Chapter 9

"Cain! Pick up your stuff- you lazy animal!"

Centauri and I both look towards the voice of Alkina and spot her directing people around to move things onto the ship. Eridia stands beside her with a clipboard and pen, marking things off and avoiding getting whacked with a tendril from Alkina. A male about my height with the looks of a jackalope with straight horizontal horns atop his head. He's covered in fur and all limbs end in big paws. He turns to look at us and grins, leaning over to say something to Alkina that makes her scowl down at me.

I raise my middle finger up at them and Centauri looks down at her hands then at mine.

"What are you doing? Is that a human salute?" She raises the same finger when I nod. The only non-confused person up there is Eridia. My mother looks down at me and mouths to stop fucking teaching people that stuff.

Once the ship is loaded, we pile in the pilot deck. The team being; Cain, Centauri, Eridia, Alkina, several others I don't know and I. Alkina orders us to sit and radios in the communications tower.

"I never liked liftoffs," Cain laughs sheepishly and seats himself across from me.

"Never been in a plane- er ship?" I turn to him and take in the strange oddity.

"Yeah but that last one I was in almost crashed."

Alkina twists around in defiance, "It was rough landing ya lizard."

Everyone smiles at this but me and I feel as if I've been left out of a great big joke. When the all clear is given, the ship starts. The rumble of the engines brings me back to the Nebulus 5.

"Why so pale? You scared too?" Cain leans over, obviously never having heard of personal space.

I watch as the ship glides out of the harbor and expect the sirens to go off. Expect the ringing to hit me. When nothing but a hearty chatter starts up, I can let go of the breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Taking bets on the council trying to jail us again." Cain looks around, I can see the anxiety in his movement and the whites of his eyes as the ship leaves the harbor. The engines eventually quiet, leaving us both a little peace.

"They'll just be disappointed to see us again." Alkina mutters while staring down at the controls.

"Not to mention questioning Yex's release of Eridia." Centauri speaks behind me, and in her voice I can sense a dislike for the older woman.

"Why do you think she skipped out?" Alkina flicks on autopilot and turns her seat around to face us. "Remember that if I haven't talked to you, you don't say a word. I have it all planned out and we're going to avoid making this anymore difficult. All we need is the go for consulting both humans and Alnilam the Fearsome."

We give her a nod and wait out a couple minutes before the ship meets a floating station. The radio chirps commands to dock and once we do so Alkina leads the way. Eridia watches us go, having been left behind.

The council hall is incredible. Like Thule but on crack cocaine. Huge six winged angel statues stand poised at the door, eyes carved into every surface of skin showing. Both wield large staffs that meet in the middle far above the large wood like doors. Guards stand at every watchtower ready to kill on command. Two tall fox-like headed men push open the doors to let us in. Before us lays a long golden carpet and many small statues of heavenly beings in various poses.

I feel Centauri's hand grab my wrist and she points to one near the end, a man in a ornate helmet holding a child atop a mountain of bodies and at the bottom is a woman in mid-scream.

"That one's the story of Alnilam's rise." She murmurs and releases me to keep walking. I catch my reflection in the bright opalescent white of the statue and grimace before moving on.

After several sets of doors and a pat down, the crew is ushered into a magnificently massive room. Nowhere as big as Thule's plaza of course but still huge. At the head sits what must be the council in high red chairs shaped like thrones of their own. all around is an entire crowd of people seated to watch absolutely nothing.

"Alkina Plaife," the middle council member looks down his hooked nose at her and then to Eridia. "Why do you come here?"

"We wish to seek permission to consult with the human leader and Alnilam sir," Alkina's voice wavers ever so slightly. The crowd hums with hushed murmurs.

The head councilman lifts his hand to quiet the thrum and stands from his place. He steps from around the desk onto a platform and is lowered down to our level. He walks over with his head held high despite the curved shape of an elder's back. Every footfall from his long three toed feet send a shiver down my arms.

"So you bring this," he pushes past to me and stands over me menacingly. "You bring vermin into a sacred place. The same thing that started this whole mess?"

My fist ball up at my sides and I look up at his tight skinned face with cheekbones that could cut diamonds. "We're doing this for your own good sir, so unless you want to be discussing war in your next meeting I suggest you think about things a little more wisely."

Immediately after I say this, a cold clawed hand grabs my jaw and he leans in so I might smell his sour breath. "Do not dare to ridicule me you filthy animal. I have seen war upon wars and this is nothing."

"Councilman," Centauri's venomous voice gets his attention and he looks up. "She doesn't know what she's talking about and hasn't taken any part in the incidents of the Nebulus 5 crash."

"We've come to resolve the issue and that's all." Alkina's eyes tell me she hasn't planned this bit. The tendrils emitting from her back lashing like a cat's tail. I don't need her words to know I've fucked it up by opening my mouth.

The councilman releases my face and I stumble back and feel the markings he left in my jaw. His cold eyes protrude with his anger.

"We have much more reliable forces than the like of you." He growls, turning back to the council above us. "No need to send complete fools and their pets to do-"

"To do the job you haven't yet?" Centauri snaps. "Ceceilia's right, you can't wait on this and let even more people die in vain."

Alkina lets out a quiet groan and hangs her head.

The councilman turns partially to glare lethally. "You're efforts to change the minds of renowned scholars and thinkers are futile. We have dealt with this before, its just another Celestial going completely insane when the whole species should've been wiped out centuries ago. The genocide was nothing."

I turn with wide eyes to find Centauri baring her teeth and looking ready to kill a man. The tension in the room is suffocating and showing on everyone's shocked and and angry faces.

"The answer is no. Go home before you get into more trouble." A council member above says ina flat voice glancing to the guards with their raised weapons.

"Please, we beg you to reconsider." Alkina starts forward before guards move in quickly shoving us out. I look back to find the councilman's murderous gaze on the back of Centauri's head.