A week went by on the capital ship with John having nothing much to do. He kept to himself in his room. His room mate would always look at him with a disgusted expression whenever he was there. Did humans really stink, John wondered. He took in a sniff but couldn’t find anything wrong. He wondered if the elves of the Swift Retribution were so much more accommodating towards him because they’d been lost in space for decades. Far from contact from any kind of civilization, their attitudes may have changed for the better. Then he remembered how ruthless they had been on Nem’s home world. Xenophobia may have been in their nature.

Then began a period of incessant drills. The arbiters were woken up at random times and had to rush to the Bay where they began a series of exercises. John imitated everyone else. Though he could phase only for a second, there were arbiters who were far worse than him, able to phase only for a flash. A flash was enough to spell the difference between life and death. The drills were physically exhausting, and John would often limp back to his room and sleep. He was too tired to pay any attention to the comments of disdain directed at him.

One day, he went to the Arbiters’ Bay out of habit. There hadn’t been a drill that day, which was strange. As soon as he entered, every eye was on him. John felt a shiver pass through his spine.

“Today’s exercise is,” one of the elves announced. So there was a drill today. “Catch the human.”

“Alutien, leave him alone,” another elf said. “He is a realm mistress’ apprentice. You will get into trouble.”

“The realm mistress isn’t here, but he is,” an elf laughed.

“Well,” Alutien clapped his hand, “let the exercise begin.” Sor Al’s protection was gone. What these elves could not see, they would not fear.

About a dozen elves phased beside John trying to catch him. John phase dodged. He slipped between them and headed towards the door. They were acting like this because the commander wasn’t there. They wouldn’t dare harm him if he made it out of the bay. He could take on three or four. The problem was there were too many of them. Why were they so riled up today?

Alutien phased behind John and held him up by the neck. There was a reverse aura flowing through his hands that prevented John from phasing. John had not learned how to counter this. Alutien carried John to one of the armor holders and hung John up on the topmost peg. John’s feet were dangling off the ground. He tried to jump off, but Alutien held him back.

“Let me go,” said John, “or you’ll regret it.” He was filled with rage. He was shaking with it. It would erupt at any moment.

Alutien punched John on his stomach. “Did I say you could speak, animal?” Animal? This was going too far. Alutien’s racism was on a far different level than the other elves.

John began weaving fire, prepared to kill. Just as he began to weave the finishing touches Alutien punched his head. The weaves collapsed.

“How can a lowly beast weave? It goes against the principles of nature,” Alutien’s statement made the other elves laugh. He was Sor Al’s apprentice. Sor Al, destroyer of stars. John had to win this fight and win her honor. He had to prove that she had not made the wrong choice when she took him in.

John tried weaving again, only to be hit harder and faster this time. Blood started dripping from his mouth.

“Humans always try to go against the natural order. It is why they are a disgusting race.”

John tried again, and met the same fate.

“They are persistent though,” one of the elves chortled. “Look at how hard he tries to escape.”

“Persistent? More like stubborn. Their feeble minds cannot comprehend when to advance and when to retreat.”

John, this time, retracted his aura shield until it was a thin film on his skin and weaved on its surface. He had never tried this before. An instant later he became a flaming man. The peg holding him melted, and John landed on the ground. This was his chance!

Alutien tried to punch him again, but John caught his fist. Alutien screamed as fire broke through his aura shield. Served him right! The other elves quickly attacked John. John couldn’t stand against their combined attack. If he had a little time and better positioning he could have wiped them all out, he thought with regret. He was also reluctant to kill them all. He would have a lot of explaining to do if this happened, and would very likely be executed for his crimes.

“What are you doing?” the commander walked into the Bay at that moment.

“Just some friendly sparring,” said Alutien.

“Don’t take it too far,” the commander said, leaving the Bay as though he had entered by mistake. The commander was complicit in this as well? John’s one hope left him.

The elves kicked him for a while, before growing bored when John did not respond. They left the Bay a few hours later leaving John all alone. He was too hurt to get up and didn’t want to hail the medical bay for help. He wondered if they’d even come. An elf walked into the Arbiters’ Bay while John was mulling plans in his head and crawling on the ground. It was his room mate. He used a spray on John’s wounds and then carried him back to his room.

“Tha...” John began to say.

“Say nothing,” the elf said, still hostile. “I only did what was right.” He left the room. It was good to know that there was one decent elf on board this ship. They may not have started on the best of terms but this elf wasn’t so bad.

John healed quickly and he was able to keep up with the drills two days later.

The ship, ‘Dawn’s Early Light,’ soon reached the fleet patrolling the Aroth system. Battles had broken out in various peripheral colonies of the Elven empire, but so far, the humans had stayed away from the Twelve Stars. The planet Adan, which had precipitated the entire conflict, had been taken over by the Empire of Atar, who blitzed their way through the entire planet in less than a day. The empire of Atar and the empire of Oor seemed to have come to an understanding beforehand, for Oor had abandoned the planet just two days before the offensive started. The majority of the elven fleet remained in the Aroth system, expecting an attack to come at any time. The drills grew more frequent and people stopped bothering about John. Perhaps they had finally grown used to him. John doubted that was the reason as soon as he thought of it. They just had bigger things to care about, now that battle was coming near.

The elven fleet traveled through the system, placing sensor buoys, deep space defense systems and massive shield generators at strategic places. The cost to do this must have been massive. The elves were lavish in their spending. They could afford it. Once they were done with their preparations the fleet flew into Aroth’s orbit. There were battleships and cruisers, frigates and destroyers, stealth infiltrators and corvettes, drone carriers and light bringers. John admired the neat formation they flew in as he watched through the holo display. The Swift Retribution was out there too...Somewhere.

News came that the human fleet was one jump away from them, but there was no movement after that. The elven fleet spent months orbiting Aroth. Then one day, they came. The lights turned red and John heard the familiar voice of the AI speak in his mind.