Boabdil
Copyright© 2026 by Prince von Vlox
Chapter 10
BOABDIL STATION
Tech/3 Lia Tamarant drew a cup of brew and settled back into her chair in Watch Central on Boabdil Station. After a sip, she fit the shunt collar around her neck and sank her perspective into her instruments. Below her, before her, around her, the Glory washed through her. To one side and distant, she could sense the Nebula. She sampled that for a moment, and then focused on Boabdil. Her responsibility was for the high-latitude settlements. She had to watch them, noting anything unusual.
Nobody was quite sure of what they were after. All anyone knew was that they would “know it when they saw it”. Lia thought that was just a little too imprecise a mission definition, but they were still feeling their way with Boabdil. Every carefully considered plan had gone out the window when the first of the Returnees had spoken of her life on the planet. Lia still felt the deep anger at the way their kin had been treated. All of the careful briefings, including the two well-reasoned studies written by people who had never been within 50 light years of Boabdil, were nothing compared to a woman speaking in a flat voice about a life of endless drudgery, punctuated by beatings, forced pregnancies, and the occasional Burning.
“Lia--Julianne. Hourly check. Anything?”
Julianne Hampton was the Shift Supervisor, responsible for all six gals on the Northern Hemisphere Observation Team. She checked in every hour to make sure people didn’t wander off into the Glory ... as if that would happen after they’d heard Tybi Korina’s description of what life was like on Boabdil.
“Nothing new, Julianne,” Lia reported. She focused on the settlement on an island off the coast of the northeastern coast of the main continent. There was a heavy but broken cloud cover over that island, but that didn’t stop her sensors. “I’m still monitoring an unusual gathering of people in that main town on that island in Sector J-2, but that’s all. I’m thinking it could be a local feast day of some kind.”
“I’m going to put the Landing Teams on Alert,” Julianne said. “I’ll let their Commander know this is just a drill, but I think they’ll welcome the excuse. Life’s been pretty boring for them since that last bit of fighting six days ago.”
“Aye,” Lia laughed. Those were Marines. They liked going into places where people shot at them. She had a cousin serving with them, and quite frankly Lia preferred what Tulla called boredom. “I’ll keep you posted if anything changes, good or bad.”
Sandra Korina’s Marines had attacked the last post known to be held by the Imperials just six days before. The fighting had been intense, but one-sided. Because the attack had occurred in the northern latitudes, Lia had monitored the action. The fighting had been fierce, and large parts of that particular island’s geography had been rearranged before the battle was over. Since then, the Marines had mostly sat around complaining that they had nothing to do.
Lia scanned a few degrees south, into the border of her zone. There was a pair of sailing ships working their way through heavy weather. One of her cabin mates was from Family South Seas and could probably tell her what was going on aboard those ships.
Lia checked the satellites relaying images to her. As she’d told Julianne, nothing much was happening. There were 21 settlements of any real size in her scan area, and it was night over 16 of them; these people clearly didn’t do much at night. She caught some movement down in the infrared, mostly animals. She zoomed in on one settlement. Some buildings were a little brighter than others, suggesting they had either better heating or poorer insulation than the others.
She went back to the large island. The island itself was 290 kilometers long by 95 wide and shaped like a leaf. It had a central line of hills that could almost be called mountains by someone who had never seen real mountains. There were 29 towns or villages scattered evenly between the coast of the island and some inland valleys. Lia estimated that no more than a couple hundred people lived in each of those towns and villages. They seemed mainly occupied with fishing, though the inland towns had a large number of small agricultural fields around them.
She stopped, zooming in on the southern half of the island. Curious ... a lot of the people there were moving towards the big town. Earlier, she’d thought it must be a local festival or something. She scanned around that town. Ships ... no, boats ... she could see boats, small boats, out along the coast. Those would probably be fishing boats. Curious, it appeared they were all proceeding towards the harbor. She checked the weather; nothing threatening. There was nothing she could see that would make the boats run for the harbor while the day was still young. That was curious. It was good fishing weather, and yet the boats were returning to the harbor.
The main town was on the southwest corner of the island. From the density of buildings, it appeared to have a population in the 8-9,000 people range. It was on rising ground surrounding a natural harbor; a breakwater protected the anchorage against the waves. The buildings of the town rose as a series of steps until they spilled out onto the plain. The whole mass of buildings was surrounded by a pair of walls that Lia estimated at 10 meters in height. Beyond the walls were a large number of small agricultural fields, the same pattern she had observed farther inland. Each appeared to be separated by walls and what could be roads.
In the middle of the large built-up area above the harbor, she could see a large building. Close to the large building was a large open area. On an earlier day without the cloud cover, Lia had seen colored cloths stretched out over what must have been stalls and booths; that had to be a public market of some kind. She could see traces of movement around that open area. Out of curiosity, she zoomed in on that spot.
People were gradually gathering in the open area closest to the large building. Lia switched to a different sensor, getting an angled view of the open area. Resolution wasn’t the greatest; she was looking through more of the atmosphere. But the sensors showed her more than she saw from straight overhead, and she even caught visual glimpses of what was going on. Definitely looked like a festival. It reminded her that in the 85 days they’d been here, they really hadn’t had a day off. She made a mental note to talk to Julianne about that.
Something--automatically she hit the zoom to get the closest view she could. It was hard to make out in the light--people were congregating around the edge of the plaza, there was something, two somethings throwing shadows in the middle of the plaza. Tall somethings, thin somethings...
“Julianne--Lia.”
“Go ahead, Lia--Julianne.”
“Passing cross-feed from that island town. What do you make of this?”
The silence stretched out for several seconds. “I ... I don’t know,” Julianne said at last. “I haven’t seen something like this before.” She wracked her brain, trying to think of what it could possibly be. A name filtered into her mind.
Changing frequencies, Julianne called the Families Residence.
“Families Residence, Tech/4 Woods.”
“This is Julianne Hampton, Northern Hemisphere Scan Supervisor, on Boabdil Upper. I need to talk to Tybi Korina.”
“It’s the middle of the night down here, Ma’am.”
I don’t care, Julianne started to say, and stopped. That approach would get her exactly nowhere. “I realize that,” she said patiently. “Believe me, I didn’t want to make this call this late. But we’ve run across something odd, and we were hoping she could clear it up for us. She’s the only one I can think of who could do this.”
“Could it wait until morning, Ma’am?”
“This is a developing situation,” Julianne said patiently. “It probably can wait until morning, but my orders are that if we see anything odd, it has to be handled immediately, and this is definitely odd. I would appreciate it if you could get her. I’ll take full responsibility for this, and if it’s nothing, I’ll make it up to her somehow.”
Reluctantly, Tech Woods found herself agreeing. She’d read that order, too, so Supervisor Hampton really didn’t have much choice in the matter. “I’ll have someone go get her,” the young woman said.
“Excellent. I appreciate it. I’ll cross-feed what we’re picking up. She can look at it on the vid.”
A few minutes later, a half-awake Tybi entered the Comm Room, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Almost by habit, she’d pulled on Corinn’s clothes; now she was wishing she hadn’t; she’d forgotten how cold it could get in the desert at night. She’d spent most of the day working with one of the Marines, refreshing the unarmed combat skills that had saved Corinn’s life. Muscles she didn’t know she’d had ached something fierce.
“What is it?” Tybi asked. She looked around. There were screens everywhere, some showing faces, others showing nothing in particular. The technician was sitting in front of a bank of screens, a shunt collar on the back of her neck, her hands moving across her control board.
Tech Woods threw a couple of switches, then pointed at the upper tier of screens. “Ma’am,” she said, “this is being sent by the gals on watch upstairs on Upper. They don’t know what it is. They were wondering if you knew.”
Tybi clutched the blanket closer around her and peered at the screen in question. “I can’t make it out very well,” she said.
Tech Woods adjusted the magnification and resolution. “How’s that?”
Tybi studied the picture, trying to make sense of it. “Can you explain some of what I’m seeing?” she asked.
“Here,” Tech Woods said, handing her a shunt glove. “The supervisor upstairs is seeing the same picture; she can explain it better than I can.”
Tybi hesitantly took the glove. She knew what it was, but she hadn’t used one yet. She wasn’t sure if she remembered how. Reluctantly, she slipped the glove on her hand and then stood there, waiting for something to happen.
It was like a voice ... words ... someone speaking? ... words? ... meanings? She shook her head. It was like Corinn’s Rememberings, something hazy just beyond reach.
“I-I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. She took the glove off. “I couldn’t make out what I was hearing,” she said.
Tech Woods nodded. She’d been told that might happen. She threw another switch, then handed Tybi a set of earphones and a microphone. “Here,” she said. “Press the green button when you want to speak.”
Tybi nodded her thanks. She’d seen the PSK officers using these, and she felt she knew how they worked.
“This is Tybi Korina,” she said.
“Tybi, this is Julianne Hampton on Boabdil Upper. We’re getting these images from a town on the other side of the planet, and we don’t know what to make of them.”
Tybi peered closer at the screen. “Describe what you think you’re seeing,” she said. “It’ll help me put things in reference.”
“All right. This is from Drone L15. The picture is of a medium-sized town about 56º north. The picture isn’t the best, as it’s taken at a slant of 25º. What you are seeing appears to be a plaza or public market, with a crowd of people along the edge. The buildings forming the edge of the plaza are in gray, the people are the bits of color.”
Tybi found herself nodding. When she had it explained, she could make it out. “Do you have a different picture?” she asked.
“Just a moment.” Another screen flickered to life. “This is the view from nearly overhead in infrared.”
It was a different view, not a better one. Tybi instantly picked out the thin dark lines of something in the middle of the plaza. She compared it to the view on the other screen. Now she could make out the people, the empty plaza, the--
Something cold skittered down her back. “What time of day is it there?” she asked abruptly.
“It is approaching local mid-day,” Julianne replied after a quick glance at a chrono. “Why would people be gathering like this? Is there some ceremony or something the locals perform at mid-day?”
“Yes,” Tybi said, her voice choked with certainty. She knew what was about to happen. “Burnings happen at mid-day,” she said. “Someone is about to be burned.”
That one word was like a spark in a cloud of vapor. “Are you sure?” Julianne asked as she flashed the Alert signal to the Marines, along with the message that this was most definitely not a drill.
“Burnings happen at mid-day so everyone can see them,” Tybi said. She could hear the sudden silence in the room behind her. “They’re held at mid-day so people can get a break from work. The person being burned is brought out and tied to the post, the Clan Lord recites what they did, and then the kindling is lit. Everyone stands around until it’s over, and then goes back to work.” She looked a little closer at the screen, the icy dread in her stomach congealing into a hard lump. “They’re burning two people today.”
“No, they’re not,” Julianne said firmly. “Not while we have anything to say about it.” She momentarily forgot Tybi while she routed information to the Marines boarding their landers. She also sent information up the chain of command, alerting everyone that there was a situation developing on Boabdil.
Back at the Residence, Tybi studied the screen a moment longer. “Can you connect me with my sib?” she asked Tech Woods. “She’s Marine Third Officer Sandra Korina. She’s supposed to be somewhere up there.”
“I’ll try,” Tech Woods replied. Her eyes strayed to the view on the vidscreen as her fingers pushed the appropriate buttons. “Families Residence calling for Marine Third Officer Korina,” she said to the Comm Tech on Viktor Leonov.
“Couple of minutes, Ma’am. There’s an alert on.”
“I know. That’s why we’re calling. Tell her that her sib-sister wants to speak with her.”
It wasn’t much longer than two minutes before Sandra came on. “What is it, Tybi?” she asked. Her voice was clipped, as if she was in a hurry about something.
“There’s a Burning about to happen, Sandra,” Tybi said.
“I know, we’re about to go in and stop it.”
“I need to be there,” Tybi said. “I can--”
“No!”
“Sandra, I have to go. I don’t see that I have a choice.”
“Tybi, that’s a combat situation, and--”
“You think I don’t know that?” Tybi interrupted her sib. “If they’re Burning a star woman, I have to be there. Call it an obligation, but I have no choice.”
“Tybi, there’s going to be fighting, and I don’t want you in it.”
“I know there may be fighting,” Tybi repeated. She paused, thinking, trying to find the proper words. “Sandra,” she said slowly, “do you intend to attack every town and holding on this planet? You told me yourself you don’t have enough people to do that. I may be able to help out in some way. I know these people, Sandra. I may be able to save some lives without there being any fighting.”
Sandra was silent for several seconds. “Be ready in 10 minutes. I’ll notify the crew of the lander there at the Residence. They’ll bring a team of Marines along to cover your back.”
Sandra changed back to the common strike frequency. “Tybi never would listen to reason,” she muttered to no one in particular. She straightened up. “Get a move on, ladies, we aren’t making a social call. Landers leave in 45 seconds.”
Right on time, six landers detached from Viktor Leonov, racing north above the atmosphere at maximum acceleration before finally dipping down towards the clouds. Twenty minutes after leaving the Viktor Leonov, the six landers entered the clouds. Marines ran through the last of their readiness checks. On board the Lander 7-03, Sandra Korina finished her own checks with just a little more bite than usual. Damn it, Tybi, she thought. I’m going to have my hands full enough without you getting involved.
The count came rattling up from the back of the lander.”Places, everyone,” Sandra ordered. She checked with the crew.”Six minutes out.”
Overhead in the Command Center of the Station, Julianne Hampton watched the screens, weighing alternatives. She had a dozen Mechanicals at the Station and had immediately released a flight of them to fly north as a reaction force. They were now holding 15 kilometers from the town. If she gave the order, they could be over the city in just a few seconds. She had the landers from Viktor Leonov approaching from the southwest, and a lander with a squad of Marines three minutes away coming from the Residence. And she had a Cruiser positioning itself directly overhead. She doubted she’d need that kind of firepower Vraicu carried, but it was comforting to have it available if she needed it.
In the screen, Julianne could see movement in the plaza as two groups of people left the large building and approached the stakes. She could see motion from the people around the plaza as more filed in. She wondered when they were going to start. If they started right away, there would be nothing they could do. If they waited just a couple of minutes, everyone would be in place.
Edita Macquarrie walked into the Command Center on Boabdil Station and had a seat at the Commander’s Station. “Status?” Her voice was cool and collected.
“Scan Section says there’s a burning about to start,” Julianne reported. “Tybi Korina at the Residence concurs.” Julianne felt an immense sense of relief. The boss was here. Julianne didn’t have to make the decisions anymore. “I have the following troops and fighters on the way.” She ran through her list, finishing with the cruiser.
“Very good,” Captain Macquarrie said. She slipped her hand into the shunt glove placed on the console in front of her. “Resume scanning, Tech Hampton,” she said. “I have the command.”
“Aye, Ma’am,” Julianne said with some relief. She wanted to watch what was going to happen, but she also knew somebody had to pay attention to the rest of the planet just in case something else happened elsewhere.
“Oh, and Tech Hampton?” Captain Macquarrie’s voice sounded cool through the shunt. “Good job, Julianne, good job. Pass that along to everyone in your crew.”
Julianne flushed at the praise. Captain Macquarrie had praised her through the shunt, which meant everyone in this operation had heard it. She flushed again. The Captain was sparing in her praise, which made her public comment even sweeter. Julianne reserved one screen so she could watch what was going on in that northern city, and began systematically checking in with her other scanning stations. Nobody was going to get away with anything on the planet below while everyone was watching to the north, not if she had any say in the matter.
Captain Macquarrie weighed time and distance. Numbers were running down rapidly as the landers moved into position. She needed to have an idea of what to do. She remembered something Tech Hampton had said. She glanced at the list of landers in front of her.
“Lander 44-26, this is Captain Macquarrie.”
“Lander 44-26, aye.”
“You have Tybi Korina aboard, correct?”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
“Put her on.”
“Be a moment, Ma’am. She’s still having trouble using her shunt.”
“I’ll wait.” It seemed longer than “a moment”, but finally there was a click, and Captain Macquarrie heard the woman’s voice. “What are your recommendations, Tybi?” she asked. “You’ve lived here. What do you suggest?”
Since getting on the lander, Tybi had done nothing but think. She knew the Clan Lords, knew the way they thought. She had no compunctions about shedding their blood, but she didn’t want a full-scale war to erupt. If they weren’t careful, a lot of innocent people could die today, including most of the star women. We’re going to be here a long time, she’d concluded. We have to get things started the right way.
“Put Marines around the stakes,” she said. She remembered her own forced presence at Burnings, and easily pictured what was going on. “Drop more Marines at every exit. Seal off the plaza. If they’re burning a star woman, they’ll have every star woman in the town there. There may be resistance. If there is, take care of it as violently, as quickly, and as decisively as you can. Shoot, and shoot to kill, but be selective in who you kill. Only kill those actively resisting.”
“And afterwards? After we rescue whoever they’re going to burn?”
“Afterwards, Ma’am, we take all of the star women in that city away with us ... we can’t leave them there, we have to take them. We’ll get to the eldest right away, she’ll know who they are.” She paused a moment, remembering. “That was what we all did, Ma’am, we kept track of each other,” she said in a much lower voice. “We’ll use that today.”
“Very good,” Captain Macquarrie said. “We’ll do it that way.” She switched channels. “Third Officer Korina--Captain Macquarrie.”
“Aye, Ma’am?”
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” She briefly outlined what Tybi had said. At the end, she added one important proviso. “Make your planned deployment with that in mind. You are authorized to shoot to kill, Third Officer. Use your weapons on full power. If you have to kill, I want it done spectacularly and obviously. Blow them apart, and I mean that literally. However, one more thing, Third Officer.”
“Aye, Ma’am?”
“Use your discretion on when you fire. We want an overwhelming show of force here, but we do not want a slaughter. Watch your troops. I can understand if their feelings run a bit high. I won’t condone it if they overreact, but I’ll understand it.”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
Captain Macquarrie sank her awareness through her shunt into the situation unfolding below. She nodded to herself ... the Marines were two minutes out, everything else was in position.
”Vraicu--Edita Macquarrie. In one minute I want a main battery shot into the bay just outside the harbor. Give them 10 seconds of sustained fire.
“Flight Lead Boone--Edita Macquarrie. As soon as Vraicu has fired, make a low pass over the town, maximum speed. I want you to stun them with your sonic booms. I want them disoriented long enough to get the Marines down.
“All landers except the one from the Residence--Officer Korina will give you your deployment. Let’s end this before it begins, ladies. The lander from the Residence will halt one kilometer outside of the town.
“Boabdil Upper--Edita Macquarrie. We’re going to need every atmospheric-capable hull you can scrape up for this operation. We don’t know how many we’re rescuing, but we can’t leave anyone behind. Report readiness as soon as possible.”
“Aye, Ma’am--Boabdil Upper. We have six landers and three shuttles available.”
“We have warships in-system; they all have shuttles. Contact them, tell them what’s going on, and take a shuttle from each cruiser. Muster them at Upper. If you have any problems, let me know.” She paused, thinking about what was going to happen. If anything, the gals in the fleet here might get too enthusiastic. Today, right now, that was a good problem to have. “If someone offers extra shuttles, take them. We’re going to need everything we’ve got.”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
Captain Macquarrie leaned back in her seat with a sigh. This was the time a commander felt the most helpless. The plans had been laid, the decisions had been made, and now it was up to the gals to execute. All she could do was monitor and try to coordinate any support the Marines needed. She wondered what was going through the mind of the local Clan Lord.
Clan Lord Damestor watched with stony eyes as the two star women were dragged across the plaza to the stakes. Though the crowd was festive, his mood was sour. This is what I get for letting star women in my household, he thought. At least the boy will recover. He’s young and he needs to learn. Better it was only a star woman. Better than if he’d tried it with some local gal and she’d gutted him. I’d have no end of trouble from their fathers if he’d decided to sport with a local gal and she was harmed. And how did these two star women kill two veteran warriors? How? Somebody had better explain that to me, or someone’s head is going up on a stake.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the Raid Lord sitting at the other end of the platform. It was the Raid Lord’s responsibility to train the warriors of the Clan. What kind of training were they getting if women could kill them? Admittedly, they were star women, but still, they were women. And they’d killed two veteran warriors with their bare hands. That shouldn’t have happened. Damestor made a mental note to have a long talk with the Raid Leader after this was over, a very long talk. He also made a note to talk to the Raid Lord’s subordinates. In case he had to remove the Raid Lord, he wanted to know who his replacement might be.
“The people seem happy.”
Damestor turned to look at Rusairo, his Chief Advisor. Rusairo had started drooling in his gray beard again. Little flecks of pastry spotted the front of his tunic, and from the smell, some of his morning wine had found its way there, too. He had been Damestor’s father’s advisor, and Damestor felt an obligation to keep him around. But the old man tried his patience, lord how he tried his patience. And today he seemed worse than ever. He was smiling, smiling! It was as if this abomination pleased him in some way.
“They should,” Damestor growled, turning back to view the plaza. The clouds were breaking. Maybe they’d have sunshine by mid-afternoon. To his right, in the distance, he could see the harbor and the ocean beyond. Mountains, purple in the distance, lined the western horizon. The gray-blue water was relatively calm today, and the whitecaps were few and far between. Winter winds could turn the entire strait white with blown spray. On those days, the ocean was nothing a sane man could risk. But today, with the sun out, the seas were calm.
“Maybe one of them will scream when the fire touches her,” Rusairo said happily. Damestor jerked his mind back to the present. His men were chaining the star women to the stakes. People across the plaza were pressing forward, watching closely. They were a riot of colors. This was as good as a Festival Day for them. No wonder they were happy.
“One of them screamed last year,” Rusairo added. “Remember last Spring, just before the Festival? Remember how the people cheered when she screamed?” He rubbed his hands together eagerly. “With two of them, we have a real chance of one of them screaming.”
“I remember,” Damestor said. He wished the old sot wouldn’t go on about that. If Damestor had his way about it, he would banish the whole idea of Burnings. But the men who gave him allegiance demanded it; they demanded the whole spectacle, the screams, the frantic motion as the woman being Burned tugged at her chains, the flame bright in the noon light, the oily smoke, the sick smell of burned meat, and, finally, the poor husk of what had been a vibrant woman only a short while before. If he’d had his preference, he would just have had the women killed quietly; a quick stab from a sword in the middle of the night would do the job just as well as this whole revolting display.
“They have to be shown their place.”
Damestor looked at Rusairo in surprise, realizing he must have said something.
“The star women must be shown their place,” Rusairo repeated. He leaned forward, his eyes alight. “This is important, Lord. These star women, they’re treacherous, they’re clannish. Have you ever noticed how they always stick together? We must break that up. We must show them who their masters are.” He looked across the plaza, his eyes glittering in the sudden patch of sunlight. “That is why we have a Burning. There are Rules, but the most important Rule is they are nothing, and we are their masters.”
“You’re saying I could order them all Burned,” Damestor said uneasily. He tried to picture that, and was appalled.
“If you wanted to, Lord,” Rusairo said. “It’s not like they have fathers to stand before you and demand blood and bride price. They are nothing, and the sooner you realize that, the stronger a Clan Lord you will be.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.