Twinks in Space: Destination Unknown - Part One - 8. Chapter 8 - Conflict

A few blocks from Her Majesty’s Hole, Jintrin knocked on the door to a warehouse. Stawren, Phentrom, and Lyoth were with him.

A little hatch in the door at eye level opened and the Blue face of a woman looked out at the group. Her hair was short and grey. She smiled at the sight of them.

“Good afternoon, Neptithia,” Jintrin said to her.

“Hello there, Jintrin and Stawren and their friends,” Neptithia replied, and she added, “Stawren, I got your message.”

The small window closed, and the sound of a lock clicked. Neptithia pulled the door open and said, “Come on inside. Let’s talk.”

Neptithia was a tall and angular woman with bony arms and knobby knees. Her bright eyes were sharp, and her smile was full of cleverness, like she knew things others did not. She was in dirty half-trousers and a ripped shirt that said OCTOPI in faded letters.

“You look a mess,” Stawren stated with a smirk, causing Neptithia to laugh and reach out for her. Stawren squealed and tried to squirm away, but Neptithia wrapped her in a sweaty hug. “Gross!” Stawren yelled.

“I’ve been gardening!” Neptithia yelled back with a smile so wide it caused her eyes to squint almost closed. She pressed a kiss against Stawren’s cheek and gave her a playful shove toward her father.

Neptithia then focused on Lyoth and Phentrom. “I hear you two are quite a pair. Stawren sent me a communication last night telling me a bit about you, and I’m looking forward to bringing you to our home planet. I’m not leaving for another two days though.” Neptithia nodded at Stawren. “Looking forward to another trip, kid?”

“I’m 27, auntie Thia.”

“You’re still a kid to me!”

Phentrom looked at Jintrin. “Wait, you two are siblings?”

“No,” Stawren answered for her father, “it’s customary for Allareins to call all older people uncle or aunt or nula.”

Neptithia gasped and retorted, “Older people? I did not like it one bit, the way you just said that. You’re only as old as you feel!” She burst out with infectious laughter that caused everyone else to join in, and she recommended, “Stawren, why don’t you lead the way into the kitchen, and we can all have some coffee.”

After several cups and quite a lot of conversation, Jintrin, Stawren, Phentrom, and Lyoth made their way back toward Her Majesty’s Hole with the sun setting over the ocean.

Stawren paused and recommended, “Phentrom and Lyoth, why don’t we head over to our neighborhood bazaar? We should find you gents some luggage for the trip.”

“Don’t forget,” her father added, “there’s a little birthday gathering tonight at the Hole.”

“Oh, right,” Stawren replied. “I want to be back for it.”

Jintrin smiled at Lyoth and Phentrom. “You both can come too.”

“Is it your birthday?”

“No, one of my friends.”

Stawren gave her father a peck on his cheek, and she led Phentrom and Lyoth in another direction.

Phentrom spoke up to her. “Stawren, I’m unfamiliar with the term nula. What does it mean?”

“Oh, that’s the colloquial title for any older Allarei who is the third gender. Allareins have male and female, and we also recognize individuals who do not fit into either category.” Stawren continued. “There are other species that have many more genders, but three has worked well for the people of Allthrin.”

As the trio approached the market, they were shocked by the sound of an explosion. On the far side of the open square, they watched a fireball rise into the sky. Broken chunks of masonry rained down onto the pavement below as people screamed and fled through the streets.

“That’s the records depot,” Stawren exclaimed. “This has to be an attack by more of those damn pirates!”

“How many of them are there?” Phentrom asked.

“Too many,” she replied.

“Should we go see if we can help?” Lyoth suggested.

“We are supposed to be in hiding,” Phentrom warned.

Stawren informed the men in a low voice, “I know people who work there.”

“Then we need to go see if we can help,” Lyoth insisted.

The three of them pushed their way through the panicked crowd that was fleeing from the chaos. Dust roiled in the air like swirling water.

All in an instant, the fire vanished and a massive gust of wind blew out from the point of the explosion, clearing the air but also knocking several people down with its blast.

“Oh gods,” whispered Lyoth.

“What was that?” Stawren asked.

“That was a negative matter bomb.”

Phentrom turned to Lyoth. “I didn’t know anyone had taken them beyond testing phases.”

With the dust blown clear from the site of the attack, the three of them could see the devastation. The initial blast destroyed the external structure of the records depot, then the secondary detonation of the negative matter explosion caused a void to open up in the center of the building.

Before their eyes, they watched it crumble. Like a waterfall of stone moving in slow motion, the entire building collapsed with a deafening rumble. None of them spoke as they watched it fall.

The following two hours were spent in turmoil as they tried to help who they could, and it was dark by the time they returned to Her Majesty’s Hole.

Jintrin and his few friends were at the tavern for their private birthday event, but the group could only talk about the evening’s attack. Lyoth, Phentrom, and Stawren had each showered off the dust and grit from the ruined building, and they were in the pub as well.

“What do you suppose those thugs were after?” Jintrin asked his daughter.

“We talked to a lot of people while we helped,” she replied, “but after discussing a bunch of different theories, we think they were just trying to disrupt things. Maybe there were some specific records or something that they wanted destroyed.” Stawren shrugged. “Fortunately it’s the weekend, and there wasn’t anyone there. I think only a single person was killed in the attack. Several were injured, but it seems like those assholes were just trying to destroy property.”

Lyoth spoke up, “Jintrin, I appreciate you figuring out a way for us to leave the planet incognito, and please, thank Neptithia for us, but I think there are things I need to do here before we leave, and it’ll take longer than a single day. These pirates need to be stopped. That was advanced tech they used, and they shouldn’t have it. This is not how things should be.”

Phentrom took Lyoth’s hand. “But what can a pleasure android and one soldier do against a gang of pirates?”

“You mean,” Stawren interjected, “a pleasure android and one badass!”

Two of Jintrin’s gathered friends looked intrigued. One was another Blue-skinned Allarei man, and the other was a woman with ruddy skin and many tattoos.

“Is that so?” the man asked Stawren. He turned to Lyoth. “The name’s Tenki. I helped lead the Allarei resistance on Belthenio.”

“Against the nationalists?” Lyoth asked, but he did not wait for Tenki’s reply. “I remember hearing the reports that were coming out of Belthenio at the time, but that was less than five years ago. How long have you been here?”

“I moved to the planet a little more than a year ago.” Tenki nodded toward Jintrin. “This old fool has been trying to get me to move here forever.”

“We went through our base education levels together on Allthrin,” Jintrin added.

Lyoth smiled at them, and he continued. “I was an officer on a private space colony vessel, and before that I was an agent for the Guild of Houses.”

Stawren looked even more impressed. “You didn’t mention that before.”

“A few of your fellow Guild of Houses agents fought with me in the resistance,” Tenki added.

“Speaking of resistance,” Lyoth replied, “is there any sort of force here on the islands? Stawren, you talked about being part of protests, but that sounded like it was years ago.”

“It was, and there’s no rebel force,” she replied. “The people are pretty downtrodden. It’s been a long time that we’ve lived under this oppression, and most have given up hope in a savior, but I think the locals would rise up if they thought they could.”

Lyoth chuckled. “Oh, I’m no savior. We need to weaken the pirates’ stranglehold so they can be taken out. You’ve been dealing with them covertly and on your own, but I want to do some recognizance of the pirate’s base of operations. Do we know where they hang out?”

“Yes,” Stawren replied, “there’s a tavern hotel close to the water on Boullia Boulevard.”

“Are you talking about the old Yunkdok Hotel?” her father asked.

“That’s the place,” she replied. “The Yunkdok has a large patio bar, and those goons are often causing a ruckus outside. I’ll bring you there this evening.”

“Just the two of us,” Lyoth told her. “Our strategy will depend on what we see, and there are allies who will be sympathetic to the cause of the people,” he continued, “once they know. Eventually, we’ll need a small team.”

“I’m in,” declared Tenki.

The woman with the tattoos spoke up, “I’m Fonith, and you can count on me as well.”

Stawren looked excited. “Really? Dad’s told me stories about when you were a bounty hunter.”

“What do you mean were?”

Now it was Lyoth’s turn to be impressed. “A bounty hunter? Wow, brought in any fugitives I might know?”

Stawren blurted, “She caught Lith the Orj’gon!”

Fonith let out an amused laugh and Lyoth replied, “Lith, I’ve heard of. Glad you and Tenki are both interested in being part of our little crew.”

“Why don’t we go over what each of our specialties are,” Stawren suggested, “so we can plan how to utilize each of our talents most efficiently. I’m an archer, in case any of you didn’t already know. I am also pretty stealthy.” She turned to the Blue man. “Tenki has a bunch of tactical cybernetic weaponry fused within his body from his resistance days.” Stawren nodded to the tattooed woman. “And on top of being a bounty hunter, Fonith is an expert markswoman.”

Lyoth added, “I’m adept with most bladed weapons and close-hand combat,”

“I can attest to that!” Stawren declared. “You should’ve seen him.”

“I’m not very skilled with long-range weapons,” Lyoth admitted, “but I can handle most standard blasters.” He asked the group, “If any of you know anyone else who has the capacity to coldly do what we’ll be doing, it would be great to add at least a few more attackers to our squad.”

“What about a tank,” Stawren commented.

Phentrom and Lyoth looked at her.

“A tank?”

“Her name’s Lingkrati,” Jintrin added.

Lyoth furrowed his brow. “You have an armored vehicle that you call Lingkrati?”

Stawren and her father burst out laughing. “No! Lingkrati is a person!”

Lyoth and Phentrom did not understand.

“She’s an elemental,” Stawren declared with a smile. “Lingkrati is a spirit.”

Phentrom was surprised to hear this. “I didn’t think elementals were real.”

“Lingkrati is from the planet Axzo.”

Lyoth looked at Phentrom and then back at Stawren and Jintrin. “I don’t think we’ve ever heard of it.”

“Axzo is at the edge of the Olyon Nebula Stellar Nursery, in the Dexios Galaxy.”

“I’ve never been to Dexios,” Lyoth commented, “even when the Guild of Houses sent me to that sector. Real elementals live there?”

Stawren smiled. “Lingkrati took me on the journey to Axzo a few years ago, but I had to stay in the ship, orbiting the planet. Axzo has no exposed land at all. The entire planet is ocean. The people of Axzo are spiritual energy forces.”

“Spiritual?” Phentrom asked.

“Like you,” Lyoth whispered to him.

Stawren scrunched up her face at Lyoth. “How’s that? Isn’t an android almost the opposite of an elemental?” She immediately regretted her words and sucked air through her teeth. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant, since you were constructed, aren’t you… I don’t know, spiritless?”

Lyoth smiled. “We don’t have another word for it.”

“My A.I.P has evolved the capacity to selfishly fall in love,” Phentrom stated, “which is one of the most beautiful experiences of my existence.”

Lyoth kissed the mandroid. “It’s almost as if Phentrom’s programming has become a spirit.”

“Maybe it’s not a spirit,” Phentrom admitted, “but I’m the closest any mandroid has ever come to being a human.”

“Which is why you’re not going to be directly involved with what we need to do,” Lyoth concluded. “The people here deserve a chance to get out from under this oppression, and the pirates need to be stopped, which is why we’re going to use some of their own tactics against them.”

“Will Lingkrati be enough,” Stawren asked, “or should we figure out another person or two for the frontline?”

“If she can act as a damage-sponge and be the focus of our enemies’ assault, the four of us might be able to take care of everything else.”

“And we’ve got quite an array of skills among us,” Fonith added. She extended an arm toward Tenki and said, “A leader from the Belthenio rebellion,” and she pointed to Lyoth, “an ex-Guild of Houses agent,” and she ended on Stawren, “and a rogue who’s been dealing with these pirates for most of her life.”

Stawren was beaming at the tattooed woman. “And a bounty hunter!”

Jintrin spoke up, “But don’t the pirates have an unlimited supply of more of them? Can’t they just always get other pirates from space to come down here and mess with us?” Jintrin looked over at his daughter. “What about recruiting those local militia guys?”

“You mean the Allegiance for Greatness assholes?!” she squawked in reply. “They’re horrible in their own way! And I know they call themselves a militia, but they’re nothing more than armed insurrectionists, and I would not want those blaster-heads taking control if the pirates are usurped.”

“Groups that think of themselves as militias,” Lyoth added, “usually are made up of power-hungry warmongers. Let’s hope they stay in their cave.”

“Do they really live in a cave?” Phentrom asked Stawren.

She laughed. “No, but I get what Lyoth meant. Insurrectionists rarely get involved in issues that have nothing to do with them, unlike how real militias are intended to operate, for the wellbeing of citizens.”

Lyoth turned to Jintrin. “And it may feel like there’s an unlimited supply of pirates, but that’s not how it is. It takes a shitty person to be a pirate, and that level of villainy is few and far between.”

Phentrom took Lyoth’s hand. “What can the few of us possibly do against all this hatred?”

“You’ll be in the background,” Lyoth replied in a kind voice, gazing into Phentrom’s eyes. “I don’t want you getting directly involved in what we need to do. Jintrin will also be a hidden player in this coming confrontation, and you’ll stay here with him. Stawren and I will be on the front. I know you don’t like what we have to do, but these islanders deserve better. You and I were given this freedom, and now we can help them regain the freedom that was stolen from them.”

Tears began to form in Phentrom’s eyes. “I just don’t want to lose you,” he whispered. He looked around at the group. “This whole selfish love thing you humans deal with is brutal!”

Jintrin stepped up to the mandroid and Lyoth, wrapping an arm around each of them. He leaned in close and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “I think you’re one of us now, Phentrom.” Jintrin squeezed them both tight, and Phentrom let out a laugh as his tears trickled down his cheeks.