Vanguard Word Update

2k words

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The administration building was only accessible by elevator or staircase, its façade extruding from one of the steep walls that flanked the Hub. From the torus it resembled a tower, stretching maybe a third of the way up the wall, but this was just an oversized balcony – the real contents of the administration were tucked away inside the hull.

It wasn’t far of a walk to get there, Cadell stepping though into a lobby furnished with potted plants and couches. The receptionist behind the desk smiled warmly as he made his way over.

“Evening… Private Cadell,” she greeted, reading off his name badge. “What can I do for you?”

“Is Lieutenant Marek here?” Cadell asked, leaning his hands on the desk.

“He hasn’t stopped in since this morning. What do you want to see him for, if I may ask?”

“It’s about… one of the Balokarids,” Cadell said, picking his words carefully. He didn’t want to discuss Samiha’s problem with anyone he didn’t have to.

“Oh! In that case, Shaliyya is in. Kith’sla Shaliyya, that is. Still getting used to the titles. I can call and see if she’s free, if you’d like?”

“Thanks,” he said. He’d been hoping to have a one-on-one with the Lieutenant, but maybe speaking with another Balokarid would be better.

Cadell was prompted to wait, and he took a seat in one of the couches, touching one of the potted plants with his finger. It wasn’t real, to his disappointment, and neither was the leather he was sitting on if he had to wager a guess. It was very unlikely that there were tanneries on the station.

He’d been so adamant in turning Samiha in, but now that he had a moment to himself, Cadell felt a pang of guilt. As the eldest of five siblings, he knew what it was like to be told on. It was hard enough to be on the receiving end, but it was better than stooping to the level of being the tattler.

A rule he’d lived by up to now. He was a grown man, not a child, but Samiha had given him no other choice. They wouldn’t have a hope of making it through the program fighting this cold war between them – the simulation was proof of that. He wasn’t proud of being – getting his superiors involved when he should be the one solving their problems was only proof of Samiha’s doubt – but what else was he to do?

“She’ll see you now,” the receptionist said. “Take the lift up to level six.”

Cadell stood and called the elevator, the car arriving with an expectant ding. He was committed now, Cadell pushing his doubts to the back of his mind. As his mother would have said: You made your bed, now lie in it.

He stepped into the car and hit the button, the motion of the car tugging at his feet. Cadell arrived at the sixth floor, stepping out into a hallway with carpet flooring and a couple doors to both sides.

The receptionist had neglected to tell him where he should go from here, but at that moment one of the doors opened, and out stepped Kith’sla Shaliyya, raising a hand in greeting. Like before, she wore a metal chestpiece over her torso, while her long legs were covered in a white hem like that of a wedding gown. She wasn’t wearing her decorative headdress this time around, but her beaded necklace and charm-laced belt sold her tribalistic image.

“Private Cadell, greetings,” the Balokarid said. Her accent was flawless, as if she was speaking English all her life, not at all like Samiha’s or Kazlu’s, where it was obvious that it was there second language. He wondered why that was. “Do come in.”

“Thanks,” he replied, ducking under her wing as she held the door open. Shalliya’s place was an executive office, complete with a coffee table and chairs, with a working desk at the very back, with the far wall made entirely of glass, giving an impressive view of the torus from on high.

“Sorry about the sudden visit, Kith’sla,” he began. “hope I didn’t interrupt you or anything.”

“On the contrary, I have been meaning to check in with your team for a while now, but my calendar just won’t let me. Trying to organise a mass migration to the station is as convoluted as you would expect.”

“You plannin’ on staying for the long haul?” he asked.

“Naturally,” Shaliyya replied, closing the door. “With our colony gone, a trip back to the homeworld with our current resources is not possible. We are organising small envoy parties using your faster ships to bring news to the other clans, but our main task now is to cement relations with your people. Using squad eleven to lead by example, of course.”

“Of course,” Cadell agreed, resisting the urge to fiddle with his collar.

The towering Kith’sla strode across the office, Cadell following behind as she moved to the desk, which was upscaled to her size, along with the chairs behind and before it. Cadell felt like he’d been shrunken down when he had to climb into the seat like he was vaulting a wall, his feet dangling off the ground.

“Would you like a drink?” Shaliyya asked, moving over to a water dispenser in the back corner. She chuckled with her beak closed before he said anything, Cadell asking her what was funny.

“On Balokar, water is a luxury that is shared in the smallest quantities,” Shaliyya said, grabbing a glass and lifting it to the nozzle. “it was not as scarce on Dur’shala, so I’m told, but we still treated it as an acceptable form of currency.”

“You buy and sell with water?” he asked. “Is it worth a lot?”

“Considering we would die without it, very. We measure water in kals, and there’s about… twelve kals in this glass, and I can’t even guess how much is in this jug. If you went to any Balokarid market with that in your hand, you could buy enough food to last you a month, perhaps two.”

“And offerin’ me a cup is like handin’ me a bar of gold,” Cadell said, Shaliyaa passing him the glass.

“Not only that, but to share one’s water with another has significant connotations. Sharing water is a sign of trust and friendship between parties, and it can even lead to deeper connections like…” Shailyya stopped herself, raising her own glass to her beak. Her snout was just thin enough that she could dip her beak into the water and sip. “Never mind, it is just a Balokarid tradition, and I don’t think you came all the way to my office to discuss the significance of water, did you?”

“Afraid not,” Cadell replied. “I wanted to talk to you about one of your people. Samiha.”

“Go on,” she prompted, taking her place on her side of the desk, linking her giant hands together. “There’s no issues between you, is there?”

“We’ve… butted heads a few times,” he admitted. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

And then he told her about what he’d seen, about the needle Samiha had jabbed herself with, about her poor attitude, and how the two were probably linked. He kept the details brief, ending it with a humble request that Samiha be replaced with someone more capable.

Shaliyya didn’t say a word throughout the whole thing. It was only when he mentioned the bag that Samiha had hidden in her spacesuit that she gave a reaction. Cadell expected her to be outraged, or embarrassed that one of her handpicked people was smuggling contraband into the quadrant. Instead, the Balokarid merely muttered under her breath, leaving him waiting for a long time before she finally deigned to reply.

“You said she took out a small bag in the airlock,” Shaliyya said, her tone like that of a detective summarising an alibi. “Did it look like this?”

One of her hands dipped towards her desk, a drawer sliding out. Cadell stared at what she held in her hand for a long time, those doubts he’d had bright before getting in the elevator coming back tenfold.

“Yes,” he said. “Exactly like that.”

“I gave her strict orders,” Shaliyya mumbled, reaching into her belt pocket. She pulled out a small, metal device shaped like a disc with a button at the top. She pressed it, then set the gadget aside.

“Kith’sla, what’s going on here?” Cadell asked. “Why do you have one of those bags? What’s in them?”

“I know you’re confused, Private, and I’ll explain everything. I’ve just paged Samiha. Once she gets here, the three of us will discuss what exactly you saw.”

They didn’t have to wait long. There was a muffled ding from the elevator out in the hallway, and after a moment, a familiar Balokarid stepped into the office without knocking. Samiha took one look at Cadell and her feathers stood to their full lengths, just as the fur on an agitated cat puffs up.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded. She took one look at her Kith’sla, and knew instantly. “You… You told on me? Seriously?”

“You didn’t give me much choice,” Cadell shot back. “I’ve given you chance after chance, but you just kept pushing and never saw reason.”

“You see what I have to deal with, Kith’sla?” Samiha said, crossing the room on her long legs. “This child can’t deal with problems on his own, so he comes to you behind my back.”

“Hey, you said you didn’t care if I told her, remember?” he asked, climbing out of his chair as Samiha approached the desk. If things got heated, he wanted to be on his feet when they did. “Our team is paying the price because of your problem. Someone had to report you.”

“Please,” Samiha scoffed. “Like you care at all about the others. Preserving your own image, that’s the only reason you’re doing this.”

“At least I have an image to preserve,” he muttered. “Addict.”

“Shi’ahk,” she spat. “You can’t even-”

“Enough!” Shaliyya shouted, her booming voice so loud Cadell almost felt it in his chest. “Both of you need to calm yourselves. I’m not the only one of this floor, do you want every ranking officer to hear you quarrel?”

Cadell didn’t think Shaliyya was capable of such rage, and he felt compelled to keep his mouth shut. Samiha seemed equally afflicted, the two of them standing like children before an outraged parent.

“You’re supposed to be working together,” Shaliyya sighed. “but I see you’ve both been at odds for some time now. Perhaps the Senator was right, and integrating our forces will be harder than I imagined. Sit, both of you.”

Samiha begrudgingly pulled up a chair, taking a seat to his immediate right as Cadell followed suit.

“I was hoping to have this conversation in a much less strenuous environment,” Shaliyya continued. “but it seems I was in error to delay it so. Show him, Samiha.”

Samiha rolled her eyes, then reached into her pocket. She produced the small pouch that contained whatever she used to inject herself.

“Balokarids carry their necessities on their person at all times,” Shaliyya explained. “As you can see, I have a pouch of my own as well. There are certain plants that grow on Balokar that have psychoactive chemicals that increase blood sugar levels and noradrenaline output when ingested, helping us to stay focused and alert for longer periods of time.”

“So they are drugs,” Cadell said. “And you’re both carryin’ them around.”

“They play a critical role in our lives, just as eating and drinking are to you,” Shaliyya continued. “our people have been exposed to such compounds for countless generations, and regular ingestion is crucial to our very wellbeing. From what I know of human culture, your people frown upon the use of herbs and powders in this matter, you give people who use or need them negative connotations, like when you called Samiha an ‘addict’ just now. I would ask that you do not compare her or I to such standards. We are not humans, and we will not judge you as we would a Balokarid. At least, I hope we are not,” she added, giving Samiha a pointed look. “Understand that our very livelihood relies on access to our reagents, and the symptoms of withdrawal range from fever to potential organ failure.”

Cadell rubbed his temple, leaning back in his chair. He’d come here to get rid of Samiha, assuming the worst, and it was all blowing up in his face. No wonder Samiha had called him ignorant, maybe she’d had a point after all.

“I… I’m sorry,” he said, flushed in embarrassment. “I had no idea.”

“That is not your fault, but ours,” Shaliyya said. “I had assumed reagents were a commonality among our species, but it seems humans view such things in a far less pleasant light. I will have to speak to the Senator about this.”

“What do you mean, ours?” Samiha interrupted. “What did I do?”

“You used a combative stimulant when I explicitly told you not to,” Shaliyya snapped. “You and Kazlu are in training, you should not need their help when you’re systems away from the front lines and firing at practice targets.”

“It was hard to resist while serving under an alien hatchling like him,” Samiha muttered.

“It’s not easy working with an ass like you, either,” Cadell replied.

“You two are both acting like children,” Shaliyya butted in before they could start arguing again. “Do either of you realise what you’re jeopardising right now? How is the Alliance meant to bloom if two of our most regarded people can’t get along in a controlled environment? How this program ends will affect the war in more ways than you can imagine.”

Samiha rubbed her shoulder, glancing his way for a moment.

“This quandary between you stops today,” Shaliyaa said. “Whether the reagents were your only misunderstanding or not, I don’t care. You’re both going to set your emotions aside and focus on the bigger picture. The question is, how are you two going to do that?”

It took Cadell a second to realise she wasn’t speaking in rhetorical, she was waiting for an answer. Samiha wasn’t speaking up, and Cadell was about to do the same, when he got an idea.

“Well, we’ve been cooped up in the quadrant ever since we arrived,” Cadell began. “Maybe some time out on the torus would be a breath of fresh air would do some good, even though its all from the same purifier.”

“A good suggestion,” Shaliyya replied. “I’ll grant you some shore leave. Samiha can go with you.”

It took two seconds for Cadell to register that last bit, and he recoiled in shock. Samiha looked as if she’d just been slapped.

“But-” Cadell said.

“Wait-” Samiha said.

“This isn’t a request,” Shaliyya said, cutting them off. “You’ve involved me in this fight between you, and now I’m going to settle it. You will both go out onto the torus, and only return when you’ve reached some level of understanding.

“What about our duties to the program?” Samiha asked.

“I’ll clear your schedules with the Lieutenant,” Shaliyya replied. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

Samiha clicked her beak in anger, combing her head with her hand. Cadell wasn’t any more happy than Samiha was, but if it meant getting out of the base even for a short while, he could live with having her tag along.

“When do we go?” he asked.

“You can leave right away. I’ll send word to the gate and tell them you’re expected. Unless you have any more protests, I suggest you use this free time while you can.”

In other words, please get out, Cadell thought, rising to his feet. Samiha didn’t have anything else to add either, and he followed her out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.