October 23, 2111
James Stone
After the prolonged hike through the putrid lands, we finally neared the location of the Striking Star. Horana had her arms wrapped around Narrisa, while I carried Tielo on my back. Thanks to Shadow-Walker, we kept out of sight of the small population of dytircs around this area.
Erryn's ship was parked in a scrap yard. The area was enclosed by a high, decayed clay wall topped with broken glass and razor wire. The two wooden and torn up gates hung open. Everything of any value had been stripped away. Mountains of faulty devices, torn up wood, rusty iron, and various other trash surrounded the ship. The stench was assaulting my nose. I didn't need much motivation to rush through the atmospheric doors. That's when exhaustion caught up to me. Like a stampede, each nerve sent waves of fatigue to my brain, but I just shoved the feeling away.
Inside the ship, I meet with Erryn. "Would you mind lending the two little ones a room?"
"As long as someone keeps them out of trouble," Erryn said with a disapproving sigh.
"Narrisa will gladly take on that responsibility."
"What do you plan on doing with those kids after the mission? You can't just take them back with you."
"Better there than here."
"Best be careful, then. Whether they're kids or not, they're dytircs. I have a feeling that alone would be enough for many soldiers in the ARW to attack them. Many did lose friends and family to their species, after all."
"I'd bet my left arm they wouldn't make it through us. Anyway, that's a problem down the brick road. Let's keep our heads on what's in front of us. I think it's time we go and get that code from Larno," I suggested.
Erryn placed her hand on my arm. "I can handle that. You should get some sleep like the others."
"Not sleeping comes with the livelihood sometimes. It's just the worm in the apple. Anyway, I want to get his take on those children."
"Whatever. Don't expect me to drag you back to my ship if you collapse."
Following Erryn, we strolled off the ship into the scrap yard. A gust of cold wind sent the foul smell through my nostrils. "Damn, it smells like burnt feet and ass here." I covered my nose as we walked. "Atmospheric doors are God's gift at times like these."
"My mask filters out the bad smells," Erryn said, laughing at my expense.
The smell started to disappear as we got farther away from the mountains of garbage. We weaved through alleys of abandoned structures, stepping through puddles of black water and dodging the occasional fecal matter or trash pile. Encrusted in the cracks of the rotting wood, two-headed worm creatures nibbled at the bark. I almost gagged at the slick brown ooze surrounding the creatures.
"This place sucks like a hooker in a car! Why did the prison have to be here instead of… I don't know… anywhere else?"
"Sometimes, getting dirty is a good thing," Erryn flirted once again.
After half an hour of trudging through mud and weaving through the ravaged structures, we made it to Larno's place. His residence was tiny, consisting of four rooms and one window. Like the warehouse – and damn near every other place around – his place was made from thrown together wooden panels, iron slabs, and rusted nails. Every crack and hole in his place was simply covered with more wood. Pools of water and dead grass surrounded his home. Larno owned an ungie beast and some local livestock, which he kept in a pen. Inside his place, he didn't have much - only the necessities. Lucky for us, we would continue to live in comfort on the Striking Star.
Larno was asleep on a compressed rocking chair he'd thrown together with wood and a mattress. Erryn wiggled his shoulder until he awoke.
"It's time for us to talk," she said.
"Oh, yes. What did you find in the warehouse? Was my warrior still alive?" Larno remained relaxed on his rocking chair.
"I'm sorry to inform you, he was killed," Erryn answered.
"That's terrible. I-- That's--" There was sorrow in his voice and expression. "At my age, I've experienced so much loss that I no longer have the tears to shed. I… I asked him to gather intelligence to help the Fallen Tribe. They're our neighboring tribe and single ally. They have more warriors than I do, and I'm just too old to help. I figured if anyone could make use of the intelligence, it would be the Fallen Tribe. That's why I asked my only remaining warrior to take on such a task. Tell me, did you happen to find the intelligence?"
"Of course," I said.
"I suppose it would benefit you two more than the Fallen Tribe."
"We stumbled upon something else as well."
"What did you find, James?" Larno asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Did you know your warrior had children in the warehouse?"
"Children? I can't say I've ever heard this news. My warrior never bred with a mate that I know of. If he had children, he would have told me. It's… it's preposterous."
"Are you calling me a liar?" I asked, annoyed.
"No, I just can't believe it."
"Our prevailing theory is that your warrior snagged them," I stated.
"You think my warrior kidnapped them? He… wait! I remember he told me he accidentally killed a mother… saying she walked in on him while he was stealing some devices and startled him. He told me she had kids in the other room. I assumed he got rid of them, so I never asked about the kids' fates. Those children must be from that mother!"
"That clears up that mystery."
"What are you going to do with them?" Larno asked, concerned.
"Provide them with a proper home."
"Honestly, that may be best for them. It's better for them to grow up on an ARW planet than as monsters in the Military Tribe."
Erryn was surprised by his response. "I thought you would have wanted to take care of them?"
Now Larno was the one who was surprised. "Me? No, I'm too old. It wouldn't be right for them to grow up in a destroyed tribe like mine."
"It's for the best," I agreed.
Erryn asked, "Larno, you promised us the codes to disable the planet shields."
"Yes. Here you are." He pulled out a slip of worn, tan paper from a pocket on his torn clothes.
I tapped Erryn. "We have what we need. We should dip out."
"Sure, sweetie," she said with a laugh.
"James, wait." Larno reached out to grab my arm.
"What is it?"
"There's one more thing you should know. Have you ever heard of Steion?"
My pulse elevated, and I clenched my fists at that name. "I have. What do you know about him?"
"There's a formidable chance he's at that prison."
Erryn jumped in. "Why? Wouldn't a warlord have other things to do?"
Larno's wry laugh wasn't amusing. "'Other things' isn't Steion's job. He's a torturer. Spent years doing that… even before the war. It fits that the Wersillian Legion would have him continue that practice."
"And where did this info come from?" I asked.
"Steion used to be a part of the King Tribe - my tribe. When he got his powers, he considered himself too powerful for us and went off to create his own tribe. He proclaimed war on us, and many of my warriors suffered slow deaths at his hands. Later, before the war happened, his tribe merged during the Great Amalgamation. I guess the propaganda spread around was too convincing for him to refuse. He--"
I cut him off, "Propaganda? The ARW says the lycargans united the dytircs. That's what led to your Great Amalgamation, didn't it?"
Larno burst out laughing. "The ARW says… the lycargans--" He continued to laugh.
I wasn't amused. Erryn didn't understand either.
"Larno, cut the horseshivf. What propaganda?"
Larno finally stopped laughing. "James. The lycargans were a part of the Wersillian Legion before us, yes… but they didn't unite us."
"Then what did?"
"I have no clue," he answered.
"What do you know?"
"James, you must understand this about us dytircs. We were scattered, overpopulated, and ungoverned. It was a hard life. All we had were our tribes. Then one day, some mysterious individual starts spreading propaganda… claiming there was a way for us to thrive, and we were offered a journey… a great journey. This mystery person claimed we could live in peace throughout the galaxy when this journey was finished. Many tribes loved the idea and joined. That was the Great Amalgamation, where millions of tribes merged into one Military Tribe. Haha-shishi. To this day, I don't think the dytircs even know exactly what this great journey is."
My heart skipped a beat. I wondered what kind of individual had that kind of influence to turn power-hungry dytircs into followers.
"What do you know about this mystery person?"
"The thing is, James, next to nobody saw the individual. My guess… the mystery person was the first Warlord of Virtue. After the Great Amalgamation, I stopped hearing about that person."
"Well, un-mother-fraken-believable. This whole damn time, the ARW had this wrong. This is the kind of info that shifts perspectives. I must get this out." I pulled out my cyberwatch.
Erryn stopped me. "You can't send that out now! You could risk the ARW finding our location. Just give it a few days. Maybe an opportunity will present itself."
I flexed my jaw. "Very well. But you have to do something for me first."
"What?"
"Check with some of your contacts. See if they can corroborate this ground-shaking piece of information."
Erryn sighed. "Okay, I will. But for now, James, we need to focus on our mission at hand. Look, if Steion is at the prison, our mission just got more difficult."
"Only if he's hunkered down in there. I mean, he may not be," I assured her.
"Doesn't matter. We have to plan as if he's there."
I sighed. "Very well. Let's head back to the ship and start spitting ideas for attacking the control station." Erryn nodded in agreement.
Through the slums and ghetto, we passed through more alleys. As we trekked a few hundred meters away from Larno's residence, back into the trash heaps we went as we maneuvered through the King Tribe's territory. Erryn followed my steps, and I continued the trip back by hopping and dodging mounds of garbage.
"Don't move, or I'll blow your head right off!" I heard a voice say from behind us.