Children of Trident Book 1: Broken Treaty

Awkward Dinner

Nate

    Nate followed the soldier away from the greeting party that met the family in the docking bay. As they walked down the hall, they watched through the windows as Cassielle approached the lady from the hall of interrogation rooms and bowed deeply. In unison, everyone in attendant bowed as well.

    Nate and the family followed the soldier from that corridor and to an elevator. It had enough space for their entire party and their escort with enough space to fit twice as many people. Nate figured it had something to do with the docking bay.

    The wall next to the door, where Nate expected to see different floor selections, had a single panel. The lead soldier entered a command, and the elevator began to move. When they arrived at their destination, the family exited the elevator and walked along a walled corridor that led into a large ballroom sized lounging space.

    Beige textured flooring extended into the space. Tasteful decorations of dried plants and landscape paintings were hung on the walls and Nate recognized some of the portraits of past Kalli leaders. Several groups of red couches and armchairs were scattered around, with one corner designated as a children’s area. One wall looked out into the stars, while the other wall had several doors leading into other rooms of the area. The far side of the room also held several doors. A woman exited from one of the doors opposite the windows.

    “Welcome aboard the Justine,” she said. “My name is Inak, and I have been assigned by Admiral Gilk to assist you with whatever you need.” She bowed deeply.

    Inak wore a green tunic with black leggings and calf boots. She wore a dark green head scarf that covered her hair, neck, and shoulders. On her left arm she had a yellow band with a white band in the middle and a purple band.

    “Hi,” Nate responded.

    He stepped further into the room. The adults followed him while the children scattered to explore the new space.

    “Do you know our names?” Nate asked her.

    “Not yet. I hope the accommodations are to your liking.” She bowed her head again.

    “Sure. Um, we’re not used to space travel. Could you show us around?”

    “I would be honored. Back here,” she said leading to the row of doors on the far wall, “are the sleeping quarters. Each door leads to four private rooms each with a private washroom. Over here,” she said pointing to the row of doors she exited from, “you have your food preparation area, dining area, and exercise rooms.”

    “Great. If we have any additional questions, how would we get a hold of you?”

    “I’m sorry?” Inak looked uncomfortable.

    “How do we summon you if we need your help?” Celia asked.

    “Ask one of the soldiers over by the entrance. I have my own quarters on this level so I will be available any time you need assistance.” Inak immediately relaxed.

    “Thank you, Inak,” Rose said taking over. “I’m Rose, and this is Hank, my husband.”

    She went to shake Inak’s hand, but Inak quickly backed away. “I’m so sorry, ma’am,” she said bowing her head and hiding her hands behind her back. “I cannot lay hands on you. I am not of the right status.”

    “Huh?” Celia asked.

    “You are of the Kalli family. The highest family of the Trident high-borns. I come from a common family from the planet Huil. I am not allowed to lay hands on you unless you are in mortal danger.” She looked back up and glanced from one adult to the next.

    “Alright,” Nate said. “I’m Nate and the rest of our names you can learn later. Can we have a moment please?”

    Inak seemed relieved at his offer to excuse her. She walked quickly back down the hall to the entrance and went into a room behind a hidden door.

    “What type of society is this?” Rose asked.

    “I think it’s best not to rock the boat,” Nate said. “You really scared her, grandma.”

    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

    “I’m hungry,” Justin said going through the first of the doors across from the windows.

    The other adults followed him and found themselves in a large room with a table big enough to seat all of them with more seats for guests.

    “This is massive,” Helen said. “Do they expect us to have a feast in here?”

    “I believe we have found the dining room,” Hank observed. He walked to a door near one end of the table and opened it.

    In this room they found a familiar scene of under counter coolers and sinks. They found the kitchen. On top of a large counter, Nate saw what looked like a glass top cooking surface. Justin walked to the first cooler and opened it to reveal an assortment of odd fruit and jarred liquids.

    “Um,” he began.

    “I think it would be wise to have Inak help us here,” Hank said. The others agreed and they went back to the seating area.

    Celia asked the guard to summon Inak. She appeared again and seemed thrilled that Celia showed interest in the kitchen. They both went in and Nate could hear Inak chatting away about what each cooler held.

    “She seems nice,” Harold said making Nate jump.

    “She was assigned to help us. She’s supposed to be nice. Plus, we seem to be some sort of royalty here,” Nate said. He chose a couch and leaned on the back of one side. Harold joined him.

    “How you holding up?” Nate asked.

    Harold hung his head. His mother’s death affected him when he was younger. Like Nate, Harold shut down and refused to speak with other family members. Now his father was dead. He let out a sigh.

    “I’m not sure what Kat and I are gonna do now,” he finally said. “We both lived with dad, and he made sure we were both taken care of. I was hoping I could return the favor someday.”

    Nate embraced Harold. He fought his own emotions as tears threatened to fall again. He could feel his cousin’s breath catch as they struggled to comprehend the events of the day.

    Harold let Nate go and wiped his eyes as he looked around the room.

    “What do you know about this?” Harold asked his cousin.

    “All I know is they,” Nate said pointing at the portraits on the walls, “are former leaders of Trident. Mom had similar portraits on her walls on the Lillian.”

    He studied each of them in turn until he came across a portrait of the current High Council. This was the lady that stood in the corridor during the interrogation of Nodes. Nate approached the portrait to read the length of her reign, having to look several more times to be sure. He noted the reign was listed in Trident and Earth years. 925 Trident year; 927 Earth years.

    “Harold, this says she’s been in power for just over 900 years,” he said beckoning Harold over.

    “That’s ok, this one reigned for over 150 years before he died,” Harold said pointing at High Council’s predecessor.

    Nate read the inscription, “The selfless sacrifice to save others will always be the greatest gift.”

    “That’s pretty deep,” Harold said. “His reign was surprisingly short compared to the others. Each of them lasted more than a thousand years. At least the last seven or so. Before that their reigns were pretty average.”

    “Who’s she?” Celia asked.

    She and Inak walked back into the common area and she was pointing at the portrait of a beautiful black-haired girl that hung above the entrance. The girl shared the same steel blue eyes Nate had. The same eyes his mom had.

    “That is the graceful Justine. She was the daughter of the last Kalli to reign before they went into hiding. This ship was commissioned after her descendant was located and rescued. The sister ship, the Ryl, was also commissioned at the same time. It was named after Justine’s father,” Inak said.

    “What happened? Why did they have to go into hiding?” Nate asked.

    “A little over 900 years ago, Ryl ruled over the Trident Empire and her outer regions and colonies as High Council,” she said moving to the portrait of the previous High Council. “He was fair, and his reign brought prosperity to Trident. Near the end, though, a group of planets that had broken away from Trident during his mother’s reign calling themselves the Federation, attacked. They demanded Trident dissolve the ruling board of governors and allow all Trident controlled regions to be free. A war ensued, culminating in the attack on the Kalli Farm Estate, killing Ryl’s youngest child, Mageena.

    “Justine was able to escape the inferno that devoured her home, only to have to escape the very next day with her mother Pi. Ryl’s secure apartment in the capital city, Mandreva, had been attacked and he had been captured by the Federation. They executed him in front of the entire empire. Our current High Council quickly secured a treaty, ensuring a tenuous peace between the two empires. The Federation agreed to stop with their attacks and they also agreed not to look for Pi or Justine. Trident, in return, freed all the planets in the region the Federation had claimed. A little over 500 planets were released from Trident rule. It was only 3% of the total amount of colonies and planets that Trident ruled over, and the resources they provided could be found elsewhere.”

    Harold and Nate exchanged shocked glances.

    “Let me guess, Earth was among those planets?” Harold asked.

    “No,” Inak shook her head. “Earth was a failed colony abandoned several thousand years ago. It is located on the other side of the empire from where the Federation boarders with Trident.”

    Nate studied the portrait of the girl as the group went silent. He could hear children playing with the toys.

    “When did they discover where Justine and her mother went?” he asked Inak.

    “They were never found. I can guess they hid on Earth since that’s where you came from, but until recently no one knew where the last of the Kalli’s went.”

    “That’s all wonderful, but I’m still hungry,” Justin said loudly.

    Celia grabbed him and forcefully shoved him into the kitchen. Nate could hear one of their famous fights starting to develop and felt that Inak did not need to get involved.

    “Thank you Inak. I believe that will be all,” he said. She bowed slightly and went back to her quarters.

    Nate followed the sound of raised voices and found his aunt and uncle starting to really get heated.

    “We’re all stressed right now. The last thing we need is your rudeness,” Celia said.

    “Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Justin retorted.

    “I’m sorry. I think it has something to do with almost losing my daughter and my brother dying.” Her cheeks had gone red.

    “Oh, let’s not forget the magical Cass coming in to save us once again.” Justin waved his hands around. “Let’s just forget she left us for twenty years.”

    “From what Trish said, if they hadn’t arrived, she’d probably be dead by now. Kevin and Nate certainly would.”

    “Hey,” Nate shouted above the two. “Now is not the time nor the place. Take a walk,” he said to his uncle.

    They both stared at him. Justin looked between the two and left the kitchen.

    “Sorry,” Celia said. “I just wish he would grow up.”

    “How about I help you with some food prep,” Nate offered. He tried to ignore his uncle’s comments.

    “Thanks. Inak showed me where the food is prepared so all we have to do is serve it. She offered to get everything ready for us, but I said we could handle it.” She pushed a button and a large tray of sliced fruit raised from the counter.

    “Great. How about some other options and I’ll get the table set.”

    He grabbed the tray and took it into the dining area. Soon, they had five different selections of food on the table, ready to be consumed. Nate went to get the others but stopped when he saw Cassielle had entered. Xander ran to her and she scooped him up.

    “He’s become attached to you,” Celia said exiting the kitchen.

    “Is that good?” Cassielle asked.

    “He’s on the spectrum, so I would say yes.”

    “Spectrum?”

    “He’s autistic. He’s not too fond of strangers, so for him to act like this makes me hope for the future for him.” Celia tickled the child who squirmed in Cassielle’s arms. She put him down and he ran off screaming. Nate watched the young boy run away giggling as another child chased him.

    “I have to ask, is he yours?” Cassielle asked her sister.

    “Yeah. Sort of an oops baby, but Luke and I love him,” Celia said beaming at the child.

    “Luke?”

    “Late husband. He died at the beginning of the year.” Her face began to flush again.

    “Sorry.”

    “Foods ready,” Nate announced to the group.

    “We made a few trays of food. Would you like to join us?” Celia offered.

    Cassielle smiled.

    “Sorry, I was wondering if Nate could accompany me for a few hours.”

    “Sure,” he said following his mother back to the elevator.

    The rest of the family watched as they left. Cassielle remained silent as they walked back to her quarters. He was impressed with its size. Her quarters were quite a bit bigger than his apartment back on Earth.

    “I thought we could talk and get to know each other better over third meal,” she offered.

    “We offered to have you stay and eat with the whole family,” he said sitting at the table.

    “I know. I…,” she trailed off.

    “What,” he said, an annoyed tone in his voice.

    “I’m not sure what to say around them. At least around you, I feel like I have something I can talk about,” she said.

    “What about dad? Why didn’t you invite him along?”

    “Your father and I…will have plenty of time to talk and to get to know one another again. Right now, I want to get to know you.”

    The attendant brought out a steak served on what looked like wild greens.

    “This is Ru Boar. It’s a common animal protein served on Trident, but this preparation is the best way to eat it,” she said cutting into the steak.

    He tried it. It was better than most of the steaks he had back on Earth. It could have also been due to his hunger. The last thing he had eaten was the food provided on the Hilk. She did not seem too interested in her food.

    “Not hungry?” he asked.

    “Too much,” she said.

    “What did you want to talk about?”

    “What have you been doing since I left Earth?”

    He stared at her. “You want all twenty-three years’ worth of updates?” he asked dryly.

    She smiled. “How about what you’ve been doing recently.”

    “I’ve been a detective for the past ten years. Darren is…” he trailed off. “Was my partner.”

    “Was that detective Moss?”

    “Yeah. We had been partnered for two years.” Nate wondered how Matilda was doing. Darren had been married to her for less than a year.

    “There were two others with you as well. A woman and another man. She was wounded pretty bad, but he was dead when we found them.”

    “That would be Lacy and Hansen. They’re the ones investigating dad’s disappearance. Do you know if Lacy lived?”

    “If she got medical aide, then chances are, yes.”

    He took a few more bites of his steak.

    “What happened?” he asked. “Where did you go. I know what you told dad, but I want to know what happened afterward.”

    “You remember I said I was attacked while trying to return. I was given upgrades and then I trained in the military for a number of years before going on missions. I’ve been High Command for about fifteen years now.”

    “Is it normal for them to promote an outsider so high in the military?”

    “I wasn’t an outsider to them. I am a Kalli and to Trident’s knowledge at the time, the last one. High Council and LuHan were the only other people who knew about you or the rest of the family. Eventually, the rest of my command team found out, but they were ordered to keep it a secret. That was until the threats against you and your father came out. Information was released that there were other Kalli family members that were still in hiding. The citizens were not happy and demanded they return.”

    “So, is that why you took the others? The public wanted the Kalli’s back. If you hadn’t taken Gideon, he would still be alive.” He could feel his anger burn with his accusation.

    She stared at him intensely before speaking.

    “I would love for my selfishness to be the reason Gideon’s dead, but it isn’t. They were threatened as well and would have been targeted next if we hadn’t intervened. RuAnn had to save Trisha and her kids from one of the traitors right before I got to the surface.”

    “So none of this is your fault, is it?”

    “What does that mean?” Her own anger beginning to flair.

    “You couldn’t come back because you had enhancements. You had to remove us for our own good, but Gideon’s death isn’t your fault. My god, mom! It was your god-damned ship that blew up! You should have been in front of this.”

    He was nearly shouting at her when he finished. All the anger he had started to show, and he struggled to regain control. A soldier appeared, but she waved him away.

    “Wait,” Nate called after the soldier. “I’m finished. I’m going back to the others. If you want to speak with me, it’ll have to be with the entire family.” The soldier escorted him back to his family.