The Arion Camp,
2010 hours
William trudged wearily
forward. His Arion captor had continuously prodded him, insistent
that William keep his arms up at all times. William's shoulders
ached, but he tried to focus his mind elsewhere to keep from
letting it get to him. He took mental note of his surroundings,
the smooth rocks and the dusty desert ground. He kept looking
for any signs of life until he saw boot prints--a lot of them.
"Tok!" commanded
the Arion.
William stopped walking
and mumbled a singsong phrase from an ancient child's game.
"Come out, come
out, wherever you are."
A second Arion, a Beta
armed with a Taifun disruptor rifle, stood from behind a nearby
boulder. After a brief exchange of words with the first Arion,
this second one motioned with his weapon for William to start
walking again.
"Don't you clowns
ever get tired of walking all day? Hell, I'd... Holy shit!"
Surprised by his sudden
appearance, William froze at the sight of the biggest Arion Prime
he had ever seen. Granted, he had not seen many, but this one
must have stood nearly seven feet tall. Even the excessive body
hair did not hide the muscular build of this giant. He appeared
to be an older male, not as young as one would expect Arion warriors
would be. This warrior, perhaps, had seen his time come and go.
He looked as if he
had a lot of miles on him. His black hair, long and scraggly,
was matted by sweat against a scarred and twisted face. He didn't
have all his teeth and, William noticed, he smelled bad.
"Fwi'lok't ute
loch?" the Prime growled.
"Terran'a duche'che,"
explained the Beta who had bagged the prize.
"Terran'a?"
interrupted the Prime, stepping closer to examine William. He
gripped William by the wrist and squeezed. William nearly fell
to his knees from the pain and cried out in spite of his will
not to. The sudden pain was just too great.
"Terran'a,"
grumbled the Prime as he nodded, his test confirming what he
had been told. The Prime motioned for a third Beta to approach
and spoke rapidly to him before crossing his arms expectantly.
"Why... You...
Here?" asked the third Beta in halting English.
"What?" snapped
William, surprised at hearing the words. He still gritted his
teeth in pain as he cradled his arm.
"My Captain, um...
Want know... Why you here?"
"He brought me."
William flicked a thumb over his shoulder at the Arion Beta standing
behind him. The Arion questioner shook his head disgustedly.
"No. Um, why...
Why you come... Dis planet?" He pointed straight down and
William smiled a wry grin.
"Invasion,"
he bluffed.
The Beta turned white
and translated William's answer for the other Arions. The Betas
looked up at the clouds, but the Prime laughed aloud and bellowed
his answer between laughs.
"My Captain...
He say no. He say... Terran no come out dis far. He say... Dey
no live long 'nuff. Bad ship. Bad... Science. No good. Terran
no good."
Before William could
respond, the Beta who had captured him rattled off a long description
of the cloud movements that he had seen. The Prime laughed even
louder at the obvious nervousness of his Betas. They were seeing
threats behind every rock and shadow. Betas, he remarked with
his usual contempt, were nothing but children. Finally, the Prime
eyed William up and down while mumbling a terse judgment of the
Terran male.
"My Captain say
you... Lost trash. He say... You die... Tomorrow."
"Now wait just
a..." William began to demand, but a rifle butt across his
head interrupted him, ending his first day on the planet with
unconsciousness.
The Arion Camp, 0305 hours
William slowly became
aware of the world around him. His head throbbed a bit and his
vision was blurred, but it was clearing. He heard the crackling
of a fire not too far away and could smell the burning wood.
He was in a sitting position against a large stone, his hands
tied behind his back with wire.
They didn't bother
to bind his feet together, for some reason. Perhaps because they
were Supremis and he was only a human. Perhaps because they knew
he didn't have anywhere to go in a desert of rocks and dust.
William slowly raised
his head to get a better look around. The fire was no more than
about ten meters away. It was obvious to William that the Arions
did not see any threats on this planet or they would never have
made a fire at night. On the opposite side of the fire, three
Arion Betas worked with some long crates, stacks of them, moving
them from somewhere underground to a large pile on the surface.
They were too busy to notice the Terran who now noticed them.
To William's left,
as far away from him as the fire, rested the Prime, perched atop
a boulder as if it were a throne. He appeared to be asleep. Asleep
while the Betas worked. Very Arion of him, thought William.
The night surrounded
them like a veil. The sounds, the crackling of the fire and the
murmuring between the Betas, seemed to be trapped within the
firelight, as if the darkness refused to let anything escape
from this tiny spot in the Universe.
The Prime stirred,
rousing himself from his nap. William closed his eyes to mere
slits, trying to prevent the Prime from knowing that he had regained
consciousness. He didn't need to bother since the Prime had little
interest in the Terran.
Standing before his
rock throne, the Prime stretched away the last remnants of sleep
before he noticed a small, fuzzy spider creature peering up curiously
at him. The innocent creature was no larger than a baseball.
It's tiny eyes blinked in wonder at the giant glaring down at
it just before a huge boot instantly crushed the life from the
creature. Thin black legs twitched briefly before becoming still.
"Accursed bugs,"
the Arion Prime muttered contemptuously, lifting his boot from
the flattened corpse. "We will eradicate them when the Fleet
arrives."
The Betas nodded their
agreement in dealing with the pests and confirmed that no more
of the creatures were infesting the area around them before returning
to their work.
That was more than
just a bug, pal,
thought William, but he remained motionless and silent, his thoughts
turning to contemplate his possible escape.
"Excuse me, sir,"
whispered a polite voice, just behind and to the right of William.
Startled, William started
to turn to see who was speaking to him, but the whispering voice
stopped him.
"It would be most
wise of you not to look in my direction, sir. It may reveal my
presence to the Arions."
William immediately
resumed his previous position.
"Sorry,"
William whispered discretely to the side.
"There has been
no harm done, sir," responded the voice kindly.
"Who are you?"
asked William. "Are you from the Saratoga?"
"Oh, my goodness,
no, sir. Terrans are such fascinating creatures. I truly am flattered
that you considered that I might be one of them. I have splendid
information concerning Terran life that I would very much enjoy
discussing with you. They have this wonderful habit of..."
"Yeah, yeah,"
murmured William, annoyed with the voice's rambling. "Look,
buddy, can you just get me out of here?"
"That will not
be required, sir."
"Not required?
Why the hell not?" demanded William as quietly as he could.
"The Arions shall
be removed instead, sir."
William thought for
a moment.
"That will work
too," he murmured with a confirming nod. "What do you
want me to do?"
"Be prepared to
flee, sir."
"Flee?" asked
William. "Flee where?"
"This rock appears
to be quite substantial, sir. Perhaps, if particular aspects
of the situation become excessive, you could take refuge behind
it."
"Aspects? What
aspects?"
"The situation
has elements of danger, sir," informed the voice calmly.
"Oh, right."
William shook his head slightly at the simplistic concern with
the obvious. "Danger."
Whoever this guy was,
he was certainly no help as far as William could see. Basically,
all he was saying was that he was going to leave him there, but
be sure to run away if trouble happens. William sighed.
"Nice plan, fella.
Look, just untie me and I'll outrun these guys in the dark like
you never..."
"Please be silent,
sir," interrupted the voice.
"What?"
"Please remain
silent." the soft-spoken voice lowered even more, now barely
audible. "She comes."
The Prime rose to his
feet. The ugly brute stared into the dark across the fire--he
had heard or seen something. William strained to hear for himself
but only the random pops and cracks of the fire reached his ears.
Moments passed. The Prime muttered orders to the Betas who picked
up their weapons. They looked nervously from the Prime to the
darkness and back, unsure what was happening.
Something was walking,
slowly, each step crunching the desert dust beneath it. The steps
were even, deliberate, unhurried. William could see nothing,
but finally heard the steps as they became clearer, nearer. The
Arions simply waited.
The Prime murmured,
"One, no weapons, hold fire." The Betas nodded.
The bastard can
see Tachyons,
recalled William. Gives him a night vision. He can see what's
coming toward us. Then, slowly as the firelight found reflection,
William saw too.
From the darkness emerged
a slender, human female, perhaps sixteen years old, with long
golden hair that flowed wildly over her shoulders to her waist.
Her large blue eyes glowed as the firelight filled them. Her
features were sharp, almost Nordic, with full lips above a set,
determined jaw. William could plainly see that she had a very
athletic build, somewhat muscular, with wide shoulders that tapered
sharply down to a narrow waist above slender hips. She had large
breasts that sat high on her chest, full and round. As prominent
as they were, they did not appear to be natural, at least not
in William's experience. If William thought her breasts were
the result of cosmetic enhancement, he could certainly see that
her blonde hair was natural. The girl was completely naked.
She walked into the
camp so easily that the Arions were taken a bit off guard. A
charging enemy, they were trained to deal with, but a naked girl
on a leisurely walk through their camp was not something that
they had the imaginative intelligence to adapt to. They merely
watched in rapt silence with their weapons at the ready.
Her face was stern
as she looked at each Arion in turn. She paused by the crates
that the Betas had been moving and seemed displeased by what
she saw. She looked up at the nearest Beta.
"Who is in charge?"
she asked abruptly. Her voice trembled slightly.
The giant Arion Prime
took a step forward, his menacing appearance from behind the
fire was in stark contrast to the innocence that looked at him
now.
"I am," he
snarled.
She walked up to within
a few paces of him, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact.
Placing her feet slightly apart, she positioned her slender hands
on her hips in a well-practiced pose and spoke as firmly as she
could.
"Th... This is
a pro... Protected planet." She was obviously nervous. "You
are not welcome here. You must remove... Yourselves and these
weapons to beyond the orbits of the seven..."
"What are you
supposed to be?" growled the Prime, stepping close to her.
"There is no Protector on this stinking rock. You look more
like a Daxxan whore looking for business."
The Betas laughed,
but inside the young girl, anger had just replaced most of her
nervousness. Her left eye twitched slightly as it and the other
icy eye now glared up at the Prime.
Ignoring her expression,
the Prime touched her cheek then slowly passed his weathered,
callused hand down her neck toward her breasts. He looked her
over and started negotiations.
"I'd be glad to
pay you well for a trip around the Nebula, eh?" he said
with a lewdness that suggested that she should be appreciative.
His fingers slid over her breast. "What say you?"
It didn't matter what
she said, but his experience had been that interstellar whores
showed their appreciation better when asked.
The girl calmly put
her hand over his, as if agreeing to the suggestion, when she
gripped his little finger and bent it violently back. The Prime,
shocked by the instant pain, froze, making himself the perfect
target for a blindingly fast fist that exploded into the center
of his face, snapping his head sharply back.
For a moment of stunned
silence, no one reacted as the Arion's head slowly rotated back
into its original position to gaze blankly at his beautiful attacker.
At the end of that moment, his eyes rolled into blank, white
spots and he slumped to the ground with a subtle groan.
"I don't LIKE
that!" she indignantly shouted down at the unconscious Arion,
brushing the remnants of his touch from her breast.
Events now unraveled
in slow motion as William recovered from his shock. The girl
stood between him and the three Betas, the same Betas who were
also recovering from their own surprise. Their weapons were coming
up into position as the girl turned to face them. The aspect
of danger in the situation, William recognized, had just gone
off the scale.
"Oh, shit!"
he exclaimed, diving head-first over the boulder just before
the Arions opened up with a barrage of automatic disruptor fire.
At over a thousand
pulses per second, the weapons produced a hellish volume of fire
and a great storm of bright blue pulses of intense energy exploded
into the night. The large boulder shuddered from the impacts
as other pulses filled the air overhead and kicked up a sandstorm
throughout the area.
Landing on his chest,
William coughed from the dust and looked up directly into the
face of one of the gigantic spider creatures. This one was even
larger than the one William had seen at the ship, well over a
meter across and covered in brown fur. Its eyes were glossy,
black beads and its legs were long, black, jointed sticks that
appeared to be covered in a short, stubby fur.
With a shout more from
shock than anything else, William lunged back away from the creature
only to shuffle back toward it to stay out of the hailstorm of
disruptor fire. William eyed the creature who seemed content
to merely look back at him. Turning his head to the side to be
heard, William shouted desperately over his shoulder.
"HELP! WHERE..."
He gasped for breath. "WHERE ARE YOU? HEY, FELLA!"
The voice he had heard
before did not answer and William had to face the creature alone.
He kicked out at it, his boot coming within inches of the giant
spider's face.
"Shoo!" he
shouted. "SHOO!"
The spider's head rotated
slightly in a clockwise direction.
"Your behavior
is becoming rather erratic, sir," the creature stated calmly.
"What is it about your shoe that you wish me to appreciate?"
"Wha... Huh?"
stammered William, wide-eyed.
Even though most of
the bursts missed to explode around the area where the Terran
had been, the girl shook and writhed from thousands of impacts
of the energy beam weapons. She staggered back, but remained
intact.
Two intense red beams
of energy lanced out from her eyes, intending to damage one of
the weapons, but the Beta wielding the weapon chose that moment
to drop into a kneeling firing position. The energy beams hit
him in the face, bursting both of his own eyes and searing the
skin from his skull.
Shrieking wildly in
pain, the Beta clenched his weapon, holding the trigger down
as he spun to the ground. Nearly eight hundred disruptor pulses
stitched across the torso of the Beta next to him, accidentally
ripping the surprised Beta in half. Both decimated Arions were
dead.
William was leaning
forward now, incredulous at what he was seeing look back at him.
"Wait a minute,"
he stammered. "YOU'RE the guy I was talking to?"
"Indeed, sir.
It is most entertaining when two species can converse, is it
not?"
"Oh, yeah."
William's enthusiasm was lost in his confusion. "Where the
hell did you learn how to speak English?"
"I have information
on a number of languages and dialects from across the Universe,
sir. I am referred to as a Gateway. Within my conscious proximity,
you will hear spoken words through me in a manner that is suitable
for your understanding. Did you notice, sir, that you were able
to understand your captors?" The creature took on a self-satisfied
grin as it folded a leg back to scratch its side a bit. "I
am quite good at it, if I do say so myself."
William suddenly realized
that what the creature had said was true. He couldn't believe
that he hadn't noticed it. He could understand everything that
the Arions were saying, even the words spoken by the girl.
"How do you do
that?" he asked suspiciously. "Are you a telepath or
something?"
"Telepathy has
little to do with..." The ground shook hard, interrupting
the creature. The battle was still raging as the creature peered
around the boulder. "My goodness," the creature muttered,
"the Mistress should have dispatched the Arions by now."
The creature turned back to William. "Perhaps it is merely
that this is her first opportunity for such an activity."
"You mean, she
hasn't done this before?"
"In so many words,
sir," the creature murmured with embarrassment, "uh...
No."
The Prime had recovered,
regaining consciousness in time to see the two Betas die. Shaking
his head to clear it, he jumped to his feet to engage the Velorian
in combat. She appeared to be inexperienced, something, he felt,
that would work to his advantage.
Immediately, an opportunity
presented itself and he slammed his fist into her face. The blow
threw her into the air and over the fire. Not waiting for her
to rise, he leapt through the flames to press his attack. A powerful
kick impacted her belly as she tried to rise and her pained grunt
pleased him. Perhaps this will be easier than expected, he thought,
a thought quickly replaced with surprise when the young Velorian
sprung to her feet and counterattacked.
With rapid, methodical
motions, the girl pounded the Prime relentlessly. Nearly every
part of her became a weapon as she battered him with blows that
rained upon him from all directions. She was inexperienced, but
well trained and incredibly powerful. He fought for his life,
catching her with solid blows to her face and body, but still
she kept attacking him, never letting up.
His mind raced, unable
to find a way to gain an advantage as he brutally fought against
her frenzied onslaught. Finally, struggling against unconsciousness,
he remained down where he had fallen. He wagered with himself
that this young amateur of a warrior would not finish him off
if he merely stopped fighting. He won his wager.
The third Beta, seeing
his comrades downed so quickly and the young female standing
over the, evidently, defeated Prime, leapt toward the boulder,
pistol in hand, intent on killing the prisoner. Arions never
let prisoners live when faced with defeat and, if they were all
to die, then the Terran would join them.
His movement caught
the quick eye of the Velorian female and she intercepted him
within a few feet from the boulder. A swat of her hand stripped
the gun from his hand by hitting his forearm, fracturing it in
three places. Enraged and in pain, the Beta struck wildly back
at her with the fist of his remaining arm, but the girl's head
barely moved as his fist ricocheted painfully off her jaw. She
responded by backhanding him with her own fist, shattering his
cheek and jaw. The blow was much more powerful than the girl
had intended and it snapped the Arion's head so hard that his
neck broke. He landed on his back, face down, dead in the dust
of the desert floor.
The girl grimaced at
the unintended effect. It was not until this moment that she
began to understand the concept of relative force learned in
her training on Velor. She was capable of incredible power, power
that she was still learning how to meter out in proper dosages.
Her regret only lasted until her bright eyes rose to see the
being behind the boulder.
The brown eyes looking
back up at her captivated the young girl and her face softened
at the sight of them. She hadn't seen the alien this close yet
and his appearance was so very... Pleasing. She could feel her
heart beating within her chest. She opened her mouth to speak,
but no words would come. It was just that his eyes were so incredibly
beautiful and his face had the charming look of...
A fuzzy brown face
rose to block her view of William.
"You really must
remain focused, Mistress," the spider creature lectured.
"The remaining Arion is not sufficiently subdued and..."
The massive fist of
the Prime exploded up into the girl's jaw so hard that she was
flung, chin first, up into the darkness of the night. She was
gone.
William blinked once,
shocked at the sudden, violent removal of the beautiful young
woman that had just been charming him so completely. Every part
of him was instantly filled with an overwhelming rage. Even with
his hands still tied, William leapt to his feet to lunge at the
towering giant on the other side of the boulder.
"You... Stinking...
Arion... MUTHA-FU..."
The practiced hand
of the Arion slid a large Gar pistol from an unseen holster,
sweeping out to arm's length to stop little more than an inch
from the oncoming Terran's head. William froze, seething with
hatred for the Prime that glared just as menacingly back at him.
"This whole affair
was your doing, Terran," the Prime growled. "It has
the stink of Earth on it. A Velorian would not travel to a barren
planet just to kill Betas. Only a Terran would ambush like this.
Well, your Velorian whore is dead, and now..." He grinned
slightly, thumbing the Gar's power setting up a bit. "I
have the pleasure of doing the same to you."
"Oh, my goodness,
that was most exciting," said a small voice from behind
the boulder. The Arion's eyes swiveled to the right to see spindly
legs struggling to pull the rest of its brown furry self up onto
the boulder. As the Arion's eyes narrowed, the creature dusted
itself off as it continued to banter. "That was indeed most
exciting, sir, my goodness, yes."
"Glad you liked
it, bug," snarled the Prime, unsure why he was talking to
this thing.
"Most definitely
entertaining, sir, but," the creature spoke in a lower tone,
as if advising his client in court, "I must insist that
you not shoot the Terran creature. It simply would not do."
"It would not?"
grunted the Prime, even more unsure.
"Oh, my, my, my,
no. You see..." The creature trundled forward a bit to explain.
"He is under the protection of the resident species of this
planet. You simply have no jurisdiction here."
"Juris-what?"
growled the increasingly annoyed Arion Prime.
"Jurisdiction,
sir. Rather than take up your valuable time with a lengthy explanation
of that concept, perhaps I could simply counsel you that your
actions may also be interpreted as criminal, requiring... um,
perhaps another time." The creature ducked, prompting the
Prime to look behind himself.
A streak rocketed out
of the night ending in a massive collision with the Prime. The
huge Arion was thrown savagely back, tumbling wildly along the
ground toward the fire. Where the Prime had been standing, the
girl now floated in the air, her fist held high over her head
where it had completed the full arc of its devastatingly powerful
purpose. The Arion had barely struggled to his feet when she
angrily charged at him. There would be no more second chances
from the girl. She had gained that experience very well.
The creature, knocked
to the ground by the shock wave of her punch, shook and twitched
in the shelter of the boulder.
"Hey, are you
all right?" asked William as he shuffled over the ground
to the distraught creature.
"My... M'my...
My, goodness," the creature stumbled to say, "that
was not a very wise course of action for me to take."
"You kept us alive,
man. That jerk didn't know what to do," laughed William
as he shifted a bit to place his tied hands close to the creature.
"Here, untie me, would you?"
"Hm?" grunted
the creature absentmindedly as it peered at William's bound wrists.
"Oh, certainly, sir."
Once free, William
turned back to the creature, placing one arm around it while
soothing the creature's back with the other.
"Just take it
easy, fella," eased William. "You're shakin' like hell.
That was a ballsy thing to do, man. You're a very gutsy little
guy." His words calmed the creature and it slowly settled
down. As it quieted, the creature suddenly remembered some old
business.
"My goodness,
the Mistress!"
"They're still
at it," remarked William as the two of them peered around
the boulder at the clash of the girl and the Arion.
Locked in each other's
grip, they struggled together, staggering from the strength of
each other, neither gaining an advantage. Grunts of exertion
were the only sounds as she twisted to face him, pushing his
chin back as he twisted her face, holding his arm in check even
as he did the same to hers. This is how they remained, locked
in a desperate struggle. She lunged forward, pressing him back
against the boulder. Other than this one move, they could only
strain against the immovable determination of the other.
In an instant of opportunity,
she ripped her right hand free, so quickly that William didn't
even see her do it. That same hand flashed forward, palm open,
to impact on the chest of the Arion with such incredible force
that it transferred through the Arion and into the boulder to
blast away the back third of the great rock as if it had been
packed with dynamite. The shock wave that emanated from her blow
shook William, the creature, and the area around them. With such
power behind it, it was a killing blow.
William watched in
stunned silence. The girl staggered back from the defeated brute
as the Arion clutched his chest, gasping for air. He tried to
grab at her, but only succeeded in taking a few awkward steps
before he collapsed to his knees. He was fighting against an
overwhelming pain that viciously tore through him--fighting against
it, but quickly losing. Barely able to speak, the Arion looked
up at her with eyes filled with disbelief.
"Velorian,"
he spat out with his blood. "Why... Why are you here?"
Before the horrified
girl could answer a question she did not understand, he fell
forward, impacting the ground with loud thud. Rolling on to his
back, the desperate Arion shuddered, his hands bending into grotesque
contortions from the pain as he groaned his contempt at the Universe.
His voice became little more than a curse within a gurgle. With
a mouth overflowing with blood and his hands still clutching
air, the once mighty warrior became still, frozen within his
last moment of life.
Silence returned. Silence,
except for the crackling of a dying fire and the tortured breaths
of a young woman. She was lost, pulling away from a horror that
she knew she had made. Confused, her eyes darted from the grotesque
Prime to the smoldering face of a Beta to the severed corpse
next it. Her mouth distorted as her eyes closed tightly against
her tears, but they came too hard. She felt shame, ashamed of
herself, ashamed of what she had done. This isn't what she had
wanted to do. They were supposed to leave, that's all. Why didn't
they just leave? Why didn't they just... Leave.
She fell roughly to
her knees next to the little dead spider creature, the one that
the Prime had killed with his boot. Gently, her hand caressed
what remained of what had once been an infant, but her love for
the creatures only made her fall deeper into despair. There was
only death around her now. Only death.
"Oh, Skietra!"
she cried out, turning her face to the night sky. "I am
so sorry. It all went so wrong, so terribly wrong. I'm so...
Sorry." Her tears finally overwhelmed her and she collapsed,
her face sobbing within her hands.
William stood to go
to her, to do what he could to comfort her, but a fuzzy leg on
his arm stopped him.
"It is not needed,
sir," the creature informed him gently.
From the darkness beyond
the girl, a giant appeared. Thirty feet across, a massive gray
spider creature lumbered slowly toward her, enveloping her within
two of its eight treelike legs as if to comfort her. The girl
turned and found consolation, burying her face in its fur to
cry. The creature gently, lovingly, stroked her as she sobbed.
Amazed at what he was
seeing, William hadn't noticed the other creatures. Hundreds
of spider creatures of all sizes and colors were slowly moving
toward the girl. When William finally became aware of them, he
turned to see the ground moving with thousands more, all coming
to her.
The first to reach
the girl and the giant placed the tip of one of their legs on
them. The creatures behind them did the same, touching the backs
of the creatures in front. On it went, each succeeding row of
creatures adding their touch to the ones before them. A warm
amber glow appeared and grew around the girl, rich, flowing,
almost like honey in air. A swirling field of gold that gained
intensity as more creatures added their touch.
Soon, the girl left
the sanctuary of the giant's fur to close her eyes, raising her
face to the sky where the subtle smile of a being at peace came
to her lips. She raised her arms to hold her palms up at her
sides and the golden aura swirled rapidly around her.
"I'll be..."
mumbled William, astonished at the scene around him. "What
place... What place is this?" He blinked. "Who is that?"
The brown spider creature
looked up at him and smiled warmly.
"You are on Tetra,
sir," he said with a calm pride. Turning back to watch the
young girl, his voice took on the tone of deep respect. "And
she... She is our Protector." |
