Chapter 10 #2
As the ship thrusters lifted jerkily, I also noted the destroyer was not meant for landings or takeoffs planet-side.
Its design did not lend to smooth navigation under the atmosphere of the magnetic pull from the planet's core.
Using my own body, I shielded my treasure from jostling too much as she had to be strapped to the small cot barely large enough to hold us within one of the rooms.
We made it into orbit, and the unGor entered the small space as I adjusted upright again. He held out a medpack from my own shuttle supplies. I could tell by the mark of the Trillume Galactic Authority emblazoned on the film protecting the adhesive applicator.
"Use this until we get there," he offered.
Taking the medpack, I immediately applied it to Hazel's thigh with delicate precision.
Medpacks worked best when applied where there was a large artery to transport the nanobots and support replicating for a faster healing process.
There was no telling if it would work well with her species.
It was untested by Trillume's scientists, but it was all we had at the moment to help her last until we got to Lord Zorn's personal medbay.
"It'll work to help stop the bleeding. Lord Zorn has used them before," he assured, sensing my uncertainty.
A wise youngling. He held out another medpack, but flooding her system with nanobots wasn't going to help.
If anything, too many nanobots could be dangerous.
It was best to wait until these had a chance to work and be flushed out of the system.
He added when he saw I wasn't reaching for it, "For you."
The younger one with markings came up behind him from the direction of the pilot deck and shook his head with a grin. "You look like shit. Listen to the big guy and take your medicine or we might be eating lizard for dinner."
I nearly laughed, but measured my features at the youngling before staring at him with a serious expression to see if I could make him flinch. "Eat me, little bandit, and you'll join me in the beyond unless you have a tolerance for trill poisoning."
"Not yet, I don't," he challenged, and I grinned at him.
He reminded me of myself as a spawn. A bit reckless, but eager and determined to grow strong.
I took the medpack and applied it to myself.
They were right. I suffered severe internal damage from my oil glands rupturing beneath my scales.
The medpack would help, but I would still need to hibernate to shut down unnecessary functions and regenerate broken tissue.
The medpacks technology was invented by a scientist that was able to replicate the regeneration properties of a trill after losing a tail or hand.
We were very difficult to kill, which was why I was even more frustrated with myself for not handling Lord Zorn more efficiently, so Hazel wouldn't be in the state she was in now.
Hazel, I repeated her name in my mind and hoped that she would grant me the honor of saying it out loud by offering it to me when she woke.
"We'll be at the ship in a parcel rotation. We didn't dock at the planet, so you wouldn't see us coming."
"Did you take any of my crew with you?" I worried about Belder, though I shouldn't.
She was perfectly capable of regenerating if they harmed her.
Most species believed we were dead when we simply went into hibernation to heal.
Our heart beats were imperceptible, and we already ran cold with our scales deflecting heat.
As long as they didn't dispose of her out an airlock, or damage her heart, she'd be fine, I assured myself.
I went to pace the room, but a soft hand clenched in my claw, halting my retreat.
I stared at the beautiful treasure before me and cringed with agony at how blue blood was leaking from her lovely jewels.
Blue covered her soft green skin, leaking from the cracks in her deep emeralds. A moan whispered from her lips.
To give her something else to think about instead of the pain, I began to tell her of my past, "I was raised on the outskirts of the city where I had to train, as my ancestors had, to survive among predators of beasts with no thought other than to consume and roam the deserts.
"By my own clan's standards, I was nothing more than an animal with no rights to join the clan and more respectable beings of the universe.
My whole crew is made up of animals tasked with protecting the planet when those of higher respect curled their tails in distaste, but I was willing to sacrifice myself and everything I knew to secure a future for them. "
I shook my head at the oddity of speaking to a female that could not hear me. And even then, I was lying to myself and to her.
With a sigh, I corrected myself, "To secure a future for Princess Klemon. She was the only one who came to the outskirts dressed in her lab cloak and saw the life we lived as our ancestors had before us.
"She was there to test a new nano technology on unsuspecting animals, but she didn't. She kept returning rotation after rotation, bringing comforts of the city with her until I decided to approach.
" I could feel my neck heat with the memory of embarrassment at how I had acted then.
"I had fully intended on mating her as she was beautiful and kind.
In those days, I didn't think that she would turn me down as I was the strongest of the outskirts, regularly providing leadership and food for the rejected ones.
We did not realize we were rejected ones at the time.
Without words, I was similar to what you would call a savage warlord of the desert. "
Her eyelids fluttered and fingers squeezed my claw more forcefully as she groaned out, "Mine."
I smiled, not even thinking about if I appeared frightening. Perhaps she could hear me in her dreams, and it warmed me deep within my cartilage that she felt the connection between us as I did.
"Yes," I agreed. "Yours, My Treasure. She was not my mate, but she did teach me the common tongue so she could ask permission to install my implant.
Funny, how a basic language understanding is necessary for the functionality of the technology in our minds, as the program must have a base-line language to associate with or communication is pointless even if it translates many languages across the universe.
"Even us talking now is all made possible by our implants communicating with each other. Princess Klemon taught me the civility of our clan and tasked me with joining the Galactic Authority. I took her experimental technology.
"All of us did," I added with a sadness, thinking about my crew… and Belder.
"What does it do?" she whispered, and it allowed my muscles to ease, knowing she was conscious.
Though her eyes remained closed. The medpack was helping, and the spawnlings didn't have to heal us at all.
This small act was comforting as I felt my eyes close from the numbness seeping through my muscles.
"It stops foreign DNA from attaching to our cells," I explained.
"But it's untested against the threat it was created for.
It seems to have been proven to stop the replication of foreign cells in our bodies.
The nanobots have saved countless lives and improved countless others from disease and death.
But against what we face… the Solusgor, we cannot know for certain until the threat reaches here from Solunus.
"That is why we are here. The side effects of the technology are unknown. It's only been used on the dying, and on my team. We must know that the threat is neutralized and that there aren't any adverse effects from prolonged exposure to the Ganpan-Fal in high doses. That is our mission."
Instead of fearing about what was to come, she said, "Solunus was destroyed…"
"No," I corrected her, "The planet still exists. It just doesn't belong to the Shol, or even the Galactic Authority, anymore."