The war was the main topic of conversation wherever she went. After Ilk's latest report about the targeted planets, she heard Tallest Red and Purple had a debate with the generals and higher-ranking soldiers (which in their standards she imagined as a childish argument) about which planets were worth saving; Foodcourtia was a must, but they couldn't agree on the rest; Tallest Purple didn't talk much about the issue when he came home, but judging by the childish pout on his face, she could guess that he had lost the argument.
Weeks later, the Armada made a temporary stop on Devastis. The Control Brains required that the Tallest personally supervise the training of the newest soldiers, the development of the new weapons, and reinforce the orbital defenses. It makes sense; Devastis provides the Empire with all of its engineers, pilots, Elite soldiers, and Invaders. To lose it would mean a significant loss of troops and training facilities.
Tenn was dying to get off the Massive for a while, but to her utter disappointment, Tallest Purple forbid it. He didn't want her on the line of fire should the Sobrekt launch a surprise attack on the planet. She argued that there's no way to know if they'd attack that same day.
"Well, duh! Why do you think it's called a surprise attack, my dear?"
Tenn wanted to keep protesting, but she was wise enough to keep quiet about it. She wouldn't back down, but she wouldn't bring forth her husband's wrath either. Instead, Tenn waited until he went down to properly plan sneaking down to Devastis without anyone knowing. All she needed was a way to get rid of her escort; on Tallest Purple's orders, they couldn't leave her side and they were to inform him should something happen in his absence.
Her search took her to one of the smaller bars within the Massive. There are a few located in different spots inside the flagship, each meant for a particular height, a factor which additionally affected their design. The ones for smallers were dirty, overcrowded and with cheap sodas, while the bars built for tallers were spacious, comfortable and with a great variety of snacks and drinks.
Tenn found herself in one of the latter: the one closest to the bridge, frequented by the pilots, communications officers and the Tallest's bodyguards when not on duty. Even the Tallest themselves often came here to vent off, so this bar is kept fully stocked with all kinds of food, particularly their favorite ones. There's also lots of music and entertainment for its patrons. Tenn remembered one of her 'dates' with Tallest Purple; he invited her to have a drink and dance, and she met his more charismatic side that day.
The former Invader sighed. There's no point in thinking what could have been if she had seen his intentions. Instead, she looked for somewhere to sit, followed by her two female escorts. Tenn ended up sitting right at the bar, which was mostly empty, in part because her 'companions' drove all males away. The bartender swiftly gave her what she asked for and left her until she'd call for another drink, eyeing the Elites warily. Tenn couldn't help but wonder if she'd be able to talk with Tallest Purple about his obsessive jealousy.
Tenn took a sip from her not-so-potent drink. She took a look at the bottle: Krazy Kobra. She wondered how they got their hands on this one; only the Poisonous Cobra People manufactured it. Had Skoodge sent a whole stack of it as an offering? Or maybe they got it in the black market. The label said it didn't have much alcohol, but from the taste she could tell it had a generous amount of venom. It wasn't deadly, but it could leave you in a severe drunken state if abused.
Tenn looked down at her glass, then glanced at her escort. A plan started to form in her mind; Irken Elites rarely have a chance to have fun after graduating, since they spend most of the time on the battlefield. All they needed was a little push; if she could get them to drink a bit of this beverage, she'd be able to sneak away.
"You two."
One of the Irkenettes reacted first. "Need anything, ma'am?"
"I'm fine. I wanted to ask you if you'd like something to drink."
The Elite shifted uncomfortably. "We're not allowed to drink on duty, ma'am. The Tallest forbid it."
Tenn smirked, raising her glass. "Chill out. My husband doesn't have to find out about this. Consider it a reward for doing such a good job."
The other Irkenette spoke first ."Nam, don't you think we could...? Even if a tiny sip..."
"Are you nuts? If Tallest Purple finds out, we'll be lucky if he doesn't have us re-encoded as service drones or worse!" her companion, whose name was Nam, hissed in a low voice.
"Oh, come on, you're not telling me you don't miss the after-parties on the Academy?"
"This isn't the Academy, Jal! One mistake can cost us more than a few hours in detention!"
"How about this? Just one little shot." Tenn served the Krazy Kobra on two glass shots meant for whiskey. "It won't do you any bad. This drink doesn't have any alcohol, so nobody will notice that you took a tiny sip," she held out the two glasses, smirking. "What do you say?"
The Irken Elites exchanged looks.
**SoP**
I can't believe it worked!
She almost laughed as she snuck out her way out of the bar, down the corridors and into the Massive's teleporter, where she typed in the command to teleport herself to the planet's surface. True to her calculation, the Elites couldn't resist the temptation to take 'one more shot.' And they didn't know the ingredients to the Krazy Kobra, so they didn't suspect a thing. By the second shot, they were completely drunk.
Tenn stepped out of the teleporter triumphantly, looking around at her surroundings; she relished in the familiar cold green colors of Devastis, waves of memories of her younger days coming back to her. There's the bench where her younger self would take a nap after long hours of training, and the training course where she first met Dren; she even saw a newly-arrived group of smeets from Irk's main smeetery arriving in a ship. For a moment, she almost saw her younger self amongst those newly-arrived trainees.
Tenn left this part of Devastis and headed towards a small area located a few streets away. This street was known to have a few entertainment facilities, mostly bars, cafeterias, and music lounges. Tenn walked down the metallic path for a while until she came unto a familiar establishment named The Pinkorse. It still hadn't changed much after all these years; she had fond memories of coming here after a whole day of training to take a well-deserved break, sometimes meeting with her training companions or even Dren. Taking a deep breath, Tenn stepped into the building.
The Pinkorse was perhaps the most famous establishment in Devastis. It wasn't only a bar; it also had a small restaurant area and a dance floor, not to mention its delicious food. Unlike the rest of the buildings on the planet, the interior was decorated in the Irken Empire's warmer mauve, pink and purple palettes, giving it a more welcoming feeling. The food or drinks were delivered by service drones, though their tables were not as tight as those in the Massive or Foodcourtia restaurants, probably to help their backs get used to the position.
The place was filled to the brim with trainees who wished an escape from the hard, brutal training. To Tenn's luck, no one seemed to recognize her; she wasn't wearing her royal robes, after all, but an ordinary piece of clothing. Her height, however, demanded respect on itself, which made it easier for her to find an empty seat at the bar. Casually, one of her neighbors happened to be a communications officer from the Massive. He wasn't that hard to identify; his uniform was brilliant pink-red, and a high collar hid the lower half of his face.
"Lady Tenn?" she heard him ask, sounding surprised.
"Hey there," she said, not minding him as she grabbed a nearby bottle of ladriak whiskey and took a big gulp.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, what are you doing here? Tallest Purple ordered you to stay on the Massive."
Tenn sipped from her drink again. "Big deal, he's not my boss."
"Maybe not, but he is your husband. It might not look like it sometimes, but he does care about you in his particular way."
Tenn scoffed. "Right, so much that he ruined my life just because he couldn't swallow the fact that I DON'T love him! Not to mention that he wants to use me as a smeet factory!"
She briefly glanced at the officer. He was looking at her as if she had lost her mind.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I think you've drunk too much." Tenn frowned and pulled her drink away from his grasp.
"Who do you think you are, pal?"
"My name is Jack, ma'am."
"Well, Jack, this is the first time I've managed to come out of my gilded cage in a long time, so I'd thank you if you left me alone!" Tenn tried to get down, but her foot slipped underneath her, and she fell to the ground. "Ow! Who made this chair?"
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Tenn couldn't help but find his face funny.
"I'm fine, Jackie!" she said in-between giggling fits.
"Lady Tenn, I don't mean to offend you, but I must take you to see a doctor. It looks like you're heavily intoxicated."
"Noo, not the doctor!"
Her PAK-legs clumsily carried her towards the dance floor, ignoring Jack's cries. She burst through the crowd of dancing trainees, laughing wildly while taking more gulps from her whiskey.
"Weee! Catch me if you can, Jackie!"
She went straight towards the tables to hide under the nearest one, not realizing there were people seated in that one until she noticed a pair of black boots.
"Hey, get your feet out of my hiding spot, pal!"
"Tenn?! What are you doing here?!"
**SoP**
There are times when Purple hates the Control Brains. You could call this one of those times. Instead of snacking on the Massive's bridge where he could more easily get to his wife should something happen, they make him come down to Devastis to watch a bunch of newbies training and test the new weapons. Purple had to say, though, he had a good time watching the tests for Ilk's onion smoke bombs, mainly because the victims- err, volunteers were the trainees with the worst marks and he found it amusing. He was happy to say that he and Red had never been used as volunteers.
He had to admit, though, once they came down he felt a bit nostalgic. He hadn't been here ever since he and Red took the training to become Irken Elite soldiers. The time when they dropped off Ilk to do the very same training didn't really count, as they hadn't personally gone down to the surface.
After a short, quick inspection of Devastis's orbital defenses, fixing a few technical problems in the cannons and installing some new programs to identify the deep-space hybrids Ilk had talked about, he and Red decided to eat something before going back to the Massive. And what better place than the Pinkorse, their favorite place to hang out back in their Academy days?
"I wonder if it's still the same. I mean, it's been a long while since we last set foot here."
"I hope Kily is still there."
"You're married now, remember?"
"What? No, I mean that she knew how I liked my drinks!"
Purple chuckled. "Right. You were head over heels for her."
"I was not. Besides, Kily is homosexual." Red protested. "How are things with Tenn?"
"So-so... I mean, she seems to have physically healed, but she doesn't seem affected by the miscarriage emotionally-speaking. I'm not sure if she's trying to bottle it up so people won't think she's weak or..." he sighed. "I don't know what to do, Red. I'm trying to get close to her, but she's still as cold as ever."
"You have to give her some time, Purple. I mean, she just lost a smeet, and she probably doesn't know how she's supposed to feel. Don't forget we don't get the information regarding... well, that topic into our PAKs. It's the type of things one must learn by experience."
Soon they came upon the entertainment street; all trainees, soldiers, and Elites would salute and wiggle their lekku as they passed by. He nodded in approval. A service drone in-training made the stupid mistake of tripping right in front of them, to which he received a painful shock from their escorts' electric spears; the shortie disappeared through the crowd in a hurry afterward. Purple didn't find it in himself to laugh at the drone's misery, though. His heart was still aching from the loss of his smeet.
He couldn't help but wonder how things would have been if he had taken different decisions that day. What if he had allowed Tenn to come out of the room instead of locking her in? What if he had stayed with her instead of leaving her alone? Would she still have suffered the miscarriage or would he have been able to protect them both? It hurt to think he was this close to being a father.
Purple pushed the depressing thought away. They'd try again.
As Red had hoped, the Pinkorse was mostly unchanged when they walked in. The only difference was the workers, as the previous ones either got the transfer to Foodcourtia they wanted or were fired and sent somewhere else. True to its name, most of the décor was the usual mauve. Judging by how many people were in here, he guessed the Elite Test season was over and they were celebrating it. As soon as they walked in, the guy in charge of seating customers yelped in alarm.
"My Tallest, what a pleasant surprise!"
"Are you full?" Red asked bluntly.
"Err..." The irken swiftly ran off into the table area. Purple heard some yelling, complaints, and plates being hurriedly picked up; a few seconds later, he returned with some bruises all over. "It seems that one of the tables has been cleared, sirs!" It sounded more like the previous occupants were kicked out of the table, but frankly Purple didn't care. Life isn't fair to shorters, after all.
Coincidentally, they were seated in their old, usual table. Purple and Red got their favorite snacks; it tasted even better than in their Academy days; much like in Foodcourtia, their food was prepared at its best to get on their good graces. After all, if the Tallest like eating at a particular place, then the masses followed suit, which meant a bigger income for the establishment.
"I wonder if Ilk ever ate here." Purple wondered out loud.
"I guess she did. I mean, look at that," Red pointed at the nearby wall.
There were numerous holographic pictures of Pinkorse's Annual Eating Contest depicting the winners. He was pointing at a particular photo of Ilk; there was a big smirk on her face and she was surrounded by lots of empty plates; the electronic counter read 104 in bright pink numbers.
"No way!"
Red chuckled. "What? You're afraid someone can break your record?"
"Of course not, my record is safe!" Purple pointed at another picture, this one depicting him and a larger amount of plates, his counter reading 197. "Think Tenn would be impressed about it?"
Red shrugged. "I don't think so, Pur. Don't forget that she was an Invader and they rarely have time to snack around- What the?!"
Purple almost jumped off the table as someone slid right under it. Irritated, he tried kicking the intruder out. He was about to call their escorts and tell them to punish the infractor when he heard a soft yelp of pain.
"Hey, get your feet out of my hiding spot, pal!" That voice! It couldn't be! Alarmed, he looked under the table.
"Tenn?! What are you doing here?!"
"Wait, that's Tenn?" Red joined him.
"Oh, great!" Tenn spoke in-between hiccups. "The last person I want to see!"
"L-Lady Tenn!" Purple looked up at one of the communications officers approaching with a panicked expression. He saluted as soon as he noticed them. "My Tallest!"
"What is my wife doing here?"
"I don't know, sir! She just came in and started drinking!"
"So she's... err..." Red paused. "In a 'severe alcohol poisoning state' thing?"
"Drunk, sir."
"Yeah, so she's drunk?"
"Looks like it, sirs."
Of all the stupid things Tenn could do, she had to get drunk. Purple rubbed his temple. Okay, no one else seemed to have noticed, so he better take her out of here before she made a fool of herself, and by extension embarrass him.
"Okay, Tenn, I think you had enough whiskey for today-"
"Get your hands off me, you pervert!" Tenn snapped, bursting from under the table on her PAK legs and clumsily trying to make her way to the door. "You will never catch me alive!"
Purple groaned and went straight after her. He almost caught her a few times when she tripped or bumped into a wall, but he was out of shape and she slipped away.
"You! Catch her!" He yelled at their bodyguards as he darted out of the building, Red in hot pursuit.
Tenn was out of their sight within seconds, but finding her wasn't that hard; they just had to follow the yelling. He turned around the corner in time to see a spittle runner going straight towards him; with a frightened yelp, Purple jumped back, bumping into Red, and both rammed against their bodyguards, sending them all into the ground. Red yelled at him to get off while their escorts merely groaned in pain.
That woman is so going to get it!
"Don't you just stand there! Get her! I don't care if you have to bring that ship down, but retrieve my wife!"
"Pur, I don't think that will be necessary..." Red pointed behind him just in time to hear a crash. Alarmed, he turned around to see the spittle runner had rammed into one of the nearest buildings, releasing smoke from its engines and the cockpit.
"Red, if anyone asks, Bob did it."
"Okay."
**SoP**
Tenn woke up with a terrible headache. Stirring in bed, she tried to hide her head under the pillows. Wait a minute, in bed? How did she get here? She was down in Devastis having a drink and...
Her organic brain pulsated. Ow... Damn it; she must have had too many shots. As her ocular implants got used to the darkness, Tenn realized she was back in Tallest Purple's room on the Massive. Fuck. Had whoever brought her inform him that she had escaped, or he was the one who found her? Oh, great. He didn't seem to be around for now; must be on Tallest duty. This gave her a few more hours before... whatever he planned to do.
She felt very thirsty. After a few more minutes, she reluctantly made her way out of bed and covered herself in a nearby bathrobe; she poured herself some water from the snack bar's sink, but as time went on, her headache never diminished even with her PAK's painkillers; she took a warm gel bath to get rid of the sticky sweat all over her body, but the pain in her head was still the same. Not only that, but she felt as if something was missing. She didn't know what, only that it was gone. Was it an after-effect of the alcohol?
Her stomach growled soon after. Tenn put on her bathrobe again and made her way out of the room. The lounge was dark, something for which she was grateful. In her current state, the Invader wasn't sure if she could put up with bright lights. And she knew about bright lights; she dealt with them back on...Where has she dealt with it? She couldn't put her finger on it.
Tenn grabbed some cheese puffs from the fridge, which she found next to a gelatinous blue dish of some sort that almost seemed to glow. Once more, the shape looked familiar, but she couldn't remember.
"You're finally awake."
Tenn jumped. There he was, sitting on the couch, his violet eyes glowing in the darkness. He wasn't happy. The way Tallest Purple was looking at her reminded Tenn of the night he snuck into her apartment and blackmailed her into this marriage.
"Did you have fun?" Tenn tried to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat. "How are you feeling? You got quite a nasty bump on your head, so you experienced quite a few sequels for a while..." Oddly, despite his angry stance, his voice was calm.
He just mentioned a bump. Tenn touched the side of her head, wincing in mild pain as she pressed it. Must be a bruise. But how did she get it? Did it have to do with what happened last night?
"I asked you a question, Tenn." Tallest Purple hissed as he got to his feet and came closer to her. "Did you have fun humiliating me last night?" Tenn instinctively stepped back until he cornered her against the wall. "I'm waiting for an answer, Tenn."
Tenn finally gathered the courage to look up at him defiantly. "I needed fresh air, Purple. I was suffocating from being stuck in here for too long without ever getting out, and I was sick of being constantly monitored! I'm not your prisoner nor an object!"
"I am aware of that, my dear. But in case you forgot, the medics told you to rest."
"I swear if I hear about the miscarriage one more time-!" Tenn gagged as his hand closed around her throat.
"Don't you dare," Tallest Purple said darkly. "I've been very lenient with you, Tenn, but I will not allow you to disrespect the memory of our child." For a brief moment, she saw the hurt and sorrow in his eyes. "What you did last night was the last straw, woman. As my wife, you're supposed to put an example, not drag my name through the mud. I am very disappointed in you, Tenn. Just when I thought we were making progress."
"Progress?! Did you forget that the only reason I accepted your 'offer' was because you left me no choice?" Tenn hissed back. "But you know what? I'm starting to wish I had been turned over to the Control Brains for physical assault. At least working as a service drone would have been better than being your wife."
The grip on her throat tightened as the fire in his eyes burned her like a raging inferno. She thought he would kill her then and there; the deepest part of her hoped he did to be done with this. But he released her instead, looking at her coldly.
"You want it so badly? Then you'll have it. From this moment on, you are no longer the conqueror of Meekrob. Your status as an Invader will be revoked and you'll be re-encoded as a service drone. Additionally, all your previous honorifics will be removed."
Tenn's squeedly-spooch sank and her heart almost came to an abrupt halt. He can't be serious!
"Y-You can't do that!" She practically screeched.
"I am the Tallest, my dear, and I can do whatever I want." He sneered. "But don't worry, I'd never ask you to work as a service drone, my dear. You are still my wife, after all," he stroked her cheek. "I hope you enjoyed your little escapade last night because it will be the last in a very long time."