Author's notes: I apologize for the long absence. My keyboard was broken, and I seem to have an aversion to editing. I might even be allergic. Haa. Just kidding.
Taken By the Empire
Purple woke in the early morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise into the sky. He opened his eyes and propped himself up so he could take a quick look around. Everyone was still sleeping... he needed to check something before they woke.
He stood up and walked towards the trees. As soon as the camp was out of sight, he took off his mask and pulled out the communicator he kept in his pak. He typed in Adviser Tad's number and put on his best fake smile.
The Irken adviser answered immediately. "My Tallest! We were starting to worry. No one has heard anything from you since you left, and you didn't take any of the guards!"
"Relaaax Taddy, I'm just on vacation. I'm relaxing and having a good time. I was curious though, I heard we recently conquered another planet. What was it called?"
"Uh... Timbilt sir. Invader Deb conquered it yesterday. They couldn't use the cannon sweep without your authorization though my Tallest... all of the prisoners are being held in make-shift prisons. As soon as we cut their numbers down, we'll put them to work, but first we need you to ok the use of the Cannon."
"I don't think I'll use the cannon sweep on that planet."
"Um... but my Tallest... it's really important that we..."
"Yeah I know," Purple interrupted. "I want all of the prisoners to remain detained until I return... how's Red doing anyway?"
"He's got a prison sentence sir... twenty seven years... that's why we were hoping you would come back soon."
"I'll be back in two more days. Don't kill or torture anyone until I get return. Bye." Purple ended the transmission, and the communication device withdrew into his pak. He tied the mask back on, making sure it was straight before returning to camp.
Some of the members were beginning to stir from their sleep. The quiet hours of the early morning were peaceful. A few aliens got up, but they didn't speak as the headed to the stream for a drink.
The attitude of the early risers changed when the captain sat up. That was all it took. As soon as the captain was awake, his followers began chatting and prodding their neighbours. Soon the whole camp was buzzing with movement and noise.
Purple watched from a distance. He would wait until the meeting began before rejoining the group. Lard Nar was among them. The Vortian appeared to be getting along with Divis and the twins just fine.
This was not something a Tallest should be doing. Purple bit his bottom lip. His loyalty should be only to the Empire and nothing else. There wasn't room for anything else. Was he really going to help this band of rebels?
Miyuki had been different. His conscious reminded him. She did things her way.
She had been the most brilliant, hard working, disciplined, and the most easy to get along with Tallest the Empire ever had. Unfortunately by Irken standards, this also made her the most untrustworthy and by far the strangest Tallest to ever rule the Empire.
The reason why Red probably hated Vortians so much was because of Miyuki, who also happened to be their DNA mother. Once she started befriending the Vortians, things changed. She became more allusive towards the Empire. More of her projects became top secret, and she began making frequent trips to Vort. Then she died. Red believed it was the Vortian's fault she was dead.
Purple chuckled. He couldn't help wonder how strong genetic factors were in determining behavioural patterns. Maybe he would end up like Tallest Miyuki after all.
"Ok everyone, gather around," the captain spoke from the front of his tent. His followers instantly stopped chatting, and they wandered in from all over camp.
"Today we will fly to the planet Timbilt. It will be dangerous because the Armada will still be in the area, however, for some reason the canon sweep was not deployed, so there are many survivors. If we do not act, many will die. So... who will stand with me and fight for justice?"
"For justice!" everyone exclaimed in union, raising their fists in the air. Only Lard Nar and Purple didn't respond.
"Now.. as per tradition," the captain continued, looking over his followers. "The new recruits will not be joining us. The rest of you may board the ships while I have a word with our new members."
Everyone began filing towards the ships. They broke into three groups and boarded their respective vessels while the captain called Lard Nar and Purple together. Both of them had been standing apart.
"This isn't meant to be a punishment or anything," the captain explained. "I just want to make sure you're both serious about your decision to join us and that you both understand the dangers involved."
Lard Nar nodded. Purple stood still with his arms folded across his chest.
"We'll be back no later then tomorrow night."
The captain waved as he went to join the members on board the first ship. He was smiling. Everyone was very optimistic about this rescue mission. Although, after speaking with the captain, Purple had decided that the Heroian was generally optimistic.
"So... are we speaking yet?" Purple asked.
"I didn't know we stopped speaking..." Lard Nar said.
The ships hummed as they lifted into the air. A wave of energy caused a current around them. Then they shot off into the sky.
The Tallest and the former captain of the Resisty watched until the ships had vanished. After they were gone, Purple turned and began wandering towards the treeline.
"I don't want to be enemies with you again..." Lard Nar admitted as he followed a good distance behind Purple.
"The feeling is mutual," Purple assured him. "I'm the Tallest though. It's not like I can just stop being tall."
"I know..." Lard Nar sighed. "Besides... they would only end up replacing you..."
"That's right."
Purple stopped underneath a tree and looked up into it's branches. It would be easy enough to climb. He grabbed the lowest branch and hoisted himself up.
"What are you doing?" Lard Nar asked, watching.
"Isn't it obvious?" Purple questioned squinting an eye at the Vortian. "I'm climbing a tree."
"Why?"
"Because I can."
He settled down in the mid-high branches and looked down at Lard Nar. "Do Vortians climb?"
"No... not really. We're pretty terrible at it."
"Oh. That's too bad. When I'm out of that armour, it feels like I can do pretty much anything. Actually... I'm going to try something." He held on to one of the higher branches and stood up. Once he felt balanced, he let go. "Either this works out or I'm going back to Irk with one heck of a headache."
"What are you doing?" Lard Nar questioned from where he was at the base of the tree.
"This is something I used to be able to do when I was an Elite," Purple replied as he jumped. He did a summer-salt in the air and landed on his feet, but one of his knees buckled, forcing him into a kneeling position. "Huh..."
Lard Nar approached him with widened eyes. He looked a bit stunned.
"Well... the landing could have gone a bit better, but I can still do it. I wonder if I can still fight the same way I used to."
"Wow..."
"For an Elite soldier this is no big deal."
"But, none of the Tallests... I mean, could they do that?"
"Maybe... but they probably didn't believe they could. Besides, when would they have an opportunity to try?"
Purple stood up straight and stretched his arms behind his back. Then he flopped face-down in the grass. The warm air felt nice.
"We're going to have some company," he yawned, resting with his cheek on his arms.
Lard Nar glanced behind him and looked around before returning his attention to the Tallest.
"What do you mean?"
"Just listen.." Purple spoke.
The faint sound of cheerful laughter and talking could be heard through the trees. It was getting closer until they could hear the rustle of grass and brush from a few people approaching.
Well, they weren't people exactly... they were children. To be more specific, they were the children from yesterday, the ones Divis liked to lead in games of rolling down hills and spraying water. Purple's antennae lowered. What did they want?
"Uncle Kaenen?" the current leader of the group; the eldest boy, said.
"What...?" Purple responded, not sounding the least bit friendly.
"You could try to be nicer..." Lard Nar told him flatly.
"Ugh... yes I know," Purple responded, rolling over onto his back. It was a bit uncomfortable because of his Pak, yet he ignored this. He looked up at the children who had gathered around him like some kind of hungry carnivorous life-forms... well not really, but the close proximity was making the Tallest feel a bit irritable. "What do you want?"
"You said we were old enough to learn how to fight," Delinca pressed.
"Oh... I see where this is going," Purple remarked pushing himself up to sit. "Isn't this something you should be asking your captain?"
"He already said no..." one of the younger children admitted.
"So you all thought you'd come ask me while he's gone," Purple concluded. He stood up and dusted off his hands. "Fine. Come at me like you want to kill me."
"Kaenen..." Lard Nar spoke, sounding worried.
"They want to learn, and right now I'm willing to teach," Purple remarked, spreading his legs a bit to brace himself against a charge. "I won't tell you again soldiers. Come at me now, or I won't teach you a thing!"
The eldest boy attempted to charge. He was much too slow however, and Purple could tell he wasn't being completely serious. The Tallest easily dodged the half-hearted assault and snagged the child by the arm. With one swing, the boy flew into the air and landed roughly on the earth.
"What are you doing!?" Lard Nar snapped as he quickly went to the boy's side to check for injuries. "You could have broken something..."
"I am perfectly ready to break your bones and knock you unconscious," Purple warned the rest of the children who stared at him with wide frightened eyes. "Military training isn't a game. You either take it seriously, or you risk the consequences of pain and dying." He stood up straighter and locked eyes with Delinca. "If you aren't ready to die, you aren't ready to join the captain. Understand?"
All of the children nodded. None of them could speak.
"Good. Now all of you go home."
The children began to walk back the way they had come. Some of them glanced over their shoulders, while others didn't look back at all.
"You didn't have to be so hard on them," Lard Nar insisted. The boy's arm was bent at an odd angle. It was broken.
The child had tears in his eyes, but he stayed quiet as the Vortian looked him over.
"You were very brave," Purple told the boy.
"Th-Thanks sir..." the boy mumbled, clutching his wounded arm close to his body.
"You're ready to move on to the next stage of training."
"I... am...?"
"Yes," Purple bent down and picked up a few twigs. He came close to the boy and dropped them in his lap. "Learning how to tend to your own wounds is really important."
The Tallest yawned. "You better wait for your arm to heal before you ask to be trained again." He started to leave.
"You aren't just going to leave him here like this..." Lard Nar growled as he helped the boy to stand. The child ground his teeth and winced
Purple shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see a problem with this method. I survived it didn't I?"
"Um... sir...?" the boy questioned. Tears were streaming down his face.
"Yes?"
"Thanks... for not treating me like a kid."
Purple paused. That had been an unexpected reaction. Maybe the boy was more ready to become a soldier than he had first given him credit for. "Go and get your arm fixed up," Purple said without turning around.
"Next time I'll come at you like it's for real," the boy said.
"I'm sure you will."
Lard Nar was amazed by the child's determined attitude and lack of fear. "Are you sure you're alright?" he questioned.
"Oh yeah... I kind of think that guy went easy on me actually..." the boy started walking back towards his village. Lard Nar watched him go before catching up with the Tallest.
"What was that?" he demanded.
"I was testing him. He wasn't serious."
"You broke his arm!"
Purple glared down at the Vortian. "And you think my soldiers would have left him uninjured? I'm doing this boy a favour. The others too. If they are still interested, I'll be glad to train them. At least then they'll be able to put up a fight before they die."
Lard Nar bit his lip. He couldn't think of a proper response.
"Irk it's self is a military training facility. We have special training planets where we send our soldiers, like Devastis and Hobo 13. What does this planet have in comparison?" Purple questioned, but he wasn't expecting an answer. "It has nothing," he replied. "You and your crew were the same. You had no training, and you all paid the price for it."
"You're right..." Lard Nar muttered, watching the ground. "We were unprepared..."
"These people are also unprepared."
"So... they will suffer the same fate...?"
"Yes... no..." Purple breathed a sigh and brought a hand down his face. "I don't know."
"You're telling me nothing inside you has changed at all?" Lard Nar asked. "You're going to continue killing innocent people, conquering planets, and enslaving the inhabitants..?"
"I said I don't know," Purple's antennae fell. "I don't know... It's not like I want to, but I can't stand against the Irken Machine."
"Yes you can!"
"You don't understand!" Purple snapped, silencing the Vortian instantly. "If I start bending the rules, the Control Brains will begin to notice this change. I will be put on trial. I might even be deactivated. Then, once that's all over and done with, another Tallest, one who won't question things, will be brought in to take my place. I would have done nothing!"
"I'm sorry..." Lard Nar mumbled.
"It's not your fault. Non-Irkens generally don't understand. The Tallests aren't the true leaders. The Control Brains are."
"Then why does Irk have Tallests in the first place?"
"The Control Brain's need to be attached to a power source... they can't move around freely. Tallests can."
"That's it...?"
"Not all Irkens are comfortable with the idea have having a computer govern their lives. They prefer to think of the Control Brains as something we use, rather than something that can literally control us."
"I see... I kind of thought the Tallests kind of had some control over them..."
"Yeah, well, we don't."
They spent most of the day at the abandoned camp and in the open field. Lard Nar was content to relax in the sunlight. He caught a nap while Purple practice some of his old fighting techniques.
There was a faint humming sound coming from above. Purple and Lard Nar looked up to see two of the three Heroian ships returning. One of them had some exterior damage. It kept tilting from side to side. The other one looked completely fine... but the third one just wasn't there. Even when the two ships landed, Lard Nar continued to watch the sky, hoping that the last vessel was just late in returning.
"Come on," Purple told him, his voice sounding a bit strained. "We need to find out what's going on."
Both of them ran back to camp. When they arrived, almost everyone had disembarked. A few members were lying on the ground, some were crying, others were standing around with blank looks on their faces.
"What happened?" Purple demanded as he and Lard Nar's run turned into a slow jog. They stopped in front of one of the ships where a few of the crew had gathered. Most of them were crying. The Tallest quickly ran through a mental list of everyone who was present.
"It was awful..." Zebber spoke. His hands were trembling, so he kept them pressed against his chest. "One of our ships was shot down. The captain traded himself in to rescue the survivors, but the Empire kept two of us...Hion and Lodi died in the crash. The captain, Lemwor, and Divis were taken..."
Lard Nar turned to Purple. "You have to do something..." he spoke as tears blurred his vision. He hadn't known the captain or Divis for very long, but he knew what happened once the Empire had you. All of their dreams... everything they were fighting for... it could all vanish.
"There's nothing anyone can do now," Kotto lamented. The white creature with the bell-curved ears buried his face in his hands.
"Please..." Lard Nar begged. "If you don't do something, they'll be tortured and killed..."
Purple's body was frozen. He felt like he couldn't move at all. His eyes fell to the pleading friend... that's right, he considered Lard Nar his friend. When did that happen? In any case, he hated the atmosphere. It was depressing... but what could he do?
First he would need his armour he decided.
He swept passed everyone and entered the captain's tent. His armour was sitting in one of the far corners behind a curtain. He hurriedly changed into it, but he kept his mask on. He didn't need anyone trying to get in the way right now.
Once he was dressed in his armour, he stepped outside and took a look around. This would be the last time he would ever be able to come to this planet. His heart sank, but he quickly shrugged off these sentimental feelings as he headed for his ship.
"Where are you going?" Yittivik asked. The large alien with three eyes stared at the Tallest who seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere.
"I've had fun hanging around here, but it's time for me to get serious," Purple remarked, pushing past the alien.
"Wait! Stop!" Mibi yelled.
"You'll get yourself killed!" Zebber shouted.
All of the Captain's crew came forward to try and stop the Tallest, but Purple was already standing on the platform at the entrance of his ship. "Calm down everyone," Purple told them raising a hand to silence their worried banter.
"Before I leave I have a confession I need to make," Purple began. "The truth is I'm not a Miekarian from the planet Miekar, and my planet didn't explode or whatever."
Lard Nar stared. The Tallest wasn't really going to reveal his identity to these people... was he?
"I am in fact, Tallest of Irk!" As Purple said this, he took of his mask and tossed it on the ground. "Now I'm going to go torture your boss and kill your comrades, unless you come to stop me of course. Bye."
The platform lifted, and the ship was locked. Everyone was too stunned to say anything or move. Then the Tallest started the ship and flew it into the sky, leaving behind planet Heroia and Lard Nar.
Notes: I think if Purple had a list of possible career paths, babysitting wouldn't be in the top 100... and there he goes provoking the Heroians into action, and yes, he did deliberately leave Lard Nar behind. Was that a good idea? You shall see next chapter.