Our Darkest Days: Echoes

[Elaine Alastor]

She froze at the sound of his voice, but hers was not the only attention it had claimed. Her eyes drifted toward her mother's guard, not so very far away from them. Out of hearing if they spoke quietly, but her mother was sure to know of this meeting in detail within moments.

Turning her head slightly, but keeping her eyes on the guard, Elaine's lips twitched in an amused manner. "Truly, Commodore.. I am relived to hear so, however now we will have to add the matter of timing to our growing list of factors to be considered."

She did not know this area of the city well at all. If they were going to make any heroic escapes, she hoped that he did..

[Aaron Belargic]

The Queen Mother's Guard... Aaron felt his veins flooding with ice at the sight of them. Ishara kept only the most beautiful women as her personal bodyguard, yet their flawless appearance only made them all the more intimidating, each scar-free face a reminder of how efficient they were in doing their duty without receiving so much as a scratch in return.

On impulse, Aaron took Elaine's hand and began to walk in the opposite direction of the guardswomen. “I came to Star Home aboard a shuttle.. it's possible that it's still docked here. We can use it to leave, to get you to safety.”

If not, Aaron thought... if not, he would have to hope that the dock-workers had not yet heard of his demotion. The rank of Commodore gave him superiority over them and the ability to make temporary use of whichever ships were currently moored – but without it he wasn't entitled to so much as a swoop-bike. Perhaps the very appearance of the Princess would stun them into compliance, if they were lucky.

[Elaine Alastor]

Never in all her life had a man dared to take her by the hand and walk off with her. Elaine was a trifle shocked that it was happening now, even if she had instigated the whole thing. The unfamiliar, but not unwanted, act left her suddenly speechless, following him along without complaint, her eyes slightly wide with excitement.

There was a first time for everything!

Only moments ago she had tried to purvey her sense of urgency to Aaron by touch. Her own impeccably soft hands, that had never lifted a finger to work in her life, clinging to his, hands that she knew to be capable of action and aggression when the situation called for it - and he had let her go. Now, however, it seemed that they would have their chance at freedom!

"To get us to safety..", she corrected. "Let us hope Fate smiles on us today. Lead on, Commodore."

[Aaron Belargic]

The 'city' was large, but it was not difficult to navigate. It had been built with to maximize aesthetic appeal, one feature of which was a graceful simplicity of design. There were no winding streets, no shady back alleys. From the perspective of maintaining the peace, it was ideal, though it made any crafty escapes – the kind which Aaron thought might be necessary – rather difficult.

Fortunately, they were not far from the main docking compound. The guards followed at a slow yet still predatory pace as they moved towards their destination. They were, Aaron imagined, waiting for the moment when Belargic did something overtly incriminating before they sprung into action. It could only be so long before a condemned man with a pistol at his hip and the Princess in his grasp did something stupid and whilst they were not in the habit of putting Elaine's life on the line, their confidence was so supreme that they were certain of their ability to intervene before any harm befell the Princess.

“Will you tell me why you're doing this, once we're free of Star Home?”

[Elaine Alastor]

Elaine was entirely too afraid of what she would see if she turned to look back. Moving forward and seeing it through now seemed like the only option. Sticking close to Aaron's side, she nodded in agreement.

"If that would please you, yes. I'll explain it all to you in vivid detail." Just get me out of here.., she thought.

She couldn't help but note the similarities in their present plans to flee Hapes, to her old day dreams of another man coming to spirit her away to freedom and promise. Aaron's brother. A scandalous pirate, or a condemned naval officer? Did it really matter to her that she had been compelled to go and petition him for her own abduction?

Slanting her aqua gaze upon the man at her side, her lips pressed into a hard line, to keep from smiling. She was actually enjoying herself! When was the last time that had happened?

[Aaron Belargic]

Belargic, contrarily, wasn't smiling. His mind was two steps ahead of where they were and had already reached a conclusion that it wasn't in the least bit comfortable with.

They took the quickest route to the docks that Aaron could think of, but it seemed that even this wasn't enough. Once or twice he had glanced behind, to see if the Royal Guard had been following, and after a time they had vanished – but now it was clear why. They had managed to get ahead, to place themselves in the path that lead to the elevator platform connected to the docks. There were others like it, at other points in the city, but a grim hopelessness told Aaron that they too would be guarded soon, if they were not already.

The guardswomen did not speak, but words were hardly necessary. They carried pistols and pikes, the later of which they held with bases to the ground and points extending at least a foot above their head. One of those lances could have skewered him like a Sullustan shishkabob.

“Stand aside,” he called out, his voice surprisingly strong.

[Elaine Alastor]

It probably would have been better if beforehand she had known what his intentions for this very confrontation would be. The Royal Guards only objective would be to expedite his sentencing, and return her to her mother's side. Unharmed would be preferred, but if she opposed them, she harbored no illusions, she would share his fate. The ill tidings would be delivered to Ishara that her daughter was a traitor and even if they managed to escape, she too would become banished, hunted even..

With the weight of that knowledge upon her slender shoulders, Elaine considered if it would be wisdom to simply turn herself in. Aaron may still have a fighting chance to get past them on his own, but with the burden of trying to keep her safe, as she knew with a certainty that he would, his chances became somewhat slimmer.

No emotion at all registered on her noble features. It would be impossible for any of them to discern her thoughts as she brooded over the matter. She looked neither eager to flee, nor concerned for her own safety. Years of masking her own mind rushing to her, as she waited to see how it would play out.

When Aaron ordered them to stand aside, she even managed to keep the shock of such a command from her face. What card did he think he had to play, to get them to heed him now?

[Aaron Belargic]

They didn't move, of course. He had hoped they would - but they took orders from the Queen and the Queen alone. As the runaway pair edged forwards, the guardswomen lowered the tips of their pikes and met Aaron's eyes with steely gazes. He felt his heart flutter and shudder.

“Stand aside,” he called, this time more firmly – and in the same instant his pistol, the tool of his own punishment, was drawn and pressed to the back of the Hapan Princess's head.

[Elaine Alastor]

Now that she had not counted on.

Unable to disguise her feelings on that point, Elaine's aqua eyes widened in genuine shock at the unfamiliar feel of a pistol pressed to her skull. Her fingers twitched as if she were fighting the urge to react in some way, but dared not.

She had always been pampered, sheltered and cared for. No one in their right mind would have dared even speak threateningly to her, let alone accost her with a weapon!

Her heartbeat increased slightly, her gaze locking onto one of the guards in front of them in a pleading manner. "Please?! Do as he says...", the tremor in her voice was all too real.

[Aaron Belargic]

One of the guards began to reach, surreptitiously, for her gun. Aware of this, Belargic – against all sense – made a show of pushing the gun harder against Elaine's head, and was rewarded with a gasp of breath from Elaine. “I said stand aside! Do it, or I'll blow her brains out!”

Was that him speaking? Had those words passed his lips? Aaron knew he had to focus, to maintain the air that he would do what was necessary – but inside he was a quivering mess, disgusted at himself for putting the Princess's life in danger. “Move!” he barked, and so they did, stepping aside to form a narrow pathway.

The elevator would take them down to the docks, but Aaron had to keep the hostage charade up until they were long out of sight of the guards. As they stepped onto the platform, he held Elaine in front of him and moved with edging steps, fully aware that just one inch of exposed flesh would prevent a target by which they could disable him.

“Activate the control panel,” he said quietly, once they were stood in front of the elevators command console.

[Elaine Alastor]

It took a preciously long moment before Elaine realized he was now speaking to her. She had been stunned silent by the sudden showing of command and potential violence. The softer pitch of his voice clued her in, but time was of the essence and they could not afford to waste even a second. With her back against him, her hand slowly raised to do as she was told. Her fingers running across the control panel.

Even with her life at stake, was this possible? She had seen the look in the eyes of her mother's guards. They meant to kill him at any cost. A tremor ran through her, which surely he felt, pulled against his body as she was. She was beginning to be a little afraid, for both of them.

Freedom was not going to be so easy after all..

[Aaron Belargic]

There was a soft hiss and slowly the platform began to move downwards. As it sank, the Queen Mother's guards prowled forward and ringed the space yawning open beneath them. Aware of the vantage their position gave, Belargic kept his back as close to the wall as possible and held Elaine close.

“I'm so sorry, ereneda,” he said in a quick whisper. As much as it filled him with dread and unease to continue holding the gun to her head, he knew that within moments of taking it away the guardswomen would pounce into action. The lower the elevator went, the more like formless shadows they became, looming above, blotting out the sky.

Eventually, the platforms path shifted from vertical to horizontal and Aaron's hold on Elaine was gone entirely. An irrational part of him wanted to hurl the gun into the sleek, chrome darkness of the sub-city hangar – but an air of normality was needed now.

When the elevator came to a hissing halt, the space that lay before them was full of dimly lit shapes. There were shuttles and ships of many kinds. Ideally, they needed something that could travel at faster than light capacity, but if such a ship wasn't available they'd simply have to make do. Now wasn't the time to get picky, after all.

“Do you have any private shuttles here, Chume Ta?” Belargic asked, his movements somewhat stiff as he surveyed what was on offer. His gun arm was straight down at his side, close to his body, ready to snap to action if needed.

[Elaine Alastor]

His whisper at the back of her cast a spell of enchantment over Elaine for exactly three seconds. The first two seconds she found the whole situation terribly, tragically, perfect. Then suddenly, it occurred to her that Aaron wasn't even speaking to her. He was just vocalizing his distress over betraying her mother, even after all she had put him through. It was irritating, but not unexpected.

Still, it managed to deflate her mood a little and return a sense of decorum to the situation. As she was moved away from his hold, she pondered; How did one properly flee their home as a traitor?

While keeping close to his side, she quietly answered his question. "I arrived on board an Express shuttle. I am not sure which one, but it was not mine. It should still be here."

[Aaron Belargic]

The hangar was quiet, but that was not unexpected. There was a silent efficiency to so much of the Consortium, and even places such as this conformed to it. In the dim light, Aaron saw figures moving amongst the ships – engineers perhaps, or passengers boarding and disembarking. No one moved with any sense of urgency, nor did they move towards the Princess and her captor.

As he scanned the area, trying to take stock of potential dangers, Belargic wondered how best to proceed. Even if there were no royal shuttles currently at anchor, all shuttles were property of the monarchy by default. Elaine could demand use of whichever she saw fit and the crewmen would be only too happy to oblige. The other option was to sneak on board a ship and hope that it left Star Home before anyone noticed them -

How had it come to this? Every few minutes his conscience would intervene with a cry of staggering confusion. If there were any answers to that question, they would have to come later.

“There.”

With a nod, Belargic singled out a chrome winged vessel, a diplomatic barge by the looks of it. It looked suitably designed to carry nobility, but not so glamorous that the passengers could be anyone of vast importance. Aaron knew the design of the vessel and, barring any unlikely post-purchase modifications, the barge would contain a number of spacious cabins and chambers, all of which had been tailored to provide places of refuge for ambassadors and their delicate sensibilities.

That was it. The plan was finalized in his mind. Turning to Elaine, he held up a hand -

“Wait here a moment, please.”

- and then moved quickly across the hangar deck. There was a mechanic idling around the port-side of the barge, buffing its already mirror-shined hull. He gave the metal one last swipe with a cloth and then, satisfied, began to pace away to his next assignment. Quiet steps brought Belargic beneath the barge, where the boarding ramp lay open. A whiff of something sterile touched Aaron's senses and as he took two cautious steps up the ramp, he realized that the ships owners must have requested the barge be cleaned inside as well as out.

For a long moment he lingered there, listening for the sound of anyone within. All the while, the pistol was clenched tightly in his grasp. A minute passed and no sign of life could be seen or heard. Accepting that he could waste no more time, Aaron glanced back to the pool of shadow where Elaine was waiting and waved.

They had their way out.

[Elaine Alastor]

Before darting out of her hiding place, her fingers brushed aside her flowing white veil, to peek in both directions making sure she did not see anyone before letting the material fall once more.

Elaine made her way hurriedly toward Aaron, hoping their luck continued to hold, but fearing they were not through the worst of it yet. Feeling it was only a matter of time before they were pursued. As she got closer to the ramp, her hand lifted from her side reaching out to him.

[Aaron Belargic]

Without a thought, he caught her hand and the pair disappeared into the uncertain safety of the ship.

Like its exterior, the interior was all polished chromes whose flawlessly smooth surfaces caused a brief spike of alarm for Belargic as he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the corner of one eye and feared their cover had been blown.

The taste of disinfectant was overpowering and Aaron wondered for an instant what had transpired to warrant such a thorough scouring of the ships interior. The consideration brought to mind grim ideas, which didn't bare considering. Instead, it was time to find a hiding place.

Ordinarily Elaine would have been afforded the most luxurious suite on board, but circumstances being what they were, Aaron elected to lead the Princess to a room just a little less regal. Quickly, he took account of his surroundings. The room had all the necessary furnishings to keep two passengers comfortable and entertained during a long journey through hyperspace.

“I'm going to check the ships logs, to see if I can gather any information about where we're headed and who with. Will you be alright, waiting here?”

[Elaine Alastor]

Wiping at her eyes which were watering, not with tears of regret or of fear, but rather from the pungent scent in the air, Elaine nodded. "I'll be fine."

She moved to the cabin's small table, which was hugged by a padded bench and slid into the seat, prepared to wait. In all honesty they probably both needed a few minutes to ponder the choice they had just made.

Before he could slip out of the room Elaine, was struck with a little panicked question. "Would it be best if I.. I mean, should I hide?", she asked with a bit of a blush.

"What if it's not you who comes back?"

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron's eyes cast about the room for another frantic moment, as if the solution to the present dilemma might be hiding somewhere within. “Claim innocence. Say I kidnapped you,” he replied quickly, and then was taken with another idea that seemed quite genius for a moment at least, “Faint, if you can. Just.. make sure they don't leave.”

About to leave, he paused for a moment and then set his blaster pistol down on the table in front of Elaine. With a nod as if to say 'that will do', Aaron turned and hurried out into the ships corridors. As he moved, he uttered silent apologies to the Chume Ta and to her family, firstly for what he was doing and secondly for how casual his tone had become with the Princess. The excitement of the moment had thrown his training into forward gear, so that his thoughts were no longer those of Aaron Belargic the dead-man-walking but of Commodore Belargic, a man accustomed to snapping out orders to subordinates and grabbing any problem by the balls.

When he found the cockpit, it was empty and the control panels were just as he recalled them. Not taking the luxury of sitting down, his fingertips moved deftly across keys, summoning the barge's flight path and personnel roster.

“Rouslyn Irimore,” he mouthed, trying to recall where he knew the name from. She was a noblewoman of some kind, that much was obvious from the size of her retinue. The barge wasn't set to leave the Cluster, but it was traveling away from Star Home and perhaps with a little encouragement could be persuaded to travel further besides.

Their approach unnoticed by Belargic, as he sifted through what information the ships computer had to offer, Irimore's party began their ascent of the boarding ramp...

[Elaine Alastor]

To Elaine, it felt as though Aaron had been gone for hours, though surely it had not been more than a few minutes. The span of time seemed somehow lengthened by her growing sense of unease. A dozen unpleasant scenarios barraged her thoughts.

Her mother's guards could not be that far behind. They were never going to let them get away this easily. They would find them. They would kill Aaron and it would be her fault for being foolish enough to seek his help in leaving. They would drag her back to her mother and Ishara would know her daughter was a traitor. Her life after that would be... most unpleasant.

Someone was going to find her here and raise an alarm. The whole of the Royal guard would descend upon them, and they would be trapped. If she pleaded for Aaron's life it would be far more damning than her thwarted escape effort had been alone.

She could leave now, turn herself in and say that he had escaped on board another ship. Throw them off his trail and maybe he could get away on his own? Would he even go? Or would he just give into the despair that she had seen in his eyes when she had first approached him at canal bridge? Would his life still mean nothing to him?

Feeling a little depressed at her own folly in probably making things much worse for the poor Commodore, when all she'd wanted to do was get them both out, Elaine sighed deeply. It seemed the weight of her entire caged life, coupled with the additional burden of the responsibility of a life she had involved in her own selfish scheme, was too much for her. Her shoulders slumped forward slightly as she continued to wait.

And then...

She heard someone coming, and rose from the seat quickly..

[Aaron Belargic]

“Intolerable, really.”

Rouslyn Irimore's shrill voice filled the corridors of the barge, and sent a jolt of panic up Belargic's spine. He flinched away from the ships controls and dropped into a crouch in front of the pilot's chair. It occurred to him within seconds that this was perhaps the worst hiding place he could have chosen, but the sound of Irimore's voice drew nearer, pinning him in place.

“Why is it always me who's expected to do this sort of thing? I can't think of anything more abhorrent than having to spend a day in discussion with those.. slimy Mairan's, let alone a whole week. What concern is it of mine if they have their grimy tentacles curled around Vergillian property?”

The tirade went on, but mercifully the sound of her voice grew more distant. Footsteps clanging against grating retreated away into other parts of the ship – Belargic imagined the woman's entire entourage crowded at her heels, waiting for the appropriate pause in which they could verify just what an injustice it was for Irimore to be dispatched to Maires on royal business.

When it seemed certain that no one was about to enter the cockpit, Belargic straightened and crept towards the door – only to hear the sound of soft-soled boots approaching. Someone stepped into the doorway and there was a split-second in which he, presumably the pilot, was aware that he was not alone, but his reflexes were not sharp enough.

One well-placed blow to the pressure point on the back of his head was enough to crumple the pilot into a heap. Aaron, sucking breath between his teeth, caught the body as it folded forwards like a pile of starched laundry. Five minutes later, that heap was lying at the feet of the Hapan Princess.

“This is folly,” Belargic muttered, possibly talking to himself, as he stripped the pilot of his cap and jacket. “What was I thinking? I don't even know if these will fit,” he added, eying the uniform with a dejected frown. As he had suspected, the jacket was at least two sizes to small, the cuffs riding high on Aaron's arms and the collar almost tight enough to choke. The pilot had been a young recruit, scarcely into manhood, with a slender, feminine frame...

Slowly, Aaron's eyes lifted from the uniform in his arms to the Princess.