4 What Estrid did about the Intrepid Situation
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«Assumed dead.»
Estrid-Corill-Darrath's stalks twitched at the memory of the words. The only words the Fleet had been willing to share.
«Assumed dead.»
Assumed. Meaning they did not know. Meaning he could still be alive. Meaning that, if only someone looked hard enough…
It would be better to know, Estrid thought. Better if the information had been simple, such as; alive. Or dead. She would prefer knowing he was dead to not knowing anything.
If Arifur had been dead… confirmed dead… yes, much simpler. She would know. She could mourn her brother, cry, long for his return but know it would never happen. It would be there. A fact. A knowledge, tearing at her hearts. But she would at least know. She could find a way to deal with it. Somehow.
But how do you deal with 'assumed'?
You find out. That was how you dealt with it.
«Assumed dead.»
Estrid pulled a deep breath and shifted her weigh to another set of hooves as she looked down over the unfamiliar scoop.
Arifur had been on the Intrepid. She remembered his joy over being stationed there. He had been stationed on the only ship not doing boring guard duty! The only ship still out there, scanning for enemies. He had almost been prancing when he received the message. Almost been leaping with joy over being stationed on the famous Prince Aximili's ship. And Arifur was not the type of Andalite who 'pranced', or 'leapt with joy'.
Ajaht's fault, partly. If it had not been for Ajaht, Arifur would not have been as good with his tail. And then he might not have been chosen. Ajaht was the highest scoring exhibition tail fighter on the Andalite planet. Arifur was almost as good, but he was not interested in tail-fighting for a sport. His dreams had always been up among the stars.
The two, Ajaht and Arifur, were twins, different as night and day in the mind but identical to all and any four eyes.
And Ajaht had said Arifur was still alive.
That was all the proof Estrid needed.
Now she just had to find him, which was not as easy. In fact, it was turning out to be one of the hardest tasks Estrid had ever taken on – including advanced plintconarythmics.
She was not invited to the scoop. On the contrary, she had almost been directly told not to come there. But you never got far by lowering your tail and doing as you were told. Especially not if you were just a young Andalite female. She had learned that lesson long ago – the hard way.
She adjusted the small sac hung over her shoulders – it contained all her possessions – and gathered her courage. She began walking, down towards the scoop, but soon she broke into a trot and then a wild gallop. Estrid did not fool herself; she was far from the bravest of Andalites. But somehow running faster lessened her fear.
When she came into thought-speech range she slowed down and stopped. Bad enough to intrude on the family's land, she could at least show some respect by keeping a distance to the scoop itself.
«Hello?» she called, forcing her voice to obey. «Anyone home?»
Out of the scoop came another Andalite. His fur was tanned, all over his face, shoulders, and around his tail-blade and hooves. Despite being aged, he still held his tail and stalks high with the life-force of youth, as well as immense pride. But the way he moved, with short, jerky movements, signalled anger. The way his tail twitched showed clearly that even if he let it twitch uncontrollably at the moment, he knew well how to use it.
That was okay. Estrid knew how to use her tail, too, she reminded herself.
«You!» snapped the Andalite when he trotted up closer. «I know you. I recognize your thought-speech. I told you to keep away! Leave us alone!»
«My name is Estrid-Corill-Darrath,» Estrid said, looking up at him with all four eyes, hoping her gaze was steadier than her tumbling thoughts. «I am the sister of Ajaht-Litsom-Esth.»
«The tail-blade showie. Good. Now I know how to contact your parents. Which I will do, believe me!»
Estrid ignored that and continued. «I am also the sister of Arifur-Litsom-Esth.»
He peered forwards. «And why would I care about that? Go home!» He turned around, demonstratively swiveling both stalks away as well. A deliberate insult. After which he began trotting away.
«My brother was on your son's ship!» Estrid called after him.
He stopped. A stalk peered back towards her.
«Please, I just want to know…»
«Aximili's ship?»
Estrid hesitated, but gathered her courage again and said; «Yes. The Intrepid. You can check the records if you do not believe me.»
The old Andalite swiveled his stalks away again. For a few moments, he was gone, disappeared into his own world, although there was a slight tremble in his back legs.
«Noorlin?» Another Andalite appeared. This one a female, her lilac-blue fur touched with gold instead of a male's tan. She walked up to her husband, not even glancing at Estrid, and snuck her blade up to touch his as she lifted a comforting hand towards his face.
He stopped the hand halfway by grabbing her wrist. «Forlay,» he said. «It is about Aximili-kala.»
Forlay looked up towards Estrid with a sigh. «Another one?»
Noorlin, the male, turned his stalks back to look at Estrid. «Not at all. This one has a reason. A brother that was on the Intrepid.» He swiveled those judgmental stalks away, dismissingly, and said; «We cannot bring your brother back, female. As little as we can bring our own son back. Leave.»
He walked down towards his scoop. His wife crossed her arms over her chest, let one stalk follow him as he went and smiled with the remaining three eyes at Estrid. But it was a sad smile. Strained. «Do not listen to him,» she advised. «He is an old grouch.»
Noorlin flinched at the word but kept going.
«Come,» Forlay continued. «Join us for some galath root. We could talk.»
Estrid followed her towards the scoop.
«He is angry,» Forlay continued, maybe mostly to herself. «At everything. The War Council and their people, as well as the Fleet, say nothing. You cannot get an unnecessary word out of them. Or a necessary one, for that matter. They say my Aximili is "missing in action", and leave it at that.» She was silent for a second, but then asked; «What have they told you?»
«"Assumed dead",» Estrid said, shivering. «But Arifur is alive. Ajaht knows that.» At Forlay's confused glance, Estrid added; «They are twins. Ajaht will know if…»
Forlay gave her a sympathetic look. Twins were rare, each case special, but they all had one thing in common; they were two individuals linked by some part of their minds; two individuals that deep down were the same.
«And to make it worse,» Forlay continued, «a lot of young females drop by, hoping to see Aximili. They do not realize he is not here. They do not know. At first, we thought you were one of them.»
«I have already met Aximili,» Estrid admitted.
«Oh? Where?»
«On Earth.»
Forlay smiled again. «You went to Earth? Interesting.»
«Only briefly,» Estrid said. The subject was uncomfortable. «Do you know anything else about what happened to the Intrepid?»
«Guesses and hopes, only,» Forlay said. «But you are in luck. We have guests at the moment. Aximili's cousin, Nemsar-Trenomar-Etiphor. He is a Prince as well. And, as opposed to the rest of the military, he is willing to help. His sister Larynia-Talene-Sirinial came with him. She is stationed as his apprentice, or something like that. Nobody else would take on an aristh who was thrown out of the Academy.»
Estrid's main eyes went a bit wide, but she quickly got rid of the expression. «The Military Academy?»
«Yes. Something about turning tail on an instructor and two other students.» When she continued, there was unmistakably a note of pride in her voice; «None of the three was looking especially happy afterwards.»
«Thank you for warning me.»
«Warn you? The girl is harmless. Unless you make her mad. I do not know what that instructor did, but I can guess. And if I guessed correctly, I am surprised that he is still alive.» She spoke more to herself as she added; «Larynia did not kill him, but Nemsar would…»
«Forlay!» Noorlin called from inside the scoop. «are you coming?»
Forlay rolled her stalks. Smiled at Estrid. «What was you name again?»
«Estrid. Estrid-Corill-Darrath.»
«Good. My complete name is Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen, and the grouch is known as Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf. Estrid, I welcome you to our scoop. Run on our grass as freely as you would run on your own.»
«I thank you,» Estrid replied, stretching out a hand towards Forlay. Forlay did the same, their palms pressed together, and the welcoming of guests ceremony was finished.
The two trotted down to the scoop and entered, Forlay leading the way, to where Noorlin and two other Andalites stood. There was galath root spread over the floor.
Nemsar could be described by two simple words; big and dangerous. He had a tail-blade as long as the average arm, at the end of a long, muscular tail, and shoulders and arms that would have fit better on a human body builder – Estrid had seen one on Earth. He had the type of strong back legs that would make a good number of less scholarly females twitch their stalks around for a second and third – maybe even fourth – look. Also, he was about a head taller than most Andalites she had met.
His sister Larynia was a contrast to her brother by giving the impression of being nimble and small. When she came closer, Estrid noticed that only the first was correct. Instead of simply being small in size as she appeared, Larynia was just unusually slender, especially by her wrists and tail-blade. She was around Estrid's own age, but displayed a lot more confidence, cockiness.
But just as Nemsar her stalks kept circling; the stalks of a warrior – even there, where they could easily feel safe. No; they stopped circling now and then. Only to start again with a jerk. She was not really into the habit yet.
«Who is this?» Nemsar asked when Estrid came closer.
«Her name is Estrid-Corill-Darrath,» Forlay informed him. «She came because she wants to know what happened to her brother, Arifur. Also missing from the Intrepid.»
«Then perhaps she would need to know what has been said so far,» Nemsar said. He smiled with a stalk. «You see, I have a friend in a very high position in Apex Level. I saved his son's life when his fighter crashed, so he owes me a few favours. He told me the basics; what they refer to as the Intrepid Situation is a serious threat to peace. They have one survivor, who told his story and then was sent on a mission that made my friend focus his attention elsewhere when I asked about it.»
«The Fleet and Apex are good at that,» Noorlin muttered.
Nemsar continued; «The Intrepid had detected a ship they believed was dead-in-space. They sent a boarding party of two dozen warriors, led by Aximili, the captain-Prince, my cousin. None from that party returned. They are the ones labelled "missing", or "assumed dead". The ones that remained on the Intrepid are all confirmed dead. And that brings us up to where we left off, I believe.»
«Why do they call it a "threat to peace?"» Estrid asked.
Nemsar hesitated, glanced at Noorlin, and when he did not move Nemsar's eyes turned to Forlay.
«You can tell her,» Forlay said firmly. «And we wish to know as well.»
«The dead-in-space ship… it was not really dead-in-space,» Nemsar continued, all signs of the hesitation gone. «It was very much alive… plus it contained the Blade ship.»
«A Yeerk Blade ship?» Noorlin said.
«No. The Blade ship. The one that escaped from Earth. The one that holds an escafil device.»
Estrid nodded again. She had made sure to keep herself informed about the developments on Earth. She knew about 'the' Blade ship. As well as about anything else the Fleet had revealed. Even a few things they tried to keep secret. Like the 'quarantine' plans – Arifur had told her.
«The boarding party are believed to be on that Blade ship… at least Aximili is. And that ship went into Kelbrid space.» Again he hesitated. «A few days ago the War Council announced to the War Princes and Princes that the Kelbrid have declared war.»
«Then Arifur was with the boarding party,» Estrid reasoned. And shivered. Her brother might not be dead, but being a prisoner on a Yeerk ship hardly counted as alive, either. «Do you know anything else?»
«No,» Nemsar said sadly. «Nothing more. Believe me, I wish I knew. Or at least knew if Apex Level knows. I know war is heading our way. Any attempts to find the boarding party or the Blade ship are now second priority, if not less. We do not know the strength of the Kelbrid, but we know this war will not be pretty.»
«Do they know anything about us?» Forlay asked.
Nemsar nodded. «Rumour among the Princes says that the Kelbrid are allied with the Yeerks. My friend in Apex refused to comment that, of course, but in that case they know us very well. Perhaps even too well.»
«At least too well for us to feel safe,» Larynia commented. It was the first thing she had said, and Estrid glanced at her curiously. «That's why there has been a massive rearmament. They've allowed female arisths – at least officially – for the last ten years, but now there is an open demand for them.»
«To my sister's great delight,» Nemsar said, smiling fondly at her with his main eyes.
Estrid thought for a few moments.
She did not really know what she had hoped to achieve by coming there.
Answers, perhaps.
All she had was more questions. And more worries.
«Thinking about your brother?» Larynia guessed, for some reason using private thought-speech.
«Yes,» Estrid confirmed, also privately. «And Aximili.»
«You know my cousin?»
«I met him on Earth. A… mission… I was part of.»
Larynia showed no signs of the conversation on her face, so neither did Estrid. But the aristh's voice was a little excited when she said; «A military mission? Are you also an aristh? Did you attend the Academy?»
«Not really an aristh. I went to the University of Advanced Scientific Theory. I did… plintconarythmics, and other… dimensional studies, to put it in simple terms.» Estrid decided to leave out her second specialty: viruses. The programmable Quasi viruses. «I had scientific duties on that mission.»
Larynia was silent, thinking. Nemsar, Noorlin and Forlay were discussing something, but the two young females stood watching each other, neither listening that hard to what was being said. Larynia's stalks had stopped circling again, but she had not noticed.
«Would you like to find your brother?» Larynia asked finally.
The question surprised Estrid. «Of course. I… I miss him a lot.»
Larynia smiled. «Then how about another mission into space?»
Again, Estrid was surprised. Surely, the aristh could not..?
«I'm serious,» Larynia assured her.
«Yes, but… how…»
«I'll convince Nemsar. Don't worry. I'll get you out into space. And we'll find a way to get to Kelbrid territory. I want to find that Blade ship, too, you know. Any aristh at the Academy dreams about finding it. Maybe together, the two of us will get lucky. Do you want to go or not?»
«How many rules would this break?»
She grinned. «I haven't bothered to count them yet. But I'm an expert at ignoring regulations, and I'm not going to stop now.» Without waiting for a response, she turned a stalk towards her brother – the other began circling again. «Nemsar?» she said, now in open thought-speech. «When are we going back to the BladeSwipe?»
«In a few hours,» Nemsar replied.
«Good. Estrid will be joining us.»
'Will be'? In definite, decided form. Strange way for an aristh to address her Prince. Strange way for a young Andalite to address an older sibling.
Nemsar's main eyes looked down at her, his eyebrows raised. «She will?» he said – mildly, considering that the aristh was way out of line. «Have you even asked her?»
«Yes. I have.»
«Good. Because it would have been just like you to forget that. And then you asked me as well. Definite improvement, Larynia. But no, she will not be coming with us.»
«Why not?»
«Because.»
Larynia looked angry. «If you don't give me a reason I can't argue with you, Nemsar.»
«That's the point, sister dear,» he said smugly. «That way, I cannot lose.»
«Cheater.»
Nemsar sighed.
«This is not especially nice of you, Nemsar.»
He looked away. Larynia leaped sideways to stay in his line of sight.
He rolled his stalks. «Even if you convince me, Larynia, she simply cannot go. There are rules. Regulations. Restrictions.»
«You're a Prince. Overrule them.»
«Larynia! Do not ask me to do that!»
«I know. You need a reason. A qualified excuse. A justification to ease your conscience. How about this; she's from the University, so she could be studying space phenomena.»
«I do not have the authority to bring passengers to the BladeSwipe. I'm not the Captain.»
«You practically turn the Captain's stalks for him, so do not even try that.» She smiled and added; «This is good, Nemsar, now the argument has begun. Keep going so I can win it.»
But Nemsar straightened up. And used what must be his Prince-voice when he said; «No, aristh. You will do as you are told, and nothing further.»
Larynia's eyes flashed. «Yes, my Prince,» she said stiffly, bowed her stalks and then glared up at him with a look not at all suited for an aristh. «Will my Prince allow the scientist to study space phenomena and perhaps search for her brother?»
Silence. Larynia, the aristh, glared at her brother, the Prince. Not a scenario you see everyday, Estrid thought. Nemsar looked back, calmly, while Estrid watched them both. She wanted to go look for Arifur, in any way she could, but maybe this was not the right 'any way'…
«Estrid?» Forlay said gently. «would your parents allow this?»
«I moved away from home a long time ago,» Estrid replied. «To the University, at first. After my trip to Earth, I've been living here and there, mostly at different schools. My parents like to know where I am, but require nothing more. They may not like this, but they will not stop me.»
«See?» Larynia snapped. «She can go. All you have to do, Prince Nemsar, is to let her. How hard can it be?»
«Do you even know how many regulations you are violating at the moment, aristh?»
«Around half a dozen. So punish me; make me polish the Dome or something. Can she go?»
Nemsar flicked his tail, one hoof about to scrape the ground but stopping at the last moment. Froze, watching her. «If she doesn't, you'll be pestering me about it for a couple of weeks, won't you?»
«Try a couple of months. And yes, now that you mention it, I think I will. Can she go?»
Nemsar rolled his stalks and flicked his tail to the side, glancing first at Estrid and then at his sister. And at Forlay.
«Let them get their way,» Forlay ordered.
Noorlin chuckled, perhaps expecting that.
«You females always stick together. What's a poor Prince to do?» Nemsar sighed, lowering both tail and stalks. «Fine. She can come.»
«Excellent,» Larynia said, in a voice that almost purred.
- - -
Updated Author's note from 2007;
flinch
Ouch, here we go. The Mary Sues are in the house. I was way too fond of Larynia from Time Matrix Chronicles to be able to include her and her friends here with style. The result is... rocky. And I mean rocky as in the rocking-and-shaking way, not the firm-as-a-rock way.
Some day, perhaps 2011 when my education is done (or more likely 2075 when I retire), I'm going to edit her away from her Sue-ishness. But I don't have time for that now.