Kayley flagged someone over to her. “Lieutenant Roma, show the crew to the areas that were hit the worst.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Kayley motioned for LemAN to follow her. “This way.”
They left the docking bay. LemAN looked around at the ship, clearly older than the ones he had seen recently. He would have to ask his crew about the computer system but he suspected that, too, was a problem.
He was shown to what he assumed was a ready room. Sitting at the table were three people. Two were men in their seventies with bald heads, whose skin was tanned and wrinkled. The other was a female a little older that LemAN, probably in her fifties.
Commander Kayley made the introductions. “This is Leader Lidia and our remaining council members, Choy and Vickti. This is the Katieran Commander LemAN.”
He didn’t clasp forearms with them because he still did not know if they were his enemies. He nodded acknowledgement. “Choy, Vickti, and Leader Lidia. Excuse me for my surprise. I had no idea that any Morin females survived, so this has taken me off guard a bit.”
Leader Lidia waved to a chair for him to sit in. He noticed that Commander Kayley chose to stand by the door. She might be a female but the way she carried herself and the gleam in her eyes made him realize she would be a strong adversary.
“Thank you for coming to our aid. I understand your people have every reason to deny us assistance after what the Morins have done.”
“Are you saying that you are a separate entity?”
Vickti answered defensively. “We are nothing like them!”
Leader Lidia glared at the older male. “He hasn’t accused us of doing anything wrong. He’s just asking for us to clarify how we are different. To answer your question, Commander, we are different from the Morins that you call your enemy. We did originate from the same home world.”
“How so?” LemAN asked curiously.
“Many decades ago, the Mori home world had three leaders. Two of the leaders, Barnin and Crusis, decided they wanted to conquer more worlds. Their view was to destroy anyone who could be a threat and enslave those who were considered nonthreatening. The third leader, Leader Orok, wanted to use their energies to save our dying planet. Our natural resources were almost nonexistent,” she said.
“There was a fight between the three leaders over use of a viral agent. Many of our people had been used as test subjects with Barnin and Crusis’s approval. When Leader Orok discovered this, he knew that he had to take his people and leave. The home planet was nearly dead anyway. So he made secret plans. Our people were ushered in the middle of the night to several transports to take us from our home world and search for a new planet that would sustain life. Unfortunately, Barnin and Crusis’s warriors were waiting for us. Many died trying to make it to the transports. Out of five transports that held a couple of thousand each, two made it off the planet.”
LemAN felt their loss as his own. The pain on their faces was clear. He didn’t sense any lie. “So there is another transport out there with your people?”
Leader Lidia smiled sadly. “We sincerely hope so. For safety’s sake the two transports separated and went in different directions in hope that the Morins would not find them. Some of us were mere children when we left Mori. Others were born while en route to a new home. We have lived on three other planets in the last few decades.”
“Why move around so much?” LemAN couldn’t help his suspicions.
“The Morins, though I doubt Barnin and Crusis themselves still live, are still searching for us. They have found us time and time again, capturing some of our females and killing more of our males.”
LemAN thought about what he was learning. Some of what they said made sense. “We had people captured by the Morins and told that there had been a few Morin females.”
Leader Lidia nodded. “I hope that they did not suffer too greatly.”
Silence fell as everyone in the room knew those women were probably dead or near death. Morins were not merciful to those who were not as strong who opposed them.
“How did you find yourself on the other side of the wormhole?”
Commander Kayley snorted. “By accident. We saw a battle taking place and while no one was looking, we went through the wormhole. We even thought we found a planet that could sustain life that didn’t have anyone but lower level creatures inhabiting it. Just as we were trying to transport our people below, the Morins showed up and gave chase. We’ve been trying to go back through the wormhole but have been blocked at every turn. We have kept our distance from planets with intelligent life because we did not want to bring the Morins into their world.”
“Besides fixing the ship, what else are you wanting?” LemAN asked, knowing there was more at stake.
“Sanctuary. Help us find a place that our people can call home.”
“I will have to discuss that with my leader.”
“Of course. I understand. If you could try to get us an answer quickly that would be the best. My crew’s assessment of our ship is that it can maintain no more than three days’ travel before it dies.”
LemAN stood up and nodded at them. “I will see what my crew can do for your ship and I’ll contact my leader.” He followed Commander Kayley out of the room, wondering what his leader was going to say to all this. Would he get approval to aid the enemy?
