Lydia
Chapter One
Divided Loyalties
 
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.� Matthew 6:24 (New American Standard)
 
 
There were two great powers in the galaxy. One was the Council of Developed Species led by the Toraki Empire. The other was the Eternal Dominion led by the overlords and populated by the balorn.
 
Lydia was born on one of the planets the Dominion took in one of the numerous wars the two fought. Their natural fierceness and skills made the balorn conscript them as battle thralls. Using them for mere manual labor was a waste in their view. She was a leopard toraki with an athletic build, yellow eyes, and a short layer of red fur on her head in contrast to her natural yellow coat.
 
Vitalis slithered slowly into the viewing area of one of the training rooms. The glass was specially tinted so those inside couldn�t see if they were being watched. She was a snake balorn, a python to be specific, with four arms, blue eyes, and tattoos that resembled vines crawling up her scales.
 
Lydia struck each target almost as soon as it appeared on the course. The targets came up at different intervals of time and increasingly difficult angles. It didn�t matter to her. Toraki were a warrior species, and she�d take pride in her heritage. Slave or imperial soldier made no difference.
 
�Good,� Vitalis hissed in approval. �But good against targets is one thing. Prepare the loyalty test.�
 
Part of the floor of the training room vanished. A toraki child stood on it when it was replaced. She shrieked when she saw Lydia poised to throw and cowered. �Don�t kill me!�
 
Lydia didn�t pause for long. She considered herself a member of the Dominion and as a soldier of their army accepted she might have to kill for them. Still, there was no way to justify murder. On the other paw, she would be seen as disloyal if she did nothing and probably be killed for that. That wouldn�t be to anyone�s benefit. Regardless, she couldn�t think too long. The balorn were always looking for weakness.
 
She instead angled the blade slightly to the side before throwing. The child fell down in shock when the projectile grazed her neck. The balorn that came in seemed satisfied that she was dead and dragged her off. She would revive later when they were long gone, and balorn typically couldn�t tell one toraki from the other.
 
 
Lydia impressed Vitais enough to join her on that day. She served her loyally and compentantly, but the balorn was still suspicious. She reached out psionicly to probe the mind of the toraki.
 
Lydia cringed when she felt the invasion. Her first thought was to shut her mind down completely and show nothing, but that would only feed Vitalis� paranoia. She instead thought of one of her more innocent secrets, and sent it to the front of her mind. Mistrust was rampant in the Dominion. Survivors had to learn their own tricks to deal with it.
 
Vitalis was satisfied with her catch, and ended her intrusion. �We have another assignment,� she called. �Report.�
 
�Sir,� Lydia said when she entered with some miseream behind her. Like Lydia, the mouse-like aliens were also from a planet the Dominion had conquered. Their obedient nature made them useful for labor while their rapid reproduction made them an ample food supply for the dominant balorn.
 
�We are encountering some resistance at one of our newly acquired planets,� she explained. �The resistance is almost done with. We are to speed up their submission by taking one of their supply depots.�
 
Lydia leaned forward to inspect the hologram of the building. �I recognize the design. There should be an internal defence grid. With your permission, I could disable it from here.�
 
�Good,� Vitalis hissed. �No one else has to come to steal my glory. Do so.�
 
Lydia ran into the data center, and pulled up another holographic projection of the targeted building. She inputted another command, and the dangerous areas turned red. They quickly turned blue to match the rest of the image.
 
�You�re progression is faster than I expected. I almost didn�t get here in time,� a voice said from the terminal. The picture slowly faded and was replaced by an elderly miseream. �I am High Representative Jaica� the murine alien bowed respectfully. �I am here to surrender.�
 
�The Dominion does not accept surrender,� Lycia answered. �Showing an enemy mercy only shows weakness and invites revenge from the survivors.�
 
�Indeed,� Jaica said. �But let us discuss this. I will agree that we are your enemies, but we are far from your only obstacles. I assume that your master isn�t a prominent one yet since otherwise this would be another balorn.�
 
�Continue.�
 
�A young lord with ambitions for power, correct? Wouldn�t it look great for her if those above her could report that the objective was completed without any need for support, and with no complications? Wouldn�t said lord also know to credit you; albeit privately, for this? Any appreciation would be surely beneficial to you.�
 
�I help you, and you�ll help me,� she concluded. It wasn�t the best plan. Vitalis couldn�t really acknowledge her help publicly, and it was dubious that she would in private. Still, Lydia was intrigued enough to continue listening.
 
�Exactly,� she said. �There�s a hidden tunnel in the facility. It isn�t on your map so I assume you don�t know about it. Even if the Dominion later discovers it; they will simply assume that you had no idea about our escape� Jaica�s voice was steady throughout her proposal, but now for the first time she showed nervousness. �All those here are too old or weak to fight in the resistance. There is no benefit for you to fight us� she said before puffing out her small chest slightly to try to show strength. �However, not too weak to be unable to fight. I know you�re coming. If you do not accept my deal, we will know you mean to kill all of us. There is no reason for us not to fight back. Granted, we will all die. However, it seems highly unlikely you will be able to kill us all without injury or without sharing the victory with others.�
 
�If I see anyone there, I will show no mercy,� Lydia replied. �You may go.�
 
Jaica nearly jumped in delight. �You have my word on that,� she beamed. �Thank you from all of us. You�re very brave.�
 
Lydia turned off the transmission and leaned back. She hoped that she did the right thing. Miseream tended not to lie, and even when they did; their honesty tended to seep into their body language. It wasn�t hard to tell if one was knowingly telling falsehoods. Meaning she hadn�t actually harmed Dominion interests, had she? Indeed, she could argue she had protected their interests by saving them the resources they would have to allocate to the capture of the facility.
 
She grinned and entertained that line of thought for a few more seconds. She then shook her head with a scowl. Rationalizing it may feel good, but there was no denying the treachery that she had done. �Brave,� she repeated with a chuckle. �No. If I were brave, I would make myself known. I�m a coward. Perhaps a noble coward but a coward nonetheless.�
 
 
 
Vitalis took all the credit for the attack. She couldn�t lose face among the other balorn by crediting her slave. As expected, she could only acknowledge her contributions in private. One way she showed it was by giving the feline alien greater autonomy.
 
Reports said that the resistance was in its last gasps. As was typical for Dominion reports, the situation�s difficulty was overestimated. The fact was that there were almost no fighters remaining. Everyone was preparing to flee the planet.
 
Lydia hadn�t softened her view of being a coward. Instead she had changed her view on cowardice. Perhaps there was a place when even it had value.
 
She had closed communications with former leaders. After receiving their surrender and confirming they had given up their weapons, she let them leave. They were already broken. There was no point in continuing the struggle.
 
Vitalis was supposed to be at her meeting with the other balorn commanders for a lot longer than she actually was. The conversation turned to a proposal of some of the lord�s about greater cooperation with the Empire now that the Dominion was having some internal problems with the relatively recent deaths of two Overlord princes. She hissed in frustration and slithered into the outpost�s communication center. What she saw did not improve her mood.
 
Lydia had scrambled the image and voice of the other speaker to guarantee their safety. Vitalis had no idea of who was on the other end of the transmission. Not that she cared at all. Her focus was entirely on the traitorous toraki.
 
She roared in anger and launched a huge blast of lightning at Lydia. She then brought her four arms together to command the bolts together and hold her target in midair. �Suffer�
 
Lydia gritted her teeth in pain as the electricity surged through every part of her body, but the balorn wasn�t done taking out her anger. She then rose off the floor before being slammed hard into one of the wall.
 
�The others were right! You people really are no better than beasts! No, even worse. At least they know to be grateful for their food we give,� she screamed before wrapping her four arms tightly around Lydia. She maintained the hold until she felt the toraki�s hot breath squeezed out of her lungs. She then brought over the body and pushed it into her mouth.
 
Lydia could feel the sticky saliva on her body when she was thrust in, but she was in no condition to do anything. Her body involuntarily moved around due to the electricity that recently surged through her. The tongue rose a little to push her down to the opening throat, and she could only give a weak shriek of panic before it latched on.
 
Vitalis concentrated to make sure the swallowing process was slow. If Lydia had any hope of getting out of this alive, that was gone now. The only prospects were a painful death at the end of her journey to the balorn�s stomach. Discipline was one thing, but instinct was hard to fight. An inevitable end melting away evoked fear in Lydia, and Vitalis savored it like a fine wine.
 
Acid quickly met Lydia when she passed down to the balorn�s midsection. It viciously assaulted her and melted down her fur and started to bite her skin. Vitalis concentrated again so only a little continued to work on her victim. A quick end was too good for what happened.
 
Vitalis frowned when she probed into the mind of her prey. She could feel pain and fear, but those were simply the results of Lydia�s self-preservation instinct. She felt no higher drive to survive. Shame and a strange sense of peace were there instead.
 
She curiously brushed those aside to look at their causes. The shame was for her treachery. She could justify it as what she had to do. She would be killed if she defied the Dominion openly. She had saved lives through her actions, and felt pride at that. Still, she had betrayed the trust given to her by Vitalis, and didn�t even have the decency to tell her about the conflict. Honor was one of the highest traits in Toraki society. Treachery could be viewed as being the �best worst� action, but it could never be excused. How could Lydia take pride in what she did? Was her betrayal not just of Vitalis but her very species?
 
The sense of peace was related. She tried and tried, but couldn�t reconcile her actions with her beliefs. Lydia didn�t really have any strong beliefs of the afterlife. She assumed that everything was over when she died, and it would just be an eternal sleep. Instinct pressed her to fight that everlasting night, but part of her longed to embrace it. Death meant she didn�t have to ask if whether what she did was right or not.
 
Vitalis closed her eyes to think of this. She had assumed that Lydia had no regrets about what she did. The balorn were the rivals of the toraki. Why shouldn�t Lydia harm them? That belief completely reversed itself. She was also very skilled. Vitalis didn�t know how long this had gone on, but she assumed for a long time. If Lydia had desired to harm the Dominion; she could have. Letting helpless civilians leave may be treachery, but it was a minor, and she grudgingly admitted; an almost noble one. That Lydia suffered so both physically and mentally brought a small degree of sympathy to Vitalis.
 
If Lydia refused to compromise on one thing; Vitalis did as well. Lydia was a lesser being, perhaps above the rest of her debased species, but one nonetheless; she had to learn she could not cross her without consequences. Death was usual, but there was no reason for it to be the final answer. �You punishment,� she hissed. �Is to live.�