Malena Endia was from Obgaron Prime in the
Alandis system which was now deep in the heart of the Mehreen Empire, though
she, like many of her species, fled into Legion territory after their world was
invaded, but many of her kind died after the invasion and she wasn’t sure
exactly how many were left because they weren’t easily recognized as they were
a race of shape shifters.
The Mehreen were a brutal regime who
conquered world after world without warning, either for tactical and strategic
reasons or for want of the planet’s resources, but in the case of Obgaron Prime
there was no strategic value and it was poor in minerals and Orr, their
destruction was for a very different reason altogether, fear.
The mighty Mehreen Empress feared the
Obgaron because of a long-held prophecy that the Empire would been brought down
by beings who could transform themselves into Mehreen High Councillor’s and
seize power unnoticed, so they thought those beings were shape shifters, so
they slaughtered everyone they could lay their hands on without mercy.
The Obgaron were a peaceful insular people
who had had minimal exposure to the universe outside their own system so the
majority of the inhabitants weren’t fearful of an impending invasion.
Malena however was not among them and fled,
stowing away on a deep space exploration vessel with a few of her like-minded
people and slipped through the Mehreen net by transforming.
Though she could change form at will she
could only transform into a being she had touched.
Only the briefest moment was required and
then it was in her memory banks and could be recalled whenever required.
But that need to touch a subject in order
to shift cost many more lives during the invasion among the Obgaronian’s who
had no suitable form to shift into to when the time came, in order to evade the
Mehreen hordes.
The form Malena took was that of a 27-year-old
human whom she met on a remote mining colony when she first entered Legion
space, that was more than 20 years earlier and she still looked exactly the
same.
It was on another mining planet 12 months
later that she first met Ben Strong and joined his crew aboard the Tornado
where she quickly proved herself to be invaluable, firstly as just one of the
crew but she soon showed a natural gift for navigating and she also excelled as
a nanny to 9-year-old Merri.
But in all that time she had never once
seen or even heard of another Obgaron, which was why when Terrell injected the errant Sister, dispatching her
with a jab to the neck so she crumpled to the floor, and she transformed from
the Sister dressed in traditional white habit with the face of a human,
shimmered and faded to be replaced by a very different Mercurial form of liquid
silver glass, she was stunned.
“My God she’s Obgaron” Malena said and sunk
to her knees, as did the other sisters, and
then rest of the Tornado crew appeared.
“I’ll get the Prefects” Parse said
“No, please, not yet” Malena pleaded “I need
to talk to her first”
Never have spoken to or seen another Obgaron in over twenty years she couldn’t
hand her over to the Prefects without a word.
The Sisters temporarily closed the Chamber
and locked the doors leaving the two Obgaron alone inside, the rest of the crew
were anxious, no more so the Zerrad Skeet, but Shiyne kept up her own line of
communication going.
“What if the Sister changes into some Dragon
thing?” Zerrad asked
“Then Malena will change into a bigger one”
Lyris retorted
“What’s your name?” Mal asked the Sister who
had now returned to her human form
“Sister Tabatha” she replied
“You’re real name”
“That is my Church name” she insisted
“Very well” Malena said and instantly
transformed into her natural state and said
“My name is Malena Endia, what’s yours?”
This made Sister Tabatha gasp and prompted
her to change as well
“Amota Tricona” she said “I thought I was the
only one left”
“Have you never seen another of our kind
either?” Malena asked and Amota shook her head
“The Sisters took me in more than twenty
years ago and I have stayed with them ever since” she explained “I would have
died if not for them”
“And they have you steal for them in return”
Malena said
“No, no, they didn’t know” she replied “I did
it to repay them for their kindness to me, I told them they were donations, and
they didn’t know I wasn’t human”
“Very noble, but it’s still theft” Mal
pointed out
“But I only take from the wealthy” Amota said
defensively
“I don’t take anything they can’t afford to
lose”
“But you have taken precious things, not
precious because of their value but of the sentiment attached” Mal explained “Irreplaceable
things”
“I didn’t think of that” Amota said “I’m
sorry”
“So where are the things you took today?” Mal
asked
“Over here” she replied and led Malena into a
dingy corner and opened a cupboard.
“I’m looking for an Androsin Gold bracelet with an intricate design inlaid with platinum and
a handcrafted leather bag” she said “Both taken today”
It only took Amota about a minute to locate
the two items and hand them over
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know” Mal replied “Under the law you
should be handed over to the Prefects, that’s what we intended before I knew
you were you, so now I don’t know”
“What will the Prefects do to me?” she asked
“I suppose it depends on the Sisters, and if
they will speak in your defense” Malena replied and Amota’s shoulders slumped
and when they did Mal closed her eyes and said “done” in her head.
Shiyne gave the signal and they all walked
towards the door where Visitor Parham had been in deep conversation with the
Mother Superior.
“We can go in now” Shiyne said
“Ok, but I need to talk to you all first”
Bagg said
“We are not going to hand her over to the Prefects”
Bagg said
“What?” Parse exclaimed
“The Mother Superior will send Sister Tabatha
on their next transport, to one of their closed orders, away from the faithful”
Bagg said “That will be punishment enough”
“What about the stealing?” Parse asked
“Stop thinking like a policeman” Bagg said “She
wasn’t doing it for personal gain”
“What about the bracelet?” Lyris asked
“Malena has it, and the old ladies’ bag”
Shiyne announced
“I think it’s the best solution” Bagg said “I’m
sure Malena will agree”
Malena was visibly relieved when Bagg told
her what had been decided, Amota would have been little more than a girl when
she fled her home world, and she believed she was merely repaying the Sisters
for their kindness.
The Sisters didn’t care that she wasn’t human,
and she would always be Sister Tabatha to them and Malena knew she would be
safe in a closed order.
A month later Malena had Zerrad fly her back
to Marikya in the Spider Hawk when it was time for Amota to leave so she could
say goodbye.
“Do you think we are the only two Obgaron
left?” Amota asked
“If I’d been asked that a month ago I would
have said I was the only one” she replied “but now I know there are two of us
so I suspect if there are two then there are a lot more, we are very good at
hiding, but we must stay hidden, because the Mehreen still want to kill us”
They stood on the landing field at the foot
of the loading ramp and embraced
“We will see each other again” Malena said “So
stay safe”
“You too”
Zerrad put his arm around Malena and she
had mixed emotions
as they watched the transport lift off, she
was happy that she was no longer the last of the Obgaron but sad that Amota Tricona had to leave, but as she stood with the comforting arms of
her lover around her she felt at peace and she knew for certain sure that she
would see her again, even though she didn’t know when.
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