Queen's Quest

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight Diaspora

Finally Commander Siofra had had enough, shaking her head she pointed at "The Morrigan," and said,

"I've just about had enough of you, I'm starting to form an idea of why our ancestors might have left this planet, I look at all of you and wonder, What's the problem here? Why can't you get along with the humans?" Pointing to Lieutenant Geardot as well as Dr. Aelfric and Ensign Lannor, she replied,

"As you can see, we get along very well with humans they are trusted and loyal friends, Queen Maguire's husband is human. As this faction business, light Fae, dark Fae, what's this? Something is very wrong here, As a senior member of the Witches Guild I'm telling all of you right now all this dreck is going to come to a screeching halt and right now!" At this "The Morrigan," snapped back,

"You have no authority here, go back to your world and leave us alone, you are not wanted here." At this point I couldn't take it anymore and pointed my finger at this woman.

"Listen up you. If you're itching for a war we'll give you one, but it won't go like you think. Orbiting the planet you call Mars are two Battle Stars, we have enough firepower to literally destroy this whole planet, but I think what would be a more effective way to deal with you is that we return here with the senior council of the Witches Guild, those ladies don't care much for travel especially space travel, then if they are forced to miss Heaven Light God help you all, several pissed-off witches showing up on your doorstep with blood in their eyes won't go well, no, it won't go well at all. At the very least, we'll haul all your asses back to Isseth and stick you out in the Cantard, believe me, you don't want that!" I then pointed to the woman who called herself "The Morrigan."

"And as for you, as attractive as you are, three, maybe four days out there will be "it," for you. Now, we're all going to play "nice," and take a little trip up to the Nessa where you will speak with Captain Demlin, as well as a whole host of "experts," then more than likely it will be on to Isseth where you will sit before not only the Guild itself, but Queen Maguire, Queen Kolee and King Trueblood. They will get to the bottom of all this, and decide what to do."

"The Morrigan" started to protest, but Commander Siofra glared at her,

"I hope you aren't going to be a hard case."

"Oh, one more thing," I added, "I've no doubt that when you see the two Battle Stars over Mars some of you might start getting ideas about enlisting us to your side. Forget it, any, and I repeat, AN, attempt to influence us will result in your immediate departure for the Cantard, there won't be any hearings we'll simply arrest the lot of you haul you to the Cantard where you'll all rot. We'll then install our own people here on earth and be done with it. Is that perfectly clear?" Since an answer was slow in coming I kept harping at them until all answered loudly in the affirmative. Before we dismissed this rag-tag band, I had a thought,

"I realize you Fae are formed into the forces of light and dark, but is there anybody who is still neutral in all this?" All denied the existence of anyone like that until Fashar's voice alerted me,

"I just caught someone thinking about a wild card by the name of a succubus named Brie, apparently they are trying to sway her to either side." Without revealing anything, I casually said,

"I understand there's a succubus by the name of Brie who is neutral on all of this, where is she?"

"Um nobody by that name," "Who?" "Sorry, nobody named Brie."

With as much malice as I could muster in my voice, I announced,

"You mutts forget we are of a higher strain of Fae, we can smell a liar a mile away, I don't care what you have to do, but you will produce the succubus named Brie as fast as possible, she will be ready to journey with the rest of you up to the Nessa, now…leave, and return here in two days with Brie or we'll come looking for you and when you see us you'd better run!" Our "guests quickly left leaving the rest of us shaking our heads. I then gave permission to break out the "Weidner's Dark," and as we sat down to relax and enjoy a little liquid refreshment, we discussed the current situation.

"This is simply awful," lamented Commander Siofra, "What has happened to these Fae, they all appear to be "throwbacks" and this light and dark business, what in the hell is that? The question is do we even want them returning to Isseth, And that fellow who claims to be a "Blood Sage". In all my years in the Guild I've never heard of that. He appears to be a dwarf, maybe he is, perhaps he doesn't even know what he is, all I know is that my sisters are going to fit to be tied when these folks show up." I sighed,

"I agree with everything you're saying Commander, let's put 'em in front of a full investigation aboard the Nessa, maybe they can figure something out?" We continued to discuss what had come before us and all agreed the Fae here on earth had degenerated into a pretty sorry lot. Lieutenant Vesson and Commander Siofra tried to figure out why all seemed to have lost most if not all Elvin and Faerie features.

"I don't know what that one that calls herself the Faerie Queen," mused Spookia, "And I'm afraid to guess," frowning and shaking her head, she added, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I see now what happened so long ago, the best and brightest left, and what we just saw…Remained." Dr. Aelfric added,

"It's very apparent that these people have spent these many millennia consumed with war, and hatred, hence the Garuda, forgive me if I'm out of place, but do you as Fae think they are worth saving?"

The doctor had a point, Commander Siofra then spoke,

"As bad as they look I think it is our duty to see what we can do for them, I don't know…Maybe nothing, perhaps we should just walk away but I think that decision should be made in a formal hearing, with the full Guild council as well as Kolee, Maguire, and Trueblood conducting the thing." All agreed this was probably the best thing, but I could tell, all, including myself were clearly disappointed at what we had encountered. I then ordered us to take off and hold in a high orbit. The news we were gleaning off the satellites we were tapping into revealed that the earthlings were all a buzz with talk about what had happened at the Stonehenge site, it also sounded like the site had drawn renewed interest and that a host of investigators would be descending on the place within a few days. While we waited, I had pallets set up for our "guests" to sleep on, as well as places where they could enjoy a modicum of privacy. The Inkara was a scout ship not designed to hold this many people but we would have to make do, we all anticipated an exciting trip back to the Nessa, especially with the likes of "The Morrigan," Trick, and Fanor.

We returned to our original landing site amid a raging rainstorm, Ensign Zoxie commented dryly,

"They seem to be able to create storms, maybe one of them is a storm warden and doesn't know it." Whatever the case they quickly appeared at the ramp their group considerably larger. Amid a lot of snarling between "The Morrigan," a strange woman I took to be the succubus and another man we had a time getting them on board.

As soon as they were on board, I instructed everyone to find a seat and strap in we were leaving immediately. We could still hear the acrimony from the bridge. Lieutenant Geardot just looked at me and rolled her eyes, all I could do was shrug and move us closer to Mars. Commander Siofra and the other witches finally got things calmed down, ever since her return to the ships computer, Mynce had been quiet and reserved however she commented that she believed a spell had been cast over the group to prevent an all out war. I replied to her,

"They don't know about you Mynce, let's keep it that way, but I'd like you to keep an eye on them, these Fae appear to be full of treachery I want to know what they are thinking."

Mynce chuckled, "Your wish is my command, it will be my pleasure." I reflected on her for a moment, the incident with the Garuda had changed her, even aged her, I think she had matured, all I knew was that I saw her hologram talking with the other witches on numerous occasions.

Once we were settled in to our flight pattern I turned the ship over to Lieutenant Geardot and went back to visit with our acrimonious guests. Commander Siofra, Jina and Lieutenant Vesson were already grilling the new woman as well as a rather attractive man as well as a very cute female. Before I could speak Ciara and Trick spoke first,

"We are awfully sorry but Brie refused to come unless her human came with her, this is Dayson Trace he's one of us." The man then quickly injected,

""The Morrigan" and her people are trying to kill Brie, I'm here to watch out for her, she's new to all this and doesn't understand the politics of it all yet," I studied him for a moment then replied,

"Politics is it?" I grimaced, then spoke to the girl with her,

"And who are you?"

"Um, my name is Kendi, Brie is my friend, I wouldn't let her go without me." I looked at her closer and said,

"You're a human aren't you?" She hesitated then slowly nodded, Brie then spoke up,

"I saved her life, since then we've sort of developed this friendship."

"I see," I replied, "So you're Fae and your friends with a human?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" She snapped back. I turned to where "The Morrigan and her group were sitting,

"See, there you have it, obviously it is possible for a Fae to befriend and work with humans, even on this miserable planet, so what's your excuse?" "The Morrigan" simply glared at me and went into a huff.

Turning back to the succubus I asked,

"Back on Isseth succubus have pointed ears like the rest of us I've noticed that about all of you, barely any Elvin or Faerie features yet you all claim to be Fae, for all we know you could all be charlatans, well, whatever, I think the Witches Guild and Queen Kolee can best decide that." Turning back to the one called Brie, I replied matter-o-factly,

"When we eventually return to Isseth, You are going to get a chance to meet with Malcanthet, the queen of the succubus you'd better be who you say you are, because if you aren't she'll kill you, simply as that." I chuckled,

"Hell, she may kill you anyway, she's funny like that, Commander Jina than added,

"I know her personally, if she likes you you've got a friend for life…" Shrugging, Jina added,

"If not…Well so long it's been good to know you." Commander Siofra then spoke up,

"I think what we're all trying to tell you people is that you're about to enter a world where peace and harmony reign, it wasn't always like that, but after a lot of blood was spilled, we learned, boy, did we ever learn."

"Commander Siofra is right," I added, "We've learned how to get a handle on things which is what you are going to do, you don't have to like it but you will be squared away, when you go before queens Maguire and Kolee, as well as king Trueblood, as well as the Guild, there will be no excuses, lie to them and you'll all wish to hell you hadn't, I'm warning you all now, these people play zero games, and as I told you before, do not even think about charming them or otherwise influencing them in any way, if you can make it through your first day out in the Cantard, you're going to wish you had listened to me." This seemed to shake them up but I wasn't so sure. Later, I spoke with Commander Siofra as well as Jina and Commander Tormish.

"I think we are hauling back nothing but trouble," he observed, "I simply can't believe that after all these millennia the Fae have degenerated into…This."

"Well for better or worse," replied Commander Siofra, this is what we went in search for, I'm just afraid they don't even know their own history anymore, however I plan to talk with this so-called "queen of the Faeries, and the one that calls herself "The Nain Rouge," perhaps they can shed some more light on things." She then laughed, as she turned to me,

"Commander, I'll leave you the honors of dealing with "The Morrigan,", Commander Jina want's a crack at this "Blood Sage" fellow, so I guess we have our work cut out for us."