The Siluvara Files
The Many Journeys of Ian Scranton
Chapter 11: In Memory of Bunnies
 
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"When the Majestic Council of 12 got tired of the Cerulean Dawn's insurgency operations during the Third World War, they decided to retire the Men in Black division. The four hundred year old secret paramilitary organization, which had been the apex predators of all fighting forces in the world, had proven inadequate against this seemingly new breed of superhuman agents in blue who pried open tanks and killed entire armored divisions with nothing more than combat knives.
 
To deal with the Cerulean Dawn, MJ-12 unleashed the next generation of Men in Black: the Black Hand. In short order, thousands of the shadowy men in blue cloaks died in systemic coast-to-coast purges. The entire Cerulean Dawn organization was wiped out in an orgy of blood by a few groups of 4-man Psi-Mage fireteams working for MJ-12.
 
Or so everyone thought."
 
Akio Nakamura, "The Men in Blue: the History of the Cerulean Dawn"
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"What the fuck?! I can't believe someone made you a Clanlord!" Ian shouted in the clearest and loudest fairy tongue in front of Clanlord Rijaal, spittle landing in the imposing man's face in the process. "You're nothing more than a devious, underhanded, bloodthirsty maniac!"
 
Rijaal said nothing at first; instead he merely took out his gold-embroidered handkerchief and wiped his mouth and chin. "Get him out of here," Rijaal's calm voice trembled with restrained anger when he finally spoke.
 
Two soldiers grabbed Ian by his sinewy arms; Ian shook them off initially and continued ranting: "Where I come from, we hang bastards like you from trees!" As the soldiers seized him again, this time hoisting him off his feet, he craned his head and continued, "Mark my words you're gonna get yours!"
 
Roshana intervened at that point, throwing a punch at one of the soldiers, aiming for his head. The highly-trained special forces officer dropped Ian and attempted to seize Roshana's fist, but she, being a Droathas warrior, was born with a speed and reflex advantage that was incomprehensible to Ian; her hand bypassed his in a blur, and would have met his face had it not been for how fast the air suddenly became impossibly thick around her hand, slowing her down as if her fist were moving through an invisible wall of slime.
 
*We are the Cerulean Dawn,* a voice spoke in her head as her intended victim seized her wrist. *The women with the human names are our children.*
 
Roshana was caught gawking at the calm-looking soldier when a fiery pain stabbed her in the head; then everything went black.
 
Even Ian was silenced by the blow struck to the back of Roshana's head by the black, obsidian-like butt of one soldier's rifle. As the soldier reversed his gun to take aim at her head, another grabbed his hand. "No! Not in the Council Chambers!" he protested. The other soldier nodded. They both hoisted her off the ground and she was hustled out of the room even as others were just starting to realize what had happened.
 
"Roshana!" Ian yelped, as two other soldiers took hold of him. A moment of struggling later, a shot echoed through the halls and boomed into the chambers. "ROSHANA!!!"
 
Shahab howled "NO! Rijaal, you son of a bitch!" and ran right through his mother, knocking her aside in a mad rush to attack the Clanlord.
 
The soldiers seized him as well, and newly arriving reinforcements swarmed the room, falling upon the entire Nangwaya delegation.
 
"It's about god damned TIME!" General Ebo shouted triumphantly, stepping forward to seize Ethara. The Clanlord, too startled by the sound of Roshana's demise to even form words, tightened his lip and reached out to grab Shahab and a Nangwaya Councilwoman by their hair. Between him and his Supreme Commander and the newly arriving troops, they summarily dragged Ian, Shahab and the entire Nangwaya Council outside and hurled them out the doors like so much garbage, with Linjara screaming at them to stop. Elsina stopped to confer with her Councilmembers while Isaya kept her distance from the fray, trailing behind the crowd.
 
Finally, her temper having completely exploded after seeing her son stumbling down the broad ivory concrete council chambers steps, Chieftain Linjara Indumon physically accosted the Clanlord. Rijaal fought the urge to snort as the woman, well more than a head shorter than himself, tried to stop him by seizing his arm in a hand that was, while strong, quite unable to fully grasp his biceps.
 
"As Chieftain I have observed the birth of ten generations of your ancestors!" she nearly spat out his name with scorn. "I have shaken the hands of nearly twenty Clanlords that have preceded you! In all that time I have never met one as treacherous or downright ill-tempered as you."
 
Rijaal looked at her hand clamped ineffectively around his arm and then frowned. "Oh, you haven't? The way I recall it, you were born before my ancestors got stranded on this planet, were you not?" He then yanked his arm free of her grip. "I'm sure you still recall how you became a Chieftain," he reminded her in a threatening tone.
 
"Yes. My predecessor was slain in a fit of rage... by an insane Clanlord," she snarled back, looking him in the eye. "A Clanlord whose mistakes got us stranded here in the first place... if you recall." Then she put her hand to her mouth. "Oh no. You wouldn't recall, because unlike me you weren't even BORN yet!"
 
Before he could speak, she pointed at his chest and continued, "And if you had been around then, you'd know what your own people did to said Clanlord."
 
The Clanlord cleared his throat. "And if you continue to oppose me," he warned, "it won't matter what the people do to me." He then gestured down the steps. "Care to join your... Council?"
 
Cheiftain Elsina, her head held high and a malevolent smile on her face, came up behind Linjara, adding, "If we survive this, you will pay for your ill-timed petty little rebellion!"
 
Linjara turned around slowly, glaring at her incredulously. "Spoken like a true Clanlord's pet." She then proceeded down the steps, leaving Elsina to stand there fuming with anger.
 
"Don't let her get to you," Clanlord Rijaal reassured her. "When this is over we will expose how much of a hindrance Linjara Indumon has been to our efforts to defend the planet. She will be deposed by her own people."
 
Elsina snorted. "I look forward to that." She then gestured to her council; and then they all took to wing in a large wedge formation, soaring into the sky.
 
"Linjara is as wise as she is old," Supreme Commander Rafiki Ebo warned as they watched Ian Scranton and the entire Nangwaya contingent being shoved by soldiers into the fog-shrouded gardens beyond the Council building.
 
Clanlord Rijaal paused to make sure Elsina and her entourage had flown out of earshot. Turning carefully to his General, he shook his head, "Keeping both these Chieftains under control is an impossible task. How is it that the impossible is always the most crucial?" He then shrugged. "Whatever. I can't dwell on that." Looking to the sky, the Clanlord added, "First we must survive the coming invasion. Then we will deal with removing Linjara as a threat."
 
Ebo sighed. "At least we're rid of Roshana."
 
Haj-Bollar nodded with a scowl, his eyes searching in vain for the ex-Silurhean fairy among the rapidly receding troops that were hustling the Nangwaya off the Council Chambers grounds. "And tell them NOT to dispose of that Siluvaran trash in the garden!" another officer yelled into his mobile communicator nearby, running past the Clanlord to catch up.
 
Rijaal, meanwhile, snorted a laugh. "Good point, soldier," he said to himself and General Ebo.
 
To one of his aides, Ebo commanded, "Get us a shuttle."
 
The dimunitive chocolate-toned woman saluted crisply. "Right away, sir!"
 
Isaya slowly caught up with them, choosing to remain several steps back. Her arms were folded as she observed stoically.
 
***
 
"Finally! That Gilena woman finally got what she deserved!"
 
Tuyen Pham pumped her fist as she stood at the entrance to the Council building, before preparing to fly off after Elsina and the Council.
 
"That is a mighty ingrateful attitude for all the opportunity she has delivered to you," a man's voice called quietly to her left.
 
"What...?" she turned angrily, glaring at a soldier's chest. She looked up slowly to see a man with skin of ivory, much like herself, but without her almond eyes. Like Ian, but much stronger and more confident. It was a man in an Arajo Special Forces uniform, but not like any Arajo clan member she'd seen before. "The Cerulean Dawn..." she gasped.
 
"Your mother told you a lot about us," the man nodded in acknowledgement. "About your grandparents. She was not lying."
 
Tuyen Pham sucked in her breath and backed off slowly, only to find her path cut off by two more soldiers standing behind her. "You're.. the Clanlord could not possibly have..."
 
The soldier smiled ever so slightly as he watched the Clanlord's ornately-embroidered cream-colored shuttlecraft taking off in the distance. "We prefer keeping a low key," he explained softly. "But now, it is time for us to act."
 
"Against the Clanlord?" her eyes narrowed.
 
"For your benefit, I'd prefer to say," he bowed slightly. "Nidale is your direct superior, is she not?"
 
Tuyen frowned. "She has brought me onto her team for training, but..."
 
"We will see to it today that you are made a full member of her security team," he said ominously. "You will gain recognition for your efforts and take your place under her direct command. In exchange... you must do something for us..."
 
***
 
"The Clanlord wanted her dead, apparently. Our suspicions were correct."
 
Ian's legs wanted to fail him at every step he took up the long flight of wooden steps hugging the side of a four story-high ribbed building shaped like an acorn squash. The building's flesh turned from green to yellow, then brown, the further up they went. The Council Chambers building poked above the fog bank that had drifted into the city under its protective canopy; for Ian, he might as well have been looking at Castle Dracula, home of the damned. More than once he thought about the feasibility of driving a stake through that Clanlord's heart as he became increasingly preoccupied with getting payback.
 
"We've sat in the shadows much too long," the other soldier said as they guided Ian to an old-fashioned doorway cut into the side of the squash-like building, a door like one that he would see back on his homeworld. One man turned the knob and it opened, and they entered. "We can no longer tolerate him."
 
"Could you try being a little rougher next time?" a woman's voice dripped with sarcasm and irritation as Ian found himself looking at an old fashioned computer room, complete with rows of transparent blade-like server machines that resembled windows with organic veins. Men and women in dark blue cloaks sat in recliner chairs, some tapping at holographic projected keyboards, others speaking into head-sets. The entire room was biased blue by the light from a dozen or so hovering screens. The walls were solid and pure creamy white, not at all like the seemingly pliant fleshy green, orange and brown of the outside shell.
 
"I'd say you guys are a headache to deal with, but in light of THAT move you pulled back there... I'm not trying to push my luck."
 
Ian's mind was much too far distracted to pay attention to anything beind said in the room. At this point all he could do was go along, and try to live his life without thinking about Roshana... or Hollani... or the fact that both women who dared to love him, were now dead.
 
However, the sudden burst of laughter to his right, managed to burn through the fog of despair that was making it harder and harder for him to cope with life in his own skin. And it burned, like acid bubbling away at his heart. The headache comment, at first rebuffed by his mind's trauma-numbed indifference, made its second approach to his conscious mind and this time it found entry; and once it found its mark, it exploded.
 
"A headache?!" he howled suddenly, turning on his two escorts to lunge fists-first at the source of the woman making the comment. "You think that shit's funny?! Huh? I'll show you..."
 
His rage-blinded eyes focused on the neck whose hands he was aiming to strangle; and then he caught sight of the woman's face.
 
"Funny...?" he squeaked.
 
The redheaded woman sitting before him jumped to her feet and stepped back, her antennae stiffening into rods from the hair line on her forehead. "Ian!" she yelled, holding her hands up defensively.
 
Ian could hardly believe his eyes. "Ro... Roshana?"
 
"I..." she started to say, before turning and thumbing to her side. "They... can explain."
 
The two robed men at her side were unlike any that he had seen on this planet; although they would have been quite familiar in any American city where he'd grown up, they were the only Caucasian men he had ever seen since he'd landed on this dreadful alien planet.
 
"What the... fuck?" he gawked, his mind unable to compile what he was seeing.
 
The fairy woman standing in front of him reached out and took his left hand in hers. "Hey... Ian..." she said tentatively, "it was a trick. They hustled me out of the room and fired a shot in the air. I'm just fine..." She shrugged, "And I'm a fairy so I healed that knock on the back of my head pretty quick."
 
Ian blinked at her and frowned, leaning forward to study her like one would an apparition. "Roshana? Wha... noooo...."
 
"You can't see through me, can you?" Roshana laughed nervously, spreading her arms out; when she saw Ian finally relax, she pulled the shocked human into a tight hug. Ian's arms wrapped around her to embrace her tightly, and they shared a long, frantic kiss.
 
***
 
"Combat Satellite 8J-1 is reporting critical fault AC-245-A... critical containment failure in secondary firing chamber... we'll only get one shot before it ruptures. Chance of catastrophic containment failure 100%."
 
"Matter-Antimatter core loading progress... one hundred sixty-five warheads. Automated loaders 33-64 coming online."
 
"Missile number one five four zero zero niner reporting damaged O-ring in thruster zero-two. Eighty percent chance of explosion at liftoff. Down for repairs."
 
Isaya imagined that the last time so many uniformed officers had been scrambling around in a room as dark as this, was centuries ago, right before they managed to bring her former confederates down to Absegami in flaming pieces. The many rows and rows of computer consoles with personnel speaking and typing in a cacophony of voices and clicking, the sight of General Rafiki Ebo inspecting every occupied chair while a frazzled Lieutenant was busy reading the sitrep to him, the Clanlord himself walking with a screen hovering in front of him studying dots encircling an image of the planet like a shell... she'd seen all of this before, and for the first time in centuries, was becoming reacquainted with the concept of fear.
 
But it wasn't the sense of dread that gave her the sick feeling that permeated her entire being. She'd dealt with crises like this before, when she was but a mere sapling growing up in a grove of trees with a nearby pile of dead fairy bones watching over her. Back then she knew real fear - fear of animals that came to chew on her leaves, worms that burrowed inside her and sought to devour her from within; fear of hungry fairies who debated feasting on her life force before deciding against it and moving on; fear of other, mindless trees crowding out her precious sunlight; and fear of nearby fairy tribal wars, droughts, lightning strikes and fires.
 
The thing that was eating at her now was guilt. She had been forced to withdraw her presence from the world to strike at an underground Imperishable Empire base. She had gambled with her very life, summoning every last drop of magic that she could muster to paralyze the Silurheans and short-circuit their magic. Then, for the very first time in centuries, she harvested the helpless sapients, swallowing them through her vines and sending them into her gullet. Dozens were devoured at the first base; her digestive system hurriedly churned them into liquid nourishment, extracting their life force. She lit up like a beacon visible from space with all the wasted energy lost in her hasty consumption, but she'd factored that into her strategy; her target was remote enough that no one would come for her during the hour that her body had to wait to digest her hapless, speechless prey.
 
The last time she consumed someone alive, after so many years of being around sentient things and coming to understand their perspective on life, she learned to despise the struggles, agonized screams and despondent whimpers of those she consumed. Their sobbing and pleading became as much a part of her as their bodies, building up within her until she could no longer stand it. How Silurheans could stand to absorb their prey's memories and endure the agony of those they consumed, was and would forever remain far beyond her comprehension. She was thankful that that was one ability she did not have: hearing their anguish as they dissolved inside her belly was bad enough.
 
How ironic it was, then, that the understanding that this time, her prey didn't even feel their deaths or know what was happening to them in the total darkness of her great belly, was what shook her the most. Then there was the fact that each fairy she digested became fuel for her to feast upon other bases, until she was emptying out two and three at a time. She got them before they could call for help and utterly gorged herself all day, even as she walked in on the Councils; even as she stood here in their War Room, hundreds of Silurheans were sloshing around in her stomach, all of them dying in order to make her stronger, dying to help her defeat more of their kind when they finally arrived from space.
 
At least, she desperately tried to convince herself, she was doing this for the right reasons. From the fairies melting away in her belly would come the power to save this world of blue-green water and lush, relatively tame jungles, from becoming yet another charred consequence of this endless war. Her stomach was painlessly changing these Silurheans of the Imperishable Empire into something that they had never been while they were alive - what she defined as a force for good. So, she asked herself, was she digesting them or redeeming them?
 
"Isaya...? Isaya!"
 
Clanlord Rijaal Haj-Bollar's irritated voice finally jolted her away from her losing struggle with her conscience.
 
"Uh..." she spoke with an unusual level of uneasiness, "yes? I'm sorry... I was... distracted."
 
Clanlord Rijaal, for all his wariness of probing into the mind of a Dryad, did not need telepathy to figure out what she was doing. She had hinted as much when she last departed his company. Dryads were hated by the Arajo, and most other Bollar Freeholds back when they were last a starfaring clan; but he fancied himself a shrewd politician. As he studied her for a brief moment, he decided that the policy of befriending the enemy of his enemy would remain the best course of action into the foreseeable future. "We need to know what you can do to help us."
 
Isaya shook her head with disappointment; after all, she had more magic stored in her now than she had ever amassed in her life, but she hadn't gotten around to figuring out what to do with it. Her prey had been forced to give up themselves and were now a part of her. Inevitably all that stored energy would bleed off through millions of miles of faintly glowing vines, and their contributions would go to waste. "I... I mean... it depends on your plan, Clanlord."
 
Rijaal nodded. "Here's our plan." He lifted his hand between them, summoning a ghostly image of the planet they lived on, surrounded by swarms of dots. "We're scanning the star system for ships coming out of hyperspace." He then swept the image aside, ushering in the picture of a poorly-detailed forward swept-wing fighter spinning slowly in midair. "Wings of modular Uzuba III starfighters are being fitted with orbital boosters to get them into space without burning fuel to fight the gravity well. Older Uzuba II-class ships will follow them for support." Then he swept that aside, summoning a featureless ball hanging in midair. "This is the kind of thing we expect to see coming our way. An iron ball measuring between a hundred to as big as a thousand shiamuata, dropped directly in the planet's orbital path to ensure maximum impact speed without any effort on their part."
 
"A planet smasher," Isaya said in recognition.
 
The ball shrank to the size of a pea as four more images appeared, dwarfing it to the point of the insignificant. Pointing to the largest object, a thing resembling a piece of driftwood covered by a turtle-like shell, he said, "That... is the data we have on the mother ship we destroyed during our battle over thirteen hundred seasons ago... minute pieces of it, as you know, shelter this city. I can imagine they have their bigger ships en route now... and there may be more than one coming at us... the entire balance of the force that survived working its way through the Luginta Exclusion Zone Defense Fleet's hypothetical perimeter."
 
Isaya nodded. "You've studied them well. What do you have that will destroy such a large force? To say nothing of these Imperishable Empire battleships, dreadnoughts and carriers that will accompany all of this."
 
Rijaal sighed. "Not nearly enough antimatter missiles to stop that iron ball... much less any ship capable of dropping it off."
 
Isaya's heart sank. She'd known that the Arajo Clan was not ready for this; and seeing the honesty written on the Clanlord's face as he explained it bluntly to her, was a poor consolation. This was not a case of them facing annihilation because of his ignorance; it was because they simply lacked the resources to stop what was coming. For the most part.
 
"You should let Roshana call for help," she said tentatively, easing back a step. "If the Siluvarans have turned this area into an exclusion zone, they have quite a force nearby to intervene."
 
The Clanlord furrowed his brows. "And then we'll exchange one problem for another."
 
She sighed with frustration: "Not if the other Clans are able to respond."
 
He tightened his lip. "I know you've amassed a great deal of magic, Isaya. We have... plans, for what it's worth, for our defense... what about you?"
 
Isaya studied him for a moment; the one element of foolishness in the Clanlord, she surmised, would be his people's undoing. But now wasn't the time to push him. "I... I can probably create a shield directed at any large object coming at the planet... or augment your antimatter weapons."
 
He lifted his eyebrow with interest. "Augment? Please clarify..."
 
The tone of her voice sought to dampen his hopes: "I am not sure by how much, Clanlord... but trust me, it might not be enough. And I can only do one or the other to maximum effect." She then sighed and added, "Also remember that I will also be up against millions... or even billions of fairy magic spells from the invading ships."
 
The Clanlord nodded as Supreme Commander Ebo rushed up behind him. "Tend to shielding the planet as best you can. I have some ideas."
 
"Clanlord, Sir!" Rafiki Ebo recomposed himself quickly to speak with a firm tone. "We have a major security issue."
 
Clanlord Haj-Bollar turned annoyedly. "Speak to General Ebo, I am busy.. argh.. General. My apologies." He then did a double take. "Did you say a security issue?"
 
The Clanlord's heart sank when the General clarified gravely, "This issue is classified Top Secret. Your eyes only... sir."
 
***
 
"I don't care how many times you've practiced this trick," Ian's voice trembled with a mix of anger and fear while sitting in the lunch room two floors down from where he'd arrived, "I'll never, ever agree that you had that shit under control."
 
Roshana shrugged. "Babe," she lifted her head from his shoulder, turning him gently to kiss his lips, "you believe in God, right?"
 
Her words stopped Ian briefly, forcing him to think for a moment before answering firmly, "Of course... so why did Hollani have to die?"
 
"She didn't have to," the man in the dark blue military uniform pacing before Ian reaffirmed. "All of this was unnecessary." He turned to the blue robed woman stepping up to his side. "Polly, is the transmitter online?"
 
"That's what I came to tell you, sir," she responded with a respectful bow, "it's online, but when the Arajo activated their satellite defense network, they also activated their global signal interception abilities..."
 
"Ah, what does that matter?" he said dismissively.
 
"Signal jamming is a basic function of their battle satellites." Roshana explained grimly.
 
"This tech is useless against magic-enhanced communications," the man in the uniform snorted dismissively.
 
Roshana paused to think. "Indeed it is..." she confirmed. "The tech on this world is significantly behind the times compared to what modern Bollar forces are capable of... still, there's the issue of the Nangwaya and the Biashal..."
 
".. who may be able to enhance the network's effectiveness," the woman continued. "They'll be able to use their magic to jam our signal and even pinpoint its origin..."
 
"You assume that they'll even think about cooperating..." one olive-toned Biashal fairy was quick to cut in.
 
"That and we also have telepaths to cover our tracks," he smirked. "They'll send troops right to a base on Kephatul Island near the Northern polar region where the... 'signal source'... is located."
 
"Sir?"
 
"Our telepaths are in place to cause a bit of... misdirection," he told her. "And as Vasha here mentioned, the Nangwaya won't even think about cooperating with the Arajo. By the time the Arajo discover that they've been had, we will have dealt with the... problem elements in Nazon."
 
She bowed. "Yessir..."
 
"So why haven't you shouted out with this thing before?" Ian inquired.
 
"Because until now," Vasha responded, "we did not know where to shout out to. We didn't want to alert the Imperishable Empire of this world sitting here just waiting to be attacked." Then she gestured to Roshana. "Ma'am... if you will... the coordinates to the Luginta Exclusion Zone Defense Fleet?"
 
Roshana nodded, standing up and taking Ian's hand. "Let's get this over. Lead the way."
 
***
 
"You need to bulk up, son," Linjara spoke in a quiet, yet playfully scolding voice at Shahab, who was viewing her through a basketball-sized computer screen protruding from the eye of a plant stalk. "When you ran into me you should have run me completely over."
 
"I had no intention of doing any such thing, mother," Shahab explained with a hint of confusion. "Why would I do that when the Clanlord believed exactly what he saw?"
 
"I still say you need to bulk up," she continued to ruthlessly tease him. "And you need a sense of humor, too." Seeing her son's shoulders sag as the tension left his body, she continued with a chuckle, "Anyway..." She glaned over her shoulder briefly, "I'm talking too much as it is. The Clanlord kicked us out of the Council Chambers but we've already harassed two Arajo military telepaths away from my house."
 
"The nerve..." Shahab seethed.
 
"Don't fret. All is going according to plan. Proceed to the Willowgarden; Rosinthe Tacasil should have already begun the protest. Be ready for when Roshana and Ian arrive."
 
Shahab nodded. "I hope this plan works. And when it's over, perhaps you'll tell me about this... 'Cerulean Dawn' organization."
 
"I promise, I will," Linjara said with a sigh. "Must run, son... bye."
 
The screen went blank and the green eyelid-like cover slid over it; the supporting stalk straightened out until it looked like a plant that hadn't yet bloomed.
 
"Telepaths stalking the Chieftain?" Ethara said with concern. "I wonder if we have tails on us, too."
 
Shahab shrugged. "Once the protest begins there's nothing Clanlord Haj-Bollar can do." Then he took her hand. "Shall we?"
 
She smirked. "Let's." They then turned and ran down the steep cobblestone road leading toward a swelling crowd of fairies gathering in a richly multicolored field of flowers overlooked by a single, four-story-high tree.
 
***
 
"Luginta Exclusion Zone, Silver Arrow Task Force. You are intruding on a secure channel with a secure access code from an unauthorized location. Identify yourself!"
 
Few things in the world gave Roshana more relief than seeing the face of a Siluvaran warrior obscured by her combat helmet. All of her femininity was masked - all that was visible was her eyes through narrow slits, which was itself covered by a visor. Behind her were four other fairies, all dressed from head to foot in chitinous vermillion armor, tending to various floating screens in a well-lit room. The lone male in the group, made obvious by the flatness of his breastplate, wore an azure plume on the top of his helmet which swept back down to his shoulders.
 
"I am Roshana Ariala Caladuri," she announced hastily, "Luginta Special Operations Command, Infiltration Commando ops." Following up quickly, she continued, "Look, I don't have time. Lock in on the source of this transmission. There is a planetbound Bollar colony here," she then emphasized heavily, "and four hundred million Nivalavi fairies. You have an Imperishable Empire Task Force inside the Exclusion Zone and they'll be here in hours!"
 
The male officer yanked off his helmet and rudely pushed the woman aside. Under the direct light shining down from above, his ashy gray skin became as apparent as his glowing blue eyes and platinum hair. He was one of the rarest of Siluvaran fairies - a Rikati, much like Ami, but a child of Gaia rather than a ravenous carnivore. "Roshana Caladuri? I thought we recalled all the infiltrator commandos. What is this about an Imperishable Empire force in this sector? We already intercepted it... 2 years ago, no less!"
 
"I heard about the first one," Roshana said urgently, "this is not that group. There's another making its way through the dark nebulae... do you have ANY patrols in the Ellefeather Canyon Nebula or Kelba Pass Nebula regions?"
 
"Look," the officer's face frowned, "we already lost a lot of ships to a Bollar clan pursuing the Imperishable Empire into this zone. They hit us and the Imperishables with a planet killer, for Gaia's sake. I'm not about to send another force in there to get blown into space dust!"
 
Roshana rolled her eyes. "We need your help! The Imperishable Empire will drop a giant iron ball in this planet's orbital path... you've all seen it happen before! We'll all die here!"
 
"And we'll all die when the Bollars strike with another one of their planet killers," he responded. After reaching out briefly as if to hug the screen, he said, "The wards are lifted. You are officially recalled. Return for debriefing now."
 
Roshana jerked her head back. "Are you fucking KIDDING me? No way. Orders or not, I have 400 million Nivalavi here and I won't leave them behind!"
 
"You will drop your wards on that end and transmit yourself through, soldier!"
 
Roshana looked to her right; the agent in blue shook his head.
 
"Or what?" Roshana turned back to the screen and challenged him angrily. "You'll court martial a dead woman? And take responsibility for letting almost half a BILLION Nivalavi fairies die? I bet you'll have a hell of a job covering that up since the Bollar Freeholds that you're so scared of are most certainly listening in on this..."
 
"You dare threaten your superiors! You will be executed for this!"
 
"If you can cobble what's left of me together when we're done suffering the consequences of your youthful incompetence... then by all means, you're invited to do just that." Roshana drew her hand across her neck, prompting the blue-robed agents standing by her to cut the signal.
 
Ian whistled. "These guys don't sound too much better than the Arajo..."
 
Roshana grinned smugly. "He's a young male officer put in charge by higher-ups who want to fuck him," she explained to the group. "Males are rare where I come from, just like here. Male soldiers are especially rare. Male Rikati like him? One in a gazillion. Men make more competent warriors and leaders... given proper training by their female superiors..." she added the last words with a chuckle, "But this one... he's a whelp... and a bit pampered..." She paused before adding, "That, and he doesn't want to risk his neck violating protocol."
 
"His pampering and sticking to the rules will get us all killed..." Ian said grimly.
 
"Not likely," Roshana's words were strong with confidence, "part of being pampered includes having a woman superior officer - probably the one who put him in charge and who wants to fuck him the most - watching over him from the shadows. She won't let herself become the commander responsible for letting 400 million Nivalavi die."
 
"You kept mentioning the Nivalavi..." Ian pointed out.
 
"Ah yes," Roshana said, "and the other part: Nivalavi fairies are, along with the Rikati, the most powerful of all fairy warriors." She shrugged. "It's in their genetic stock. They and the local Dalassi, it appears. Plus..." She cringed as she added, "They're impervious to being turned into Silurheans."
 
Ian cocked his head back. "Turned into a Silurhean?"
 
Roshana nodded. "Yeah, that's what I went through to be able to prowl around Hollani's home town and several other places looking for signs of interplanetary trouble." She snorted. "Fortunately now that I'm a child of Gaia for a second time... I can never be turned again." She then gestured to the ivory-skinned fairy standing behind her at the base of the steps. "She, on the other hand, is a Dalassi... like the Nivalavi, she is someone who can never be turned at all. Unlike me, she was born with that immunity."
 
Seeing Ian's confused look, she caressed his leg, adding, "Let us just say that the Nangwaya and Biashal tribes here are a huge asset to the Siluvarans. Huge. As in they'll breed this... immunity... into the general fairy gene pool. This is what we consider a... holy grail of genetics."
 
Ian whistled. "You guys sure like using pawns..."
 
"Yeah," Roshana sighed, glancing at another fairy in soft-looking chitinous armor coming down the steps, "but at least it will get us rescued. In a hurry."
 
"Lady Roshana," she called from halfway down. "The protest at Willowgarden has begun."
 
One of the robed agents nodded. "Thanks, do we have a video link there?"
 
"A lot of Arajo Bollars in the area have live comlinks."
 
"Live what?" Ian asked as a screen next to the one in front of him lit up.
 
"You'd call them mobile phones," Roshana explained, gesturing to him. "Mobile communication devices. Or something equivalent, but much more advanced." Then she leaned over to the other screen to see a crowd of fairies standing around in a field of flowers under the shade of a moderately tall tree. "Oh my.... how's your allergies?"
 
Ian leaned over as well. The sheer diversity of colors made him whistle. "I dunno... I'll chance it. I want to speak my piece, though."
 
Roshana pouted playfully; then at his last sentence she smiled. "Good," she curled her finger at him, "then you're coming with me."
 
"Or in you," he said lewdly, causing all the other human's eyes to roll as soon as they recognized the pun.
 
Ian promptly disappeared from sight; Roshana blushed, her lower abdomen glowing faintly as she added with a sheepish but amused grin: "That, too."
 
Turning to the others, she lifted a finger and added: "Oh by the way... this whole 'Cerulean Dawn' thing? At some point I'd like an explanation about who you guys are."
 
The male agent nodded understandingly. "When we have a moment to rest and breathe... we'll come clean."
 
***
 
"... and Lebakna... and Yostaro... four cities, completely destroyed! Innocent children reduced to ghostly silhouettes, their ashes scattered to the wind!"
 
"Babies, the unborn... none were favored, and only a precious lucky few were spared!"
 
Although Rosinthe's voice was not the most powerful in all of Nazon, the severity of her allegations amplified her words and carried her message on swift wings far beyond her range of vision. Five minutes after she began her speech, a few dozen ivory-skinned Biashal fairies lounging around the multi-acre picnic grounds had swelled into a hundred skeptical eyes and ears, all focused on her, all pressing ever closer. Behind her stood the tree which was the garden's namesake - a silent guardian providing shade for everyone.
 
"The order to commit this ruthless genocide was carried out by the Biashal Council on order of Arajo Clanlord Rijaal Haj-Bollar and the Arajo Council!" she yelled boldly, eliciting not just a few hostile glares. "The Biashal Council cannot deny this! They will not deny this! Hundreds of our own warriors participated in the slaughter! They cannot lie! Their memories do not lie!"
 
Rosinthe, seeing the crowd shifting around, with various fairies jockeying for room to see who was speaking, decided to move to higher ground; but rather than avoid the crowd, she instead leapt up high into the air and backflipped to land amidst a group of fairies standing on one the willow tree's massive roots that formed a bridge across a small river leading over the distant edge into the deeper canyons beyond. "If anyone dares challenge my charges, step forward and see into my memories! Call the Council and see into theirs! You know the rules... the truth will not be silenced!"
 
"You're accusing our leaders of violating the most sacred laws of the land of Nazon!" a woman's voice finally called out from the front of the growing crowd.
 
Rosinthe persisted boldly, "As a matter of fact, I am! And I'm accusing hundreds of Biashal soldiers as well! The crime has been committed! This will NOT end with denials on their part! They must step forward and answer for what they've done!"
 
"Would you be so brave up there on your pedestal if you had to accuse one of those soldiers to their faces?" the same voice that spoke before, responded with an added tone of hostility.
 
Rosinthe stopped to focus her gaze on one chestnut-haired fairy who had stepped into the small clearing at the base of the root she was standing on. Though she was wearing civilian clothes befitting a commoner, her stiff poise and her hands clasped behind her back told the world that she was a soldier, perhaps even a commanding officer.
 
"I most certainly would, if that soldier were to confront me face to face," Rosinthe shot back defiantly. "Why don't you come up here and explain to us the fallout that's going to be drifting our way from what's left of the nearby enemy strongholds of Lebakna and Oratho?"
 
As soon as Rosinthe issued her counter-challenge, the woman leapt into the air. As it was with all Biashal and Nangwaya warriors, it was hard to tell whether she had used a burst of levitation magic, or if she had propelled herself ten human heights into the air by the sheer power of her own legs. Bollar scientists were adamant in saying that a fairy could not physically jump more than five feet from a standing position, but moments like this made such assertions seem laughable. Four fairies standing on the giant root scrambled out of the way as Rosinthe's challenger landed within her personal space without so much as a flip. Glaring at Rosinthe, she said in a voice that made her think of the calm waters and deadly undercurrents of the swelling rivers in the valley below, "You were saying?"
 
"Arajo weather satellites say the fallout from Oratho and Lebakna will drift over Nazon within the next day," Rosinthe said slowly and forcefully, not giving up her personal space. "Some of that ash will be the men, women and children who were vaporized by forces, probably those under your command."
 
The warrior woman clenched her fists, her body trembling with anger.
 
"The unborn of Oratho will rain upon the roofs of our homes like snowflakes," Rosinthe continued, stepping forward almost within kissing range.
 
"Enough of this..." the soldier snarled.
 
But Rosinthe would not relent. "The ashes of their once joyously expecting mothers will settle like dust in your hair. Children who were laughing and playing and running around when the Arajo antimatter bomb exploded over Lebakna..."
 
"I'm warning you..."
 
Rosinthe's voice escalated into shouting, "will salt our gardens! The unarmed men of those cities will sprinkle a nice coat of gray upon our trees!"
 
"You've said enough, woman!"
 
She thrust a finger in the warrior woman's chest. "No, I have not!"
 
"You will say no more!"
 
"Or what?" Rosinthe challenged. "You know as well as I do that the winds of Absegami will bring the consequences of your deeds HERE to rest upon all our heads!" Rosinthe spat out the last word in the woman's face: "LITERALLY!"
 
When Rosinthe saw the warrior's hand light up as she reached back, she had no time for anything but shock. A cold wind blew across her face as the knowledge of her impending death commingled with the realization that her accusations had failed to awaken in her assailant any sense of remorse or self-loathing that any decent fae would feel about the massacre of countless innocents.
 
She blinked, not expecting to open her eyes again. But her eyes did open again, and her face burned; yet not with heat, but rather, a biting cold. By the time her eyes focused and her mind was able to come to grips with the fact that she was still alive, she found herself looking at her would-be assassin through a foggy glass wall, her deadly scowl frozen in time. The shield standing between them crackled and popped, and then the woman inside toppled over into the grass below.
 
"The penalty for the unprovoked murder of any citizen of Nazon by another is DEATH."
 
Even the birds nesting in the trees fell silent as Rosinthe came to her senses, her eyes falling upon the raven-haired, almond-eyed woman floating in midair over the icy prison that still contained her would-be killer. She was dressed in carapace armor that, aside from its luster, seemed as if it were hewn right out of a mountain of low-grade turquoise rock, with speckles like ruby gemstones instead of drab gray. Twin blades of steel flanked her sides, both sheathed in ornately carved scabbards made out of some pliant yet dark jade-like material. Behind her floated another identically dressed Droathas fairy.
 
"I have tolerated a great number of transgressions in the name of the Clanlord and his agenda, but I will not see one of our own people reduced to ashes for voicing an opinion!" The raven-haired woman turned and drew both her long, elegantly curved single-edged blades, seemingly against the entire crowd, who now started to clamor to get some distance from her.
 
"Any other warriors here want to try murdering a Biashal ambassador to the Nangwaya on Swordmistress Tuyen Pham's watch?!" her companion yelled, drawing her blades as well.
 
"Y... you killed her!" someone shouted from the crowd. "You killed a defender of Nazon! A sister from the womb of Morgania!"
 
"She was going to kill the ambassador!" another voice countered. "What else could she do?!"
 
"What kind of madness is this? Our own people... killing one another!"
 
Tuyen Pham interrupted the swelling debate by throwing her left-hand blade down into the still-intact block of ice, shattering it in a cloud of steam. Everyone below turned and prepared to take flight to escape the wrath of the seemingly crazy woman until the mists cleared and the woman she'd encased in ice let out a deep gasp of breath that human ears would hardly register but was as subtle to fairy ears as a passing train. It was a gasp that exploded into a scream when the woman rolled over on her belly and found herself staring at the sharp edge of Tuyen's second blade as it plunged into the ground in front of her.
 
Tuyen's companion was quick to drop down and hit her in the back, causing her wings to unfold; then she seized her left wing and hoisted her into the air as if she were a trophy to be put on display. "This woman tried to murder Rosinthe Tacasil, Bisahal ambassador to the Nangwaya Council, with a fireball spell! Rightfully she could be put to death on the spot! But now that she is neutralized, the law demands she be put to trial!"
 
"Law!" Tuyen Pham spoke mockingly, almost to the point of theatrics. "It seems that my Chieftain, Elsinara Eileen Dessia Lanaldani, has no regard for this thing we call the law. The LAW states that we show mercy to the children of Rhea who confront us without arms or a spell on their lips. The LAW states that DAMNED are they who murder children - even those who are Silurhean!"
 
When a subtle shadow crossed over Rosinthe and stalked its way among the shadows cast by the willow tree until it passed over Tuyen Pham's field of vision, she did not need to look up. The slow turning of her companion's head and the panicked dropping of her prisoner to fall on her face on the ground, was all the information she needed to know who it was.
 
Yet, still, she fought to prevent her voice from faltering. She'd gone this far; she had to see it through to the end. "The LAW... the LAW says we shall gather ALL children and ALL Silurheans that are unworthy of being killed on sight, and all those warriors we subdue and fail to slay while they're armed, and bring them here, to our Daelath camps! The LAW says the daughters of Gaia are DAMNED whosoever steals, violates or mocks the memories of others! And ALL of those laws have been flagrantly BROKEN-"
 
"So this is the thanks I get for bringing the great Swordmistress Tuyen Pham into my elite fold... not even a day after!" Nidale plunged into her field of vision, her wings folding into her back as she crossed her arms in front of her. Then she gestured disdainfully at her companion. "Oh, and you even brought your Meluwa, Shaera, to share in your disgrace!"
 
"Disgrace?" Tuyen laughed nervously. "You've brought disgrace to us all. Would you, as the captain of Elsinara's royal guard, care to tell us that the ambassador or I have falsely accused you?"
 
"You simple minded fool," Nidale groaned, shaking her head. "You want to sow dissent and raise sedition against your Chieftain while nothing short of the Imperishable Empire itself is on its way as we speak to reduce all of Absegami to ashes-"
 
"As you did to countless children and unarmed civilians?" Tuyen shot back. "Tell me, Nidale, what makes you different from them?"
 
It took barely an instant for Tuyen's words to register in Nidale's mind and inflame her temper to temperatures which burned away her calm charade, revealing the seething anger and urge for committing violence upon this woman who dared to turn on her so quickly after being brought into her inner circle. But as if fate had anticipated what was coming next, another fairy appeared out of nowhere directly between them.
 
"Nut-uh-uhhh," the redheaded woman wagged her finger at Nidale. "I saw that teleport rush coming a mile away. Literally."
 
"Roshana!" Nidale snarled. "Get out of my way."
 
She smiled at Nidale. "Did you find out what a bunny looks like, Nidale?"
 
"Roshana!" Tuyen yelled, her face turning red with anger upon the mere sight of her Meluwa Aide's killer. "This is my fight! Back off!"
 
"Who's fighting?" Roshana turned to her and shrugged. "I'm just asking Nidale a question."
 
"Roshana..." Rosinthe jumped down to land next to Tuyen. Behind her, dozens of spectators took up positions along the giant willow root and in the tree's branches, all eager to watch this exchange play itself out while maintaining a safe distance.
 
"Just a second," Roshana waved her off. Rosinthe and Tuyen exchanged concerned glances.
 
Nidale cast her a perplexed look. "Bunny? What in the world do I care about a bunny? Have you gone mad?"
 
Roshana turned back to her. "Oh, no, far from it. Actually... Hollani and I... the wonderful lady friend of mine... you remember her.... she was the... what was that word you used... 'filth'?"
 
Nidale smirked sadistically. "Oh yes, that Arari who ate Ian. I remember her... or, at least Ian's memories of her. Did he not sit in her belly for a while?" As she spoke, two more fairies came in for a hard landing behind her, hitting the ground feet-first with a thump that Roshana could feel in her bones. "I'm thinking she enjoyed the way Ian slid down her throat and all that."
 
Roshana's calm demeanor instantly melted into a scowl.
 
"Ummmm... nut-uh-uhhhh," Nidale mocked her as the two chitin-armored warriors formed up at her side. "You just might get the chance to tell your human gulping friend... er, your dead, utterly SPLATTERED friend... what a bunny looks like..." Even more Biashal warriors began landing behind her as she spoke, "...In person!"
 
Roshana trembled with anger as she studied the groups of warriors descending from the air to form a crowd of their own around her and her allies. Then she shrugged. "Fine. You want to waste this many warriors on a Siluvaran Confederacy commando... withour your Chieftain to back you up, no less..." Glancing behind her, she saw Tuyen and her companion wielding their swords in a combat stance, "Then by all means let's do this."
 
"So many warriors against so few," a voice sneered from above. Roshana, knowing the power behind that voice, didn't even have to look to know who it was. "Perhaps, if you want a fight, then I can even the odds?"
 
As soon as Ethara and her husband Shahab landed behind Roshana, the slowly encroaching crowd backed off by several steps.
 
"We're NOT in the Arajo Council Chambers now, Nidale," Ethara warned, clenching her fists. "Tell your goons to back off before they get hurt."
 
"You heard my wife," Shahab shrugged. "She's spoiling for a fight, and she's kicked my ass in training more often than not."
 
Ethara nudged Roshana aside, glaring down at Nidale as she stepped into her personal space. "I told you to make them back off. NOW."
 
Nidale took a long step back. "Your Chieftain ordered you not to do this..."
 
Ethara smiled. "Orders? Who cares about orders, right? Besides, she's not going to hurt me for wringing your treacherous neck as long as you live to remember how badly I hurt you."
 
"And you certainly don't want me to have to deal with all your flunkies, coward." Shahab added ominously, glancing around. As the others from Nidale's group started backing away, he laughed. "Not feeling so confident now are you?"
 
"You planned this all along..." Nidale snarled bitterly at them.
 
"Oh, I didn't plan for you to brag about killing Hollani instead of taking her to a Daelath camp while calling up the Chieftain's entire royal guard to gang up on Roshana," Ethara laughed. "Oh no, we actually never believed you'd go that far." She then folded her arms. "However, I didn't need to plan for it." Glaring at her guards, she grinned confidently, "And judging by how much backup you have... you didn't plan for dealing with me at all."
 
Looking back at the fairies perched in the tree branches above them, Shahab gestured to Nidale. "You've heard it. By her own admission, she let her troops get away with killing one who should have gone to a Daelath camp. A harmless Arari whose only possible 'crime' was to protect a helpless human from being eaten by another Silurhean." After the muttering started, he added more fuel to the fire, "What Nidale has not told you is how she violated the memories of this human and mocked them to his face!"
 
With that, Roshana released Ian Scranton from the depths of her being; by the time the flash of light that heralded his reappearance faded, he was already dressed in a white cotton shirt and slacks - just like what he would wear to work. "This is Ian Scranton, a human from another world," she announced, taking his hand. "Hollani was our friend. Our lover. And, had she been allowed to live... she would be one of us by now."
 
Pointing to Nidale, Roshana continued, "Ian... would you like to tell Nidale what a bunny looks like?"
 
Ian initially frowned at her, not sure at first what her point was; then as the thoughts she'd imparted to him rushed back to the front of his mind, his lips curled into a smile of enlightenment. "Ah, yes, I guess that's one memory that she didn't care to probe." Looking down at his clothes, he nodded approvingly, "Oh and honey... nice job with the threads." He tugged at his wrinkle-free sleeves and cuffs. "Perfect business casual."
 
Roshana grinned. "I was in a hurry and it was your strongest memory of clothing... besides those *ahem* ratty jeans..."
 
Ian cast a sheepish smile at her. "Yeah... oops." Then he looked around at the others. "Okay... so, my other best fairy pal Hollani would have liked to be here to know this but as you know, Nidale's minions KILLED HER!!!" he spat out the last words in Nidale's direction, "before she could find out." He shrugged. "Anyway I know none of you care about Hollani, this nice sunflower haired cutie who resorted to unconventional means to save the life of a hopelessly stranded single man and all that..." As the civilian fairies started muttering angrily all around them and Nidale began to sweat, he waved them off. "Anyhoot. About those bunnies..."
 
***
 
"You mean they have been hiding right under our noses all this time?"
 
Jisani Haj-Bollar was barely large enough to budge General Rafiki Ebo if she charged him at full speed; yet the petite woman was able to have the man sweating bullets as soon as she opened her mouth. Her piercing voice was enough to ring his ears, but it was the influence her every word had upon her son, the Clanlord himself, that made her especially fearsome.
 
Supreme Commander Ebo stood in the doorway to the garden at the center of the south wing of the Haj-Bollar estate, holding his hat in his hands like homeless beggar at a soup kitchen. "It would appear so, ma'am," he said contritely. "Information is sketchy at best but two of our top Listeners have confirmed this."
 
Clanlord Rijaal Haj-Bollar's clammy hands trembled as he tried to remain calm, stroking his chin. "Spies..." he said quietly, pacing. "In the Council meeting." He turned sharply to General Ebo. "The Cerulean Dawn, you say?"
 
Ebo nodded. "That is the name they kept hearing, sir. They apparently came to acquire Roshana. We have no idea who they are. As you said, we suspect them to be spies. Sympathizers working for Chieftain Linjara, no doubt."
 
"Then she's not dead after all..." the Clanlord sucked in a deep breath, looking up at the sky where the sun had already passed the field of vision allowed by the house walls and was well on its way toward the horizon. "We were tricked!" He clenched his fists. "We all wanted to see her dead and a handful of traitorous telepaths took advantage of that." He snorted. "I didn't even think to look for any blood on the floor or walls where they supposedly shot her..."
 
"And Linjara covered for Roshana by arguing with us outside, too..." Ebo added. "A classic distraction. And we completely fell for it!"
 
Rijaal's mother glared in anger as Ebo tried to reassure him, "In any case, we shouldn't dwell on that. What's done is done. My men are already looking for her..."
 
Jisani Haj-Bollar cut him short, "Absegami is a pretty damned big world, Supreme Commander! By now they could have hopped a transport to Nangwaya territory. By now they could be as far away as the other side of the planet!" To her son she added, "We don't even have the resources to pursue her or her allies, what with the Imperishable Empire sure to appear any minute now-"
 
"Mother, as I said, she is a Siluvaran covert ops agent.. a commando. She said she wanted access to a transmitter," Clanlord Rijaal explained, causing his mother to put her hand over her mouth. "We must find her at all costs. Now. Or we will have worse to worry about than being annihilated..."
 
"Oh no... the Siluvarans will send Matrons as soon as they get her signal and learn that we're here..." the haunted look crossed Jisani's face. "They'll be all over us in mere hours. We'll be turned into fairies, just like at Ke'yeppa Beta..."
 
"Our combat satellite network is active," Clanlord Rijaal clasped his hands behind his back in a show of calmness and control. "The satellites will block their transmissions and also determine their location." Then he commanded, "General Ebo... intensify your search for this... 'Cerulean Dawn'."
 
"Yes si..." The Supreme Commander's salute stopped in mid-swing as the device in his ear started flashing red and beeping. "Yes, sir..." He tapped the device reflexively. "Supreme Commander Ebo here..."
 
The same thing happened to Clanlord Rijaal as well; a moment later his face went pallid as the blood seemed to drain from his head. He cast his mother a haunted look, being the first to announce, "Combat satellites have detected a massive number of objects jumping out of hyperspace roughly two million miles away in the planet's orbital path."
 
"Their combined mass equals three-quarters of our moon's mass..." Supreme Commander Ebo added, clearing his throat as he stiffened and tried to maintain his composure. "It's the Imperishable Empire. They're already here."