For weeks, life on the station took on a simple routine. Get up in the morning, help out in the HellFleet mess hall, see the various capsuleer pilots off as they headed out from the station, welcome them home when they returned, eat a good meal with them and revel in their achievements.
Everything was fine with this routine save one particular issue, Hellfleet were pirates. Would living among pirates be safe was the question that haunted him but not for the obvious reasons.
Karled had a secret to keep and every day being here led him closer to his treachery catching up with him.
He was filled with the dread of the unknown to so many questions. How safe would his secret be and for how long? How much time would they have before she showed her face in the station? Would Taren understand that he had lied to her all this time?
He would know soon enough as his eyes realized his greatest fears. She was standing there in the mess hall.
The brand new Hellfleet emblem was clear as day upon her uniform. She had arrived in such an unlikely perceived probability that always seems to catch those guilty of such treacherous acts. Karled stood there, shocked and frozen in fear.
Neresa was shocked as well. She was shocked at Ga’len’s message last month. Neresa had figured that Ga’len was in for the long haul with Ushra’Khan, but the news about the reclaiming of 9UY4-H changed many things across New Eden. It would seem that such events had led to this fortunate reunion.
Karled could tell easily from looking at Neresa that she was close to state of uncontrolable rage. The fierceness in her eyes and the way her arms from her shoulders to her fists were rigid told the story of her anger. Her rage was swelling in her chest as she so spoke loudly that all in the mess hall could hear.
“Hello Karled. I see that you and that tramp are still together,” she eyed him with such intensity that you could see a hole being burned right through him. Neresa continued, “What, you don’t recognize your wife? You know, the woman you loved for years, who bore your child and has spent the last 5 years looking for you? At least you have taken care of our daughter…oh wait, you let those Amarr bastards have at her!”
Taren looked up from her plate in shock and fear. She now knew as Karled did that they would not escape from their past. All questions would soon be answered, everything was to become clear and there would be a reckoning for their crimes.
Breanne was sitting on Ga’len’s lap. She looked at his face and then at Neresa, speaking slowly, “She’s not a tramp! You are not my mommy, she is and she loves me!”
Her small hand pointed to Taren. Taren looked at Breanne with fear in her eyes as she spoke, “You are,” Taren’s mind was trying to piece this all together, “are, alive? We killed you! Neresa, you can’t be alive! Karled, we need to get out of here!”
Neresa shouted, “DON’T MOVE YOU BITCH! YOU STOLE MY HUSBAND AND MY DAUGHTER, YOU WILL PAY!”
Again, silence filled the mess hall as everyone was waiting for someone to make a move.
Ga’len’s voice broke through the quiet like a knife through a thick fog, “So Neresa, you received my message and joined our ranks. Welcome my old friend, but please, don’t spill any blood yet.”
All eyes turned toward Ga’len as he continued to speak, “Yup, it’s all my fault Karled. You see, I have a habit of being informed. You think I would let anyone about my ship without knowing about them? Funny thing, I was not actively looking, but the medical bays on the D-GTMI Outpost did a good job of checking out you, Taren and Breanne. DNA scans were part of the check my friend. It’s too bad for you that Neresa had some DNA data for a jump clone in that station, otherwise your secret would have remained hidden.”
Ga’len slowly looked down into Breanne’s face and spoke softly, “My little acorn, I am so sorry. My friend Neresa is telling you the truth. She is your REAL mother. Taren may have loved you, but she is not your blood.”
Breanne began to cry uncontrollably.
Ga’len held Breanne close and spoke with his ‘fathering voice’ as they all had become to call it, “Breanne, Karled is your father and Neresa is your mother. Taren and Karled took you away from her a long time ago.”
Breanne looked up at Ga’len’s face, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips were quivering and she tried to speak with a choked voice as she pointed to Neresa, “She’s….my…mommy?”
“Yes my little acorn, ” Ga’len said in a continued calming voice, “Neresa is your mommy and she’s here to take care of you.”
“Will she take me away?” Breanne asked, tears still flowing, “Like Taren and Karled did? Will the Amarr get me again?”
Neresa came to sit next to Ga’len. She reached for Breanne and they embraced each other. “No baby, I am not taking you away, I am here to stay. You, me, Aunt Leainati and Uncle Twig will be your family now.”
Ga’len rose from his seat and stared at Karled, “I don’t know what went on between you and Neresa, but I won’t let this stand. For the sake of your daughter I will not kill you. You two will leave here right now and never return. Breanne will tell you when she wants to see you. Until that time, I suggest you be elsewhere….now.”
Continued…
More of The Bleeding Rose
