Lartara and I walked quietly through the hallways, but we rapidly left the administrative area on the facilities center and upper levels. What Nillara and Jaxar had said about Jinara's plans unnerved me a bit. I wanted to give the other prisoners the best chance to make their own choices, but outside of memories of how I had been treated as a prisoner, I had no real knowledge of the rules I'd have to follow now that I was one of the guards. From what Sartari had told me the night before, it did seem as though they didn't guards being brutal, which eased my human mind but also made my Warrior instincts to afraid of washing out. However, that still was balanced by what I remembered of Jinara's actions and what Lartara had said about what Lycothans would do to those that resisted them. That wouldn't happen to me, now, but that didn't mean that the others weren't at risk of Jinara trying force others into changing.
"We'll need to start protocol first," Lartara said with a sigh as we walked along, "If Alpha Jinara is wanting to use you as a means to secure a promotion, you'll need to be aware of the rules regarding how you are to conduct yourself around the prisoners."
"Couldn't you protest that I'm not trained yet?" I asked, nervous over what Nillara and Jaxar had warned us of.
"When Alpha Jinara gives the order... yes," Lartara answered, "otherwise, we'd reveal that we were warned about her plans, and she'd suspect that we're more loyal to Alphas subordinate to her and that they are plotting against her. I could then be shipped out into a combat unit while a different Captain takes over yours and Eira's training, and Jaxar and Nillara would face treason charges and execution."
"So they're looking to get her promoted...?" I began slowly.
"One one level, probably to secure their own promotion," Lartara answered, "they are still Alphas. They may remember who they are, but they are still Alphas and their own advancement is part of their motivation... regardless of what good they wish to do with it... The other part would be getting the ability to reform our protocol to assure that prisoners accept the gift and that they understand it as a gift..."
I was quiet for a moment as we continued walking.
"The other part is probably that they don't have any proof that Alpha Jinara has overstepped what she is allowed to do," Lartara then continued.
"But what about killing your family to be eaten? What about the threats you told me they'd carry out if I didn't accept being changed?" I asked quickly, "What about deciding to have Ca..." I paused catching myself as Lartara looked to me. The hallway we were in was presently empty, but in a busier part of the facility. Someone could walk in, and they would expect Warriors to abide by the rules as Lartara had told me. After a moment, I continued, "997295 raped? Wouldn't that violate protocol?"
"If a guard did that on her own... yes it would," Lartara answered, "but Alphas do have the freedom to make choices based on what they think will either encourage more to accept the gift and crush attempts at resistance. Alpha Jinara can, and probably has left records that her actions were accomplish those ends, which protocol does allow for Alphas in Jinara's position."
I gave a sigh, "and I won't have that defense... I don't want to make a mistake, Captain. I want to be able to learn to use the warhammer from Sartari."
By this point we arrived a lone gray painted door. Lartara stopped at it and looked at me.
"If you focus on your training, you won't fail," Lartara said firmly, "before I gave you the gift, you asked me to make sure you didn't become a bully. Protocol and the rules we as warriors follow would mean that bullying the prisoners would be something that could get us in trouble... So if you focus on your training, you'll have no trouble... and I will keep an eye on you to make sure that you do..."
"To keep your promise?" I asked.
"To be a good Captain," Lartara answered and then opened the door and ushered me in.
The room was small and seemed to be focused on a few long tables and benches. The room was probably intended as an activity room when humans controlled and ran it. Now it probably served the Lycothans as a study center. And seated there with what looked like an iPad was Eira. She was probably reading through the same procedures, or working to memorize prisoner numbers that all the prisoners were referred to by the Lycothans. Knowledge of the fact that I was a Lycothan now, combined with what Lartara had said, would mean that I'd need to refer to the numbers the others had. Eira did notice our arrival, and she looked up as we entered.
"They got you," Eira commented as she looked to me, likely referring to my crest.
"Yes," I answered and sat down across from her while Lartara walked on toward a series of cabinets along a far wall, "it is a good crest, isn't it?"
"I suppose," Eira commented with a shrug, "did you know that you're still listed in the records as prisoner. They haven't updated your profile from 992014 to Harkaal."
She held up the device fro me to see as small picture of what I had looked like as a human. My face soft and eyes a bright green with a short haircut, though not completely shaved. Next to it was the name Haley Johnson and under my human name was the identification: "Prisoner 992014." There was a spot on the far right side of the screen which included space for a new picture and the Lycothan name. In fact I did see that space for prisoners 992013 and 992015. Both of them were now Servant Lycothans.
"Harkaal was only just presented to the Alphas as a new Warrior," Lartara spoke as she approached the table Eira and I were seated at with another iPad like device, "It's unlikely that the servants have fully updated Harkaal's status."
Lartara then handed the device to me and instructed, "I have this set to all the rules Warriors are expected to follow. While I see how well Eira is coming along with what she has been studying."
"Yes, Captain," I answered and took the iPad like device. And while I could hear the quizzing that Lartara then put Eira through, I kept my focus on the rules presented.
The rules were lengthy and presented in a bullet arranged manner. As I read through them, I found many things that confirmed things I didn't like while I was a prisoner, but I also found plenty that actually seemed to indicate that the Lycothans didn't want their warriors abusing human prisoners at whim. They may be intended to force humans to accept the change, and if resistance was either so lengthy that it inspired resistance in others or violent that additional force could be ordered by an Alpha. In that sense, the rules seemed to want to keep Warriors from being bullies, even if they avoided close personal relations with human prisoners and engaged in actions intended make them decide to give up their humanity through force. In many ways, I was surprised by many of these rules, and on some levels I was even relieved by them.
Among many of the issues of protocol the most prominent that I read were: 1) Human prisoners are the losers of the war and have surrendered the right to the planet they call "Earth." While their names are to be taken for prisoner records, they are to be identified only by prisoner numbers at all times. 2) In expectation of their accepting the gift, all prisoners are to be fed as if they were Lycothans themselves. 3) To encourage Humans to accept the gift, they are to be kept in isolation and are to be shaved of their body hair as much as possible. Humans, like Lycothans, are social beings and in isolation they will eventually accept the gift just to get out that isolation. 4) Human prisoners are not to be harmed without sufficient reason. If they are not attacking a guard or another prisoner, physical force is to be kept to the bare minimum to move them from their cells to any area outside their cells. Any physical abuse of prisoners will give the Warrior in question one week solitary confinement and then transfer to a grunt unit where training will begin again from "day one." 5) Warriors may urge prisoners to accept the gift, but they cannot violate rules 1, 3, or 4 to do so. Conversation may be polite, but it must be remembered that Humans have surrendered the right to be anything but prisoners. 6) Guards are to protect Human prisoners from not only attempted rescue from any resistance, but also from any internal squabbles they may have among themselves or from any Warrior that has trouble with rule 4.
There were plenty of other protocols as well, which included how to address superiors, the size of food portions to be served to prisoners, the importance of maintaining the crest, when and where we could be nude. Some of the rules in that regard would seem to apply even if I wasn't in a facility where Lycothans were transforming their human prisoners. There were some regulations regarding social lives, and they limited male/female interaction and courtship among warriors to be saved for once the warrior is assigned to their more permanent unit. It was all, as Eira had described it it, a lot to remember.