Chapter 12

The only warning they had that they were about to hyperjump was a brief disruption to the power that flickered the lights for a few seconds. There was a familiar weightlessness in Kipexo’s middle during re-entry, but otherwise, it was the smoothest hyperjump he’d ever felt. One moment, they were floating dead in deep space, the next, they were millions of miles across the galaxy, and the Lifreet were announcing over the intercom that it was safe to walk about the ship again. It made Kipexo and Reethis share that same uncertain look as before.

The Lifreet definitely had more advanced ships than Raugon intel reported. This put Kipexo on edge and made him wonder what else they didn’t know about this other species. Like it or not, he would soon get a firsthand account. No sooner did they get the last of the humans released from their seats than the intercom came on again and directed Kipexo to disembark.

The humans all stared at him as if he was about to face a firing squad rather than conduct peaceful negotiations. Kipexo ignored them the best he could and stood tall and confident as Sam and Ethan hugged, then Grolpre herded all the humans down the corridor back toward the common area, leaving Kipexo and Ethan alone. They walked in tense silence down the halls, and when they turned the last corner and a pair of Lifreet came into sight, standing at attention and waiting for them at the doorway to the Lifreet ship, Kipexo stopped.

“What is it?” Ethan asked.

Despite his earlier insistence that Ethan stay with him at all costs, at the sight of the Lifreet soldiers, Kipexo faltered. “Maybe you should—”

“Don’t even suggest it,” Ethan said sternly. “I’m coming with you. Period.”

Kipexo narrowed his eyes. “Stubborn thing.”

“Just like you.”

They stared each other down, but Kipexo knew this battle was lost. He sighed. “Alright, fine. Come here.” Kipexo gathered Ethan into his arms and activated his shield on his databand again, securing his Earthling behind the protective orange light. “If we… when we get out of this, I’m making you your own set of armor. A full set, not just a vest. I should have done that as soon as I learned how soft your kind is.”

Ethan smirked. “Who needs armor when you have your own Raugon bodyguard?”

Kipexo chuckled, but the laughter died in his throat when the two Lifreet parted to let him walk between them through the door, which would put them at his back.

“After you… gentlemen,” Kipexo said in a low voice.

The Lifreet looked at each other but barely hesitated before turning and filing through the door. Kipexo followed at a safe distance, being mindful of the Lifreet’s long and deadly tails. They passed through a short connecting corridor and through another set of doors into the Lifreet ship.

The first thing Kipexo noticed when they stepped aboard was the temperature change. The air in the Lifreet ship was at least ten degrees warmer than any Raugon ship he’d ever been on. The air smelled odd, organic and subtly floral, and it lacked the telltale scent nearly every ship with an air filtration system eventually got: a slightly metallic and chemical smell. This air smelled fresh as if he just stepped outside on a hot summer day.

Kipexo followed his escorts down wide corridors that didn’t wind around the ship in curves like on Raugon vessels but rather rose and fell at often steep degrees as they walked an otherwise straight path. Kipexo noted the floor of the corridor had a somewhat soft texture beneath his boots, and he realized the Lifreet were digging their claws into the flooring to keep their footing as they walked the rolling corridors. Thankfully, Kipexo’s boots had enough traction to keep him from slipping as he followed along. They didn’t come across another Lifreet the whole way through the ship.

The two Lifreet eventually stopped in front of another set of doors, which they opened then stepped far back away from.

“Sovereign Luxtetana’s guards will meet you on the other side,” one of them said, and he waved toward the doors.

Realizing these two meant to stay on the ship, Kipexo hoisted Ethan a little higher in his arms and sidestepped through the doorway, meaning to keep them in his sights until the doors shut, but as soon as they stepped through into the next walkway, Ethan gasped. Kipexo tore his eyes from the Lifreet to see what had alerted his Earthling.

This walkway was made entirely of glass, or at least, it looked like glass. Kipexo suspected it was a much stronger material but no less transparent. The ceiling and walls gave an interior view of a vast forest as far as the eye could see. The view of the ground was blocked, however, by the thick, winding trunks of the trees that grew right up to the bottom of the walkway, split into multiple directions, and spread across the surface of the glass, reaching for the edges where they turned and once again grew straight up toward the sky. There were no other supports, so the entirety of the walkway was held up by these trees, many of which were interlocked as their trunks grew together and apart across the bottom of the walkway, creating a no doubt impressively-strong foundation far up off the ground.

The trees didn’t grow any branches until far above the walkway, but they grew so thick up there they blocked out most of the sky. The leaves of these trees were a bright, intense shade of blue Kipexo had seen before.

“These are Trotag blue trees,” Kipexo told Ethan as they started across the walkway. “Vesvon imported dozens of them to plant on his estate near the lake. They are coveted across the galaxy for their beauty, but they are incredibly difficult to dig up and transport.”

“How come?” Ethan asked.

“Something about the way their root system works. I don’t know the finer details.

“Where are we?”

“Dradaheirn. The Lifreet homeworld. I’ve seen pictures. Apparently, over ninety percent of their planet is covered in trees.”

“Are they always this color?”

“I believe so. Why?”

“They’re beautiful. It’s like walking underwater on dry land.” Ethan craned his neck out around the shield to get a better look. “This architecture is fascinating. It’s like some sort of elaborate treehouse.”

“A treehouse?”

“The name is pretty self-explanatory, but they’re basically little houses or forts built into large trees for kids to play in. I always wanted one, but we didn’t have a yard much less a tree big enough for one.”

They were nearing the other end of the walkway, and the doors at the end opened to reveal two more Lifreet waiting for them on the other side of a large metal arch. Kipexo stopped just outside the doorway and studied the arch, recognizing the wired interior design.

“I know electro-manipulative equipment when I see it,” Kipexo said with a curl of his lip. His nerves kicked up a notch, and he looked back over his shoulder to be sure they weren’t being followed. There was no one in the walkway behind them.

One of the Lifreet replied, “We must ensure no weapons for safety. The gateway will scan and deactivate all weapons and devices.”

“The shield?”

“It will deactivate your databand until you pass through one of our security checkpoints on your way back to your ship.”

Kipexo ground his teeth together.

“It’s ok,” Ethan said softly. “You’ll have to lower it eventually anyway. We can’t do this if we can’t trust them.”

“I don’t trust them at all,” Kipexo muttered.

“I know, but what choice do we have?”

Kipexo adjusted his hold on Ethan to block the boy as much as he could with his own arms before touching his databand and lowering the shield. He stood there another moment, watching for any reaction in the two Lifreet to the suddenly-lowered defenses, but they didn’t move.

Kipexo took a step forward into the doorway. “Back up,” he barked at the Lifreet who both stood just an arm’s length on the other side of the gateway. They both retreated halfway to the other side of the room. Kipexo watched them both intently as he stepped forward through the gateway. There was a tingle throughout his entire body as they passed through, and Ethan shivered in his arms, but the Lifreet stayed put. The shield flickered then went out as Kipexo’s databand was deactivated. He was so focused on the two Lifreet that he jumped a bit when Ethan tapped him on the shoulder.

Kipexo looked down at his Earthling, and Ethan patted both his ears with his hands. The faint blue glow of Ethan’s hearing devices was gone. The arch had deactivated his implants. Ethan signed something, but without his databand to translate, Kipexo couldn’t understand what Ethan was saying. Kipexo froze for a moment, unsure of what to do, but then he hastily stepped back through the arch again, and he breathed a sigh of relief when his databand lit up as well as the lights from Ethan’s implants as they switched back on.

“Are you alright?” Kipexo asked.

“Yes,” Ethan replied.

“Is there a problem?” one of the Lifreet asked.

“Yes,” Kipexo answered. “My denmate requires devices to hear. Your gate deactivated them.”

“It’s alright, Kipexo,” Ethan said quietly. “It was just a surprise.”

“You are just as much a part of this meeting as I am. It will not happen if you can’t be included.”

Ethan smiled and opened his mouth to say something else, but just then, a door to the right opened suddenly, making Kipexo whip his head around, but it was only Sovereign Luxtetana, who entered without his guards this time.

“Commander,” he greeted with a bow of his head. He narrowed his eyes in confusion when he realized Kipexo was still on the other side of the arch, but one of the other Lifreet explained the situation before Kipexo could utter a word. “Your Earthwalker is deaf?” the sovereign asked in surprise.

Kipexo curled his lip. “It’s none of your business, but yes, he is. We will go no further without my Ethan’s implants.”

The sovereign studied him for a long moment then nodded. “Send him through the arch separately. His devices will be left uninterrupted.”

“Sir—” said one of the other two Lifreet, but at a single glance from his sovereign, his objections fell silent.

Kipexo looked down at Ethan, who nodded in approval. Kipexo turned his back to the Lifreet—something that sent his heart into overdrive—and set Ethan down. While keeping himself between his enemies and his love, he stepped through the arch alone. His databand flickered out again. One of the Lifreet walked over and activated a control panel on the left-hand wall, and a slight hum Kipexo hadn’t noticed before suddenly stopped.

“Now the Earthwalker,” the Lifreet said.

Kipexo put an arm behind his back and motioned for Ethan to join him. The Earthling hurried through the arch and into Kipexo’s grasp, who immediately spun and picked him back up again, clutching his denmate close as he again faced the three Lifreet. Ethan’s devices still glowed blue behind his ears.

Sovereign Luxtetana smiled. “Welcome to Dradaheirn, Commander.”

Kipexo didn’t reply. To say he was uncomfortable would be a vast understatement, and he was afraid anything he said now would clue the Lifreet in to just how unnerved they made him. His training took over, demanding silence instead. Unfortunately, the sovereign didn’t need him to say a single word to see what was no doubt written clearly on his face.

“Leave us,” the sovereign ordered with a wave of his hand.

The two other Lifreet looked at each other, but when their leader didn’t elaborate or withdraw the command, they turned and filed out the door behind him without a word, leaving Kipexo and Ethan alone with the sovereign.

“My words may not be enough,” said Sovereign Luxtetana, “but I promise safety here. You are crucial, you are respected, and you are protected by my words.”

“I’ve killed hundreds of your people,” Kipexo replied. “That sort of bitterness doesn’t vanish under a no-kill order. If anything, it only festers.”

“No Lifreet here is clean of Raugon blood, Commander. We understand war and the innocence lost to it. We hold no grudges.”

Kipexo sniffed, unconvinced.

“Tell me, Commander, what do you know of my people?” the sovereign asked.

“Very little,” Kipexo confessed.

The sovereign nodded. “I expected your answer. Come. I will show you where you will record your words for your people, and while we walk, I will tell you how Lifreet and Raugon came to bleed each other so many solar cycles ago.”

He went through the door and held it open for Kipexo to follow. After a brief glance down at the Earthling in his arms, Kipexo obliged. The sovereign walked at Kipexo’s side down another long walkway, though this one was nearly twice as wide as the last one. Occasionally, another, smaller walkway would break off in another direction, winding through the trees off into the distance. There were doors that led to wide-open rooms made of the same clear glass. A couple were furnished like living quarters, a few looked like offices, and one held a massive pool filled with water, though the walls in that one were slightly tinted. The whole time they walked, they never encountered a single Lifreet besides the sovereign. Kipexo wondered if that was for his benefit or theirs.

“Raugon are predators,” the sovereign said as they walked. “I fault your kind not for this. Raug is a violent planet with sharp claws and teeth. Your kind crawled out from the ground and fought great beasts, built great cities with tall walls to keep out the claws and the teeth. To survive, the prey had to become the predators. But when your kind reached the stars, you did not stop fighting. Every creature, every race was another beast to conquer, more claws and teeth to overcome. We understood, and we stayed away from worlds you claimed as your own. But you wanted more worlds, all worlds, no borders to Raugon lands, only Raugon, none other.

“The Lifreet are hunters. We live among trees and nature, but we do not live to conquer.” The sovereign turned to the nearest wall, which looked out at a row of trees spaced further apart than usual. He pointed at the trees. “Look. What do you see?”

Kipexo looked and had to squint his eyes, but he saw a dark covering wrapped around the trees at several places along their trunks. “What are they?”

Instead of answering with words, the sovereign waved his hand toward a moving body in the trees to their right, and Kipexo watched a Lifreet scurry through the trees using its claws to hold on as it leapt from trunk to trunk, always landing and launching from a spot covered in the wrappings. His movement was so fluid he didn’t even slow down as he moved from tree to tree.

“Whoa…” Ethan muttered.

“They protect the trees from harm,” the sovereign explained as he started walking again. Kipexo followed along at his side. “Without them, our claws shred the bark over time and leave the trees vulnerable to parasites. These trees are our home, so we must protect them. Even our structures allow natural forest growth to the best of our ability.” He motioned toward the floor where the same interwoven pattern of trunks held this structure up the same as the last one. “We take only what we need and no more. We live with, not despite. A lesser life, perhaps to Raugon eyes.

“When those eyes turned to Lifreet lands, the ones who led before me knew your kind would take until there were no Lifreet lands left, only Raugon ones. We chose to fight for our lands, for our trees, for our future as Lifreet and not claws and teeth to be slaughtered. And so, the predators and hunters went to war.

“But the predators underestimated the hunters. We may hunt with bows and arrows, but those arrows are precise, and those bows are powerful. And we learn. We learned where to point our arrows to kill the ones who conquered beasts great and small. And we watched. We watched your guns and your ships and learned to shoot and travel the stars better than before. We watched, we learned, and we fought. So much blood.” The sovereign shook his head. “Despite the watching and the learning, our numbers bleed. Lifreet lives are shorter than Raugon ones, and our young don’t come fast enough to replace the lives lost to war. We are dying.”

As he talked, they came to a door to a room made of solid walls, the only one they’d seen so far. The trees grew around this room instead of under it, so it was held up in the air by long, thick beams the stretched clear to the forest floor instead. The sovereign stopped at this door and looked at Kipexo with sincerity and desperation in his eyes. “Attempts have been made to speak to your leaders. We have asked the bleeding to stop, but the Veil doesn’t answer us. And the blood flows still. When I heard the name Kipexo in the story of the Commander who fled Raug, I felt hope. I saw a chance to stop the bleeding, and I took it.”

“Taking the humans from Raug had nothing to do with the Lifreet,” Kipexo said. “How does that make me the one to help you?”

“You realized what your people could not: Earthwalkers are not lessers but equals. You defied the Veil to save the innocent. My people are no longer innocent—our hands are stained with Raugon blood—but my hope says you can see us as equals too and help me stop the bleeding. Help me keep the hands of the young clean, Lifreet and Raugon both.”

Sovereign Luxtetana opened the door, and Kipexo and Ethan followed him into a room with several monitors and control panels on one side and a single chair on the other. The wall behind the chair was constructed of large black panels, each of which was covered in countless small white dots and wires as thin as hairs. These panels were all wired into the control panels on the other side of the room.

“This is where we will record,” the sovereign said. We walked over and touched one of the panels on the wall, running his palm across the hundreds of dots. “These are micro-projectors. They can create locations for the recordings. Watch.” He went to one of the control panels and typed in a command. In a flash of bright light, all the projectors came to life, and a hologram of the forest materialized on that side of the room.

Kipexo was no stranger to holograms, but this one looked so real it was as if the wall had evaporated entirely and the forest had reclaimed that half of the room. Kipexo was stunned at the detail, but he was mostly surprised to learn the Lifreet had such technology, which was more advanced than what even his own kind was capable of.

Ethan made another noise of appreciation, then he touched Kipexo’s arm and asked, “Let me down?”

Kipexo did as his Earthling asked, but he also sidestepped to put himself between the sovereign and Ethan as the boy walked over and admired the hologram more closely. He stuck his hand in it, and beams of artificial sunlight lit up his skin as if he’d just reached out a window. A shadow even appeared on the ground beneath.

“That’s cool,” Ethan said with a grin.

“It seems you’ve been planning this for quite some time,” Kipexo said with a glance at Sovereign Luxtetana. “You already had all of this set up.”

“We’ve been working on this plan for over a solar cycle,” the sovereign said. “I thought to record the messages myself to send to Raug, but I was advised by… a friend… that my words would not be received by Raugon ears. Too much distrust.”

Kipexo raised a brow at the mention of this “friend” but decided not to pry. For now. “So you’ve just been waiting all this time for someone to come along and record these messages for you?”

“Watching and waiting, Commander, yes. Also learning how best to send the messages to Raug for the day we had ones to send.”

“Why not just record outside?” Ethan asked, still playing with the hologram.

“In here, we have control,” the sovereign answered. “Light, sound, and weather are unpredictable. You came on a day of sunshine, but on Dradaheirn, it rains approximately seventy-three percent of the time.”

“Does it ever snow?”

“Yes, but winters are short and mild.”

“I bet this place is magical when it snows,” Ethan said quietly.

Sovereign Luxtetana tilted his head then went back to the control panel and typed in a new command. The projectors shifted, and the scene changed from a sunny spring day to a bright and crisp winter one. A layer of white blanketed the forest floor, and a light dusting fell from the sky. Ethan’s eyes widened in delight, and he stepped fully into the hologram. His shoes crunched in the snow, and he even left footprints behind. The falling snow gathered on his head and shoulders, and he stared at it, mesmerized. A moment later, he shook his head, and the snow fluttered in the air around him. It all looked so perfect Kipexo’s eyes couldn’t tell it wasn’t actually snowing in the room. Ethan looked up into the bright blue canopy above him, and the smile that spread across his face felt far more magical to Kipexo than the winter wonderland his Earthling stood in.

Sovereign Luxtetana stepped up beside Kipexo and was silent for a moment before he said quietly, “I know not much about Earthwalkers, but I know they live few solar cycles, fewer even than Lifreet. Their joy in little moments despite their brief existence is admirable. You are brave to love him, knowing you will far outlive him.”

Kipexo wouldn’t far outlive his Ethan, but that was not a subject he felt comfortable broaching yet, maybe not ever. He let silence be his only answer until he was certain the sovereign got the point, then he asked, “Should we record your message then?”

“We will record, but this will not be the only message. One message will not be enough to reach all of Raug. Communication channels are complex, and our window to interrupt them is small. We will record several short messages, all different, all targeting cities and populaces across Raug. Many hours of research have been done. We know where, how, and who to target, and tailored words will be spread amongst those with the best chance to listen.”

“You’re sending different messages to different places on Raug?”

“Yes. Cities think differently than non-cities, and no two cities walk the same paths. Do you understand?”

Kipexo shrugged.

Sovereign Luxtetana scratched his chin. “You listen to the words of your command above all others, yes?”

“I used to.”

“Would a civilian trust your command as you do?”

“Probably not right away.”

“A civilian would trust their neighbor before an officer, perhaps?”

“Most likely.”

The sovereign nods once. “Different people, different words, but we aim to build trust in the same message.”

Kipexo took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he said, “I can’t say you haven’t put enough thought into your plan. Public relations was never my strength, so I’ll take your word on it.”

Sovereign Luxtetana picked up a thin tablet, not unlike the one Kipexo gifted Ethan shortly after they met. He pulled up a document and handed the tablet to Kipexo.

“Your words,” the sovereign said. “These will be today. More will come tomorrow.”

“How many days will you need me to record?” Kipexo asked.

“As many as it takes to get an answer, or until your ship is repaired. Which happens first ends the recordings.”

“How long will it take for you to fix the Anamafrid?” Ethan asked. He stepped out of the hologram and came to Kipexo’s side, and his master put an arm around him, pulling him protectively close.

“Repairs have begun,” the sovereign said. “We won’t know until the damage is assessed. It will not be a quick fix. Parts are rare for Lifreet. We make most ourselves. We will make what your ship needs to fly again, but that takes time. Will you help us until then?”

“I said I would,” Kipexo replied. “And I’m here. So let’s do it.”

Sovereign Luxtetana grinned and clapped his hands together. “Right. A team will run this equipment. They have put much time and thought into this plan. They will tell you where to stand and give you the words to say. When you’re done, you can watch before your message is sent. Are you ready?”

Kipexo glanced down at Ethan, who smiled encouragingly back at him. “As I’ll ever be.”