Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning
The offer

The heart monitor beat rhythmically and the ventilator hissed air through its tube, the end of which was attached to Kysaek’s mouth. She lay in a soft hospital bed and the sun shone through half-closed blinds on a corner full of medicine cabinets.

Until now, Kysaek had only awakened for a few moments and never perceived many impressions. Her strength was not enough for that in the beginning. She knew neither what had happened, nor where she was, nor how much time had passed. In the last few days, however, Kysaek had more waking minutes and memorised at least one face, if you could call it that with a galig. The woman was always with her and wore a white uniform, similar to an officer’s jacket, but without insignia. She had always looked after Kysaek or the medical equipment, which allowed only one conclusion: The Galig was a doctor or at least an overqualified nurse. Kysaek had also wanted to talk to her helper all the time in the last few days, but no sound escaped her throat and the Galig stressed every time that she should take it easy. Today, however, things were going to be different, Kysaek resolved as she opened her eyes.

The Galig entered the room. "Awake again?" she asked, puzzled. Her voice sounded mature. "A productive day for you," she commented as she approached the bedside and checked the supplies and equipment.

Kysaek tried to make eye contact with the woman, but it wasn’t so easy because the glass of the mask she wore was barely transparent, more so than usual anyway. A sound Kysaek brought out was more a groan than a word.

"Productive doesn’t mean you should overdo it," the Galig reprimanded kindly. She had a strangely thin flap of skin on the back of her head that only went into width at the top and looked kind of tattered and cut up. In return, the blue pattern on it, though the colour appeared pale, was very beautiful. "Your stats look very good. A few more days and you should be able to speak properly again."

Waiting was not on Kysaek’s agenda. Most of all, it bugged her not to even know her doctor’s name, among all the other things. Right now, however, any attempt at speech failed, no matter how much strength Kysaek mustered. Her brain and arms worked perfectly for it, which gave her another option. She scanned her wrist, but the vortex-cuff she was looking for wasn’t there, and there went her idea.

"Don’t worry," the doctor reassured her. "All your things will be well stored and you will get them back when you are fit." As she did so, she pulled the blanket off her patient.

Kysaek was amazed at the enormous bandage on her stomach. Until now it had escaped her notice and she had no pain there. Suitably curious, she pointed at her stomach and the doctor.

"A piece of scrap metal," the Galig replied. "It must have happened when the Bluster attacked you." During her explanation, the doctor removed the bandage and underneath was an almost healed wound. However, it still bore witness to how thick the scrap must have been. "Because of the retroadrenaline wearing off, I guess you didn’t register it. You were lucky that I was on the scene and could treat you immediately, otherwise you would have died for sure."

Almost died? The thought didn’t really strike Kysaek and so she showed herself to the doctor.

"You don’t seem happy about your survival, or am I mistaken?"

Perhaps it was the anger or the desperation of her situation, but at last very soft words came out of Kysaek’s mouth instead of sounds. "The last few days have not been the best of my life."

"You’re not supposed to overdo it!" the doctor worried, feeling her patient’s throat before inspecting her throat. "Resilient you are, I must say. The treatment is responding better than I thought." The Galig finished her check and gave the green light. "Unless you plan to sing songs, you should be able to talk with some caution."

Since Kysaek didn’t know if her voice might fail again, she wanted to know at least one thing first. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"My name is Re’Lis Askar," the Galig introduced herself. That was as far as it went, however, as she was only vague about the where. "I am a doctor and I am in the service of a group you may know, but I am not allowed to tell you more. All that matters right now is that you are safe, isn’t it?"

"Am I safe?"

Re’Lis was not displeased, but she showed scepticism in the face of scepticism. "You’ve been rescued by us, treated by us, you’re in a hospital bed and you’re alive instead of in prison. So what makes you think you can be in danger here?"

"Anything is possible," Kysaek opined, and not without reason. After all, they were accusing and hunting her, thanks to a background lied about and embellished by PGI. "I have even risen to be a leader, a masterful leader of a terror cell, and that without being one. This might as well be a PGI hospital bed and you are just making me well again to stage another farce."

"I understand if you feel that way, but PGI doesn’t need you. Their staging has been going on for a long time and you’ve been merely worth a bullet to them all along."

"Long?" gulped Kysaek, trying to push herself up straighter, to no avail. Her body just hadn’t fully recovered yet "What do you mean long? How long have I been here?"

The attempt to straighten up did not please Re’Lis at all, which made her sterner. "You shouldn’t overdo it!" she reprimanded. The phrase seemed to be her default, though it certainly applied to any caring doctor. "And as I said, I’m not allowed to tell you any more."

"Then who is allowed to?"

"My commander."

"And who is she? Where is she?"

Re’Lis was frank about that. "She’s inside this base, just waiting for me to say you’re healthy enough to talk."

"I am," Kysaek said. Her plan for today had not changed and the prospect of new information gave her more strength. "If I’ve been lying around here for half a year, I definitely want to know now! I want to know what’s going on!"

Re’Lis replaced the empty medical bags by the bed, reassuring Kysaek at least in that regard. "You haven’t been here even close to that long," she said, about to give in to the expressed wish. "I’ve connected a light dose of retroadrenaline and several plasmids to your circulation. That should allow you to give the conversation your full attention."

Kysaek was relieved at Re’Lis words and the restorative feeling that just coursed through her veins. "Thank you, Doctor Askar."

Not verbally, but in the form of her four lanky, elongated, webbed fingers, Re’Lis gave her answer. She placed the limbs on her mask and slowly swung it away pointing at her patient.

What this meant, Kysaek did not know, but she classified it as some kind of greeting, thanksgiving or gesture of respect. It seemed very nice to her at least, and when Re’Lis disappeared from the room, Kysaek hoped that the commander was just as friendly, because she had met enough rotten and hostile characters lately. But what kind of people were they? That was Kysaek’s burning question and her first guess was the terrorists. Maybe the cell still existed, or a small remnant of it.

At least the next visitor, a real powerhouse of a Talin and taller than the average woman, wasted no time. "Hello, Kysaek! I hear you’re very chipper by now."

It prompted Kysaek to joke and she showed herself in all her prone glory. "Yes, and drugs are supposed to be a bad thing at that."

"Dosage and measure are everything in this," the Talin replied, finding a seat opposite the end of the bed. She leaned against the wall, partly sitting on a mobile cabinet, and pulled her leg up.

It was a good time for Kysaek to take a closer look at the woman, who she had initially thought was a male Talin because of her taut form. But Kysaek had never seen any of them before, so she wouldn’t know if one was standing in front of her anyway, and although much of the stranger’s body didn’t correspond to the typical feminine image, a voluptuous bosom and the feminine face testified to the fact that this was a woman. "I take it you are the commander Doctor Askar spoke of?"

"Outsiders call me that, I suppose."

"What do you mean boutsiders?"

"You are an outsider here, Kysaek," the Talin said gently, running her hand over her chin. Wavy, dark tattoos stretched along there, ending as peaks at the corners of her mouth. "I disregarded our rules a lot when I brought you here. Looked at another way, however, those very rules are why I was allowed to bring you here."

"Perhaps I am a little befuddled because of the plasmids, but I do not understand a word."

The Talin incessantly displayed a strong dominance, despite her casual demeanour. "I should probably introduce myself first. I think that might explain a lot to you in one fell swoop: My name is Thais, daughter of Ensa, from the city of Sapto."

"But not Dilén’s sister⁈," Kysaek combined. The idea, the mother’s name and city - both fitted perfectly and then there was the term commander. Dilén mentioned that her sisters was a mercenary.

"Yes, I am Dilén’s elder sister," Thais introduced herself. She was far less exalted than Dilén, plain and honest." We arrived at the agreed meeting place too late, unfortunately. They had already left."

"I had no choice," Kysaek agreed. Since it seemed she had not been deceived by Dilén after all, she humbled herself. "The police were there because of a tip-off and I thought Dilén had betrayed me."

"You actually believed that?"

Kysaek was mistaken and admitted as much. "Until just now, yes," she said, still defending her previous decision. "I was under enormous pressure and was an easy target out there. The fact that you then didn’t show up at the agreed time only made things worse and then there were the policemen. They were talking something about a tip on a woman and a flat, and I mean, you’re a mercenary .... correct?"

"I am," Thais replied. She could hardly hide her disappointment that Kysaek distrusted Dilén, casting the situation in a new light. "I’m sure it sounds trivial, but the traffic wasn’t on our side and we wanted to attract as little attention as possible." Thais′ fingers slid thoughtfully over her headgear, a shadowy green bandana, the end of which was tied with two long loops, giving Talin an even rougher touch. "We weren’t far from you when we got a tip that a certain Daniela had tipped off the police that you might be in her flat."

Kysaek hadn’t thought of that possibility at all, since Daniela was far away from Cipi right now, after all, and that meant one thing above all. "I know Daniela halfway, from a studio. She asked me to check on her flat while she was on a galactic travel tour. I didn’t think she would notice what was going on at Cipi and consider that I could use her flat as a shelter. After all, we don’t know each other that well."

The suspicion that Kysaek’s pursuit already extended beyond Cipi was reinforced by Thais. "Unfortunately, the hunt for you is no longer a regional event. PGI and a few channels have been working hard to spread it as far as possible, and at five million foreign currency for your dead head ... well, that you panicked there at the waiting point is no wonder, though I’m not pleased about your distrust of Dilén."

Kysaek must have misheard, because she couldn’t explain it any other way. "Five million? PGI only offered one million as a reward ..."

"It was the same three weeks ago."

"Three weeks?" marvelled Kysaek. So that was how long she had been out of action. "I’ve been here for three weeks? Three weeks and five million foreign currency? That’s insane!"

All this excitement was beyond Thais′ comprehension. "So apart from the Auranis Dark Blues′ quarter-final against the Northern Slicers and a major corruption scandal in the Eastern District, you haven’t really missed anything. After all, what’s three weeks? You’ve been able to recover at your leisure and most people think you’ve left Cipi anyway, which is a big plus."

"And why do so many think I’m no longer on the planet?"

"Rumours, planted in the right environment. We’ve turned PGI’s propaganda around," Thais suggested sardonically, explaining the scattered rumours in exaggerated terms. "After all, you are the master planner and leader of the evil terror cell, aren’t you, Kysaek? And clever as you are, you used your contacts to get away from Cipi."

"If that’s true, that’s good news. Still, one thing puzzles me. Can you tell me why PGI increased the foreign exchange to five million? Or has the company not given any reason?"

"To the public for two reasons, though both actually amount to one and the same thing - you are very dangerous. That night on the roof there when we rescued you. PGI attributed the two destroyed romps to you, marketed it as a proof of your strength. You also allegedly murdered a PGI employee named Jim Baker and his family with complete ruthlessness. But that’s bullshit, since you were lying here unconscious at the time."

"Jim is dead?" asked Kysaek incredulously and tensely. No, she couldn’t believe that, and Jim’s family to boot? What did he and his family have to do with it? Kysaek cautiously checked. "Are you quite sure?"

Thais took notice. "Did you know him?"

"Well know ... He was my watch partner ... a nice guy."

"I’m sorry. If I’d known you knew him, I wouldn’t have said it so directly."

"Bad news stays bad no matter how you say it. I just don’t understand why they killed Jim ...and then his family. Just to defame me? That’s just..." That was all Kysaek could think of to say and she regretted the death of Jim and his family. It made no sense to her. Would PGI go this far just to make Kysaek look like a criminal? Or had the company taken precautions, afraid of a witness? But Jim knew nothing of what was going on below the plant. He hadn’t seen it or had any contact with Kysaek when she had made the discovery. Or did he hear me and only I could not hear him? Such a consideration only made Jim’s death worse for her.

"That’s the question of questions, that’s what this is all about," Thais replied. She had been waiting for this all along and finally found a suitable segue. "I know you have a lot to process, but I’d be interested to know what you’ve experienced. Why is PGI hunting for you?"

Kysaek was still groggy and just slightly beside herself, but she still possessed enough sense. "Didn’t your sister tell you everything about my call?"

"Yes, everything."

"Then you have your answer," Kysaek said with conviction. For her, it was a foregone conclusion. "PGI is researching and experimenting with the technology of the First. They even do experiments on intelligent beings."

"Are you quite sure?"

Uncharitably, Kysaek made her position clear. "I’m being hunted with a huge bounty on my head, I’m supposed to be the leader of a terrorist cell, I murdered a man and his family, and I’m lying injured in the sickbed of people I don’t know. If PGI has nothing to hide, why this fucking effort?"

Thais left her ajar seat. "Smart people might think that I have no reason to trust you, regardless of whether you saved Dilén," Talin opined, grabbing one of the medicine bottles to look at it. "However, since I already know better, I can trust you."

Slowly, they headed in the direction Kysaek was aiming for. Still she didn’t know exactly who she was looking at or what her hostess′ motives were. So much help, just because of Dilén? That conveyed uncertainty to Kysaek. "What do you know? What do you want? Who are you and wha..."

"Not so much at once," Thais interrupted, putting the bottle back in its place. She moved closer to the bed, revealing herself despite her folded arms. "But I can already tell that it’s time to explain not the past, but the present."

"I would be grateful for that," Kysaek said as she was offered her hand by Thais and took it in a weak handshake without questioning the reason.

Nor was it necessary, for Thais revealed the first motive for the rescue. "Indeed, you are here for the help you provided to my sister. However, there was another reason that was more important to me."

"And what was that?"

"Some time ago, people approached us and wanted to do business with us," Thais said. Her following narrative made Kysaek wonder, for why was she so generous with information? "The trade was nothing special: weapons, battle bots, retroadrenaline in large quantities. Just what you need for big actions and in this part of the galaxy it was rather a normal trade. Now, however, I like to be aware of who I’m doing business with, and the public calls such people terrorists. Personally, though, I’d rather call them freedom fighters, resisters or truthers."

"We are talking about the attackers on the PGI compound, right?"

"Exactly. We equipped them. Among other things, with equipment from an Auranis security magazine."

Kysaek recalled darkly. "Yeah, I think there was something on the news about that break-in."

"It was. Anyway, we equipped the cell, and when the news said you were the leader, we got curious before Dilén even contacted me."

"And who is we? What is the name of your mercenary group?"

Thais chose symbolism rather than language and turned her back on her guest. She rolled up her shirt quite a bit so that below and between her shoulder blades was the symbol of the Disciples of Dealith.

An oval sign that had its thickly decorated foci at the top and bottom. Its interior was dark purple, but not completely so. Still, it looked as if someone had pressed a brush of paint once on the surface without painting it all and evenly. Into this surface a mirror-image T penetrated, from the lower left, stabbing into the centre with the point of a sword.

If Kysaek had been glad to be in a safe haven at last until just now, she shuddered now that she had heard many a thing about the Disciples of Dealith. They were considered an extremely creepy group, like a cult that was particularly interested in murder contracts and consisted only of women. It had something to do with some gods or other, and Kysaek remained silent.

Thais, on the other hand, was really chipper. "What’s wrong?" she asked as she pulled her shirt back down. "Surprised?"

Neither could Kysaek hide her trembling nor swallow the next sentence. "Are you going to kill me after all?"

The question did nothing to change Thais′ cheerful attitude and more - She was having a mean joke. "Only if you are a virgin. Are you?"

"Eh, no!"

"Your lucky, then you will live."

Kysaek realised that had been a joke and grumbled. "I don’t find this as entertaining as you do."

Gently, Thais patted her guest’s arm. "I hear questions like that a lot, so I couldn’t help it. But I can assure you that you are perfectly safe with us and we mean you no harm."

Whether that was true or not, Kysaek had to distract herself. "And so you saved me because you thought I belonged to the cell?"

"At the time, yes. Actually, we had done extensive reconnaissance and knew who was in charge there," Thais recalled. At the same time, she showed how insightful and deliberate she was. "However, anyone can be wrong, and because I thought that was the case, we wanted to nab you before PGI and prevent you from divulging possible details about our joint dealings. Of course, after we rescued you, we found out that you had nothing whatsoever to do with the cell."

Precisely because it was the Disciples of Dealith, Kysaek did not want to know the following, but she questioned her aides. "Was there any question of killing when you were seized? Or did protecting your sister save me?"

Thais remained sober, showing tolerance despite the lingering scepticism. "No, I am not that kind of leader. I prefer to think if possible and then kill. But when Dilén called me and told me about your call, it merely simplified everything."

"Did it?"

"And how!" replied Thais. She stood up and paced in front of the bed. The Talin explained a rule of the disciples. "Actually, outsiders are forbidden to come into our bases, just as they are forbidden to see our faces. That’s why we all wear faceless helmets in the field or when we move outside our base in general."

Kysaek had not forgotten what she was called at the beginning of the conversation. "That’s why they called me an outsider, and that’s why they called me Doctor Askar’s opaque mask."

"Doctor Askar is a Galig and they can’t get anywhere without their masks and she has no other model. That’s why she hides her face at the base where it shouldn’t be."

"That explains why you’re not wearing one right now," Kysaek remarked, and of course she knew that Galigs found it difficult to survive without their masks. Why that was, however, she wasn’t exactly versed in, but she believed it was related to humidity. "Only can we get to the end now? What do you want from me?"

Now Thais laid her cards on the table and clutched her chest, "I want to make you an offer - join the Disciples of Dealith."

The context for this offer escaped Kysaek. "Are you serious?"

"Very much so!" affirmed Thais. Her desire was clear and she let her guest feel it. "I was able to accommodate you here so easily because you helped Dilén and so I owed you something. That made it easier for me to suspend the rules regarding outsiders, because the rules in turn say that you have to pay your debts, and I did with your rescue. Not to mention, I am the priestess here and my word is my bond."

"And so you want me to become a mercenary?"

The longer Thais spoke, the more unyielding and wistful she became. It made the thin slits of her throat quiver. "Leaving aside the Dilén thing and the fact that you have nothing whatsoever to do with the cell, there is still the most important fact for me, namely what you saw at PGI! Until now I only knew rumours, but rumours abound and about all kinds of things in the galaxy. They are different from actual truths. We as mercenaries do a lot of dubious things, however ... Technology of the First, that’s a whole other thing, an unforgivable one. I saw what comes of it in war, and it was worse than anything I’d seen in the centuries before. PGI shouldn’t get away with it like that!"

Now Kysaek understood that it was primarily about her patron’s personal experiences. That was the only reason she was here. "Sounds to me like you want to continue the work of the terrorists."

"It’s not that simple," Thais began. She searched for the right words. "However, I want to offer you a chance for a fresh start. Under our protection, you could live a reasonably normal life again and maybe, someday, we’ll get a chance to kick PGI’s ass and clear your name."

Kysaek didn’t like what she was hearing. "Maybe? Do you think there’s even a chance of this never ending?"

"I just don’t want to make you false promises and my priorities within the Disciples of Dealith bind me," Thais admitted. For a mercenary of such a notorious organisation, she was quite reasonable and not at all creepy. "The possibility exists that purely nothing will change and your old life will be gone forever."

The Disciples′ rules seemed strict to Kysaek and raised a crucial question for her. "If I say yes and belong, isn’t my old life over either way? I would know everyone’s faces and everything that makes up the disciples. Should I ever be able to clear my name, would there even be the possibility of leaving this group again?"

"You may be surprised, but everyone is free to go back to a life outside the Disciples after joining. Once in that circle, you simply belong and that is how you will be seen, Kysaek. That means, of course, that you will be expected to keep quiet about everything: the rites, the events. You understand?"

"Yeah sure," Kysaek nodded, joking wickedly. "If I talk, you’ll sink me in the river with concrete on my feet."

"Something like that."

"Can I refuse too, or will you guys kick my ass for being in here?"

"I don’t see why you would refuse such a good offer, even if there is a little compulsion," Thais opined. She made no secret of what would happen if she refused. "If it were up to me, you could just leave if you really wanted to. In the end, though, I have to abide by rules and that means there would be more hunters after you ..."

"I suspected as much," Kysaek replied. The fact that the whole thing brought with it a certain compulsion did not particularly appeal to her, but seen in a different light, it brought her opportunities. She could get new allies and perhaps something much stronger than the terrorists could have offered. After all, the Disciples of Dealith were an experienced, well-known and large mercenary force that PGI could not or would not mess with so easily. At least that’s how Kysaek saw it. Who would be crazy enough to mess with a galaxy-wide force? The advantages outweighed the disadvantages and Kysaek took up the offer. "I’ll do it. I’ll join the Disciples of Dealith."

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