H: Home is . . . Yeah

This is part of a continuous story, so start HERE at A.  You can also read each chapter in one place on this PAGE.

Home is . . . Yeah

Adam’s wrists began to ache as the minutes accumulated into hours.  The Great Orator finally came after two hours had passed.  George, of course, alerted them about thirty seconds before he strode into the room with an armed entourage.

Adam rolled his eyes.  That foreshadower sure is useful, he thought.

The Vaaldeens that descended upon them were humanoid and stood about eight feet tall.  Their heads were shaped like lopsided pears, and their glittering golden skin made them look more like they belonged in a video game than in real life.  Adam wondered if this was their natural color, or if they took the time to apply some kind of body paint.

The flowing green robes set The Great Orator apart from the rest.  A plume of brightly colored orange and blue feathers grew from the back of his head.  A single blue eye rested in the center of his forehead.  It swept over them, and Adam shivered when the eye came to a rest on him.  “Welcome to our ship.”

“I thought people only welcomed guests,” Layla replied icily.

“You are guests,” the Great Orator replied.  “We simply did not wish to waste precious time negotiating with you.  If we tried instead to persuade you to visit us here, we may have missed our chance.”

“Your chance for what?” Layla demanded.

The Great Orator smiled.  “We may have missed our chance to elude Federation detection.  If you didn’t know, they dispatched an armada of ships to hunt you down, Layla Garrison.  They seem quite determined to capture you, and that alone makes you valuable to us.”

“Are we hostages?”  Adam’s voice came out embarrassingly mouse-like, but he didn’t worry about embarrassment in that moment.  He glanced at George, hoping to catch a hint of what was to come in his face.  And he looked in time to see an amused smile cross the man’s face.  Could he take this as a good sign?  He’d barely just met George, so he couldn’t be sure.

“Of course not.  One only takes hostages to gain leverage in negotiations.  We have no wish to negotiate with the Federation, because we want nothing from the Federation other than Magistrate Bibble’s severed head.  And as it turns out, you will be more use to us as partners in crime.”

Oh.  Those words sounded like a perfectly composed symphony to Adam’s ears.  He imagined the sight of Bibble’s head, speared with a pike and planted outside for all to see and admire.  Of course, death and decapitation were not enough to stop the deluge of bureaucratic nonsense from pouring out of his mouth.

Layla’s mouth twitched up into a lopsided grin.  “I’m listening.”

“The Vaaldeen people have a score to settle,” The Great Orator said quietly.  His lone eye narrowed.  “Though we are not subjects of the Federation, Bibble just ordered our home world destroyed.  As of now, our home is wherever our fleet of ships can take us.”


Proceed to entry I.