16 Thilar
I rushed through the hangar with Penny in my arms, the metallic scent of her blood filling my nose.
Two of the Kal Haiek warriors from the Qohaan marched in from one of the many passages leading to the docking bay and spotted me.
But aside from that, they noticed my suit.
The deep, metallic red netting was not like their green.
“From the Haak?” one said.
I nodded. “Thilar Tuross.”
They both inclined their heads, tapping their chests once with the flat of their palm and then moving their hand outward into a fist in a traditional monrian display of respect.
“Are you the only survivor?” the other one asked.
“That I know of.” I glanced down at Penny, whose eyes were growing heavy. “I will explain all that I know for the scribe logs, but she needs a med bay.”
They nodded, no questions, and turned, leading us to their ship. By then, the entire station was under siege. The monrian forces had broken through Mekah Prime’s defenses and now the captives had flooded out to finish what they’d started, rebelling against the gangs and traders.
“Thilar!” a voice called out.
From behind a large stack of storage containers appeared Sunhai, a rifle in her arms. Both monrian soldiers turned on her, their weapons aimed, but she didn’t put up a fight. She dropped her gun without hesitation and raised her hands.
“She comes with me,” I said to the men and they nodded, continuing toward their vessel.
“Is she well?” Sunhai asked, glancing at Penny.
“She is losing a lot of blood.”
Penny whimpered, her body starting to quiver in my arms. “It’s cold.”
“I will warm you,” was all I could say.
We finally came to a docking tunnel where the monrian ship was anchored to the hangar and sped through the narrow passage. One of the soldiers gave a command into a commlink on the wall while the other waved me onward.
The ship was small. A recon vessel most likely. It could hold a crew of thirty. Plenty to take on a floating station like Mekah Prime full of degenerates and criminals. One pureblood monrian could best ten fighters of any species, most said—a rumor based partly on facts.
“Who holds your contract?” I said as we walked to an upper level.
The ship’s engines purred beneath my feet as we began to separate from the station.
“The Tallian Empire,” the soldier answered over his shoulder. “I am Yuros Vaaren. I assume it was your khof kaar’s beacon we tracked.”
“Yes.”
“The Tallian prince has been wanting to dismantle Pek-Tol’s operations for some time, but there was no way to track the location of the asteroid until you activated your khof kaar. The colonies thought the Haak and all its crew was lost after Ursa.”
“It was. I died. Pek-Tol scavenged the destruction after the battle and managed to revive me for his games.”
“I assume that is why you did not activate your khof kaar sooner. It has been a long time since Ursa. You have been captive all this time?”
I nodded once when he glimpsed me over his shoulder.
Then he veered left through a sliding door that led to an extensive med bay.
Monrians had some of the best medical tech in the galaxy in order to keep soldiers strong and fit for a fight.
I laid Penny down on one of the tables to see the extent of her injury.
“What is it?” Yuros asked, placing his gun on a magnetic holster on his back.
“Human,” I said, tapping my hand on a white panel to initiate a scan of Penny’s body.
Stepping back, I watched white tendrils of light descend from a panel above her to assess the damage. They gently slipped beneath the makeshift bandage I’d put around her and began their work, reading, copying, and mending whatever they needed to.
“Your heart is racing unusually fast,” Yuros said. “Perhaps you need a scan of your own.”
“My heart does not race from sickness.”
“I did not mean to scan you for injuries, my friend.” I looked up at him to see his mask receding into the texture of his bio-suit. “It is female, then.”
“She is female, yes.”
His eyes shifted, studying Penny’s strange form. “She is bipedal. Small. I have never seen one, but the elders say they are a part of the maker’s offspring. Seeing her now, I can believe it, though it does not appear that humans have evolved much in physical strength.”
He leaned over her, soaking in the features of her face. She had a similar kind of nose. Hair atop her head, though it was much softer than my own. She even had five fingers like monrians did. I didn’t doubt for a second that she and her kind were descendent from the maker.
“From what I gathered off her wrist device, humans haven’t had the need to evolve physically. They’re reliant completely on their technology, primitive as it is.”
“For now,” Yuros said. “Give them time. They have finally come to join the ranks of the maker’s children among the stars. Adapting to the hardships of space will come.”
Monrians were not as religious as other races, but we all had our origin stories. Penny did look similar in many ways to monrians. To valerians and even gek’tal. We were all four children of Akurion, according to elders and ancient records. The original. The one every race had a different name for.
Penny whimpered softly, her eyelids fluttering. I stepped in and slowly untied the bloodied cloth from her waist and pulled it away to monitor the healing progress.
“We must share DNA if the medlights are fixing her so quickly,” Yuros added. “Even further proof we are descendants from the same original DNA.”
I nodded, tossing the bloody cloth into a waste disposal slot on the wall. “Red blood. Like us.”
“Her skin is so dull and soft.”
“She is quick. Light on her feet. She has survived longer than even I suspected.”
He paused for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest. “I have heard of Pek-Tol’s games and what they entail. Did you and this human…”
He trailed off, but I knew what he was implying.
“Regretfully,” I said.
“You forced her.”
I could hear the edge in his tone. It had changed, turning into something less friendly. I leaned on the table and looked at him, unyielding.
“Judge me however you like. I have much to answer for. Pek-Tol first tortured me to force—”
“Pain is not a reason to do something against your will, Tuross. We both know that.”
“And then he tortured her,” I added. “To use against me. I am ashamed to have complied, but I did not know what a human could withstand and neither did Pek-Tol. I was weak to his taunts, but in the situation, I had to choose which crime caused the least damage.”
Yuros scrutinized me for a bit, and I did not blame him.
Forcing a woman into breeding was among the worst kind of crimes.
First, because it tarnished our honor. We were a population built on self-control.
Second, because spreading our seed outside of approved pairings was frowned upon.
Some stricter factions even thought it appropriate to execute those accused of doing so.
“I will put some thought into this,” Yuros said. “And when she wakes, I will hear her side of it. Should we scan for a pregnancy once she is mended?”
I shook my head. “I at least have enough control not to impregnate a woman. Although… Pek-Tol gave me something that compromised my mental stability. I may not have been as focused—"
“She cannot get pregnant,” a voice said.
We both turned to the doorway to see Sunhai standing against the frame.
“Identify yourself,” Yuros demanded.
“Sunhai Akili.” Her eyes moved down his body and slowly back up as if sizing him up for a fight, but the smirk on her lips suggested that perhaps it was something else.
“How do you know?” I asked her.
She gestured to Penny’s body with her chin. “She told me. She didn’t tell me why, but it is what she said.”
I turned my gaze back on Penny. The room fell silent for a moment and then Yuros cleared his throat.
“I will leave you to your… whatever she is to you. I must speak with the men.”
“What about me?” Sunhai asked as he walked out of the room. “Is there food on a monrian ship?”
She strode after him and I listened to her voice disappear down the passage before I returned my attention to Penny. The medlights were still working hard to mend her wound inside and out while the table continued studying her.
After some time, the scan was complete and a holographic image of Penny’s form appeared over a projection panel. I could see how deep the blade had punctured her. There was internal bleeding that the medlights were tirelessly fixing, but it was the little blue light on her spine that caught my eye.
“What is that?” I asked, spinning the image and enlarging that specific area.
“An artificial implant. Primitive technology,” the panel spoke in a soft, female voice.
Realizing it was the implant Penny had mentioned, I was eager to understand better.
“What exactly does it do?”
“My scans indicate that it is a correction device. It prevents pain and/or paralysis, which would be the result of severe nerve damage. There is scar tissue around an old wound near the spine that is likely the cause. Hmm. There is damage to the internal mechanisms that make up the implant.”
“Can you do anything about it?”
“I am cloning the design now, should she need a new one.”
“Any other old wounds?”
“There are indications of another abdominal injury. There are signs of surgical procedures.”
“Is what the valerian woman said accurate? Is she unable to reproduce?”
“This female’s uterus shows severe, permanent damage, which would prevent her from bearing children. She is also showing signs of vitamin deficiency, sleep deprivation, and dehydration. There is some severe bone bruising on her ankle, but the laceration seems mostly healed. It will scar.”
“Get me a list of dietary needs after you’ve mended her,” I ordered.
“Of course.”
After some time, the medlights finished their work, leaving behind a pink scar where the knife had hit her.
They gracefully receded into the above panel.
The only thing they couldn’t fix was her blood loss.
Her heartrate was indicated on the side of the table and it was slow.
Too slow. The medbay could clone her blood type, but it would take a while.
What she needed most was rest and nourishment.
Just then, the door slid open again and Yuros walked back in wearing casuals, which was a form-fitting two-piece suit made of organic fabric. He had another stack of casuals in his hands and set them on a countertop.
“Clothes for both of you,” he said. “Until better suited attire can be produced for her, this will have to do. We are heading to Tallian space to fulfil our contract. We will decide what is best for the two of you while we travel.”
I nodded. “She needs rest.”
“There are vacant rooms below, near the cargo bay. Your valerian friend has already claimed one.”
“Humans cannot withstand the cold. She will need warmth.”
He nodded. “The valerian requested heat as well. We have heating orbs from the food growers that we can spare.”
“My thanks. For everything.”
He shifted his body so that he was facing me more directly and inclined his head.
“Ursa was a battle plenty will talk about for many cycles to come. I am honored to know one who was there. The Haak’s crew was strong.
You, my friend, are strong. From the Tuross bloodline as well. There are not many of you left.”
I nodded and he gave me the traditional salute again. “I will do what I can to aid you. And when your human wakes, I will hear her side.”