“Computer, initiate take off sequence.” I had watched Tor pilot earlier. I might not be a medic, but I knew my way around a ship. And I loved to fly.
Hooking my hands under his armpits, I used all my strength to move him toward the wall. The back of the ship was not large, but it had thick bands attached to the walls to strap down cargo. Using one such band meant for a container, I looped it around his upper arms and chest, careful to avoid the cut on his ribs. It wasn’t deep—the poison from it was the problem, not the cut itself—but it would have to be cleaned.Later.Another band around his thighs secured him in place. It wasn’t a harness in the pilot’s chair, but it would have to do.
With a last reluctant look at my alien warrior, I headed for the bridge. If I didn’t get this ship moving, whoever was outside banging on the hull might ensure we didn’t leave, if the Mangox didn’t find us first. I strapped into the pilot’s chair. My fingers flew over the console as I retrieved the coordinates for Sense VII. It occurred to me that we’d given the Mangox our real destination, and I feared we’d not seen the last of them. But the mission had to succeed. Whether the aliens followed us or not, we had to go to the planet and get the ergamite.
“Okay, launch sequence initiated.” I grabbed the yoke and readied for take-off. “Three…two…one.”
The ship shot through the energy dome above and cleared the outpost.
Through a series of trial and error where I almost blew the emergency hatch over my chair, I figured out how to employ stealth shielding. The commander had explained ships didn’t fly with it engaged all the time because it drained the power quicker and forced more re-charging on their battle cruisers. But with the possibility of enemies coming after us, I thought it prudent. The Mangox might know our destination, but they did not need to pick us off in space.
With everything in order, I headed back to Tor. He laid where I left him, still asleep but color his color was slowly returning, and his breathing evened. I sat beside him and drew his head gently into my lap. “What are you doing to me cocky commander?” I sighed, stroking his thick black hair interspersed with silver strands. I had started to like the arrogant alien more than I cared to admit. He was brave, and strong, and surprisingly caring. He was a protector of his people, like me. It hit me that part of the reason we had such friction between us might be that we were more alike than not.
“I can’t fall in love with you, Tor.” My lungs constricted. I had experienced enough loss in life—first my parents, making me an orphan until my mother adopted me, then my best friend to a freak accident as a teen. And the incident with Sage, although she survived, had rattled me more than I let on. It was easier to keep walls around my heart than to let someone else in—and watch them die. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
* * *
TOR
The currents of the seas lapped against the pink sand shores. A voice carried on the breeze, beckoning me home. “Torian,” my maether’s cry matched the melody of the winds. “Time to eat.”
I kicked the sand beneath my feet, racing across the beach to leap into her arms. She hugged me to her and spun in a circle. “My little adventurer.” Laughing, she set me down and ruffled my hair. “What have you learned today?”
Chattering happily, I told her of all my findings. She listened with such care, although I’m sure my childish fascinations were of little matter to one of her station. As the chief scientist for Rhonar intelligence, she had far more important discoveries to make. Yet, she never made me feel like my explorations were any less valid.
As we talked and ate, the suns grew lower in the sky, casting shadows on the floor. Heavy steps sounded on our porch, when the door slid into the wall, revealing my paether. A honed and battle-hardened warrior, he led our fighters as their head commander. His leathers across his chest and legs were well-worn and in need of replacement. His katra, the markings on his arms, flowed from his shoulders to his wrists and glistened in the waning light of day.
I hopped off my chair. “Paether!”
He extended his arms wide and hoisted me in the air. “Greetings, young warrior.” He smiled as he carried me back to my seat and set me in it. “Have you been good for your maether, today?”
“Of course, he has,” she said with affection. “Here, I saved your dinner. Eat and regain your strength.”
“Do you fear my strength ebbs, my Truxoria?” His gaze took in my maether, a deep love evident in his stormy gray eyes.
She bent beside him and whispered something in his ear that made him chuckle. Wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he kissed her for several beats, then pulling away he said, “I look forward to showing you.”
My child’s mind was mesmerized by the interaction. I soaked it up like a sea-sponge, absorbing the scene into my memory. Even then, I knew how special such times were. But as I was so young, long before the first biological stage consumed me with the hunger, my thoughts never stayed on one matter too long. “Paether, will you tell me about the war?”
I was driven by the news of the war with our most fearsome enemy. Not being hold enough for fighting, and barely allowed to train with more than wooden weapons, I yearned to learn more of battle. My maether wanted me to become a scientist like her, but the call of the warrior was too much to resist.
“For that, we must walk, Torian.” He rose from his chair and held out a hand to me. “Come.” His callused fingers wrapped around my smooth palm and tugged me to the door. “We will be back soon, my mate.”
“Be well, my loves.” She waved as we took the steps off the porch and onto the sands.
For several clicks, we simply walked. When we reached the edge of the seas where the cliff met the water, he turned to me and placed our hands together, palm to palm. “Do you see how my hand is larger than yours?”
“Yes, Paether.” I watched as he curled his fingers, encompassing mine completely in his.
“That is how the hunger works on us. It claims us in its hold.” He held tighter. The grip was not painful but uncomfortable. “Do you feel how you want to break free of it?”
I nodded. The sensation of needing to tear my hand away grew stronger with every beat.
He let go. “The void takes over next. A sensation of loss like none which I can describe to you. It is beyond words.” A faraway look grew in his eyes as if he recalled the time before he’d found my maether, his mate. “I pity such males lost in the emptiness.”
“I know about our biology. We learned in training.” I bounced on the balls of my feet, dismissing my paether’s solemn words. “What about the war?”
“It’s all a part of it, Torian.” He sighed and knelt to meet me at eye level. “The Versaken are not as different from us as we’d like to fool ourselves.” A tick formed in his jaw before he shook his head as if to banish the heavy thoughts. “But you, my child, are a warrior-born. One day you well may lead.” He placed a dagger in my hand, the first of many I’d gather in my life. “You must be prepared that for every victory, you will have an equal failure. You will lose people, even those you love.” He pushed my fingers to curl around the hilt. “But if you must never lose yourself.”
