by C. R Corbin
"How can we trust you?" asked the male and I frowned.
"Well that's the thing...you pick between me or your attackers back there. You help me with this gaping wound and I help you get away safely. That is if you can help me with this that is." I snarled.
"He's losing a lot of blood." my mate remarked.
"They attacked me, left me for dead when I told them not to attack. Look if you want to survive you won't let me die. If you fight them alone then you will almost assuredly lose. They are much stronger than you can imagine, I would know, I worked with them. They are veterans of years of battle, they will find you and they will slaughter you just to make sure there aren't any loose ends so if you want out of this then help me!" I managed to say before the pain grew too great and I fell onto my hands and knees. I then heard them speak once more.
"Amanda don't touch him!" shouted the blond woman.
"He needs our help and we're not in any position to turn anyone down at this point. We're on a planet where we barely know anyone with all of our equipment locked back at the base. We need to save him if we have any hope of making it out of this mess." said Amanda as she stepped up to me. Amanda, what a lovely name for my mate.
I gazed at her, that brilliant pair of yellow dwarf stars was clashing with her hair and she was panting, her brow laced with sweat. I could see her ample curves and her breasts pressed against the suit as she leaned in to hoist me up. Her arms wrapped around my left side and I find myself licking my lips as my eyes trailed every inch of her body. Those brilliant blue eyes shone against my own shade of blue although her's was a bit darker. She says some words but they all end up sinking under the weight of this unconsciousness that was threatening to consume me at this very moment. Before I fall completely I tensed my grip on her shoulder, pressing my fingers into that smooth flesh and smiling before I am dragged away.
"Don't think you're getting off the hook that easily buddy. We'll be watching you and you're not in any condition to stop us should we need to take you down so you better not be lying." she whispered into my ear and I nodded.
Seems like I was at their mercy.
CHAPTER TWO
Amanda
I could scarcely believe the events that had just transpired in the last hour.
First there was the whole assault which came out of the blue entirely. Then there was the fact that this...man had just approached us and offered his help. I could barely piece it all together as I dragged him up the hill before we spotted a cavern in the distance behind the hill and ran towards it. Luckily Josh was hauling most of the weight this time so I could take a break to get my bearings.
First things first. His wounds.
There was a small laceration on his left forearm and blood was pouring out of the hole in his armor. That wasn't entirely troubling but would possibly take stitches, maybe not, I would have to see it without the gauntlet on.. I was wearing my pack when we escaped, so with me I had some medgel and probably a small first aid kit but little else. After all this was supposed to be a mostly leisurely trip until..well until the attack happened. Perhaps the man had something on him in all those pockets that were dotting his armor.
Then there was the burn and stomach wounds...those would require a bit more attention.
There was this gaping wound in his stomach that was gushing out blood at this point. The color of it was purple so it was hard to notice at first since I have never seen a Jorathian bleed up to that point but once I did the gravity of the wound finally hit me. I would need to use the entire tube of med gel to stop the bleeding and mend some of it but a great deal of the wound would have to heal by itself and god knows how long that would take. There was also the burn on his arm, I didn't know the extent of the nerve damage but from how he slung his right arm the pain and damage was probably immense.
Okay...so that was on my plate.
As soon as we got closer to the cave I began to notice the trail of blood being left behind and called Josh over. He sets the Jorathian down beside me and I stumble over my steps as I walked over to him. I was flushed in the face, not only from the shock of actually being attacked in this manner, but also by the fact that this Jorathian was...he was handsome.
I find myself getting distracted by his features as I knelt down beside him and told Josh to hand me the little laser mender pen that he had with him. I looked down at the body and frowned as I tense my hands around the tool and press the trigger, striking the stomach wound and cauterizing it to prevent further bleeding. Luckily the man didn't scream and only shivered a bit while clenching his teeth. Those brilliant blue eyes, that gold skin that reminded me of the color of autumn leaves. That 7 ft tall physique...my thoughts quickly trailed to what he was hiding under that armor... the fact that these thoughts were racing through my mind were embarrassing.
We manage to drag him into the cave with most of the blood trails now gone so we couldn't be tracked and hide him in the back of the cavern. The cave didn't run that deep, so we simply laid him down behind some boulders and immediately I stripped off his armor to get a better view of things. His bare chest and abdomen revealed themselves to me and I stared at his incredible muscles, that rippling texture gazed back at me as he tensed up. I stared at his pecs, his bare arms that were immensely large and powerful. His back was wide and as hard as a metal shield, all of that rippling muscle that Jorathians were famed for, muscle that they had to have in order to scale the mountain high trees that they had back on their home planet. I shake my head and try to drive those thoughts away.
For god's sake he could be the enemy! Why are you dreaming about how he looks woman?
I shake my head and clear my consciousness of all of that before refocusing on him. I take out the medgel and the small aid kit and dump some alcohol onto his wounds before slathering the medgel all over the large opening on his abdomen. The crook of the blade had entered directly in the center of his abdomen, from the looks of it the tool was twisted while inside of him.
I then begin to search his armor, desperately clawing at it before I saw a small tube of medgel that I then slathered onto his abdomen once more. I can see a good amount of the gash closing up before I take out the nanite spray and launched it at his burn wounds and the gash on his arm. For the burn wound I also had to apply a decent amount of medgel. The wounds were quickly reforming, the skin binding together thanks to the nanites that were bringing those sheets of torn tissue back together. I find a small needle and thread in one of his other pockets and nestle it near his stomach wound, binding his gash together with the threats and sewing him shut to let the gel and the nanites do their work. For as much tech we had developed there was no substitute for a simple needle and thread. For the most threatening injuries they would still be necessary.
"KOL!" he shouted out and I stumble back. He was having hallucinations. I take out the temperature reader and slide it into his mouth to get an idea of any potential symptoms. Looks like he had quite the fever.
"Alright, alright so...how the hell do you treat a Jorathian fever?" I asked myself and gazed back at him. I frowned and shook my head, there was nothing I could do except for hope and potentially...Yes!
I take out a spare shirt that was in my backpack and soak it in the water that I had with me before slapping it onto his forehead. His breathing seems to calm for a moment and I sighed, panting with my head against the rock, looking back at the entrance to see both Kelly and Josh sitting there, hiding behind some rocks and shaking as the impact of the situation finally hit them.
And it hit me as well.
I immediately began to shiver, my hands were shaking and sweat was running down my brow as I thought about what was happening back at that camp. I would have hoped that others would escape, but I wasn't sure. None of us were warriors or had any weapons so there was no way to defend ourselves except for staying hidden at this point. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that we could do in the face of all of this....
"God why...why." I muttered to myself be
fore hugging my knees and leaning back with my head resting on the rock.
What reason was there? There was nothing, nothing of value that we had. Only pocket change and some ships, that's all! Were these rogue Jorathians? They had to be, they had to be bandits of some kind and from the way this man that was laid in front of me spoke about the entire scenario it would seem that that was the case. These were their own men, not bound by any law, the only creed that they followed was their own....
That made them so much more dangerous and unpredictable.
What could we do? What could be done to cease this violence and to get off of this planet? Could we find our own ship and perhaps hitch a ride out of here? Unlikely, since they had already taken over the base and likely seized all the ships that we had along with it. Could we steal it back? Unlikely, from the look of things these were trained warriors that were certainly not going to be outmaneuvered by some humans.
The only way out of this was death...ours or theirs. I didn't relish our chances, especially not if this guy died on us and all of that depended on whether he was trustworthy enough.
And then my thoughts suddenly trail back to him. The sweat on his cheekbones fall and I notice how...defined that jawline is. I notice how handsome he really is, that glimmering gold skin that seemed to shine at me when I glanced him over. Those rippling muscles with a decent amount of scars that seemed to indicate a lifetime of war and combat. In those eyes lurked a great deal of cynicism and pain, in those pupils there was a cerulean void but when he gazed at me during that brief exchange that we had I could tell that there was a good amount of..hope lurking in them. It was a strange thing indeed and I could tell that this man was holding more than he was letting on, but for now we had to trust him. If we didn't want to die, we would have to trust this man with our lives. There was that lingering doubt, however, he was a Jorathian so he could potentially be involved with our attackers and from the looks of it he was wearing the equipment necessary to carry out such an attack. So why had he turned them away?
"Hu...Human." he croaked and I looked at him. How the hell did he regain consciousness so quickly?
"Hold on, you need to rest alright? You can't get up just yet." I said and he shakes his head.
"Have to...help you." he stated and I frowned.
"You can't help us like this, rest, for at least a day. They won't find us in that span of time right? They can't." I stated and he nods.
"They won't, they won't...." he states.
He glances at me and my blue eyes lock with his, I can feel the emotions wash over me. All of that fire consumes me from my toes to my neck, it feels like it's going to well up and burst and I feel the immense amount of heat concentrate in my cheeks as his hands slide against my knee. He was moving his limbs slowly to get a feel of them, to make sure that everything was still in working order. He even moved his arm towards his stomach wound but I slapped it away and shook my head.
"Don't touch it..." I said.
"How bad is it...Amanda?" he asked me.
"It'll heal but it might take a week or so....You must have heard my name so now...I guess it's time to give me yours." I stated.
"Dezdrin." He said .
"...Get sleep. You're going to need it." I stated and got to my feet, he seemed to reach out at me but he didn't have enough energy to croak out a message to get me to stay so I simply walked off after it seemed that his eyes had shut entirely once again.
I make my way to the front of the cave, crawling and gazing over at Josh who was currently laid on his stomach with his hand over his eyes, trying to peer at the top of the cliff in the distance. I hadn't the foggiest idea of why they weren't tracking us at the moment but it seemed like they had gotten carried away back at the base and were busy looting. That gave us some time.
"No, no, no." Kelly kept on repeating and I walked over to her, lifting my hand, resting it on her shoulder, and shaking her.
"Kelly. We need to focus alright? We need everyone to focus. I know that the base just got attacked and we don't know why but stammering like this isn't going to help." I said, and she stayed silent, glancing over at me and quivering.
"Why? We were supposed to go and have fun. We were supposed to....." she sobbed before leaning into my shoulder, as soon as the tears touched my t-shirt I began to cry as well. The tears wash out of me with a great deal of ease as I let it all out with her in my arms.
I patted her back and sighed. If none of this had happened, we would likely be walking to a nearby cavern system with the chemists and geologists, laughing and chatting amongst one another but that was over now. We could have been home in a week and gone about our normal lives, everyone could be, but there was none of that to be had now. We were all alone, stuck here on this rock with little hope of escape. The beautiful and Elysium-like scenery was contrasting with our situation and the irony was not lost on me. We didn't even really have an idea on how many soldiers there were, no idea about the weaponry, nothing. We would have to wait for Dezdrin to wake up before we even got a clue of what was happening.
"I want to go home." she said, her voice muffled by my shirt and my flesh.
"So do I...so do I." I stated.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Josh shaking his head. Those green eyes shut and his mop of black hair shakes while his thin arms lifted so that he could rest his head in his hands. He slowly lets the situation dawn on him and his hands begin to shake as he reaches down to grab his bottle but drops it in the process of picking it up. His lip was quivering, his entire body is shaking and his face slowly crumples up in sadness as well. The three of us sat here in this cave, crying, the entire look must have been terrible but it didn't matter. We were young, all three of us had just reached our mid-20's and were now confronted with this? We should be partying, we should be focusing on our careers at this point!
And then I looked back to our guest.
He was battered, bruised, from the look of things he seems to have been consumed by a lifetime of conflict, a lifetime that took on the form of a mural of scars across his body that shone with sweat in the light of these twin suns. He didn't seem like the kind of man to lose himself in such emotion, such despair, we would need him to return if we were to have any hope of survival.
"Guys..we need to focus. Check how much water each of us has and see what you have on you, anything that could make this whole process easier." I said aloud, clearing my voice and wiping the tears away as the two of them nodded, reaching into their packs and dragging everything out onto the dirt.
"I-I have this..." remarked Kelly as she dragged out her element scanner, compound mixer, and a small lighter. Josh silently tugged out the small repair kit that he had always kept on him including a laser pen, screwdriver, nanite repair spray, and a filer. I dragged out my pack which contained that small med pack, a bottle of water, and some spare clothes.
No weapons of any sort.
"Dammit." I muttered under my breath and shake my head, looks like we would have to wait for him to get an idea on how we were going to make it out.
#
Dezdrin
My eyes fluttered open after countless fever dreams of my brethren turning on me as well as the slaughter of those earthlings passed. I find myself shivering, shaking my head and yelping softly as the dreams only continued before I finally came back to my senses. My hands reached around and grasped solid rock, smooth and covered in sand, below me were more stones that I soon sat up from, I glanced down at my wounds, the cut and burn on my arms had almost healed entirely but the gash in my stomach was still there, although I could tell that it was healing. Next to me I see an empty tube of some medgel as well as one that was half full, some of the pockets on my armor were open and I nodded. She had done well, she must have possessed some medical expertise if she was able to heal me so effectively
"Do you trust him?" I heard in the distance as I sat up slowly.
"We don't have a choice Josh. He's the only one who looks like he can even fight. I d
on't like the idea of trusting this guy either but we have to if we hope to have even a chance of making it out alive." said Amanda, her voice was laced with a bit of frustration.
"He could be with them. He could be leading them here." said Josh.
"If he was then they would have arrived already. We don't have a way out of this without him barring some miracle so it's all on him. Hell we don't even have a way to call back to command so there's no way for them to even know that something went wrong. It'll be weeks, maybe even a month until they can send a ship out knowing how far the nearest colony is, so this is our best chance whether we like it or not. We better get used to it." said Kelly.
"She's right, the only help that we have right now is him...as much as I have my suspicions we have to stick with him. Besides if they were going to attack us by using him as a distraction don't you think it would have been done already?" asked Amanda.
"There has to be some kind of connection there though. Jorathians attack our camp and a Jorathian also shows up telling us that he can help us? If there is any hint that he may be affiliated with them we drop him. Agreed?" Josh asked aloud and the two women made sounds of agreement.
I suppose I would have to keep that past a secret then.
CHAPTER THREE
Dezdrin
I stumble to my feet after falling back asleep for a while longer. I stand and gaze over the rocks at the three of them all bundled up in the darkness of the cave. I stumbled over and looked into those glowing blue eyes of her's as she turned to face me, her mouth slightly agape as I stepped up to her.
"Hope i'm not interrupting anything." I muttered.
"You!" Josh said as he nearly jumped to his feet.
"Calm down. I'm not here to fight you. Like I said, i'm here to help." I remarked and he raised his eyebrow.
"And that's what we're going to discuss. If we trust you, and that's a big if, how are you going to get us out of here?" he asked and I frowned.