Alec sat in the dark, the wind rocking the treehouse back and forth gently. Usually it was a comforting sway, the whistle of the wind through the cracks in the reeds and the constant noise of the insects outside meant they were safe for another few hours.

But tonight neither the whistle of the wind nor the hum of the bugs could drown out the rattling breaths coming from her sister’s chest.

It couldn’t drown out her occasional whimpers of pain, or her soft words assuring Alec that it was going to be okay. That she had to do it. If Alec loved her, she would just do it.

The raid five days ago had been no less brutal or terrifying than any other. The Scylla were getting desperate to get their hands on the older set of kids, and Zhenya had tripped on a root as they’d run for the safety of the trees. He’d shouted out as he fell and Meg had turned back, ignoring Alec’s order to keep moving.

Alec had been closer than Meg, she could have gotten to Zhenya first, but her sister hadn’t listened. Meg had been quick, cutting down the first lumbering beast, but the second had sliced through her suit before she’d taken it down, and the third had stepped over the fallen bodies of his friends to spit its toxic sludge at Meg.

Zhenya was fine, physically. Alec knew he was just outside the door, waiting with the water Meg would soon start screaming for.

Most of the bucket had probably been filled with the tears he was quietly crying, even though it wasn’t his fault.

“Please, please just do it.”

Alec swiped at the tears on her own face, squeezing her sister’s hand gently, but even that made a little whimper of pain leave Meg’s lips.

“Just hang in there a little bit longer. Ilsa took Gregori and Liliya to find some red bark for you.”

Meg managed a grin, but it quickly faded into a grimace, her face twisting in pain.

“It’s the wrong season, and you know it.”

It was the wrong season, and they hadn’t yet been able to find any of the red bark in this sector. It was the only thing that helped dull the pain of the infection as it spread to consume the internal organs.

Sage had taught them how every environment provided toxins and anti-toxins, nature creating balance, but she had died before discovering what, if anything, was the anti-toxin in their environment to kill the infection.

Alec had obsessively gone over their previous leader’s botany notes, over any information their elders had gathered about the unknown planet they’d landed on, trying to educate herself so she could protect the people she’d been left in charge of.

It had been Alec’s burden to bear, her responsibility as the first human born on this planet, to take care of the others, and one by one Alec was failing.

The Scylla didn’t discriminate against human or animal. So long as it had a high enough percentage of water in its body, they could infect it.

Alec had discovered the red bark purely by accident.

She’d been hunting in the forest with some of the others and seen one of the six-legged deer-like creatures, body bloated, with its fur coming out in patches to reveal the black, blotchy skin underneath.

Alec had watched from her perch in the trees as the deer had eaten as much of the red bark off a gnarled tree as it could reach, and then staggered away from the small pond of water nearby to collapse under a bush.

She had been shocked by its behavior and watched the animal for the next three days. The bark hadn’t eradicated the infection, but it had seemed to allow the creature to die with a semblance of peace.

She had gathered as much of the bark as she could find, packed it into her satchel, and marked the area on her GPS to be able to find it again.

Alec had felt like a monster doing it, but the next time one of her people had been infected, she’d steeped the bark in hot water to make a tea and had made the woman, Lida, drink it.

The infection had continued to spread and grow, but Lida had gone into a coma and responded to none of the painful stimuli Alec inflicted on her.

Lida had died, painlessly.

The Scylla had grown in numbers every time one of their people had succumbed to the corruption, and it had become her responsibility to kill them before the infection could spread past six days.

Alec tried to find safe places for them to take refuge. They’d survived, barely, in the desert plains where the only water to be found came from the sky.

But they’d lost people to dehydration and starvation when they couldn’t find any food to sustain them in the harsh heat.

They’d tried the mountains, but had lost more people to climbing accidents trying to get up and down to hunt for food than they had to the Scylla.

The forest had so far been their best option. Their only option, really.

They could pick up and move from the different forested areas and use the trees as cover, the heat of the trunks and the disturbance the constantly moving branches made it so the Scylla’s echo locators couldn’t lock on to them unless they were within a few feet, the heartbeats of the animals and the movement of the trees messing with their range.

So, what humans remained alive had built treehouse-like huts high up in the canopy, securing rope bridges to travel along the green highway, taking them down and moving them as they went.

The red bark had become the only kindness Alec could offer her people when they became infected. In the last fourteen years, she’d gone from being responsible for just under a thousand to now having only seventy-five left.

By morning, the count would be seventy-four.

Meg’s veins were black under her fair skin, her body shivering now as the fever raged, and soon Meg would begin to vomit the gelatinous mess of her internal organs after the parasites were done sucking the water from her cells.

A few more hours.

Alec was determined to spend every last one of them with her sister. She brushed her hand through the curly mess of Meg’s hair, choking with the effort it took not to let the tears burning up her throat be heard in her voice.

“You’re right, it’s not the right season. But they’re looking anyway, and they’re not going to stop looking.”

Meg hummed a soft sound, her lashes falling down over her eyes, hiding the black streaks starting to feather into her pupils. 

“You shouldn’t be the one to do this,” Meg rasped, exhaustion and pain covering the gentleness of her words.

Alec forced a laugh. “Are you kidding? I’ve been threatening to kill you for years now. You think I’d miss out on the chance to finally make good on that?”

Meg smiled back, the lines of pain around her lips softening for just a moment. “Of course not. What was I thinking? Did you report?”

Alec snorted derisively, winding her fingers around every curl of her sister’s hair, remembering how they’d done that as children.

When they’d lay alone in their bunk, whispering back and forth about where their parents might be, if they’d found the others yet, when they would be returning.

But it had been twenty years.

Twenty years without word from the Sestrenka or any of the other ships. Alec had given up hope about fourteen years ago after Sage had died. But not Meg. Meg was convinced they were going to be rescued.

Alec wasn’t sure if her sister truly believed it or if she was just refusing to give in and share her despair. If she was just being unfailingly hopeful in order to keep everyone else’s spirits high. Hopeful, to keep Alec from giving up.

“No. I’ll do it in the morning.” She didn’t tell Meg that she’d stopped making the daily reports three months ago. She didn’t tell anyone. 

Even if by some miracle one of the other ships picked up the distress beacon and listened to her reports, it was likely that they wouldn’t be rescued.

The other ship wouldn’t want to take the chance of any of the people on the ground bringing the infection aboard, when there was no humanly possible way of treating it.

Alec had recorded everything they needed to know about the planet. About the Scylla. It was enough. And if someone did come down to rescue them, only to find no trace of them left, it wouldn’t be a mystery what had happened.

Meg opened one bloodshot eye and gave her a droll look. “Bullshit. You haven’t made a report for months now.”

Alec laughed, a few tears streaking down her cheeks, because she should have known better.

Meg was her twin, her identical twin, and there was no lying to someone who had the same facial expressions and tone of voice as you.

“What’s the point, Meg? It’s been twenty years. No one is coming.”

“I know.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock to hear her sister agree with her. After all these years of Meg’s annoying hopefulness, insisting to anyone who ever made comment that they wouldn’t be found or rescued, that it would happen if they just stayed strong, now her sister was agreeing with her? It only made Meg’s imminent death that much more real.

“Don’t say that. You don’t get to be a pessimist. That’s my job.”

“Pish,” Meg slurred. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been all this time, being the dopey optimist? Your job, oh illustrious Firstborn, is to lead us, and mine is to support you. Was.

“I have to tell you, it’s kind of a relief to know that job is almost over. You’re a tough act to keep up with, sister. Exhausting, actually.”

Meg’s attempt at playful banter made Alec’s tears fall and her laughter sound thicker than normal. Like she was choking on it.

Meg squeezed her hand and all playfulness ebbed, while she shuddered as the pain of her internal organs being sucked dry of water began to intensify.

“Meg,”

“Make your report, Alec. Sage made it her last request. I’m making it mine. Keep making the reports. Someone will find it, some day. Don’t let them forget us.”

Alec took shallow, panting breaths to get past the sobs that built in her chest. That was as good a reason as any to keep making the reports.

Sage had asked, Meg was asking, and Alec would do it even if no one ever heard them, so that they weren’t forgotten. She nodded, hoarsely calling out to Zhenya.

The boy who ducked into their little cabin was only thirteen. His mother had been infected five years ago, and once she’d succumbed to it, Meg had made it her personal mission to see Zhenya survived for as long as possible.

The dark-haired kid worshiped Meg, and the guilt that ravaged his pretty face was almost as excruciating to see as it was to watch the parasites take over Meg’s body.

“Go get my pack. Meg is going to make the report with me.” Alec didn’t say it, but the end of the sentence hung heavily between the three of them.

They would make a report together, one last time.

He hurried back out and got her pack, kneeling next to her when she nodded. She would have put her arm around him, but she wouldn’t make him feel weak when he was trying so hard to be strong for Meg.

He dashed the tears from his pale cheeks and sat with her, rummaging around in her pack until he found the bulky black box that she recorded all their daily logs into.

So many times she’d thought about tearing the damn thing apart to use the battery for the last of their laser fences.

The tiny thermo-nuclear battery could have powered it for months, maybe even years. But a laser fence did nothing except trap them in one place long enough for the Scylla to infect them. 

Zhenya was staring at it so hard that she wondered if he was having similar thoughts of smashing it open to get the battery.

Maybe Liliya could even have rigged it somehow, if only to recharge the few ion pistols they had.

“Zee?”

His eyes were huge when he looked up at her, his developing Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed loud enough to hear.

“A light is blinking.”

Alec frowned, taking the recorder from him. There weren’t any lights to be blinking except the one that showed how much battery life was left.

And the other one that she’d never been able to turn on or off, no matter how she had pushed the little button on the side, she just figured it was broken.

But he was right. That little light was on and blinking green.

Meg shrugged weakly when she looked at her, baffled. “Push the button. See what happens.”

Alec pushed it, and had she not been sitting would have fallen to her ass in shock. A huge, masculine voice filled the room. The first voice they’d ever heard come from... somewhere else.

“Alec, Firstborn of Moika. Greetings. I am Commander Kalix of the Sarazen Warship Five. We are allies with your people, sent to search for you by acting commander Clary Starborn, of your Earth ship, Aria.

“She and the remainder of her crew are safe on our homeworld, awaiting your return. I have a message from her aboard the warship for you.

“We have located your distress beacon, listened to your recordings and are on our way to you now. My warriors and I will be clad in full armor. Do not panic or run from us, as we mean you no harm.

“If you have infected personnel, we are equipped to offer treatment, and though I pray it is not the case, if we are unable to render treatment, we have the necessary tonics to give a painless death.

“We will leave no one behind. We will locate you using our ships scanners and come as soon as the suns rise. Stay where you are and allow us to come to you.”

––––––––

Blood pounded in her ears as the message ended, the silence almost deafening as the shock overwhelmed her. Whoever these people were, they had medicine.

Alec swallowed thickly as her gaze turned to the knife strapped to her thigh. The one she used to ensure those infected by the Scylla died as painlessly as possible. The one that had taken countless lives to spare others.

The one she would have used to kill her own sister.

A few more hours and Alec would have done it. She would have killed Meg to spare her any more pain, and wouldn’t have looked at the recorder or heard the message from these people claiming to be allies.

She jumped a foot when from outside, someone screamed at the top of their lungs. 

“ALEC! THERE ARE LIGHTS IN THE SKY!”

Meg hummed, squeezed her hand and smiled crookedly. “See? Told you someone would hear the reports.”

Alec scoffed in answer, fighting her way through the shock and feeling of sickness.  

“We’ll talk about that bullshit later. Zee, you stay with Meg. You stay with her, you hear me?”

The boy nodded so fast his head was in danger of flying off his shoulders, but he took her place holding Meg’s hand, looking at her with a huge grin splitting his face.

Alec threw the recorder down and got up, catching herself on the balcony when she ran out, looking up into the tree tops.

Sure enough, she could see a streak of lights in the sky, moving in formation over their heads. She cupped her hands around her mouth and sucked in a huge breath.

She could see what remained of her people, craning their necks to see where the lights would go next, but locked on her when she shouted at them.

“EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!” Silence, not even so much as a whisper was her answer. “I got a message on the log recorder,”

Her voice cracked, but she pushed on as the insidious burn of hope started to bubble up, threatening to choke her.

“Someone found the Aria. Found our distress beacon. They listened to our reports, and they’re coming. Those lights are our rescue.

“They’ll be here before sunrise and apparently in full body armor. I don’t know what that means, but I figure we’re going to know it when we see it.”

“Rescued? We’re being... rescued?” someone called from across their tree top village and she nodded, seeing eyes filling with tears in the torchlight.

“We’re being rescued.” Alec confirmed. “Micha, get Gregori on radio, tell him and his scouts to come back. Now!”

*****

Everyone was tense and on edge waiting for these people, these Sarazens to come and find them. Some of her people had argued that they should get out in the open, make it easier for their rescuers to find them. Alec had almost blown a gasket.

She understood how eager they were to get the hell off this planet. She was so ready she didn’t even care that the people coming to get them were very likely not human.

But the man, Commander Kalix, he’d used Clary’s name. He had used the name of Sage and Sully’s daughter, and said there was a message from Clary waiting for her.

Based on that alone, Alec would have run full tilt aboard the waiting ship.

The twin suns, Alecto and Megara, named after her and Meg on the day of their birth rose over the treetops to shine brightly. At the sight of their brilliant light, Alec held her breath and waited for her blood pressure to ease.

“If a single one of you moves from this location, delays the time in which my sister is able to get medical treatment because you fools made these people waste time tracking you down, I will kill you myself. We will WAIT!”

“Alec?” She turned at the sound of her name, how small it was on Zhenya’s lips. Lips that were trembling spoke, “Meg just threw up.”

The urge to do the same hit Alec hard, but she choked it down as she nodded and palmed his hair.

“They’ll be here soon. Can you wait with her just a little longer?”

Zhenya sucked what sounded like a huge glob of snot back down his throat and nodded. He straightened his shoulders and stood at his full height, repeating the words they said to every one of their infected people.

“I’ll stay with her ‘til the end.”

Alec gave him a tight nod, barely able to force out a thank you. Zhenya ducked back inside and Alec quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks before anyone could see them, turning her head when she heard the whistle signaling movement to the west. 

Alec watched in a bit of shock as the biggest men she’d ever seen—and she had to assume from their size alone that they were male—walked into the clearing under their small settlement in full body armor, just like the message had said.

There were well over a hundred of them on foot, their armor silver and gleaming in the rising light. They looked like robots, or cyborgs straight out of one of her father’s old horror movies.

They looked undefeatable, gargantuan, and able to protect them against anything the universe could throw their way.

Alec stared down at all of them, and part of her, a deep, dark part was enraged they hadn’t come sooner. Even though she knew it was irrational, knew she should be crying, jumping for joy, grateful someone had finally come...Alec burned with fury.

One of them stepped forward past the main group, shushing someone behind him when he removed his helmet, and her breath caught at the sight of his face.

He had human-looking features with magenta tattoos inked onto the sides of his head. The strange glyphs were interrupted only by the thick chestnut stripe of his hair, a Mohawk that cut from his prominent brow back down the center of his skull in a long tail.

Alec couldn’t see his eyes from this distance, but she could feel the weight of them searching for her, like he could see her from her perch high up in the canopy.

“I am Kalix, Commander of Warship Five. I would have words with your leader, Firstborn of Moika, Alec.”

His voice was so powerful that Alec couldn’t have been surprised if every living thing in the forest had heard him.

Her people looked up from their open mouthed perusal of the armored warriors, staring at her expectantly, and waiting for her to move. 

Alec sucked in a deep breath and curled her hand around the rope in front of her, ready to take the leap.

*****

Kalix could smell the humans, hear them whispering above him, but he could not see them. He knew where they were from the scans made in the night, but they were so well camouflaged in the trees even his keen eyes couldn’t pinpoint their location from the ground. Kalix called up to them and waited in silence with his warriors for her answer.

“Commander, you should not be without your helmet until we know we can treat the infection.”

He heard Dax’s warning through their comlink and growled softly. “Be silent.”

A handful of leaves fluttered down from above, drawing his attention upwards. Kalix could hear a soft hissing sound and was mildly impressed to see who he assumed was the human female he needed an audience with drop out of the cover of the branches.

Her foot was hooked in a loop of rope, her arm curled around the thick length to steady herself, the muscles in her arm flexing as she halted her descent the height of two warriors above him.

He watched with no small measure of appreciation as she unhooked her foot and flipped off the rope to land in a graceful crouch before him.

She had on some kind of strange costume decorated with fabric to mirror the colors of the forest. A long blade was strapped to her back, another to her hip, and a headdress of some kind protected her face.

It was the skull of a creature with protective lenses placed in the eye sockets, fronds of a slick material made to cleverly shield her face from the substance used by the creatures they called Scylla.

It was quite an impressive visage, no doubt also meant to intimidate an enemy. Or perhaps confuse them into thinking the humans were not so much prey, but predators.

She was about the same height as the Asho’na, had the same curved figure as Clary, but Kalix could tell her body was fit for battle. Fit for survival. Far more so than any of the females from the Aria.

She curled her fingers under the edge of the skull and slid it up so that the sharp-looking teeth rested just above her eyebrows, revealing a face so beautiful as to make even him rethink his desire to take a mate. 

He could scent her anger. Her fear. Her relief. She lifted her pointed chin proudly, blue eyes bright with resolve, and faced him without showing any outward signs to say she was afraid of he and his warriors.

“I’m Alec. Thank you for coming.”

Her voice quavered slightly, causing his beast to chuff inside him with the desire to soothe her. Despite such a need, he would not dishonor her show of strength.

“We are relieved to find you alive. Your last message was recorded some time ago.”

A little look of shame feathered across her exquisite features, but she smiled tightly.

“It was. I have seventy five personnel ready to be evacuated, and one is infected.”

Only one? Kalix was relieved. “How far has the infection progressed?”

“She has just begun to vomit. It won’t be much longer for h-her.”

The female stumbled over her last word, the scent of grief exploding from her pores so powerfully, even in full armor he and the warriors closest could catch the scent of it. Whoever the female was, she was dearly important to Alec.

“We have a quarantine lab set up for anyone infected. Once on board, our medics will immediately begin determining course of treatment.”

“What treatment?” Alec demanded, and if not for the situation, he would have been amused by her ferocity.

“I suggest we discuss it aboard the warship. My warriors to the east report movement of your Scylla, heading this way.”

As if punctuating his words, the far off sound of plasma fire from their battalion of fighter ships was heard.

Kalix touched his ear as report came through of their weaponry being more than sufficient in destroying the creatures.

“Plasma fire seems to work to destroy them, but I still suggest we get underway. Do you require assistance lowering the infected female from above?”

Alec shook her head quickly, “No. We’re all ready to move.”

“Then do so. We have a shuttle waiting in the clearing not far from here.”

Alec took a step back and put her fingers to her mouth, making a shrill, sharp call to the trees above. The pitch and volume was enough to make him wince.

“Remove your head covering and put that around your neck.” Kalix took the torc from his belt and offered it to her.

Alec seemed uncertain, skeptical, but after a moment obeyed him and removed the headdress, shocking him as a curtain of silver curls fell free.

The hair of her brows was dark, but her curls were nearly white, and so unlike any of the human females from the Aria, for a moment all he could do was stare.

Kalix did find it strange, when she pushed the mass of it out of her face, the left side of her head was shaved nearly to the skin. From the braid plaited back along her temple, to the base of her neck where her hairline ended.

Kalix would have asked her about it, but she dropped her headdress and slid the torc around her delicate throat, tensing when he moved closer, her hand straying to the short blade on her hip. 

“Peace, human. The torc will take your genetic imprint and respond only to you. Touch the left end.”

Alec reached across her body, still not having taken her hand off her blade, like a true and battle tested warrior, and touched the end of the torc.

She jumped at the prick of the small needle, her eyes narrowing in distrust, but Kalix nodded and indicated the right end.

“Now the armor will activate and take your specific shape. One tap to activate the body armor, another tap to release it. To activate and release the helmet, touch your thumb to your fourth finger.

“It will protect you far better than your coverings should we be forced to engage the Scylla. I would remove your blades before activating it, otherwise you will be unable to reach them once the armor engages.”

Kalix stepped back to give her room to do so and not feel threatened, finding himself rather proud of her when she didn’t take her suspicious eyes off of him, or any of the warriors close by.

“I like this one. I hope she calls my beast.”

Kalix whipped his head around to pin the warrior with a glare, curling his lip to silence him, glad at least the fool had spoken in their own tongue.

“Damn, that’s cool.”

Kalix turned around to see that Alec had engaged the armor and was examining the metal now molded to her body.

She was tall enough, her appearance familiar enough to have been mistaken at first glance for one of his own people.

His perusal of her in Sarazen battle armor was interrupted when more leaves showered down on them, drawing his gaze upwards with a jerk.

His brow lifted to see the number of humans sliding down the thick ropes, all settling nervously on the ground behind their leader.

“What... are you wearing?” One of her females walked forward, raising her animal skull headdress as she moved, poking Alec in the back and flicking the metal with her fingers as though testing its strength.

“Their version of body armor.” Alec grunted. “Where’s Meg?”

The female jerked her chin up. “Zee is making sure she’s put in the sling comfortably. Do we all get this?”

The warrior to his left stepped forward, making the other female leap back and put hands on her weapons. She stopped when Alec hissed a sound at her.

“Easy. Take your weapons off and your helmet, put that on and touch the left prong. It bites, but it will somehow make all this when you touch the right prong.” Alec held her hands out to the sides to show off the armor.

Every human dropped their helmets to the ground and took the torcs offered to them. Even the handful of small ones were eager to try it.

Kalix found himself smiling when two of the very young males turned to one another, looked each other up and down, and raced toward each other to collide chest to chest.

They laughed hysterically when they both bounced backwards and fell to the ground, eager it seemed to do it again.

“Eh! Quit that, fall in line,” Alec ordered tersely.

The young ones jumped up, still grinning like fools and stood in line with the others, whacking and punching at one another when Alec turned her back.

“COMING DOWN!”

Without being asked, the humans moved to accommodate the basket-like contraption being lowered down the trees, reaching up to steady it and lower the occupant gently to the ground.

Alec purposefully strode to the basket, kneeling down beside it to brush the tangled white hair from the female’s face.

“Still with me, Meg?” The scent of grief poured from Alec again, and when Kalix moved closer he understood why.

Though the female was obviously sick, obviously close to death, her skin lackluster and grayish, she was the identical copy of Alec. They were twins.

The twin girls in Captain Yuri’s report and the first humans to be born on this planet.

Kalix knelt beside Alec and let his eyes move over the prone form of her sister, able to smell the decay on her flesh. Smell the agony and vomit, see the insidious black lines of the female’s veins. Hear the weak beating of her heart as it feebly pumped the parasites through her system.

“I will carry her.” Alec opened her mouth to likely tell him no, but Kalix leaned closer to stare into her eyes, hoping to impress upon her the fact that she no longer had to fight for her people to survive.

He and his warriors were more than capable of providing such a service with pride. With honor.

“I would be honored to do so, please.”

The dying female made a sound, deliriously begging for water, trying to weakly claw at her throat.

The movement spurred Alec to nod and moved out of the way, allowing him to scoop up her sister and lift her against his chest.

His beast cringed when she cried out in pain, at the slightness of her weight. She weigh no more than their smallest young one.

Kalix lifted his head, refusing to meet Alec’s eyes lest she see his horror for the state of her twin.

“Move out. Squads of ten take our flank. The humans are to be protected at any cost! Dax!”

His second responded immediately from aboard the warship. “Here, Commander.”

Kalix lengthened his strides until he was almost running, Alec and a young male keeping pace beside him.

“I want a regeneration chamber made ready. Quarantine chambers in medical for one infected. There are seventy five humans in total, have the barracks shifted accordingly.

“Until each is cleared by medical, full quarantine procedure is implemented and the humans restricted to the barracks.”

“It is done, Commander. Am I to send a report to the Asho confirming successful retrieval?”

“Negative. Not at this time.”