Through the Stars: Chapter Two

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Neo put his hand on Skye's stomach, feeling the baby kick rather hard. "You know they got Henna out."

She winced at the kick. "That just seems like a bad idea."

"Why is that, Skye?" Neo's voice was soothing, his usual demeanor, despite being in charge of the largest Rebel base in the known universe. His three fingered hand ran over Skye's belly, noting everything he felt. As an Aelfinjer, he had the gift of healing; all Aelfinjers learned physiology at a young age, which for the ones on Hideout, was longer back than most any other living being could even speculate about.

Skye finally gave a long sigh and batted his hand away. "I don't want her back here. She ruined too many lives for any of us to forgive. She should just remain where she is."

"There are things you'll never understand, Skye," Neo said calmly.

Skye looked at him, holding her distended stomach. "I know that, I don't want to understand it all, but I still want to know what they're trying to accomplish anyway. She's been there for three years, what's the use of saving her now. She's no longer of any use to us."

"When did you become so hard?" He started the paperwork, documenting the pregnancy of Skye's third child. "She was one of your friends, and no matter how long she's been gone, she still is one of mine."

"This from the man who was prepared to condemn her when he first met her." Skye winced when she shifted from the table. "I'm not sure if she wasn't what we thought." Neo opened his mouth to say something, but Skye held up her hand. "I know. Flisk said that she wasn't, but he was in love, and all of us are fools when we're in love."

Neo's smile was gentle. "As you were once upon a time?"

"Still in love," she said, "but no longer a fool. I didn't leave, never will."

"Yes, well, you made your share of mistakes, my dear." His three fingered hand rested on her stomach. "Your child is coming along fine. I hope he has more sense then his mother and myself, however, and doesn't condemn someone because of what he thinks he knows."

Her eyes fell. "I'm not condemning her. I just think that this ploy of theirs could be a mistake. So, she stays in prison for a while longer. She brought it upon herself."

"I'm never one to question someone's, especially a mother's, intuition, but this war could take longer than just the time we've planned. That prison is a torture chamber, meant to destroy people. If we leave her there, she'll be too far gone for us to save in not too long." He leaned on the edge of the bed, his exceedingly tall frame slumped slightly. "There's nothing I want more than to see our people restored to their proper places, and hers is here, with us. You know this."

"But she's a traitor." Skye's voice was calm, her features smooth, but there was a harsh note to her words. "I just want justice for what was done to those I came to care for."

"Flisk's death wasn't her fault, Skye. There's nothing anyone could have done to stop him once his mind was made up. If we hadn't been forced to land there in the first place, he would have never left the ship. She didn't send those Imperials after us. She couldn't have known our location. No, it was not her fault."

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" She walked towards the door, one hand on her stomach, one on her back. "I just wish that things had gone differently there. He didn't deserve to die like that."

Neo walked with her, helping her along. "Does anyone? We do what we can with the time we have. It's because of him that Vessin joined us, and it's because of him so many of the people of Hideout finally came to the decision to finish this." His gentleness always shocked her, even if it was expected. "Of all of us, he understood why we're doing this the most, which is why he died. Don't let his death be in vain by turning your back on what he wanted so much he was willing to give his life for it."

He walked her to her room, navigating the immensity of Hideout with no difficulty. Hideout was a hollowed-out asteroid on the outer rim of the Aldebaran system. It housed seven of the nine known species of the galaxy. It could not sustain the Nidreans, who were all slaves of the Reptilians or worse, or the Kindremites, who were extremely frail and could not handle living in space for extended periods of time.

Skye started a simple meal for herself and Neo. She set the small table, strapping the dishes down in case the Artificial Gravity went out. As soon as she had the food on the table, a knock on her door heralded Noris, who entered before she could answer it. He smiled at her and handed her the message disk he was carrying.

"Skye, we got this a few minutes ago. We thought you should see it."

The young man set the disk on the table. A hologram of Devon appeared.

"We're approaching Rilt. Vessin wants to take Henna with him while he's on the planet, which means she will not be returning with us. I'll relate more later. Right now we're on a tight schedule, however I wanted to let you know the release went as planned and we'll be home shortly."

The message cut off. Noris pressed the button again.

"We recieved this one right after it."

A hologram of a blond haired, extremely pale woman with a cybernetic eye appeared. They all watched as she bowed deeply and stood straight, her mechanical arm sweeping out. "Greetings. To those of Hideout, I represent the ship Vestige. We wish to dock as soon as possible. While we are still a short distance away, we await your reply. We hope to make it to Hideout in a short period of time, and hope our services can assist you in any way possible."

The holo cut out abruptly. Noris picked up the disk.

"We're not sure what to make of the second message. From what I could pick up, it was transmitted from a ship flying towards us at a great speed, however, they won't reach us for another week."

Skye looked at him. "Send a short 'received message' reply to Devon. Send a request for information to this other ship."

Noris nodded and hurried off. Neo stood.

"That girl was a Cybe," he said, the shock in his tone evident.

"A what?"

"A Cybe. She's a human, or was a human, who the Reptilians implanted with computer parts. Cybe's don't eat, sleep, or grow old. They just...are." His eyes were curious. "I didn't know they could act for themselves."

"Maybe she's not," Skye said. "I don't know, Neo. Maybe I'm losing my touch, but there was something in her voice. She, or someone on that ship, needs help. We can't just turn them away."

"No, we can't."

Neo walked out of the room, striding quickly to the communications center in the hollow asteroid. It was full of various messaging machines, each going off at random intervals. Noris was standing near one of the transmitters, finishing his message to the Vestige. Neo waited for him to finish, then approached.

"Noris, I need a favor of you."

"Anything," the young man said, returning to his work of uncoding messages that they were receiving.

Neo handed him the message disk. "Try uncoding the message from Devon further. There was a line in it that bothered me, and I have a feeling there is more in it that we haven't heard."

Noris quickly pressed some buttos on the transmitter, bringing up the holo of Devon. He punched in a couple of codes, then started typing quickly. As he did this, the holo faded and turned to static, then it suddenly clarified.

"Neo, I know you're recieving this, you're the only one who would've understood my first message. Send out a ship as quickly as you can to the planet Valaportia. Replace Deidre with another, anyone else. Bring her back under constant supervision. If what Henna told me is correct, she has been in communication with the Reptilian forces for some time. I have to be quick, Vessin is preparing to land, but Henna told me that Deidre betrayed her to the Reptilians on Sirius. If that is true, we can take no chances."

The holo cut out, and Neo looked at Noris.

"Not a word to anyone."

"How..."

Neo grabbed the message disk. "It's an old code Devon and I had worked out before. 'I'll relate more later.' It was so we knew to look deeper. You're to keep this quiet, understand?"

Noris nodded, then turned to Neo, concern written on his face. "But...if it's true, that means-"

"Let's hope it's not," Neo cut in quickly.

Neo decided to send the fastest ship in the fleet, a vessel that was abtly named Arrow. It was light weight, compact, and highly manueverable. It was also undetectable to any satellites the Reptilians had above the planet. A crew of three was prepared, and one passenger. Neo decided that a Talikian who had recently come to Hideout would take Deidre's place. His name was Dart, and he was one of the hardest working people Neo had ever met. His dark skin and white hair didn't detract from his enigmatic personality. The dark pink tint of his eyes held a slight purple that made people look twice. Neo had been afraid to trust the young Talikian at first, but he proved himself several times over.

The ship took off the next day, heading straight to Valaportia, no stops in between. The crew was given strict instructions to keep Deidre isolated and under survalliance. They only took two days to complete their task, arriving back at Hideout three days after the initial transmition was made. Neo awaited them at the hanger, watching as the two Glates, blue creatures who looked like humans save for the purely black eyes, marched Deidre down the platform to the hatch where he stood. They both saluted and marched her past. She didn't acknowledge him in any way.

He walked calmly to the council chambers, sitting in his designated seat, waiting for the rest to show up. Council members started arriving one by one, some grumbling about unexpected meetings. He watched as Skye, Noris, and the young, green, Reptilian prince, Jerick, walked in and sat down on one of the lower benches. Jerick had grown in the three years he had spent in Hideout, going from an immature adolescent to a wise beyond his years leader. He was as tall as Skye, and as athletic as Noris. Neo smiled at him, and he grinned back.

His grin faded, however, when Deidre was led in, her hands bound in front of her, the Glate guards flanking her. She was led to a platform in the middle of the room. Her head still held high, she refused to look at anyone.

"I'm sure you know why you're here," Neo said, watching her expressions.

"I'm sure I don't," she replied quickly, looking at him for the first time.

"You were accused of betraying the confindences of one of your fellow travelers, turning them over to the enemy during a mission, which caused them to be put in extreme danger. Do you deny it?"

Her green eyes didn't appear even slightly remorseful underneath her vivid red hair as she answered. "Depends. Who was it that accused me?"

"Henna Cercian, Talikian. Do you deny it?"

She grinned suddenly. "No, because there no such thing as betraying a traitor."

Skye stood and walked out, her fists clenched at her sides. Noris shot Neo a confused look, then took off after Skye. Jerick just sat there, staring at Deidre with a look somewhere between contempt and pity. The council started whispering until Neo held up one hand.

"Deidre O'Connor, how ever much I hate it, you'll be taken into custody and held until the council comes to a decision on your punishment."

The two Glates led her away. Neo sighed and looked down at the Reptilian prince, who was standing, his yellow eyes locked on Neo. He walked to where Jerick was, his face downcast.

"I didn't want to believe she was capable of it," Neo said. "I couldn't."

"I could," Jerick replied. "She never liked Henna, everyone knew it. And she had problems that few knew about."

"What do you mean?"

Jerick stuck one hand in his pocket. "After the incident on the JSS, she was mentally...unbalanced. She had severe issues with reality, as well as anger."

Neo nodded, remembering all too well the story of the capture of Jupiter Space Station and Deidre's rape. "You're very perceptive, you know that?"

He smiled, his teeth white against his green skin. "I wasn't always. What do we do now?"

"Now...we wait. The council will deliberate and we'll find out what they decide. I can't help, I'm a not as impartial as I should be. In the meantime, we have messages to recallibrate." He led Jerick out of the council chambers.

When she left, Skye walked slowly to the living quarters. She was now storming down the hall, closely followed by Noris, who was trying to talk to her.

"Skye, wait up! Slow down. What's wrong?"

She turned suddenly. "What's wrong? Well, let's see. I just found out that someone I trusted is the reason I mistrusted someone else and condemned them to a life that isn't fitting for the lowest criminal. To top it all off, I've been blaming the death of a close friend on the person I didn't trust only to find out that it wasn't actually her fault."

"But..." He stopped walking. "Flisk's death is Henna's fault...Isn't it?"

"Not if all this is true." Skye wasn't hysterical anymore, but still looked upset. "If Deidre really did betray Henna, then it's likely that Flisk knew and was trying to save her. That's the only reason he would have left the team, if he thought that the team had done wrong."

"He didn't tell me anything," Noris said quickly.

"He wouldn't have," Skye said, her eyes on the floor. "He knew how you felt about Deidre. You were beyond reason when it came to her. You wouldn't have believed him anyway."

"No, I wouldn't have."

They walked in silence for a while before turning into the med hall. They passed the door where Noris had first met the group, when Henna had saved his life. He sighed heavily.

"Look, Skye, you're right. It's Deidre's fault that Flisk died. He was my best friend, and I still miss him. It was...easier...to blame Henna. She wasn't here to defend herself."

"And you didn't have feelings for her." Skye looked at him, her blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I knew Deidre before this all happened, and I would have never thought her capable of this. I wanted her life to be so much better than mine, and when Henna came into the picture, I only saw someone who was going to stand in the way of that. At first I hated her." She shrugged. "Well, I learned otherwise, or at least I thought I did."

They went to lunch, meeting Jerick and Neo on the way. Jerick was fiddling with a message disk, turning the dials quickly to recallibrate the message within. He sat down, still working on it, and Neo brought him his meal. No one said anything, they just sat and ate, three thinking and one doing a task that kept him from thinking. With a final twist, Jerick set the disk upon the table, a message appearing over it.

A female green Reptilian stood in front of them, her rich blue gown flowing gracefully to the floor, her voice quiet and troubled.

"Everyone, this is Cassy. I learned something troubling yesterday that I thought you should know. A fleet was sent to Alpha Centuari to bring back a Talikian prisoner who is a known rebel. Nothing more was said, but this morning the fleet returned empty handed. They said that the Talikian was released. She is being hunted down as we speak. It's Henna that they're tracking. I'm relaying the coordinates of the fleet to you. Inform Devon and Vessin of the trouble, I'm sure they'll know what to do. Good luck."

The holo cut out, and Skye stood, slamming a fist onto the table.

"How much more trouble is that girl going to cause?"

"It's not as if she has a choice," Neo said resonably. "It's not her fault a fleet is after her."

Jerick picked up the disk and shoved it into one of his belt pouches. "We'll send a message to Devon and hope it reaches him in time."

Noris looked up from the table for the first time since sitting. "I think we need to stop blaming Henna for things. Especially when she's not here to defend herself. As of yet, we've all only been wrong about her from the beginning. We really should stop."

Skye looked slightly abashed. "You're right." She sat down heavily, putting her head in her hands, her elbows on the table. "Why is this so hard?"

"Because we're used to it being her fault," Jerick said quietly. "She was the traitor, but now we have to change the way we've seen her for the last three years, and that's going to be hard."

Neo nodded. "I still don't understand how we could have missed it. I, more than anything, want this to be over. I want justice for the living as much as for the dead."

Eyes fell collectively as each of them receeded into their own thoughts. Jerick stood and walked away from the table. Noris stood and followed. Neo sat there, staring at his hands, and Skye laid her head on her arms, looking miserable. Neither said anything, and both wanted nothing more than to disappear.

It was several hours later when the council called them all back for the decision. Deidre refused to go, so one of the Glate guards stood ready to bring the verdict back to her. Neo sat in his place as leader, however, it was another Aelfinger that told them the final decision.

"It is the belief of this council that Deidre O'Connor is not only a threat to us, but also to herself. Therefore, she will be shiped immediately to the Procyon System. She will remain there under supervision, and not allowed to contact anyone off planet. This judgement is reversable only at the time when the threat is neutralized."

Everyone present knew what that meant. The only way she was going to get off planet was if the Reptilians were beaten before she died. The older council memeber stood, signalling the meeting to a close. Neo glanced over at Skye, who was looking slighlty upset. Noris was talking quietly with Jerick, watching as the Glate left the hall.

A female Ceth patted his arm lightly. "Sir, we recieved a message from Valaportia. I think you should hear it."

"I'll be right there, Kifen. Can you fetch Jerick for me as well."

Kifen nodded and turned as Neo stood and walked from the room. He went swiftly to the message room, nodding at individuals as he passed. He tried to focus upon his task of settling matters at Valaportia and not the problem of Deidre, however, she was at the forefront of his thoughts. Sending her to a Rebel planet wouldn't solve the all of the problems she had caused. Henna was winging her way to Rilt, Fenze was still missing, and the rebellion had lost many Reptilian allies. The one fact that he couldn't escape from was that the humans hadn't been in the war long enough to truly appreciate the consequences one soul could reek upon many.

The communications center was nearly deserted when Neo walked in. One lone female Glate stood near one of the transmitters, keeping a record of all incoming messages. She spared him a curt nod and continued her work.

Jerick entered suddenly, closely followed by Kifen. She gestured to the small desk where the holos were decoded. Her dextrous fingers punched buttons, bringing up the image of an anxious Talikian male. Dart's voice held a tinge of fear when he spoke.

"Reptilians landed an hour ago and started rounding up anyone openly discussing the rebellion. All rebels on Valaporia or nearby systems are in grave danger. This is a may-day, and we are sounding a retreat. Get this message-" He stopped talking and looked away from the console. "Get this to as many people-" He cut off again, then turned away from the imager. "Hello?" He called in Reptilian. Several voices answered him at once, then the message cut off abruptly.

Neo looked at Jerick. "Well?" he asked, knowing full well what this message implied.

Jerick's eyes flew from the desk to Neo's. "This can mean only one thing. Evacuation. Everywhere, everyone. Rebel planets only, or unoccupied planets. We leave none of our people behind. Hideout as well."

Neo nodded. "If Deidre managed to get word off planet before she was brought back..." The full force of the chain of events unfolded before him and he sat down hard in a chair. "Call the council. We move Hideout to a secure location and abandon it. Relocate the families to...Archioan. That's my final decision."

"Archioan?" Jerick asked, his eyes wide. "That's your home planet. Surely there's-"

"There is no other choice," Neo said. "The Reptilians wouldn't dare invade or try to destroy it. It's the only place we'll be safe." Jerick nodded and turned to leave, but Neo grabbed his arm first. "Somehow I knew this was coming."

"I'll start preparing the council," Jerick said calmly. "Go tell the people."

Neo put one hand on the desk. "What have we done?"

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Through the Sky