CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE RAIN HIT the palm leaves in large drops, the sound becoming a roar of drumbeats. Caina cinched her boots tighter around her legs, crouching under the leaves. Lately, all signs pointed to the Alliance losing the war. The last shipment of food to her squadron had not arrived. She didn’t know how much more bad luck the Alliance could withstand before it collapsed.
They were on the rainforest planet of Norikawa, acting on a strange bit of intelligence sent directly to Commander Lenoir. Coming immediately after the assassination of Zerina, the newest premiere, everyone was on edge. Hopefully her squadron wasn’t too late.
The heavily jowled Castellan had hidden himself away on Norikawa shortly after the war began. A planet of rainforests and large insects, Caina didn’t care for it. Neither did Brian. He huddled under the thick leaves with her, his blonde hair darkened by the rain. He’d become as silent as Geoff had been, perhaps mimicking his brother’s quiet ways without knowing it. She missed Geoff fiercely, and knew it had to be worse for Brian.
At least he could be proud of Geoff. He’d died trying to save her, his last act heroic and courageous. She was ashamed of her own brother, even refusing to think about him. The only time she let his face back into her memory was to hear the words he’s alive. Cristian still lived. Sometimes she was afraid that maybe Cristian had become like her brother, but she had to believe he remained untainted by whatever had happened to Joshua.
Brian nudged her knee and glanced at her, his dark blue eyes flicking at the small stucco house under the trees. She peered through the leaves.
Frankie’s voice came in low through her earpiece. “Move in.”
She ran her hand over her leg and activated the onix. Brian faded from her sight, his onix doing the same as hers.
They moved through the trees, and her eyes strained to see the other members of her squadron. Rain beat down on her head, the cold soaking through her scalp and trickling down the back of her neck. The dark, shaded forest let in no sunlight so the onix acted perfectly, keeping all of them invisible.
Frankie’s voice came again. “The building is clear. I’m going to contact Castellen to let him know we’re here. Keep your onix on until I give the word. I don’t want to scare him to death.”
She stopped moving, relaxing, hardly able to believe their good fortune. No one believed they’d get here before the Nos. It just never happened. Usually their intel about an attack was faulty at best, or too late. Finding the councilman safe seemed improbable. For once it looked like they were ahead of the Nos.
An alliance guard appeared outside the house, deactivating his onix. Eight more appeared, some of them removing their vision shields and looking around at the forest. They’d been stationed by the alliance outside the house for Castellon’s safety.
“It’s okay,” Frankie said. “Deactivate and stand down.”
Brian reappeared the same time she did, his weapon down at his side. He looked over at her, water streaming from his hair, and she caught the faintest hint of relief in his eyes. There would be no fight today.
Moments later, Frankie instructed them to quickly remove Castellan and his belongings from the bungalow. She caught a brief glimpse of the elderly council member as he moved toward the military transport. A phalanx of black clothed soldiers surrounded him, their plasma guns humming on red. He moved with a deliberate slowness, his age making it difficult to move any faster, but his strides were firm.
She remembered the last time she’d seen Castellan and wondered if he remembered her. She’d stood before him and the rest of the council as her father waited for the momentous verdict that had started the war.
A scant five minutes later, the transport closed its doors, and the engines thrummed to life. She sat next to Brian, pulling her restraints on, waiting for liftoff. She held her breath until the transport safely left Norikawa’s atmosphere.
The faces around her all registered a dreamlike disbelief. Brian raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled back before lowering her eyes. No one wanted to say it out loud. They’d finally bested the Nostekoi, and it felt good.
Later that night, despite their fatigue, she and Brian partied with the rest of the squadron at the makeshift club on the base. The small warehouse had been empty for a while, so some of the soldiers had strung up lights and someone brought in a sound system.
Multicolored lights blinked on the ceiling, and music boomed out a jumpy bass line that she couldn’t resist. On the crowded dance floor, she swayed and bumped against Brian, knocking him off balance. He laughed at her, his eyes sparkling. She hadn’t seen him happy like that since Geoff had died a month ago.
Her long hair felt silky against her bare back. She wore a bright green dress that shimmered against her thighs and swirled when she turned. Brian lifted his wrist and took her picture. She laughed and stuck out her tongue.
A couple of boys danced with her, and she moved around them, though she didn’t get too close. She ignored the ache inside, allowing a moment of fantasy where Cristian was with her, his hands on her waist, whispering something in her ear. She closed her eyes against the pain and pushed the thought away.
She left the revelry early, falling into her bunk in the women’s quarters. She pulled the sheet up to her chin and stared out the window at the full moon. Somewhere out there Cristian was alive. If Joshua hadn’t lied. But why would he? And why would he tell her Cristian lived? He wanted to give her hope? For once she couldn’t stop thinking about her brother.
He hadn’t seemed to care about Geoff’s death. She pressed her hands against her eyes as a few tears slipped through. She’d cried so many times for her silent, strong cousin. She knew Joshua had cared about him. They were like brothers. What had she seen in Joshua’s red eyes before she’d slapped him? Nothing. She knew she’d seen nothing. He was cold. Or was he?
She rolled over, thinking about Cristian. She remembered his pale face when they’d first discovered his knee, and the stutter in his voice when he spoke about the Nostekoi. He’d been so afraid. She hoped he wasn’t afraid now, that wherever he was, he felt safe.
***
Cristian ate hungrily. He loved food now, even the dehydrated meal packets that weren’t worth that much enthusiasm. His confinement over the past year had been a living hell of neglect and pain. There were days when he’d been deprived of food, so now he ate like every meal might be his last.
The gray jumpsuit hung on his body, and his knuckles jutted out from his bony fingers. His whole body was weak and wasted, but at least he still lived. He survived the boredom and the incessant loneliness by remembering Caina. Even though she probably thought he was dead and had moved on, he still found comfort in the few memories he’d burrowed away and cherished. He loved remembering the last time they’d danced at Joshua’s graduation––how she didn’t know he loved her then. When he’d kissed her, it had filled his senses until he couldn’t think. The memory still warmed him, no matter what pain he endured or how hunger gnawed at him. He always had those memories.
Over the past month, his captivity had gradually improved, though he had no idea why. No longer in isolation, he joined other captives in a larger cell block. Their rooms were small, crammed together, the level open several stories high. Everywhere he looked he saw cells. The Nostekoi seemed to be expecting a lot of prisoners when they built this facility. They must have been planning this for quite a while.
Some new prisoners had joined them yesterday, and he learned one or two were Alliance officers. It didn’t look good. As usual, the Nostekoi were winning.
It didn’t improve their mood, however. If anything, these new captives made Nostekoi guards more irritable.
“How long have you been here?” one of the new prisoners said in a low voice to Cristian. Long rows of tables and benches stretched out across the vast space of the prison eating hall. Nostekoi soldiers walked around, though none of them with the red eyes he’d seen when Cristian first came. They seemed to be a rarity.
“A y-year.” His stuttering hadn’t left, much to his bitter amusement.
“I heard they killed all their captives,” the man said, his broad face betraying his fear. A large man with wide shoulders and legs as thick as a tree, he hulked over the edge of the table, his hands clasped together.
“Apparently not,” Cristian answered. “Sometimes they do.”
“Because they try to escape?” the man asked, furtively glancing at the Nostikoi guards.
The laugh that spilled from Cristian’s lips barely made a sound. As brittle as the smile that stretched across his lips, it scraped like a cough. “No one is that stupid.”
“Why not?” the man pressed.
Cristian sighed, looking down at his scarred hands. “If they d-don’t notice you, k-keep it that way.”
“How many people have escaped?”
He stared back at the naïve Alliance soldier. “Don’t do it. They’ll t-torture you and then kill you. If you’re lucky.”
The man didn’t look appeased, his eyes hunting around the room.
Cristian didn’t know how else to explain what the Nos were like. He’d been hoping to have someone to talk to, but it seemed this man was determined to die.
A loud bark from the guards echoed through the room and everyone went silent. The soldiers now stood at attention, rigidly holding their weapons up at their shoulders.
A slim figure in black entered the hall. He looked at the prisoners with a red gaze. Cristian’s blood ran cold. Joshua stared down at the prisoners, his hands behind his back as he walked through the hall. A soldier approached him and saluted.
Joshua barely acknowledged the man, continuing his course. His eyes never met Cristian’s, though he was about to pass within an arm’s length. It was clear that Joshua had become an officer now, someone moving up in the ranks. Far from fighting the Nostekoi brainwashing, he had now become a part of it. The waste of the last year, of being away from Caina, of returning to the torture of the Nostekoi to try to save Joshua rose like nausea in Cristian’s throat. He’d endured it all for nothing. Lightheaded with rage, he shoved his plate off the table. It landed at Joshua’s feet, splattering food on his boots. The room went silent. Every Nostekoi turned to look at them.
Cristian never saw Joshua’s hand close around his neck. With supernatural strength, the hand squeezed his windpipe. The excruciating pain made Cristian flail out, his dry lungs convulsing for air that wouldn’t come. Gazing into those dark red eyes, he saw nothing but the cold glitter of nanotechs. Whatever mercy used to be there was gone. With a flick of his wrist Joshua slammed him down on the table. Cristian barely heard the crack as his head connected. He didn’t have time to wonder if his skull was fractured. Blackness closed over him.
***
Caina stood over the Nostekoi soldier they’d just captured, her plasma gun humming and hot. He knelt at her feet, his forehead on the desert sand. Brian barked orders at the line of Nostekoi prisoners who complied by putting their hands behind their backs.
The sun beat down, the hot rays searing her clothing and her skin. Her sweat evaporated as soon as her skin became moist, her body fighting against the desert air to no avail. Another planet she didn’t care for, but another successful raid. This time, for the first time, they’d captured Nostekoi soldiers and a very important officer, by the looks of the shining black bands that decorated his uniform sleeves.
None of the Nostekoi they captured had red eyes, she noted. A few people even doubted they existed. If she hadn’t known her own brother, she might agree with them, but they were real.
Brian and Frankie supervised the cuffing of the soldiers, and then the Nostekoi were marched to the Alliance transport. The enormous ship had eight hatches open, and the Nostekoi soldiers were loaded on board, except for the officer.
Hands behind his back, the pale-eyed young man looked disdainfully at his captors. His chiseled features were as hard as his gaze, his lips stony and grim. She could easily imagine him as an old man, his eyes sunken and his chin drooping with age. Something about his contempt made him seem cranky rather than intimidating. He refused to answer any of Frankie’s questions, spitting at him.
Brian sighed and pushed the pale Nostekoi officer to the front of the ship. Caina didn’t get to see what became of the officer because she was needed to guard the prisoners.
Whoever he was, he must have been important. For the first time, the Nostekoi contacted the Council and wanted to arrange a prisoner exchange, naming the pale-eyed officer as one of the requirements.
She went to visit her father on her next leave. She hadn’t seen him since Geoff’s funeral at her aunt and uncle’s farm. That had been a difficult time, though sweetened by memories of Geoff and the sunshine that shone down on his gravesite.
On a porch looking out to the ocean over a steaming cup of coffee, her father mused over the recent turn of events.
“No one ever expected the Nostekoi to negotiate an exchange. They usually don’t care who’s been captured. I’m just astonished they’ve been keeping prisoners at all. Maybe as bargaining chips, I suppose,” he said, shaking his head.
“How many are we getting back?”
He exhaled, turning his cup on the saucer. “Not enough. But we’ll take what we can get. Now that we know they’re willing to exchange, I’m hoping we can capture more.”
“We might win this, you know,” she said, smiling at him.
“Who would have guessed?” he smiled back, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
She was reluctant to say goodbye to her father, but her leave eventually ended, and she headed back to base. When her transport landed, she disembarked, her bag over her shoulder. Brian was supposed to meet her, but so far she hadn’t seen him. She’d told him he didn’t have to since she could just walk to her barracks, but he’d insisted. Now she would have to wait for him to show up. The flood of people leaving the hangar dissipated and she frowned, checking her wrist cell. Brian’s last message indicated he’d be on time.
A lone figure walked toward her, and she shielded her eyes. “Brian? You’re ridiculously late! I should have left you!”
The figure slowed and a voice answered, “I’m n-not Brian.”
Her heart jumped, and she dropped her bag.
He stepped closer, and she could see his thin face, the painful limp. His body was so thin it hurt her, her blood pounding in her head. Cristian’s blue eyes bore into hers, the intensity and the longing bringing her to tears.
She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Though he seemed frail, he was still taller, his arms folding around her. He bent his face to her neck and she wound her fingers through his hair, longer than she’d ever seen it.
“Hey,” he whispered.
They clung to each other, and then he drew back and wiped the tears from her cheeks, looking down at her. “You’re beautiful, you know.”
She smiled and shook her head. “How did this happen? How are you here?”
“Prisoner exchange. The Nostekoi gave back the least wanted prisoners. I was one of them.”
Before she could say anything else, two med techs surrounded him and took over. She followed, her eyes never leaving his.
***
Cristian sat on the edge of the infirmary bed, clothed in light gray scrubs, monitors attached to his chest. His reunion with Caina had only lasted a few moments, and he felt more than a little cheated.
The beige collapsible walls of the examining room did not reach up to the high warehouse ceiling, but they might offer enough privacy for him to have some time with her. She sat on the chair next to the bed, one knee drawn up under her leg. She was still slim, her hair longer than he remembered it. Her face had changed as well, leaner, though her mouth remained full. He’d had a hard time keeping his heartbeat at a low rate while the med tech monitored him. The medical exam was meant to determine if he was healthy, not how Caina affected him.
“Okay,” a ginger-haired, slightly plump med tech said, hitting a screen next to Cristian’s bed with a pudgy finger. He sighed as if the entire medical check had been an exhausting ordeal. “I think we’ve got everything we need. If you need something, let us know. We’ll be close by.”
“Thanks,” Cristian said, willing his patience to last a few more seconds.
The med tech started to walk out the door and then stopped, turning around and muttering to himself, “Did I send that to Dr. Yoh?”
Cristian almost groaned out loud as the tech returned to one of the screens. It took a year’s worth of self-restraint to remain quiet.
The med tech’s gaze scanned the screen, and then he closed the program. “Okay, let me know if you need anything.”
“I w-will. Thanks.”
The tech smiled, a patronizing expression Cristian had seen more often from everyone here at the Alliance base than he had ever seen with the Nos. Even medical professionals treated his stuttering as a sign of mental impairment. Curiously, the well-meaning pity felt no better than the Nostekoi’s outright disdain. The tech slid the door closed behind him as he left.
Cristian waited until he couldn’t hear the footsteps, and then slid off the bed and pulled Caina from her chair.
A shy smile stole across her lips. He pulled her closer until she bumped up against him. She reached out and clutched his shirt in her hands.
Bowing his head, he brought his forehead down to hers. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“How are you?” he asked.
“Good. But you’re so thin. It scares me.”
“N-nah. I’m okay.” He had better comebacks, but stuttering made it difficult, so he kept it simple.
“You came so close to not coming back, you know that?” Her voice broke on the last words and her eyes watered.
He framed her face in his thin hands. “No crying. I didn’t survive a Nos concentration camp to c-c-” the word stuck and he swallowed and tried again. “Come back and watch you cry.”
She tried to smile. It wobbled, and then she buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her as she tucked herself in his embrace. It hurt him to see her cry, and he closed his eyes, waiting it out. He wound his fingers in her hair.
He spoke, choosing his words carefully. “I had a lot of t-time in solitary. I thought about you,” he continued, trying to slow down his words so he wouldn’t stutter them.
“I thought about you, too,” she answered, looking up at him. "Every day."
“It made me think.” He paused. “I know I’ve never asked you to forgive me for what I did on Saida. I was too afraid, but I’m asking now.”
She didn’t reply, and his heart skipped. Was his betrayal the one thing she couldn’t forgive? Finally, she spoke.
“That’s old stuff I never cared about and you shouldn’t either. You didn’t do anything to hurt my parents. The Nos did that. And they gave you an impossible choice. What I really want is for you to promise me you won’t leave again. I’ve lost most of my family and I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
“I promise,” he said.
She swayed with him in their embrace for a moment. “Did you ever see Joshua?”
“Yes, but don’t ask me about it.”
Bowing her head for a moment she took a deep breath. “Fair enough. I will say that it kills me.”
“I know.”
He sighed, holding her close, and then smiled into her hair. “You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamt about this. Over and over. I’m living the most perfect moment in my life right now.”
“Hmm. We’re like, psychic. I’ve had the same dream too.”
He laughed.
“I guess I should go,” she said.
“Why?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Aren’t you supposed to rest?”
“Nah. S-stay with me.”
“But you should probably be by yourself.”
He didn’t tell her that he’d spent way too much time alone. He held her hand and backed up to the bed, his mouth crooked in a teasing smile. With a quick pull on her hand he unbalanced her and she stumbled and fell onto the bed with him, laughing.
“See?” he said. “I’m resting.”
She lay her head on his shoulder. “Go to sleep.”
He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep with her so close, his mind reeling with the thrill, but before he knew it, drowsiness overcame him. His last thought flickered like a sputtering light. Wherever his former best friend was now, Joshua was terribly alone.