The Queen's Honor Guard
by Nyohah
Part 4:
Provocation
Twenty-Three Years Before MK1
I.
"Try not to pass out, okay?" Zhen Feng Qui crossed one foot over the other and leaned against the side of the doorway that led into the ship's bridge.
Yen Sa turned his head, not quite facing Zhen. "Did you say something?"
"I'm worried you're going to hyperventilate. You seem a little too excited."
"How could I be too excited?" He turned his head back and resumed staring. "Isn't it the most marvelous thing you've ever seen?"
It certainly was impressive, but hardly enough to make Zhen giddy. The stars twinkled with their various colors and levels of luminosity, scattered at their various densities. The planets were duller, visible as pinpricks of shadow ordered around the stars rather than shining strongly as they would have had he been viewing reality. The entire thing spiraled slowly, a detailed, three-dimensional display.
"It's very pretty," Zhen said flatly, stepping beside Yen Sa. "Can we go now? We've been looting through this ship for hours."
"Just as soon as we figure out how to take this with us." He leaned around the box that was projecting the image. "I don't think it's attached to anything..."
"Why?"
"Why? Why!" Yen Sa straightened. "Do you have no idea what this is?"
"Another flashy toy?"
"Toy!" He gestured wildly with his arms; Zhen thought he looked like an enraged flightless bird. "This is a detailed map of the entire galaxy!"
"This is not an entire galaxy. It's missing a piece." Zhen pointed to a large gap at the outside of the spiral.
"They probably haven't explored that part yet."
"Then it's not a map of the entire galaxy, is it?"
Yen Sa was pushing buttons. "Look, look," he said quickly, as the display zoomed in on a heavily forested planet. "Here we are."
Zhen stared more at the younger man than the planet. Was he really that much better at purposely ignoring Zhen than the others or was he really that easily distracted by electronics? "That's great, Yen Sa," he said as the planet rotated on a slightly tilted axis. "Now can you turn it off and get it out of here?"
Their search of the pirates' ruined freighter had given the Mandalorians several more weapons, clothing, some bizarre food supplies, loads of information on cards, a sort of hand-held computer to read the cards, some of the yellowy-green syrup that had been in abundance in the sick bay, and now this map, the solution to one of their major problems.
But Yen Sa was neither turning it off nor looking for the way, staring with his hands dropped idly by his sides. "Do you think we might be from that blank spot?"
"I thought we were from another galaxy, Yen Sa."
"Maybe we aren't," he said. "Maybe there are no other galaxies."
Zhen crossed his ankles again. "But hasn't Shao Kahn already conquered several of them?"
Yen Sa exhaled deeply. "That's what they say, isn't it?"
"'They say'? Are you saying he hasn't?"
He shrugged. "Maybe." He pushed a button and the galactic map vanished.
Zhen shook his head. "I think it's just wishful thinking on your part."
"It would make him a far less formidable opponent, wouldn't you say?" Yen Sa lifted the box and tucked it under one arm. "Pretty light," he commented.
"Okay," said Zhen as they left the bridge. "Let's say I agree with you: Shao Kahn has never conquered distant galaxies. So where did he get all his power and his armies?"
"I don't know," Yen Sa said with a slight shrug. "Elsewhere."
"Yen Sa," sighed Zhen, slapping the button to open a door a little too hard in his frustration, "I thought you were supposed to be a scientist, not a philosopher. All logical and stuff. You're not thinking logically."
"You're one to talk," snorted Yen Sa. "'They all turned themselves in barrels'?"
"He told you about that?" Zhen asked, his disbelief forming the words before he had a chance to say what he intended to. Then, quickly: "It was a joke! He was supposed to laugh."
"Well, when your logic starts to make sense, then you can criticize mine."
Zhen stopped, just a few feet from the entry hatch. "Hey, at least I'm not the one who tried to make a sword out of light."
Yen Sa's expression darkened instantaneously. "It will work," he managed, his face and jaw unusually tight.
Zhen took a step back from the scowl he was receiving. "Sorry," he said. "I'm sure it will. Just don't send a bolt of light at me like you did those pirates."
The honor guard's thirteenth member shook his head almost apathetically. "That was just pretty colored light, Zhen. It couldn't have hurt anyone."
Then he walked away, cradling the box as though it were a child.
Li Yuen Ming watched as the last of the battle's spoils were loaded onto a Mandalorian ship. The colonists had taken their time gathering their belongings and anything they thought might be of use, piling into the ships that had come to rescue them, as theirs had been destroyed by the pirates. They were filling the last spaces on the ships with the loot from the pirate ships. Most of it—food supplies and clothing—she hoped they would never need, intending to return to Mandalore long before their current supplies dwindled, but they had been pleased to find the pirates' backup weapons on their ships. Officers would be allocated with a weapon during flight and instructed to familiarize themselves with it. They intended to be prepared for any future hostility.
As she watched Yen Sa finally exit the freighter, holding an object that his posture suggested was a valuable find, and Zhen Feng Qui trailing behind him, she heard her husband instruct Captain Lan Yiao Nih to ensure that the pirates were securely enclosed in one of the colony's buildings. She turned to him. "We're almost ready to depart?"
"Yes. We really should board now. Captain Lan should be the last person to board any ship."
"Good," she said, then her serious expression spread into a smile. "We can finally leave this wretched place."
Li Wei Yong returned her expression. "Home awaits us." He glanced once more around the nearly empty colony, then approached the Templar Aria's ramp, entering the ship. Ming followed him.
Not a minute after they entered the bridge, Lan Yiao Nih sprinted aboard, waving his hand at the Aria's pilot, Lieutenant Nai Do Xian. "Pirates are secure and everyone's aboard." He paused to take a breath. "Let's get out of here."
"Yes, please," agreed Ta Lian Shi from where he lay on the floor with his eyes closed and hands folded in a protest against something—either that he had been forced to actually work or the unfairness of life in general; Ming couldn't decide which was more likely, but she was quite pleased that she no longer had to hear him whine.
The others murmured their agreement, from Rah Cai Yue's quiet, "Amen" to Kei Sa's slight smile and nod. Yen Sa was the only honor guard not to react, but that was only expected, as he was expending all his efforts on an attempt to secure his prize, which based upon his enthusiasm could only be seen as important. Whether it was important to everyone and not just their electronics expert was unclear.
"Agreed," Ming said, and the lieutenant throttled up the Aria, leading the Mandalorian convoy back into outer space.
Ming closed her eyes, relaxing into her chair. Home. Mandalore. She knew its appearance from space as well as any could, and it was a gem every bit as beautiful as those after which its inhabited coasts were named. Perhaps on their home world they could find rest and sanctuary and—
Something crackled.
Ming opened her eyes. "Yen Sa? Was that your new device?"
"No," he said, shaking his head as he walked to the front of the bridge to stand by the lieutenant. "It was the comm system." He wiggled switches and the comm system crackled again.
A message was barely audible through long bursts of static: "—traffic lanes—forced—ble you."
"Huh?" said Lian, still lying on the floor.
Ming shook her head and waved her hand at him in a silencing gesture, not realizing his eyes were still closed as she strained to hear.
"—Spaceport—violation—lanes—shut down—"
"Violation?" asked Ming. Yen Sa fiddled with the switches.
"Unidentified ship!" the com system emitted, the message coming louder with much fewer bursts of static and startling everyone on the bridge. "—trespassing on—shut down engines immedi—disable you!"
"Trespassing in space?" asked Tieh Chen Yi.
"Disable!" Lieutenant Nai was far more concerned, glancing backward from the pilot's chair.
A moment later came a flash of light, a much larger burst of light, and a shock wave that tore through the ship.
Lian tumbled across the floor and smacked against the bridge's starboard wall with a loud groan. Ming fell out of her chair, bruising her right elbow and hip. Lieutenant Nai fought to stabilize the ship's course after he righted himself in his chair.
"What was that?" Ming asked, pushing herself to her knees.
"One of the ships exploding," replied Yen Sa, who had managed to stay on his feet even if he had smacked his forehead against the viewport. His tone was barely audible above the ringing that plagued everyone's hearing. "And what seems to be a small force of fighters rapidly approaching the rear of our convoy."
"What?" said Ming, climbing to her feet.
"And they seem to be fighters identical to those used by our pirate friends," Yen Sa continued.
Lan Yiao Nih looked up in shock.
"What!" Ming fell back to her knees. "Cai Yue! Portal! Now!"
The priest stood, pressing his hands against his head for a brief moment as though trying to alleviate his vertigo. Then he held his hands in front of him. "Wait! Where?"
"Anywhere!" Ming and her husband yelled simultaneously.
"Can you sustain it from the other side?" continued Wei Yong.
"Yes," said Kei Sa, stumbling over to help.
"Then do it," said Wei Yong. "Get us out of here, now!"
The portal appeared as a pinprick of distortion, one that spread into its mature indigo maelstrom with agonizing sloth while all the members of the honor guard except for the portal's creators frantically compared the changing distances between their convoy and the pirate ships, and their convoy and the portal.
A missile from the leading pirate ship tore through the convoy's trailing ship as the Templar Aria was swallowed by the portal.
"What happened back there?" Li Wei Yong let his head stay lowered, talking to the floor more than the rest of the honor guard.
Through the viewport they could see the flaming wreckage that remained of one of their ships. Six hadn't come through the portal, destroyed by the forces at their previous location. Four had been heavily damaged and rescuers from other non- or minorly damaged ships scrambled to evacuate them or stabilize their condition; they'd already failed once, leaving an entire ship burning in space with its passengers and a handful of rescuers. They were innocent ships, civilian ships.
"We were attacked by ships that were nearly identical to those used by the pirates at our colony," muttered Yen Sa, his voice low because he knew he was stating the obvious.
"Because someone obviously didn't do his job well enough," continued Lian with an irritating smirk, leaning back into his chair.
"What?" said Captain Lan, leaning forward, his sudden tension the antithesis to Lian's typical leisure. "Are you implying that I didn't secure the pirates?"
"There wasn't much implying involved."
The captain clenched his teeth. "Why? Why wouldn't I have?"
"Because you didn't feel like it?"
"What?"
"Tell me, Captain," said Lian, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table and fold his hands, almost unbearably patronizing, "when's the last time you actually cared? I mean about other people's welfare, not your own glory."
"This from you? Mr. Oh-please-don't-make-me-work Ta?"
"When I'm given a job, I do it, and I do I right."
"Oh, of course. When you're not napping somewhere with a better climate, that is. Tell me, Lian, where were you this morning?"
"Anything I could do was of little importance," Lian said without apology.
Captain Lan rose from his chair, seething. "You hypocrite."
"Shut up!" Ming snapped, then continued more quietly. "Captain, sit down. Perhaps there's an explanation for this besides incompetence on the captain's part."
"Willful negligence on the captain's part?"
"Lian, shut up!" Ming folded her hands into fists and slammed them on the table. "Anyone else?"
Two seconds passed before Yen Sa ventured, "The pirates could have communication devices we're not aware of," beginning the semi-chaos that accompanied their discussions.
"They could have been lying in wait," offered Rah Cai Yue.
"But it wasn't just pirates," said Nai Do Xian. "The communication sounded like it was from planetary officials."
"Why would planetary officials want to blow up our ships?" Tieh Chen Yi asked.
"They said we were trespassing," noted Hua Quy Ling. "Maybe it was supposed to be a warning shot. Our ships are a lot weaker than theirs."
"They have shields," said Yen Sa.
"You'd think they'd scan for that before firing," said Li Wei Yong.
"Maybe it was an accident," said Rah Cai Yue.
"Maybe," said Ming. Then her expression soured. "Maybe they were just looking for an excuse."
Her comment ended the torrent, beginning a pause of several seconds.
"What have we done to anger them so much?" Tieh Chen Yi asked.
"Existed," Kei Sa said.