A Son's Devotion
by Charra Loon - genisis51@juno.com
Summary: Jothee looks upon his life and the decision he has made. Takes place after the Hunter Trilogy.
I looked upon my new home, the Leviathan, a living ship. It was never easy to give up the life I knew, but I did, and am glad of the choice. But the question is how do I live with it? The feelings that aroused me began to confuse me, and sometimes scare me.
I am Jothee, son of Ka D'Argo, a Luxan and Lo'ann Towl, a Sebacean. I am also the Hunter, general of the New Sebacean empire and ward of Kathra the Supreme. For the longest time, hatred ran my life, and I start to recall how it happened.
My mother was killed by a PeaceKeeper. Her own brother, my uncle, Macton Towl. He then pinned the blame on my father, who had taken me to the mountains that day, and arrested him. But not before my father managed to send me to another planet to protect me. I was only five cycles old. I learned quickly that the planet was a colony of the New Sebacean empire. That's where I met Kathra. She took me in and raised me as her own. She taught me that although PeaceKeepers were Sebaceans, they were very different. She always described them as barabians who don't accept what's different. They consider half-breeds like myself and my comrades--the other generals of the empire--evil and inter-species unions were forbidden. I began to my understand my mother's death and vowed revenge for my family.
Seven cycles later, I was given a small metal medallion made up of hundreds of billions of microscopic robots. If activated, the medallion could release the small machines and make up a full battle armor with enormus capabilities. Afterwards, I led a small army to a PeaceKeeper base, and saw the reality of their horrors. Everything that I was told about them were true. It wasn't enough just to kill the PeaceKeeper who murdered my mother. They all had to die. The moment I shed PeaceKeeper blood in anger, I knew that I would be changed. After we had taken over the base, I had hunted down PeaceKeepers for pure sport. I felt this would give them a taste of their own medicene. This habit earned me the name "Hunter". I thought things would never change for me, that I would always hunt and kill PeaceKeepers until either my death or their extinction.
I was wrong. Seven more cycles later, I had captured an entire fleet of PeaceKeepers. Nine Marauders and a Prowler. I found this strange that the Marauders would attack one of their own. I assumed the Prowler pilot was some kind of defector. I took her in to see Kathra. The PeaceKeeper, Aeryn Sun, had defected according to Kathra's infomation. She was in the Uncharted Territories with an escaped Leviathan transport, three fugitives, and a memeber of a species similar to Sebaceans, but were technically inferior. He was called a human. When Officer Sun refused to join the empire, Kathra ordered me to send her to the Labyrinth. I did so with little reluctance. The renagade PeaceKeeper somehow reminded me of my mother, but I knew better than to oppose Kathra. Besides, it was probably just a trick.
Then, the human, John Crichton, came to rescue her, with the rebel leader Elysia, Kathra's wayward daughter. Elysia help Aeryn escape while I battled the human. I won easily, although he put up a good fight. I found him strange that first confrontation. After being taken prisoner, he made an attempt to befriend me. Then one of the fugitives, a Luxan, came. We battled hard, hard until the small holopicture I carried with me fell from my armor. When I checked to make sure it wasn't damaged, the Luxan looked shocked. The picture had revealed itself. It was my family--me, my mother, and father--the only thing I had left of them. I charged them with my blade, only to have the Luxan call out my birth name. I was surprised at this. Only Kathra called me by my birth name.
It was then I learned the truth. The Luxan was my father, whom I had presumed dead, and had been looking for me six cycles, after he and the others had escaped. I was confused, my loyalties were to Kathra, who had been like a second mother to me. And yet, knowing that my father was alive brought me a feeling I haven't felt for fourteen cycles. Perhaps that was why I spared his life when the sleep mist knocked them unconscious.
After being taken to the breeder chambers, the human tried again to talk to me. I heard his words, but didn't dare listen until Kathra came to talk to him. She told me to leave, but I hid behind a curtain and overheard them. Kathra had taken some of the human's DNA and was performing a full universal scan. I knew she wanted to conquer his world.
I was torn. Kathra doesn't tolerate disloyalty. If I ever tried to help my father rescue the human, I could be killed. If I didn't, the gods know what could happen. I had managed to steal the disk containing information on the human's home world and destroy the scanner. The only thing I deleted was the location of the planet, in fear Kathra would find the disk and destroy it. I even damaged the force field for the rebels' raid.
I was uncertain of my loyalties at that moment, until Kathra ordered me to kill my own father. I was shocked. They hated the PeaceKeepers almost as she did, but I realized her ambitions were worse than those she hated. So, after she left, I slit my father's hand with my blade, making sure his blood was on it. I knew Kathra would believe I killed him. All I had to do was lie, and I was safe.
Kathra doesn't know I betrayed her, and it's probably best she doesn't find out. But Elysia and I decided to go with my father and his friends to liberate the rest of the empire. I wasn't sure if they would welcome me, but I was certain that I could atone.
I still wish to find Macton, and avenge my family properly. Until then, I stayed here, in this living ship, with new comrades. It wasn't so bad. They had picked up a Nebari on one of their missions, and the other fugitives consisted of a Delvian and a Hynerian. They only need to add a Vocarion and I'll feel right at home.
But now, all I want to do, is be with my father. We're all we have left in the universe, and if I to do this all over again, I probably wouldn't change a thing. I made new friends, especially with the human, whose culture I find rather interesting. The universe has unexpected fates. I vow to stay with my father, no matter what. And I intend to keep that promise, whatever it takes.