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Samh 1.18.1345 08:50
After her husband’s death, Juliabella’s mother encouraged her to move back home. She was conflicted about this because her daughters would inherit Eloscar’s land, and she wanted them to be familiar with it and think of it as their home. On the other hand, it was not her home and had never really felt like one. She settled on spending one month at the Baron’s and two at home with her parents.
The Baron’s castle-villa always felt cold and harsh to her. The exterior was done in blues from slate blue to baby blue, which did not help ease the feeling. Rising above the fence, were three ten-story sentinel towers on each side of the main abode. Each tower was cylindrical with a roof that looked as if someone had cut a diagonal chunk out of it. The roof functioned as a satellite dish and each one was turned in a different direction. The towers housed the entire Surli army and its commanders.
The main building had more thinner, icicle-like cylinders forming almost a curved wide fence around a circular inner courtyard. Each of these curved wings is where all her servants lived. The main living area they attached to looked as if a child had taken a bunch of these icicles and squished them together to make a house. The roof was uneven points forming antennas and solar energy collectors to run the household and its military mainframe housed in the cellar. Although some of these thin towers extended up twenty or thirty stories, the home had only two useable stories.
At the Baron’s, she made sure her daughters’ governess gave them time in their education to follow the managers and learn her deceased husband’s trade. At home, she helped care for her parents, as well as reading and painting watercolors. Most of them time, she kept herself out of the public eye and allowed the governess and her parents to take the girls out to parties and sporting events.
It seemed only rarely that the war invaded on their lives, but as a captain for the Sintlycia Falls citadel in Jibialand, her father was frequently called to help with skirmishes in the neighboring countries. However, about four months after her encounter with the stranger in the Infirmary, the Xiepvuians attacked Jibialand directly, filling the countryside with both Xiepvuian and Samhi troops.
Juliabella had already prepared to travel from the Surli estate to her parents home. Her father contacted her directly and told her to stay where she was. She insisted they would be safer in the citadel with him. At that moment, the Xiepvuians began jamming all communications. If her father had any more to say on the matter, it was lost.
Fearing for her life and for the lives of her children in a place far from home and where mineral storehouses would attract the invaders, she left command of the estate’s military to Major Tido Mogui and headed home. Her daughters, ages 10 and 12, begged to stay behind and learn under the Major, but she insisted that they were too young since they had only recently begun training in hand-to-hand combat skills, swords, and knives, and had not yet had any training in advanced weaponry.
Juliabella’s carriage was one of the swiftest landcrafts money could buy. She urged her chauffeur to make haste and get them directly home—but also to give wide circumference to any questionable areas where they might encounter Xiepvuians. As a result, they were travelling Mach 10 along the enclosed tubeway toward her home city of Sintlycia Falls. She was more than nervous, since they only had travel data from the last update before communications were blocked.
Her daughters stared petulantly out the landcraft’s window through the tubeway’s polycarbonate shield at the wooded scenery beyond. The polycarbonate protected the tubeway from anything outside it that might interfere with the high-speed travel and cause an accident without interfering much in the views. Suddenly, the vehicle began to slow. Concerned, Juliabella immediately moved to the helm.
“What are you doing?” she asked the automaton, before noticing the red flashing lights across the dash. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Brace for impact in 10 seconds.” The calm female voice stated loudly throughout the landcraft. Juliabella quickly took a seat next to the automaton and slammed her hand on the intercom.
“Girls, in your belts NOW!” She knew they had probably already buckled in, but she wanted to make sure they realized this was not a drill. Despite the automaton’s attempts to slow the vehicle, they were still at Mach 1, and she could clearly see the problem swiftly approaching.
“Brace for impact in 5 seconds.”
It looked as if the Xiepvuians had blown up the tunnel before them and added a blockade to the rubble. She glanced at their speed—165 knots—one last time before impact. As she lost consciousness, she hoped the money she had invested in the safest high-speed vehicle on Samh had been well spent and her daughters survived.
* * * * * *
“Mama, wake up…please, Mama…” Juliabella awoke to Osarina’s gentle shaking. Her lap was piled with dirt and rubble.
“Mama, they are surrounding us. Jurita and I don’t know what to do.”
Juliabella began digging her way out of the rubble.
“Don’t be daft. Help me, child.”
They dug for five minutes that seemed like an hour. Every minute she paused to listen and make sure the landcraft was not yet breached.
“Are you sure it was the Xiepvuians?”
“I might not have yet trained in advanced weaponry, but I am well aware of our enemies’ colors.”
As soon as she was finally able to get free, she crawled along the inside of the wrecked landcraft.
“Get your sister and meet me at the escape pod.” Again, she hoped the pod, as advertised, could survive any crash.
As she hit the button to the pod door, she saw that it was still sound, structurally. She then powered up the computer and set the coordinates for the citadel in Sintlycia Falls.
“Mama, they’re getting closer. We don’t have much time.” Jurita said as her sister and her climbed into the pod.
“Hush, child. Now, listen to me. You two are to stay in this pod with the door locked until nightfall. As soon as this clock hits 19:15, you hit the launch button.”
“But what about you,” Jurita sobbed.
“Listen to me, girls. I will go try to reason with them. Perhaps, I can trade some of our minerals for my life. They will not release me until we pay, but I do not want you to worry or look back. If we all try to leave now in this pod, we will be shot down immediately. If I can convince them I was travelling alone and get them to leave with me to collect the ransom, you will be safe and in your grandparents’ arms within an hour after your departure.”
Jurita accepted this and went to strap into one of the four chairs, leaning it back to sleep. As she started to climb out of the pod, Osarina grabbed her arm.
“Mama, do not go out there.,” she whispered harshly. “I know what they do to female captives.”
“And do you wish that for your sister? For yourself? They know someone was in this car. They will not leave a panel unturned until they find out who it was.”
Osarina’s eyes welled with tears. She flung her arms around her mother for a moment and then obediently went to the control chair.
“I will lock it when you are gone,” Osarina whimpered. “I love you.”
“And I love both of you more than life itself.”
Juliabella quickly finished climbing out of the pod and moved some rubble in front of the door to disguise it. After quickly appraising her work, she headed to one of the escape doors that seemed to be facing upward.
She opened the exit slowly, and when shots went off, she shouted, “Ya patchinyast!” the universal phrase of surrender. The shooting stopped. Slowly she peeked her eyes out. She could see eleven men and three women, all with their weapons pointed directly at her. Even with her advanced training, she knew there was no way she could fight her way out of this one.
A million whys began coursing through her head—foremost was why had she not thought to have brought an arsenal of weapons with her on this trip. She had known there would be danger everywhere. Instead, she only carried one dagger hidden in a fold of her skirt. With a sigh, she slowly climbed out of the landcraft keeping her hands visible, so she would not alarm anyone.
The group leered at her. Eight of them shouldered their weapons. The one with a lieutenant’s rank on his uniform pulled out a transcorder.
“Where are the other passengers?” it translated.
“I am the only one.”
“That is a very luxurious craft for a single person to travel in.”
“I am the Countess of Surli. I travel how I wish,” she held her chin defiantly.
“Do you expect me to trust you?”
“You must. If there were any other people inside, they would have shot your lax men by now.”
With this, the lieutenant holding the transcorder used it to slap her across the side of her face. After the crash, her brain was weak. She began to see darkness and went to her knees. Somehow, she managed to shake it off. She did not want them to search the landcraft.
“Do you know the punishment for the crime of a woman travelling alone?” the man spoke through the transcorder again.
“Women are free to travel alone on Samh.”
“They will not be once Emperor Vimog finishes enslaving this planet.”
“We will never be his slaves.”
This time a boot came to her ribs, right in the one she thought was cracked. She cried out in pain as she landed on her side, but she did not stay down long. The lieutenant grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her up so she was face to face with him. The transcorder continued translating from the place where it was dropped on the ground.
“Women are everyone’s slaves.”
“How can you say that when three are serving by your side.”
Everyone in the group started laughing.
“Serving under us, is more like it. I think if we had not cut out their tongues long ago, they would give you thanks. You will be giving them a rest today.”
Anger welled up inside Juliabella, and she brought her knee into the man’s groin. He immediately released her, and she scrambled away from him, only to stop so she did not run into another bandit.
“You think you can save yourself from your fate? Have at it. I like feisty women.”
As he walked toward her, she held her fists ready. Suddenly from the side a whiplike extension lashed out and wrapped around her wrists, binding them together tightly. Again, everyone laughed.
From around the corner of the ship a man in uniform ran toward the lieutenant and bowed on his knees submissively before him.
“Sir,” the transcorder translated, “a detachment is swiftly approaching. We are uncertain how many there are, but we do not have news of any of our agents out this way. Our devices are also being jammed by the…”
The lieutenant picked up the transcorder and switched it off in one motion before it completed the translation.
“Kelpft,” he swore. Juliabella did not need a transcorder to understand that word.
The whole team moved toward some solocrafts they had parked behind the blockade, dragging Juliabella by the wrists along with them. The lieutenant and one of the soldiers seemed to be arguing. After tying her to one solocraft and programming it to follow, they all took off through the forest.
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