The Ninth Cycle of TinTay Legionary Headquarters Reborah on Hakim The Grand Council Chamber of The Legion has been prepared for the interview of the prisoner. High General TinTay is seated on his throne. The 12 Council members are seated in chairs arranged evenly on both sides of the chamber. At every space between council members stands a levy soldier, part of the honor guard. The honor guard has at least one member from each Imperial race presently on Hakim. Since Hakim had only been recently conquered there was a larger mixture of races than is usual on Empire planets since the levy troops hadn‘t been sent home yet. The array of humanoid types was large both among the levy soldiers and the Legionarys present; though six of the Legionarys were obviously of a single race. The men were very tall to very short, skin tones ranged across the spectrum, the amount of body hair varied wildly as well. “My Lord General are you ready for the prisoner?” “Bring him in guard captain.” The doors are opened and the prisoner is marched into the chamber by two hulking guards who hold the prisoner by his arms. There are gasps as the Legionarys take in the appearance of the prisoner. The young man stands proudly before the High General. The prisoner looks around the room to take in everything he can see. One of the guards reaches up and grabs the back of the head of the prisoner. “Eyes forward Prisoner.” High General TinTay is speechless; this young man is the spitting image of the love of his life. Any doubt about whether the attackers came from Dirt left him as he took in the sight of a tall, hazel eyed, brown haired beauty standing in from of him. “My Lord General may I have a word in private?” “Approach General ToPher, what is the problem?” “Tinny you are staring at him like a love struck newborn Legionary. He is beautiful but not that beautiful. If you don’t gain control of yourself you’ll lose control of this interrogation. No one of The Legion will say anything if you take him to your bed tonight. There’s plenty of precedent for that in the history of The Legion. ” “Thank you Tophy, he looks just like Brian did the night I first met him. They’re from Dirt; there’s no question about it. I’ll ask him the obvious question and then I’ll dismiss the council and meet with the prisoner in a more intimate room. You’ll have to make sure that I don’t ruin the interrogation Tophy. While tradition may allow me to take him to my bed there is no way that I would force anyone. I’ve my doubts that this youngster would willingly sleep with me.” “Yes My Lord General.” “Prisoner is your translator device working? Do you understand what I’m asking?“ “Yes High General I understand your questions.” “Then know that all of us have a translator device implanted in our ears as well. They’ve been trained to understand your language. So speak clearly so that all will understand your answers. I have many questions for you but first I must ask how old you are in your planet’s years?” “What? Of all the questions I’ve prepared for I certainly never expected that one.” The two guards force the prisoner to his knees for his impertinent answer to the High General.” “Soldiers I grant this prisoner leeway in how he responds to my questions, he has no knowledge of our traditions. He’s too beautiful for you to bruise unnecessarily.” “Why do you want to know how old I am?” “Give me the answer and then I’ll explain, but it’s important for me to know your age before I decide what to do with you.” “I still don’t understand but I’m 29 years-old.” “Abort.” “Abort, what the fuck does that mean?” “It means that you’re not eligible to become part of the first rebirth of TinTay. My officers can now listen to what you say instead of planning on how to claim you when you become a baby of The Legion. Of course none of my officers would choose the favors of a beautiful baby over the honor of The Legion.” “That still makes no sense.” “You are a prisoner of The Legion?” “Yes, I can’t deny that.” “You are a very beautiful young man; we of The Legion are attracted to beautiful young men. I asked your age because if you had been young enough you would have qualified to join the first rebirth of TinTay, which is still in progress. This would lead to you being born a Legionary and becoming one of us. But you’re too old and thus are judged an abort. My council can now stop thinking about how handsome you are and start thinking about your answers to my questions. While my men might be thinking about how beautiful you are it wouldn‘t stop any of them from executing you on the spot it that were necessary for the safety of The Legion or The Empire.” “My Lord General, it’s time.” “Thank you General ToPher. This meeting is adjourned. We’ll meet again tomorrow at the same time. Guards take the Prisoner back to his cell. ” “Yes My Lord General, on your feet Prisoner.” Two hours later General ToPher and High General TinTay enter the cell of the Prisoner. “Prisoner it’s time for you to answer my questions.” “I’ve a question for you first High General.” General ToPher slowly walks to the prisoner and punches him in the stomach. “Prisoner, and that is the operative word, you’re here to answer questions not ask them.” “ToPher that wasn’t necessary. Prisoner I’ll grant your request but as you can tell my companion doesn’t have the greatest amount of patience among my officers. What do you want to know?” “Are you one of The Stolen?” “I don’t know what you mean Prisoner.” “The Stolen is what we call those that were captured by the Horab and sold to the Legion. Are you one of them? You and many of your officers look human to me. How can that be though, if The Legion bought you to be slaves how can you now be high ranking members of that accursed organization?” “How do you know anything of the Horab, the Empire or The Legion?” “During The Raid the alien monsters took over the minds of women at each raiding site, these women were used as rude translators so that the Horab could order my people to do what was required of them. Most of the women died or were brain damaged by the process but two, Donna and Daphne. . .” “Daphne?” muttered the High General. “What High General?” the prisoner asks. “Go on with your tale Prisoner.” “Daphne and Donna had information from the Horab, that possessed them, put into their brains; it’s supposed by our experts that this information transfer was a byproduct of the possession. Over the years, before they died, they were debriefed and the knowledge gained from them helped in developing our plans for Operation Revenge. So we know that the non-humanoid aliens that raided Earth were the Horab. That they took our young men to sell to the Legion to be used as sexual slaves. Our experts aren’t sure whether the Legion is the elite military unit of the Empire or the entire military of the Empire. I ask again are you one of The Stolen?” “I don’t know if we are what you call The Stolen because most of us don’t remember where we came from before we became of The Legion. Every Legionary in the history of the Legion was captured from some Unknown World and brought to a rebirth center where he eventually was born into the Legion. Our ranks are earned through our accomplishments and skills. I became High General when Valdof died because I scored highest on the tests for the rank. If I died today General ToPher would take my place since he has the highest scores of those who have passed the tests. You’re right in your observation that many of the officers at the Council Meeting today are of the same race but we would express it as being of the second rebirth of Gkolath.” “That doesn’t answer my question General.” “I vaguely remember my life before I became part of The Legion so it doesn’t matter to me or anyone else of the second rebirth of Gkolath if we are part of what you call the Stolen. We are of The Legion.” “High General, may I have a word in private?” “Yes ToPher you may speak to me.” “Tinny you started talking in something besides Galachh and I’m pretty sure that the Prisoner picked up on it. He knows that we do come from Dirt.” “I did, all of my plans to trick him and I’m the one to screw up. But Tophy he’s the spitting image of Brian. It’s all I can do to not jump him where he’s standing.” “Prisoner, ToPher tells me that I started talking in something other than Galachh, I suppose it was my birth language, but he thinks that you understood what I was saying in that language. Is that true?” “Yes High General you were speaking in English which is the most spoken language of Earth. Does that mean anything to you?” “It means that we come from the same birth planet. I don’t remember much about my life before I became part of the second rebirth of Gkolath. Just because we came from your planet doesn’t mean we won’t do our best to defend the Empire and the honor of The Legion.” “How can the two highest ranking officers of the Legion be of The Stolen? You were torn away from your world and sold as sexual slaves yet you became the High General and his 2nd in command.” “That’s a discussion for another time Prisoner. I need to ask you some questions.” I’ll answer anything you ask, that I don’t think will hurt my planet.” “Fair enough, I can understand your desire to maintain your honor but we can find out what we want whether you want to answer or not. I would prefer to not to harm your beautiful body but I will if necessary.” “That doesn’t scare me General, don’t you think that we were prepared in case we were captured. After all we were sent out to gain revenge for The Stolen.” “What’s your name?” “I’m Major Taylor Peterson of Earth’s Space Force.” “That sounds familiar to me for some reason.” “My family is from one of the Twelve.” “You’ve lost me again Major Taylor Peterson.” “The Horab raided twelve cities and they are now known as the Twelve. My family is from Pittsburgh.” “Why did you attack our ships without warning? Are there more of you or were you the only raiders? Why was a part of your ship destroyed? What was stored in the empty compartment? Why were only fighters sent out on such a raid? How did you enter normal so close to our ships? How did you find this stellar system?” “We attacked you as a part of Operation Revenge. You sent the Horab to steal young men from us 50 years ago so that they could be your sexual slaves. We’re going to avenge that raid by causing The Legion and The Empire as much damage as we can. We’ve already paid the Horab back for their part. They tried raiding Earth again, two years ago, not one of the bastards left Earth orbit.” “ToPher do we know anything about the Horab losing ships in a raid? If so find out why they were raiding an Unknown World since there wasn’t a rebirth sanctioned. Why does your planet still care about something that happened so long ago? There can’t be many alive who were personally connected with the captives.” “That doesn’t matter High General, the people of Earth have united since The Raid and they are unanimous in our desire for revenge. The Legion will pay for buying our young men. Though when they find out that the highest ranking members of the Legion are of The Stolen there will be some confusion.” “Major Taylor Peterson you can’t do serious damage to the Empire, there are over a thousand member planets. We can raise levy troops from every one of them so we can beat you through sheer numbers. I’ll ask my questions again.” “I’ll answer what I can but I won’t answer if I feel it will be detrimental to Earth.” “Was your squadron the only one sent to cause trouble in the Empire?” “No, but I don’t know where the others were sent.” “Why was part of your ship damaged?” “Was part of my ship damaged? If so it must have happened when the explosion damaged my propulsion unit which allowed me to be captured.” “What is the empty storage unit for?” “Food supply storage for long range missions.” “Why did you only have fighters in your squadron?” “Our mission was primarily one of scouting out the Empire. Our fighters are simply faster in normal space than the battlewagons. Don’t worry when the Director decides it is time to truly punish the Legion then there will be more types of ships than just fighters.” “Was it more than sheer luck that you entered normal space on top of our convoy?” “Of course it was sheer luck even though we have had N-space drive for less than 50 years it became apparent very early in the development of the drive that jumping back into normal space is very random as to where in a stellar system you wind up. The only guarantee is that you won’t enter too close to a gravity well.” “How did your squadron find this particular stellar system?” “We lucked out and saw your ships in N-space and simply followed them and then jumped into normal space after they did.” “Major Taylor Peterson, earlier you said you were from one of the Twelve. The cities that were raided to provide zygotes for the second rebirth of Gkolath.” “Yes my family is from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.” “Do you have a personal connection to any of The Stolen?” “Yes, my grandfather’s lover was literally torn from grandfather’s arms by the Horab.” “Fuck!” “High General, did you say something?” “Major Taylor Peterson you’ve been more helpful than you probably think. We’ll meet again in the near future.”