Yeah, yeah…I haven't posted in a while. That's because I've been writing this. This is going to be good. It's going to be a trilogy in the end, but that's not important right now. This story is.
This story explains ZaiFae Luthuviel's (My fanchara) past. She was just an ordinary Irken. But things happened. Yeah… This really develops her and explains how she came to Earth…that's always good to know. Hmm…Anyway, just read it, okay?
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"ZaiFae!" The pointer slammed into the desk not an inch from my fingertips. "Pay attention!" I sat quickly upright, and acted like I really had been paying attention. When I looked up, I saw that he was returning to the front of the room. I slouched down in my seat in the back of the room again. I don't really like sitting in the back, but I have had no choice since I grew taller than anyone else in the class.
We were learning about the general theory behind navigation on a foreign planet's surface. You know what I'm talking about: marking landmarks and trails, using compasses, stuff like that. Today was just a review of what we had learned, so I really didn't need to pay attention. I tended to absorb things like this without even trying.
We had a test planned for the next day, a practical one. Our entire class was going to be transported to a nearby planet to test how much we had really learned. Most of my fellow classmates were not looking forward to this trip, but I was. I have always been good at this sort of thing.
When I was sure my teacher was fully involved with answering one of the more nervous female's questions, I reached into the storage cavity in my desk and pulled out a small slip of paper. I began to add to the small drawing on it. The drawing was of one of our new Tallest, the Tallest Purple. Like most Irken females my age, I had a crush on one of the Tallest. The thing was, both of them were so young. Usually, a new Tallest is selected only because the previous one died. Both of these fine specimens, however, had actually grown taller than our old Tallest, and therefore, overthrew him. The weirdest thing of it was that they both were exactly the same height. It was unheard, except for vague myths of olden days.
I didn't really like the other Tallest, Tallest Red. He was too aggressive, too much like me when I lose me temper, which can be often. Tallest Purple, though, he was so smart, so calm, and so cute! I mentally chastised myself. I knew I had no chance. Very few Irkens ever developed close personal relationships with another Irken. It tends to take their minds off of their work, so they become distracted and make mistakes. Mistakes are not tolerated, by anyone, so most Irkens are apt to shirk personal relationships.
In fact, if I ever met the Tallest, (which was highly unlikely) they were more likely to see me as a threat than anything else! My close friend Lyros always made these jokes about how the Tallest better look out, because I'm going to catch up to them. I laughed when he said things like that, but deep down it scared me. I never saw myself as politician material. I'd be much more comfortable in the cockpit of a Voot Cruiser, scouting the universe for planets suitable for invasion.
The next day, our class assembled at one of the numerous spaceports around the planet. Lyros and I were among the first to arrive, but the rest of our classmates were not far behind. We boarded the swift transport and lifted from the planet's surface, heading towards Ionia. Our instructor briefed us on the way there, telling us what sort of terrain we might encounter and the coordinates of the place we were attempting to reach as fast as we could. We were also given compasses.
The trip to Ionia was not a long one. Just after an hour and a half, we were there. The pilot landed us on the surface of the planet, and we filed out. Out instructor wished us good luck, before boarding the ship and lifting off again. They were going to wait for us at the correct coordinates, so as soon as we found the ship again, we were finished. Lyros and I oriented ourselves and headed off into the gently rolling forested hills while the other students were still looking around and whispering nervously among themselves.
An hour or so later, maybe more, and I was trekking alone through the woods. Lyros and I had gone our separate ways after an argument about which was the correct way to go, up a steep hill, or along the bottom of it until it flattened out. I had opted to go up, where Lyros was convinced it would actually save time to go around the hill. I found that, even though it had looked steep, it wasn't that hard to climb and I had scaled it in less than 20 minutes. I could no longer see Lyros, and neither saw nor heard any sign of another Irken anywhere near me. I stopped for a moment, to get my bearings, and continued on in the direction that I thought was correct. I walked for over twenty minutes before, climbing to the top of a relatively bare hill, I saw, on the next hill over, the transport ship, sitting in a clearing. I cheered once before setting off down the hill.
The ship was farther than it seemed, of course. To get to it I had to go down a hill, across a marshy ravine in the bottom, and up the next hill, which was more thickly forested than the other. It wasn't too hard though, and I reached the clearing not fifteen minutes after I had seen it.
My instructor was sitting in a portable chair just outside the ship, enjoying the sunshine. I didn't blame him; we didn't get much sun on Irk, what with the pollution and all.
"Um, Instructor?" I said a minute later, not wanting to startle him, but wanting to let him know I was there, since he didn't seem to notice me. He looked up, surprised. He stared at me for a moment, mouth slightly open. Belatedly, I saluted to him, standing as rigidly as I could as I had been taught. He got up, and, without a word, strode into the ship. A few moments later, he re-emerged. I saluted again.
"ZaiFae," he said to me, "a speeder from Irk will be here shortly. When it comes you are to board it, no questions asked." I opened my mouth to say something. "No questions asked, Invader-In-Training!" he repeated, before turning on one heel and striding back into the ship.
"Y-yes, sir!" I managed to stammer before the door closed. I sat down in his vacated chair. : What did I do wrong? : I wondered, squishing down the panic I could feel beginning to grow inside me. : Do they think I cheated or something? : I sat for a few minutes, scuffing the dirt on the ground into small piles and sticking pine needles into them. Just when I had a regular fort going, the promised speeder swooped in and set down in what little open space was left, blowing away my dust and dirt creation. "Aw, there it goes!" I said sadly. "Just when we were about to counterassault, too! Stupid nukes." The door was opened and the pilot inside beckoned for me to get in. My feeling of dread resurfaced as I got up and climbed aboard. I shut the door and strapped on the safety belt as the pilot lifted the ship from the planet's surface. The ship was small, and very new.
"We'll be to Irk in just over fifteen minutes," The pilot announced when we were clear of the planet.
"Wow!" I said, astonished. "This thing is damn fast!" The pilot smiled at me.
"Newest model," he replied. "In fact, new technology, too. There are only about ten or so in existence so far, and I got one." I nodded. He must have been a really, really good pilot to get a new model ship so soon after they were invented. "So," he started conversationally a minute later, "any idea what is going on here?"
"Nope," I said earnestly, taking a deep breath to quell my panic.
"All I know is that your instructor called and asked for the fasted ship available to come and pick someone up. I was free, so I was sent. Dunno what the emergency is though," he said with a shrug as he turned back to his instruments.
"Me neither," I said softly to myself. I stared off into the void of space and spaced out, lost in the beauty of the stars. Not soon after that, Irk came into view, and I had the privilege of seeing the Massive, the personal ship of the Tallest, orbiting the planet, surrounded by the Irken Armada. The pilot swerved towards the huge ship.
"Whoa," I said in surprise, "where are you going?"
"They told me to take you here," the pilot announced.
"Who?" I asked, but he didn't answer me, as he had to turn his attention to docking his ship. To Irkens in guard uniforms were waiting at the exit from the hanger. I hesitantly left the ship. They immediately came in the room.
"Follow us please," one of them said. I had no choice, as they positioned themselves on either side of me. They led me up an elevator and down a hall. I tried not to think about what might happen to me. They stopped at one of the doors lining the hallway. One of them palmed the door open and the other escorted me inside. Then they both left.
There was a small chair in the room, which I sat down on with a sigh. None of this bode well. My instructor surprised to see me at the finishing point, then sending me back to Irk was bad enough. But coming to the Massive instead of landing on the planet's surface. That wasn't good! I must have majorly screwed up somewhere along the line. I began to run through the possibilities in my mind. Had someone found out about that…no, I had covered that one up too well. I snickered to myself, remembering the childish dare I had been forced into by Lyros: sneak into the teacher's lounge and plant a bomb. That had been at the beginning of my third year of training to be an Invader, and the males in my age group had said that if I wanted to hang out with them, I had to do something to prove myself worthy. I was willing to. Most Irken females are ridiculously boring, so I had crafted this little device and stuck it under a chair. The most if was supposed to do was make noise and give off a little puff of smoke, more to scare anyone in the room than anything. It had blown up half the building. I didn't think anyone found out about that though because I had planted the little thing in the dead of night. Maybe someone had found out about the lavatory incident…or the speeder thing…or that mint fiasco…
I was beginning to worry. I had been sitting in the room for ten minutes, and my mind kept dredging up ancient pranks that I was going to be punished for. That didn't make sense, though…none of my pranks had ever injured anyone…seriously. And none of them warranted being brought in front of anyone of higher authority than the headmistress of my Academy. So…it was some sort of academic misdemeanor. I…I didn't know. My mind drew a blank and I began to panic. I had to have done something completely horrible to end up here. I …
The sounds of a minor argument broke out behind the door opposite the one I had entered through. I could hear two voices bickering, and suddenly the door opened. An Irken was pushed into the room. I gasped, and jumped out of the chair so fast it fell over. I saluted as the Irken straightened up. I was in the presence of Almighty Tallest Purple!
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Ooo, cool! Purple! Yay!! Whoa, I am so confused right now…*blink blink* Yeah.
Read and Review, please? I wanna know what ppl think of what I consider my best writing yet. *Blink* Oh yeah! I don't own Irkens! I don't own the Tallest, or the Massive, or anything like that…I do own ZaiFae, though. I like her. She's kool.
Okay, um, I'm going to sleep now…my brain hurts…