Page 5

Nell

Nell jumped, raced to the wall, and pressed her body against it.

She heaved a sigh of relief as the cool tiles touched her back, helping to soothe her chest, grounding her focus.

Emergency lights flashed, and she clamped her eyes shut, covering her ears with her hands.

In doing so, her tablet clattered to the ground.

Nell’s heart pounded and she felt nauseous as bile rose in her throat.

“Nell!” Charlotte’s voice cut through the cacophony of the ward. “We need an extra pair of hands over here.”

Without opening her eyes, Nell shook her head.

Charlotte called out again. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

Nell’s eyes cracked open, searching for her friend and Maklr through the chaos.

Charlotte stood near the doors, holding them open for stretchers to pass through.

Maklr donned a lab style jacket and had gone into full triage mode.

His commanding voice directed medics where to place the incoming wounded.

Another Klagan Nell didn’t recognize hurried to Charlotte’s position, relieving her of that duty. Charlotte sprinted around the medical equipment to Nell. “Nell,” she whispered, her voice filled with urgency. “We need you. I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s bad.”

Nell’s eyes, wide as saucers, remained unblinking.

“Can you help?” Charlotte placed her hand on Nell’s shoulder. “Focus. Breathe.”

“I can’t.” Nell shook her head. “Can’t someone else do it?” she whispered.

“No. I need to call for more medics. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t ask you. Maklr and I can’t handle everyone on our own.”

“I can’t,” Nell protested.

“You can.”

“I…” Nell reached for her fallen tablet. “I’ll call for help.”

“Please.”

Her fingers trembled against the tablet’s screen. Three attempts later, Nell succeeded in dialing the code Charlotte provided. She sucked in a breath when Sovereign Giald himself answered the call.

“You’re not Charlotte,” he said, eyes narrowing. His regal features hardened. “This is my private communication code. How did you get it?”

“No.” Nell whispered, wrapping her free hand around her knees as she shrank into a ball on the floor.

“I cannot hear you,” he said. “Speak up.”

Nell brought the tablet closer to her mouth. “Wounded soldiers, Sir. Maklr and Charlotte need help.”

“How many?” The Sovereign’s brusque tone made Nell want to crawl into a deep hole and never come out.

She sucked in a deep breath and counted to three before she answered.

For a split second, she debated with herself over answering the Sovereign’s question, and hanging up.

A soldier cried in pain, and Nell knew she had to answer.

It was the least she could do for the citizens of the planet who readily accepted humans.

“Of the wounded?” Nell shook her head. “I don’t know.

” She flipped the tablet and panned it around the chaos unfurling in front of her.

“I’ll arrange for off-duty medics to report.” The Sovereign ended the call.

“Charlotte has a direct line to the Sovereign.” Nell’s fingers trembled. “Why?”

Nell’s gaze fixed on Maklr. She watched him move from patient to patient, his expression neutral as he silently assessed the individuals before barking orders to Charlotte. He glided between wounded soldiers, head nodding as he gestured to the handful of able-bodied warriors.

Charlotte moved with certain movements, displaying more empathy than Maklr, taking time to caress the injured and whisper words in their ears.

The scene unfolding before her tugged at Nell’s heartstrings.

She longed to get over her fear of the aliens.

No, not aliens. Not all aliens were evil.

She was the alien on this planet. These injured soldiers, Klagan warriors, were her people now.

Rescuing more humans or other aliens from the Elodians likely caused their injuries.

Guilt formed a ball in her stomach. “I didn’t do this to the soldiers. It’s not my fault.”

Nell twisted her head away from the wounded.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the tiles.

Although she was now clean, her dark brown hair hid part of her gaunt face from lack of a balanced diet.

Bruises left behind by the Elodians had long since healed in the time she’d lived on Klaga.

Her reflection showed a human woman, physically healed.

Her mental health was another story. Tears welled in her eyes as she glanced at the shell of her former self.

“I want to be whole again. I don’t know if I can. ”

“I can do this.” Nell gave herself a pep talk. “They’ve given you so much. You’d be dead without them.”

“Nell, come here,” Charlotte called. “I need you.”

“I can’t.” Nell forced herself to stand. She watched as Charlotte wiped the hair out of a warrior’s face.

Charlotte mouthed something, but Nell couldn’t tell what she attempted to communicate. Nell pointed at the tablet and raised her thumb up. Charlotte threw her hands in the air, gesturing to her wrist in a ‘what time’ motion. Nell shook her head.

A haunting scream, one Nell recognized from dozens of the women she’d been held with during her captivity, escaped the soldier next to Charlotte. She shuddered, trying to shake the memory.

“Maklr, do something to calm him!” Charlotte screamed over the blaring sirens. “Bedside manners.”

“I’ve got my hands full.” Maklr wrestled with a soldier fighting against a sedative.

“Nell! There’s no time. Maklr’s stretched thin enough. It’s up to us.”

Nell shuddered. “I can do this. I am strong enough. I am healed enough.”

The warrior’s back arched, and he screamed again. Nell’s heart broke for the Klagan in pain.

Without any further thought, Nell sprinted from the safety against the wall. She raced across the rapidly filling space with incoming wounded on stretchers and portable regen beds. Her dark hair, now shoulder length, fluttered with her movements.

Words she overheard her first night onboard the ship that rescued her from an Elodian auction block echoed in her mind. “Humans are resilient. They rise to any challenge. What they lack in physical strength they make up with steel spines and willpower.”

She made it to the screaming soldier. “I’m here,” she whispered.

She clasped the warrior’s hand with both of hers.

He instantly relaxed at her contact. Wrinkles at the corner of his eyes on his pinkish-purple face, contorted in pain.

His head tossed from side to side, and he mumbled something about the bag across his chest.

“We’ll worry about the bag later. Let me take it off you, and we’ll get you help,” Charlotte said.

“No.” The Klagan struggled to sit up despite his obvious pain. He pulled the canvas bag closer to his chest with his free hand. He brought Nell’s hand to the bag. “Gentle.”

Nell blinked in confusion.

“In…” the warrior’s eyes glazed over.

When Charlotte touched the bag, the soldier fought with his limited strength. “Don’t touch.” His voice was low, with a hint of a threat.

Nell placed one of her hands on Charlotte’s arm, pointing with her finger at the sedative she held in her hand.

Nell sat on the stretcher next to the warrior. “I’ll protect the bag. I promise.”

He allowed her to unclasp the hook and pull the bag onto her lap. Nell gasped when the bag began to make a soft noise and wiggled. “Oh!”

“What do you have in there?” Charlotte murmured to the warrior.

Nell flipped the canvas top up, exposing a human infant nestled inside, surrounded by the black fabric of what appeared to be a warrior’s tunic. “Baby.” She placed her hand on the baby’s chest and sighed as she felt the infant’s chest rise and fall with each breath. “Safe.”

In an effort not to startle the soldier, Nell gestured with her chin to Charlotte.

Charlotte peered into the bag. “A baby!”

“Mine.” The sedative took effect, and the Klagan struggled with words. “Human.”

“Is it your baby?” Charlotte asked.

“Mine… protect,” the warrior murmured before succumbing to sleep.

“All right,” Charlotte said. She pulled two identification bands from out of thin air. The band barely wrapped around the soldier’s wrist, while she had to wrap the second twice around the infant’s leg as it poked out from the bag. “Father and child,” she said. “We have to keep them together.”

“It’s human.”

Charlotte glanced at the wounded soldier. “It’s his baby. I won’t separate them.”

“What do I do?” Nell whispered.

“We’ll have to get the baby out of here while Maklr works on the wounded.”

“It’s father.” Nell sat on a narrow piece of the soldier’s stretcher.

“How long until help arrives?” Charlotte asked.

“What is that?” Maklr asked, pointing to the bag. “Protocol dictates that we strip the injured of all nonessentials until we accurately assess their injuries. Get rid of the bag.” He reached for the bag, but Nell cradled it to her chest.

The bag moved as the baby kicked and failed its arms.

“What?” Maklr ran a scanner over the soldier.

“His baby is in the bag,” Charlotte explained. “We’ll keep them together as long as possible.”

“Is the baby injured?” Maklr asked.

Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. Can you take the baby out?”

Nell nodded. Her gentle hands lifted the baby from the canvas bag. She cuddled the newborn to her chest. The baby’s blue eyes stared up at her; its tiny mouth formed a perfect O before letting out an ear-piercing howl.

“Quiet that child,” Maklr commanded. “Its cries will set off the more able-bodied warriors. I do not need dozens of soldiers with their protective instincts going haywire.”

“What do I do?” Nell whispered to Charlotte.

“Anything you can. We promised to keep the baby safe until the father can care for it.” Charlotte placed a cool cloth on the soldier’s forehead. “How long has it been since you called for extra help?”

Nell shrugged.

No sooner had Charlotte asked than the double doors slid open and half a dozen more Klagan medics and humans rushed into the room.

“The cavalry has arrived,” Charlotte said.

Maklr shook his head. “No steeds are allowed in the center.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh. Human slang. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand.” Maklr shook his head. “Why can’t you say what you mean?”

“Stop being so literal.” Charlotte checked the soldier’s vital signs again. “Maklr, he’s not doing well. He needs immediate help.”

As if understanding her words, the baby cradled in Nell’s arms let out a wail.

“Calm the child,” Maklr demanded, his attention fixed on the baby’s father.

Nell’s hand held the back of the baby’s head while she rocked back and forth, cooing.

“She’s trying.” Charlotte shot Nell a glance before turning her attention back to the injured Klagan.

“Try harder.”

Nell shivered and pressed the baby against her chest. She kissed its head. “Nothing will hurt you. You’re safe, baby.”

Yelling from the back of the room where the less seriously injured warriors caught her attention. Some struggled to stand up, while a few others limped toward Maklr, Charlotte, and Nell’s current position.

“Nell, their protective instincts are kicking in. None of us can afford an incident that will cause serious injuries. Calm the baby, please,” Maklr said.

Nell nodded, took a deep breath, and began to sing.