Chapter 23
Riina still found her mind struggling with the idea of the birds and the canines going from adversaries to protectors, but that is what her eyes told her had happened.
The canines had formed a protective barrier around the freed prisoners.
It was completely awkward and frustrating that they couldn’t communicate with each other. The rescued prisoners stared at them. Some even spoke. She shrugged helplessly and told them she didn’t understand.
They probably didn’t understand that. It made her realize how much she’d relied on their tech to do things. The skills that real first contact required had been lost or left behind a long time ago.
Without the shuttle, without their ship, they were left with hand signals.
At least they had to know they’d rescued them. That they probably weren’t bad guys.
“We could probably transport the people,” Rinna said, “if we had the Quendala. We might even could fit them in the shuttle for a short time.” A short and highly uncomfortable time.
“If we knew where we were going,” Tim pointed out.
It was a big if, no question. She could only hope that Trac and Veirn’s fragment were finding that out.
“But the avians and the canines? I feel fairly certain that they are prisoners here, too. How do we save them?”
That earned a look from Tim that she generously called surprised and not incredulous.
Yes, she knew that none of the larger non-humans could fit on the Quendala. That didn’t relieve them of their responsibility to help them. She didn’t say this. Tim could rightly point out that right now they couldn’t even save themselves.
Their contact with the shuttle at the moment was limited. They’d had contact long enough to be told that they were working on accessing the systems of the facility without getting Trac’s brain taken over. At least, that is how Lt. Dish had explained it.
A large canine, the leader of the pack, Riina decided, as she studied it, approached them. Its head was lowered enough to signal—she hoped—non-aggression. It stopped some feet away and extended a paw. It had the same kind of electronic device as the avian had worn.
“You know that thing is probably controlling it,” Tim muttered. He sighed and then went up to it, kneeling to examine it.
Riina saw a flash, like the one that had freed the avian, and the device dropped to the ground.
In short order, the whole pack came over to be freed and finally the other large avian.
What Riina noticed, or thought she noticed, was that they had humans, birds, and wolves who were all hungry and thirsty and in need of medical care. Even the animals had wounds.
And then, because things weren’t strange enough, a flyer came into view, its movements as jerky and uncoordinated as the first flyer that had brought the doughy alien to meet them.
“Oh, that can’t be…” she began.
But it was. Only this flyer was armed.
“Something is happening with the blockade,” Veirn said, breaking a long period of silence.
Kellen had used the time to—reluctantly—consume some real food. He’d felt emptiness gnawing at his ability to focus and had addressed the issue, even though each bite had been like eating dust.
This had necessitated leaving the bridge. Now he headed back at a run. He could almost hear his past captains admonishing him that captains didn’t run.
This one ran.
He skidded onto the bridge and grasped the back of his seat, trying to catch his breath and see what had changed. He hadn’t, he realized, asked if the change was for the better. Looking at the screens, he’d have been hard-pressed to choose between better or worse.
“They are moving,” he muttered. He came around and dropped into his chair, changing the settings on one screen to get a different view. “Their formation appears to be contracting.”
“The formation is descending into atmosphere.”
Kellen examined this information from as many sides as his tired brain could come up with. And ended up back at better or worse. Which was it?
“If they start attacking the surface…” he began.
“I will initiate contact with the shuttle,” Veirn said.
“We should close the distance,” Kellen said. “If the shuttle can evacuate…” Kellen knew he didn’t have to explain to the AI why closer was better.
“Yes, Captain,” Veirn said.
Kellen blinked. The AI hadn’t exactly been following protocol for some time now. He wondered what the change meant.
“Is it possible that the shuttle is damaged?” Kellen felt his insides tighten at this thought. They’d seen signs of it transiting from one location to another, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t taken damage. “We have another shuttle. I could…”
“It would be unwise for you to leave the ship, Captain,” Veirn said.
It hadn’t reminded him of regulations—though as one of his human friends had said once, when this far from normal, regulations were really just guidelines.
“I can deploy the shuttle to the surface.”
Veirn could also pilot this ship without its captain, Kellen wanted to point out.
But there was something to be said for keeping the human factor in play when facing so much that was unknown.
Of course, sending the shuttle away left them with only escape pods if something went very wrong.
He suppressed a shudder at the thought. They were too close in size to the sleep pod he’d gone into so long ago.
“Do it,” Kellen said.
“Yes, Captain.”
“We have incoming,” Trac said over comms.
Tim stiffened, his gaze going upwards. At first, even his cybernetics couldn’t see anything but the murk that seemed to be a feature of this dismal place.
He just had time to wonder if the flyer had registered the incoming, when a line of bright line stabbed down and took out the flyer, leaving only bits of falling debris where it had been.
“That was handy,” Riina said.
“I hope so,” Tim said. The enemy of one’s enemy wasn’t necessarily one’s friend. At least in his experience.
If the non-humans and humans had been concerned by the flyer, they hadn’t had time to show it. Now they looked up, the expressions in their haggard faces turning eager.
Tim glanced around, looking for a place for them to retreat to, but they had the crater at their back and the rescued prisoners between them and any good cover.
Now he could see the flare of ships entering the atmosphere. It didn’t take long. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t a planet, he didn’t think. A sort of way station? It was possible.
The rounded bottoms of multiple discs emerged from the flares. They varied in size, but not in shape. The larger of them moved toward their location and then slowly settled above them.
No, mostly above the others. All of them looked up now, waving as well as they could in their weakened conditions. Some of them hugged.
“I guess they know who it is,” Riina said. She glanced back, but must have realized, as he had, that they had no where to go.
The large avian and the female human began to speak to the others. They shuffled toward her and some of them helped to boost her up onto the avian’s back. Then half of them scrambled up there, too. The avian lifted off and the other one landed, so that the rest of the humans could climb on.
“What about the canines?” Riina wondered.
They watched as the two avians flew up to the belly of the ship, saw it open to receive them.
“Well, that solves part of the transportation problem,” Riina muttered.
Tim wanted to step closer to, slide his arm around her waist, but he needed to keep his hands free, just in case.
“Why don’t you stand behind me?” he murmured.
“I don’t think either of us should move,” Riina murmured back.
He couldn’t argue with that, though he would have liked to.
The bottom of the large disc closed, and it lifted away to be replaced by a much smaller disc. This one pressed in closer. The side opened and a ramp slid down. The canines all trotted up this ramp. When Tim and Riina were alone, the ramp pulled in, and the hatch closed once more.
“Now what?” Tim muttered, as this ship lifted away from them.
“They could have said hello,” Riina said. “Or thank you.”
Tim thought about the haggard, purple female.
She will tell them, he thought. But yes, it would have been nice if they could have gotten star charts from them.
But that would have told these unknown aliens how vulnerable they were.
It was clear that the aliens in the ships had trust issues. Well, so did they.
The ships were rising, interacting with the thin atmosphere again. So many flares. So many ships. Would they ever know the story of this place?
“They are leaving,” Trac said, unnecessarily over the comms.
“They are jumping away,” came Kellen’s voice, his relieved voice, over their comms.
“Captain?” Tim was surprised he could get the word out. His was the last voice he’d expected to hear over the comms.
“How did you find us?” Riina said.
“It is a long story. Let’s get you all back on board and then we can talk.”
“Do you know the way home?” Tim had to ask it.
“Yes, well, Veirn knows the way home.”
And now Tim did turn to hug Riina. If they’d dared to lift their faceplates, he’d have kissed her.