by Hana Starr
“Oh,” the Illurian murmured, and looked down at his hands with an embarrassed expression. “I probably should have realized that.”
“It’s okay,” Jade said, and surprised them both by reaching out to pat his shoulder in the same manner that he had sought to comfort her. “I’m sure we’ll find something. But it’s obvious now that this isn’t working, is it?”
The grid idea had been his but she wasn’t going to point that out right now. If there was anything she was slowly learning from all this, it was that some things weren’t worth pointing out at that moment. Sometimes the victory was all the better when watching someone run into the mess they had made, but this time…It didn’t feel so much like a victory. It made her ache deep in the core of her being.
“What do you suggest?”
“We need to think about it differently. Is there a reason other than a devastating attack that would have communications be entirely cut off?”
“There could have been an attack on the communication systems,” Sorlo suggested, tilting his head. “Some sort of electrical surge.”
“Hm,” Jade murmured. “But Federation ships are meant to be hack-proof. Or nearly so. In theory, a surge of energy might do the job but how on earth would anyone go about building something like that? And how could you even properly channel something like that so it just took out communications?”
“You couldn’t,” Sorlo said softly. “It would take out the whole ship, but not destroy it. Which means…”
“Which means they probably crash-landed somewhere,” Jade supplied, starting to catch up. Energy surged through her and she bounced on her feet as she thought of actually maybe being on a track to something. “Where’s the nearest planet?”
She reached for her monitor but a slender white hand shot out and grabbed onto her wrist, stopping her. Sorlo looked incredibly somber. “Don’t bother,” he sighed. “I already know. It’s my home planet. Vallorus. And right there solves your mystery of how a surge of energy could have taken out a ship. I would bet you anything that those invaders who chased my people from Vallorus have settled there and are using our technology.”
“Course change for Vallorus, then?”
“Do it,” he confirmed. But he didn’t look happy about it.
“I know this is going to be difficult for you,” Jade said softly. Hardly able to believe her own thought process, she nevertheless had to give him the options as she saw them. “I could take the emergency pod and head down myself if you would feel more comfortable staying here?”
Much to her relief and satisfaction, Sorlo leapt to his feet and snapped himself into an indignant stance. “What?” he exclaimed. “And leave you down there by yourself with a possible threat? I don’t think so. That’s not how this mission works.”
“Good,” she said, and they settled back into their seats as the change in their course took them to Vallorus in only a few hours despite its distance. Jade ran through some rough calculations in her mind and figured that a drifting ship with no power would have just barely been able to make it here as well, though it would have required a skilled pilot.
The planet itself was crisp white, brighter even than the moon. It looked like a desert in far-ancient depictions of Persian palaces, all flowing dunes and pale beauty.
If Sorlo was sand, this would be what he looked like.
Mentally clearing her throat and blushing from how stupid she sounded even to herself, Jade focused on bringing the rocket down to as smooth as a landing as she could. The gear for that wasn’t exactly meant for anything but a runway, so it was a bit rocky despite all her efforts.
And when it was done, Sorlo said, “Nice landing.”
She glanced at him with a scowl, and then they both laughed. It felt good, like true amusement rather than wry dryness.
There was no need for suits due to the atmosphere but they ran the tests anyway just in case some sort of event had changed things. There has no need however, so they both opened the cockpit door and got out.
Jade sank up into the surprisingly light sand for several inches, and then glanced over at Sorlo to see how he was faring. And he was in the same predicament.
“How do we fix this?” she said.
He laughed, and it was joy mixed with grief. She couldn’t imagine how it felt for him to be back to the place he had been chased away from at such a young age. “It’s just like firewalking. Don’t be surprised I’ve heard of that. If you keep moving, it holds your weight well. And if you stop, it’s too light to pin you.”
“Got it,” she said, and spared him a forced but genuine smile. “Shall I get a Scan going so we can start looking around on foot?”
Without waiting for a response, she had already started one. Images and data bloomed in her vision, analyzing the surface before her for as far as she could see.
After a short bit, she said, “Nothing here.”
“Then let’s get moved.”
Less than an hour later, she saw it on the horizon: a dark red lump that stuck out from the paleness, gleaming with abundant late afternoon sun. Pointing it out, she said, “Look.”
Sorlo lifted his head and squinted, and then his eyes flew wide. “Holy shit. Would you fucking look at that! We found it!”
“Yes!” Jade said excitedly, switching off her Scan for a moment to look at him. She couldn’t stop the smile spreading across her face. It just felt too good. She was going to earn some honor back! They were going to succeed in their mission now no matter what happened simply due to finding the wreckage at all.
Glancing over at the wreckage again, she was then entirely unprepared for Sorlo reaching out to grab onto her. All her assassin instincts cried out to retaliate, to snap his neck, but she was too shocked to do anything but simply let him hug her. And then she was hugging him back with her arms thrown tight around his neck.
“Okay,” she said, coughing a little to cover her embarrassment as they finally let go of each other. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”
Chapter Nine
Survivors were found.
Before they were even halfway to the ship, Jade picked up on the first heat signature. It was warm. 98.6 degrees warm, to be exact.
She stopped in her tracks. Sorlo glanced at her. “What is it?” he asked while sinking up to his ankles in fine white sand.
“Someone is alive over there,” she breathed.
He leapt up out of the sand with surprise and then began to sink back down into it while speaking. “What?” he demanded. “Are you sure?”
“Very. Let’s keep going.”
The closer she got, the more her ScanEyes were able to pick up on. Not just the one human signature but many signatures. At least ten, of varying warmths by which she was able to identify each and every single alien in attendance.
That’s nowhere near a full crew for one of those ships but I guess that means not everyone made it. Damn, that’s going to be rough.
How much more loss could the Federation take?
Well, perhaps that was a silly thing to ask. The Federation would take as much as it had to for eternity, endlessly exploring and conquering space as they saw fit. Even if there came to be a time with the losses outweighed the wings, the Federation would never be disbanded. Even in theory it would survive.
Of course, that was a fantastic bit of propaganda that appealed to idealist youngsters. As a member of Dark Peace, Jade considered herself a tad more realistic than that. The Federation would survive on the shoulders of lonely assassins like her, who were too smart to be caught out in the open by their enemies.
Well, unless some sort of Sorlo-level event occurred, that was.
In any case, she could see that the survivors had long since noticed that they were being approached by a rescue, especially due to the fact that there would have been an obvious streak going down the sky when it happened. Every single warrior was standing or sitting utterly immobile, just waiting and watching.
It would have been too far away for th
em to be able to make out any sort of details about their rescuers yet, but Jade supposed that any prejudices they might have would be taking a vacation for a bit.
Gradually, they drew closer.
Jade began to be able to make out physical details to go along with what her Scans told her, the different shapes of alien bodies and the rainbow array of skin. An arm waved, and they lifted theirs in response.
When they were within shouting distance, Sorlo called, “We’re here for you.”
An indistinct response came but it actually seemed to be a request for quiet. Puzzled, Jade and Sorlo obeyed until they were within running distance. An alien sprinted forward, birdlike in posture and mannerism.
Tridgen, Jade thought, naming his race. He wore the Federation color but there was hardly any markings on his shoulder, proclaiming him to be somewhat new. Glancing around, she used her Scans to confirm for her that not any of these survivors were very high-ranking.
That was both a blessing and a curse, as it meant they would be willing to listen but would not be very useful.
Jade fell back as the Tridgen alien seemed to notice that she wasn’t wearing red, wanting Sorlo to take care of this part of having to deal with other people.
“Warrior,” Sorlo said in greeting, slowing to a halt and giving the salute. “I am named Sorlo.”
The Tridgen’s yellow skin flushed green with his emotions. “I…My name is Tulk.” Seeming to remember himself, Tulk gave a stumbling sort of salute. “You’re here to get us? We didn’t think anyone would.”
Jade spoke from where she was watching. “We weren’t certain whether there would be any survivors or not. It’s the ship we’re after.”
“Ignore her, Tulk.”
Tulk glanced down at the sands, high on his stocky legs. “Well,” he said softly, and his throat seemed to constrict because he cleared it to try again. “Well, there are. Survivors. Not even half of us, though.” He swallowed hard.
Sorlo gestured back the way the young alien had run. “Why don’t you lead us back and introduce us to everyone who is here, and then we can begin to piece your story together?”
As they began to walk the short distance to the rest of the Federation warriors awaiting their arrival, Jade glanced past them to get a better look at the ship. It looked about how she had expected it to, incredibly intact but for some missing pieces that would have been torn off when entering the atmosphere of Vallorus uncontrolled. The bottom looked to have bucked upwards from the friction of stopping, which meant that the engine was bound to be useless.
All nine of the other warriors rose to salute Jade and Sorlo as they grew closer. Tulk introduced them all, but Jade had never had much of a flare for names so forgot them all instantly. This wasn’t her part of the mission anyway though, so she stood back and watched Sorlo shine with charisma as he greeted each one as an individual. When introductions were all over, everyone looked just a fraction better despite the tragic circumstances.
“Now that we have that of the way,” Sorlo said, “why don’t we hear what happened? Who remember the most? Have you discussed it?”
A female human lifted her head. “I saw it happen,” she said in a quiet, lyrical voice. “The way our shifts were working for this mission was so that half of the higher-ranking warriors would be awake at the same time as half of the lower ranks. I was up and watching the monitors. I thought I noticed something off, so I called Gorlo over to take a look at it.
“He praised me for noticing the anomaly but said that it was probably just a small glitch in the radar.”
“But it wasn’t, was it?” Jade asked. Sympathy colored her voice, as much as she could allow it to, anyway. Dealing with this small group was easier than dealing with an entire base, but that didn’t mean it was actually just easy.
“I saw it again and I was about to say something but that’s when the whole Peace Bearer just shook around and then everything went dead. Everyone was running around and trying to get their suits on and figure out what happened at the same time.”
Suffocation in space as the air was used up and not replenished probably accounted for the first wave of deaths.
“But, we couldn’t get anything back online. The higher-ranks told all of us,” the human gestured to the other young warriors, “and…everyone else…to retreat to the sleeping quarters because it was safest.”
Well, that wasn’t true at all. Jade knew the real reason, however. Sending people to the sleeping quarters was a way to make it easier to identify bodies. The actual safest place to be varied simply on the type of crash.
“We waited and waited and someone kept coming back to check on us, to tell us that we were making an emergency landing. And then…I think…we hit atmosphere and it was impossible to tell what was happening.”
Turbulence would have been the second wave of death.
Anyone who wasn’t secured in tightly enough, or if the restraints were weak or faulty, would be sent crashing all across the ship as it was jostled. Necks would snap, bodies could be impaled on corners at just the right angle…
The human kept talking, with small bits of input now from the others, but Jade didn’t really need to follow along to know what had claimed the last lives. Impact, of course.
Then, the sad and sordid tale came to a conclusion. Whatever sort of energy pulse had taken out the ship had worn off, but the engine was still fried and the other power sources were faulty. A signal could be sent but it was always scrambled and fizzling. There was nothing to do but sit, ration out what supplies could be salvaged from the damaged cargo hold, and wait.
“What did you do with the bodies?” Sorlo asked.
Tulk spoke again now. “We catalogued who died –although I guess you could tell just by looking at who survived, right?- and then buried them in the sands further away. Was that fine? I can show you if you would like.”
“That was fine,” Sorlo said softly, his mouth quirking out with a mixture of sadness and something else Jade couldn’t quite figure out. “It’s protocol to burn the bodies using the on-ship incinerator but with the faulty power, you did what you could. I don’t need to see the grave. In any case, we should get you guys back.”
Jade dropped out of listening to the conversation at that point, fading back slowly and then roaming out towards the side of the ship. Her co-pilot might not want to see the burial plot but she did want to see what lay on the other side of the wreckage.
As it turned out, more rolling hills of sand.
Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine the life that Sorlo must have had as a child, the architecture. The sensation of peace made her want to imagine an almost Biblical setting, with sandstone curves and arching roofs. Simply and beautiful, bleached by the sun, with children running between the buildings.
Sorlo would have made the cutest child, she bet. Cherubic and round-cheeked, yet polite in an almost ethereal manner.
Something out in the distance caught her attention. It was probably an animal or something but Jade wanted a glimpse at it anyway. Accessing her ScanEye, she focused out on the moving shape as it appeared over the horizon.
And she frowned, and blinked to zoom in. The camera in her eye moved just the slightest as it obeyed, and she caught a glimpse of…metal.
“Fuck,” she swore, and began a scan. The object was too distant to get much of a reading on it but it didn’t matter because the moment the size analysis came back, she was running like hell to try and get back to the others.
It was an enormous ship, vast enough to hold the gigantic aliens which had torn this planet apart. She might have thought they would have left by now but no, they were still here.
They would have seen the ship crash and suspected there would be no survivors but now there was a rocket in the equation, and they were coming to investigate.
“Sorlo!” she cried out, catching his attention as she ran with sand spraying up behind her from her own clumsy steps. “There’s a problem.”
The look in his eyes t
old her that he understood.
Chapter Ten
Part of him wished that she would have found a better way to deliver the message, in a manner that wouldn’t terrify these warriors who were little more than children. However, he knew that this wasn’t exactly the time to start sheltering them –even as much as he wished he could.
“How far away were they?” he asked briskly, not giving any of the survivors a chance to say anything even they clearly wanted to.