Suddenly, everyone in the cell was on guard. The sense of impending danger thickened the air when a Scodax female, flanked by two of the androids, approached the force field holding Agena, Meline, and their fellow prisoners behind it.
The alien female said curtly, “I am Commander Venar, second-in-command of this vessel. I have questions for two of you.” She pointed first at Meline, then at Agena. “You and you will come with me. If you resist, we will take severe measures to restrain you.” To the others in the cell, Venar warned, “If you others resist, you will be met with measures equally severe.”
To emphasize the alien commander’s words, the automatons brandished formidable-looking energy rifles, indicating their readiness to use them with the deadliest accuracy.
“Do as she says,” called Meline to the other armored Lacertans in the cell. “We can’t afford any casualties. Don’t resist.”
No one inside the cell moved, but Agena’s eyes darted nervously from Meline and the Knights to the female on the other side of the force field. Her mind raced nervously for answers to questions that she barely had the means to frame. She could understand why this Venar might want to interrogate Meline; she was Thrax’s second-in-command. But what business could Venar possibly have with her?
A possible answer flashed in Agena’s mind. If the aliens somehow knew her relationship with Thrax, they might intend to use her as a hostage to blackmail Thrax into facing Amlax in the duel. That’s it; I know it. They’re going to force Thrax to go along with their plans by holding up my life over him. He’ll think he has no choice if he’s afraid Amlax will kill me. Oh, Thrax, no…
Venar pressed her hand to a surface on the outer wall. The air flickered in the space between the prisoners and their captors, indicating the force field was now relaxed. One android produced lengths of glowing cable with which they fastened Meline’s hands behind her back, then Agena’s. The other armored Lacertans fidgeted angrily at this, clearly wanting to rush the androids and take them down, but they obeyed Meline’s order. The androids led Meline and Agena out of the cell at gunpoint, and Venar pressed the control surface again and reactivated the force field.
The alien Commander and the automatons led their two prisoners down several corridors of the Scodax craft. Agena found the interior of the ship both oddly sterile and worn with age at the same time, as if maintenance had been inconsistent. Walls, floors, and fixtures were basically intact but dulled and stained, in some places showing cracks. In spite of all the jeopardy she faced, Agena somehow found it strange that the flagship of an alien armada would be in such a condition, and she could not help but wonder exactly whom and what it was they were really facing.
Venar and the androids brought them to a pair of doors that slid open, revealing a spare and spartan room beyond them. It contained only a large metal table with seats and a viewport showing the topography of the planet below them. The city of Silverwing appeared as a sparkling area on the land. “In there,” said Venar. Agena and Meline stepped into the room. Venar and the androids entered behind them, and the doors slid shut. The androids, still brandishing their weapons, took positions on the other side of the doors while Venar circled round to face her two prisoners.
Meline spoke first. “All right, Venar. What do you want from us?”
The Commander said, “I want the two of you to listen to what I am about to tell you and take it as the most important thing in this world—because that is what it is.”
Meline and Agena traded a worried look before Meline demanded: “What?”
“Wait,” said Venar. “I must do one thing first.” She stepped to one side, faced the androids, and gave a command: “Inert mode.”
Looking over their shoulders, Meline and Agena watched the androids relax their posture. They lowered their weapons, and the lights in their faceplates dimmed. To all appearances, they had gone to sleep where they stood.
Now, the dragon woman and the human faced the Scodax female again. Venar asked, “You, the one who is not in armor, what is your name?”
Perplexed, Agena answered, “Agena Morrow.”
Meline added, “I’m Dame Meline Gable. What’s the meaning of this? What are you about here?”
Venar replied, “Agena Morrow, when we captured you, we found you with Sir Thrax Helmer. When we informed Sir Thrax of our plans for him, he spoke of a female companion, a mate. I conclude his mate is you.”
Even more perplexed now, Agena said, “I don’t understand any of this. What do you want with me, with us?”
“There is little time,” said Venar. “I am going to release you. And then…you are going to end this incursion and save this planet. You are going to stop the Scodax.”
The shock of Venar’s words struck Agena and Meline almost like a physical blow. They both instinctively took a half-step back at what the alien just said. “Stop the Scodax?” Meline blurted.
“Yes,” said Venar, “and you must hurry. I can deceive my people, the few of them who are aboard this vessel, long enough for you to act. But you must act quickly.”
“What kind of trick is this?” Agena demanded. “Why are you helping us? What are you really going to do?”
“If by ‘trick’ you mean a deception,” said Venar, “you are correct. There has been a deception. But not the one you suspect. Amlax is deceiving you all. This action against your planet is not what it has been made to appear to be. You have all been put at the mercy of a madman’s lie. And it is all the worse because Amlax believes his lies to be true.”
“Our cities attacked and our people dead is true enough,” said Meline.
“Yes, but there are things you do not know…about us. About the Scodax. It is we who are the lie.”
“You keep telling us we have to hurry and then talking around what you’re trying to say,” said Agena. “What is it you mean, and what is it you want us to do?”
Venar paused, summoning the right words. Then, she answered. “There is a reason that all of the forces that have been sent against you are androids. The truth is that the Scodax aboard this mastercraft, the flagship of this armada…are the only remaining Scodax in all the galaxy. We are a virtually extinct species.”
Agena drew in an audible, incredulous breath. Meline pressed the alien female, “Extinct? The Scodax are dying out?”
“Yes,” said Venar. “This is the end of our days. We are nearly gone. When Amlax faced your Sir Thrax, he told him something of our fate—but not everything. He recalled how our civilization long ago divided itself over its inability to live with differences and diversities among our own people. We broke down into tribes in which different Scodax lived only with those who were like themselves and never needed to face any who looked different, thought or believed differently, or lived differently.
In time, the divisions grew wider, the prejudices more reinforced, and the different tribes moved farther and farther apart to preserve their ‘integrity,’ their ‘values,’ and their ‘purity.’ It was the alternative to the wars we had once fought because each group considered the other undeserving of the resources of our home planet. That is how we became a scattered race.
“But as we moved apart to maintain our respective ‘purities,’ we failed to anticipate one thing. There was a genetic defect in our species, a defect that led to a plague that no one tribe had the ability to cure. And because the tribes did not trust one another, there was no way to combine resources to combat the disease. That, and the interstellar distances between us, took a toll of death from which the Scodax race could not recover. We here aboard the Rog’Kalach believe we are the last Scodax left alive. Even if there are others in some unknown part of the galaxy, they are as doomed as we are. This is the end for us.”
“Then, what is it that Amlax really wants?” Agena asked.
“Amlax is mad!” cried Venar, sounding fit to curse his name. “It is one of the symptoms of the plague. I am fortunate to have been spared that one symptom myself. Amlax is insane. He is delusional. He believes he can use the mutagenic compound found on this planet to reverse the plague. He thinks he can engineer it into a cure. And he believes he can use the warp-enabling mineral resources of the planet to create an ultimate weapon against anyone who would oppose him.
And too many of the crew are either as mad as he, or blindly loyal to him because they believe his delusion. There are too many for me to fight. I need your help—you and the other Knights and Corps. I brought you here to tell you the truth—and beg you to help me end the madness.”
Agena and Meline took in this story, not knowing what to think, even as Venar stepped behind them, produced a silver rod with a light at the tip, and touched it to the light cables binding their wrists. At once, the cables fell away. She stepped from behind her stunned captives and began to stagger. She just made it to the table and began to slump over, bracing herself up with a hand on the metal tabletop. She faced the human woman and the Lacertan with a look that even on an alien face exhibited pain and fatigue, and perhaps an edge of desperation.
Meline helped Venar steady herself while Agena pulled out a chair into which the alien female sank, breathless and trembling. After a deep breath that eased the shaking of her body, Venar said, “As Amlax’s second-in-command, I took it upon myself to take prisoners while he led the primary incursion. It was I who ensured that the Knights and Corps would be captured still wearing their badges while their weapons were confiscated.
I knew that even while you were prisoners, you would use your badges to collect information. I permitted that. I know that you have schematics of the interior of this craft. And I know where your weapons are being kept. I can tell you where to find them. You must make it appear that you have overpowered me, then return to your people, release them, and reclaim your weapons. Wait…wait…”
Seeming out of breath again, Venar leaned to one side, and Agena and Meline feared she would spill out of the chair and onto the floor. Instead, she reached under the table, from which she produced a Lacertan powerblade. Straightening herself, she held up the hilt of the weapon to Meline. “This is yours,” she said.
Meline took the weapon, touched its activator, and produced its shimmering sword of energy. In spite of the danger of everything they faced and the shock of what Venar had told them, the dragon Dame could not help but let the corner of her mouth turn up into a smile. “Yes,” she said. “This is mine.”
“You will need it,” said Venar. “And you must take one of the bolt rifles from the androids. You will need that as well.”
Meline said to Agena, “That’ll be yours. I showed you the schematics for how to use the settings on it. This is the opportunity I knew we’d be getting—though I didn’t know we’d get it this way.”
Agena remembered what Agena had showed her back in the cell, and the instructions she had given. She had never fired, nor needed to fire, a weapon in her life. She looked over at the inert androids with more than a little trepidation. “I’m an athlete,” she said, “not a soldier. But…I have to do this, don’t I?”
“Yes,” said Meline. “You have to. Everything’s going to count on us now, and I need you with me.”
There was just one last thing. Agena faced Venar again. “But wait. What about you? What happens to you in all this?”
Soberly, resolutely, Venar replied, “With the rest of my people…I die.”
Suddenly alarmed, Agena raised her voice. “No! No, this is wrong! After everything you’re doing, the way you’re helping us, you can’t just lie down and die! You have to let us help you!”
“There is no help for me,” said Venar, holding up one hand. “I cannot leave the ship, and I cannot show to the others that I’ve helped you. This is the only way to maintain the element of surprise you will need to do as you must…and destroy this armada. Destroy the Scodax. The only thing that you can do for me…is to leave me to the fate that my people have earned. Let me go. The madness of my race must end – here and now. Destroy us, and save yourselves.”
Heart breaking, Agena shook her head. “You’re actually willing to die…for us.”
“I give my life for the only thing that is right,” said Venar. “The Scodax became a grotesque parody of a civilization. We must die. There is not much time now. Already, your Sir Thrax is about to be pressed into battle with Amlax. You must shoot the heads of the androids in this room. Then you must shoot me. That way, it will appear that you suddenly overpowered me. I will tell my people that I grew overconfident when I interrogated you, and released you from the restrainer cables.
I will say that I taunted Dame Meline with her weapon, that she shifted to dragon, seized one of the androids’ weapons, and overpowered us. My people will be just sane enough to doubt my story, and the distraction of my own interrogation will give you time to do what must be done.”
She moved one hand to a surface on her sleeve. “Dame Meline,” she said, “let your badge receive the location of your captured weapons.” Meline touched her badge at the same time as Venar pressed where she was touching. Data leapt invisibly through the air from the Scodax female to the dragon woman. “Now hurry,” said Venar.
Meline said to Agena, “I showed you from our captured data how to work the settings in that rifle. Use the Kill setting on the androids and the Stun setting on Venar.” To Agena’s appalled and pained expression, she put a hand on the human woman’s shoulder and said, “You must.”
Agena took one last look at Venar. Resigned and determined, she said, “You won’t be forgotten. I’ll make sure of it.”
Trembling, Venar braced herself against the table and pulled herself back to her feet. Quietly, she faced the other two females and said, “Do as you must.”
Three shots of an energy rifle later, Agena and Meline raced through the corridors of the Scodax mastercraft, back the way they had come.
“We have to find Thrax!” said Agena anxiously.
“We will,” said Meline.