Chapter 153: [ Book 2 ] Chapter 13: Reflections

Celescia sat crosslegged on the ground, eyes closed, her conscious thought attuned to every sensation in her body.

A light wind rustled the branches of nearby trees, wafting an aroma of sap and bark across her face. Winged vertebrates chirped from branches high overhead while hoofed herbivores cooed as they grazed. The glow of daylight blushed her eyelids but no warmth pressed upon her skin. Sitting in the shade, then.

Spring was her favorite season, an annual tradition of renewal and regrowth. The rejuvenating cycle of the natural order. And for her, an opportunity to metamorphose her creative self into the next iteration.

Lyrics and melodies blossomed from deep within her psyche like flowers sprouting beneath the sun. Their composition new and unique, they arose from the humus of their forebearers, fertilized with the life experiences she’d accumulated since the last rebirth.

She harvested the new growth for sorting and assembly. Many were mundane, some hideous, but a small minority were vibrant creations that stayed with her. She bundled them with others of similar quality, playing with the arrangements until they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. That moment of construction, an intimate milestone within the confines of her mind, was more euphoric than anything she’d ever experienced.

And yet, she had to give it up when she took a public stance against the Theocracy.

The cause was that important, but the loss cost her dearly.

Fleeing her homeworld to take up a moral crusade, condemning herself to the possibility of never setting foot upon her source of inspiration again.

She could sense the loss within her spirit when she’d spent the previous spring touring on the Harmony, sponsored in secret by the Acculturation movement. None of the lyrical blooms grown within the converted cargo bay sparked the electric exhilaration of those beautiful creations sprouted on gentle hillsides. All she could find sitting in a cavern of metal and composite was mundane, bland, uninspired.

She wouldn’t give up, though. She had to press on, to endure, to wring every drop of inspiration she could from her spirit. With enough quality material, she could grow something worthy. With time and commitment, she knew it would come.

Something bumped into her knee.

“I’m so sorry, Sister,” Ruki’s voice came.

Celescia opened her eyes She was not in a forest on Preemona, basking in the beauty of her home planet to begin her spiritual renewal. Nor was she on the Harmony, its interior configured to refresh her mind and body.

Instead, she sat on a worn mat within the troupe’s temporary quarters aboard the Stardancer. The soothing nature cadence played from her PD. The light came from an overhead fixture and not the sun, hence the lack of warmth. And the pleasant smell emanated from Ruki’s disinfectant concoction sprayed over every surface. It had begun to fade, giving way to the perpetual metallic tinge that seemed to permeate the ship.

Ruki stood by the workstation, her foot having bumped Celescia.

“You’re forgiven, Sister,” Celescia said with a playful grin to the youngest member of the troupe.

Ruki smiled back and returned to mixing another soothing remedy for Celescia’s throat. Behind her, Yanna lay in the upsized bunk, fiddling with the comfort settings and muttering to herself.

The compartment was clean at least thanks to the grotesque mechanic bot, but no amount of polish could make the ship look anywhere close to new.

The cramped space, hardly big enough for the the troupe, reminded her of the Theocracy’s secret prisons for political dissidents. All held less power, wealth, and influence than the troupe, yet they still fought for what they knew was right. Their sacrifice fueled her resolve to see the Theocracy go down a path of irrelevancy and decline. For what they’d done to the Pree people, and now, what they’d tried to do to her.

During the tour, Captain Anderton had offered each of them separate quarters. They declined, and he gave them a confused look. “You want to stay in the same quarters? I’ll give you Draug’s old spot. We rigged the bunk beyond normal specs to fit the big Ghupto in it."

He hadn’t lied. The bunk easily fit the three of them, though there’d be no rolling around that night for Ruki. She’d be sandwiched in the middle, forced to bounce between the other two. Celescia imagined it was like sleeping with a youngling, without the nursing part.

The sleeping arrangement began when their Acculturation tenusre started. Knowing they were no longer safe on Preemona, they left aboard the Harmony to begin their protest tour. They each had a bunk, but ended up huddled together in Celescia’s, alternating between sobbing and raging at the Theocracy. Since then, it was the only way for them to get a decent night’s sleep.

Anderton paused by the hatch before leaving the troupe’s new quarters. “We’ve cleared Sanctum’s boundary. It’ll be days before we reach Aurora. Get some sleep. Sounds like you'll need it.”

The hatch closed, leaving the troupe to the relative quiet of the quaint compartment.

They stashed their meager belongings and settled into their nightly routine, the ceremony another attempt at normalcy. Their lives had been flipped upside down, subjected to unrelenting turmoil and pressure. But it was their choice to give up pomp and comfort for a greater good.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t hard.

Perspective came in the form of the news reports, GalaxyNet rumors, and violence they'd personally witnessed. But that did not compare to the Spirit-crushing angst of suffering a targeted attack.

The faces of her team flashed within her minds. Their commitment inspired Celescia, offering a fraction of the creative spark Preemona’s nature had provided. Now, it only broke her heart, for they died for it.

She closed her eyes, retreating from the physical world. She floated free of her mortal bounds, drifting in the aether, the realm of the spirits. Disconnected from her physical form, her mind ran on an endless loop of terror and heartbreak. The more she strained, the more she herself spin out of control like she was back in the cart and blown out to space.She spun, helpless in the black, until a blinding white light shone upon them—

You are reading story The Z Team at novel35.com

Firm hands gripped Celescia’s shoulders. Yanna, leaning out of the bunk. “We did our best on Sanctum. You cannot hold onto this negative energy."

“We failed and our team is dead,” Celescia said. The words hurt to say out loud.

Yanna leaned forward and embraced Celescia. Ruki turned and joined in from the other side. They stayed that way for what felt like minutes.

“Yes, we failed,” Yanna said. “I know this may not offer much relief, but every member of our team would take comfort in knowing their sacrifice allowed us to escape.”

“I wonder what the defector was trying to give us,” Ruki said.

“I don't know. But Acculturation owes us answers. I will no longer accept excuses of operational security after this,” Celescia said.

Ruki stood and retrieved the mug from the workstation. She handed it to Celescia. A minty essence wafted across her nasal slits. Their shortened stay on Sanctum meant a few more days of rest for her throat.

She sipped the warm liquid within. “This never fails to amaze.”

“Neither do you, Sister,” Ruki said.

“It has been a trying day. We should rest now,” Yanna said.

Celescia climbed into the bunk first. The contoured padding was worn in the center. A deep scratch cut across the vid panel on the back wall. And a subtle scent of saltiness lingered in the space, as if the musk of all previous occupants was forever imbued in the composite material. But the thing worked, the padding adjusting to her body as she settled in, and the panel projecting a subtle background noise of a soft wind blowing through thickly-leafed trees.

Nestled in the bunk, Celescia thought of the captain. She’d scraped him from her memory the second she stepped out of that meeting room, focused on the operation at hand. The fact that Dash turned out to be the troupe’s savior was as surreal as the death of her team.

“I’ll be glad to be rid of this hauler crew,” Yanna said, as if able to read Celescia’s mind.

“You should be a little more grateful for our saviors,” Celescia said.

“I don’t trust him. He’s Human, as were our pursuers.”

Ruki said, “You’ve been watching too many entertainment vids. And Humans are hardly the only schemers in the galaxy. This crew are common haulers, nothing more. Whatever Captain Anderton’s flaws are, he’s not a threat to our mission.”

“One malfunction and you would’ve been dead today. There’s too much at stake. We cannot fail.”

Celescia reached over Ruki to touch Yanna on the arm. “We won’t.” She said it for herself as much as for Yanna.

"The diplomatic fleet is inbound. I pray we're ready for the vote."

“Together, we will get through it,” Celescia said, and held out an open palm. Yanna and Ruki grasped it.

“Spirits, guide us,” Yanna began. “You are my rocks, solid beneath my feet. You are my trees, filling me with air to breath. You are—“

Celescia heard the words, but her mind wandered yet again. To the Theocracy, the Imperatrix, and the weapons they employed. The Preservationist operatives, and the Human hired guns.

The Gray-eyed man.

She pictured Trystais’s killer staring back at her as if she was some game creature, a prize to be caught and returned to a master. She imagined the look on the minister’s faces, of the Imperatrix, as she was hauled before the council. The privileged and elite sneering at her while they snacked on fish eggs and spiced fruit.

Would they try to coerce her with a public statement? Or stuff her into a prison cell for the rest of her life?

There was only one way for her to fight back. Her weapons weren’t bombs or firearms. They were the voice, the spirit of Sister Celescia. The pain and suffering she witnessed was her ammunition, channeling her rage into creative expression. All she needed was a stage and an audience. Spreading the message to the countless masses, revealing the truth to them.

The operatives may take lives, but Sisters Celescia would sway spirits.

You can find story with these keywords: The Z Team, Read The Z Team, The Z Team novel, The Z Team book, The Z Team story, The Z Team full, The Z Team Latest Chapter