat he could find. Their eating manners were uncouth, but this did not bother anyone. The rest simply waited until they filled their plates before taking their own. The table manners of Voxx and Sylvar could hardly be called dainty by any standard, but nobody seemed to mind.
Halfway through the contents of his plate, Sylvar pointed his fork at Kain and asked a question through half-chewed food.
Sylvar: I wanna know Kain's story. Are you really defecting?
All eyes in the room turned to Kain, who was raising his fork to his mouth with a morsel of beef stuck on the end of it.
Voxx: That's a good question. We lost half our people trying to get away from you and Ksenva, not to mention all the supply shuttles that you destroyed before we made a run for the Void. Pardon me, but you don't seem like the defecting type.
Sylvar gripped his fork like a sword hilt and pointed it more forcefully at Kain.
Sylvar: I lost a lot of friends thanks to you.
After a momentary pause, Kain returned his fork to his plate without consuming the contents.
Kain: You have every right to hate me. Yes, on Ksenva's orders, I hunted down your supply teams with my attack shuttle. I have committed many unforgivable atrocities of which you have no doubt heard. The simple answer to your question is that my influence over Ksenva's more violent impulses was waning. This was especially so in the case of her concubines. She would tire of each within a few months and then take great delight in executing them. I knew Faelon would not last long, for he prefers only the company of men, and though his physical characteristics met with her approval, he could not perform to her expectations. Indeed, he would not have lasted for so long if we were not far from replacements. I vowed that I would not allow him to suffer the same fate as the others, no matter the cost to myself. When you engaged in battle, I sabotaged as much as I could, and fought my way to the escape pod with Faelon.
By the time Kain reached the end of his brief tale, even Voxx and Sylvar had stopped eating and were listening intently. Silence pervaded as Kain picked up his fork and proceeded to eat the piece of meat he intended earlier.
Sylvar: Well, I suppose I owe you my thanks for rescuing one of my brethren.
Kain: I know that saving only one out of many is but a paltry gesture. Had I known there was another civilization out here, safe and free, I would have defected sooner.
With one eye squinted, eyeballing Kain curiously, Voxx picked at his chin spike thoughtfully.
Voxx: On a few occasions, when my supply teams returned, they said they spotted your shuttle, but you never came after them. They were sure you must have known they were there.
Kain nodded solemnly.
Kain: Indeed, whenever I was out of Ksenva's scanning range, I chose to pretend not to notice your supply craft.
Voxx: And that time we had to evacuate our secret base? We calculated that you'd arrive a day sooner than you did.
Kain: I convinced Ksenva that some detours were necessary before engaging you.
Silence permeated the room for several uncomfortable seconds before Voxx spoke again, tapping his claw on the table.
Voxx: Ryuu told us your interest in defection is genuine and that's starting to get a little easier to believe. It seems there's more to you than your reputation suggests.
With that said, Kohai, the Furious Spectre's dragon emissary, spoke up.
Kohai: If you don't mind my interrupting your detente, I'd like to learn more about how you found us. It's clear enough that none of you knew of our existence. What were you seeking out here?
Voxx and Sylvar seemed to take this as a cue to have an animated discussion about their circumstances, though it wasn't clear throughout the exchange whether they were talking to the others or each other in a rambling response that simultaneously went nowhere and everywhere.
Voxx: Oh no, we certainly didn't expect to find you here.
Sylvar: We were just looking for a planet where we could hide from Lazmaedia.
Voxx: She showed up around 2000 years ago, I think?
Sylvar: That's what they say. It took her about 300 years to completely subjugate the vashtari and then she turned her attention to everyone else.
Voxx: Rumor is that she's trying to breed an elf woman with skin as pitch black as her own.
Sylvar: Whatever the reason, she divided the vashtari into 24 family clans and each vie for her approval. Each clan gets two capital ships, like the one we were in, and plenty of smaller vessels.
Voxx: The darker your skin, the more Lazmaedia likes you, but you can also win her approval by being strong.
Sylvar: Ksenva was already at a disadvantage for being lighter-skinned than she likes, but I'm sure Lazmaedia flipped her shit when we stole one of Ksenva's capital ships.
Voxx: We were hoping for a clean getaway, but Ksenva found out quickly and came after us.
Aire felt as though he were sitting in a classroom taught by two absent-minded teachers with no lesson plan at all. Though at least thankful that he didn't have to take notes, Aire thought it best to find some coherence in this mess. It would be impossible to wait for a lull in the banter, so he decided to simply interrupt them.
Aire: Voxx, Sylvar, this is all very informative, but we should stick to one topic at a time.
Voxx and Sylvar suddenly froze and the room was pleasantly silent for at least a moment. Voxx picked at one of his face spikes before laughing nervously.
Voxx: Heh. I guess if you don't know anything about this stuff, it would be hard to follow.
Sylvar: What was the question again?
Kohai: How did you find us?
Voxx: Right. We were hiding in that region because Ksenva couldn't detect us easily there.
Sylvar: I guess it was too much to hope she'd just go away.
Voxx cast a disapproving squint at Sylvar, who promptly stopped talking. Though there was a definite friendship between the two, it was clear which one was ultimately in charge of this band of rebels.
Voxx: We hoped to find an uncharted planet somewhere to settle, but imagine our surprise when we stumbled across your sensor net! We scanned it and it didn't conform to any vashtari tech. While we were debating what to do, Ksenva found us, so we gunned the engines through the net. It was a desperation move, but it paid off. You found us!
Aire: We're glad you took the risk. Not only do we have the chance to make new friends, but we'd like to learn more about what's going on with Lazmaedia and the vashtari. I don't know if Captain Yoshida told you this, but we met Ksenva a few months ago. It did not go well.
Sylvar scratched the back of his head and cast a furtive side-eye at Voxx.
Voxx: Maybe we should dispense with the ranks for now. Just say what's on your mind.
Sylvar: We don't really understand Lazmaedia. We've learned that just about everything she says is a lie. She said there was nobody else in the universe. She said that dragons were evil. We suspected those things aren't true, but now we know they're not. Nobody questions her because she required absolute obedience. The thing is, it's well-documented that she is hundreds, if not thousands of years old. She claims to be immortal, but is that another lie?
To the surprise of both Voxx and Sylvar, the others around the table nodded.
Ryuu: Lazmaedia is what we call a demigod and no, she's not immortal. Demigods live around 10,000 years or so and they can be killed. With the help of friends, including Commodore Amaranth, we actually killed one some years ago. His name was Wishmaster.
Voxx: Well, she's not going to keel over on her own any time soon, but that's still good to know. She's not invincible!
Ryuu: Not invincible, but not easy to kill either. Wishmaster was hard enough and he was alone. From the sound of things, Lazmaedia has a fleet of ships and millions of vashtari at her command.
Sylvar: That's true. It doesn't help that she can teleport either.
Aire: We noticed that with Ksenva. How far can she teleport? Does she have other abilities?
Voxx: The farthest she's ever been observed teleporting is from one side of a planet to another. Her other known ability is a kind of focused concussive force, like being knocked off your feet by a bomb blast.
Captain Yoshida, who had been sitting in quiet contemplation for most of the time, hardly even touching his food, finally spoke up.
Keiichi: There are a lot of questions each of us have for the other, but I suppose there are two critical ones that we need to know right now. First, is Lazmaedia in league with any like her?
Voxx and Sylvar looked at each other and gave hesitant, non-committal nods.
Sylvar: Kinda? Another called Aionaptara was her enforcer, but nobody has heard from him in decades.
Aire leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead.
Aire: The one who can make people hear anything he wants them to hear? This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?
Voxx: You know him?
Aire: Heard about him. The dragons have a record of the names of the nastiest of the demigods who may or may not still be alive. He is one of them. Please tell me there aren't more.
Sylvar: He was the only other one we know of.
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, at least for now, Captain Yoshida spoke up with his second question.
Keiichi: Second, is it possible that Ksenva was able to notify Lazmaedia of our existence?
Voxx: Doubtful. This region of space is vast. It would have taken her weeks to get to a position where she could send a signal and then weeks to return. I'm pretty darned sure she spent all her time looking for us.
Aire: Let's hope we can keep ourselves unknown.
To Aire's dismay, Voxx shook his head.
Voxx: Even if Ksenva didn't send a signal, eventually someone is going to notice that she won't return. It's nearly a year's travel from here to the homeworld, but nevertheless...
Aire knew what Voxx was about to say and finished his sentence for him.
Aire: ...they will be coming. It will probably be quite some time, but they will be coming.
Sylvar: Unlikely to be Lazmaedia herself. She rarely leaves her fortress, but she will send someone to investigate.
Keiichi: Nevertheless, we must get ready.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
Jenova87
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
