Mercy.
Mercy is the strongest form of pain relief available on Independence. It’s to be given only as a last resort – when a man or a woman is in the last stages of life, and nothing more can be done. The liquid Mercy can give a deep sleep – deep enough for the suffering to never wake again.
Before anyone can see, I palm the vial and cram it into my sock. I use the cover of leaning forward to inspect my wound. My heart pounds and I have to stop myself from looking guiltily around to see if anyone noticed. If they did, they’d grab that vial and declare me complicit with the Aurelians. It’s a risky move – and it’s not even as if I have a plan of what to do with the vial right – but I know it could be a useful tool, and I want a weapon that no one knows I have.
With the vial hidden away, I clean my wound and press the bandage against it. The running inventory I keep in my mind of all my supplies automatically checks off another bandage gone.
With that taken care of, I look around. The transport ship is spartan. It’s a military ship, with none of the creature comforts of civilian transport. I hate that the Aurelians are stuck back in the cargo bay, along with the vehicles and weaponry. They’ve been trussed up like they’re objects and not living, feeling, sentient creatures.
All around me, soldiers are boasting about capturing the Aurelians, and the promotions they will receive once they bring them to the Capital.
I tune their bragging out.
I need to think about my next move.
I need to be one step ahead, always. For example, what’s going to happen when I get to the Capital? I’ll be seen as a heroine – someone who survived the deadly Scorp incursion.
Yet, I’ll also be a liability to the ruling elite. They falsified charges of kidnap and mistreatment by the Aurelians – not to mention covered up an entire firebombing.
I swallow hard. The firebombing is the key. I run my tongue over my teeth, trying to put all the pieces together.
Lord Aeron is the backer of the anti-Aurelian party. He needs a scapegoat. He’s going to try and blame the firebombing on the Aurelians somehow.
I want to slam my fist against the steel wall, but I hold it in.
“You’re safe now,” says the soldier across from me. He’s got thick muscled arms. Just a few days ago, I would have thought of him as huge. Now, despite being over six foot tall and well-muscled, he looks tiny compared to the Aurelians.
I nod, not wanting to say anything. The ship bucks, and my stomach drops. I stifle a sound of surprise, not wanting to appear weak in front of these men. I know what men do to weak women in the slums of Barl.
“I can keep you safe for as long as you need,” the soldier leers, his eyes flashing at me lecherously. I sit there stiffly, not wanting to draw attention to myself – and yet wondering if the time for that has already been and gone.
The soldier continues to leer, and I feel very uncomfortable - almost naked despite my clothes. I give him a tiny smile – not wanting to enrage the soldier by ignoring him, but also definitely not wanting to encourage him.
“It’s been… It’s been tough, I just need to sleep,” I stammer, hoping he’ll stop. The captain gives the soldier a warning glance, and the young grunt obediently shuts his mouth. I’d be a fool to trust the captain, but for now, at least, he’s keeping his testosterone-fueled, macho soldiers in line.
I feel the heli-ship descending. There are no windows, but I don’t need the view of the beautiful Capital to know we’ve arrived at the home of Independence’s rich, wealthy, and prosperous. The Capital is the only city on my home world that has actually grown in wealth and power since the embargo.
I understand it all now, though. All this time, I’d been told to believe that the Aurelians were the cause of all our planet’s strife – that the haughty alien species was the reason our healthcare system and economy had crumbled.
Now, I’m realizing how foolish I’d been.
All this time, the Capital has been taking, taking and taking – pulling in wealth through high taxation and corruption of the economy, and yet all the while blaming the Aurelians for the economic crisis this had thrown the periphery cities into.
All this time, hatred for the Aurelians has grown and grown – but they were only ever the scapegoat for the crimes of the planet’s elite; a cover to allow the wealthy to grow even wealthier through the suffering of Independence’s most needy.
We were so busy hating those that were unlike us – so busy hating aliens that most of us hadn’t even seen with our own eyes – that we were blind to the machinations of leaders here on Independence – like Lord Aeron.
I curse myself.
How could I have been so stupid all this time?
The heli-ship touches down with a resounding thud. I’m braced and strapped in, yet I still get painfully jolted as the vessel comes to a halt. I can only imagine how rough it must be for the Aurelians in the cargo bay, strapped to a crate of weapons or tied to a vehicle. There’s a chance that Forn’s internal bleeding will begin again if something is ruptured by the jarring landing. He’s my patient, but he’s so much more to me than that. I saw the kindness in the gaze of those three warriors. I saw their devotion to me, even though they’d never even met me before. All this time, they’ve want desperately to protect me – and now I want
