Hurricane from Farhost

Division 1_

I was escorted to the lower level of the Safkan cargo spaceship where I'd be secured in a cell the entirety of my transport to Earth. Thick, two-inch-wide cuffs were heavy on both my wrists, magnetized together in front of me. The cuffs were so strongly joined that, if a force much stronger than me were to gasp my arms to try and pull them apart, my arms would rip from my body before the magnetization could be broken. These cuffs are the strongest in the solar system; a Safkan invention. These were made specifically to give off enough heat to disable using any intensity of my Vargan Ice. I could concentrate and try as hard as I want, but the heat given off was too intense for me to cool my body. It felt so unnatural. I didn't feel very Safkan.

I stood in front of a glass wall that looked into a small, somber room with no furniture other than a metal cot. All surfaces were grey. Upon closer inspection of the transparent wall before me, the glass was scratched in a few places. I was familiar with this type of wall and, although old technology, I knew it was unbreakable. Newer and updated ships have semitransparent force fields that will incinerate anything that tries to pass through it. I wondered what kind of exertion it would take to have scratched this glass.

The glass wall slid halfway into the ceiling and I was nudged in by the large Safkan Ice Expanse Officer who had been walking with me through the ship, gun in holster. I felt annoyed near him because I worked so hard to protect Ice Expanse myself, and now, my life has completely flipped. I had so much power on Safko Varga 4 and now I have nothing. I'm a traitor to my entire planet, and I know that my face has been splashed across all the holovisions in Ice Expanse, for everyone to see. Ice Expanse is the largest city and my home for all my life- until now. I went from serving the federation to fucking it.

As the glass wall settled back into the floor, I asked the officer who stood on the outside, "Am I going to be put into cryosleep for the travel?"

He scoffed. "No. This is part of your sentence." He eyed me up and down. "And we don't waste resources on criminals. You're lucky you got chosen for the probation program on Earth."

I got as close as I could to the glass cell door. "It's six months to Rahv!"

He ignored me.

"Ka'gen!" I cursed in lazy Safkan slang and slammed my shoulder against the glass wall of the cell. The electronics of the reinforced material pulsed blue and hummed for a moment, as if it was alive and disturbed by me. The cuffs demagnetized, letting my arms swing down to my sides. The cuffs were heavy around my wrists and rubbed on my skin.

The bright white light in the cell never turned off during all six months of travel. It never even flickered. I wasn't spoken to and I only occasionally saw Ice Expanse police pass by in the corridor on the other side of the glass wall.

I remember moments of wanting to snap my own neck or thrash so violently I'd knock myself dead. Six months alone with only your thoughts plays tricks on your mind, it alters what you see, and it changes you. I remember staring at my faint reflection in the glass wall and seeing my long white knotted hair over the dark blue shirt of the ill-fitting Safkan prison attire. All Safkans have white hair and pale skin due to our distance from the sun, but I didn't feel Safkan in that moment and I didn't want to be. I gave up the right to be Safkan when I met Calret Luzerne. Getting involved with him, falling for him, loving him, and envying him... I ruined my career with the Ice Expanse police, something I so dearly wanted when I was young.

Realizing that I was steadily being taken millions of kilometers away from everything I've ever known twisted my stomach.

During my solitary transit, my thoughts were fueled by anger and I thought about Calret Luzerne the most. I was angry at him and also myself. If I never met him, I wouldn't have ended up here. I felt so powerful when I was working with him on the illegal runs. He made me feel untouchable when we would bring back thousands of Ko from Beshomia Neu. I'm so angry I let myself be manipulated by him and I hope he got what he deserved. During my trial in Ice Expanse, they asked me who else I worked with during the illegal drug trades. I told them about Calret Luzerne as my final effort to screw him over. No one filled me in about his fate.