Page 15

Razili laughed with her friends until Rahel ran past the common room, followed by several other elders.

Something was wrong.

She followed them to the command center, where the elder chief was barking orders. Like a deadly ballet, warriors streamed in and out, carrying out those orders.

“Map the most efficient route to their location.”

“Done.”

“Upload it to the Nondia .” The elder turned. “Is she ready to fly?” He continued after a nod from his second. “I want a full complement of warriors. What team leaders do we have in residence?”

“Kiran, Eveth, and Nislu.”

“Good. I want them and any of their team members on board. Round out the numbers with anyone not nailed down or otherwise occupied.”

“They’re already aboard.”

Cora and Torvid slid to a stop next to Razili. “What’s going on?”

“I think…” Razili took a deep breath. “I think there’s been an attack on Calyx and his team.”

The chief spotted them in the corner and frowned. “Is there a med pod on the Nondia ?”

Razili gasped and covered her mouth with her hand as tears flooded her eyes.

“It might be just a precaution, Razili.”

Cora wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight. Then she looked down at her preuvret.

“Go with Kiran. There will be Scozid to eat. Keep him out of trouble.”

The big feline took off at a run, punching her claws into the floor to round the corner without losing speed. Cora winced.

Razili was barely aware of the activity. The rush of blood in her ears muffled everything after she heard ‘med pod,’ as if she were underwater. Calyx was hurt.

Rahel stepped in front of her, but addressed Cora. “You should take her back to the common room.”

Razili steeled her spine. “No.” She focused on the elder. “I assume information will be relayed here?”

Rahel nodded.

“Then I’m staying.”

He sighed. “I’ll get you a chair.”

Razili listened as they made the final preparations and the large fighter took off on its rescue mission. Calyx and his team had been successful testing the tuppu but were attacked just after delivery. Their ship crashed on a barren moon, and they were attacked again.

When she heard about a weapon using a green substance, she perked up.

She rushed to the elder chief and grabbed his arm to get his attention.

He frowned down at her, but she rushed ahead.

“The green grains… it destroys all organic life. We didn’t know they’d weaponized it, but if it’s the same substance Calyx and I encountered, they mustn’t touch it. ”

He nodded. “Is there a way to neutralize it?”

“The tuppu restores life where this substance has destroyed it, but I’m not sure it would render it inert.” She thought quickly through the samples she’d brought back from Dunia Prime. “I might have enough to test.”

The chief nodded. “Go. I will send a runner if there are updates of significance.”

She nodded and ran from the room.

An hour later, she paced the lab. She’d analyzed the green compound and synthesized more tuppu. Now she was waiting on test results from the experiment she’d conducted. A beep alerted her as the screen filled with a readout of the results.

Not only did it render the Scozid substance inert, it protected against any further contamination. As long as a layer of tuppu was present, the green substance had zero effect.

Her mind raced with the possibilities. If they could engineer a surface infused with tuppu to wrap their ships, and fashion armor for the warriors, they would be protected.

She grabbed a container and ran from the lab.

Calyx and Traik scoured every inch of the cell.

They had amassed a small pile of wire and a chunk of an EV suit no bigger than their palm.

Propped against the back wall, Renjik picked through what they had found with one hand.

Between his knowledge of wiring and Calyx’s engineering skills, they felt sure they could come up with… something.

Renjik’s hand dropped to the floor, and his head hit the wall behind him. “We need a power source.”

His voice was weak, his skin pale between his armored plates. Calyx kneeled in front of him. “I am a power source.”

Traik gave him a harsh look. “Don’t do something stupid, Trelxak.”

“Stupid is all we have at the moment.” Calyx looked back to Renjik. “What do I need to do?”

Renjik’s lips twitched. “Remember Demetera?”

Calyx scrubbed a hand down his face. “My nanites would have to be a hell of a lot more damaged to forget Demetera.”

Traik looked back and forth between them. “What happened on Demetera?”

Calyx waved at Renjik. “This idiot got between a Klaaxin and its mate.”

“Ouch.” Traik grimaced. “How’d you survive that?”

Calyx pointed to himself. “This idiot acted as a conduit and grounded the electricity before it fried his tiny brain.”

“Hey! My brain isn’t tiny.”

“It was that day.”

Renjik’s head fell back with a weak chuckle. “Okay, that’s fair.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Calyx looked at Renjik. “Fry some Scozid?”

Renjik nodded. “Fry some Scozid.”

Thirty minutes later, they had a working device that would convert whatever energy hit Calyx into a weapon of sorts. The aim would be shit, but hopefully he could take a few of them down while Traik cleaned up the rest—without completely frying his nanites.

Renjik was twisting the final two wires together when their guards appeared. Calyx scanned them quickly, relieved when he saw one of them carried a shock stick.

“Far left,” Calyx mumbled to the Azar.

“I see it,” Renjik replied.

They stood shoulder to shoulder to block Renjik from view. The three Scozid stopped in front of the cell, the clicks and clacks of their language grating on Calyx’s last nerve. Eventually, they turned to their prisoners.

“We will take the Azar.” The middle one announced in the common tongue.

Calyx stepped forward. “I don’t think so.”

It chuckled. “Do not worry, Trelxak, you will get a turn.” A tentacle waved in the air, flinging slime as it gestured. “Back up.”

Calyx and Traik took one step back. While Calyx relaxed his muscles, he could sense the Azar tensing next to him, ready to fight.

As soon as the cage door opened, they rushed it.

As hoped, the Scozid on the far left brandished his shock stick.

Calyx grabbed the end and saw the squid smile as it activated the button.

Energy hit him like an angry kilfot but the device Renjik rigged kicked in and the pain ebbed.

Calyx pressed his palm against the Scozid’s exposed body and watched the smile turn into a scream of horror just before it popped.

He turned to the next, grabbing its nearest tentacle. Electric burns raced up the appendage, turning it black. The Scozid struggled to get away but only grabbed more of Calyx and sped its demise.

His muscles heated to an impossible degree and Calyx felt like he was burning alive, but he steeled himself and turned for the last enemy. Traik was on the floor, bleeding from a fresh wound in his stomach. The Scozid turned his gun on Calyx.

He stored as much of the energy flowing through him as possible before he opened his fist. Arcs of blue streamed from his fingers and hit the walls, the floor, the ceiling.

The bars of the cage lit up red as they heated where they were struck.

Calyx concentrated. The Scozid had dropped its weapon, locked in a cage of electricity. If Calyx could just bring it closer…

His muscles locked in place, his teeth clenched and his eyes closed against the pain that screamed through every fiber of his being. With the last of his strength, he moved his arm and watched as a bolt struck the Scozid and it dissolved into a pool of blackened sludge.

One by one, Calyx peeled his fingers from the shock stick until it clattered to the floor.

He followed it down.

Razili sat in the chair Rahel brought for her, pressed against the back wall of the command center, and listened as the Nondia crew relayed what little information they had.

“Targets spotted. Beginning approach. It appears the Scozid ship has abandoned its shuttle.”

“Be advised, the green substance is extremely dangerous and should not be touched.”

“Copy that.”

Several minutes passed where the only sound was that of the thrusters as the ship landed on the surface of the moon. The ramp opened, boots pounded on metal, and again, silence reigned.

“Switching comms to mobile units.”

Sound flooded the room as each warrior’s comm system engaged. The sound leveled out after the warriors took up their positions, and only the team leaders’ voices remained audible. Razili recognized Kiran’s voice, but she didn’t know the other two.

“First sweeping left.

“Second right.”

Seconds stretched like hours. Razili’s leg bounced uncontrollably until Irul hopped from her shoulder to her knee.

She stroked her head and back, her eyes glued to the screens that showed the view outside the fighter.

Their landing was far enough away from Calyx’s ship to avoid the green substance, but she could see part of it off-screen to the right.

On the other side, also partially off screen, was a Scozid shuttle.

The warriors advanced, one team moving toward the Denchui ship, another toward the Scozid, and a third straight up the middle.

The right-hand team paused. “ Toven, this is Ka’atari captain Eveth. Respond if you are able.”

“Captain Eveth, stars, are we glad to hear you.”

A cheer went up in the command center before the chief snuffed it out.

“…engaged in a surface fight. There are no remaining EV suits.”

“Copy that. Do you have any tuppu left? It neutralizes the Scozid compound.”

“A small amount.”

“Apply it to the airlock seams. We’ll have you out of there in no time.”

Razili watched as the team got to work, then switched her focus to the other two. Kiran’s team was preparing to breech the Scozid ship, with Nislu’s team providing backup. A hiss signaled a door opening and all twelve team members raised their guns.

She watched in horror as they exchanged fire, unable to see the combatants due to the ship’s angle and the limited field of view of the camera. The fight didn’t last long. Kiran’s team moved, guns still up, before disappearing from view.

Irul chittered and nuzzled her cheek with hers. She wanted to look away, wanted to close her eyes, afraid of what they’d find. She knew better than to think Calyx was among the three left on board the Toven. He was the mission leader. He would not stay safe while others fought.

She couldn’t look away. Her heart pounded in her chest. If he had died… if she had lost him before she could tell him she loved him, she might never recover.

It seemed silly now that she’d ever doubted her feelings for him. Every interaction, from the first time he’d stepped into her lab wearing only pants and she’d drooled over his incredible body to the lingering kiss he gave her before he left, marked the path of her falling in love.

She’d thought it a crush, at first. Then on their way to Dunia Prime, she thought it was the effects of rhun . Now she knew. She’d loved him the entire time.

He’d promised to come back to her.

“I hope we packed extra med pods.”

“No! No, no, no.” Razili shook her head as tears streamed down her face.

“Get her out of here!” The chief yelled.

Two Ka’atari helped her stand and led her from the command center. She was numb. Her mind refused to believe that he was gone.

Cora stayed by her side as they led her into a quiet room nearby. “They said med pods. Even the finest med pod can’t help a dead person.” She grabbed Razili’s cheeks and forced her to look at her. “He’s not dead, Razili. Do you hear me? He’s alive.”

Razili nodded. There was still hope. And too many unknowns for her scientific brain to handle. “I need to go back. I need to hear what’s happening.”

Cora nodded and they resumed their places on the back wall of the command center. The chief gave them a stern look but didn’t kick them out.

She watched as they carried three warriors out of the Scozid ship, one by one.

They were each placed on a levi-cart with an atmospheric tent for the transfer, so she couldn’t tell which one was Calyx.

The process moved slowly, but by the time they extracted the third warrior from the Scozid ship, the Nondia crew had rigged a system to safely allow the remaining Toven crew to board.

“Base, Nondia is six heavy and headed home.”

The chief gave up trying to quiet the cheer that erupted.

It would take hours for the Nondia to make it back to Corix 23. That didn’t deter Razili from running to the hangar to wait for her arrival.