Chapter 8
Interrogation
“The Triumvirate is ready to hear you.”
Kyber slowly got to his feet to follow the guard to the main conference room. Since his release from the medical lab, he’d been confined to his quarters. Packets of emergency rations were delivered to him, rather than allow him to eat in the commissary with the rest of the crew. For the time being, he was a pariah. Maybe Duruk thought he would taint the rest of the crew with his acts of heresy.
He was also required to have a daily body scan to check for any aftereffects, and to make sure he was regaining his health. With proper meds, food, and rest, his body was finally able to heal. But his mental and emotional health continued to suffer.
He would have given anything to go back to Kelen and ask for forgiveness. He wished he could take back the hurtful words he’d spoken because she may not have understood why they had to separate.
More than anything, he needed her in his arms and in his life, for however long they could be together. They had managed to survive on a planet that had tried repeatedly to kill them. Surely, after that kind of ordeal, they could find a way to survive being rescued.
He walked automatically through the long, winding corridors, not paying attention to where they were heading. Every warship was built identically. Doing so enabled crewmembers who were reassigned to be able to easily find their way around, and not spend valuable time having to relearn the ship’s schematics.
Midway there, he stopped, alerted to…something. Unconsciously, he took a deep breath through his nose. Immediately his body went on alert as Kelen’s scent filled his lungs.
Either she was here, or she had recently been this way.
His heart squeezed the breath from him and continued to constrict within his chest until he gasped from the pain. The guard turned to see why he was holding back and saw Kyber pressing a hand to his sternum.
“Are you not well, D’har?” There was no compassion in the man’s voice. Only irritation that Kyber was taking his time.
“I am fine. Keep moving.”
Kyber continued to test the air as they neared the chamber. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he wanted to see her. He needed to see her, yet he feared coming face to face with her. How would she react? How would he? His heart sped up in anticipation, but as he drew closer to the meeting room, her scent dimmed, meaning she was no longer present. She’d been here, but no more.
The guard paused in front of the door. Kyber entered where the six magistrates sat around the conference table. Hovering in holo form above its surface were the members of the Triumvirate. In the back of his mind, Kyber realized how the Law of Three from the planet continued to pervade his life. He’d never noticed it before, but these past months, after being forced to be aware of such relationships because their survival often hinged on it, he’d become more cognizant to similar coincidences.
Although he knew Kelen wasn’t there, he scanned the room anyway as the door closed behind him. There was a chair strategically placed behind him, but he chose to remain standing.
D’har Obbleest began the interrogation. “State your full name and rank.”
“D’har Kyber Nau Kil, once of the warship Ist Umberu.”
“You were assigned to the Ist Umberu as a Por D’har. How did you come by your new rank?”
“I bested D’har Plat under the Law of Tooth and Nail.”
“And a weapon,” D’har Gormuc interjected.
Kyber frowned. “No, I did not use a weapon.”
“D’har Plat said you pulled a weapon on him. He states you used one of the weapons a Terran was carrying.”
“No, I did not. It was Plat who grabbed the weapon and aimed it at me in order to prevent himself from losing the fight.”
“And you have witnesses who saw this?” D’har Jeha sneered.
Kyber gritted his teeth but responded, already knowing where this was leading. “Yes. There were witnesses.”
“Who have already been ordered to lie for you,” Jeha remarked.
From that simple comment, and by the corresponding expressions on their faces, Kyber understood what the outcome to this meeting would be. These men were taking Plat’s word over his, and it didn’t take two guesses to figure out why. Sooner or later, the inevitable question would arise, but until then these men would play with him like a hunter with its catch before they decided to end his suffering.
They had already tried him and convicted him. All they lacked was the formality.
“Tell us the circumstances to you landing on the neverwylde planet,” Duruk ordered.
Kyber paused. Noticing his brother’s questioning look, Duruk grinned. “Surely, as D’har, you would be knowledgeable about such planets.”
“As Por D’har, I was not made privy to that information. And, unfortunately, once I obtained my ranking, I was not given any additional training by my predecessor.” It was a major effort not to sound disrespectful in answering, even though the comments made to him were scathing. “If I may inquire, what is a neverwylde planet?”
“A planet that has suffered a cataclysmic event, yet continues to maintain the ability to support life,” D’har Trant offered.
Kyber lifted his chin slightly. “We were patrolling the edge of Seneecian space near the Plamof Nebula.”
“On whose orders?” Duruk challenged.
“On D’har Plat’s orders.”
Gormac leaned forward. “You were not outside the boundaries and encroaching on Bav Torian space?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Kyber responded.
“But is that not your job? To know your exact location at all times?” Duruk questioned.
“At the time I was assisting in the engine room, again on D’har Plat’s orders. I had not been on the bridge for several hours when the fighting began.”
“What fighting?” Jeha asked.
“We were fired upon by a Terran warship. At that time I hurried to the bridge to find us fleeing from further confrontation.”
“D’har Kyber, did you not find it unusual to be fleeing a measly Terran warship instead of directly engaging it?” D’har Obbleest wondered.
They continued to refer to him as D’har, even though they believed he had not legitimately earned the title.
“Yes, I found it unusual, but I did not question my D’har.” He had followed strict protocol. He couldn’t be faulted for that.
“What happened next?”
“I heard the alarm go off, signaling an anomaly. That was when I saw the wormhole opening and knew we were inevitably going to be swallowed up inside it.”
“What did you do?” D’har Bluv asked.
“I ordered for communications to send out our coordinates and signal for help. I then instructed everyone to abandon ship, and to go directly to the lifepods.”
“What did D’har Plat do?”
“That, I cannot tell you. He was no longer on the bridge at that time.”
“Are you telling us he abandoned his own ship before you gave the orders?” Jeha questioned.
“I am telling you I do not know where Plat was at that time. Only that he had left the bridge soon after the wormhole had been detected.”
“Do you realize you are accusing Plat of desertion?” Trant narrowed his eyes at him.
Kyber dodged the obvious trap. “I accuse him of nothing. I am only stating the facts.”
The men took the next minute or two to discuss his testimony among themselves. They were too far away for him to overhear, but he doubted any of it was positive.
Nothing he did now could exacerbate what he knew their final decision would be. Which was why he chose to pursue his own inquiry.
“D’har, if I may.”
“No, you may not,” Duruk stated. The man didn’t raise his face to look at him when he answered.
“We went through a wormhole. How did you find us? Did you receive our emergency beacon?”
It was Bluv who finally gave him the courtesy of responding. “Initially, we received your emergency signal. Its location told us you had come in contact with a tegris. Do you know what a tegris is?”
“It is a phenomenon, usually a wormhole, that remains in an exact location. The problem with a tegris wormhole is that it is not stable. It appears and disappears infrequently. It cannot be predicted. Not when it appears, nor how long it remains open. Considering your question, I will assume that is what we fell through. But, in all honesty, I did not know we were anywhere near a tegris designated sector.”
“I would think not, since you did not direct your ship into that area.”
“But Plat did,” Kyber countered. “He knew the moment it appeared what it was. Has this tegris been explored? Is that how you managed to find us? Because you knew the neverwylde planet was on the other end?”
“You ask too many questions,” Jeha commented.
Kyber smiled to himself. That was his answer. Once rescue entered the wormhole, it was a simple matter to track the signal from Dox’s device to find where on the planet they’d landed.
“D’har Kyber.” Duruk finally looked directly at him. “To your knowledge, were there any other Seneecian ships in your location?”
“No.”
“So, to your knowledge, no one else, other than us, is aware of where you have been these past few months.”
Kyber started to respond when he sensed something was about to occur. Something that set the hairs on his body on end.
“No.”
“Then no one else knows of this purported alliance between you and those skints?”
Hearing his brother use the derogatory term for Terrans, his foreboding rose another notch.
“As far as I know, no. No one else knows of or is aware of the alliance.”
A small voice whispered in his ear, warning him. Telling him something was wrong. Something was amiss. “Remember what you thought earlier?” it murmured. “Remember? They have already tried you and found you guilty. All they need is the formality. The Triumvirate is present now. Do you know what that tells you? It tells you there will be no further hearings once you reach Seneecia.”
You have been found guilty.
The Terrans have been found guilty.
Kleesod, Massapa, Gaveer—guilty.
And once found guilty, their sentences will be imposed…with all due expediency.
“D’har Kyber, it is our belief that you acted unjustly and in defiance of our laws when you fought D’har Plat,” Jeha announced. “In addition, you knew your actions regarding contact with the Terrans was illegal, and sustaining an alliance with them would be considered treason. One final question. Is it true you took the Terran female as your consort?”
There it was. The question he had been waiting for.
Straightening, Kyber never broke eye contact with the man as he answered, “Yes, I did.”
“Then you know what the penalty for treason is, do you not?” Duruk inquired.
Kyber glanced up to see smirk come over his brother’s face. At that moment he knew exactly where Kelen and the others were. He knew exactly what was about to happen to them, and icy fear filled his bloodstream.
When this ship returned to Seneecia, he, his crewmembers, and every Terran would not be aboard.
The penalty for treason was death.