The rebellion

The mission was clear-cut. Subdue the enemy and clean up. Another group did the subduing, Lieutenant Barbis and his team was just there for the clean up and tying loose ends.

The enemy was a ragtag bunch of sentients. There was no greater overall organization, just a general resistance that at best constituted guerrilla warfare, but really was an annoyance to the empire. 

Barbis ran a critical eye over everyone. He marked out the primary interest of their captain - a young female human that led to the discovery of the outlaws, but was caught in the middle of the conflict. The first team had already separated her from the rest of the vagrants - a hardened group of outcast imps, fairies, and one lone elf.

The human was not, could not be, a threat and the supernatural were already in cast iron. Barbis pinpointed the leader as the lone elf whose head was still stubbornly high despite their despicable situation. 

The elf, birth name Magnus Willow, appeared and acted female which was the reason for his (her) expulsion from the Willow commune. She went by Mickey Sandson now, as the Willow name was forbidden to outsiders. Sandson did not flinch as Barbis approached her.

"What were you hoping to accomplish with your little rebellion?"

"Release us and you will find out."

Barbis almost snorted at the audacity of the elf. Elves were generally smarter than this. Granted, a smart elf would have never disobeyed or left the commune in the first place. "Look around you. You have no allies coming to rescue you and your compatriots. You're in chains. And soon you'll be heading to the cells to await your trials where when you're found guilty of treason and a whole litany of crime you will either be locked away in the Pit for life or sentenced to death. You can make it easier on everyone if you cooperate, so I'll ask again - what were you hoping to accomplish?"

Sandson scrutinized Barbis. Her gaze felt like a trailing spider leaving an itch that you cannot scratch and was never there in the first place. Instead of answering the question, she asked, "Why did you separate Ana from us?"

Ana, full name Ananta Mohana, the human did not factor into Barbis's interrogation here. "I believe I'm asking the question here."

"Well, I won't answer unless you either answer mine or bring Ana back."

Barbis decided to go in a different direction, "What is the girl's role in your rebellion?”

The corner of Sandson's lip twitched up but only for a millisecond. It was enough to raise Barbis's guard. Elves never smiled unless they were truly happy and unguarded. To see an elf's smile was to either be in their innermost circle or to see one's death before their victory.

"Just our computer geek. You found us because you tracked her here, didn't you?"

The elf’s voice was dry, cold. Barbis internally noted to tell his captain to put extra protection around the human. In addition to the captain’s interest, humans were a valuable, but vulnerable specie. ”Yes ..."

"She got sloppy."

Barbis could only agree. As valuable humans were, there was a reason their specie was declining. ”Generally, human are sloppy."

"Generally, imperial officers don't take notice of ordinary human. What caught your superior's attention about her?"

Truthfully, the human only caught the captain's attention because she was pretty and weak. Of course, Barbis was tactful enough not to mention that especially to the hostile elf in front of him.

Instead, Barbis asked, ”What does it mean to you? It's not like you can use this information to avoid a similar situation in the future. This is it for you."

"Just preparing a mild lecture for when we get out of here for her. Whatever she did, she should know better."

"It was opportunity. She didn't do anything.”

The elf snorted, "Yeah right. She didn't do anything my ass."

Barbis tilted his head, then shook himself out of it. "Nevermind that. What were your plans for this rebellion?"

"Oh nothing much. Just overthrow the man and restore balance to the universe. Stuff like that."

"And just how were you hoping to accomplish that?"

The elf smiled. Her lips stretched slowly, revealing gleaming teeth. "Be underestimated. Take everyone by surprise."

Barbis leaned back warily. Even the presence of iron cuffs did not diminish the sense of danger promised by that smile. "Well you've lost the element of surprise didn't you? I don't see you doing anything any time soon."

Sandson tilted her head, her teeth baring smile at its fullest. "Oh I'm not going to do anything. She is."

"Wha-?" Barbis never finished because he felt a prick in his neck. The paralysis set in too fast for him to do anything.

He collapsed in a heap, eyes wide opened and locked to the scene in front of him. He could see the feet of the elf and the next prisoner over. A foot in a drab sneaker step daintily over him, making way for the elf.

There was rattle of metal. The cuffs on the elf fell to the floor. The cuff of the next prisoner fell shortly after that. None of the prisoners were chained to any fixed location, so one by one they came over and the irons fell to the floor in front of Barbis.

Sandson spoke as the other prisoners came and went. ”They assumed I was the leader."

“Really, I would have pegged Alba here as the leader,” said Mohana, the human. “They have the ability to dastardly plot and succeed.” 

The fairy chittered, “O moi? I have no idea what you’re talking about. The tobasco-filling croissant was a complete accident!”

The human hummed skeptically. Barbis listened as he mentally struggled against the drug. There should have been no known drug to take him and his crew down, not by these vagrants, and especially not by humans.

The line of prisoners were finally free and moving somewhere out of Barbis sight, but the elf and the human’s feet remained.

“So,” asked Sandson, “how long do we have?” 

“Enough time to do what we need to do. Did you get any information from him?”

“He,” Sandson nudged Barbis's still conscious body with her foot, "said you were followed by opportunity."

“That’s … vague.” The human stepped behind Barbis. Moments later, two arms encircled Barbis and lifted him up to a chair with surprising ease. “What opportunity? Why did their captain single me out when I started working at the Capitol?”

Now Barbis could see more than feet. The elf had crossed her arm with a thoughtful look. Former prisoners were coming and going, carrying this and that, presumably readying to escape for good.

A gnome walked up and handed a gelatinous rope to the human behind Barbis. “Here you go, we already secured the other guards,” said the gnome in a crackly voice that sounded like marbles crashing and grinding together.

“Thanks.” Mohana walked around Barbis wrapping the rope. The rope tied Barbis’s chest and his arms to the back of the chair, and she used the little bit at the end to make sure Barbis’s could not move his legs either. “Does that look secure to you Mickey?”

This was all wrong, Barbis thought. The human was wrong. The other sentient rebels seemed to defer to the human, not the elf. Humans could not lead, especially not females. Not only that, Mohana was deaf! The other rebels had to step around front of her in order to speak! Deaf, female, disabled, she was — should have been —  the weakest human in the Capitol. She would not have survived a day in the Capitol if the Captain had not take her under his wing.

Sandson stepped up and tugged at the sticky rope. It stretched a half a meter, but did not break and snapped into place when Sandson released it. Barbis flinched, the first movement of his body.

The elf nodded and said, “Regardless of what their opportunity was, Ana, you know what it means that you got caught."

The human groaned, "Ugh, yes. No more undercover work for me. You were right, I was wrong. I just don't know how I got caught so quickly."

Barbis twitched a finger, revealing in the voluntary movement, but despairing of the situation. The human and the elf caught the movement and snapped their gazes to him. Then the human smile.

Maybe, Mohana was not human. Her smile was like an elf, beautiful, powerful, and promising terrible things for those who did not make her happy. Yet, she was not an elf, maybe an illegal human hybrid? She showed no characteristics of other sentient genomes besides human. Something else?

In any case, the time for wondering had pass. Barbis was not in power anymore. Maybe he never was.

Mohana pulled up another chair and sat in front of Barbis. The height equality did not make him feel better. “So, I hope you have some answers and are ready to talk … Mr. Alien.”

~ LL