Chapter 11
VERA RODANTHEE
I went from being the captive of one Corillion warrior to another. There was no escaping this damn Corillion world. I had very little time to think when Truo held his hand out to me asking me to join him on the spaceship. I had recklessly blurted out my secret, that I was pregnant. What was worse was that Cyro was there to hear it. It was such a mess.
Now I found myself in the spaceship with Truo, whom I still did not know if I could trust. I had really thought that perhaps Marcus was alive because of what Cyro had said to me: remember Pamplona. But now Sitione had said the same thing to me. He had said that those were my husband's last words.
That would be why Cyro knew what to say to me. It was a message to me from my husband, but not a message that he told Cyro while in a prison cell at the fortress. It had been something that he had said out loud before they killed him. It broke my heart to hear it again from Sitione. I did not want to think of my husband in death. But now I knew that Cyro had lied to me. This meant that Truo had been telling me the truth all along, but I was so angry with him that I could not admit it to him.
So as he sat with me while the stars passed by at the speed of light, confessing his love for me, I wanted to be angry with him. I was not yet happy about the brash decision that I had made by jumping in the spaceship with him, but he was right. It was worse to stay on the asteroid with Cyro. I hated Cyro. My feelings for Truo, however, were more complex. I wanted to believe, everything he said about being happy that I was carrying his offspring, but I could not.
"I want to believe you, Truo, but do you see why I cannot? Do you?” I said to him.
"Yes, I do.”
I looked at his brown eyes, full of kindness, the eyes that so easily fooled me. “You were planning this entire coup to overthrow Cyro. You did this in secret and told me nothing of it. The room that I thought was our special place was actually your meeting place for planning a revolution. Do you see why I cannot trust you because of this?”
"Yes, I do,” he said again.
"It makes it look like I was part of your plan. You even took me to the same room where you were putting on your stupid meetings. Was I a part of your plan all along?” I asked him.
"No, you were not," he said calmly. He was answering all of my questions very calmly and agreeing with me. It was infuriating. I wanted to yell at him and for him to yell back at me. He was being too understanding.
"You are making this very difficult!” I shouted at him.
"I am sorry. I don't want to make this any more difficult than it has been for you. I am very sorry for all of it. You must know that I was drawn to you because I could see your pain. I wanted to rescue you from Cyro. I did not mean for it to go as far as it did. But you enchanted me,” he said with a gorgeous smile.
I groaned in frustration, “Stop agreeing with me! I want to be mad at you! I don't want to trust you,” I said.
"I can see why you do not trust me. But you must understand that what happened was a coincidence. I was not using you in my plans to overthrow Cyro. But I did hope that it would help you. I wanted to get you away from him. He is dangerous. He is not a good leader. What I do, I do for my warrior brothers, for the entire tribe. His leadership will lead to their extinction, for all of us on that asteroid Seeduon. It had nothing to do with you. But it was a pleasant surprise to be able to help you as much as I could."
I sighed. I sat in silence for a while as he stared at me. I had to admit that my situation was slightly better. I did not want to be with Cyro; I did not want to be anywhere near him. I would be devastated if I was carrying his offspring, especially now that I knew my husband was truly dead. It had been the only reason that I was going to allow Cyro to impregnate me. Now carrying the offspring of Truo, someone that I actually had feelings for, was a better situation. But could I love him? I cared for him deeply, but I still loved my husband.
"So what now?” I asked. “Cyro overheard me saying that I was pregnant. He will come after us; he will think that it is his. He is obsessed with me. He was up obsessed with impregnating me; there is no way that he will just let us go.”
"Leave that to me. I vow to you, Vera, to protect you and our child with my life. Cyro will not touch you ever again. I will defend you at all costs,” Truo said to me.
"I believe you," I said to him. He had already been stabbed protecting me from Cyro, so I had no reason to doubt.
"So what do we do next?” I asked.
"We send a message to the High Council telling our side of the story,” Sitione said as he entered the front of the ship.
"Yes, that is exactly what I am ready to do. Have you established communication?” Truo asked.
"We can record a message and send it. That is the only thing we can do at this speed,” Sitione answered.
"How can I help?” I asked standing up.
They both looked at me stunned at my offer to help.
"What can I do?” I said again.
"No, you should not be involved in this any more than you already are. This way if the High Council does not vote in our favor, we can say that we took you hostage and that you should be set free and not punished,” Truo said.
"Set free? Meaning I would be able to go back to Earth?” I asked.
"No, meaning you would be given back to Cyro,” Sitione said.
"No. I refuse. Let me help. I refuse to be given back to Cyro, and if showing that I am a part of this revolution will keep me from going back to him, then that is what I will do. Tell me what to do,” I said defiantly.
"She has spirit,” Sitione said to Truo.
"And so much more,” Truo said.
"But she has a point. Perhaps if in the message she says that Cyro could not impregnate her and that she carries your offspring and is willing to be tested as such, then it will prove that Cyro could not produce offspring and cannot be a leader. It will prove that the second in command was the one to produce the first alien-human hybrid heir,” Sitione said.
"You might have a point. But that is only if Vera wants to do that. I will not make her do anything that she does not want to,” Truo said.
"Yes, I want to do it,” I said, answering quickly without even thinking about it.
They both looked at each other and seemed to be full of hope. It made me feel good. I wanted to help. But most of all, I wanted to be involved in bringing down the alien warrior that had killed my husband. Vengeance would be mine after all.
A few minutes later, we all stood in front of a recording device, the three of us.
"Ready?” Sitione asked.
"Ready,” Truo and I both said at the same time.
"Began message,” Sitione said.
"High Council, I, Truo Seeduon, am contacting you to relay what has happened on the asteroid Seeduon. You may or may have not heard by now of the rift between Cyro and I. High Council, I had planned to come to you in a day or two to plead our case. I plead to take over leadership of the asteroid tribe Seeduon. Many, including myself, think that Cyro is an unjust leader. He is leading to the extinction of our tribe. It is time that I take his place.”
"High Council, it is true. It is also true that Cyro took a wife a month ago, as the High Council knows because of the trouble he caused. But in this month’s time, he has not produced offspring and has failed to impregnate the human female Vera that he took from Earth. She is here now to plead her case,” Sitione said.
"My name is Vera from Earth, and I am here to tell my story. Cyro was very cruel to me, and he was not able to impregnate me. Through Cyro’s cruelty and his murder of my husband, I found solace in another Corillion, a friend, Truo Seeduon. Over time, I became close, and I willingly mated with him. I am now pregnant with offspring, the offspring of Truo Seeduon. I am ready to take any tests that are needed to prove that he is the rightful father and not Cyro,” I said.
"Thank you for this opportunity to send this message and plead our case. As you can see, we have support, and I have fathered offspring with the human female, and that is what is needed in a leader first and foremost to stop the extinction of a tribe. We humbly await your reply,” Truo said.
Sitione stopped the recording.
"Send it straight away before we are too far out of range,” Truo said to Sitione.
"Sending it now,” Sitione said as he turned toward the wall and began to push all kinds of buttons.
Truo turned to me and said, “Thank you, Vera. You did not have to do that, so I thank you for saying what you said. It means much to me. It means so much to the tribe. I hope that the High Council will see your truth.”
"You are welcome. I hate Cyro. He killed my husband. If I can help to bring him down, then I will. He forced himself on me and used my husband as leverage. It is my pleasure to help with this process,” I said to him. He pulled me to him and kissed me on the lips. I kissed him back. It felt good. It felt right.
"I'm getting an incoming message," Sitione said.
"Could they be responding so quickly?” Truo said as he moved to Sitione’s side.
"I don't think so. It must be from someone else,” Sitione said.
"Play it,” Truo said.
Another warrior appeared on the screen as the message played and Truo said, “It's Jin.”
This warrior they called Jin was very anxious on the screen and was whispering, “Truo and Sitione, I hope you get this in time. Word of your revolution has spread, and there is chaos here on Seeduon. There are many that are fighting for you. You were right that many do not believe Cyro is a good leader. But this message is to tell you that Cyro has launched a full-scale assault on you. He is hunting you with over 50 ships. They have left as of 10 minutes ago. I must keep this short. I only wish to warn you and to tell you that there are those that fight for you here. I am going to go into hiding until you return. If I can contact you again, I will. I hope that you receive this,” he said, and then the screen went black.
"50 ships?” Sitione shouted. “We are dead!”
"Not yet. Did you not hear that he said many warriors fight for my name? There is hope yet. Thank you, Jin. I am sorry I ever doubted you,” Truo said.
But I was with Sitione on this business. I was frightened. An assault with 50 ships was crazy. Cyro was crazy. He wanted to kill us.
Truo was walking back and forth, thinking. I did not know how I could help. I did not understand the ways of battle, especially when it was one very small spaceship against 50 battleships and a crazy leader. We were doomed.
"Take her out of hyperspeed and change course to the High Council,” Truo finally said after thinking.
"Are you insane? That will take us to close to Seeduon. Cyro will be in that vicinity,” Sitione said.
"Yes, it is very risky. I think we should go to Earth. Only there can we disappear,” I blurted out.
"No, this is good. We take her out of hyperspeed and we change course to the High Council. After what Jin said, that the fortress is in chaos, then the High Council has to see me. They have to see us. They do not want civil battles between Corillion warriors. They already have the great war with the Earth, so they need us to not be fighting amongst each other. They will want to settle this and soon. It is a good plan,” Truo said.
"It is a dangerous plan,” Sitione said.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"There's another message coming through," Sitione said.
"Play it. It is the High Council; it has to be,” Truo said.
Sitione played the message, and there was another Corillion that I had never seen before; he was wearing a long robe.
"Truo Seeduon, this is Utren of the High Council. You are instructed to report to the High Council immediately. We will hear you plead for leadership over the Seeduon tribe. This is of utmost importance in order to stop the chaos that is happening on your asteroid. We have received your message, and we agree that this is something the High Council should decide. Come as soon as you can. We are waiting."
Then the screen went black. Truo and Sitione were quiet for some time.
"What if it is a trap?” Sitione asked.
"You think they mean to arrest us and blame us for treachery?” Truo asked him.
"Yes, that's exactly what I think," Sitione said.
"It is dangerous. It is risky. But we either go, or we go somewhere and hide forever. We leave our tribe to extinction. They will all die under Cyro; you know this,” Truo said.
Sitione was quiet. Truo was quiet. I was confused and scared.
"Then we go. We do it for the tribe,” Sitione finally said.
"Change course," Truo said.
Sitione moved to the front of the ship and began to change coordinates, pulling us out of hyperspeed.
"Sit down and buckle up. It's going to be rough coming out of hyperspeed and changing course, and I don't want anything to happen to you,” Truo said as he grabbed my hand and led me to a seat.
"Don't worry, Vera; I will protect you. Everything will be fine, I promise you. You will see,” he said as he gave me a kiss and then buckled into a seat.