Eleven Unveiled (Imortum)

by Kord Stone

  While they were walking the little girl’s grip got tighter and she said, “My mommy died. The bad man killed her.”

  Justin felt a strong bond to the little girl, he could feel the pain emanating from her, and he hoped her mother was one of the lucky ones.

  Justin found Calia where he thought she would be, in the control room. “How’s it going?”

  Calia sighed, turned around and drew in a breath upon seeing him. “What happened to you? We need to get you in to medical.”

  Justin could feel her worry for him and said, “I’ll be fine for now. It is all superficial.”

  The little girl said, “He cut himself to make the bad man think he was hurt.”

  Justin chuckled and told the little girl, “She doesn’t need to hear that right now.” He placed his left hand over his wound and focused on healing himself. A moment later he withdrew his hand and said, “See? All better,” then he focused on healing his still bleeding hands. He looked down at the girl’s hand and saw it was covered in his blood, so he summoned a moist cloth, and after wiping her hand clean, he wiped his hands as he peered at Calia and asked in mind, Do we have any of her relatives onboard?

  The little girl let out a giggle and asked, “Is that what you did to heal me?”

  Justin smiled down at her and said, “Kind of. You were a little different though.”

  There was only one genetic match. I am sorry Justin, but her mother did not make it, Calia said sounding mournful.

  Justin’s heart ached at hearing that, and he was about to ask about the other survivors when a proximity alarm went off. He made it to his seat, and the little girl followed and watched him as he scanned the incoming vessels. “Calia, we have three more ships heading straight for us.” He opened the communications and transmitted, “Your consortium was warned to stay away from these ships. I will not allow you or any of your consortium to prey on stranded vessels any longer!”

  The three massive battleships halted their approach, and a couple of minutes later Justin heard, “I am High Commander Glasic Tor. I am the fleet commander for the newly formed Intergalactic Praestus. Your ship has been caught at the scene of an attack and is a known hostile vessel in the service of the consortium. It will be impounded and everyone aboard will be taken before the magistrate for crimes against the galaxies. Stand down and prepare to be boarded, or we will be forced to destroy your vessel!”

  The little girl was tugging on what was left of his suit, but he concentrated on what the man was saying.

  Justin wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all, and he transmitted back, “We responded to a distress call—”

  “We are well aware of your tactics. That ship you attacked was a refugee ship.”

  The little girl tugged hard on his arm this time and whispered, “That is my daddy.”

  Justin wanted to laugh at the chance of this, and whispered, “I am sorry sweetie. What is your name?”

  Her grin turned to a wide toothy smile as she said, “A’shari Tor.”

  Justin ran his thumb down the girl’s cheek and smiling he said, “Would you like to speak with your daddy?”

  She nodded energetically.

  With a smile Justin turned to the console and said, “Commander Tor, I have someone here who would like to speak with you.”

  Justin nodded to her and she began babbling and did not give her father a chance to speak for a good two minutes.

  Commander Tor finally got a word in edgewise and said, “Justin is it? Can we meet?”

  Justin was relieved to hear he was no longer hostile, and he said, “I would love to. I will transport you over here, and I will see you in thirty seconds.” Justin got a lock on the commander and transported him to decon. A second later he had to chuckle to himself. Her father was not completely trusting of the situation, if the armaments he was carrying were any indication, not that he could blame him. He targeted Commander Tor’s weapons and transported them back to his ship.

  Looking to A’shari he said, “Are you ready to see your father?” A massive grin spread across her face as she nodded. He took her hand and led her down the corridor.

  Justin stood back as the two were reunited. A’shari’s father was a formidable-looking individual. He stood well over six feet tall, closer to seven if Justin had to make a guess, with deep blue skin that was marred by several scars and what looked very much like horns protruding from his thick black hair. His eyes were more of a light blue whereas his daughter had the most vivid purple ones. After A’shari calmed down enough, Justin had Calia walk her around the ship so he and her father could talk.

  He explained how he had heard the distress call and confronted the attackers, then what had ensued to this point. Then he told Commander Tor that they too were aware of the other TDS ship being in league with the consortium. Justin then explained that he and his brothers are currently working on stopping TDS 5.

  “We were unable to interact with the consortium vessel when we arrived. We can see it’s there, but we are unable to target it. What did you do to it?” Commander Tor asked.

  “I froze it in time.” Justin could see Tor was about to ask how, and Justin said, “Better not to ask. I can transport all of the criminals aboard the consortium ship to your ships. There are ninety-three over there and three dead on the refugee ship. Once the consortium ship has been cleared, I’ll release my hold on it, and you can install someone to take it back to its rightful owners.”

  “A’shari’s mother?” the commander asked hesitantly.

  Justin frowned. “I’m sorry, there were fifteen we were unable to…”

  “Justin, can you hear me yet?”Jason’s voice sounded over his life monitor.

  “I’m sorry, I need to answer this. Yes, Jason, what happened? I couldn’t reach any of you.”

  Jason could be heard laughing nervously, then he said, “If I had to make a guess, I would say Inola. We have some survivors of your incident on my ship. We were in pretty much an observation mode, but we were able to clone some bodies and swap them in time to heal the more critical on our ship. We just got control of our ship again and saw you have some rather hostile-looking vessels surrounding you. Do you need any assistance?”

  Justin chuckled and replied, “No, I’m glad to hear they’re all right. How many did you save?”

  “Fourteen, the fifteenth is in medical stasis at the moment. Jerren thinks we need to perform a healing chain on her, whatever that is.”

  Justin replied, “That’s what we did to you to heal you when you almost died. Do not begin without me. We’ll be over as soon as we clear our ship of the survivors.” He looked to the commander and asked, “Do you have room for the survivors on your ships? I think the ship they were on will need a lot of repairs before it’s ready to travel again. And if you wish, you may come over when we attempt to heal the last survivor.”

  Commander Tor nodded. “We will need to make special arrangements. The survivors need to be isolated.”

  Tor looked him up and down.

  “Were you exposed to—”

  There was a brilliant flash, and Justin shook his head in confusion, then said, “Uh… what was I saying? Yes, that’s it. Do you have room for the survivors on your ships? I think the ship they were on will need a lot of repairs before it’s ready to travel again. And if you wish, you may come over when we heal the last survivor.”

  Tor looked confused as he said, “Yes, are you able to transport the wounded to my medical bay?”

  Justin nodded and Commander Tor seemed a bit dazed as he called over to his ships and told them to be ready to receive the survivors on his ship, and the prisoners on the other two vessels, then Justin told Jason where to send his survivors and asked Calia how many still needed healing.

  “There are three more needing minor medical repairs, and the four other children—”

  There was a brilliant flash, and shaking his head Justin asked, “What was I going to ask? Oh yes, how many still need to be healed?”

 
Calia paused a moment and said, “There are three more needing minor medical repairs. Did you not just ask me that?”

  “Wow déjà vu, I thought I did. You must just be reading my mind… Never mind, how much longer should it be?”

  “Another five minutes, and we will be able to transport the remaining survivors over.” Calia stated with a perplexed expression.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Justin and Calia had transferred the last of the survivors safely to the commander’s ship and the prisoners to the brigs of the other two ships, then they escorted Commander Tor and A’shari to Jason’s ship, where they were going to heal the one Jason had in stasis. Somehow when Jason said the one in stasis was a female, he just knew it would be A’shari’s mother, and he figured that if the medical unit was unable to heal her, it had to be pretty bad. Therefore, he had A’shari wait in the control room with Calia until he could see if it was appropriate for her to enter. A moment later, the woman was confirmed to be her mother when Commander Tor ran to her side and took her hand in his.

  He moaned, “A’mari,” then looking back to Justin he asked, “how are you able to heal this?”

  Justin was looking at her and silently had to wonder the same thing. Her throat had been cut to the bone, and not wanting to give him too much hope, Justin put his hand on the commander’s shoulder and said, “We might not be able to, but we’ll do our best. I would like to introduce you to everyone before we get started.” Then he pointed everyone out in turn, and they each shook his hand.

  Commander Tor nodded and said, “I want A’shari in here while you try to heal her mother.”

  Justin wasn’t sure this would be the best way for the child to remember her mother, but he was her father and nodding he told him to go collect her. When he left the room, Justin turned to the others. “Have any of you healed someone other than one of us?” They all shook their heads and Justin said, “It’s not the same. We pour energy into each other to heal, but I think it will kill her if we try it that way. I healed A’shari after the attack, and I think I know what needs to be done.”

  Jason asked, “What do you have in mind?”

  Justin quickly explained what he had done to A’shari on the other ship, and when Commander Tor and A’shari entered the room, he could see in her eyes that her father had told her what to expect. Calia came up beside him, took his hand in hers, and after looking doubtfully down at the woman, she squeezed his hand. Taking in a resigned breath, he figured it was time, and said to his family, “Let’s begin.”

  He bent over A’shari’s mother then Commander Tor spoke. “You shouldn’t—”

  There was a brilliant flash, and Justin shook his head in confusion then said, “Let’s begin.” He shook his head again and muttered, “Wow déjà vu,” and got to healing her..

  Justin had tried to heal her neck in the same manner as A’shari, but with her in stasis there were no pain receptors to sense, and he feared that if he removed her from stasis, she would die long before he could help her. Then he changed his approach and had Jason cradle her head and the back of her neck, Alise touch her feet, Jerren hold one of her hands and Calia hold her other one. “All right, I want you to push just the slightest amount of energy in to her body, and I will see what I can do,” he said. His hands were shaking nervously.

  They began pushing energy into her body and Justin had them increase it twice before he could feel the pain receptors, and he began his attempt to heal her. Justin’s eyes were closed and he was focusing as hard as he could. He was about to call an end to it, but then the memory of growing up without a mother popped into his head, his heart began to ache for A’shari and a moment later he felt the harmonic hum build within him as the tissues began to meld back together.

  Justin wasn’t sure how long it took, but he was exhausted when he felt the last of the tissues rejoin, then he opened his eyes and said, “That’s enough,” in a strange quavering voice. He wanted to say something else, but he was soon overcome by a strange sensation, and the next thing he knew he was a passenger in his own body, as he placed a hand on the woman’s stomach and said, “CLEAR!” in the same voice. The next moment a pulse of energy passed into her and her back arched before collapsing back to the bed. His arm swept across toward the medical controls, a second later the medical unit activated, and he could hear the heart monitor go active as he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

  Calia was the first to get to him, and once she came in contact with him, he felt much better. He was still exhausted, but at least now he felt as though he could walk and not have to be carried to bed. Within seconds it felt as if he were being choked, and he soon realized by the emotions directed his way, that it was A’shari giving him a hug.

  Chuckling, he pivoted and gave her a hug back before saying, “I think I need to rest.”

  Calia helped him to his feet, and turning to Jason, he asked, “Could you see them safely to their ship?”

  A’shari had a firm hold around his waist and said, “Please don’t leave.” Tears formed in her brilliant purple eyes.

  Justin smiled forlornly at her and said, “We have to go sweetie, but I want to thank you for being so brave and helping me. Without you I might not have been able to stop him.” He saw she was about to protest and he said, “I promise I will see you again,” and he bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

  “Promise?” she asked with a sniffle.

  Smiling Justin replied, “I promise, sweetie.” He placed his hand on Commander Tor’s shoulder and said, “Be well, and take care of her.” Then Calia led him back to their ship.

  Calia stripped Justin out of his damaged suit, got him to bed, and he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow. She was not in the least surprised that he was exhausted. He had spent almost sixteen hours healing A’shari’s mother. She was astounded at what she had seen: Justin had been crouched over the woman and after a few minutes in, he had started glowing and his entire body began humming as her wounds slowly mended.

  She looked down at Justin once more, and recalling how he had interacted with A’shari, she thought Justin would have made a great father, then she headed back to TDS 1 with a gift for the little girl.

  Calia approached Commander Tor, who had been by the medical unit holding A’shari’s mother’s hand, and she told him that Justin had a gift for A’shari. When he asked what it was, Calia told him that it was something that would ensure she would be safe.

  Her father nodded in agreement, and Calia called her over. A’shari approached and gave her a hug, and asked if Justin was coming back.

  Calia had sighed and said, “I am sorry; he was very tired. But he wanted you to have this before we left.” She flipped open the small box, and taking the item out she said, “Justin wants you to promise to never remove it, all right?”

  A’shari nodded, and Calia placed a sleek shimmering band on her wrist. A moment later Jason told them it was time to return them to their ship, and in a flash Commander Tor, A’shari and her mother were gone.

  Once they were alone, Jason asked, “Why did you give her a life monitor?”

  Calia sighed and said, “She is the first mortal Justin ever saved, and he will want to be sure she is safe. It was the same with Hyais and Atlas as well.”

  Alise came up behind them with a box and chuckled. “Looks like I am too late, and Calia is right. All of my prior commanders kept close track of their first rescues as well. Although none of them ever did it in the fashion Justin did.”

  Calia looked at her and was about to ask for details when Alise smiled and explained. “A’shari had a dagger stuck straight through her chest and when the attacker threw her aside, it flayed her open. Lucky for her, their race’s hearts are in their abdomen. Otherwise she would have been dead instantly, instead of almost bleeding to death. I would love to know why we couldn’t target her though. We had our probe in there following Justin’s movements and we could see her, but we couldn’t target any of them.

  Calia couldn’t
resist; she had to ask, “A’shari said Justin injured himself. What happened exactly? I was unable to launch a probe at all during the rescue.”

  Jason explained that their probe had entered the room as Justin was crouched behind a table. “The coward was shielding himself with children in the corner, and Justin picked up a dagger and sliced himself then feigned a serious injury to draw him out. He was going to attack Justin with the blade, but A’shari attacked him, and he used the dagger on her instead. When he threw her aside, he lost hold of the dagger, and must have decided to use his sidearm instead. Lucky for Justin, he did.”

  Calia felt a great affection for A’shari at hearing what she had done for Justin, and she thanked Jason for explaining what happened. She told them she would see them when they arrived at Anukan, then she went back to her ship.

  Calia made it back to their bedroom and stood there staring at Justin, trying to make sense of him and the events that were unfolding. Something was bothering her, and she was having difficulties isolating just what it was. Justin was lying in bed looking restful, and she decided to snuggle with him while she thought over her concerns. Disrobing, she climbed into bed, rolled onto her side and was looking at Justin. It struck her what was bothering her and she was about to go down to the control room, but the next moment there was a flash, and she was sleeping.

  Chapter Thirty

  Justin and Calia made it to Anukan a full day before TDS 5 was due to arrive. They sent out a probe and analyzed the solar system for any traps. To their relief, it was relatively safe aside from the EM radiation and gravitational bursts emanating from the pulsar. There was a constant steady low energy signal from the surface, but other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Justin asked, “Calia, why are we picking up signals from the planet? I thought there were no lifeforms on it.”

  She smiled at him and replied, “The Lantins used solar for their power sources. They appear to still be functional even after tens of thousands of years. The only way a lifeform could survive on the surface of Anukan for any amount of time is with a specialized environment suit. And even with a protective suit, and transporting on the dark side of the planet, I would not recommend being down there for long.”