Chapter Thirteen
Vector checked in with Minister Beniko before it was time for him to depart Alderaan. He had nothing new to report and she had nothing new to tell him, their conversation was short but he did inform her that he would be out of contact for an extended period of time. It did not matter if she agreed or not it was simply the manner of things as they now stood.
He tried to contact Kaliyo but got no answer which either meant that she was dead or had moved on to other pursuits, Vector suspected the latter. Above all else, Kaliyo was a survivor.
He spoke briefly to Temple and was informed that the bunker now included some sort of tower structure on top and looked to be completed in mere months. Hoth was still being blockaded and the space platform was a least two thirds complete or at least seemed so from all exterior views. She was still sending updates to Beniko but, at this point, everything around the galaxy was steadily grinding to a halt while the Eternal Fleet acted as watchdogs and executioners.
His last call was to Lianna who had given her frequency code to him before he left Finas Eth. She seemed pleased to hear from him and he inquired if they could spend some time together once he got Oroboro settled on Gravis 5. She invited him to visit her at the Synapse Comb on a small moon orbiting an uninhabitable planet on the outer rim. He told her to expect his call but could give no timeline, waiting was just part of his life now, something he had learned to take in stride.
It had been a while since he had piloted the ship but he had taken turns with Raina and Kaliyo at the helm so the controls were still familiar to him. He requested spaceport control to tractor him out then activated the sublights until he was a few parsecs from the planet. He tracked the time on his crono until the appointed hour then returned to Alderaan and engaged the cloaking device which would keep him shielded until he could land as close to the entrance of the cave as possible.
Almost immediately workers began to appear carrying cocooned eggs and he directed them to the cargo bay and crew quarters where they were stacked from floor to ceiling, even the refresher was used as a holding space.
One by one, the queens arrived, three of them including the leader, then a few attendants, followed by warriors and assassins, the deadliest of all the fighters. Each settled into a given spot and did not move except to make room for more. The last on board were the workers, there was no room left for another living being and Vector had to squeeze through them to get back to the cockpit so he could take off.
His queen went with him and settled herself between the pilot and co-pilot seats, observing as he took the controls and eased them up and off the surface. The ship seemed sluggish, likely due to the added weight, but he finally pulled free from the gravity well, used the sublights to get some distance and jumped to hyperspace using the destination he had pre-programmed into the navicomputer.
Three jumps to Ilum then on to Acosta prime and then Gravis 5. The entire trip would take three weeks, five days and since he did not have Lokin with him he had to don the cloak to arrange for refueling and payment while keeping his eyes hidden. He also had to take care not to reveal his cargo, closing and locking the hatch each time he exited and entered.
The queen drilled him with questions about the ship, the hyperdrives, space travel and for some reason, Rey'elle, which he was grateful for since the pheromones were thick in the closed environment and he could feel their effects already.
He began to wonder if his queen were trying to keep the memories alive for him but he also needed to get to Lianna soon because he was starting to lose the battle. Despite the constant reminders and the fact that he had turned off the vents in his room to preserve some clean air and Rey'elle's scent, he felt pieces of himself slip away. He could not hold Aebea's technique long enough to make any difference as he rode the tide and protected his love for her as best he could.
When they exited hyperspace above the planet the queen sent images to the nest of what she saw. Vector could sense the growing restlessness as the others began to chitter amongst themselves in anticipation of departing the ship.
The air blew cool and fresh through the open door as Vector extended the ramp so that the workers could begin to unload their precious cargo of eggs. His queen stood in the grass with her face turned toward the sun and he got a sense of peace from her that he had never felt. The warriors and assassins guarded the workers and queens as they ascended the path and entered, for the first time, the cave that would be their new home.
The hive was oddly subdued as if the awe of this place overwhelmed them and the fingerlings, that had inhabited the ship for years, grouped together in a tiny swarm cloud that flew out to greet this new world.
Vector turned up the air scrubbers to remove as much of the pheromones as possible and told 2V to monitor the systems as he grabbed his staff and exited the ship.
He followed the queens up the rocky path and into the cave then led them all to the great cavern where the entire hive began to sing letting the sound echo around the chamber in a melody so melancholy it nearly broke his heart. Then, just as quickly, the song changed to one of elation and joy, a song of homecoming. They mourned for home lost and rejoiced in home found and the continuation of Oroboro.
Guards were already posted at the entrance while assassins prowled and scouted the immediate area. The workers had moved all of the eggs into a side chamber and were now busy seeking new quarters for the queens and other tunnels that would suffice for traversing the cave until the new brood of workers had hatched. They would require givers and drones also as the stores of membrosia they had brought would not be enough to sustain them all and, of course, the drones would be necessary to mate with the queens.
The assassins would scout and hunt to bring meat back to supplement the hives diet and they were happy to do so. The humans on Alderaan had made hunting problematic for the hive for decades and they were eager to take up the hunt again.
Vector slept in his ship each night and returned to the hive each morning for the Hour of Revitalization. Many of the fingerlings returned to the ship with him as they worried over his mental state when he could not sleep or was haunted by dreams. He held on to Rey'elle's memory with a vengeance and his emotions, where she was concerned, were raw from the struggle. If they were flesh, they would bleed.
He stayed for two months waiting for the new hatchlings, who would grow quickly and be able to assume duties although it would be some time before they were developed enough to assume the sort of work loads that the original adults could handle. But, the hive would flourish and it would grow.
The indigenous species of reptilian people could be seen observing them from a distance but offered no problems and seemed more curious than aggressive. Vector and his queen both agreed that the hive should leave them alone and, perhaps, try for contact at some time in the future. Vector had the hunters leave a fresh kill for them, once a week, it in a clearing about a mile from the cave. They could be seen dragging the carcass away, but never came any closer.
At the end of the two months, Vector asked the queen for her leave to visit the Iesei hive for a while, stating that he had business with their Dawn Herald. She gave him permission as long as he promised to return to Gravis 5 when his business was completed. He gave her his word which was the only bond she required from him.
It took three weeks to travel from Gravis 5 to Solon 3, the secondary home of Iesei. He made a ground landing at the coordinates given by Lianna and she met him at the ship.
"Vector, we are so happy to see you. Come, meet our queen, then we can talk."
The Iesei queen was welcoming, if not a little distant, but membrosia was offered and he shared with the hive as a show of friendship and goodwill. She inquired about his reason for coming to the Synapse Comb and the migration of Oroboro, he answered as best he could before Lianna begged the queen's permission to leave.
"We should go to your ship, away from the pheromones," Lianna suggested and followed as Vector led her from the hive.
"So, Vector, what is it that you desire from us?" Lianna asked as she settled on the couch in the common room.
"We apologize for becoming personal, Lianna, but we require information and help that we feel you can provide. Your aura is much like ours and we detect some sense of humanity in you although you hide it well, we must know the secret of the hiding."
"This concerns the female you mentioned, yes? We also felt that we have much in common but please, tell us your story."
Vector told her of how he met and then lost Rey'elle, of his search for her and his reasons for returning to the hive. He also revealed his fear of losing all that he had fought to regain and stated that the signs of the pheromone saturation was already taking its toll.
"What of your story, Lianna?"
A wistful smile crossed Lianna's face. "His name is Lantol Reise. Lan is magnificent, tall, handsome, intelligent and kind. All the girls at academy were atwitter over him, but we were the one to catch his eye and his heart. We married right after graduation and settled into our careers and a comfortable life, until Korriban.
"Lan was on Korriban when this Eternal Fleet devastated the planet and he was pronounced missing as his body was never found. He is alive, Vector, we would know if he were dead, his song has not ended.
"What we told you about Iesei and the joining was the truth, however, we were on Tatooine following up on a lead that Lan had been seen wandering the wastelands. We have been searching as much as we can since then.
"But we noticed the changes that the joining brought about, and we almost lost our humanity, our love until the universe showed us a way. It was almost a dream, a whisper in the dark, but we learned to hide our humanity in the song."
"How is this possible? The song is heard by all, changed by all, contributed to and taken from by all."
"But not your song, it belongs to you alone. Vector, when you were joined there was no one special in your life, correct?"
"There was Anora, we were to be married, and we loved her."
"Did you? Think, Vector, the nest locked away your humanity, your emotions and you never fought against it, never questioned its absence? How could you never realize it was gone until you met Rey'elle? This woman, not Anora, holds your heart, and I believe you now know the difference. Caring is not the same as loving."
"Can you teach us how to do this thing?" asked Vector.
"Perhaps, but it will take time and patience. You must find that place in your song where you can put a copy of all you feel for her because what you have in your mind is already lost. There is no place in your mind where you can create a fortress strong enough to fight this forever. To remain with the hive you will surrender all, it is the way."
For a month Vector stayed with Lianna, learning to separate his song, which was like a subtle undercurrent in the wider song of the universe. He learned to open it, manipulate it and sing his heart and soul into the threads that wove around him.
He wrote the verses of Rey'elle into the melody, taking great care with each image, each emotion, striving for perfection when remembering her face, her body and each sensation they had shared.
He transcribed the quickening of his heart when he awoke each morning and saw her there beside him, he preserved the salty taste of her tears, the way she chewed on her thumbnail when she was deep in thought, the breathy, seductive sound of her voice. He tucked it all away, all the years of their life together, every minute detail, every moment of joy and pain, and then, he created the key and locked it.
"It will be excruciating when you unlock it all, Vector," explained Lianna. "Your mind will be assaulted, all at once with every emotion you have protected. Your individuality will remind you to look for her, you will remember that she is important, you will continue to search, but, as time passes, you will not remember the love that drives you. You will accept it as a mission of due course without the constant agony and pain you now endure. It will be a blessing and a curse."
"We can never repay this gift you have bestowed upon us," said Vector. "We thank you for taking time from your own search to aid us in this. If we may ask, without seeming cruel, what will you do when you find your Lan? You were not joiner when you were parted, will he accept this change in you? It is not something readily hidden."
"We live on hope that our love will be enough to bridge this gap. We have lived with this fear since our joining but Lan is extraordinary in every way and a man of reason, we do not believe that this change in us will alter how he feels. Yes, the possibility and doubt is always there, but we choose to ignore it until we find him. The truth will be in the reunion when all will be revealed. And, although it shames us to admit, we would take the curing on Dromund Kaas to separate us from the hive, for him, we would do anything."
"We understand and count ourselves fortunate that we were already joined when first we met Rey'elle. We might feel much the same if circumstances had been different but she grew to love us as we are and are grateful that we will never have to make that choice. The hive offers much that we could never replace and to lose the song would be a sorrow beyond measure.
"We must return to Oroboro tomorrow, we have been away too long. Your aura tastes of honey and ginger, we will not forget."