THE END OF BEGINNINGS

EIGHTEEN

And at the break of day a heavy silence sat ominously upon the land.  Dew drops glistened where they clung to the long grass.  The leafy boughs of the stout trees swayed in the hushed breezes that swept across the hills.  Dark smoke turned gray as it rose above the tattered village of Agan.
Moros Aurallio stood amongst the thinning columns of pale, bitter vapor.  His eyes were fixed on the eight bodies laying lifeless on the ground.  The soft linen covering each of them flapped gently in the dull wind.  Small flowers had been laid on top of each by mourning family and friends.  Moros' heart felt heavier with guilt the longer he stood there.  The plan to capture the dea'esh had been his suggestion.  His eager desire to be more accepted by the tribe had brought the animal into the village.  He bore the responsibility of everything that had followed, including the loss of eight, innocent lives.
With the rays of the rising sun warming his back and stretching his shadow across the holy ground, Moros straightened his shoulders.  The only sound around him was the whisper of the breeze, his slow even breaths, and then the sound of his feet walking determinedly out of the sacred place.

*         *         *

Sidonia Aurallia stood up from where she had been crouching.  She wiped the blood from her hands as best she could.  The scrap of cloth she'd been using as a rag was almost too damp and stained to be of any further use.  She didn't fret over it.  She let her gaze fall back to the young watchman laying on a thatch cot at her feet.  He was semi-conscious as she looked at him.  His lips moved to say words of thanks to her, but no sounds slipped past them before his eyes drooped closed.  He wasn't dead, thanks to Sidonia.  She could have healed him more, but that would have taken more strength than she could spare.  And, it would have raised even more suspicion and unease about her and her family than there already was.
Sidonia breathed the cool, humid air of the early morning as she stepped out of the crowded hut.  The deep purple and black of the night was surrendering to the bright, pale yellow and blue of the oncoming day.  She was thankful the night was over, that soon enough it would be nothing more than a painful memory.
Rubbing the strained and tired muscles in her neck, Sidonia let her eyes drift down from the cloudless sky.  They came to rest on the top of a low hill at one edge of the village.  The modest structure she and her family had come to call home was there.  She stared at it for a moment, watching as it became partially silhouetted by the rising sun.
It took her a minute to follow the trail between the small buildings and up the hill.  She pushed hesitantly against the thin door, expecting it to be locked in place.  It budged without resistance.  Narrow blades of dense, dry grass sticking out along the bottom swished across the floor.  Geras was inside.  He watched, sidelong, as the door swung inward and his wife stepped across the threshold.  He was sitting on the floor near the wall opposite the entrance.  His back was bent forward, one elbow propped on his crossed legs.  A mud and blood-stained finger was idly twirling and fiddling with some of the curled, gray hairs of his beard.  Sidonia looked her husband over for a moment then reached for the door behind herself.
"It appears all is quiet and secure now.  The wounded are all accounted for and are stable," she said as she closed the entrance of their house.  "Gerania is still down there with them.  She and some of the other girls are helping the older women change bandages and collect the ruined clothes."
Geras slowly nodded his head in response.  Sidonia barely saw it as she turned back around to face him.  "Moros was in the plaza helping with the cleanup," she added, her words dropping away.  She was taken back by the appearance of her husband.  He was exhausted, obviously.  Everyone was.  But there was more.  What might have been a purely stoic expression was clouded by an unsettling demeanor of frustration and sadness.
"Geras," Sidonia finally asked after several long, and silent minutes.  "What is it?  Did you get the probe working again?"
Geras didn't say anything.  His right knee was pressed lightly against a short, wooden pedestal.  On top of the simple, hand-carved plinth was a small, leather box.  There were no markings etched or sewn into the rich, brown covering.  With his right hand, Geras lifted the hinged lid.  A hiss of air suddenly filled the room from inside the chest.  Sidonia watched as the little, metal sphere with the bright, pale blue lens hoisted itself upward into view.
"Hello, Sidonia," said a pleasant voice from within the hovering android.
"Hello, Seegan," Sidonia replied politely, smiling warmly at the robot.
"It's nice to see you again.  I'm very glad you are safe and well."
Sidonia bowed her head slightly.  "Thank you, Seegan.  I am very grateful for your help last night."
"Of course," replied Seegan.  "But no thanks is needed."
"Seegan," Geras said before the artificial intelligence could continue, "play the message again, please."
"It will take just a moment.  As I warned Geras before, the transmission may be degraded and intermittent at times.  The receiver on this probe was damaged by the burst last night, as were some of the chip sets.  We repaired what we could, but it's far from perfect."
"I understand," said Sidonia.
Geras still remained silent.  Sidonia was looking at him until a brilliant stream of light poured out from the pale blue lens.  A holographic image of a woman began to take shape in the sterile radiance.  Her long, braided hair was pulled tightly behind her head, disappearing behind her shoulders.  She wore the uniform of the Lantean Unified Fleet.  The pins on her lapel and chest identified her rank as an officer.  Sidonia wasn't familiar enough with Fleet standards to recognize the girl's level of authority.  She seemed young, even in the unsteady image.  Her eyes were softly colored but gave away her grave seriousness.  She stood straight and proud, her expression as stoic as the man in the room with Sidonia.  The recording seemed to hesitate but then began to play.
"Gree...ngs ...ster Aurallio.  I am Mera Gad, comm...der of the Lantean Cruiser Infinite Star.  I am addressing you as a representative of the Lantean United Council.  Three standard weeks ago a small research vessel known as the Gold Horizon transmitted a distress signal while attempting to flee from the Gannos System.  The small crew of the Gold Horizon, led by a Captain Bayos Cilius, had been dispatched to the system and, specifically, the planet Gannos B, after all contact with the city of Ninev had been lost for an extended period of time.  My ship was passing near the system when we detected the distress call.  However, by the time we arrived, the Gold Horizon had been destroyed and all four members of its crew were dead.
"A few minutes after our arrival, while ascertaining the nature of the situation, as well as the identity of three small, unknown vessels heading away from the remains of the Gold Horizon, my ship established contact with Ninev, specifically the lea... of N... High C...lor Aronos Tal Do."
Sidonia's gaze quickly shifted toward her husband.  She saw Geras roll his eyes once.  It was the only gesture he made.
"High Councilor Tal Do admitted to myself and my crew that he had, in fact, destroyed-or gave the order to destroy-the Gold Horizon.  Acting on regulations, I immediately declared my intention to report the incident and recommend a tribunal be convened.  Approximately three standard days from now, a delegation will meat High Councilor Tal Do and envoys from Ninev at a neutral system before escorting them back to Atlantis. 
"While a tribunal of this nature is normally seated and conducted by city high councilors, an invitation has been extended to you.  The members of the Council feel that your long period of distinguished service together in the Fleet makes you a valuable witness to the character of High Councilor Tal Do.
"It is the hope of the United Council that an answer is heard from you as soon as possible.  While everyone understands the tremendous value of your continued research, the Council would like to address this tragic matter as quickly and fairly as can be managed.  The tribunal is scheduled to begin eighteen standard days from transmission of this message.
"On behalf of the Lantean United Council and United Fleet, I thank you for your time, Minister Aurallio."
Sidonia watched the holographic image fade and dissolve as the commander bowed.  She turned her attention to Geras.  "So," she said after a moment of silence had persisted in the small house.  "Aronos Tal Do comes back into your life."
Geras didn't reply with any words.  He nodded his head slowly, exhaling a long breath loudly.
Sidonia bit her lip then put her hands on her hips.  "Okay, then.  When do you leave?"
Geras turned his head to look at his wife.  "Who said that I was?"
"You have to go.  That man's terrible decisions have finally caught up with him.  And giving an order to attack and destroy a ship bearing the flag of the United Fleet...the council has no choice but to strip him of his title and send him into exile.  They must, in fact!  And you have to urge them to do so!"
Geras looked at Sidonia then looked away.  "I know."  He took another deep breath before saying, again, "I know."
Sidonia crossed the room to stand near her husband.  She bent down, kissing the top of his head.  "If all were perfect in the universe, if it were any other person in any other circumstance, I would not be in favor of this course of action."
Sidonia kneeled down and leaned against Geras.  "I don't want you to go," she said, taking his hand in hers.  "But what I want is immaterial in this matter.  You must go."
Geras breathed in and out slowly.  He brought his wife's hand to his lips and kissed it gently.  "I know," he said once more.
"You'll go, you'll do what must be done, and then return to your waiting family with as much haste as you and Seegan can squeeze out of that old bucket you call a ship."
"I feel like I should take offense at that," said Seegan from the sphere hovering just above the open box.
Geras chuckled.  He kissed Sidonia's hand once more before letting her pull him onto his feet.  "I am ready for that man to be nothing more than a faint and distant memory."
"As he should be," said Sidonia.
Whatever else was going to be said on the matter would have to wait.  A voice outside the thatch and wood walls was yelling for Geras and Sidonia's attention.  It was Gerania.  She was racing up the hill toward the house.  Geras turned his head sharply in the sphere's direction.  The little probe had already descended back into the box.  Geras' hand lowered the lid just as the entrance door was pushed hurriedly inward.
"Mother!  Father!  You must come quickly!  It's Moros!"
"What," Sidonia asked, trying to calm her daughter.  "What happened?  Where is Moros?"
"At the hut of the elders.  Shero said they were meeting to discuss what happened and figure out what to do next."
"Who to blame, more likely," Geras said with a tone of disappointment.
"Yes," Gerania replied.  "And Moros went there to speak with them."
Sidonia turned her head to look at Geras.  Her eyes were wide with fear.  It was a fear they both shared.  "He's going to plead himself guilty, isn't he," she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Damn that boy," Geras said, shaking his head.  He was simultaneously proud of-and frustrated with-his son.  "His heart is bigger than his head, sometimes."
"Go," Sidonia told her husband.  "Get him out of there before he gets himself into an even worse and irreversible situation."
Geras nodded then hurried across the room.  "Come, Gerania," he said to his daughter.  He glanced back toward Sidonia and then the box behind her.  "You'll finish things here?"
Sidonia nodded her head.  She watched Geras follow Gerania back outside.  As soon as the door was closed again, Sidonia pivoted around to face the leather box.  She peeled back the lid, allowing the metal sphere to rise slowly from the shallow depths of the chest.
"Seegan, acknowledge receipt of the message on the same frequency it was sent," Sidonia instructed.
"Certainly," the artificial intelligence replied.  "Sending acknowledgment now."
Sidonia stared past the box for a moment, her thoughts wandering past the place she was in.  "Seegan," she finally said.  "I also need a personal favor from you.  Can you do that?"
"Yes, Sidonia.  What is it?"
Sidonia glanced back toward the closed entrance of the hut and then began to speak.