“Altaire IV, the Syn Queens where at Altaire IV,” Liz repeated with growing frustration. She eyed her questioner aggressively as Taylor paced the room behind her. She crossed her arms and made a face as the questioner whispered something to his partner and consulted his data pad.

  “Tell us more about the Queens. What exactly do you know about them? What are they to the Syncline?” the first questioner asked politely as he scrutinized his prisoners with relaxed authority.

  “The Queens are the Syncline,” Liz explained fervently. “They are the puppeteers behind everything. The Queens wield the rest of their people like tools, using them in their endless struggle to divvy up the galaxy amongst themselves.”

  “Agra told you this?” one of the questioners asked as he read something off his notes, “and Quintek?”

  “They told us enough to put two and two together,” Taylor offered. “They at least made it clear enough whose side they were on. We can trust them.”

  “Trust is not what we want. We want information. Can you tell us about the events of your escape again? What exactly did you see?”

  Liz scoffed and rolled her eyes.

  “When will you tell us about Jakob. Is he OK?”

  “You can see him when we’re done.”

  “You told us that an hour ago,” Taylor complained. “Everything you need to know is in Greg Anson’s logs. Why do you need us?”

  “The logs are being reviewed. We would simply like your additional perspective on things,” a questioner pointed out innocently.

  “Can we get back on track?” the other questioner growled.

  Taylor sighed wearily. Both he and Liz had not been allowed to change out of the Survival suits they had now been wearing for several days.

  “Syn ships started appearing overhead on the third morning. We saw them fighting amongst themselves. Agra said they were there for her, said something about them finding her.”

  “When Agra went unconscious and somehow influenced the Syn soldiers we now have in custody,” a Questioner interrupted with a skeptical tone. “In this star field she later described to you.”

  “Yes,” Liz exclaimed. “I know how it sounds, but that’s what happened. Agra tapped into whatever power the Syn Queens use to assert their mental will on their subjects. It’s like a biological deep space network the Syn Queens have access to. It’s like a higher plane of thought, a collective consciousness. What else do you want? Agra’s intrusion attracted them all to Altaire IV.

  “I can believe that there are multiple factions of Syn, that we struggle with a mere fraction of their might, but to believe that Agra attracted all of them to some backwater world is hard to swallow.”

  “That’s what happened,” Taylor complained.

  “Why though? What’s the reason?”

  Liz and Taylor went silent.

  “This is what bothers me,” the questioner said tapping his data pad. “You have so exquisitely explained the circumstances of your time on Altaire IV, and yet you refuse or seem unable to answer such a simple question.”

  “Would you believe it? I not sure I do.” Liz admitted.

  “The Queens are scared of her, of Agra,” Taylor finally blurted out.

  “Scared?” the questioner said. He eyed his partner. “Didn’t you say they are all powerful, that we don’t stand a chance? Why should they be scared?”

  “We don’t know, neither does Agra. All we know is that they will do anything to kill her. She is the only thing they fear,” Liz exclaimed throwing up her hands.

  “The only one they fear,” The questioner said shaking his head. He didn’t seem satisfied with the answer and followed up on it.

  “Do you think we have anything to fear from Agra?”

  Liz opted not to answer.

  “We want to see Jakob,” she once again demanded. The questioner duly noted her response and moved on to the next topic.

  “Tell me again about the power of the Syn. Would you categorize it as some kind of telepathy?”

  Adelaide tore the thin foam cushion off her cold metal bed and threw it against the transparent wall of her transparent penal cube. The next focus of her frustration was the clear curtain of the combination shower toilet which she easily ripped to pieces. Nobody else but the Navigator heard her muffled rage. Besides him and the other Syn she was the only other prisoner being held here. All the other cells were empty. Resources weren’t usually wasted on unproductive prisoners anymore.

  “Crozier you piece of shit! Let me out!” she howled as she turned her wraith toward the plastic furniture. She flipped the table, splattering the floor with her uneaten rations. Adelaide ran her hands across her throbbing head as she paced the small room with a seething expression. Her mother’s pale face lingered dreadfully in her mind. The look of shocked disgust haunted her. What kind of monster had she let herself become? This wasn’t about avenging her father anymore, not that killing Agra gave her any satisfaction. All she felt was guilt. That’s when she noticed the Navigator. He was standing against the clear class of his cell staring at her.

  “What are you looking at?” Adelaide yelled. She had no idea if he could understand her and waved her hands wildly when he didn’t respond. “Hello? Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

  The Navigator rapidly clicked and chirped something that meant nothing to Adelaide. Realizing communication was pointless; he shrank back from the wall and curled up on the floor. Adelaide rolled her eyes and pulled the crumpled bed cushion against the wall to sit. She banged her forehead against the clear wall and sighed as she stared at the pitiful Syn cowering in the opposite cell.

  “So I guess that means you’re like me,” Adelaide grumbled under her breath. “You didn’t know my father.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Lieutenant Adelaide Anson there you are.”

  Adelaide recognized the patronizing voice of commander Audrey Sparks with a frustrated growl. She pushed the hair out of her face and stood to confront the commander on the other side of her cell. Commander Sparks was alone and in a strangely good mood.

  “Not who you were expecting?” Sparks said.

  “What do you want?” Adelaide asked coldly.

  “I just wanted to say I was wrong about you,” Commander Sparks admitted with a grin. “I shouldn’t have misjudged you.”

  “That’s it?” Adelaide scoffed. “You suddenly want me under your command?”

  “No, you’ve shown yourself to be an unreliable dangerous liability. Besides I won’t be here much longer. Recent events have changed everything and my reassignment is just part of the shakeup. I’m just here to give you some advice.”

  “I’m listening,” Adelaide said. It wasn’t like she had any other choice. The Commander had a captive audience.

  “I knew how close you were to General Crozier and figured you were another one of his acolytes. What you said about us deserving to lose the war was classic Western Sphere Alliance philosophy. I thought you were just another indoctrinated fool, but what you did surprised me. You defied orders to attack the Syncline invaders in our midst. I suddenly understood what you meant about throwing aside our petty differences. It’s the same thing I realized a long time ago. To win we can’t let anything stop us from doing what must be done. We need to fight this war with fearless single minded resolve. Nothing should stop us from killing every last Syn until absolute victory is assured.”

  “Sounds a lot like the Syncline,” Adelaide rebuked.

  “Don’t they call you the Daughter of Devils,” Commander Sparks chuckled.

  “I thought you had advice for me. This is starting to feel like another psych exam.”

  “You know what must be done, but lack the conviction to see it through,” Commander Sparks appraised bluntly. “You have what it takes to fight the Syn on their own terms, but when the time came you couldn’t even avenge your father.”

  “So she’s alive,” Adelaide exclaimed with relief. This is not what Commander Sparks wanted to hear. She pounded the glass in frustration.”

  “You better get with the program Adelaide,” Audrey yelled. “Are you going to help us or rot in here with the monsters? It’s your choice to be an asset or a traitor.”

  “Maybe it’s already too late,” Adelaide responded.

  “Goodbye Adelaide.” Audrey Sparks said excusing herself. The commander scornfully glanced at the Navigator then walked away. Adelaide was relieved to watch her go. Commander Sparks was more demented than she first thought. The Navigator was back at his cells glass wall watching as the Commander disappeared

  “You have no idea how lucky you are to be behind that glass,” Adelaide told the Navigator.

  “What do we do now?” Patricia wondered aloud with somber conviction. She leaned against the glass observation window of the surgical wing and shook her head. Tears streamed down her face as she watched Marco Crozier in the reflection. He was leaning against the opposite wall with a conflicted look on his pale face.

  “Patricia,” he pleaded for a moment before stopping himself. The anger in her eyes kept him from saying anything more. Patricia bit her lip and turned away from the General with her hand clenched in a trembling fist. Medical machines beeped and whirred in the tense silence. In the surgical chamber doctors under armed guard cautiously operated on the two Syncline patients. Both were still unconscious, their limp bodies unnecessarily bound to their gurneys and their clawed hands covered. Both had needed blood transfusions, the soldier especially. Patricia had been the one to stabilize him with an emergency transfusion in the hall. The other Syn soldiers that had been captured were good donors. Agra had been another matter all together. Her red blood had befuddled all the advising scientists. Their tests indicated a potent mix of oxides and heavy metals dissolved in her blood. The cause of the deterioration in her husband’s holographic logs was now apparent.

  “Can you imagine how much he suffered?” Patricia lamented she thought of her late husband. “He was being poisoned by his own blood with no way to end his pain. We could have helped him, but instead-“

  Patricia grimaced as she looked back at Agra motionless on her gurney. A Syn had killed her husband like she always suspected, and yet she couldn’t make herself hate the one that had actually done the terrible merciful act. Maybe the revelation that her husband had survived long enough to raise a Syn was already too much to handle.

  “I gave up on him Marco,” Patricia seethed. “I should have known he was alive, but I gave up hope to soon. We left him for dead.”

  “How could we have known?” Marco pleaded abruptly. His exclamation was loud enough to catch the attention of the men behind the glass. He lurched towards Patricia with his hands outstretched. “I did everything I could to force a rescue mission, but nothing I said could convince SMCAF to send one. Greg was my best friend, but to them he was nobody.”

  “Not anymore,” Patricia rebuked coldly. “He made damn sure SMCAF would remember his name.”

  “So he did.”

  The faintest smile formed on Marco’s exhausted face as he suddenly recalled happier days. He thought of the arrogant colonial rogue he had met at the academy. Only Greg could have taken a syn and molded it in his own image Marco thought as he studied Agra with mixed feelings. Agra impressed him but also left him deeply unsettled in a way that was hard to describe. His gut instinct told him not to underestimate the self-professed Syn Queen now in their midst. She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Her red coloration already gave off the impression that she was soaked in blood. It was unnerving to see how much of Greg Anson had come back with her. It was also comforting to know how much of his friend still lingered on.

  “She even talks like him,” Marco remarked nostalgically.

  “Greg told me he thought he’d make a good father,” Patricia nodded. “I guess he wasn’t wrong.”

  “I wonder if he really knew what he was doing raising her as his equal,” Marco said as he turned towards Patricia with concern. “He must have known how we would react. How could he prepare her for that?”

  “He made her a force to be reckoned with,” Patricia replied nodding her head, “just like himself. She eluded our defenses and humiliated the fleet just to get here.”

  “She would have made Greg proud with that stunt,” Marco agreed. “That’s why she scares me. How much did Greg teach her and how much was already there? She is a Syn and I think we should be cautious.”

  “Where did they take Adelaide?” Patricia said changing the subject. She didn’t know a way of voicing her concerns without betraying her husband’s trust. If Greg thought of Agra like a daughter then why couldn’t she? They were her responsibility now, both Adelaide and Agra. She looked at Marco and manifested a mother’s anger. “What have they done with her?”

  “Jakob”

  “Jakob you have visitors,”

  Jakob greeted Liz and Taylor with a weak smile as they rushed to his bedside. Jakob lay wrapped in blankets covered in a spiderweb of medical hoses. Blinking machines beeped and hummed all around him.

  “Hey guys,” Jakob yawned, “I was just having the strangest dream.”

  “Strange how?” Liz asked with a worried look. Jakob opened his mouth to reply, but found himself unable to remember anything but a vague sense of unease. All he could recall was the fleeting glimpse of red Syn eyes. He sighed, focusing on the warmth of the blankets instead of the dull pain in his shoulder and the slowness of his muddled mind.

  “It was nothing,” he said before quickly changing the subject. “Where’s Agra?”

  “In about as good a shape as you,” Taylor said shaking his head. “There was an incident. Agra got beaten badly and Quintek got shot.”

  “Is he ok?” Jakob demanded urgently. He winced, the sudden strain causing him excruciating pain.

  “He’s alright, they both are,” Taylor quickly amended.

  “I’m glad,” Jakob croaked with relief.

  “The Doctors expect you’ll make a full recovery,” Liz said baffled by Jakob’s disinterest in his own condition. How had he even heard about what happened?

  “What’s with that face?” Jakob grinned coyly. “Were you worried about me Lieutenant?”

  “Of course I was you idiot,” Liz snapped. Embarrassed she turned away to hide her blushing face from both Jakob and the nurse scolding her from the doorway.

  “I think she meant that it’s odd that you’d be so worried about Agra and Quintek. I thought you didn’t like them,” Taylor said.

  “Of course I don’t like them,” Jakob clarified reluctantly. “Agra and Quintek are Syncline, but they did save our lives. That should count for something shouldn’t it?”

  “It should,” Taylor agreed, though with a disheartened look.

  “I don’t think anything can convince SMCAF that they can be trusted,” Liz admitted with a whisper. “That’s why I had to lie to them. I didn’t want to give them a reason to provoke her.”

  “Her Divine wraith will be just-,” Jakob mouthed softly.

  “What?“ Taylor interjected.

  “I’m not sure,” Jakob said distantly. “Something I dreamed?”