Book 5

Siha: Rise of Rakhana

Part III

"Silver and Fire"


Tetonbaum carries the twins with him in both hands, their legs and arms dangling as he has wrapped them both easily in his palms, and they giggle as he gently swings his arms in pace with his strides towards the back of the ship.

Braith and Feron turn from pulling open crates with Casnar and Ylyssus up to their shoulders in the stocks, woman and drell staring momentarily at Tetonbaum's method of carrying the children…Braith's alarmed expression relaxes when she sees the twins are fine and Feron glances at her from the high th'ane with his precious charges, "…You may want to adjust how you handle them, Tetonbaum," Braith suggests, raising Casnar and Ylyssus's attention behind them. They straighten from being hip-deep in cargo.

Tetonbaum lifts the children to his shoulders, but doesn't let them go, "…Have you found any weapons with which to arm yourselves among these cartons?" The children hold onto his dual fingers, looking back at their parents and Feron from beside Tetonbaum's sapphire eyes.

"Nothing," Casnar scowls and looks at Ylyssus, "…We're on some type of delivery courier…There's nothing here to protect us…But if it's shipments they're flying on this ship, there must be some deterrent they use against pirates and—"

"Not if it's a cache intentionally sent from Kahje for a transport or something large enough to track it in with an attachment beam," Ylyssus says…The rest of them all stare at him in silence, "…What…I've been watching Star Journey vids with Braith…I think I learned a thing or two about how things work in the kosme now?"

"Good old Ylyssus," Casnar chuckles, leaning over the crates and wading out as he looks back at the smiling th'ane, "…Always rely on you to pull up extraneous knowledge from popular science fiction culture in the vid network on Kahje…What else can you tell us, hmm?"

Ylyssus laughs lightly, "…You know, I think I saw an episode in which something like this happened, and there was a gun box back in the cockpit."

"I'll go check," Feron says, kicking some boxes out of the way and looking over his shoulder at the others, "…Glad to see you all take this situation so seriously."

"I think I am!" Ylyssus says defensively.

Tetonbaum lowers the twins and follows Feron, "…We should be able to fend the pirates off with biotics, no?"

"Not if they gas us or something to the effect of rendering us all unconscious before they board," Feron mutters at him over his shoulder, a bit pessimistically, "…Hell, we're all good as dead if they don't want to deal with organics…Who's to tell if we're even dealing with anything other than synths."

"Is it that dire?"

"This ain't Rakhana we're floating around in, Tetonbaum," Feron says, walking through the bridge and passed the airlock, "…We're in deep space, and the only thing keeping us alive right now are these walls…Shit." He enters the cockpit and comes to a slow stop, his head turning about as he looks for something that might store a firearm, "…I'm not seeing anything…Wait," crouching down and crawling forward behind the chair, Feron drops his chest and reaches his arm underneath the consoles supporting the computers' display framework and manipulators, then slides out a heavy case that catches in the lined flooring, "…Damn, stuck, hold on…" He manages to get it free and sits back on his hip, the box now in his lap and Feron opening the long metal case. "Well, if Ylyssus doesn't…Wait, there's…"

A moment of silence passes.

"Oy…"

"What did you find, Feron," Tetonbaum leans closer, over, around him as the twins suck on their fingers and reach for Feron's coat flaps on his back.

Feron says nothing for a moment, then slowly turns his head left in thought, "…It's definitely a deterrent…"

"What is it?"

Tetonbaum waits as the twins stare at Feron…Feron turns more, shifting on his hip to look up at Tetonbaum and revealing the box's inners with its panel, dials, and buttons.

"It's a nuke, Tetonbaum…Small scale, but enough to make any pirate think twice about boarding, zapping, conking us out, or stealing the ship…"


The box lay open on the table in the galley, everyone half-circled around the wall's drop-down rectangle and peering at it with a starkly sober observance…Save for the twins, who are trilling and chirruping as they crawl over and cross from one of Tetonbaum's shoulders to the other, also perching on his crests.

Casnar speaks first, "…Why would they have this on this ship," he doesn't take his eyes off it.

Braith straightens and crosses her arms under her breasts, "…You said this ship is some kind of courier vessel?"

Casnar nods in a slow dip.

"Maybe we should look at what's in the computer files and not what's inside the boxes."

Casnar shakes his head, "…No…Later…We need to use this to get the bastards off our vessel…Derail this abduction now with this thing…" He turns and leaves, Braith following him. Ylyssus, Tetonbaum, the twins, and Feron remain, staring at the box.

Ylyssus points his finger and extends his arm to touch it. Feron sees him and hisses, "…Don't." Ylyssus looks at him from the box's shiny array of buttons.

"You can't detonate a bomb without a code, can you?" he asks them, all left there alone with the nuke.

Feron stares at him, "…Just how many Star Journey vids did you watch?…" he asks as he turns and strides after Braith and Casnar. Tetonbaum and Ylyssus look at each other, then back at the box, the twins slowly turning their heads, curious eyes focusing on the modest piece of arsenal.

"What does a nuke do," Tetonbaum asks.

"It makes a very big explosion," Ylyssus replies.

"How big."

"Big."

"Oh…Would it kill us?" he asks, looking at Ylyssus.

Ylyssus nods, "…I believe the word would be vaporized."