Solar Star

Ty was right about one thing, Colonel Nye was almost beside herself with rage at losing her hostages and once they had vanished she had ordered the lasers to be fired on the ship.

‘And bring it down in little pieces,’ she screamed into Major Gerrard’s comm. link.

The Major watched in some distaste at his superior officer as she screamed orders at his men, incoherent in her anger, sometimes having to repeat herself to be understood, but there was little he could do. He observed her with a feeling of complete detachment, seeing a small woman of about fifty, who had kept her figure well, dressed totally in black from her high necked long-line linen jacket to her high heeled boots. The only colour she wore was her dark red lipstick, which was like a slash across her pale face with her ice blue eyes and long ash blond hair turning to grey, cut in an old bob style gave her a somewhat military look. It seemed odd to him that she had so much power and influence over President Berryman, yet he knew little or nothing about her or where she came from. He didn’t know because she made sure her past wasn’t known to anyone, not even her closest associates knew her true background, only the one she invented when she took the name of Nye, for even that wasn’t her real name. Her life now was one built on a lie; a lie which stopped her getting close to anyone and had prevented her ever marrying or bearing children of her own. This lie that had come to dominate her world and made her into the calculating, paranoid and controlling person who stood before the major on that cold winter’s morning. He didn’t understand her actions, how could he, all he saw was what she had become and not the person she had once been long ago.

It was a distant echo, a long ago life where there had been love, warmth and beauty, but like the serpent in the garden of Eden an evil had invaded her paradise and the world turned cold and grey and she was expelled into the darkness. Maybe the Major would have understood if he had known her then, when she was young and in love; in love with a man who shone brightly amongst a lot of equally beautiful souls but even then his had shone the brightest, the most intense and she knew he’d go on to greatness. The small shy blond girl who had been ecstatic when he went out of his way to include her in his group and ask her opinions and listened to her faltering answers; always a smile of encouragement and under his influence her confidence grew and her love for him increased daily. But love is a dangerous emotion, so closely akin to hate, and love unrequited is the most lethal and poisonous of all. She convinced herself that he loved her too and got caught up in that fantasy; every look, every word, every action he made, she twisted to fit into the perfect world she had created. She dreamed of their wedding day, designing the dress, what would be said and how the community would celebrate the union of two of its brightest members. Any signs that he loved everyone equally she pushed firmly aside and replaced them with delusions. He loved her more, she was sure of this, yet he made no advances towards her, but she’d wait, he’d soon return her love and ask her to marry him. Her fantasy world, this perfect bubble was a fragile thing and one bright summer’s day the bubble burst and her world collapsed. Suddenly the colours changed from gold to shades of grey.

Into the community came a young woman who stole her dreams away. He saw her, and life for Nye changed forever. O’realian, her O’realian, was taken away and, at first, she didn’t want to believe it, but in less than two months he told them that he was getting married. Kaymara stood by his side smiling and hate sprang to life in Nye’s heart. Never before had she felt this emotion and it frightened her, but its power also excited her and as she watched their preparations her heart began to harden. Now he didn’t seem to notice her anymore and when she had tried to tell him that Kaymara wasn’t the right woman for him, he had smiled and given her a hug. She had felt so humiliated by his lack of reaction, he wasn’t taking her seriously, and she couldn’t stand that; so she brooded, watched and waited.

Then one day, not long before the wedding, she saw Kaymara leave the compound to go for a walk alone along the riverbank. She found herself following her, yet she didn’t know why. The sun was shining and Kaymara seemed to float along in her white linen dress amongst the flowers, like a beautiful butterfly with her long flowing black hair shone in the sunlight as she walked confidently and untroubled by the water’s edge. She stopped and knelt down looking into the water, watching the trout whose kingdom she was privileged to witness and she was so engrossed in their activity that she was totally unaware she wasn’t alone. Nye watched her and began to feel angrier and angrier. How could he betray her with this woman, and she wished she would just go away. If Kaymara left then she was sure O’realian would love her again, for their love was forever. Kaymara had put a spell on him and once she was gone he’d realise this and be hers once more. She didn’t remember when she decided to kill her, but suddenly she found herself standing behind her, and as Kaymara turned to see who was there, she pushed her hard. With her balance disrupted Kaymara didn’t have time even to scream before she was enveloped by the cold waters of the fast running river and swept away.

For a few moments Nye had stood in shock, it all seemed so unreal, what she had done, but as the small tumbling figure disappeared around the river bend, she suddenly felt free again. A huge weight was lifted off her shoulders and she laughed out loud before she set off back to the compound but the feeling didn’t last long, not because she felt remorse about what she had done, but because Kaymara didn’t die. Further up the river two of the men were fishing and they saw her in the water and pulled her out. So the wedding went ahead as planned and Kaymara only told O’realian who had pushed her into the river a year or so later, after Nye had tried to kill her again. By then all light had gone from Nye’s heart, every day was darker than the one before and her pain and anger grew whenever she saw them together. They were so happy that even Nye could no longer delude herself and after the second attempt failed, she knew she had to leave.

The night before she left the place she had always called her home, O’realian had come to see her. This final meeting was the most humiliating of her life and changed her feelings towards him, setting the seal on what happened that day over twenty years later. She had expected him to be mad and tell her off, but instead of that, which she could have accepted, he told her he understood and wished her joy and happiness. It was the final straw for her and she had struck him hard with the first thing she could find, and he had fallen to the ground, blood pouring from his head. As she looked down at him, she knew she would always love him, but it would never be returned and vowed then that one day he’d pay for hurting her so badly.

And so through the years she had waited for the time she could take her revenge, she kept in touch with one of her old friends, so she knew what was going on inside Sakkara. She began her climb to power and it had been hard but she was determined and strongly motivated to get to a position where she would be able to hurt O’realian. When he became the community’s leader, she knew the best way to punish him was to smash his beloved community. Patrick Berryman was to become her instrument; a vain weak man whose only real gift was his charismatic personality. He turned to her for more and more advice as he clawed his way to the top and she was only too happy to use him, getting him to introduce policies she knew would be totally unacceptable to O’realian. The issue of chipping, she realised could bring this to a head, allowing her the opportunity to attack him both personally and through Sakkara. It hadn’t turned out quite as she had hoped, he had got away, but if they were still on Earth she’d find them. She ran out of the building closely followed by the Major and his team, to see the space craft moving away.

‘Fire again,’ she screamed into the comm. unit, and the resulting blue flash stretched towards the ship, but bounced off the shields around it.

‘It’s no good Colonel; their ship’s shields are too strong for us to penetrate.’ The voice of Lieutenant Dewmore informed her.

A small smile flickered over the Major’s handsome face, but quickly disappeared under the Colonel’s glare. She wanted to scream in frustration, she held the comm. unit so tightly it cut into her hand. O’realian was getting away and she felt helpless to stop him.

‘Can you track their position?’ she asked.

‘No Colonel, only their route until they’re out of range.’

’Then do that and I need transportation NOW.’

There was a slight pause before Dewmore replied.

’We have it Colonel. They are heading west 290 degrees and your shuttle is on its way.”