Rennek
The feeling inside me has no words to accompany it. I have wondered my entire life about my sire’s people… my people and here before me stands a being like myself. Does this male have information? Answers? Answers to questions that are now even more salient because Kate has awoken a mating instinct within me. Do I even have time to spend selfishly seeking those answers while Tennir is somewhere here searching for me? Or did Tennir set this up? Could this male have all the answers I seek. Those regarding myself and those regarding my brother as well?
As he nears I see him more clearly. Though he is an old he is still a force. One horn is badly damaged, broken at the base. That side of his face is scarred. He has no wings, but everything else is like me. He sets a tray with liquor and glasses on the table and crouches before me.
“By the six kings,” he chokes. “Your reverence, Sir. My pledge to you: I am your watcher, your protector, now and forever.” His voice catches and I see unshed tears in his eyes.
“Get up,” Da’vi orders. “You draw attention to us!” He hisses.
“Sit,” I tell him and he pulls up a chair. “Who are you?”
“My name is Gorrard. I am from the Grey King’s land,” he tells me proudly. “Though that was many yets ago… ages ago, but it is still in my core. It is who I am and who I ever shall be.” He toys with a pendant at his neck.
“I am looking for someone. A scientist, perhaps you know him. His name is Tennir?” I ask.
“I am sorry, Sir. I do not know him, but I have many connections here. I can quietly find the person you are seeking, if that is what you wish.”
“We would appreciate that Gorrard,” I tell him.
“Anything for you, Sir.” Despite his heavy scarring I can tell he is anxious. “Forgive me, but I must ask. It has been so many yets since I woke from the crash of my ship. I was on one of the scout ships you see, but when I woke from deep cryo the others in my crew were either dead or gone. I was young then, still apprenticing to my master. If I had been older, more experienced… I always wonder if there might have been more I could have done...” he trails off.
“What is it you ask Gorrard?” he speaks as though I should be familiar with what he is saying.
“Where are the others? Did they make it? Did they find Elysium?” He leans forward in his chair, desperate to hear my answer. All the sorrow in me from yets of not knowing who I am and where I come from, I see it reflected in this male’s eyes. Silence stretches between us.
“Gorrard, my brother. I do not know of what you speak.” I can think of nothing else to say, I can think of no words of comfort. He searches my face for a long while.
“Where do you come from?” He asks finally.
“Rennek,” Da’vi sends me a hard look to remind me of our task.
“Gorrard, I would very much like to continue this conversation, but for now I must resume my search for this scientist, Tennir. You say you can help?”
“Yes, of course. I would be glad to aid you in any way I can. Give me a few moments. Enjoy this drink--on the house for you and your companions, Sir.” He bows and steps away. Da’vi and I watch him as he speaks quietly to a pair of large Sivoleans. They nod and exit the establishment.
“Rennek?” Kate touches my arms.
“I do not know Kate, this is a mystery to me. One I hope we will have the chance to unravel.” Her fingers intertwine with mine and she smiles sweetly at me. For a moment, I think I do not need any answers, all I need is my darling mate. But then I think if we are to have fledglings of our own one day, I want to pass along to them the history of our people--good or bad. It is always better to know than to live with questions in your core.
We sit without speaking. Waiting, listening to the female on stage warble her sadness. An unhappy song, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
Eventually one of the Sivoleans comes back in, he leans over the counter and speaks low to Gorrard. Da’vi and I stiffen and watch their body language, looking for any indicators that our safety might be in jeopardy. I do not know if we can trust these males. I do not want my curiosity to cloud my judgment while dealing with Gorrard. My instinct is telling me he is an honest male, but lately my instincts feel foreign… like they do not belong to me. We will have to wait and see. Gorrard looks to us as the Sivolean speaks. He nods and clasps the other male on the shoulder in thanks. Gorrard hurries over to us.
“You must go to the lodging district on level 134, look for Tranquility. There seems to be a key waiting for pick up for a winged male, if he has a clearance word. My guess is that will lead you to the person you are looking for, but this station can be a dangerous place if you don’t mind my saying so. My friends and I can accompany you, offer you and your companions any backup you might need.”
“My thanks to you Gorrard. I think we must travel on alone from here, my brother.” Gorrard nods, but lingers by our table side.
“May I meet with you again Sir, before you depart? I have questions…” he tells me.
“I have many questions as well, I will try to return so we may speak,” I tell him, hoping the opportunity presents itself. It is hard for me to walk away from this male who might have knowledge that no one else in the galaxy has been able to give me.
“I am always here, if you don’t see me at the counter--just ask for me and I will come,” he bows and begins to walk away, but hesitates. “You know, you look just like your father,” he says and my blood runs cold. “Though I only saw him once in person… the day we departed. He touched the shoulder of every Vendari boarding his ship. I will never forget that day. It was a day of great hope,” he looks teary again and nods before he walks away.
I am so stunned by his words, all I can do is nod to him in return. I watch him walk away. His tail is like mine. His mane is proud and wild, though grey streaks run through it. Perhaps this is how I will look as I age. Though his horns are damaged they remind me of myself, my friends waiting for me aboard my ship and a handful of others who were interned on Javan. This is the only other being like myself I have ever met, the only being that might have answers about who I am and I let him walk away.
We rise from our seats and I numbly follow Da’vi. Though my core and thoughts are heavy I am ever aware of Kate’s presence. I see the worry on her face, so I force a smile and pull her close. All is as it should be, I tell myself as I look upon her. I have all I need in the universe.
We make our way to the lifts and find ourselves in the lodging district. I feel uneasy about bringing Kate to such a seedy location. I hope she does not think this is all the United Planets has to offer. There is so much beauty I wish to show her. Even the deserts of Javan offer more “tranquility” than this awful little inn Tennir has led us to.
We pass hordes of beings. Many live full time on the station yet have nothing more stable than rooms rented by the night. We step over dozens who sleep in the streets and beg for creds as we pass. Some of the inns try to offer an air of superiority to the others, but any amenities offered in places like these are tacky and superficial. I want to offer Kate the best… but there certainly is not much to choose from. I suppose Tennir did his best when he chose this place. Though his main concerns were likely safety and discretion, not caring for a mate.
When we go inside we find ourselves in front of a counter. Yellowing poster advertisements cover the metal walls. There is a chair and a lamp in the corner, they are older pieces and made of wood. Usually the furniture in places like this are made of recycled metal, the light weight stuff… aluminum. Someone, long ago, took some care in trying to decorate this place. I’m sure it is an attempt to make the inn seem more warm and welcoming, but it just feels run down. A worn carpet covers the floor. It is cheap replica of the hand-woven rugs on the Inayan moons. I would like to take Kate there one day, I think. They make the most beautiful textiles. I would buy her trunks full of clothing. I look at her makeshift dress. I appreciate her beauty in anything that adorns her, but she deserves more.
Chain link separates us from the innkeeper. She wears a half mask breathing apparatus and I am grateful her eye slits are exposed. I want to see if there is deceit in them.
“There is a key waiting for me,” I tell her.
“Name?” She asks, sounding muffled through her mask. I have thought much on this as we came here from Gorrard’s bar. It would not be my name or Tennir’s, for obvious reasons. Even the name of my ship or Madreed’s name could send off red flags.
“Kate,” I say.
She retrieves a key, but hesitates before she hands it to me, “Two per room.” She nods toward Da’vi and Allison. “I don’t care what you do after I give you the keys, but you have to pay for two rooms.”
“Gross,” Allison says and the innkeeper’s eyes light with a smile.
“Two extra rooms. Something close,” I say as I hand her a cred reader. She winks at Allison, who scoffs in response.
“Up the stairs,” she indicates a door beside us. “Floor 7, rooms G3, G5 and G9.”
“Which was the room that had been waiting for me?”
“G9.”
“Who paid for the room,” I eye her.
“Don’t know, didn’t get rented on my shift.”
“Are there any other exits?”
“Roof and through the kitchen. This door is only accessible if I hit the release. We’ve never had any break ins, don’t plan on it either,” she says and nods her head toward the wall beside her. She has two blasters and a disrupter.
“Deliveries?”
“Go through me,” she says.
She pushes a button and a buzzer indicates we can open the door. We head up the stairs. The walls are covered with more advertisements for local shops, various products, brothels… There are no beings working in the brothels, even out here. Such establishments only utilize sex-bots. It is illegal in the United Planets to deal in sex trade with sentient beings. There is too great a risk for harm or coercion, though not all systems share that belief. I see Kate scan the posters, I hope she knows these are not ads for actual sex workers. She gapes at a particularly raunchy ad and I am embarrassed I have brought her here. It nags at my core.
We reach the 7th floor and head down a narrow hallway. Scanning the numbered doors, we look for the room Tennir had waiting for us. When we find it we quietly move to the door and indicate our weapons to Kate and Allison.
“Oh, should we?” Kate whispers and reaches for her charger.
I shake my head no. “Emergencies only.”
She nods, but she and Allison both keep their hands on their weapons, ready for an emergency. They have good instincts despite not being accustomed to using weapons. Da’vi and I position ourselves on opposite sides of the door. I run the key card and swing the door open. A couple of seconds pass and there seems to be nothing but silence inside the room. Da’vi and I nod to one another and I enter the room, my weapon drawn and ready, he follows behind me with Kate and Allison.
The room is sparse. A bed with no windows. There is a prompter across from the bed which serves as a view screen as well. There is a small dresser and a door to the bathroom. I quickly check around the bed. It is clear. The bed does not appear to have been slept in. I catch Da’vi’s eyes and silently indicate I will now check the bathroom. I kick the door open and burst inside with my gun aimed. I find nothing I wouldn’t expect. Toilet, sink, small shower stall with a warning to not waste water. The sink and shower are dry. There are no signs anyone has been in this room recently.
“Nothing,” I say as I exit the bathroom. Da’vi closes the door to the room and locks it. I begin to rifle through the dresser. I find nothing but extra towels.
The females begin to sit, “No, we will not be staying here.”
“But what if Tennir comes and we aren’t here?”
“We will be down the hall, we do not know if someone else has a key to this room. We will listen to see if anyone tries to come here. If we see someone, hopefully we see them before they see us.”
“You still think this could be a trap?”
“I do not know yet either way,” I say with some remorse.
We head back into the hall, checking it first before the females step out of the room. I hand a key card to Da’vi and keep one for myself and Kate. We all enter the next room. It is identical to the last. Out of habit, we search this one too. Kate and Allison sit on the bed. Kate sits upright while Allison reclines with a heavy sigh.
“I will take first watch,” I tell Da’vi.
“No, I will take first watch. Rennek, you should speak with Gorrard.”
“Yes! Exactly!” Kate jumps to her feet, “Oh, I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one thinking it.”
“There is not time for such a selfish endeavor, maybe when this is all settled we can return…”
“Selfish? Rennek, it would not be just for you, but for Dax, Bossan and Kellen as well. You all deserve to know. And if you and your mate have fledglings? What of them? This is no selfish task, you should take this opportunity before it is ripped from you,” Da’vi demands.
Kate begins to speak but chokes on her words instead.
“I should be here, what if there is danger in my absence?” I ask.
“I will have this one’s sour demeanor to scare all the danger away,” he waves his arm toward Allison. I cannot tell if he is joking or not, Da’vi has never been one to make jokes in the past.
“Whatever,” she says. “Which room is ours?” she asks.
“We will take the other one,” Da’vi tells her.
“We, as in you and Rennek right?”
“No simple human, we as in you and I,” Da’vi scowls.
“Oh, no. Nope. Not happening, not sharing a room with this jerk,” she looks at my Kate who sheepishly looks to me and shrugs her shoulders.
“Oh, fucking great. Fine, whatever.”
“Well, I vote we go talk to Gorrard. This is an important opportunity. I don’t know all the details, but I feel like this has to be fate right? What a coincidence that we run into someone like you. We can’t let this chance slip through your fingers. Da’vi and Allison can hold down the fort.”
“If I do, you should remain here my Kate,” I tell my thoughtful mate.
“No way, I promised I would watch your back,” she smiles. “Plus, that would be completely boring. There isn’t even a television here.”
“What is television?”
“I don’t know how to explain it… it’s like an electric box that shows you movies and shows-stuff, for entertainment,” she tells me.
“Sounds like a view screen, would you like to watch the view screen?”
“What’s that?”
I walk to the prompter and swipe it to bring up the view screen options. Usually at inns the viewing selection is poor and inundated with ads, sure enough an ad is the first thing that pops up. It is for prepackaged meals.
“Oh my god, there’s TV!” The females are excited by this development. They stand and Kate jumps up and down while Allison presses herself close to the screen. They both seem to get a little teary eyed.
“There’s TV, oh my god. I can’t believe they have TV.” Allison’s hands shake a little as she touches the screen.
“Kate! Are you alright?!” I am shocked by their reactions.
“Yeah, yeah… yes. It’s just so… so…”
“It’s almost normal,” Allison says for her. “You even have commercials.”
“Right? Just no Simpsons or Breaking Bad.” She laughs, “How dumb, I can’t believe how excited I am. I can’t wait to tell the others.”
“How does it work?” Allison asks.
“You can get up and manually swipe it or you can voice activate it. Viewer: channel up.” I say. The channels begin to slowly scan. “Slower, volume increase,” the viewer responds. But suddenly something catches my eye. “Wait, freeze. Volume increase.”
“What, is it like your favorite show?” Allison asks.
“Listen.” It is a news report speaking of the trafficking we rescued Kate and her people from.
“Recent reports of the trafficking of sentient beings have been discovered to be a hoax…”
“Oh my god, what?” Kate reacts angrily upon hearing this blatant falsehood.
“No evidence has yet to surface in support of these outrageous claims. The UPC has issued an official statement noting this story was initially spurred by the accounts of a former UPC Commander, who, sources tell us, was a product of The Invasion. Motive for the claims are still unknown at this time.”
“Former Commander Rennek, is sought for questioning regarding his part in the story that has swept the United Planets, causing the most widespread panic since The Invasion itself. The UPC is also seeking the crew of former Commander Rennek’s ship. Please contact local UPC offices if you have any information on the following persons…” The reporter rattles off the names of all my crew. “Communities can continue to rest easy knowing there is no threat to the safety and well-being of sentient beings within our borders,” she finishes and I turn the viewer off.
Da’vi’s anger is visible, he is stiff and still but his scales flit with agitation. The females look to us, waiting for an explanation I do not have.
“What is this deception?” Da’vi simmers.
“Rennek, you worked for the UPC, right? Can you contact anyone and ask for information? Is there anyone you trust?” Kate asks me.
Kate’s words spark my memory. “Tennir said to trust no one, perhaps this is what he was referring to. Whatever has happened, we are missing pieces to this puzzle. We need to find Tennir to know what to do next.”
“If we do not find Tennir?” Da’vi asks.
“We will take a new path if it comes to that.” I say.
“We need to find a way to contact Madreed. If this is a cover up, she needs to know,” Da’vi says.
“If this is a cover up, she likely already has more information than we do,” I tell him.
“She could be in danger if that is so Rennek,” Da’vi says with concern in his voice.
“No one is more capable than Madreed.” I tell him, surprised he even thinks of Madreed in all this. I did not know he knew much of my proper family. “But if Tennir does not show himself, contacting her will be our next course of action.”
“Is this whole place going to recognize you now that your face has been all over the news? I mean it sounds like this story has been a pretty big deal,” Allison points out.
“This is true to an extent. Here in dark space things operate a little differently. The locals will not care, they live on the fringe and don’t abide by the United Planet’s laws. Travelers may recognize us, but this only creates a marginal increase in our danger level--as far as we know the Ju’tup still have a bounty out on us.”
“Marginal? Seems more like exponential to me! When we were floating around in space a bounty hunter would have been having to look pretty hard… but out there is a whole city that could view you guys as an opportunity,” Allison says angrily.
“I did not know you cared, human,” Da’vi grunts at her.
“Well don’t think I’m getting sentimental, lizard boy. I’m thinking about my own ass.”
“Look, Rennek is right. We have been walking around here all afternoon and no one has tried to accost us. I think we just keep on as we were and adjust as necessary,” Kate says.
“That is all we can do,” I agree.
“Well, I think this gives us more reason to go back to the bar and speak with Gorrard,” Kate extrapolates.
“I do not know if I agree with that,” Da’vi says. “It may be better to remain together considering the new circumstances.”
“No, wait. Hear me out. We have no allies here. If something does go down Gorrard is a local and seems well connected. He also seemed to be genuine in his desire to help Rennek, maybe we should… I don’t know… grease that wheel a bit in case we need to use it,” Kate defends.
“I do not know, Kate. We may need to leave here suddenly if something goes wrong. I would not want the group to split up,” I tell her.
“You’re right. We should have a meeting place incase anything happens,” she says, nodding enthusiastically.
“That is not what I said,” I tell her.
“The pod?” she asks.
“No, something not associated with us,” Da’vi says.
“The kabob place,” Allison offers. “That’s the only landmark I can remember.”
“Good, then if the pod is compromised we can find a new escape route from there.” Da’vi adds. All I can do is growl. They look to me. Kate’s eyes are full of hope. I resign myself, I can deny this female nothing. What they plan is fair enough, though I do not like being diverted from our original objective.
“Fine. Let us have a respite for a few hours first. Eat. Shower, sleep if you are able to. Then Kate and I will return to Gorrard’s.”
Kate beams a smile at me. Da’vi and Allison stand to leave. We check the hallway before they make their way to their room two doors down. Then finally, Kate and I are alone.