* * *
The last few days saw more food than before. One less mouth to feed helped, even though the worry of their missing mother kept her from sleeping. Her bruised cheek, and the cut across her lip probably helped with the miners sympathy too. With the sound of the shift change siren, she takes up her old violin, her muscles still sore from the encounter days before. A piece of bread crust, and a mostly eaten peach are the things she notes getting tossed into her brothers violin case, and she manages to smile a little.
"How are you feeling?" the vaguely familiar Amarr voice asks.
Startled, she looks up and over seeing the Navy officer at the front of a detachment of Imperial Marines. Looking away in embarrassment for not thanking him, she responds, "Ok, sir. Thank you... you know? The other day...?"
He smiles softly at her and then her brother, "And who is this?"
"I'm Kaleb!" her younger brother chimes in before she has a chance to respond. The young boy looks wide eyed at the Amarr officer, "Do you fly a spaceship!?" he asks excitedly.
The officer chuckles back at the inquisitive child, "I serve aboard one, yes."
"Wow!" The boy smiles broadly, enamored.
"I'd like to hear you play, " says the officer turning his gaze back to her.
She nods, trying to avoid his eyes. She brings her carefully chosen stick up to the rusted strings and does her best to not offend her audiences ears.
The officer puts on a forced expression of approval, trying to hide his amusement behind his smile. She plays a bit more before her brother breaks her concentration.
"Mommy!" he shouts and drops the violin case, spilling it's little contents onto the ground. He runs up to her hugging at her leg. She barely notices and approaches the officer.
The mother thrusts some papers at the man, shaking them, "Take them! For God, take them!" Out of reflex the officer responds, accepting the papers. She drops to the ground in front of him, grasping at his boot, kissing the toe of it, "Thank you, m'Lord!. By all that is Holy, thank you! They will serve you well."
The lump in the daughters throat prevents her from speaking, her body paralyzed at the implication.
The mother stands, pushing down the young boy who is still chanting, "Mommy! Mommy!" She turns away without looking at either of the children, running off into the cross traffic of arriving and leaving workers. Her wild, unwashed hair is the last they will ever see of her.
"Umm..." The Naval officer is the first to be able to respond, and he quickly glances over the papers he realizes he now holds. "Sergeant, take them" he calls out flatly.
The marines move swiftly, one grabbing the now crying boy off the ground, another scooping up the girl. She blinks in a daze and loses grip of the violin which falls to the ground, the aged cheap wood shattering into pieces. The troop quickly moves out towards the center of the city.
*
She stands with her younger brother at her side, the Naval officer behind them. She looks at the Amarr behind the counter as he finishes reading the papers their mother had thrust upon the officer.
"Yes, this is all in order. She has relinquished any claim to them. Do you have the registration forms for your new slaves?"
The officer hands him a data tablet. The clerk begins reading it, and almost immediately looks back up at the Navy man. "Sir, but this is..."
"I know." assures the officer in a commanding voice.
The clerk looks at the two children in front of him. He shrugs and continues reading partially out loud, "... Ni-Kunni female... age nine ... height, weight appear accurate..." He looks at the officer, "Name?"
The officer looks down at the girl, smiling, "Go ahead, tell him your name."
The girl looks up at the officer a moment then at the clerk. She says softly, "Mitara Cobestes"
"Mitara..." the clerk repeats back as he keys the datapad. He scrolls and reads more, ".. Ni-Kunni male... age 5... ok.." Knowing now what the response from the officer will be, this time he looks at the boy for the response, "Name?"
"Kaleb, sir"
"Kaleb..." more keying into the datapad followed by a press of a thumb. The clerk hands the datapad back to the Navy officer, "There you are sir, all set."
The Navy man places a hand on either of the siblings shoulders and turns them to walk. As they walk he looks down at the girl, she looks back up at him. "Mitara Newelle. You are Mitara Newelle now. Understand?"
She nods to him, even though she doesn't.
* * *
Mitara leans her back against the outer wall of the mineshaft and slowly slides down until she is sitting. She pulls her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. Her eyes close and her head lowers to rest against the top of her knees.
Emotion crashes down on her.
She sobs.
* * *
Kaleb lays curled on the bench of the transport, asleep. The young Ni-Kunni girl sits next to the Naval officer, unable to comprehend the happenings of the last several hours. The silence weighs down on her, and the fear of this unknown future scares her to her core. She tries not make any sounds as she can't help but cry. The Navy officer notices anyway.
| "Why do you cry?" asks the officer in a kind voice. | "Why do you cry?" asks a voice. | |
| "It has been so hard. I have done some bad things." the short life of the young girl plays itself back in her mind. All the worry and anguish of simply trying to survive. Visions of the places and the people from which she stole roll through her thoughts. | "It has been so hard. I have done some horrid things." the Captain thinks of the constant patrols and battles, all her duties to PIE and to the Empire. She sees the faces of her fellow pilots prominently: Shalee, Raphael, Zenton, Laerise, Aldrith; others fade quickly. Deep within her she knows she has wronged them all. | |
| "Are you not also blessed?" the Amarr next to her says, gently placing his hand atop her head. | "Are you not also blessed?" the voice asks, the hair on her neck stands on end. | |
| She had been bathed, fed, and given new cloths. Her wounds had been attended to by a physician. She was not separated from her brother. "Yes, I am blessed." | She was nearly immortal. She was Captain in the venerated Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris. Rich beyond most commoners dreams. She had a family that cared for her. She had felt the elation of giving her heart away to another. "Yes, I am blessed." | |
| The young girl looks up at the Amarr officer, "Who are you?" | The woman begins to look up, "Who are you?" | |
| "I am your father, now." replies the man next to her. | "I am your Father, always." the voice fills her head. |
Mitara sits straight up, sucking in a breath. Her heart races and her body trembles. She looks all around her. She is alone. What was once day has become night. There is a soft glow provided by the starlight.
A fresh stream of tears begin to fall, now tears of joy. She lifts her head to the stars, a smile slowly forms.
"Thank you."
END
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