Hiigaran Sorrow

He sat, falling heavily into his seat averting his eyes. "My men are all dead, I watched then all fall one by one over the past three weeks, They've been my family there last years.... You take no prisoners. If you really wanted to save us, if you were as righteous as you claim. You would at least pretend to have a sense of mercy. You kill everyone, except one person. I don't know why I'm still alive but do know I will not survive this war either. As soon as I'm no longer useful my life is over. So then Imala, this is goodbye."

His lips separated in a half smile, neither the warmth of a friend nor the cold of an enemy showing in the expression. "Since I'll never get another chance I'll say it now. I tried to make it your farewell when you left. I had half a mind to stop you leaving. I thought you were going onto bigger and better things. And yet here we are, both facing pain and death. Its almost ironic."

He looked away again "If its all the same to you I'll think of you as you were back then, not.. this.. when they take me."
 
She didn't need to hear that. Imala, unable to take her rage anymore, sent a swift punch to the man's jaw, feeling the her knuckles come into full contact with his jaw. She didn't know what made her do it, but she wasn't going to stop there. Her face was a picture of rage and confusion, two combined emotions she hadn't felt towards a particular person in a long time. The punch, as satisfactory as it was, it wasn't enough. Imala waved her hand to ward of the burn of punching him and only cocked it back for another one.

"You have no idea!"she shouted and balled her fist again and sent it straight into his stomach. Her hand was steaming but she didn't care at the moment.

"Don't talk to me about that moment! Where you let me go without one word of goodbye!"she shouted and then sent a foot flying to his side. Imala's eyes were burned into his body only for her to find another body part to hit again when the door zipped open and two men in armor charged in, one grabbing Imala by her arms. She started to struggle against them while the other pointed his gun at Jido's head.

"Calm, Imala. Is this the rebel Enyo told us about?"one of them asked in hoarse voice. Imala brought her cold blue eyes up to Jido's, finally relaxing as she stood straight.

"Yeah...that's the rebel."
 
He accepted her blows without a sound or a move to defend himself. The first punch make hi turn his head and split his lip, her second made him slump in his chair and the kick sent him and the chair to the floor where he lay coughing, blood from his lip. "At least you didn't hit like a girl"

Thinking he had been a pig with her over her gender the guard grunted in disgust. "On your feet traitor." he said nudging Jido with his foot. The red hand rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up only to have his arms grabbed and held behind him.

He remained silent, blood trickling down to drip from his chin. He didn't resist their grip nor did he raise his eyes from the floor. It was more clear now than ever, this was not the girl he had known all this years ago, but a puppet living in her body, a mind controlled by the lies the core spread. He was going to break out of here, and he was going to meet her again. And when he did he would have a gun in his hand.

"I see how it is then. I hope you find happiness and something you're willing to live for before the end, because finding something to die for is easy, bit but not something to live for." As far as he was concerned that was the last he would say to her, until they met again.
 
The guard that held the gun to the back of Jido's head was named Mikel. He was one of elites of the Gorgan infantry of the Core so it came as no surprise that Enyo had sent for him. Imala did not know the other name of the other guard, probably one of Mikel's apprentices just as Enyo was to her. She shot a glare towards Jido who began talking again and then clenched her hands into another fist.

"I had happiness until you--"

"That's enough Imala. I'll take it from here."Mikel interjected. Shoving the barrel against the side of Jido's head, Mikel indicated for him to walk out of the door. Imala watched as the two of them left the interrogation office. Her face was still a sauna of anger when her eyes looked down at the armor on the floor beside the chair Jido sat at earlier. The rebel attire looked oddly ominous in the interrogation office. She had spent so many days annihilation those who wore that armor in attempts to save her kind and silence the voice of the traitors, now to have it being worn by someone she thought she knew?

"Rah!"she yelled out, unsheathing her sword while slashing downwards onto the ground. the result was a loud scrape of sword on the floor of Ronset, barely grazing the armor. The guard that stood next to her had not moved an inch and instead watched Imala breathe heavily in her rage. Even though she said he'd never see her again, Imala was not going to let his deception trickle away that easily...
 
There was nothing he could do except look at her, mobilized by her flunky with her waving her sword around. But he was smiling, feeling like he had won the first round. At the cost of a fracture inside his mind.

"Whats the matter? Don't like seeing me like this, with something to believe in? Know what right and it not agreeing with what you were told? Well Imala, this is me, I'm a soldier fighting for Hiigara, her sovereignty and her people, everything I've done I've done for them. I..." The world went blank as the pistol collided with the side of his skull and his legs collapsed under him.

"Thats enough, one more word and you will never make it to a cell."

He shook his head trying to clear it before he was pulled back to his feet groaning as another cut opened on his forehead. It seemed ho spoke too soon.
 
Imala ignored his words and turned away from him.

"Get him out of here."she said coldly, voice barely above a whisper.

"Mam."replied Mikel and he lead Jido out of the door and down the hallway, half carrying him since the blow to the head seemed to disorient his head.

"You picked the wrong one to mess with, rebel. Imala is one of the fiercest women we have in the Core with a passion for Hiigara as hot as the lasers she fires. You can sweet talk your words of the rebellion all you want, but I guarantee you, not one syllable will get through to her head."Mikel said. The hallways of Ronset opened up into a wider passage which eventually forced them to walk down a couple of stairs, leading them a floor under the Main Floor: The Encasement Floor. The cells were now clearly visable. At every edge was a guard with a a gun in hand and a hand on the arm that held the gun, all standing at the ready.

"Yours is coming up soon."he said which was an understatement for the hallway branched into other departments, with cells reaching the mid thousands.
 
He walked as best he could while being half dragged through the halls, all he could see was the floor passing beneath him. "I know, I knew her once." revealing that much shouldn't be harmful, though he would give no more. In all honesty he knew nothing of the force disposition or plans, he was worthless to the Core and so would be dead soon.

"So this is where I'll be sleeping, not the worst cell I've ever been in." he commented looking at the cells as they passed them. He could tell the guard most likely wanted him to stop talking, thats why he didn't.

"Don't know about you but I never though I'd live through this A soldier has to do what me has to do, and if you're willing to die for something, no one can take it away from you."
 
Mikel let out a gruff grunt when Jido began his sob-war talk. He had a mind to shoot him dead then and there, but he had his orders from Imala.

"Don't kill him. Just leave him in there until further notice."

"But, mam, what if he tries to-"

"And he will. Let him."

"You captured him to let him escape?"

"Are you questioning me?"

"No. No, mam."


"Knew her, huh? Well I hope you said your good byes, then. Now, in. This is your last stop."he said, shoving Jido into the cage. For a top elite of the Gorgons Mikel wasn't that strong. If the rebel would have been dressed in his full armor, Mikel would have been somewhere dead lying on the floors of Ronset. He had the advantage by cracking him across the head earlier. The guards outside the cell will take care of the rest.

"Make yourself comfortable, rebel. I hope you ate up before you killed our men, because your next meal is in 2 days. Night night." Mikel closed the metallic door of the cell and nodded to the guards next to either side.

Imala paced the interrogation. Neither she nor the other guard had left the room. She didn't know where to go from there. There was to be another drop off in 2 days time and she couldn't stop her hands from trembling. She didn't know if it were reluctance she was feeling or not, but it was obvious that Jido had gotten into her head. If it were any other Rebel but him.

"Lady Imala, would you like to leave the premises and return to your room?"the guard spoke up in a low voice. Imala shot the guard a piercing blue glare but didn't answer. Instead she sighed heavily and made her way out of the door and down the hallways of Ronset. Unfortunately, she had to pass the cells to get to the lower floor where her room is. Knowing that Jido was somewhere down there, her plan was to walk straightforward, not stopping or looking for his particular cell. She nodded to herself, walking down the steps to the Encasement Floor.
 
He was in his cell, surrounded bu men with guns and yet he was chuckling.

Two days? Ill be out of here before then.

Since he had arrived no one had searched him. He'd still have his side arm, grenades and armor if he hadn't have removed them himself. Were they really that confident they could hold him?

He was in his hand and knees from being dumped in his cell and wasn't much interested in looking to the floor so he turns over and sat, looking out into the coriddor.

"And to think, I left my rations in my other pants, the big clunky metal ones. Don't suppose someone is listening and will get them for me." He chucked again shaking his head.

"Náš domov je místo, kde ležel hlavou
Ve věčném spánku, žije v naší krvi
Naše srdce našich myslích našich duší

Nikdo nemůže vzít našeho domu od nás
V životě, ve smrti, v otroctví
To zpívá používat i když věčné tmy"


A simple poem about how home, family, and friends are always with you as long as you thought of them sung in a low but strong voice. It was what he would have given her if he had made it to her farewell, bandits... then again he had no room to complain.

He heard footsteps and stood pulling off his shit and using it to dab at the cut on his forehead, it came away red but the bleeding had slowed. Great he'd have a scar but he'd live, it was time to start plannig once whoever it was that was coming had passed.

"Aren't you going to give me something el... Oh.. look who it is. I though I was never going to see you again."
 
Imala stopped in her footsteps despite her mental sayings of moving forward. If it were any other rebel...

"You're the one looking."she said. After she said it, the statement sounded terribly child-like in her ears. Imala turned on her heel to look at the cage and Jido sitting in it.

"It seems fitting that you're in there. Personally, I'd rather 6 feet underground, but you're as good as dead here anyway. Hurry up and commit suicide now, why don't you. You can even give me a specific date; I'll be sure to put it on my calendar." The words, as cold as they were, had no back up. Her voice was dark, sure, but her facial features were crumbling. It was dark in the Encasement Floor so Jido couldn't see her lip trembling or notice the red rims around her cerulean eyes. Even after she said that, she knew Jido was plotting an escape. He never did stay at one place for a long time.

"Probably why you left me those years ago. Afraid of commitment."she said before realizing that she was thinking out loud. A guard cleared his throat and Imala shook her head ever so slightly.

"Have fun."she said sarcastically while turning around to walk off.



 
"Before sunrise. I wouldn't want to have you offended by my presence again." he called after her.

Of course he hadn't talked to her since then, he hadn't have wanted her to get in trouble for talking to ... no that wasn't it. It had been shame, shame of what he had done to stay alive once Hiigara had gone for a ball of shit, before the war he had robbed and killed, never from Hiigaran ships its true but she wouldn't see it that way. All she'd have to o it look at his file, if she hadn't already. Yes he'd be gone in the morning, before she saw him again.

Still it would be nice to have a clean shirt.

Still it was his cue to leave, bloody shirt or not. He slipped it on and moved to the door. HE wouldn't be surprised if they had left the key in the mock, but as it turned out they hadn't. So this would require more work.

*​

It was midnight when he finally cracked the lock and the cell slip open. without the heavy armor he was light on his feet and as quiet as a whisper.

Down the corridor, duck behind the corner and wait,

Ducu out and grad the guard in a sleeper hold. Grab his gun and his keys and head towards the main prison deck corridor. Peek around the corner and slip out, ears pricked. He moved with the silence and control of someone used to sneaking around instead of someone you'd expect to find in bulky armor, more of the things she didn't know baout and it was better her not knowing.
 
Imala shuffled through the papers as she continued to walk through the Encasement Floor which eventually dropped to the lower deck; Staff Quarters. Of course, she did tell herself internally not to meddle in his files. He was as good as dead anyhow, so his past according to the government was not of importance. Then again, if he kept his life as a rebel from her, she wouldn't be appalled to know he kept anything else. Their friendship was in tatters so she was strictly all business from then on out. Imala looked over the files, first noticing his name printed in bold letters at the top. For a rebel, he had a very high reputation...and for good reason! Imala's eyes darted wildly, even stopping in the middle of her brisk walk to read the reports.

Theft? Piracy? Reports of raiding? Imala looked from the reports to the sheet to make sure she had the name right, but there it was: 'Jido' in bold black letters in the top right corner. Imala had to force herself to read and walk at the same time. Turns out she didn't know her little friend like she thought she did. Imala crumpled the files and shoved them under her arm with a sharp huff of air. With all of those reports, Jido could sat in Ronset prison for life. Imala stopped in her tracks, knowing that Jido was probably escaping by now!

"Shit!"she swore loudly and rounded her way back up to the Encasement floor. The noise of her footsteps riled the inmates from their sleep, causing them to start their bickering of 'lack of sleep' or 'disrespect'. Imala swore under her breath and stopped in front of Jido's cell, which was empty and an unconscious guard on the floor.

"Dammit!"she said louder than normal and ran off back towards the entrance to the ship. There was no way he was going to get out of a floating ship alive, so he had to be in the ship to say the least. However, if she activated the alarms, they would kill him on contact, and somehow, that was a no-go for her. Imala turned a corner only to see a tiny glint in her peripheral. She skidded to a stop, leaning her back against the wall. She saw Jido stalking around the corners in his bulky armor. With her gun in one hand, Imala snaked her way around the corner, sneaking up quietly on him. The back of his hand was going to be in for a rude awakening.
 
He stopped dead, sighed and raised his gun without looking at her.

"And here I was thinking I'd have to hide and wait for a guard to open the door to look for it. It would have saved you all the trouble you're going to get into for not sounding the alarm. I have to winder why you didn't though."

He continued fiddling with the electronics behind the panel he had removed and shook his head. "Either you don't want me to die or you want the pleasure for yourself. I couldn't care which really." He looked at her his other hand coming up to the gun as well. "I'm getting out of here, because if I stay here you, your friends or your leaders will kill me. If you cannot understand the friend you once knew or a hiigaran, then let me speak to you, soldier to soldier. My duty is to get out of here, to keep fighting, the dream of a free hiigara is with living and dying for. Just like it is your duty to stop me but look at it this way. You are no use you your core dead, Open the door and you'll live to slaughter innocent lives another day."
 
"You're being stupid. Even if I do let you go...where would you go! You're floating in space! There's not really much room for escaping now is there!?" she snapped, pointing her gun at him. It seemed foolish at the time because he was right. He was so wrong that he was right. She knew what it was like to be a soldier and there he was, spinning her a web of soldier and Hiigaran tribunes. Imala scoffed at his insecurities.

"Cut the killing bull shit. You have blood on your hands just like I do. Ronset is not landing until the next two days and there is no way that I am giving you a piloteer ship. No."she said. The old Imala in her was brewing in her and she had to go so far as to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear to remind herself that she was all about business. Jido was not going to take no for an answer since he got this far and Imala was not going to give him one of the tiny outbound ships that Ronset carried. The crew was bound to know that it was gone and that known of the staff had left with it.

"You might be staying on this ride a little longer than planned. Either that or I can through you out and let you float around in space and die due to lack of air. Your choice."
she said. In her mind, she chanted that this was only temporary until the Core met the Rebels on the battle field again. Next time, she would finish what she started.
 
"Ever a tub like this has shuttles, escape pods..." he stopped at the look in her eyes and sighed shaking his head. He could pull the trigger, take her key and be off but looking at her, she wasn't a core worlder he could slaughter without blinking. "Damn me for a sentimental fool..." he muttered, his words barely audible before his gun dropped to the deck.

"So there you have it. I guess I'll go and wait for my execution. Have fun doing whatever it is while you're up here."

He tone was sarcastic as he moved past her ignoring the fact that she had a weapon poised to kill him. He was angry with himself and with her, he had been a heartbeat away from pulling the trigger and he couldn't decide if the anger care from the fact that he hadn't or because he had come so close to doing it. He would have walked off back to his cell but running into guards without a weapon was not his idea of fun. "So you taking me back or not?"
 
Just because he lowered his weapon didn't mean that she would do the same. Not on his life. besides, she had the best of both worlds, her sword near and cozy against her right leg. With her reflexes, she could have avoided being shot in vital part of her body, and if she could endure long enough, Imala had an opportune time to unsheathe her sword and have at him. Jido either knew of that possibility or just did not want to deal with the battle so he lowerd his gun. Imala only straightened hers.

"You break out to go back in. Where's that fighting spirit? Swearing back and forth that you would escape Ronset, and when freedom is in the palm of your hands, you turn around and walk back into chaos. Oh, the irony."she chuckled, although there was real laughter behind the lughter. "Now do you see how it is for me and the rest of the Core? Just when we get close enough to freeing Hiigara from the nonsense 'rebellion' you all call yourselves, we must only turn around to supress more of your fire with our own fire. Ah, but to 'dream of a free Hiigara worth living and dying for' is the mask you hide behind?" She should have just stopped while she was ahead, but her passion couldn't be blamed. Imala had a deep relationship with both Hiigara and her 'friend.' The only difference, Hiigara didn't stab her in the back. Tapping the side of his head with the barrel of her gun, Imala motioned forward.

"You know the way."she said and bit her tongue back. In two days time, he'll either be walking the same route as then, or rotting in the cell dead. Problem is, she didn't know which one she was more comfortable with. Damn the soldier's creed.
 
He turned back to her biting back a furious reply but his anger still showed in his eyes. She had crossed a line and that built on top of the anger he already felt towards himself was enough to make his regret dropping the gun. "Trust me theres still spirit. I just decided I'd spare your life just this once since its you. Next time... I'll blow that cocky smile right off your face if you get in my way as a traitor to Hiigara deserves."

He turned away from her and started off at a fast pace back towards his cell. He didn't care that she looked down on him, he was used to it from core worlders. it was that she clung to the belief that her genocide was justified, no more than justified, good for Hiigara. He prayed that after tonight they would never meet again, because after tonight, she was his enemy, to be killed by any true child of Hiigara. "You never asked me why I was going the wrong way." he mused "The shuttles are on the starboard side. Sometimes there are more important things than survival, the destruction of a ship for example, a command and control ship no less. Think about it and sleep easy..."
 
She had a right mind to slam her gun in the back of her head just to watch him bleed. A rebel's cockiness has always gotten themselves killed; he was practically asking for it. However, the threat still lingered in her mind. He only spared her because she was...her? It was strange to know that she was not a full blown Core in his eyes. She was Imala, the full blown Core, and apparently the name 'Imala' saved her ass for the moment.

"Charmed."she said and kept it silent thereon. She mulled over the thoughts about how his real plan was sabotage instead of escaping. It didn't spark any kind of fear, however. It was more a nuisance than anything. Ronset was high tech more high tech than any rebel could fathom. She couldn't put it past Jido however. He knew a great deal about Hiigaran technology so there was an inkling of worry in the back of her mind. then again, the ship was practically swarming with rebels. One man a lone against the masses was suicide.

There speedy trip back to his cell was silent one. Imala kept her aim straight at the back of his head the entire while. Turns out that threat did give her a chill.

"Enjoy your night, too."she said, letting the underlying meaning sit in the air. She opened the door herself, being extremely careful to not keep her back towards him. Reaching for a pad on her left thigh, she tapped in the ID:4FHS6 and waited patiently. Once Jido was in, Imala felt safe enough to turn her back towards him. There was a momentary white noise before:

"Lady Imala."

"Mikel, send another guard down to cell UT6."

"Troubles with the rebel, mam?"

"I did not command for a guard to get a question in response."she snapped. There was a slight pause before:

"Yes, mam. Guard 4357 is on his way."

"Good."she answered before disestablishing the connection and returning her device to its rightful place. Imala didn't need to wait on the guard. Jido was pretty much secured in there for the next to days. Without saying another words, she walked briskly back down the long winding hallway of the Encasement Floor and down to the Staff Quarters. Her room was sitting placidly on the far right wall of the dimly lit hallway.

"Imala."she spoke into the mechanized device to the right of the door. The device beeped in response and slid open letting her in. She sighed loudly over the hum of the door closing before making her way to the bed in the middle of the room. Not even bothering to close her eyes, she splayed out over the bed, gun still in her hands and sword still on her hip. The next 2 days were going to be torturous for the Allied Core.
 
Back behind bars, back under watch, Jido hated it. He could have been free right now, free to cripple this ship or destroy it outright. Instead he was sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor his eyes in the wall.

His life had changed so much since he and Imala had parted ways, and it was only seeing her that the changes were thrown into sharp relief. Gone was the daredevil kid she had been constantly scolding, gone was the teen with a dream she had whiled away the afternoons with his eyes on the sky talking about how he wanted to get a ship and make name for himself as a trader.

Gone was the young man who had left her to sign on with a departing ship running away from home. The trader working under a harsh captain. The owner of a small freighter, surrounded by ships with weapons aimed at him.

The fugitive, the raider, the criminal. His fall had come quickly.

He made no mistakes as to what he had done, the scar on his cheek, only visible then his cheeks were red, the mark on his wrist from his first time in the core prison.

But he had a chance to repay Hiigara for everything he had done, to clear his name, she would be free and with redemption he could again return home to his family, or what survived of it.

His parents had passed while he was still plying the trade routes, and his sister had died in a core attack. He had refused to allow his younger brothers to join, he alone would repay their debt to the planet that sheltered them, and with death or victory he would have redemption.

Imala could never understand. She she must never know, even if his last remaining childhood dream died because of it. He wasn't a child anymore and never could be again. The universe is how it is, the most of it is all we can make of it.

His cheeks were wet now but he ignored it. There would be no sleep tonight, and if he knew core prisons none tomorrow. Still he could lie down, lest his head and pretend. The songs of home echoing in his head.
 
Imala wasn't sure if it were morning or afternoon. All she was aware of was that her transceiver device on her hip was beeping like crazy, meaning she had a message. There was a groan from her mouth before she opened one blue eye to view the swimmy view of her quarters. Actually, she was so sure that she had been killed last night, which made her sleep that much more enjoyable. Turns out, she was alive and well and still fighting for Hiigara. Hoorah.

Imala reached for the device 3 times before she actually got a hold of it. It took forever to detach it from her suit but the beeping never ceased. Meaning that call must of been of dire importance. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes as much as possible, she grasped it and shoved it up to her face to read ID:4FHS6. Imala growled and took a deep breath before:

"Mikel. Why are you waking me up?" her voice sounded something like steel wool scrapping against sawdust.

"My deepest apologies, mam. The Core are all meeting down in Base Hall, and well, you are a squad leader..."

"Thanks for reminding me."she said, dripping sarcasm before lifting herself up on one elbow and looking out of the Ronset window. Stars. Perfect. "I'll be down there as quick as I can. Tell them they can start without me."

"Negative, mam. This is an important meeting."

"Which only confuses me more of why I was not informed of this so called meeting."she grumbled. Leave it to the Allied Core to leave a Leader wandering in circles, or in her case, over sleeping.

"That is because it was forged this morning. I will let them know that you are on your way."he said. Imala didn't give him a goodbye before she ended the transmission and sighed before laying back in her bed. The events with Jido hours before were only a dream. She was still Core so she still had to maintain a job. He even went as far to cause her to over sleep. What more could one expect from a rebel? Using any excuse to make Jido the cause of her bad start of the day. Imala hoisted herself up and went around her quarters to prepare herself for the apparent 'important meeting' she was late for.