Chapter 2:
Baromosa felt his head throbbing when he woke up. Laying down on a fold out cot he turned over on his stomach and kept his eyes closed, moaning quietly into his pillow.
"Good morning to you too." A feminine voice said softly from across the room. He turned on his side to look up quickly, startled to hear the new voice in the room.
"Ugh, My head." Baro groaned at her laying on his back. Surprisingly she got up and knelt beside him.
"Are you alright? When I pulled you out of the pod you were bleeding a lot… we don't have a doctor and the other marine died." She said picking up his arm and looking at the dried blood around this wound from the soldier. Her mouthed gasped slightly and he moved when he felt her warm touch.
"Yea I'm fine." Baro said and laid back down. His muscles started to relax and he let out a slow breath. "What happened when I was out?" he asked gruffly and looked back at her.
She smiled and went back to her chair to fumble with a broken data pad about the size of her palm. "The pod landed in an urban area not to far from the capital. In the confusion I was able to get us to this abandoned cabin, no one should notice. It isn't a very… sought after part of town." After a few moments she suddenly cut her self on a glass shard from the data pad's broken screen and let out a small yelp, dropping the metal object.
"Are you alright princess?" Baro said and rolled out of bed, going over to her side.
"I'm fine, it's just a small cut. Stupid data pad." She said disgustedly and watched Baro while he took her hand and examined it. "Really, you don't need to worry. You're more hurt then I am."
He nodded and looked up at her while he dug through his vest for something to heal it. "My name's Baromosa by the way." Baro told her and took her hand gently, opening her fingers they felt so fragile in his large hands. "This might seem like an obvious question but I'm new to the federation, why were you on this mission?" He asked her, but his real intention was to distract her from the sting she was about to feel.
"My name's Ember. My mother was a diplomat like me, I was chosen to.." The princess began while Baro took out a small stick of green gel wrapped in silver foil. He took a small bit of it and touched it gently to her cut, and it sizzled a small drop into the blood and sealed the skin together with a small puff of smoke. "OW!" Ember yelped sharply and grabbed Baro's hand. "That hurt.." She complained but held back a tear.
"I'm sorry, but this will make sure you won't get infected out here." Baro said softly and rubbed her hand before she took it away and looked down at the data pad by her feet.
"Thank you ensign." She stated quietly and picked up the data pad before walking to the other side of the room quickly. Baro ignored it and took her former seat to look around the cabin. It had the standard arrangement for living quarters; tables with glass surfaces and metal casing with glow lights embedded in the tops, metal beds that were built into the wall like catacombs, and an all purpose counter with drawers and utensils inside. The lights were a dim yellow and for a moment Baro felt safe just sitting in the chair and waiting for something to happen. Ember took another seat, but eventually came back over to Baro's table to chat while she worked on her broken device.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked curiously. Ember kept looking intent at the data pad with a blank stare, unsure on how to go about it.
"We can use the escape pod's computer to locate the other pods because it can be too easily traced… I wanted to use the components in this to make some sort of relay or transceiver." She said weakly from the confusion of the problem. Baro almost wanted to smirk like he did when his little sister tried things too big for her, but the bruise to his head made him more docile.
"It's too dangerous trying to find them, if anything we do is traced the other teams won't have a rallying point. They are no doubt trying to find us as we speak." Baro said softly thinking about the situation. He got up and took a look at the data pad in her hands. She seemed to submit to him even though he wasn't using force, she gave him the busted device before he even motioned for it. "We should see if we can get use of a public computer, something to read the local news on that wouldn't be suspicious. If Zulin has started to pressure anyone to find us the media will know."
Ember nodded and stretched her back, moaning softly. "I don't want to stay here long, the peace conference will never ever start now." She said with a touch of sadness.
"Peace Conference? On Bistari? But why here, why would a neutral planet want to help us." Baro asked her with a new interest. Politics always interested him, he remembered debating with his friends in the academy. Ember seemed to have a keen mine about the workings of political science too, she calmly explained about how the leader of Bistari was a secret federation sympathizer. Often Baro interrupted with a discreet question but she smiled and answered happily to him, enjoying the discussion. Ember also knew about the corruption in the Federation's council, supposed scandals of the higher ranking generals, and some interesting facts about the more powerful factions.
During their conversation, Baro and Ember both seemed to relax and their chairs and talk like friends. They talked about what brought them to this mission and laughed about Ember's dislike for her dress.
"Well Ember, I think we should at least take a look around the area. If we need to leave quickly I'd prefer if we both knew the surroundings a little better, would you like to take a walk with me?" Baro asked her softly, hoping she would like to continue their delightful discussion.
"Ok, but Baro…" She said and looked down at her feet.
"What is it princess?" he asked her with slight worry and curiosity.
"I don't want to walk around in this dress…it clings too much and makes me trip and…. I just don't want it." She whimpered feeling helpless in the silk covering her everywhere.
"I'll trade for some clothes if we see any, it would be good to blend in more anyway." He said and looked around the room for anything to make he more comfortable. Pulling out the drawers in the counter Baro found a plain set of girl's pants and a white shirt. "We'll these do for now?" he asked her and gave her the clothes.
She nodded but blushed looking around the room. "What's the matter?" he asked her softly, afraid that he had done something.
"I… don't see anywhere to change." She said simply and turned red when Baro gave her a strange look.
"I forgot, my father told me most cultures had customs about modesty. Its true, you really are embarrassed about changing in front of me?" Baro laughed a little and she turned redder in her cheeks.
"No man has ever been around me this much, and certainly not see me change!" She said quickly and looked away from Baro.
"I'm sorry Ember, I was taught it was a silly custom though. You shouldn't be ashamed about how you look, or afraid of what I'll say. You are what you are, but would you feel more comfortable if I was outside while you changed?" Baro asked her quietly, not wanting to scare her.
"Yeah I would, you don't think I'm being silly do you?" She asked him looking back over at his eyes.
"No I don't, that's how you were taught. There's no shame in that, I'll be outside if you need me." Baro smiled and walked outside, pocketing his side arm in his vest and leaving his rifle behind. He also quickly removed his federation symbols and pins off his uniform and secured them in a pocket so he wouldn't attract attention.
After several minutes Ember came out of the cabin and stepped into the cool shade of a deciduous tree. The summer's bright colors around her complimented her features in the plain clothing. "Everything looks ok?" She asked him, turning around in a circle like she would do for her friends when she was younger.
"You look great." He said and stood up straight, looking around the area. The streets in this area had been at one time remodeled to resemble old fashions, with stone bricks lining the walkways and the steel walls of buildings tarnished to remove the shine from the sun.
Few birds could be noticed since the area offered little actual wild life, even the trees had to be fed by small round droids that flew around like insects injecting the trees with nutrients. Little children still played in the grass and Ember smiled when the boys chased the girls around the tree they had been watching. "It's very nice here, why did you say this was a undesirable part of the city?" Baro asked Ember quietly, disrupting her thoughts.
"It's very rare, most of the other parts that we are surrounded by are filled with gangs, disrepair, and total lawlessness. Most of Bistari is very nice but we were unfortunate enough to land in the only uncivilized part." Ember said softly still watching the children. She then looked over to him as if for some comfort about what she just said.
"Perhaps its better that way, the more uncoordinated it is here the less likely we will be noticed." Baro said and thought for a moment. Sounding happier at his next thought, her asked, "Have you been here before?"
Ember smiled and walked by him down the streets towards a public recreation center. "My father brought me around everywhere, we used to stay in a house by the beaches. The water felt so good in the hot sun, I still dream about those summers sometimes." She moved her shirt slightly and looked back around them to see if there was anything interesting.
Baro looked at her softly and continued with her down the alleys to where groups of people were standing around a holo-vid. On the holo-pad a women dressed in professional clothing read from a script. "Today the Prime minister formally denounced rumors of a space battle over head despite several military accounts of a conflict between a star transport and Zulin's mighty command ship. This apparent misunderstandment will not be challenged officially as Zulin and Bistari delegation negotiates a peace treaty. In other news…"
"Did you hear that Baro?" Ember whispered with anger in her voice. He saw her eyes widen and she wrapped and arm around his so she could lean in close and whisper. "That can't be, I've known the minister for a long time, we were friends since we were children. What's going on? That can't be…" She stopped talking and pulled Baro out of the crowd since she realized where they were.
"Do you suspect something?" Baro asked her lowly. She let go of his hand and stood in the way of the sun, back lighting her hair to him.
"I do, there must be something wrong. I don't know how but I think we need to get to that peace conference, even if it is a trap by Zulin." Ember put her hands on her side and looked around until she spotted a terminal. When she ran off Baro chased her.
"Wait! It's too dangerous. I'm only one soldier and I can't protect you, at least not without a plan. Did you have a idea or something?" Baro asked her with a critical look to their surroundings.
Ember stood silent for a moment and thought about it before looking back at Baro. "How well can you swim?"
Three Hours Later
After a leisurely ride down the metro train over the sea and straight into the capital city Baro and Ember got ready to get off into the station. From out on the water they saw a giant metropolis out on the water, built of white and light gray steel and the sun reflecting off every part. Through confusing lines and security checks Ember led him into a small park that overlooked the palace, supposedly where the peace conference took place.
Two guards took position near the front gates, the same soldiers that had boarded the 'Starlight's destiny'. They looked uncaringly through their helmets and had been placed, maybe hundreds at a time, through out the walls.
"Alright, how do we get in there?" Baro asked with a sigh. Ember seemed so confident, it was inspiring a way but what good is inspiration when you're dead.
"Well, I remember when we were kids we used to play in the water fountain. He knew all of the secret places, even the water filled tunnels that led to the bedchambers. Apparently they love indoor water falls too." Ember said and hunched over the drop of the waterfall.
Baro stiffened when he knew what she wanted to do. "Um… Ember." He looked down at her and then looked away. Shuffling his feet he said, "I can't swim."
She almost laughed but when she realized he was serious she came over to him and looked at his eyes. "It's ok Baro, I'll help you all the way." Ember smiled and grabbed his hand. "Don't let go." She said and he grabbed around her waist before they plunged down into the waterfall.
