Children of Trident Book 1: Broken Treaty

Seeing the Family

Cassielle

    The look of sorrow on High Council’s face humbled Cassielle. How could she bring up High Council’s failure so rashly? She had been close to Ryl and Pi when he was executed. In many ways, High Council blamed herself for the position Cassielle and her family were in. Maybe she was right. Cassielle needed to take a step back.

    She walked through the quiet halls back to her own quarters and began to pace. Her anger at herself started to well. After a few moments, she called for Jacobee.

    “I am handing command of the mission over to you,” she said as soon as he arrived.

    “Yes, High Command. May I ask why?”

    “High Council believes I am too close to mission, and I need a break. She may be right. Although I may disagree with her, I have no choice as it was a direct order. I want to be kept up to date on the search for this operative’s base and followers,” she answered. She started to pace again. “I can house my family at the Farm Estate since it has high security. I can at least keep them safe.”

    “Yes, High Command. I will keep you notified of any developments. Will I keep High Council updated as well?”

    “Yes. She knows I have no choice but to follow the order, but I believe it will be better if she knows about it.”

    Jacobee saluted and left.

    The talk with Jacobee had a calming effect on her. Now that her involvement with the mission officially ended, she no longer had a reason not to dress as one of the highest members of the imperial society. She walked to her desk and summoned her attendants. They assisted her in changing into her official High Command robes. She wore floor length, long sleeved, pale red robes that went over the standard leggings, off-white shirt, and calf-boots. The attendants combed and braided her long hair, wrapping it around her hair line. Small diamonds and flowers adorned the braid in various spots.

    While on a mission on her own ship, she dressed as she pleased, but once she presented herself as High Command, she needed to conform. Due to the emergent nature of the meeting, her garments had been ignored. Now, she looked like a leader of the Trident Empire.

    Second in command of an empire had rules that needed to be followed. She would have been third, but the High Regent position remained vacant. High Regent was recognized as the official representative of High Council and as the successor to the rule of Trident. The last person to hold the title had been Ryl. His daughter, Justine was supposed to inherit the title when she turned twenty, but that never happened.

    Cassielle left her quarters followed by two attendants and two guards. There was no elevator on this ship, just a long, circular path that wound around the central engine core. Every so often, a long hall would extend off the path, leading to most, if not all, the rooms located on that floor.

    The upper decks were dedicated to the main ship operations. This housed the captain, officers, and Trident leaders when they traveled on the ship. Both Cassielle’s and High Council’s quarters were located here. The bridge and command offices were also located here.

    The next few floors of the ship contained the medical bay, lounging, crew quarters, and the guest area. Many secondary offices were located on these levels, including recreational and personal grooming. Further down the ship were the docking bay, prisoner holds, and training rooms for soldiers. The main engine room was also located at the base of the center column.

    The halls remained mostly vacant with one or two soldiers moving to the side and saluting as she passed. Cassielle led the way to the medical bay and the medical staff all saluted as she passed by them. LuHan greeted her with a salute as well.

    “High Command, we were not expecting you at this time,” he said.

    “Where are they?”

    “This way.”

    He led her to a private room within the medical bay where Nate and Kevin were secluded. The stasis beds the men were in had activated dome shaped covers that could facilitate both healing and sedation. The technology that facilitated the healing components of a stasis bed was relatively new, being discovered shortly before Ryl had been executed. The sedation and near hibernative stasis aspects of the beds had been around for a few thousand years.

    Two chairs were located between the beds, one being occupied by Rose. Her face flushed when she saw Cassielle and LuHan approach.

    “Excuse me,” she said trying to leave.

    “It’s ok,” Cassielle said holding her hand up. “I wanted to speak with you, but I need to see how they are doing. Go ahead and sit, this will only be a moment.”

    LuHan left them alone and Rose sat down and started to fidget. She looked for something to occupy her attention. She settled on a magazine she had in her purse. Cassielle smiled and went to the bed to her left. The holographic screen at the end showed her Kevin’s vitals. He remained stable while in stasis. He had been poisoned with Athrim, a Trident bioweapon. There were three known ways of surviving it, and the time for the first of the options had passed. Kevin would need a regeneration upgrade if he were to survive. The third option would probably never be an option for him.

    She moved to the other bed and read the screen. Nate suffered from two skull fractures, a broken nose, several shattered teeth, a broken clavicle, both hands had broken bones, several broken ribs, a lacerated liver, and a punctured lung.

    Lillian with the amount of blood loss alone. She tried to hide her horror. Rose’s attention diverted from the magazine.

    “It’s bad isn’t it?” Rose asked.

    Cassielle nodded. Her face began to flush.

    “How long will it take him to recover? The doctor won’t give me any updates without permission from High Council,” Rose asked her. “I feel like I should know. I am his grandmother, after all.”

    Cassielle glanced down at the progress on his condition.

    “Well, from what I can see here, just under an hour before he can be removed from the bed.”

    “What about Kevin?”

    “He won’t be able to leave the bed until further notice,” Cassielle sighed. “He needs the stasis chamber to slow the poison. We have the ability to save him on Trident, but the cost may be too high for him.”

    “What’s Trident?”

    “The human home planet.” Cassielle sat next to this woman.

    “I thought humans only lived on Earth.”

    “Earth was populated by humans thousands of years ago as a Trident colony. Unfortunately, as these things sometimes happen, the colony failed, and Trident left the planet to pursue other, better options. The humans that chose to remain began to thrive soon after. Earth was recognized as independent from Trident only 3000 years ago. We have no claim over the planet,” Cassielle answered.

    Rose looked bothered by this. “That’s not what I was raised to believe,” she said softly looking into Cassielle’s face. “Why do you look so familiar?”

    Tears pricked Cassielle’s eyes and she could feel her face flush again. “I used to live on Earth,” she said trying to blink them away. “Twenty-three years ago.”

    “Why didn’t you come back?” Hank said from the door. The women looked up at him. The small space was becoming crowded.

    “I couldn’t,” Cassielle said.

    “What about your family, didn’t you miss them?” he accused. She could tell he figured out why she looked familiar to his wife.

    Cassielle felt the sting of his accusation. “What I missed most was being able to talk with my mom about almost anything. I miss being able to hold and protect my son. I miss my husband. It tore me up that for over twenty years that I couldn’t be there to see my son grow up, or to celebrate life’s many milestones with my family.” She stood up, and Hank moved out of the doorway. “I missed every single member of my family and I could do nothing as they came under attack.”

    Her emotions were starting to show, and the lights flickered a little. She took a calming breath and moved passed Hank. LuHan approached to check on the patients and quickly saluted her.

    “Are you ok, High Command?” he quietly asked her.

    “I’m fine. Just a bit emotional,” she responded with her back turned to Rose and Hank. “I give you permission to give updates to these two when they ask for it,” she said louder indicating the couple.

    “Yes, High Command.” He saluted again and continued into the room.

    Cassielle walked into the main part of the medical bay where Jacobee waited.

    “Jacobee.” She acknowledged his presence.

    “High Command, High Council has advised me to use you as a resource in my handling of the mission, but for you to not get physically involved.”

    Cassielle allowed herself a slight smile.

    “I will work with you on the mission, research purposes only,” she said. “For now, I must attend to one other matter. Send the information to my desk. I will contact you when I am ready.”

    He saluted her and walked away. She left the medical bay and headed down three levels to the guest area. The family waited there for more information. Her family. Again, the halls remained mostly quiet as she traveled through them. She paused outside the door, taking a deep breath. She knew confronting them would be difficult. The door opened and she entered, followed by her attendants only. The guards waited outside. Cassielle counted fourteen people: children and adults.

    A woman about Cassielle’s height stood up and approached her. The woman had light brown hair that was braided down her back. Her button up blouse and denim pants told of a life in the service industry. Her steel blue eyes reflected Cassielle’s. Cassielle found herself catching her breath as she faced this woman. Although younger than Cassielle, this woman looked much older. Most of the activity in the room had stopped to watch this exchange.

    “Has there been word about Nate or Kevin?” the woman asked.

    “Nate will be awake soon, but Kevin needs more advanced medicine. We are on our way to Trident as we speak. He will receive the best care when we arrive,” Cassielle told the concerned woman.

    “And who are you?” a man spoke up.

    His appearance startled Cassielle. He towered over the others. He had sandy brown hair with brown eyes. He stood close to 6’7” and could easily be a threat if he wanted. She recognized him, but at the same moment, she did not.

    “I go by High Command,” she said. “I wanted to personally welcome you to my ship, The Lillian. I also wanted to apologize for disrupting your lives. Soon this will be over, and we will make sure you get back to Earth safely.”

    Other adults started to move towards her, but she stood her ground. She started to evaluate the adults as they approached her. She quickly calculated they were not a real threat. She hated herself for seeing danger in civilians, in family.

    “Why are we here?” another man asked.

    He was an older version of the first man that spoke up but one or two inches shorter.

    “The short answer is you were all in danger.” Cassielle said.

    “The people that picked us up already told us that. How were we in danger?” the woman asked.

    “I told you my name, what’s yours?” Cassielle asked.

    “You told us your title,” the second man cut in.

    “At this moment, that is what I go by unless in private company.”

    “Celia,” the woman replied. “And this is Harold and his father Gideon, my brother,” she said indicating the two men.

    Cassielle bowed her head slightly at the introductions. She kept her arms folded in front of her hidden by the sleeves.

    “Over there is my other brother, Justin and his wife Helen,” Celia said pointing to a couple that were trying to wrangle the kids. They had not seemed to notice her entrance. “Patricia is with her two babies, Gideon’s daughter Kat, and this is my daughter, Kelly.”

    Celia held her arm around a young girl that could have been Cassielle’s reflection. Kelly looked remarkably like her.

    “It’s nice to meet all of you,” Cassielle said.

    The kids were playing tag and one ran right into Cassielle. She smiled at the playfulness of the children. Her attendants exchanged looks of astonishment. Cassielle lost her balance but quickly regained it. Justin and Helen stood up and came over to pull the children back.

    “Xander, please be careful,” Kelly said picking up the young boy. “Apologize to the nice lady,” she said standing him up.

    “Sowry,” he said looking down. He fidgeted with his hands.

    “Thank you. Are you ok?” Cassielle kneeled to look at the child.

    “Yes,” he said. He turned and ran off giggling. Cassielle stood up smiling.

    “I told you to stay over there,” Justin said leaning down to the young boy.

    “It was an accident, Justin,” Cassielle said instinctively rebuking the man. “No one got hurt.”

    Everyone stared at her. She even surprised herself at her own words. She could feel her face get warm and her thoughts raced. She would have never got involved with discipline matters with a familial unit. This family may be different, but she allowed her words to reveal too much. Celia looked as though she saw a ghost.

    “I must be going. Please make yourselves at home while we continue onto Trident. You will be staying at my private estate while we continue to hunt down and capture those who targeted you,” she said. Before any one of them could say anything else, she turned and left.

    She let out a big sigh of relief. Her hands were shaking, and it took a few moments calm her thoughts. She walked back to her quarters where her attendants left her alone. The glass topped desk took up most of her office space, with several different holographic displays showing at once. Cassielle had grown used to the hovering displays as she moved from screen to screen. She received several correspondences from different governors and one from High Council. Cassielle answered this first. The official notice stated she had been changed to advisory status on the mission. Cassielle quickly went through the messages from the governors and deemed all of them to be of low importance.

    She began to work on the documents that Jacobee had sent her. The Federation operative had been identified as Liana’a Bolinna, a high-born from Trident who once served The Kalli’s Seat. The Bolinna family held a grudge against Cassielle’s family. Most recently, they discovered Liana’a paid the human poachers to remove Cassielle and her twin brother Andrei from Earth over twenty years ago. Liana’a’s base had been located within the Telbut region of the empire. Governor Jace represented this region. The governor had already been informed of the rogue agent’s base and offered aid of any kind in apprehending Liana’a’s followers. Why they were not based in Federation space bothered Cassielle. An incoming message distracted her. LuHan advised they were going to be removing Nate from the stasis bed.

    Cassielle entered the medical bay with her guards and attendants as they were moving Nate from the private room. The room was too small to transfer him from one bed to the next. Rose saw her and approached to stand next to her. Hank refused to approach the two women, opting instead to stand near Cassielle’s attendants.

    The dome of the bed disappeared. During treatment, medical attendants had changed Nate into a light purple shirt and pants. This specific color signified Nate as a member of the highest class of Trident society. His eyes remained closed as two medical personnel transferred him from the stasis bed to a regular bed. They moved him back to his original position in the room before leaving the area.

    Hank and Rose went into the room and looked at their grandson. Cassielle watched from a distance. They were talking between one another, but not loud enough for her to hear. LuHan came and stood where Rose once stood.

    “How long will it be before he wakes?” Cassielle asked LuHan.

    “Shouldn’t be too long. The sedation has to wear off and then he should be able to go back with them to the guest area,” he replied.

    Cassielle approached the bed, being careful not to disturb the grandparents. She felt tears prick at her eyes again as she looked down on the man, but all she could see was the little ten-year-old from her memories. She turned before tears could fall. Walking away, she quickly wiped her eyes.

    “Are you ok?” Hank asked following her as she left the room.

    “I don’t know what I expected.”

    “I don’t know what I expected either. What happened to him?”

    “He was captured by a Federation operative who allowed one of her men to beat him. Once I was able to free him from that area, the operative attacked us herself.” Cassielle toned down the beating Nate had taken.

    “The doctor told us the extent of his injuries. That was more than just a simple beating.”

    She could hear the accusation in his voice.

    “I never said it was a simple beating. He suffered greatly at the hands of the enemy.”

    “How come you recovered faster than he did?”

    She thought about this question for a few moments. Usually, she would never answer so many questions from someone considered lower than her. Even in her own family, Trident customs considered Cassielle the head of her family. As the head of the family, she did not have to answer to anyone. Still, though, Hank deserved the truth.

    “I have an enhancement that, once activated, will heal almost any wound. It had failed to activate in the docking bay due to the large amount of energy I used to defeat the operative.”

    They turned back to Nate. Rose held his hand. Without warning, Nate bolted upright in bed.

    This startled everyone. Rose let out a small yelp and quickly backed away. One of Cassielle’s guards went to protect the grandmother, but Cassielle put up her hand. He quickly went back to his position.

    “Who was screaming?” Nate asked looking around wildly.

    “N- no one,” Rose said.

    He finally saw her standing next to him. He took in his surroundings.

    “Gr- grandma?” he asked confused.

    “We’re both here,” Hank said going into the small room.

    “Where’s dad?” Nate asked looking around.

    “Right here,” Hank answered indicating the covered bed next to them.

    Nate stared in silence. He took in each of his grandparent’s worried faces and then focused on Cassielle. She had followed Hank to the doorway of the room.

    “What happened?” he asked her.

    “You collapsed on the shuttle,” Cassielle answered.

    “What happened to me?” he asked.

    “You were injured pretty bad,” Hank said.

    Nate shifted in his bed and swung his legs over the edge. He tried to stand up but began to fall. Rose struggled to lift her adult grandson as a nearby medical attendant ran in to assist.

    “You will need to wait a few more moments before you will be able to stand,” the attendant said hoisting Nate back onto the bed.

    Cassielle turned to leave, satisfied about Nate’s condition. LuHan stood by his office door and beckoned her in as she passed.

    “My apologies for bothering you at this time, High Command,” he said.

    “Go on.”

    “I was doing research on the new Earthlings that were brought on board.”

    “There was no need for that. We know what we need to know about them at this time.”

    “Not those Earthlings. I mean the ones in the prisoner hold.”

    “What about them?” She had no patience for traitors.

    “Well, one of them shares an interesting trait with Nate.”

    Cassielle became concerned. “What trait?”

    “He shares the same bloodline. But on his father’s side,” he quickly added.

    Cassielle approached the display and could see who the chief medical officer indicated. It was Kevin’s brother. Cassielle met the man only a handful of times. Their meetings were not her fondest memories.

    “Send all of the information you have gathered on this prisoner to me,” she instructed. “Do not tell anyone.”

    “Ma’am, he’s a perfect match.”

    Cassielle left the medial bay and informed Jacobee to meet her at the prisoner hold immediately. As High Command, it was improper for her to visit prisoners in the hold. Therefore, she had Jacobee pull the prisoner from his cell and escort him to a secure interrogation area.

    “What is special about this prisoner?” Jacobee asked as they stood outside the room.

    “He is Kevin’s brother,” Cassielle said. “Does he have any enhancements?”

    “Two. Both are Federation made and both are disabled.”

    “I want him under full time observation, and no one is to approach him without direct permission,” Cassielle said before walking away.

    Jacobee made no hesitation conveying her orders.