Tara came to the front of the ship. “Are we sure this is the best possible way?”
“I need to find out what Axane knows and how she got this information,” Celeste insisted.
“But can we trust her?” Tara asked.
“That’s why I got Sephim in position,” Celeste replied.
Phog had initially wanted to do it, but Celeste needed him in the ship to keep watch over the sensors. The only certainty was that the Zandrax couldn’t be trusted. She didn’t want to be suddenly surrounded by their ships.
Celeste walked over to the ship’s door, opened it and stepped outside onto the planet’s surface. The air was dry. She glanced around at the nearest hill and then back at the Zandrax shuttle. It was still sitting there.
“Sensors indicate the Zandrax ship remains in orbit,” Phog announced through the comms link.
“What about the shuttle?” Celeste inquired.
“One person is standing outside,” Phog replied. “I cannot see who it is though.”
Celeste had her Grekk holoskin switched on. There was no need to reveal everything just yet. She took another deep breath and began walking towards the midpoint between the two ships. She strolled slowly, stopping every few steps and glancing around. There was little chance the Zandrax had sufficient time to be able to plan any trap for her on this uninhabited planet.
Her eyes caught sight of Axane for the first time. She had on a black uniform and was walking confidently towards her. Her stride exuded the arrogance of the Zandrax. Celeste began to quicken her pace and stopped once she reached closer to the midpoint. She wanted to keep some distance between her and Axane. Axane came closer and stopped. She looked the same as the first time Celeste had encountered her at the negotiating table on the Zandrax home planet.
“We meet again,” Axane snorted.
There was no semblance of warmth in her eyes. Celeste struggled to control her emotions. Her intense dislike for the Zandrax kept trying to take charge of her feelings. This monster was the reason that Wetiya was dead. She turned your close friend against you. It would be so easy to kill her right now. She tried her best to push away these thoughts.
“How did you get through the Grekk blockade?” Celeste asked.
“What blockade?” Axane smiled.
Celeste feared the worst for Commander Shail and his crew. It was apparent that Axane and her ship had discovered a way to evade the blockade surrounding their home world.
“Why did you want to meet?” Celeste asked curtly.
“Don’t you want to know how I know?” Axane smirked. “Why do you still insist on wearing that Grekk holoskin? You're not a Grekk. You never were one of them. You just pretended to be someone else.”
Celeste took a step back. “If you don’t want to tell me how you know, I think our conversation is over.”
“Wait!”
It was the first time that Celeste heard a sign of desperation in Axane’s voice. But why? There was no reason for her to be desperate.
Axane pulled out a device from her pocket and threw it at Celeste’s feet. “Why don’t you take a look at that?”
Celeste kneeled down carefully keeping her eyes on Axane and picked up the device. “What is this?”
“Take a look.”
She flipped the device open and was taken back by its contents. It was the same image that the Chief Medical Officer had shown them. It couldn’t be. How had Axane gotten hold of this image? Had the Zandrax overrun the Grekk fleet at the Zandrax home world? Was the Chief Medical Officer a prisoner or dead? Was this the reason Axane and her ship were flying around the galaxy?
“Isn’t that you when you were younger?” Axane asked.
The sarcasm in her voice made Celeste’s heart shudder. She tried her best to sound calm. “Where did you get this from?”
But Celeste knew the doubt in her voice had given her away.
Axane sniggered. “You should know. Isn’t that you in the image?”
Sephim’s voice crackled through the comms link. “I spotted a figure on the aft side of their ship. The figure isn’t moving, but observing the both of you.”
Another part of her plan had been to position Sephim on the hill nearest to where the Zandrax ship was supposed to land. It was a dangerous place to be in, but Celeste needed his eyes on the ship in case the Zandrax tried to stage any kind of attack while she was talking to Axane. Sephim had been more than willing to take on the challenge. Phog had given him the weapon and scope and told him how to use both. Celeste had been waiting for an opportunity to get Sephim involved, and this had presented itself at the right time.
“Didn’t my instructions say only you were supposed to leave your ship?” Celeste asked.
Axane waved her hands. “Do you see anyone next to me? I am alone.”
“Why don’t you tell your armed guard standing on the aft side of your ship to go back inside?”
Axane glared at her, sneered and then tapped her device.
“The figure is no longer there,” Sephim reported. “Must have returned into the ship.”
“You are impressive for a mere human,” Axane said. “My father was right about you.”
Celeste was bewildered. What was Axane talking about? What had her father told her? Was this another mind game to trick her? It was getting harder and harder to discern the truth from her.
“I think our meeting is over,” Celeste announced.
She didn’t have time to waste playing mind games with Axane. The image was sufficient to understand how she had come to know of her humanity. She didn’t care to know how Axane had acquired the image. Anything she said couldn’t be trusted at all. Axane and her father lived and breathed lies.
Axane didn’t move. “How much did your father tell you before he sent you out into the galaxy in that pod?”
This time, Celeste remained emotionless. It was obvious someone was feeding Axane all this information. Axane was too young to know of her travelling in a pod.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Celeste said with a stoic face.
An insidious smile crawled over Axane’s face. “Are you sure? Isn’t that your father in the image? He would be so sad to know his own daughter had failed to recognize him after all these years.”
Celeste’s heart was pounding. She tried her best to resist the anger rising in her. She was determined not to allow Axane to see it.
“I can recognize my own father.”
“You do recognize him then?”
Celeste remained silent. She refused to get drawn into whatever game Axane was playing.
“Since you don’t want to answer me, let me ask you another question. Did you know that my father, Commander Anetho, worked together with your father on Earth many years ago?”