by Elin Wyn
“Don’t worry,” I soothed a frantic elderly man. “Just let the doctors help you. Then we can figure out where your son is. He’s probably already being examined.”
The blaring tone of my comm startled everyone around me.
“Sorry,” I said to everyone as I clicked the comm to the right frequency. “Yes?”
“Vidia, where are you?” Evie sounded panicked.
“What’s wrong?” Every inch of me was immediately on edge.
“The Xathi ambushed the strike teams at the third camp,” she said breathlessly.
“What?” I looked toward the rift.
People were still streaming through. The strike teams must have handled the Xathi, or else they wouldn’t have asked Fen to open a rift.
So why the urgency in her voice?
“They defeated them,” Evie explained. “But some of the crew are missing.”
“Missing?” That could only be bad.
A Xathi ambush and now missing crew members.
“Is it Sakev?”
“No, Sakev is with me now,” Evie sounded relieved for a moment before her voice turned pinched and tight again.
“Vidia, Rouhr is missing.”
19
Rouhr
The third cure strike didn’t go according to plan.
The Xathi were clearly anticipating us.
Once the cure dropped, the Xathi didn’t chase after us through the mist.
They went after the humans, killing them even as the crystal shards fell to the ground.
The strike teams charged, ripping the Xathi Soldiers and Hunters away from their prey.
But in the chaos, they didn’t notice a large group of newly-cured humans climbing out of the pen and running into the forest.
I grabbed the two team members closest to me, both from the ground teams filling in for the strike team members who were serving their punishments.
I signaled to them to follow me, and we ran after the panicked humans.
A Xathi tried to stop us, sideswiping me hard enough to send me reeling. But it was no match for the three of us. In minutes we’d finished it, but the band of humans had disappeared into the forest.
We caught up to one fairly quickly, a young woman who’d badly twisted her ankle while running panicked.
One of the ground team members, Xad, picked her up and carried her as we searched for the others. We had to find them before the Xathi or any of the local wildlife did.
Neither would be forgiving, and in their weakened states, even if the humans were as experienced as Jeneva, they wouldn’t survive long.
After a few minutes of searching, I lifted my comm to check in with the rest of the team. We could use their assistance, once the majority of the survivors had been sent through the rift.
But only a piece came up in my hand.
“Skrell,” I muttered. The Xathi must’ve cracked it when it sideswiped me. “Either of you have your comm?”
Both of them shook their heads.
What the-
Right.
Although a comm was part of standard operating uniforms, we’d lost so much equipment during the evacuation of the Vengeance, they were limited now.
And apparently the replacement team members hadn’t been issued a set.
An oversight on my part.
I cursed myself. How many other things had I overlooked during my infatuation with Vidia?
Maybe it was for the best she’d pulled away from me.
And maybe the empty feeling in my gut would fade in time.
Sure it would.
“What should we do, General?” Xad asked.
“Let’s keep searching for the humans,” I ordered. “They can’t have gone far. Once we find as many as we can, we’ll take them to a safe space.”
“But how?” the other ground team member, Bane, asked. “We can’t comm for a rift.”
“Should we go back to the pen?” Xad asked. “The rest of the teams would look for us there, and we can regroup, search in larger numbers.”
“No,” I replied. “The humans can’t be left alone out here. I’ve known the Xathi to spread out from the main force, so there may be marauding Hunters.”
There was silence.
“We’ll figure it out,” I assured them. “First step, find the humans.”
Despite spending weeks, or even months, in a hybrid state, the newly-cured humans hadn’t lost their natural pack mentality. We found clusters of them huddled together within a few square miles of the hybrid camp.
Eventually, we herded them into one group. Any reserves of energy they’d had were expended escaping the attacking Xathi, and now they lay exhausted on the forest floor.
“They won’t get much farther without food and water,” I said to Xad and Bane.
Thanks to Jeneva’s field guide, I recognized a few of the fruit and flower-bearing plants. “You two concentrate on making the water drinkable. I’ll handle the food.”
Ironically, the only safe berry looked as if it was rotting from the inside out. The skin was a dull black color, and if the skin was punctured, it would ooze green mush. But she swore it tasted like honey, and contained a surprising amount of nutrients.
“They look disgusting, but they aren’t,” I assured the skeptical humans. To prove it, I popped one in my mouth and smiled. I waited until a few of them had tried it for themselves before going back into the forest to find more food. From the reports of the cured, hybrids weren’t allowed to sleep, so I doubted they were allowed to eat much, either. A handful of berries wasn’t going to be enough for them.
High up in the trees, I spied a variety of fruit. I couldn’t remember all the varieties off the top of my head, but I knew the oblong fruits with bright blue and pink stripes were safe to ingest. As part of my uniform, I kept a large knife as a weapon on my person whenever I was in the field. I also had a much smaller blade meant to be used as a tool in survival situations.
I buried the blade of the large knife deep into the wood of the tree and pulled myself up. There were many branches to grab on to when needed, as well as small knots in the bark that made decent footholds. I didn’t trust the smaller knife to bear my full weight, so I held it between my teeth until I needed it.
Up in the canopy, there were dozens of pink and blue fruits, each one half the length of my arm. I hoped they were ripe, but I didn’t think it would make a difference to the humans below. I took the small knife out of my mouth, and used it to cut the fruits free from their vines, letting them fall to the forest floor below. I sliced until there was no more of that fruit in my immediate area.
I climbed back down to begin gathering them. Most of them had survived the fall with little damage. A few were cracked open. The insides of the fruits were pure white. Curious, I picked up a broken piece and took a bite. It was bitter. It seemed these weren’t quite ripe yet.
I carried five at a time back to the camp, and placed them next to the nearly depleted berry piles. I used the large knife to cut them open so the humans could scoop out the soft insides. One of the humans eagerly reached for the new fruit, but his expression changed to one of disgust as soon as he tasted it. At first, I was worried they would refuse the food, but the human had an idea.
He picked up a few of the black berries and squished them in his hand to make a pulp. He then spread it across the white flesh of the fruit. When he took another bite, he smiled and gestured to the others.
“Good thinking,” I commended him. “Can you speak? Can anyone speak?”
“Hurts,” he croaked and rubbed his throat where I could still see the remnants of the crystalline prison.
“Of course,” I nodded. “Forgive me.” The man made a dismissive gesture, and kept eating. I found myself in awe of their resilience.
Xad and Bane returned to our makeshift campground carefully carrying what looked like stone bowls filled with water.
“You found those?” I asked.
“No,” Xad replied. “We made them.�
� I blinked in surprise. Upon closer inspection, the stone bowls had telltale carving marks.
“I’m impressed,” I said. The pair grinned.
“We made the stone thin enough so that it will boil quickly,” Bane explained. He collected a few sticks and some thin, sinewy vines, and used them to suspend the stone bowls half a foot off the ground. Xad collected dried leaves and dead twigs to place under the suspended stone bowls. He used a portable igniter to start a small fire. Bane brought over a few more empty stone bowls.
“Once it’s boiled, we’ll pour them in here so the water will cool faster,” he said. The ground teams went through more extensive survival training than the strike teams, no wonder this seemed like second nature to them. I couldn’t remember the last time I needed to rely on such skills. I realized how cushy my life as a general seemed next to these two.
The three of us took turns taking the bowls back to the nearby stream and refilling them. By the time we had enough water to go around, it was nearly nightfall. We would have to sleep here tonight and walk towards Glymna in the morning.
Surely my crew would be searching for us. The best thing we could do would be make it easy for them to find us.
I didn’t relish the idea of sleeping out in the open like this, but there was no choice. The humans needed rest before taking on such a walk. Luckily, the forest had been quiet. The presence of the Xathi in the area must have driven away the indigenous lifeforms.
Odd thing, to have something to be grateful to the bugs for.
I offered to take first watch. Now that the busy work of setting up camp had been completed, there was nothing to distract me from my thoughts of Vidia.
Every word she’d spoken was a blow. I should have said something to her, should have reassured her… but how?
We both had our duties.
But for the first time, I’d wanted to deny mine, to promise I could stay with her, here.
We could make a life together.
“General?”
Xad called softly. My watch was over, his had begun.
“My thanks, Xad.”
And with that one word, reality crashed back in.
My duty could never be forgotten. Not as long as the men who’d sworn to fight at my side drew breath.
As I lay, staring at the canopy of green above, I plotted and schemed as hard as I ever had against an opponent.
This time, my enemy was time.
Before I knew it, the sun had risen. I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep.
The humans, on the other hand, had slept deeply. They were in a much better state than they had been the night before. The forest floor was littered with bits of discarded crystal.
I retrieved a few more fruits and berries for breakfast before we started our trek. Some of the humans were talkative and excited to have their bodies back. They spoke of their families, their friends, and all the things they were going to do now that they were free of the Xathi queen.
Others were quiet, still in shock over everything they’d gone through. One human didn’t remember anything that had happened to her. The last thing she remembered was seeing her friend fall dead to the ground beside her. Perhaps it was a mercy she’d forgotten.
By mid-day, I was beginning to rethink my plan. We had to stop and rest often. Even the humans in the best condition tired quickly.
Then a sweet sound met our ears.
Bane looked to me for confirmation, and at my nod, ran off to a clearing through the trees, waving his arms like a madman.
Mad or not, it worked.
Within minutes, the shuttle had landed next to him, and my flock of humans had made it to the edge of the clearing, eyes wide. Tu’ver stepped out, swept the area, then came forward.
“We’re happy to see you, General,” he commented mildly.
“Not nearly as much as I am that you found us.” While my tone was light, relief ran through my words. The humans would have made the trek.
Eventually.
And while I’d paid attention to Vidia and the doctors, three soldiers were no replacement for a town full of doctors.
“I’m afraid we’re not going to all fit in there.” The small shuttle was ideal for setting down in the dense vegetation, but it would take several trips to ferry everyone to Glymna.
“Just a moment, please.” He stepped back inside, and when he reemerged, he was followed by Fen.
Who held the Gateway.
“Who authorized its removal from the Aurora?” I snapped.
Fen cocked her head, and touched her speech pad lightly. “I do not recall needing your authorization, General.”
Of course she didn’t. I scrubbed at my face. “My apologies. It has been a long night. If the Xathi--”
She made a fluid gesture towards Tu’ver. “I believe he’s well equipped to handle that contingency. And we do want to get the survivors to medical attention as soon as possible, do we not?”
“You’re right.” I stepped away as she started to open a rift to Glymna. “It was good thinking. Thank you.’
Her hands busy with the Gateway, Tu’ver answered for her. “It was actually Vidia’s plan. Smart lady.”
Her name struck at me, made me want to urge Fen to hurry with the rift. Never had it seemed to take so long to open one.
But shortly, the way was clear and the survivors walked through, led by Xad and Bane. Tu’ver returned to the shuttle, and Fen stepped through with me, closing the rift behind us.
An enthusiastic group of volunteers, doctors, and even a few members of my own crew waited for us in the square… but I didn’t see Vidia anywhere.
She still cared, she must, I reassured myself. But wouldn’t Tu’ver have sent a comm that they’d found us?
Uncertainty gnawed, but I forced myself to wait until the last of the humans had been placed in the care of the doctors.
Finally freed, I searched for a familiar face, eventually finding Hannah, the daughter of Vidia’s friend.
“Where’s Vidia?” I asked immediately.
“She’s on the Aurora.” She looked worried. “I haven’t seen her since you disappeared.”
“Thank you.”
I strode away, calling for Fen.
It was time to tell Vidia how I felt.
20
Vidia
Still, no word.
The strike teams hadn’t found Rouhr’s body when they searched the area, so he hadn’t been killed while fighting the Xathi.
Probably.
It was far too easy for my mind to play images of him, shot, wounded, torn apart by the Xathi, or dragged by the walking trees into a nest of giant spiders.
Clenching my fists until my nails cut half-moons into my palms, I tried to stop the barrage of images.
Rouhr was a fighter.
Vrexh and everyone else I’d met on the ship assured me he was a superb warrior.
He wouldn’t be killed.
But that wasn’t the only thing that could have happened, that could explain his absence.
My worst fear at that moment was that a Xathi had managed to grab him, knowing he was the one in charge, and dragged him away to the Xathi ship where the queen was waiting.
What would she do to him if she had him in her clutches? She wouldn’t kill him. Not right away, at least. She’d try to look into his mind.
She could wipe us out in a day if she had the knowledge he possessed. She would know every weakness to hit, every nerve to pinch, every pressure-point to exploit.
She could try to turn him into a hybrid. His mind was strong. He would put up a valiant battle before succumbing to her power.
I knew Evie fought off the Xathi queen before, but she hadn’t been on their ship. She’d been in a cabin under Sakev’s watchful eye.
Rouhr would be tortured until he broke.
I shut my eyes, as if that would shut off the stream of thought. I had to stop thinking like that. It would only make things worse.
Evie had forced me back into my cabin on t
he Aurora, teasing that I’d drive the crew mad with worry if I didn’t leave them alone for a bit.
It was probably teasing.
I might have been a little frantic, a little manic, coming up with ideas of places to search, ways to find him. She was right. The crew of the Vengeance were experienced, the Urai of the Aurora had unparalleled surveillance technology.
I should leave them to it.
But now that I was here, alone, with nothing to do but imagine every possible outcome, my body had locked, frozen, unable to keep up with the racing of my mind.
Until a battering at the door made me jolt.
“What?!” I shouted.
The knocking stopped abruptly.
Silence.
They’d found him.
They’d found his body.
And...
“Rouhr’s back!” Evie shouted through the door. “Fen and Tu’ver found him, he went to Glymna, now he’s back!”
I was out of bed in an instant. Spots swarmed my vision, and I had to steady myself against the wall.
“I’m coming!” My throat was sore, and I didn’t even pause to put on proper clothing. I ran out of my room, barefoot, in a black tank top and the tiny, loose shorts I slept in most nights.
I opened my door and ran right past Evie, nearly tripping over the untouched tray of food someone had left for me earlier that day. Evie yelled something after me that I didn’t hear. I couldn’t stop, I had to find Rouhr.
I tried to think of where he would go first after coming through the rift, but my brain couldn’t focus on forming a single complete thought.
“Where are you? Where are you?” I muttered under my breath as I rushed around the ship. Everyone I passed probably thought I’d finally lost my mind. At this point, I’d say it was a definite possibility.
Rouhr wasn’t in the main common area, the mess hall, or his office. Where the hell was he?
Had Evie been mistaken?
Oh, God, what if he was injured and bleeding to death in the med bay?
