Haral - Corsair of the Draconid Galaxy

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say,” Koale remarked as he sprawled across the chair in his maker’s ready room.

Haral watched the youngest member of his most recent lot of blood recruits over tented figures. “As Bampiroti, we are the only ones who could determine that for sure. Do you care to test the theory?”

Koale laughed nervously. Good. Maybe he would think twice about running his mouth amongst the crew members. Kolar was unruly and disrespectful. He had a swagger that belied his lack of experience in anything but being an idiot. Funny, considering just about everyone on the Corsair was a pirate, but Haral ran a tight ship. He demanded respect among his crew.

More than once, Haral regretted turning the boy. He should have marooned him like everyone else who chose not to become Bampiroti or a donor. Koale had only been fifteen and thought life as a space pirate would be a great adventure. Almost immediately after accepting the change, he began acting like he knew everything there was to know about being Bampiroti, even insinuating that he would be a better leader than Haral. He insisted he was ready to try real blood rather than the synth plasma most Bampiroti drank.

That was the last thing Haral was going to allow. It was time to put Koale in his place, even if he had to lock the boy in the brig. With his behavior, Haral couldn't cut him loose and let him roam the galaxy. Haral avoided violence, especially among his crew. They were like his children. But if need be, Koale’s head would be floating through space, detached from his body.

As he was about to tell the boy as much, Kasra stepped into Haral’s office. She was one of his most trusted crew members. “I'm sorry to interrupt, sir.” She flashed Koale an irritated look. “We’ve located the Talon and are on an intercept course.”

“Thank you, Kasra. I’ll join you when I’ve finished dealing with him.” Haral said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He was tired. He would say he was getting old, but he hadn't aged since he became Bampiroti centuries ago. Still, Haral had been the Captain of his growing fleet since his master had split his empire into three parts over two hundred years ago.

Kasra bowed and left. Haral leveled a glare at Koale. “So you think you would make a better Captain than me?”

“No, sir!” the boy spluttered.

“I hear you are unhappy with the way I run things.” he continued.

“Well, we are supposed to be the most fearsome spacefarers out there, and we haven't done anything but fly around the galaxy since you turned me. We should be out there attacking spaceships, turning the galaxy into Bampiroti, and tossing anyone who won't comply out the airlock.”

“We acquire ships and supplies as we need them. An influx of Bampiroti would cause a shortage of synth plasma, not to mention the extermination of a more organic food source.” Haral tapped the com to call for his security officer, who was waiting in the hall. When Zyre came in, he continued, “You will be spending the next two months in the brig contemplating your actions. If I ever hear of you trying to drum up activities which I have not sanctioned, you and I will be testing that theory of yours, and I can guarantee you, I will not be the one screaming.”

Koale gulped audibly. “Sir. Yes, sir.” He allowed Zyre to lead him to the brig without argument.

Haral rubbed his temples, a reflex from when he had been mortal. Koale was one thing - the Talon was another, although they weren't as different as they might be if Koale didn't straighten up. Haral had let his guard down once, and a few of his blood recruits had sampled pure sentient blood without his approval. It hadn't gone well.

Only a handful of Bampiroti were strong enough to handle drinking pure blood without falling victim to the blood lust. It would cause a thirst in them that was only satiated by draining their victims completely. The older the Bampiroti, the more likely they would be able to handle it, but there was still no guarantee.

To be safe, if they hired donors, they ran their blood through machines that purified it. Better yet, they used synth plasma which provided the nutrients needed without the side effects. Sylphites were the only donors whose blood was naturally pure enough that anyone could partake of it without repercussions. Their blood was also an aphrodisiac. They were exceptionally well paid and taken care of during their donor period.

A Viperan named Zand coaxed Aris and Tyze into sampling pure blood at the annual Bampiroti gathering. When the blood lust hit them, they had chosen to join Zand in wreaking havoc on the galaxy. Aris, a Parajolen, had always been a bit like Koale, so it wasn't surprising that he had disobeyed orders. But Tyze? The Luparis had been one of Haral’s favorite children. His disobedience and subsequent departure had felt like a stake to the heart for Haral.

He pushed the lock of dark out of his eyes before walking onto the bridge. It was forever falling in his face. Haral watched on the view screen as the Talon came into sight. Their crew put up surprisingly little fight when Haral demanded they give themselves up. He was concerned when he boarded their ship to find it in disarray. The Talon’s crew seemed lost and more than half wild. Zand was nowhere in sight. Neither were Tyze or Aris. While he had no respect for Zand, as Captain of the Talon, if he had abandoned his crew, it brought him to a new low in Haral’s mind.

A humanoid woman of indiscernible origin stepped forward. That wasn't unusual. Most of the humanoids descended from people who had found their way to the Draconid Galaxy from a distant world looking for a new home. Named for the Draconid Nebula, the galaxy resembled the fearsome mythical beast of the same name. The travelers bred quickly and often. Haral, himself, was descended from them, as were most Bampiroti. He was proud to have traced his ancestry back to a distant planet called Elaysia. The oldest forebears included a Linguist named Genesee Carver and an Anthropologist named Darshan Amir. The was a rumor that the Elaysians all had draconids as pets. Haral had always wanted one, although he couldn't imagine fitting something so large on the Corsair. What if it started eating his crew? Still, he thought he might like to take a trip to Elaysia to see for himself after they had taken care of this mess.

The woman bowed to him, more out of fear than respect. Haral stared down at her. “Where is your Captain? Where is Aris or Tyze? Are they cowering somewhere below deck? Have they sacrificed you to us in order to save themselves?”

“No, sir. Tyze, my maker, is gone. Aris and Zand, too. We thought we could survive without them, but it is difficult without their control.” she replied.

Haral’s heart fell again. Not Tyze. He had hoped to rehabilitate him. Haral turned to the officers he had brought onboard with him. “Take them to the brig on the Corsair. We will take them to Generand and have the medics attempt to remove the blood lust from them. I’ve heard they have medicines that can help. Leave her. I’d like to question her further.”

“Sir. Yes, sir,” they responded. Most of the crew of the Talon followed like sheep. A couple had to be subdued with taser sticks when they tried to make a run for it.

Haral surveyed the woman for a moment after they left. “What happened?”

“A few of us went down to Morra to feed about a year ago,” she began.

“You attacked a planet? That was outlawed centuries ago.” Haral exclaimed. “Long before my time.”

She shrugged. “It was all in good fun. It was just a train. It's not like we attacked an entire city.”

Haral wanted to remind her why the Bampiroti had decided against hunting sentients, but it wouldn't do any good. Tyze had obviously raised her to believe it was acceptable. “What happened to Tyze?” he bit out, fighting to control his grief and rage.

“I don't know exactly. Jaro and I were in a different part of the train. When the train stopped, we found two newly turned children, a Parashtee and a Sylphite. They were protecting a handful of kids who had been taken by slavers.” She replied. “I could sense the connection. Tyze was their maker. Anyway, the Sylphite claimed to have killed him.”

“Tyze turned a Sylphite? They are far too valuable for that.” Haral mused. “And the others?”

“We assume they didn't survive either. We can all feel the loss. It's disorienting.” She said.

“Where are the new blood recruits?” he asked.

“Still on Morra, I would guess. Without Tyze to command them, we couldn't exactly force them to come with us.” The woman replied.

Haral had to take a moment to calm himself again before responding. He wanted to rip her head off at the stupidity of it all. “You left two newly turned children to their own devices on an inhabited planet?! They could have devastated an entire city by now.”

She had the grace to look scared as he grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her back to the Corsair. Haral personally threw her into a cell in the brig.

Koale watched from his cell. “What’s wrong with them?”

“This is what happens when Bampiroti don't follow the laws,” Haral told him. “They suffer from the blood lust and weren't brought up well. They’ve lost their makers and don't know how to handle it.” He nodded curtly at the boy's pensive expression. Maybe a couple of months of watching them suffer would set him straight.

Haral returned to the bridge. “Set a course for Morra. We’ve got at least two untrained blood recruits without a maker down there - children at that.”

Kasra shook her head. “I hope we don't have to eliminate them. I hate having to kill the young ones, especially if they didn't choose to become Bampiroti.”

“I agree,” Haral said. “It would be a shame to eliminate them for something out of their control, but the consequences of their actions if they suffer from the blood lust could be devastating. Still, we will do whatever we can to subdue them and cure them first.”

Despite wanting to get to Morra as quickly as possible, they stopped on Generand to drop off the Talon’s crew as the space station was on the way. Two of them hadn't survived the stress of being locked up in the same space. There weren't enough cells in the brig to hold them all in isolation. He wasn't about to have any of them share with Koale. The woman, who Haral had later learned was called Lolea, had become more despondent as time went on. Whenever he had checked on them, she was either crying quietly or staring off into space. Haral sincerely hoped that she and the other survivors could be cured of the blood lust and eventually released.

Koale’s incarceration period was just about up by the time they reached Morra and located the Bampiroti Tyze had brought about. Haral was concerned to find them on the outskirts of Stargen City. He was hoping they would have stayed away from the general populace. He decided to bring Koale along with the rest of the party to test how well the boy had learned his lesson.

Haral was both relieved and confused when they approached what appeared to be an abandoned building and found several children playing outside. The fact that they were alive and were still mortal was reassuring. As soon as the kids saw the Bampiroti, they scurried inside. A beautiful Sylphite with red hair nearly reaching her feet came out in a flash. An adolescent Parashtee girl with shorter hair ranging from purple to blue and a young man of mixed Parashtee and likely Morrian heritage with spiky cornflower blue hair flanked her. All three were Bampiroti.

“These children are under our protection,” she said.

Haral bowed his head slightly. “We do not wish to harm the children.”

“Why are you here?” the Sylphite asked.

“I am Haral Amir, Captain of the Bampiroti ship, Corsair. It has come to our attention that one of my flock, as it were, one who I lost to the blood lust, had turned two children on Morra. With his death, your blood siblings left you to fend for yourselves.” Haral said. “I cared for Tyze and wished to be sure that not only you were safe, but the inhabitants of Morra did not fall victim to your lack of knowledge or control.”

The young man to her right leaned against the doorframe with a lopsided grin. “The only victims of our lack of knowledge or control are my former employer, who sold me to the slavers, and his best friend, who was an insufferable twat. Oh, and a few slavers here and there.” The Parashtee girl laughed. Even the Sylphite smiled slightly.

The three of them had a quick conference regarding the newcomers. Haral found it interesting that the young man deferred to the Sylphite. At first, he had thought Lolea was mistaken, and the offending Bampiroti turned three on the train. Now he realized that the Sylphite was his master. The Parashtee girl might be her Bampiroti sister, but it was evident she also let the older Sylphite give the orders. Not that she could be more than a couple of years older.

When they walked back over to Haral’s party, the Sylphite laid a hand respectively over her heart and bowed to him. “Thank you for your concern, master of my short-lived master. As you can see, it is unnecessary. I am Ishana. This is my sister in blood, Saara, and my friend, Zarek.”

“Are you not his master?” Haral asked.

“Yes, but Zarek was my friend first. He saved these children from the slavers and stopped the imminent train derailment after the Bampiroti killed the engineer. Zarek has spent most of his life alone, surviving everything thrown at him. I turned him to give him what he needed most - a family.” Ishana explained.

Haral watched her closely. “How is it you have such control? You’ve had no one to teach you what it means to be Bampiroti.” He glanced at Koale to find him listening intently. Then again, maybe he thought the girl was pretty.

Ishana smiled. “I learned the hard way why some rules are important. Zarek was an orphan sold out by his boss. I was the spoiled daughter of a wealthy former Sylphite donor who got herself captured because she wanted to go to a party. Luckily, my father raised me to respect the Bampiroti. He taught me about their way of life and their strict rules about respect and the preservation of the lives of those on the ships they take. He told me about the blood lust.”

“You haven't partaken of sentient blood?” he asked.

“Only the tiny taste when I turned Zarek. We haven't had much access to synth plasma or purified sentient blood, so we usually partake of the blood of animals,” she replied.

Kasra stepped forward. “This Zarek has admitted to killing several people. That's not exactly preserving life. You’re telling me you managed to murder these people without drinking their blood?”

Zarek must have felt Kasra was threatening Ishana. He put himself between the two women. “Those we have killed were scum. Jasbar was a Slothian who thought more about wealth and prestige in the crime world than anything or anyone except maybe his Goblarian buddy. I had a personal vendetta with them. But killing the slavers helps the Morrians. The people they sell the children to do horrible things to them. They deserved to die.”

“Zarek. It's alright. I don't think they mean us any harm.” Ishana said, putting a hand on his arm. “Bone still breaks, flesh still rips even if we aren't using our teeth. There are many ways to kill a person.”

“Of course,” Haral gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Ishana may have come from a passive species, but she had likely been the one to take out three strong Bampiroti as a newborn. Haral wasn't worried about himself. He was old and powerful. He was concerned for some of his blood recruits, Koale in particular. “We only wish to offer help. Bampiroti belong among the stars. You would be welcome to join my crew.”

“We appreciate your offer, but we will remain here. Morra is our home.” Ishana replied. “There are many more slavers here to cull, and we haven't even started in on the capital. Besides, my parents still live in Stargen City. I like to check on them. I will stay to watch over them until their time to join the stars above us comes.”

“Planets offer many more temptations which could lead to falling victim to the blood lust,” Haral said, looking behind them at the few children brave enough to give in to their curiosity.

Ishana followed his gaze. “These children are safe with us. What they choose to do once they are grown is up to them. We will not turn them or use them as donors before that time.”

Kazra caught his eye. “Sir, I believe we can spare a plasma cleaning device to purify the blood from their donors.”

Haral nodded. “Yes. Take Koale to assist you and bring it here. We will evaluate their abode and see if there is anything else they will need.” After she and Koale apparated, he turned back to Ishana. “With your permission, of course.”

Zarek looked apprehensive but stepped out of the way when Ishana invited them in. Haral noticed the girl kept Saara close, likely due to her age. She couldn't have been more than twelve when Tyze turned her. It would be very difficult for her to maintain control of herself.

Haral was impressed with their setup. The appearance of the building was only a facade to keep people away. Inside, they had obtained the basic comforts needed for them and their wards. There was a courtyard in the back with a fenced-off garden. Poulettes and a cockret ran about pecking at insects. They would provide eggs and meat for the children. A couple of capras tied to pegs munched on the grass. Their ropes were just short enough to keep them out of the garden. The female would give them milk.

By the time they left, Haral was satisfied that Ishana and her clan would manage themselves well. They had agreed to reach out to him if they found themselves in need of his help.

As they set off across the galaxy again, Haral looked at Koale. The boy had remained uncharacteristically quiet during the visit to Morra’s surface. “You’ve seen the results of the blood lust with the crew of the Talon. Now you've seen what control looks like in those who could have easily devastated Morra. Have you learned your lesson, or will we be taking a swim in space?”

Koale backed away slightly. “I now understand why the Bampiroti must maintain control of themselves. You will have no more trouble from me.”

“I know you expected more action when you volunteered. I’d like to keep you here under probation for a while. Once I am sure of your control, maybe we can speak with Ishana. You could help them hunt down those slavers.” Haral smiled as Koale’s eyes brightened at the thought.

“Sir. Yes, sir!” The boy said enthusiastically.

“Kasra, you will be responsible for training him to fight.” Haral held her with an amused gaze until she reluctantly agreed.

“Set a course for Sylpharan. It's been a while since we’ve hired any donors. Meeting Ishana has given me a taste for Sylphite blood.” Haral said as he sat back in his chair.