The Day after the Trial - Pt.2 The Commander

The is a Sci- Fi set in War time.

His eyes fixated on the urgent message on the hologram- "Execution on Aruhu 4".
"Q'alb-", he whispered in the "barbaric tongue" he had renounced as a youth. He caught his slip and remembered that he was an Imperial Officer.  And everything an Imperial Officer did was recorded in its implants. He calmed his stir of emotion and returned to the mandated message. With a thought,the implants wiped the shimmering text away and displayed and video.
The hanging was already in progress. Various Propaganda was flashing on the screen and imperial music hovered in the background. He closed the lids on the pools of jade that were his eyes and forced them open. The implants would register if he paid attention and how he felt during. So he watched as the fire  was lit under the hung bodies and how he saw a boy that could have been him stare at the scene.
He laid his head back after the video ended and the music ceased. Somehow the music was the worst of it. Deep in his mind he envisioned those with dark,blackish, jade  skin being crushed under "machines" as officers laughed and that music played.
If he didn't regain control, he have to explain why he was being registered for distress at such a standard site. Unless, his loyalties lied on him.
"you are an imperial officer, not a savage"

He was to report to his superior. And he did. He let himself go blank as he mentally ordered a link to Captain Conrreal. A cold,pale face appeared in front of him.
"Commander D'lireni."
"Captain."
Two calculating minds did not need implants to register the silent feeling that had transpired.
"as you have seen the execution, I'll be frank. Your presence is needed at Ahuru 4-- oh excuse my forgetfulness. What is it that you call it in your people call it in your native tongue, Commander?"

"Q'alb, Captain," whispered D'lireni.

"O, yes. I remember when I studied the Culture of Your people in my schooling to become an officer. Q'alb derived from a primitive word meaning heart and your people had thought that the planet they had been sent to after the War was the center of that galaxy. Bit of a miscalculation on their part. But what could you expect."

D'lireni stayed silent. The Captain had never bested him in this game.

Conrreal eyed him. "The natives are beginning to revel in unrest after those rebels were taken care of. Apparently, we have been good enough to them. Go assuage your people, Commander.Our queen is dependent on you to do your job."

D'lireni made his eyes cold as only "his people" knew how. "You can ensure our empire's people, Captain,that I will to the best of my diplomatic capacity prevent unrest from one of the empire's most populous and resource-rich planets. I would not wish for the citizen we protect to assume incompetence on our part to supress a primitive  people."

"Connreal Out", was the only reply he received before the hologram faded.

"i take it these are my marching orders."

The Commander raised himself out of the comforting envelope of the seat and move into the wider embrace of his own private bridge, a symbol of all he had earned. The calm grey of the room was an extension of him, just as the single statue of the Kitheni woman that laid on the grey table. Suddenly the uniform he wore felt like it was his skin. And he made sure to focus on the foreground as his jade hand subconsciously slid across the synthetic fabric. The statue's wood was the only natural thing in his world of the synthetic.
"Commander D'lireni to the bridge." Chart a course to Q-," he paused.  
"Commander?"
"Ahuru 4."

He allowed the back of the room to become transparent and turned to watch the galaxy he was leaving behind. Gliding across the room to the wall he stood at the edge of the universe of his his world. The stars moved faster to him as the ship sped up. Of Course, the Captain would have made a snide remark on how scientifically incorrect that was. D'lireni  lost himself as he did when he was a boy glancing at the stars.
 His heart was just a number.

Author's Note

The next chapter will focus on the POWs and D'ilreni's visit. In this world aliens and humans have mixed for hundreds of years. Hence the human frames and none human features