Yaliana

Chapter 1-2

After getting out of her suit and showering, Yaliana followed the rest of the knights to the cantina. It was time to get in some hard-earned downtime after a long day’s work. Yaliana’s squad and Gevery’s squad were closer than others, particularly because they always shared the same shifts.

All the facilities were constructed out of thick walls made of the same abenite that was mined from the ground. The steel workers made their material from the abenite right here in the compound. It was an element similar to iron, but extremely hard and durable, even more so than iron. Their final product was called abenite steel, tough enough to withstand attacks by the pteros.

“How’s the family, Besry?” asked Gevery as they made their way to the cantina.

“The kids are coming along,” said Besry. “They’re growing fast.”

“And your husband is looking after them today?” asked Yaliana.

“He looks after them most days.” Besry laughed. “He works on his geology stuff from home.”

“I never did understand the science side of things,” Gevery admitted, scratching his scalp. “Always went over my head.”

Yaliana shrugged. “From what I understand, they can find the best rock to mine for minerals.”

“We all do our parts,” said Besry. “Some people find the minerals, others mine it, some people feed us, and we protect the compound from wild things. We all contribute.”

“Not sure what the boss’ daughter does,” someone piped up from behind them.

“We’ve talked about this before,” Besry said. “Just because Ulissa only seems interested in tinkering around with flora and fauna doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a purpose.”

“I heard the boss wants her to marry someone from the Escazi Corporation,” another voice added. “Join up Escazi and Wacuma Abena so that we can work together.”

Yaliana’s heart clenched. She couldn’t imagine Ulissa as the wife of some corporate man. But then, Yaliana didn’t want to imagine Ulissa as the wife of anyone. Except maybe herself. Yaliana cringed away from that thought, because there was no way Ulissa would ever like her, especially not in that way. Ulissa always avoided Yaliana, and if they ever encountered one another, they hardly spoke at all.

“Hey, Yaliana, head in the clouds!” Gevery said. “What are you thinking?”

“Probably her secret lover!” Besry laughed again.

The squads had been teasing her about a secret lover ever since they found out she liked someone. Once, she’d paused too often when asked if she did, and it wasn’t especially hard to suss out that she had feelings for someone, but wouldn’t tell them who. Sometimes they made up silly stories about it to tease her.

The two squads entered the cantina and took up a whole table. They ordered beers all around, and Yaliana settled in to relax. This was the best part of her day, usually, unless she got a glimpse of Ulissa from the top of the wall.

Gevery sat next to her. Without his armour suit, he was taller than Yaliana by about three inches, and she was pretty tall herself. Even without his suit, he was something of a mountain. “So, Yaliana, what are your thoughts for today?” He usually asked her this question after a long day’s work, and usually, she had something interesting to say.

“I don’t really have any today,” Yaliana said. “Most days are the same anyway. Get up, guard the compound, fight the pteros, and rest.”

“At least we fought our way up the ranks and are no longer on night shift.”

“True that. Pteros are hard to see at night.”

“Have you ever thought about getting out of here? Finding a job somewhere else?”

“We’ve sworn an oath. We can’t leave.”

“I’m just saying, if you think it’s the same, day after day. Have you ever thought about what’s out there in the wide universe?”

“Sure I have,” she said. “It must be so much to take in, though, all at once.”

“If only we weren’t so far out,” he said. “There’s hardly any other people out here. Just the Escazi clan over on Mawar and us on Harr.”

“Don’t forget the people who are here to study the plants, those scientists.”

“They don’t count. They just arrived. We’ve been here for decades. We were born here and raised for this.”

“They’ve been out there, among the stars,” Yaliana said. “Can you imagine?”

“I can, but like you said, we made an oath, one that you yourself said we can’t break.”

“Do you think Boss Wakuma is holding up his end of the deal?”

“Yes, so far. I don’t have any evidence that he’s ever betrayed us

“That’s true. I just wish…wish that we could explore sometimes, you know?”

“I hear you. Get off this death planet and give up fighting for a while. One day, do you think we’ll ever have a chance?”

“If we do, it will be once we’re retired and too old to fight,” she said with a sigh of regret.

“Here comes our beer,” said Gevery. “Let’s just forget about that for a little while, shall we?”