five
Molly
“Molly, get back. Strap in somewhere. Quick.”
Oz made a few more adjustments, and the view of the asteroid was replaced with a view of space outside. There was something big out there, past their ship. The view screen cleared even more, and Molly gasped to see another ship. It was enormous. The edges of two more ships just like it were visible on either side of the center one.
No. Panic flooded her body, and Molly froze in place, helpless. She wanted to throw her arms up to block the view as though it could somehow protect her.
Oz flicked absently at his communicator. “Captain, priority on the bridge.” His voice sounded calm somehow.
The ship lurch to the side, and Molly grasped at the seat. She pulled herself in, staring at the screen as she fumbled around and tried to hook the belt over her waist, but the connectors weren’t normal. She couldn’t make it work without looking at it, and there was no way she was taking her eyes off the menace outside. Blindly, she tied the ends together. What could it even matter?
The office door slid open, and the captain rushed out. He gaped for a moment, then drew himself up. “They’re everywhere. We’ll need to—”
He paused, seeming lost in thought. “We’ll need to try the…”
Oz and the captain glanced at each other. “The Barskledia-Gace Maneuver,” they said at once.
“Oz, you’ll have to talk me through it.”
“The photons will need to be at 38 degrees off-alignment. I’ll ready the helm.”
Molly watched as their hands flew over the two front consoles. A loud alarm sounded in the cabin. The lights went dim, and a red light started flashing.
The captain made a few quick clicks. The lights came back on, and the alarm was silenced. The sudden quiet filled Molly with even more unease as she could hear her panic, the quick gasps as she sucked air desperately into her lungs.
There were three large ships, sharp angles, like giant warbirds of doom with large teeth, and they were baring down on the Xeo Tarlith.
Molly’s heart had never beat so fast. She was going to die. She clung to the armrest and tried to remember how to breathe.
“Captain, we need point two alignment on the core, if we’re going to do this.” Oz’s voice was patient as though they had all the time in the world.
“On it,” the captain said. A moment later: “Ready.”
Oz’s hands had never stopped moving. “Good. It’s now or never,” he said. “Hold on Molly,” he called. He pressed a button and braced for something.
Suddenly the world spun out and became still, then lurched forward again. It was as though the whole ship was spinning. Something was wrong. The alarms had come on again.
Oz raised his voice over the alarm and began a countdown. “5… 4…”
His voice was calm as though they were walking across the beach on a summer evening, merely counting shooting stars.
When he reached one, he pushed another button, and they lurched the other way.
Oz studied the view screen for a moment more. “Now,” Oz commanded.
The captain, who’d had his hand hovering over the panel, immediately swung a lever.
The view screen was filled with explosions.
The captain clicked his communicator. “Team, emergency. Evacuate to the ship immediately. We’ll brief you once you’re back.”
Fyn’s voice came over the ship’s com. “On it, Captain. Light show noted.”
“Is it over?” Molly’s voice was shaky to her own ear. “Did you get them?”
“We’ve delayed them,” Oz said. “Captain?”
“Yes. Start the calculations.”
“Sir.”
~
Oz
As soon as the men hailed that they were docked, the Captain ordered Oz to set the course.
The crew came rushing up to the bridge. Oz found himself shook and clapped on the back by his crew mates, a slightly uncomfortable feeling.
“Oz, my man, you save the day again, brother?” Xain asked.
Oz glanced around, grateful to be alive and that they’d all made it. Molly was still sitting in one of the bridge chairs. His gaze caught on something unexpected: she hadn’t done up the straps correctly. At all. Was she actually tied in as in tied in? What the…?
He saw her working to untie the straps with trembling fingers. He rushed over in a couple steps, placing his hand over hers to stop her movements. She paused and looked up at him, terror still plain on her face.
He felt his heart go soft. “Let me do that for you.” He crouched down and reached over to work the straps loose.
Once he was done, he stood up placing his hand lightly on her shoulder, trying to lend some comfort.
“Captain,” Xain remarked, “I don’t mark anyone in our wake, but apparently that doesn’t mean much right now. We should get out of sight for a bit until we can take stock. We don’t want them tracking us back to Vargys space.”
“Yes. Take whatever precautions you can to obscure our trail. We’re probably leaking a mountain of ions from that little maneuver. We’ve slowed them down, but they’ll be back with reinforcements.”
“On it,” Xain said.
Oz felt a pang. They would need to stay out of this sector for some time now, but all he could think of was his mother’s worn face. He could only hope the team had stowed enough of the Varstath on their shuttle before this had happened.
“That was a tremendous light show you all put on.” Fyn said. “What was that?”
“The Barskledia-Gace maneuver,” Oz said, softly, still amazed it had worked.
Fyn whistled.
“What?” Haze asked, glancing over. “What are you all on about?”
Xain looked over from the console, where he’d been making adjustments to their flight path. “You know, Haze, that little bit of theoretical physics they named after its inventors: our buddy Ozien Gace here and his good friend, the great professor Kava Barskledia.”
“Oh.” Haze gave Oz a loud, painful smack on the back. “Good going, Oz. Glad you didn’t blow us all up.”
“So…” Xain glanced at Oz with a half-smile, his eyes big. “How did you not blow her up exactly?”
Haze guffawed at that.
“Our theoretical math was sound,” Oz said somewhat stiffly.
“Yes… but practically speaking…?” Xain needled him.
Oz shook his head, feeling light-headed. “I think I need to sit down.”
“Go for it. We’ll man the ship for a bit.”
“Oz.” The captain clapped him on the shoulder, much more gently than Haze. “Nice work. I’ll put you in for a commendation. Thank stars, you were on hand to crunch the numbers for us, real time.”
“Thanks, Captain.”
“Oz?” Molly asked, looking up. “I’ll come with you?”
Oz glanced down. “That’d be nice.” He reached down to help her up.
“Thanks. I think I need to sit down too. …Er, somewhere not here.” She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm to clasp him lightly.
As they walked back toward the crew quarters, his tail flicked against the wall nervously. Somehow the tiny human was not completely repulsed by him.
Oz sat in a dining room seat feeling truly exhausted. Molly sat beside him.
“What was that you did anyway? Were we spinning or something? The viewscreen was all strange; I couldn’t tell.”
“Yes. I had to hack all of our safety controls so that we could do a tight spin at speed. I sprayed the ships around us with torpedo locators, and we set them to blow up at close distance. There was at least a 70% chance we would get blown up in the process, from either the torpedoes targeting us, or the core blowing up, or the pressure sheering the ship in two. The professor and I were pretty sure we could compensate with alignment adjustments, based on a few in-scenario measurements.”
“Wow. Glad I didn’t know that. I had a feeling but… yikes.” Her voice dropped. “You both stayed so calm. With the alarms going off and everything.”
“It’s one of the things we learn during all that training. There’s no benefit to allowing your emotion into the situation.”
“Easy enough… Just skip that pesky emotion part.” She smiled at him.
“It takes practice,” he admitted.
Just then the captain and his first mate joined them. “Xain has us in a particularly dense ion cloud. We should be able to patch things up and run some system checks without anyone finding us.”
“Their stealth technology has come a long way, Captain,” Oz said. “We didn’t even have any warning. It was only that I was looking at one of the side monitors and noticed a rather large disturbance. They’ve masked themselves almost perfectly. I will adjust our sensors to help detect this new anomaly, but it was a close thing. I don’t know how they did it, especially to hide something as large as three ships.”
“The problem is,” Fyn added, “if we alert the Council, they’ll want to know where it happened and all of the details. How will we explain what we were doing so close to Suhlik space?”
“I can say I found an interesting reading,” Oz offered, “and we were checking for a Suhlik incursion. Certainly we found one. They still won’t be happy, but it at least might allay a court martial.”
“Can you back-check the data?” the Captain asked.
“It’s not like it will be the first time, Captain. Although this time it will face a bit more scrutiny. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve had some practice.”
“I’ll alert my father in some vague way,” Fyn said. “He’ll take steps to get it to the right channels for us.”
“Good, good.” The captain turned to Molly. “That was a bit of an adventure. I say you’re holding up very well.”
“We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore,” she said, smiling as though she’d made a joke.
“Kansas?” he asked.
“It’s her home state,” Oz supplied.
“Eh? Yes, right. No, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
Molly smiled again. “Nope.”
“I should probably get back to engineering to get the report ready. It may take some time to finagle the records, but I’ll let you know once I have everything up to standards.”
Molly stood up. “Can I go with you?”
“Sure. I think I also have a tour to finish.”
“The tour, right. You owe me.” She slipped her hand through his arm, clutching it a little tighter this time.
Molly seemed to need some reassurance. She was a civilian. This couldn’t be very easy for her or even slightly within the realm of her normal experience. He kept forgetting she was not one of them.
She was every bit as alien as she looked.
~
Molly looked up at him as they wandered down the hall in the crew quarters. “You all fight so well, not just with that crazy ship stunt today, but also in The Pit yesterday. Have you always been training to do this, since you were a child even? Or did it just come naturally?”
Oz’s mind flooded with warm memories of his primary mother. She had been patient with him, laughing easily and making the small, required things fun. Some of his brothers from his verlok, although they were not Mahdfel, had even joined in for a time.
“I learned a few forms from the time I could walk. But my training began more in earnest when I turned six and joined some of the Vargys-Mahdfel training camps.”
This had been the time when he’d finally realized how different he was from the others of his verlok. He would not grow up with his verlok brothers, the ones who shared the Vargys mothers and fathers of his verlok. Instead he would join this other Vargys-Mahdfel group: the almost outcasts; the boys fathered by Mahdfel; the few on the Vargys planet who had only one mother and one father.
It served no purpose to live in that time. “It’s such a long time ago.” He gestured and felt the pain of loss pass beyond and again into memory.
He smiled softly to Molly. He gestured to the ladder down to Engineering. “After you?”
As she climbed down, he held himself back. He wished to touch her hand upon the railing, anything to feel some small connection with her, but he did not wish anything that might ruin this small moment between them.
Once they reached the bottom, she glanced about the room. “Everything is so high-tech here. It’s amazing.” She moved to the high wall at one side, filled with most of the main monitors and base controls for the heart of his ship.
He stood beside her, keeping a space between them so as not to crowd her, and felt a small vibration pass through him at her nearness.
“Did you like the training?” she asked, glancing over at him and back at the controls, seeming to study them closely.
Apparently Oz would not get away from such memories so easily. Oz thought about it for a moment. “I did actually. There is something fulfilling about it as though you were born to it, and the movements are part of you. They just need permission to be released. I made many new brothers there, a new family with the same purpose. Xain is one.”
Xain had been his first friend among the Mahdfel. As soon as they had learned of it, they had pledged to be Bond Brothers, although it was a Vargys’ custom. Usually it was between non-biological males who formed a verlok together, but were they not Vargys as much as they were Mahdfel?
Xain and Oz lived in a time of war with the Suhlik that would probably last their lifetime and beyond. If one died, the living one would raise the other’s son. If it were possible, they would have formed a verlok with their females. It was not possible.
“We all took to the training so easily. It helped to be with others like ourselves, since we couldn’t stay with our families. All of us Vargys-Mahdfel are similarly gifted in the ways of war.”
She was staring up at him with a certain sadness. “I suppose that would happen with my son as well, assuming—” She broke off. “You know, assuming the pregnancy went without a hitch.”
He did reach toward her then, grasping her hand lightly, wishing to reassure her, but no words could make their way past his closed throat. There were no sure things when it came to being with a Mahdfel. He could not lie to himself or her about that.
She pulled away. “I’m stupid to bring it up. It won’t change anything.” She gestured toward the front of engineering, past the ladders. “What’s through here?”
Oz felt relieved at the change of subject. “A few storage areas. Just past it is our shuttle bay. Would you like me to show you our shuttles?”
“Actually, that’s all right. I think I’ll head back to my room now. I’m still trying to adjust to everything; probably there’s at least a few time zone changes happening here.”
“Perhaps I can escort you again to dinner?” He reached over to push back a lock of her hair that had fallen endearingly in front of her eyes. He paused for a moment, still clasping the bit of her soft hair in his hand, wishing to move closer, to quiet the restless energy coursing through him at the thought of her moving away from him.
He tried to let the feeling pass through him, but it seemed to have wedged into his chest like a painful but pleasurable ache.
She pulled away, severing the connection. “That sounds nice,” she said, her gaze dropping away as though she didn’t like to look at him. As she climbed up the ladder, he watched quietly, feeling lost. Any reassuring words he might say to her remained stuck firmly in his throat.
“Actually. Haze,” he finally said.
She glanced down toward him from the landing.
“If you need anything, Haze…” Internally, he grimaced but pushed on. Why exactly had he gone here? “Haze is our guy. When he goes planet-side, he tends to have good contacts. Maybe he can get you, you know, whatever you might need.”
She smiled slightly, the uneasiness not quite leaving her eyes. “Thanks. I’ll see what I might have forgotten.”
After Molly left, Oz studied the sensors and programmed a few more settings, deep in thought. Obviously she was afraid. She had every reason to be.
Perhaps he could do some small thing to help. Oz reached for one of the spare crew bracelets and set about programming in a few extra settings. He couldn’t control everything, but at least he could give her a way to communicate to him or the crew whenever she needed to. It wouldn’t keep her safe from the things she was truly afraid of, or give her the ability to talk to the people she truly missed, but at least it would be something.
~
Molly
At dinner Molly sat beside Oz again. She sidled her chair closer to him, trying to stay unobserved, like it was just a casual tweak to her chair’s position. She didn’t want to be so far away from him, outside of his relaxed, warm presence where it was safe.
After dinner, he stayed to sit beside her, the other men gradually moving off in separate directions. Fyn claimed that Oz deserved time off and commanded him to stay, while ordering the rest of the men to work repairs.
As they left, Oz reached over and put his hand on hers, tracing her fingers gently. His eyes met hers, and she felt her insides do a nervous, little dance.
“Are you doing all right?” he asked, turning her hand, palm up.
Molly shook her head, watching him trace her hand, so much easier than meeting his gaze. She didn’t trust herself to hide her thoughts, and she couldn’t bear to have him read her expression.
“Not really,” she whispered. She could manage that much truth.
He paused and looked up at her.
Her gaze darted away, back to her hand where he was still touching her. She struggled on. “I’ve never almost died like that. I mean, in the war, yes, everything’s scary. You go into this suspended life, like hibernation. Nothing matters. But it was somehow remote, even while Joe was fighting them. I just tried not to think about it too closely, so I could function, make it through the day.”
“What was Joe like? He was your brother?”
She closed her eyes, pulling her hand away to clasp in her lap. She remembered her oldest brother only vaguely now, but like an open wound that hadn’t healed quite right, the way his absence tore at her parents every day. The way he used to pull on her pony, poke her mercilessly. His big, open smile and loud laugh.
She glanced back up, smiling softly. “He was a big joker. Always gave me trouble, teasing me. I was just a little kid then. Mostly he was this funny prankster, always making me and my friends laugh. Then he went off to fight for us, and I never saw him again. At the time, my other brothers were young enough that they weren’t called, but it was getting to that point. The Earth forces were desperate, they needed more men or just more bodies. Then you all showed up, rescued us.” Molly clutched his hand, his nearness warming her. She glanced up at him. “It was such a close thing for us.”
Oz reached forward and touched her face. “I wasn’t there. I was still in Academy, but I know what you mean. It’s what the Mahdfel do. Anything to wipe out those lizards, wipe them from existence. Obliterate them completely.”
He reached into his pocket. “I made you something that I thought you might like to wear.” He laid a thin bracelet down on the table.
She reached over to study it. “What is it?”
“It’s like my own. You can use it to call us, if you ever need anything, if we ever get separated. I can use it to locate you.”
Oz hesitated and reached over to strap it onto her wrist. He traced her hand again with his thumb and smiled. “I feel better already.”
She pulled it to her chest. It felt like a precious gift. “So do I, to be honest.”
“Want me to walk you down?” he asked.
She met his eyes for a moment longer, and warmth flooded through her. His gaze was so beautiful; she wanted to sink into it. He was like this big, beautiful, quiet force that she wanted to be sucked into.
“Yes, please.”
As they reached the bottom of the ladder and turned to go toward her cabin, she fell into step beside him. They stood for a moment outside her door.
“I should go back to engineering. I have a few small details that I should add to my reports.”
She nodded silently, feeling somehow pierced inside. “Yeah.”
“Can we do the…?” He was holding his hand out to her, a mischievous expression on his face.
“What? Oh.” She couldn’t help grinning. She shook his hand again, turning it to the side.
He reached up to lightly press his hand against her cheek. “I will see you in the morning, for the break-fast?” Again his gaze burned into hers.
Whoa. Her cheeks burned. “Yes.”
He reached around her and swiped her console. “Have a good night.” He stood there to see her in.
“You too.”
She took a step into the door, turning to watch him as her strode away from view, her presence keeping the doors stuck open.
She sighed deeply as she moved into her room and collapsed on the bed. He was killing her completely.
She got up slowly and changed into her nightgown, placing her new wrist band on the counter near the bathroom as she brushed her teeth and washed her face. She’d have to ask later whether it was water-proof.
She clasped the band in her hand as she climbed into bed. He was endearingly thoughtful.
She hugged it to her. How did I get so lucky?
~
Oz
As Oz worked on a few final adjustments to his reports, he noticed a movement in his peripheral vision. One of his sensors was malfunctioning.
Could be nothing but… at the same time…
On the screen, a hazy gray, strong distortion moved across his view. Moved. That’s when he knew.
He started a coded transmission to the command center and the captain. Then he realized what he was seeing and where the disturbance had originated from, and his body went cold. A fierce, wild anger overtook him like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He was flying up the ladder before his tools hit the floor.