The Varak Resistance, Ch.1

"Zav'ra?"

Imara could hardly believe her eyes. Yesterday, the last thing she had expected was anyone coming to help the Varak resistance, and there was absolutely no way she'd have expected her brother's wife to have been part of it.

Zav'ra certainly didn't expect to see Imara aiding resistance against her brother's empire, either. She'd always liked Imara, but never really gotten the chance to really know her; Ronax had always seemed to shield his sister from everything else. Imara had lived much of her life isolated and seemingly alone, and eventually, Zav'ra caught on. She noticed the sad, lonely look in her eyes, and felt awful for her. There had been many times where Zav'ra had offered to get to know Imara, to try and form a friendship with her, but Ronax had always put a stop to anything Zav'ra tried. It all made sense now to Zav'ra; Ronax had to have control. Over his Empire, over his family... it didn't matter. He felt he owned them. Then, one day, Imara disappeared. Ronax had a thorough search conducted to find her, but couldn't find anything; as much as he feigned worry for his sister, Zav'ra suspected all he really cared about was getting his "property" back. She'd also suspected that Zav'ra had fled the planet to escape her brother, rather than being taken by dissidents as Ronax had claimed. And now she knew for sure.

"Imara... it really is you!"

Imara hugged Zav'ra, grateful to see a friendly face amongst all the new ones. She had always gotten along with Zav'ra, and always felt she'd have had a deep friendship with her had Ronax not always put himself in the way.

"It's so good to see you, Zav'ra. It might sound crazy, but I've missed you."

"Not at all," Zav'ra smiled. "I've often worried about you since you disappeared. What happened?"

"Life on Maaradan was good. I never wanted for anything there, and I was well taken care of. But I was lonely... I wanted to be more involved. To help the people there. I would always bring it up to my brother, but he'd always refused my requests. One day, I got fed up with his refusals, and I snuck into his private office. And that's when I learned why he'd never let me get involved."

Zav'ra shared a look of sorrow with Imara. "You discovered who he truly was."

"That's right. I couldn't believe it. I looked up to Ronax. I wanted to be just like him... well, who I thought he was, anyway. But I couldn't stand by and let him keep hurting people. That night, I began planning my escape. Ronax had no idea, or I don't think he did, anyway. He could never remember that I'd trained with the Maradaanean elite for years..."

"That just goes to show how much he actually knows about his family," Zav'ra remarked.

Imara nodded in agreement. "Ronax was always good at pretending he cared. That's why I stayed there for so long, and I'm guessing why you did, too. But once I escaped, I made contact with Varak resistance forces. I gave them all the info I'd gathered when I fled. It took a while for me to gain their trust, but I did, and here I am now."

"I just can't believe you're here," Zav'ra said. "I guess we never really got the chance to get to know each other."

"Hopefully we can change that now," Imara answered. "And you have no idea how glad I am you came when you did -- we've been fighting for months and couldn't gain any ground. Since you and your friends came along, it's been nothing but good news."

"You can thank my captain for that," Zav'ra replied, pointing in the direction of Reina. "Her help has been invaluable to me."

"Reina Startooth, captain of the GCS Morrigan," Reina introduced herself. "This is my head communications officer, Rachel Rivers, and lieutenant Mia Cosmus, the toughest woman Galaxy Zeta-832 has ever seen."

Mia and Rachel introduced themselves, sharing a knowing look between one another regarding their attraction to the stunning Imara. At that same time, Imara's eyes widened in awe. "Y-you're from another Galaxy?!" she stuttered.

"We were sent on an intergalactic mission here, yes," Rachel answered. "We had no idea what to expect. We received a distress call from Zav'ra, and we knew we had to lend her a hand."

"We'll do whatever we can to to help," Mia added.

"Well, I can't tell you how grateful I am. I just wish I had more to offer," said Imara.

"Don't worry about it. We're here to help," Reina assured her new ally.

"Usually, my crew would charge, miss," Shalia interjected, "But you're really cute, so we'll give you a discount. Besides, I'm sure the Maradaaneans have plenty of great stuff to steal here."

"Oh, right!" Reina remembered. "This is captain Shalia Klav and her first mate Kitra of the Eclipse Queens. We couldn't have taken Varak space without them."

"The Eclipse Queens? I think I've heard of you... you're a pirate crew, if I'm not mistaken." Imara asked.

"Seems we've got some more work to do building our reputation in the underworld..." Shalia said back. "But yeah, pirates, mercenaries... we do all kinds of things like that."

"I see. Well I'm in your debt, too. And feel free to steal anything you want from my brother."

Shalia smirked. "Imara, I think you and I are going to get along just fine."