Allies (Kaylid Chronicles Book 4)

by Mel Todd

  ~Save Elao,~ his thought held hope and pain.

  ~What?~ Of anything she had expected that wasn't it. ~What do you mean?~

  ~Elao doesn't deserve to die. The knowledge that would be lost could make a difference between winning and losing against the Elentrin. You can't let that be lost.~

  [Ash. You mean that?] The hushed tone of Elao made McKenna freeze.

  ~You are the reason this was possible. You can not be lost. I am immaterial.~ The mental words were followed by a shuddering breath, a wet raspy sound that made her wince in sympathy.

  ~Ash, I already have Wefor, I don't think there’s room enough in me for another personality.~ McKenna hated saying those words, but there was no way she could add yet another mind in her own. As it was, sometimes she wasn't sure this entire thing was really happening.

  ~I'll do it.~ Perc spoke and she turned to look at him so fast her neck cracked. ~I can take on Elao.~

  ~Are you sure?~ She didn't want to say don't do it, because Ash was right, but having an AI in your head was never what you expected.

  Perc didn't answer her directly just put his huge hand on her arm and squeezed gently. ~Okay Ash, Elao, how do we do this?~

  [I am not sure. It has never been done. I–] The odd sound of an AI being hesitant and unsure made McKenna's heart race.

  If they have no idea how to do this, how in the world will we pull this off?

  But even she knew just by looking at Ash, there was no saving him. How he managed to still be communicating with them, much less coherently, she didn't know. There was a strange hum, an almost whine that made her wince, but it was all in her head.

  ~What was that?~ she asked, trying to keep the pain out of her tone, but didn't succeed.

  [Apologies. I needed to send a large amount of data to Elao very quickly. But we have a plan.] The mental pain faded rapidly, so McKenna just nodded.

  ~So tell me what I need to do.~

  [This will hurt Percival Alexander. There is little I can do about that, but I promise to do my best to help in your fight against the Elentrin.] The slightly different mental voice of Elao filled their minds.

  Perc shrugged. ~Pain I can live with. Let's do it.~ His hand held Ash's as they talked. ~Thank you, Ash, for everything risked for this chance.~ His words were heartfelt and McKenna wished they could do more.

  A weird grimace spread across Ash's face. ~It is not enough, yet more than I dared hope.~

  He's trying to smile. He can't even do his whistle laugh.

  McKenna forced it down. She didn't have time to mourn or even get upset, not right now.

  [I am gathering as much of myself as possible. His spine is broken in two places, and the shards of violit are piercing his heart. He knows this and is fighting to make this work.] The AI's words tasted of sorrow, pain, and a grief so deep McKenna couldn't fathom it. [Know that this will not hurt him, I will make sure of it.]

  McKenna's stomach tightened as she heard the words and her fears were realized in the next few moments.

  [You will need to create a large gash in your arm, deep enough to reach veins so the nanobots, my programming, can get in fast enough.]

  McKenna bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything, and just listened, no matter what.

  ~I can do that that,~ Perc's tone sounded strong. ~Then what?~

  [Then you will need to slit Ash's throat and open up his spinal cord at the same time.]

  Chapter 40 - Blood

  The huge crash in the desert near White Sands Missile Range was seen across the US. The impact crater is smaller than expected so some control must have been exhibited. The entire area has been declared a no-fly zone and the military seems to been getting there very rapidly. Reports of seeing the secretary of state at the location only an hour from last being seen in DC are confusing. What does this all mean? ~TNN Invasion News

  McKenna and Perc flinched at that. Though she noticed Rarz looking off behind her, she didn't have time to worry about what caught his interest right now.

  ~You mean kill him?~ Perc's voice held no emotion in the mindspace; it was flat and without feeling. She could feel the rest of her family listening intently to everything. For a moment she thought about shutting the kids out, not letting them hear or know what was going on, but she knew they would take that as a betrayal. Even Nam could face what was going on, though she wanted to protect them, she couldn't protect them from reality.

  [As soon as the vein and spinal column are opened, I'll move my main components down to bleed out. You need to get as much of it into your body as possible. I am shifting the parts of me to be there. Some knowledge will be lost, but most is replicated in multiple places and what can be shared and stored with Wefor has been. This will take a bit and you will need to convince your own nanobots to not try to fight me, and not heal your wound. Once I have settled in, I can override any programming they may have and they will answer to both you and me.]

  Nothing about Perc moved, not even his tail and McKenna didn't know how he felt as he had locked down everything in the mindscape, no hint of his emotions leaking through.

  ~Are you sure?~ She had to ask and he turned his head slowly, taking his eyes off Ash only at the last instant.

  ~Yes. We owe them and I think we will need her help.~ He nodded at her and turned back to Ash, whose eyes had closed and it seemed he focused on just breathing. ~Are you both ready?~

  ~Yes~[Yes.] His voice so weak and tiny, and grieving. Perc took a deep breath and looked at his left arm. The fur absorbed back into the skin, revealing skin golden and tan. She held her breath as he reached up with a low sharp claw extended and in a violent motion ripped open a gash along the bend of his elbow. The flesh parted like a cut with a scalpel and McKenna saw flesh and tendons before blood started filling the area. A gasp of pain slipped out of him, but he didn't pull away.

  [Tell your nanobots to pull it in, and make the cut on Ash, now.] Elao sounded like she cried, a tone of voice that made tears start in McKenna's eyes.

  ~Thank you, Ash, for everything,~ McKenna whispered the words in his mind and sent gratitude towards him.

  His eyes opened and locked on to hers, then shifted to Perc. ~Do it, and thank you. Finally I can go back to my stars.~

  Perc laid his claw along the side of Ash's neck and yanked it down towards the back of his neck in a fast move. Rather than the jugular where humans had it, a large vein ran along the spine and when his claw ripped it open, blood and fluid came rushing out in spurts.

  [Get your open flesh under it, hurry.] Elao’s voice sound odd, distorted, as if talking through sobbing tears.

  Perc moved his arm and the blood and fluids fell into the wide gash pooling there. His face was a mask of unreadable fur; even his whiskers didn't move. McKenna had taken Ash's hand when Perc needed to release it to do what he needed to do, and she squeezed it tight. Already it felt colder and less lively.

  ~This is a good way to go, doing what I can to end their regime. Thank you. May Alara's light guide me home~ It was the last words he said as the three of them sat there, Wefor whispered in Perc's ear to get as much of Elao pulled into his body as possible.

  The air filled with the scent of blood mixed in with the dry air and smoke. She would never forget this scene, this moment, and took it all in: the alien dying, while pouring his blood and spinal fluid into Perc's arm, trying to save a being with no body, nothing but tiny particles that made up its existence.

  [Elao has moved most of her bots to those locations, leaving only the dumb drones throughout the body. They had a little time to prepare before Ash spoke to you. Perc, if you can scrape any dripping down into the wound, they will help.] Wefor spoke to all of them and they waited as he pushed more blood up into the wound of his already gore-covered arm.

  McKenna felt the life leave Ash, but she hoped he was at peace. She couldn't imagine how long he had fought his impossible fight, maybe now he would be home. Anything else more metaphysical she shied away from and looked at the blood covering Pe
rc.

  "You okay?" her voice barely loud enough to be heard.

  "Hurts, but it's working. Give me some time. I'll sit here for a bit."

  Before she could move, Rarz was up and headed towards the other side of the room. As he moved past the crack in the hull, faster than she could get up to follow, the dust swirled around behind him, marking his passing with gold glittering in the harsh sunlight.

  "Rarz?" McKenna stood and made her way through the wrecked room. The smoke had cleared and made it easier to proceed, but he had blown through it as if there was no debris. He didn't say anything. ~Rarz?~ she asked again, knowing he would hear her like that. Though he'd probably heard her the first time too.

  ~Over here. There is something. Ah, yes. Found her.~

  Thelia, it has to be her.

  McKenna picked up her pace and made it over to where Rarz crouched, his tail supporting his low stance. Crumbled in a pod doorway that had given in was Thelia, blood covering her face from a sizable laceration on her head. It turned her purple hair a dark indigo that seemed too sober and sad for her skin.

  "Crap," McKenna muttered as she stopped next to the woman. "Is she okay?" She checked the wound, it now was only a sluggish trail of blood, but the location on her head worried McKenna. Blows across the temple and back of the head could result in serious brain trauma, at least for a human. The wound stretched from her temple to the back of her head, revealing bits of white bone. "A human would still be bleeding like crazy. I don't want to move her, it might injure her further." She did a quick safety check, but other than the head wound McKenna couldn't see anything.

  "You will leave her alive?" Rarz's questions caught her off guard and she looked up at him, frowning.

  "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

  "She is your enemy. Her people have done great harm to your world. Would it not be better to kill her now than risk her rising to stab you in the back later?"

  "What?" McKenna coughed out a laugh. "You've been watching too many of our movies." She fell silent as their actions on the ship flooded back to her and she sighed, acknowledging his point. "Maybe. And maybe I'll regret this, but I promised to let her be if she helped. She'll have to deal with our government and the aftermath of her people's actions. But that isn't for me to judge. I don't want to judge it. I want to go home. We still lost so many people and they’ll be back. But maybe we got the time we needed."

  The revving sounds of engines came through the door and she felt like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Perc, we have company. You almost decent?"

  "Still covered in blood, but most of it has been absorbed and I'm healing." He paused then called back. "What do we do with his body?"

  McKenna moved back to the room. "Do we know his burial procedures? Or customs?"

  [Fire.] Elao's voice was weak but clear. [Let his ashes rise up to join the stars.]

  Rarz spoke slowly. "If meeting his ancestors in flame is what he desires, I can give him that honor."

  McKenna shot him a look but only nodded. "Thank you for your offer and we will, Elao. We will let him rise in ash." They would do it here, now before anyone could claim him. "Rarz, can you help me carry him out?"

  "Of course."

  She heard vehicles pull up and she looked out the crack at them. Of the three of them, she was the only one in human form, beside Thelia, and her beauty declared what she was.

  "Fudge. The cavalry is here. Why are they showing now up when I could use more time without them?" She sighed and looked back at the others.

  Perc stood, looking a bit unsteady. His arm looking like he'd put it through a sausage grinder. "You sure you're okay?"

  His head tilted as if listening to someone whispering to him. "Blood loss. Elao says it will pass in a few hours and apologizes. She is trying to reestablish and convert the nanobots to her frequencies, and I lost a decent amount of blood. His blood has to be expelled and cleaned from the body, so I will have the equivalent of a rampant infection. Fever, chills, all the fun stuff, over the next few hours."

  McKenna moved over and touched him. Even through the fur he felt hot. "Let me know if you need anything."

  "Nah, as long as you don't need me to run any passing drills I should be fine." He smiled weakly at his football joke. She squeezed his arm and smiled.

  "I think you can stand around and look pretty for the next little while."

  He chuckled softly at her tease but leaned against the wall. Rarz watched McKenna, his expression unreadable.

  "Help me get him outside?" She didn't know how she'd do that with her arm still broken.

  "No need. He is not heavy." Rarz leaned down and picked up the lax body, the ever-moving tail hanging like a limp ribbon. McKenna closed her eyes fighting back the sea of emotions. Had it really been only hours since they first met this being? Inhaling slowly then back out, she opened her eyes and nodded at Rarz. "We’ll send on him his way to his stars."

  She climbed out of the opening in the ship carefully. With a final heave, she emerged from the crack in the hull to stand on the desert sand. She froze at the sight of at least twenty soldiers with guns pointed at them. They didn't look friendly.

  McKenna raised her hands. "Human? McKenna Largo? We were the ones sent up to get people back? I think you should know our names?"

  Please let someone have told them something so we don't get shot. That would just be the capper on this day.

  A man with a major's oak leaves, she was getting better at reading rank, pushed through the crowd and looked at them. "Ms. Largo? I assume that is Perc Alexander and the," he hesitated for a moment, "dragon is the guest we were told to expect?" He looked at Rarz carrying the body, blood still covering most of it.

  "He's on our side. There’s an Elentrin in there that should be regarded as a special guest. The higher-ups can figure out what to do with her, but until then she should be treated as someone in very protective custody."

  "Higher-ups, ma'am?" He asked doubtfully, not taking his gaze off Rarz and Ash.

  "You know, Burby, Simon, Roberts, those guys. It's their problem, not mine."

  That got his attention on her. "You mean Secretary of State Burby and the President, ma'am?"

  Did I imagine that or did everyone do all but come to attention when he said that?

  "Yes. She's their problem. I'd advise nose filters, as she is Elentrin, but she needs medical attention and a stretcher would be suggested. As for the rest, it can wait a bit until more people get here. Now, if you would excuse us, we need to deal with something."

  Though I have no idea how we will burn a body. Rarz said he could take care of that.

  "Ma'am, I'm under orders to take all of you into protective custody until my superiors can get here," he protested, and she waved around them.

  "We're in the middle of a desert, it isn't like I'm going to run. Trust me, I just want to go home. Just stay out our way." Her frustration leaked through. She was so tired she could barely comprehend what they needed to do next.

  "Ma'am I can't let you leave with that body. We are under orders to collect any dead that might have occurred during the crash."

  McKenna bared her teeth at him in something no one would have called a smile. "Major, I've just taken over a ship, suborned aliens, and brought the ship to Earth. If you think you can stop me and my dragon, feel free." She didn't know what Rarz did behind her, but the man paled and at least half the soldiers shifted their aim to Rarz.

  "Yes, ma'am. I mean, no, ma'am. I'll wait right here, ma'am."

  Chapter 41 - Goodbye

  Damage reports are still coming in from the tidal waves and the asteroid impacts. While it might be weeks before we get a full accounting of the death tolls, people are already demanding answers. Why didn't any of the governments stop this? Who is to blame? Already some memes and social media accounts are pointing fingers at shifters, saying ultimately it was their fault. If the rumors of McKenna Largo and another shifter-only group going up are true, maybe they really are whom to bl
ame for this devastation. ~TNN Invasion News

  "Good idea." She turned and started walking into the desert. Fear rode her about someone trying to take Ash. A few people knew Ash was behind their strange dreams and came from a world that no longer existed. If it got out, scientists would want to dissect him to see how he differed from humans or Elentrin. That would be a worse violation than anything else she could do to him and she refused to allow it.

  "Rarz? How do we do this?" She kept her low, but she knew Perc and Rarz would hear her.

  "I can set his body free in flames. It is not an issue."

  ~I want to be there. We need to be there.~ Toni's voice spoke into the mindspace, fierce and urgent. The others chimed in, even Nam.

  McKenna hesitated, but having them here with her would make dealing with the next few days easier. "Rarz, are you willing to do that? Create a portal for them?"

  "Of course." He gave her a look she couldn't interpret. If it had been JD, she would have thought he was trying to not make a face at her.

  ~Just you guys. We can get the others later. For now, this is our private moment.~ She felt like he deserved to be honored. Years, no centuries, of fighting a battle he didn't know if he could ever win. Yet he tried.

  ~Give us ten minutes to get everyone gathered.~ JD voice was no-nonsense and she fought a smile at hearing it, even in her mind.

  "We should get out a safe distance from the ship. The fire will be very hot." Rarz commented as he started walking.

  "Yes, I'm not in the mood for any more explosions today, if it’s all the same to you."

  "I second that. I think I'd like a week of sleeping until noon if it’s all the same to everyone." Perc said as they moved slowly out into the white emptiness of the White Sands area. The sand lived up to its name and McKenna lifted her hands to shield her eyes from the sun. The mountains in the distance made her ache for the sight of her Sierra Nevadas. A quick glance back showed the men milling around watching them, but and a few of them headed towards the crack in the ship.