by Ella Young
"Is the food that bad today?" Toshi asked, sliding into the seat across from Knight. Knight grunted in response.
"Bad day?"
"You could say that," she muttered. "Have you seen Taz?"
"Xe's in the eastern hangar. One of the pilots was complaining about faulty thrusters. I had to check out the computer systems first. Xe said xe'd be late for lunch."
Great. Knight dropped her spoon in her stew and watched as the liquid rippled around it. It wasn't the worst news she could have gotten by any means, but on top of the day she was having it felt like it was. She wanted someone to vent to who wasn't endlessly optimistic like Toshi was.
"How's your day going?" Knight attempted conversation. Her tone still sounded angry. Toshi ignored this.
"Great! Admiral Ferrao says he wants to send my worm out again. Though I think he's still afraid it's too good to be true."
"You have to admit, it kind of is," Knight said. Toshi made a noncommittal sound.
"I'm just that good."
Knight grinned and finally took a bite of her stew. It had cooled considerably and she made a disgusted face. Toshi laughed.
"You need to learn to eat faster."
"Guess I do," Knight said, dropping her spoon back in the stew. More ripples, flowing outwards. Knight watched them, waiting for them to subside. But they didn't.
She frowned down at her stew. The ripples, instead of fading, were growing stronger, as if someone were pounding on the table. But Toshi wasn't, and neither was Knight. Slowly she became aware of the ground shaking, however lightly, beneath her feet. That was…odd.
"Hey Toshi, do you feel that?" Knight asked, looking up at her friend. The aquarin paused and tilted her head. Her parietal antennae twitched.
"That's weird," she said. So it wasn't just Knight. A quick glance around the room showed that no one else seemed to have noticed it. "What do you think it is?"
"A shuttle, maybe?" Toshi ventured. "A large one."
Yes, it had to be a ship. Probably one of the Remnant's bombers coming out of orbit. But a feeling of unease grew in Knight's stomach, a feeling that she couldn't place.
"I'm going to go find Taz," she said, and got to her feet.
“Okay—" Toshi said, but was cut off by the sound of screaming weapons fire ripping through the roof of the mess hall. Ceiling tiles and beams fell loudly to the floor, filling the air with a thick dust. Screams filled the air as Remnant personnel scrambled to their posts. There was no time to think. Knight instinctively flung herself over the tabletop, tackling Toshi to the ground and pulling her under the table as another round of weapons fire peppered the ground.
Through the new holes in the roof, Knight glimpsed black ships soaring overhead, turning back for another pass. The Hegemony.
"We have to get out of here," Knight said. Toshi, face ashen, only nodded. They raced from the mess hall on the heels of their fellow soldiers, narrowly escaping the searing heat of a third round of ship-mounted blaster bolts.
In the base corridors, sirens were ringing out in time with flashing red lights. The call to battle stations echoed on repeat. Knight was supposed to report to Ulahim, but based on how quickly the Hegemonist ships had decimated the mess hall, Knight wasn't sure just how secure the temple would be. Would it be safer than outside?
And then a horrifying thought occurred to her: Taz was outside, stationed in a hangar to the east. The fighters had come from the east. Was Taz even okay?
"Knight, we need to find cover!" Toshi shouted over the roaring sirens. Knight didn't want to do that. Knight wanted to charge to the eastern hangar and make certain Taz was okay. But Taz would hate that, wouldn't xe? Putting herself in harm's way when xe should be the one protecting her. Toshi was hanging on Knight's hand, pleading with her to leave, and Knight made her decision.
"The temple," Knight said at last. "We head there." The base shuddered around them as they ran, and dust from the ceiling rained down. Knight tried hard not to think about the beating the eastern hangar must be taking. Together they charged, hand in hand, down collapsing corridors until they reached the large double doors that led to the infirmary. They burst through them into chaos.
Priests and nurses ran every which way, shouting orders to each other over the din. Injured Remnant stood in hallways, sat on the floor, filled the waiting room, anywhere there was space. Blood dripped from head wounds, and many cradled broken limbs.
"Toshi, stay here," Knight ordered, and immediately jumped into healer mode. She didn't know how to set bones, but she knew how to heal the flesh. She healed wherever she saw blood, bouncing from patient to patient with her hands glowing blue. Ulahim found her after she'd healed her sixth head wound.
"Knight, we need you over here."
Knight looked at the room full of Remnant still waiting to be healed. Toshi stood among them, looking lost.
"Triage, Knight," Ulahim said urgently, and Knight knew he was right. She followed him to the back of the temple, where the operating suites were. Here there were more than surface wounds. Gaping wounds, full thickness burns, and compound fractures filled the suites. It was all so much. Knight swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Ulahim looked at her, concerned.
"Can you do this?"
Knight nodded mutely. She would have to.
The more extensive injuries were costly to heal. Knight felt herself growing faint, fast. But she didn't let that slow her down. At last, she was doing something. At last, she was useful. Slowly the temple emptied, as healed patients sprang back into action. The base shuddered around them and the lights flickered from time to time, but the blasts were coming less frequently. Knight could only assume fighters were in the air, drawing the fire away from the base. Keep going, Knight told herself. Just a little bit longer. But a little bit longer never came. No sooner had she finished her thought than a new call wailed throughout the base.
"All hands to evacuation shuttles. This is not a drill. All hands to evacuation shuttles."
They were evacuating? For the first time, Knight felt fear. True fear. What must the battle be like for them to give the evacuation order? Everyone looked to Ulahim for direction. There were still so many wounds to heal, too many Remnant in critical condition. Ulahim wasted no time shouting out orders.
"Everyone who can, get to a ship. Everyone who can help, grab a stretcher. We're headed for the main hangar bay."
"Toshi, you have working legs," Knight said, grabbing the edges of an anti grav mounted gurney that held an injured aquarin officer. "Help push." Toshi obediently fell into step beside Knight, assisting what little she could. Together with the rest of the temple staff and a handful of Remnant fighters, they made their way out. Thankfully, only five people had to be wheeled out on stretchers. The rest forged ahead, supporting one another and arming themselves with weapons from fallen comrades in the halls.
There was a medical shuttle, most often used for the transportation of starless sickness patients, in the main hangar bay. The blasts had stopped completely now, and the siren had died off. It was silent in the corridor save for the whine of the anti-grav generators on the stretchers. The alarm lights flashed ominously. It was unnerving, the silence, somehow worse than the wailing klaxons of before. One of Toshi's hands found its way into Knight's. Knight gave it a squeeze. They would make it through this.
There was a loud shout in front of them, and suddenly gunfire filled the corridor. Before them, Hegemonist soldiers squared off against the Remnant evacuation party. Toshi hit the floor. Thinking quickly, Knight kicked open the door nearest her and dragged the stretcher inside, away from the blasts. The Remnant soldier on it groaned.
"Were you hit?" Knight asked. The injured aquarin shook her head. One bit of good news. Outside the door, the gunfire continued. There was more shouting, and it sounded all too much like the cries of the dying. Knight realized then that Toshi wasn't with her. Her heart leapt to her throat. She was still out there.
"Hold on," Knight said to her charge. It was
mad to jump into the line of fire, but Knight wasn't going to lose her friend. She took a deep breath and cracked the door open, peering outside.
The scene was grisly. There were bodies everywhere—Hegemony and Remnant alike. The temple staff was nowhere in sight. Knight wondered if somehow they had gotten through. Smoke and dust brought visibility to almost zero, and the crackle of gunfire replaced the deafening silence of before. Soldiers on both sides hid in cubbies and behind pillars in the corridor, popping out only to exchange fire. And huddled across from Knight's door was Toshi, eyes wide with fear. Knight waved her over and the girl shook her head.
I won't make it, she mouthed.
And she was right. The shots were too erratic, too random. It was all too likely a stray bolt would hit Toshi if she ran. Knight wracked her brain and then quickly disappeared inside the room again. She needed something to throw, something small.
The room was filled with large hulking equipment, though what purpose it all once served Knight couldn't begin to guess at. Aside from the gurney there appeared to be nothing light enough for one person alone to move. Of all the rooms Knight could have ended up in—
No, wait. There, in the corner, was a toolbox that looked empty except for a single spanner and a handful of bolts. Knight raced to the box and dug out the spanner, then rushed back to the door. She ducked into the hallway and made eye contact with Toshi through the crossing gunfire.
Wait.
With a deep breath, Knight stepped out into the hall and threw the spanner in the direction of the gunfire. It clattered down the hall and a burst of gunfire concentrated on the spanner erupted.
Now, she mouthed in Toshi’s direction.
On cue, Toshi dove from the corridor through the door. Knight slammed the door shut, breathing hard.
"We have to get to the shuttles," she said. Toshi pressed her hands to her head.
"No, we can't. We're not getting out of this." She was panicking. Knight was mildly surprised she wasn't curled in a corner panicking as well. She gripped the aquarin's shoulder and put a hand under her chin, lifting her face.
"We will. We will get out of here. We just have to take it one step at a time."
"But we're trapped in here!" Toshi whispered hoarsely.
"No, we're not," a shaky voice rose from the gurney. Knight and Toshi turned to the injured aquarin. "These machines were put here after the base was built. There's a service door behind them, on the far wall." Her voice was thick with pain. "This would go a whole lot faster if you healed me." Knight knew this, but three of the aquarin's four legs were shattered, and Knight had never set a broken bone. She said as much.
"I'd rather have a permanent limp than die like this," the aquarin reasoned. "Heal me."
Knight stepped up to the gurney, hands glowing blue. She took a deep breath and rested them gently on the aquarin's snapped foreleg. "This might hurt," she warned. The aquarin gritted her teeth.
"Do it."
Gingerly, Knight shifted the bones back into place with both hands and let her Luminance sink deep into the aquarin's flesh. The jagged tissue where the bone had broken skin sealed, and Knight felt the fracture itself shrink and disappear. "How does that feel?"
The aquarin looked relieved. "Much better."
Knight healed the other two legs in the same fashion and then helped the aquarin off the gurney. The moment she placed weight on her previously injured legs she grunted. Knight winced. She knew she'd done it wrong. The aquarin noticed her face and tried to smile.
"It can be fixed later. Let's go."
Together, the three of them pushed the machine back along the far wall to uncover the exit, and escaped into the service corridor.
"This way," the aquarin said, and led Toshi and Knight to the right. They ran down the hall as silently as they could, passing grates as they went that revealed more of the carnage. More bodies scattered about. More Hegemony, marching with weapons drawn.
"Wait," the aquarin whispered, and held up her hand, signaling them to stop. Knight and Toshi ground to a halt, breathing hard. Outside the grates they heard voices. Knight was angry at first. They weren't here to eavesdrop. They weren't reconnaissance. Then Knight heard what they were saying.
“—caught them with their pants down. Too worried about losing Hlean to guard their own base," one was saying. "One battleship? This was almost too easy."
"Don't get cocky. If it wasn't for our source, we never would have gotten this far."
The first voice scoffed. "We don't need inside sources."
"We also wouldn't have found out about the worm," the second voice said. "And that would have been our downfall. Now come on, we haven't finished searching this sector."
The voices faded as they walked away. Knight was chilled to the bone. They knew. They'd mentioned the spy inside the Remnant. Her mind drifted to her conversation with Weinan about the worm, and the three-eyed levian who had been so interested in what she had to say. Knight had opted not to mention it, partly believing Weinan would alert the admiral, and partly afraid of what Ferrao would have said about her mentioning the worm outside of closed quarters. Now, she regretted not saying anything.
The aquarin officer looked equally alarmed. "Come on," she said quietly. "We have to get to the shuttles. Admiral Ferrao needs to know about this." The rest of the corridor was a straight shot that deposited them very near the main hangar. More gunfire could be heard outside.
"What I wouldn't give for a weapon," the aquarin muttered. "At least we'd stand a chance against that."
Knight gaped. Through the window in the door she could see an all-out battle unfolding. The first wave of Hegemonist fighter ships was now engaged by the Remnant's own, and a dog fight raged over their heads. Officers directed personnel into evacuation shuttles as best they could. Remnant soldiers, now armed, were exchanging fire with the Hegemonist troops, trying to protect those loading into the shuttles. It would take a lot more than a spanner to get past this fight.
"Here's how we're going to do this," the aquarin jumped into command mode. "We'll stick to the wall; all of the fire is out in the open. We run as fast as we can to the nearest shuttle. We don't look back. Understood?"
Toshi and Knight nodded mutely. It was their best chance.
"On my mark." The aquarin took a deep breath. "Go."
They pushed through the doors and hugged the wall, pelting for the nearest shuttle. Knight gripped Toshi's hand and held on tight. And at first, it seemed like they might make it. It seemed like they were home free. Then the Hegemony spotted them.
Suddenly they were under fire, shots searing above their heads and burying themselves deep into the permacrete walls. There was nothing they could do but keep running. Knight's heart pounded in her ears and her lungs cried for air, but she pushed herself faster still. The shuttle was so close, so tantalizingly close, to Toshi and Knight and the aquarin officer. But then Toshi tripped, and her hand jerked out of Knight's. Believing the girl to still be running along beside her, Knight didn't look back. The avian didn't notice Toshi wasn't with her until she was too far away. She glanced back, expecting the aquarin to be on her heels. Her heart sank when she saw her more than a few meters behind.
The Hegemony had broken the Remnant's line and were advancing, leaving a trail of Remnant bodies behind. In seconds, a couple of soldiers were on Toshi, forcing her to the ground.
"No!" Knight shouted, reaching for her friend. But Toshi was too far behind. She was down, kneeling on the tarmac, a gun to her head. Still Knight would try. It would be suicide, but Knight would try.
Just as she was about to run a hand grabbed her from behind. Knight tried to fight back but the hand was unyielding. It dragged her backwards, into the shuttle.
"Come on!" the avian officer who held her shouted. "We have to go."
Knight glanced back at Toshi. The Hegemony was advancing again, weapons aimed on the shuttle. If it didn't take off soon it would sustain serious damage from their guns.
"Get insid
e! That's an order," the officer barked.
With no other options, Knight complied.
No sooner had she stepped inside the shuttle then it took flight. The door hadn't even fully closed before the craft lifted off, streaking for the upper atmosphere. Knight was pressed against a window, and she turned to look out at the base. One by one, the other shuttles lifted off the tarmac, leaving behind the smoldering ruin that had once been the Remnant headquarters.
"Where are we going?" Knight asked out loud, hoping someone would know. No one seemed to have an answer. Knight wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold. Taz was gone, Toshi was gone, the base was gone. Who knew where Ulahim and Weinan were. For the first time in Knight's life she was completely, desperately, alone.
She wanted to cry, but tears wouldn't come. Knight felt empty. Thoughts of what now? ran through her mind, but she didn't allow herself to focus on them. One step at a time, she told herself. Just like she had told Toshi.
The shuttle had reached the upper atmosphere, and Knight could see gun fire lancing through space as the dog fight raged above them. Three large battleships, emblazoned with Lhiyrra's likeness, floated ominously in the distance. The Remnant fleet that Knight had seen upon her first arrival were nowhere to be found; instead, only the sparking, listless remains of a single battleship floated in orbit. The scaffoldings that had housed the battleships in construction were blown to bits. As Knight watched, the starlight stretched into thin white lines outside the window, and suddenly the shuttle was away.