Talon’s eyes met his. Then Talon’s eyes slid over to Jenny. “I can see why you do as well.”
Marik looked down. The truth of the matter was Jenny loved someone else, and humans were strange. Once they decided they loved somebody, they could often be completely illogical when it came to that person. They would completely disregard all others for the most part in the hopes of having that one person.
Talon said, “After this, all I want to do is go home. I want to help because Jessica needs this. The truth of the matter is that the Federation is going to have to be either disbanded completely or they’re going to have to step up and do the right thing.”
Marik snorted. “What are the chances of the Federation actually doing the things they promise? I never understood why the Federation managed to broker so much trust in the people that it overtook.”
One of the humans, Cliff, came over and sat down. His fingers drummed on the table top. He said, “I don’t know how they managed on other systems, but here on this planet, a very long time ago, at least according to history books, people would actually choose their leaders. There was some sort of system where they would go to these little houses and pick them. The leaders were always liars. The leaders told the people here that they worked for them. Only they never really did. They always just worked for themselves. They took everything they could get and left the people without. The funny thing is that people just kept doing it.”
Talon said, “They would not be the only race to do such a thing.”
Cliff said, “I don’t ever want to live here again. This to me is nothing but bad memories. It’s not great anywhere in the universe, to be honest, and I think a lot of that does have to do with the Federation and its rules. I personally vote for overthrowing them permanently.”
Marik looked down at his hands. “That would mean more war. A galaxy-wide war that would never end. You could win it in one solar system but never in the other. The Federation will never back down, and they are way too powerful.”
And he was tired of war. All around him, even in this room, he saw the disastrous results of war. His heart was no longer in battle.
Cliff said, “You’re probably right, but I think it will happen eventually anyway. Maybe not this century or the next, but more and more planets have started to realize that the Federation has lied to them and broken them in order to make their own profits. As more and more races become aware that the Federation is outdated and archaic, and filled with only those who think themselves above everyone else, those that crave power and wealth, I think they will rebel.”
Marik hoped that he was not alive to see it. He also knew that Cliff was right. It would happen; when it did, the death toll would be astronomically high. The destruction would be nearly complete. It would not just be one hospital like the one that had been created in this empty and echoing space that would exist, but hundreds of thousands of them on hundreds and thousands of planets and in every single galaxy. His stomach churned at the thought.
Talon said, “How is our healer?”
Marik lifted an eyebrow. “Do you ask about me or about her?”
Talon knew of the implant. He also knew of its necessity. “Her of course.”
Marik said, “She did well.”
They sat there not speaking. There was still much to be done on this trip. Marik said, “I never asked how long we would be staying this time.”
Talon cleared his throat. “I don’t know. The Rovers are getting worse, and I don’t want to abandon these people to them. On the other side of that…”
Talon’s eyes went back to Jessica. “I’m tired. So is she. I know she seems hard and tough and strong, and she is, but she’s just one person. I don’t know how much more either of us can take.”
Jessica murmured, “I can hear you.”
Talon laughed, “Of course you can. You sleep with one eye open and your ears always on listening mode.”
Jessica rolled over and then stood. She holstered her weapon and padded across the room. Marik saw that she had not removed her boots, and his heart ached yet again. None of the people sleeping along the walls of the room had removed their boots. If there was any one real signifier of just how dangerous the situation they were in was, it was that.
Jessica took a refresher bottle and a bar, and then sat down in a chair. There were lines of fatigue carved all along her face, and she looked over at Jenny and then back at Marik with a troubled expression on her face. “I heard her asking a lot of the patients earlier if they had seen someone that she seemed to know.”
Marik said, “Yes. She was to marry a man here, and she’s looking for him.”
Jessica and Talon exchanged glances. Talon said, “Marik, come with me to stroll around the roof to make sure the perimeter is secure.”
The last thing Marik wanted to do was check the perimeter. He sensed that Talon had zero interest in doing that as well and that his words were a ruse meant to get Marik out of the room and somewhere that they could talk more privately.
He took his weapon and stood. He and Talon walked out of the room into a small anterior staircase then went up it quietly. There was a door that led to the wide flat roof. There was nobody up there, and they went to the farthest edge where the wind blew the hardest. That wind brought more of the stinging grit and dust to Marik’s skin, and he winced. “I don’t really think I like this planet. I feel terrible for its citizens, but I really don’t enjoy this at all.”
Talon said, “You are going to like this even less.”
Marik asked, “What do you mean?”
Talon said, “The man that she is looking for may be a Rover. From what information Jessica gleaned a few weeks ago he may, in fact, be one of the leaders of the Rovers.”
Dismay hit. “Are you sure?”
