James Somers - The rise of Lucin

"And what trouble might that be?" Grod asked. His deep voice filled the chamber when he spoke. His muscles looked as though they might burst out of the Guniran suit at any moment.

The delegates never acknowledged Grod's presence. Onnell continued speaking to Tiet. "You are the king that fought and defeated the army of the Baruk and now your planet is under the control of the same being that controlled their clan for so long. You barely escaped the planet with your lives."

"We are not warriors here," another delegate said. "We cannot fight an army if they come to Kosiva looking for you."

"I assure you, gentlemen, it is not our intention to place you and your people in danger. I am the Barudii king in the stead of my father. I returned from exile to avenge my fallen clan, but the time was right to form a rebellion against the Vorn, so we did so and we won. The Baruk answered this defeat of the Vorn with an attack on the twin Castai. It was only with General Grod's help that we were able to defeat the Baruk, but that is when their leader, this symbiotic creature, escaped and began a fifteen year assimilation of the population on Castai." Tiet explained. "We came to Kosiva on the run from this creature. What else could we do?"

"You see Councilmen," Grod said, his voice commanding their attention, "We had peace. This was all due to the efforts of the king. Tiet is not some war monger trying to bring the conflict to your planet. He made peace with me and my Horva brethren, recognizing our struggle for freedom. We, in turn, assisted him against the Baruk. It could not be helped that the creature escaped and later overran the twelve cities. We made every attempt to stop the takeover, but we were simply outnumbered."

"If I may, Councilmen," Wynn said-his voice more calm than the others. "Our way of escape from the planet is the key to the matter."

"I don't follow you," Onnell said.

"You see, we utilized General Grod's transgate portal technology, found only on our ship, the Equinox. It would be extremely unlikely that this creature would make any attempt to follow us and more importantly, it doesn't know where we have escaped to."

Tiet grew nervous. The fact remained that his own son carried one of the symbyte creatures inside his body.

"I understand your dilemma, Master Tiet, but please understand ours," Onnell said. "We are simple people, farmers and merchants. We came to Kosiva to escape the war. We wanted no part of it then and we want no part of it now. This province is all that we have."

"Perhaps we should just leave Kosiva altogether then," Tiet said in frustration. "We had hoped for peace ourselves, but it appears you're unwilling to grant our petition to stay among your people."

"We are not saying that you have to go," Onnell said. "Your suggestion might ultimately be the best solution, but we have been commanded by the prophet not to send you away. In fact, Aija himself desires to meet with you."

"Where is Aija then?"

"He lives on the mountain of Honnib. Aija has sent a messenger proclaiming his desires with regard to your group. He expects to meet with the Barudii king in approximately three months from now and he has instructed us to pay you the kindest hospitality. He claims it by the will of Elithias."

"Well, this is more like it," Tiet said under his breath looking sideways at Grod. "We would-"

Tiet's com-link pin beeped on his collar. "Yes." He spoke chin down toward the pin.

"Tiet, it's Kale!" Mirah said. She sounded almost hysterical.

"Mirah, what's wrong?"

"Kale-he's gone-he's run away through the transgate!"

"Calm down, Mirah, I'm on my way now," Tiet said. He stood to his feet addressing the Gunirans. "Gentlemen, I have an emergency-we'll have to continue this at a later time."

"But we have more details that must be worked out before we-"

"Wynn, Grod, if you wouldn't mind to stay and settle this, I need to get back to the ship and see what's happened."

"Of course," Wynn said. "Go on ahead and we will be along as soon as our business here is finished." Wynn had more experience with this type of situation. He remained measured in his speech, careful never to say more than needed saying and his neatly kept white hair and beard gave him a distinguished look that people respected naturally. Wynn could do this without him.

Tiet walked out of the council chambers. He tried not to get too excited. Maybe his son had simply gone somewhere without his mother realizing. He told himself that explanation, but he wasn't buying it.

The Gunirans had been kind enough to offer his group several animals for traveling after they had hiked into the province for the meeting. Tiet unfastened the reins of his leore and climbed into the saddle. The domesticated hoofed quadruped had a short fiery red coat with a blonde mane flowing down the back of its neck. Tiet turned the animal with a pull of the reins and goaded the leore's sides with his heels. They galloped away toward the outskirts of the province and their ship beyond.

When Kale stepped through the transgate portal onto the planet Draconis, he noticed that it had been raining. He traveled in a wooded area of mostly large trees with very low undergrowth. The cold rain drizzled on him as he walked. He quickly found himself in a miserable state hiking around in it, despite the black Barudii combat uniform he wore. Fortunately, his gear had been packed away in weather proof satchels.

At five foot nine, Kale looked every bit his father's son. He had dark neatly cropped hair-boyish version of his father's handsome features and wiry build.

Kale scouted around for nearly an hour before locating a suitable spot to set up camp. He pulled a small, one man inflatable tent from one of the packs and tapped the gas release valve. The tent inflated itself in the upright position within seconds and Kale moved himself and his belongings inside for the night.

The voice of the symbyte organism stayed with Kale-carried around inside his head so that he could not escape its call. It seemed masculine in nature, but inaudible. The organism's every piercing thought sent a shiver through his spine.

He awoke several hours later to find the rain abated and a cold wind blowing in its place. The tent remained anchored in place by gravity pulls and was in no danger of being uplifted. Kale moved out of his new home and stretched his body. The wind, though cold, still felt good to him.

It was already dark outside, but the twin moons in the sky, one full and the other half eclipsed, provided a great deal of light. He saw quite well already and his vision improved as he remained out in the night. The trees had lost much of their foliage. It must be fall season on this planet, he thought. Back home, spring had come, but this wasn't home-just a place to keep away from the ones he loved so they wouldn't be harmed if he lost control of the organism still struggling for dominance of his body.

In the distance, he saw what appeared to be lights-though not bright like electric lights. He reached back into his tent, into a satchel, and pulled out his uniform's data-lens. He put it on and zoomed in on the lights in the distance. Clearly they were lamp lights. He saw a small town, but the distance was a good twenty miles.

Kale decided to make the trek tomorrow beginning before dawn. By the afternoon, he hoped be arrive and pick up some supplies. He thought for a moment he heard something, but it wasn't an audible sound at all. Mentally he had heard something and it wasn't the voice of the symbyte either. He had grown very accustomed to that voice in his head now-single minded in its struggle for control.

This seemed as though he had heard the thoughts of another-someone or something intelligent nearby. He sensed it again, as clear as any real voice. He whirled around searching with all his senses for the source. Kale felt for a weapon with his mind. His Barudii blade remained sheathed just inside the tent door.