Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

Tayel pushed to a stand.

“Everything else I told you is true. My brother. The Rokkir.”

“How can we believe anything else you’ve told us when we’ve already caught you in one lie?” Fehn yelled.

Shy took a step back. “I was going to tell you last night, but who would trust a raider? I need you to trust me. We got the fuel didn’t we? And here’s my ship — like I said. This is how we’re going to get to Modnik. Would you have come this far if you thought I was a raider leading you into a trap?”

Tayel’s insides burned. “You people — you raiders! You’re the ones killing everyone!”

“No, we’re not.”

“How can you say that?” Fehn snapped. “The raiders are doing everything . Killing. Invading. And apparently, infiltrating refugee camps!”

“You people!” Tayel’s voice cracked halfway between a yell and a hiss.

She remembered the sensation of letting Mom’s hand slide out of her own. She remembered Mom’s face and her eyes, disappearing forever under the Top Sector road. But the raiders hadn’t killed her — not directly. Tayel’s fists clenched into two trembling rocks at her sides. There were those dark portals to consider, too. Locke’s journal had mentioned that Rokkir used them to move from place to place. But the journal could have been a prop, and the portals could have been new raider tech. After all, raiders were the ones coming through them, not aliens.

“Listen,” Shy said. “You’re right. The raiders are causing a lot of harm, but I don’t know why. We would never commit to a full scale invasion. What’s the benefit in that when we’re extracting a tax from every planet for not invading?”

Fehn growled, “You tell us.”

“These are facts here. I am the raider princess, but I don’t know why my people are invading. I haven’t killed anyone. My brother, the heir to the raider throne, went to Modnik to—”

“Where conveniently, the siege is at its peak,” Fehn said.

“I swear, I’m trying to help! I need to see my brother. Raiders may be doing the damage, but they’re not pulling the strings. I swear to Alhyt they aren’t themselves. I want to stop them from doing the wrong thing. From tearing this system — my home — apart. Helping me is a chance for you to escape Elsha — to see your family again,” she said, eyes widening at Tayel.

“My family is dead,” Tayel whispered.

Shy’s fearful look turned to horror.

Fehn stomped toward her, and she held out her hands. “Fehn! I’ve gotten you this far. I don’t know why you were on Sinos, but if it wasn’t for me you’d have died in that wreck at the bottom of the mountain.”

He froze.

Tayel darted her gaze between the two of them. “What? What do you mean?” She gritted her teeth. “You came from the empire — not Sinos. Fehn. Fehn, you came from the empire, right? You’re a merchant.”

He glowered at Shy, his arms falling to his side.

“He might be imperial, but he came from Sinos,” Shy said. “His ship — which he stole from the raiders — crashed here at the bottom of the mountain near the fuel tanks. Didn’t you see the wreckage? The crash allowed me to land under the veil of his smokescreen, and then I pulled his ass out of the fire, passed the wreck off as my own so the guards wouldn’t think to look for another one, and got myself and Fehn inside. I told you last night that if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have a chance of getting off planet, and I meant it.”

Fehn grimaced, eyes shut. He didn’t say anything, which meant he didn’t have anything to object to. Tayel’s pulse sped, her blood flushing to the surface of her skin. She’d trusted Fehn. Now he’d come from Sinos, and for all she knew, he was a raider, too.

She shook her head. “Why were you on Sinos?”

“Good question,” Shy said.

“It doesn’t matter.” Fehn’s eyes stared downcast — defeated. All the fight he’d had fifteen seconds ago vanished.

“Tayel, please,” Shy said. “I’m sorry for what my people did to your homeworld — to your family — but I am not a bad person. I don’t intend to kill you, or lead you into a trap, or hurt anyone. I just want to leave. I want to help my brother stop the Rokkir, because I honestly believe they’re behind everything. They’re using us.”

Tayel tried to swallow, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. A cool breeze blew past. Shy’s long braided hair slid over her shoulder. She may have been the raider princess, but she was the only way to get off world, the only way to escape the threat of a potentially Rokkir-led government, and the only way to help Jace reunite with his family. Like her crazy plan, it was a risk to trust her. And though Tayel didn’t trust her, she had to work with her. For all the lies and surprises, a ship stood in the clearing, a full barrel of fuel nearby ready to be poured in.

“I’ll work with you. For now,” Tayel said.

Shy breathed out. “I appreciate it.”

“Red.” Fehn reached forward, but Tayel shrugged his hand away.

She helped fill the ship with fuel in silence, avoiding everyone’s gaze. Shy was the raider princess, Fehn wasn’t who he said he was after all, and Jace was nowhere to be found. A sinking feeling settled in Tayel’s chest.

She was alone.

Tayel went through the same motions as before: wake up early, walk to the docks, slip into the restricted area. The familiarity didn’t make the task any easier, and the tunnel to the woods still made her skin crawl. She kept scanning the narrow passage for guards, straining to hear anything in the quiet other than fuel running through pipes or the patter of her steps against dirt.

At the end of the tunnel, Shy entered the code on the keypad and pushed the giant, steel door open. The built-in light on the outside of the bunker illuminated the darkness. No guards by the fuel tanks this time. Tayel stepped out into the fresh morning air.

She noted the wreckage she had missed the day before. The ten foot high pile of skewed metal rested beside the main path. It was difficult to see in the dark, but the hull matched the color of Shy’s ship, and the bright red of the raider insignia stuck out even against the scorch marks.

Shy and Fehn walked to the fuel tanks and began filling a barrel. Tayel hadn’t said much to either of them after their first heist. She didn’t know if there was anything to say. Shy was a raider. Raiders invaded Delta; whether or not some weird alien race told them to wasn’t consequential. And Fehn… well he wasn’t who he said he was either. Tayel’s only real friend was Jace, and she’d betrayed his trust by signing up with this plan.

After hiking the fuel to the top of the mountain, she sat while Fehn and Shy rolled the barrel to the ship. Animals Tayel didn’t have names for squeaked, buzzed, and chirped around the small clearing. Above, the sky was unhindered by any trees. It stood open and vast, with hundreds of white pinprick dots still clinging to the fading night. Tayel smiled. They were beautiful — the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. A memory came to mind. Only a few weeks before the invasion, she and Jace made a rare trip to Top Sector to see if they could spot any stars.

“See anything?” Jace asked.

“Just smog.”

He laughed.

Tayel sighed. “I don’t want to go home.”

“Oh?”

“Mom’s going to ask me about the stupid test.”

“Mm. She’s definitely going to make me tutor you.”

“Tutored by someone a year younger than me,” she said. “How embarrassing.”