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"<I've got this door, son.>" Colonel Optik slumped forward and slid his access card through a reader. The heavy security door to the exotic materials lab lurched back and forth against some rubble, but eventually shoved itself open. "<At least these doors run on batteries. Good to see... we ain't held back...>"

"<Colonel, take your time. We may only have a limited amount, but we must not waste any of it with injuries.>" Niishal manually shoved the metal door fully open in preparation for extracting his ætir. "<Is there pain yet? Is it harder to move or breathe?>"

"<Just a bit harder to suck down air.>"

Lirou helped steady the older soldier as they entered the lab. "Niishal, they aren't doing as well as we thought. We should have gone by ourselves."

"I cannot allow a father to sit back and do nothing for his child's safety. He..." Niishal sighed as he found himself staring at the Colonel, his gaze then drifting around the room randomly to break eye contact. "He will likely die. However his child may live. I am fully willing to accept his sacrificial choice if that is the outcome."

The Colonel broke free of Lirou's aiding grasp and led the way to their destination. "<I missing something here, son? We in trouble?>"

"<No. We were simply looking for my ætir.>" Niishal initially sped up his pace, but froze and looked behind the group quizzically. "<Where is Breen?>"

"<He ain't on our rear?>" Optik paused his movement as well and verified the party was only three strong. "<Breen? Lieutenant Breen?>"

"<Colonel! I need some help over here! We've got survivors!>"

"<Well if I ain't heard more merciful words-->"

Niishal forged ahead and forced open an unpowered door using brute force. "<Colonel, we have our own goal. If we do not bring the ætir back we are all doomed, not just those people.>"

"Niishal?" Breen slogged around the security door with a soiled, battered Eiita in his arms. "Niishal! Great Ones, you live!"

"By the Paths, Eiita!" The leader involuntarily reversed his progression and embraced his lover with his arms and vines. "You're injured. Your veile is hard to sense as well. What happened?"

"There was some kind of bright light. I was knocked down in our cell, and when Eiita woke me I could barely move." Eiita pulled herself over to her lover's arms and freed Breen's own. "I pulled some Terrans from the wreckage of this facility after Eiita repaired our muscles enough. With this deathly haze in the air we couldn't find you before we collapsed again."

"Well remind me to make it up to your veile, Eiita. If we find some bedding we'll ~celebrate~ for a whole damned cycle." Niishal huffed Eiita along as he returned to the mission, Lirou heading ahead of them to clear the path. "For now we'll focus on getting my ætir. We should be able to gain some sway with it now that the Terrans have destroyed their chain of command."

"<Damn... I guess we do need to push the line.>" Colonel Optik rejoined the others, waving down Breen as he slid another person into view. "<Lieutenant, get these people ready to move. We'll call if we need a hand.>"

"<Sir.>"

"Sweet All-Mother..." Niishal finally breathed a sigh of relief upon spotting his ætir on the far side of the deepest room, though wedged into a bent concrete wall. "It looks like Gaia's fate favors us. The ætir is in perfect condition."

The Colonel grumbled as he stopped beside his otherworldly comrades. "<Why'd ya' stop, son?>"

"<The ætir is just ahead. Take Eiita so I may help carry it instead.>"

"I'll break it free, Niishal." Lirou approached the mighty forge and braced the corners with her queoo. "This may take a moment. Find somewhere to lay Eiita down so--"

Niishal waved his vines wildly upon spoting the concrete wall shifting in place. "Wait, move back!"

"Great Ones...!" Lirou noticed the collapsing structure far too late for her own good. She eyed the ætir for a split second, then decided her own fate upon seeing Eiita in Niishal's arms. "Bring her joy enough for two, my Chleek."

"Lirou!?" The brave flower braced the wall with her back and shoved the ætir toward Niishal, the forge sliding to a stop as the wall fell completely over Lirou. Once the dust had settled, beams of sunlight poured in through the gaps where an entire mountain settled atop a friend and lover. "Lirou!"

---

"Eve!" Carbon bolted from Ex's side upon finding her wife. She pounced the enigma for a generous hug, only for Sydney to do the bodyguard thing and take the hit herself. "Oh, Sydney!"

"Paws off, Otter. I need to frisk you first." Sydney groped her wife's ass, gave it a slap, and shoved her toward Eve with a smile and a paw running down her tail. "All good."

"What? No cavity search?" Carbon kissed Eve and promptly returned to smooch her Meerkitten's visor as well. "I'm glad you guys are alright. We lost you for a while there, and now that makes more sense."

Eve grinned as she snapped out of her daydreaming daze with her blissful kiss. "We found some help. Meet your greater family, Chleek."

"I... I see that."

"In any case, we had to take cover. Exploding isn't on my agenda today." Cid sighed as she resigned her tough appearance to settle into a softer hug. "I'm glad you're safe. Where's Volk?"

"Not so safe. He took a little hit and Ex is finding somewhere soft to put him. Not easy in a rocky cave." Carbon pecked another kiss on Sydney's neck and broke their embrace. "What's the story here? We find anything we can use, Eve?"

"Yeah, I already told you. Don't you see your family all around, silly?"

"Oh... Oh, I see. You think you can Link with one and figure enough out?" Carbon returned a nod from her wife and began surveying the dim cave's various structures. "Keep pulling that thread. We have more enemies coming. I think we might be able to defend this area with some engineering, though."

"More? Six tanks weren't enough?"

"Well it's zero tanks now. We nixed the artillery and a lot of the ground troops too." The hybrid stared at a few children and a chill ran up her spine. "They look like my father... We... We need to get working on defenses."

"It's that bad? Fuck... You never make that face." Sydney rasped her knuckles on her otter's hard collar and broke away to visit Vasily. "Let me brainstorm a little. I'll come up with a few ideas."

"No explosives."

"And bury us all alive?" Cid smirked as she waved a paw and walked backwards. "Not on the agenda--remember?"

"Carbon, what about the landing craft?" Eve split herself in two so Sydney could hold one of her ring forms while she was away. "We're not stuck down here, are we?"

"The ones with good shielding are parked on the surface. The rest went back to the fleet. We have a few options if we can clear a landing zone." Carbon rubbed between her eyes as the stress started getting to her. "So what about your end? Any new info now that we've got the new family?"

"I haven't had a moment to strategize, no. I was distracted with something in my head already." Eve mimicked her mate to show her frustration. "I'm exhuming my most recent memories in smaller and smaller pieces. I think I'm reaching another roadblock."

"All the more reason to give a deep dive a shot. I don't have to remind you time's a valuable resource here..."

"I know. I just... Linking to a machine is one thing, but digging around in another person's head is intimidating." Eve flagged down Hori as she frolicked past. "<Hori, do you have a moment? I think I'm ready.>"

"<Ah, you've found your-->" Hori extended a vine as she stood at attention. "<Chleek! It's so wonderful to meet you!>"

"<Um... Thanks? You don't really need to stay formal with me.>" THe hybrid met that vine with her own, though she suppressed the implied Link for the time being. "<Call me Carbon.>"

"<Right. Evelyn mentioned that.>"

"<The lady also asked you a question.>" Carbon nodded as she sat to clean her shotgun. "<We'll have time to chat later. My mate has more pressing needs.>"

"<Oh, of course. We should talk soon though, as the rest of the family is doubting my claims about you...>" Hori froze as she noticed a hefty sea creature squeezing through the front door. "<Carbon, what is this beast you bring with you?>"

"<Hrm? Oh, Ceylon. He's from another planet we found along the way. He's very kind so don't fret.>" Carbon nodded with a smile as Ceylon looked her way, obviously reading his name from her head. "<Right, he talks with his mind. Don't freak out if you suddenly feel something like a Link near him. It also helps to formally request he not probe you too much.>"

"<Thank you for the warning. I'll keep that in mind.>" Hori sat beside Eve and offered all three of her queoo. "<So you're ready? I'm not sure what this entails, yet I'm willing to try.>"

"<Just form a Link with me and I'll do the rest. And if possible... focus on family, on old memories.>" Eve wrapped Hori's tendrils around one of her arms and her eyes shot open in mental shock. «Yes! Just like that!»

"<Never seen that look before.>" Carbon leaned in closer to her wife, but disappointingly stopped short of touching her for fear of disturbing the process. "<Looks like she's lost in you. Everything alright in there?>"

"<I... can see forever...>" Hori drooped her head in bliss, a drip of green blood from her nose betraying her bewildered state. "<I'm one with the universe!>"

---

"Niishal..." Eiita reached out and met her lover's hand as it grasped a dwindling candle. "It can wait--please. You don't need to beg for mercy every time we are close."

"No, that's not the case this time." Niishal used the candle to light another, revealing a jeweled holster beside it. "Her light shouldn't fade as ours glows brighter."

"As much as I love that side of you, it's hard to agree when you're inside me, Niishal."

"May the light guide you through the night until you next dawn may break, dear Lirou." The leader and lover finished lighting the next candle and met foreheads with Eiita in apology. "I couldn't leave her alone like that. With her Path lit... Shall we continue?"

Eiita shifted playfully below as mild payback for the plant riding her backside. "Yes, definitely."

Niishal ran his hand through the leaves of Eiita's head, frowning for a moment as he noticed more and more were withering or yellowed. "Let's celebrate the life we still have."

"You're... too kind to me, Niishal."

A pause of silence brooded over the unspoken topic, thankfully broken within seconds by Colonel Optik. "<Ah, shit... I didn't mean to-->" The friendly human sadly had been withering away as well, a heavy cough overtaking him for a moment. "<Damn, uh... Niishal, son... I think som'n might be up with my wife.>"

Niishal eased his planthood from his lover's dewed petals with a groan. "<You don't look so well yourself, Colonel. Are you feeling alright?>"

"<Finn, Niishal. You earned the right to call me by my name a long time ago.>"

"<Well that's the same person in that head after all.>" Niishal slowly rose and found his clothes. "<So what seems to be the issue, Finn?>"

"<I don't-->" Again the Colonel coughed into his sleeve, this time a patch of red staining the garment. "<Shit. Forget that. Vivian isn't doing well even though you used that contraption on her again.>"

"<The ætir? I stabilized her cells. She should be alright for the day.>" The plant exited his makeshift tent and headed over to the Colonel's corner of the laboratory. "<Show me. Something may have changed since I last examined her.>"

"<She's just been sleeping more than normal.>"

"<I told you to inform me of even small changes, Finn. I am not entirely sure how your bodies work yet.>" Niishal knelt beside Vivian's shamble of a bed and reached over to his ætir beside it. "<Vivian? Can your hear me? Are you awake?>"

"<...Finn...>" The doctor clutched her swollen belly as tears welled in her eyes. "<It... hurts...>"

"<We've been through seven months of the worst life could ever hand us. Don't you dare give up on me now.>" Niishal Linked to his device and ran his free hand over Vivian's body. "<The child appears healthy. My treatments have worked for her so far. But you...>" The plant paused with only a vacant stare over his face. "<...I am not sure why, but your cells are breaking down again. The treatment is... not working...>"

Finn's sickly face somehow drained paler. "<Niishal, what...?>"

"<Finn...>" Vivian reached out and grabbed her husband's hand, somehow able to smile through streaming tears. "<Did you hear?... A girl... She's a...>"

"<That is correct, as far as I can tell. She seems to lack the genetic marker that would make her male in your species, if my guess is correct.>"

"<A girl! We're having a girl, Vivian!>" Finn held his wife's hand tightly to his chest. "<So don't give up now, Vivian. We're so close. So... So very...>"

"<Entropy.>" Vivian's grip weakened in her husband's loving grasp, yet even still the woman smiled. "<All of my energy, my life... All of our love... went into bringing her to us...>"

"<Vivian, wait... Don't give up...>"

"<She's our Entropy, Finn... Our...>"

"<Finn, move aside.>" Niishal gently nudged his pained friend enough to resume his treatment. "<I will try my best. We will not let her die here.>"

"<No... Vivian...>" Finn shook in fear as his wife's arm went completely limp. "<Niishal... Our baby girl...>"

"<We... We can save her, yet.>"

"<No, I mean... Our daughter...>" Finn latched onto his friend's shoulder and forced the two to look into each other's eyes. "<Niishal, Even I can see I ain't gonna last much longer. If it comes down to it-->"

"<Finn, do not-->"

"< If it comes down to it , can I trust you from one father to the next?>" Finn bored deep into Niishal's brain with a serious stare. "<Take care of her if I can't. Be there for her... for Entropy.>"

"<...I will. I will, friend. But before that,>" Niishal pulled Finn over to his wife's legs before continuing, "<show me how your kind give birth. Your Entropy must begin her life before we can raise her.>"

---

"No!"

"Eve?" Carbon cradled her wife in her lap, soothing Evelyn awake to the best of her ability. "What's wrong? That's a hell of a bad dream you've been having."

"I... I wish that was only a dream." Eve lifted herself into a sitting position and took a moment to realize she was still Linked to Hori. "That was... much more vivid than most. I think I was meant to see that memory. It feels like... maybe the start of something big."

"So we're getting somewhere? Good." Carbon pouted as she noticed tears streaming down Hori's face. "That's rare for Yangurraa. What the hell did you two share?"

"I think..." Eve broke her Link with Hori and the plant calmed down. "Yea, definitely. I saw the birth of you mother. I don't know what it means quite yet though."

"You'll have to... share that with me some day, if you think I should see it." Carbon slowly stood and brought Eve with her. "It's about time for the fireworks to start. I'd recommend not trying that again if it knocks you out for so long. We may need to escape."

"How long was I out? My internal clock sort of stopped that time."

"Five hours, give or take. I always wondered why you daydream so much, but that seems to explain it." The hybrid dusted her suit off and reached for her shiny laser shotgun. "Get your bearings. I'll go join Sydney on the defensive perimeter."

"Y-Yeah. I'll get Hori somewhere safer too."

"Anywhere you need me to perch?" Iolvin matched pace with Carbon and gave the smaller mustelid a hard slap on the back. "I've got plenty of ammo and a will to live."

"Glad to hear it. You any good up close with that thing?"

"I've got a canted sight on her, but never actually tried it out." Yoyo pat a paw on the wooden holster on his hip. "Matilda should do fine if push comes to shove."

"Good. Find a spot near the way we came in. I think that's the most likely of the three entrances they'll take." Carbon slowed a bit to smile for Zoë as she followed them. "Your swordsmanship should come in handy there too. Just don't push into the fray if there isn't a true need for it."

"I have husbands to protect. Don't worry ab--"

A heavy explosion echoed through the cave, the shock-wave rumbling in everyone's lungs. Carbon didn't spot the source, instead checking with Eve as she knowingly pointed to the main entrance. "Go! I'll check the side flute. Use radios!"

"I'll keep you informed. Come on, kiddo." Yoyo bolted forward, his large stride leaving Zoë in the dust for a little while. "Lulu!?"

"She's at the rear. Eyes forward, big guy." Sydney placed her pistol at the ready on a barricade in case she needed it, then choosing to ready the rifle she borrowed from Vasily for an appetizer. "Visual! Give them time to bunch up so no ammo goes wasted. Yoyo, do the honors."

"Yes, ma'am." Yoyo grinned as Cid took honorific that the wrong way, then settled into a divot in the barricade to steady his railgun. "Bets on a kill shot?"

"That thing blows holes in tanks like they're tin cans. Of course it'll be a kill shot."

Themis slid next to his father and held his camera at the ready. "Twenty ration credits on someone's head popping."

"Please don't capture that." Phoebe pulled his twin brother back and out of the potential line of fire. "I've got this idiot. Do it, dad."

"Thanks, son. Let's see... You look important." Yoyo lined up his sights with a soldier wearing shiny polished-stone armor plating and shattered the whole of it with a charged shot, coincidentally sharing the enemy leader's brains with his subordinates. "Bingo. Light 'em up, boys and girls!"

"You heard the otter!" Sydney aligned her sights on a group and let loose a pair of bursts, signalling to the dozens of coalition fleet soldiers to follow suit. Many of Cid's rounds plinked off their targets' stone armor, but two of the group fell. "Fucking right. Fight to see tomorrow's sunrise, fellas."

"That's my line, you little thief." Vasily slumped next to Sydney and took back his rifle, obviously fighting back pain in his scorched arm and side. "Don't even say it. My kids are at stake here. I'm helping."

"You know I can't say no to you, or that. Just watch yourself--and ask for help if you need it you stubborn ass." Cid picked up her revolver and soon found her magnum .357 slugs easily punched through multiple enemies and their armor. "Huh. You can keep the rifle, Volk."

"And you can keep count. You know how this game goes." The husky switched to single-fire and popped two rounds into two helmets. "Two."

Another loud blast flashed from Cid's paw cannon. "Five."

Yoyo dropped out a magazine and reached back for Zoë, his reloading coordination with his wife leading to a very efficient killing platform. "Eight."

"Holy fuck, son. Making your dad proud."

"You taught me the best." The otter received his next mag and snapped it into place, resuming his assault once the next capacitor charged. "Ten. Buy one, get one."

"And what did I teach you about boasting? Do, don't tell." Vasily finished off his thirty round magazine and reached for another. "Twenty-two."

"Son of a bitch. Not a fleck of rust on that gray muzzle, dad." Yoyo pulled his bolt back between shots and grimaced as his recently spent shell wedged into the exit port. "Fuck. Keep it up, guys."

The radio clicked into action at just the right time to frustrate the otter. "Status report?"

"Carbon, we're getting hit hard. Real horse cock up the ass scenario." Yoyo finally managed to pop the shell casing free after a series of weaker attempts. "I need to get back to shooting. What's your sitrep?"

"We've got a light flanking team over here. Looks like Ari's tunnel is quiet." A heavy blast of standard shotgun shells shook Carbon's throat mic enough to overpower it. "We've got this covered over here. I'll send reinforcements your way."

"Thanks. Ammo, too. We'll need ammo at this rate." Yoyo ejected his partial magazine whilst he had the opportunity and took his freshly refilled spare from his wife. "Love you, Zoë."

The human picked up the new spare and went back to reloading. "Love you too, honey."

"Forty-fuckinFive!" Vasily dropped his second spent mag and engaged his third and last. "My son's spot on there, guys. Pace your shots. Hey, my favorite grandsons care to run ammo?"

"Sure thing, gramps." The boys skittered while hunched low to avoid taking searing plasma to their faces. "They're giving us a lot more return fire..."

"Pho, just grab ammo. They're almost to the next trap." Yoyo fired the last of his charged shots, dropping both the bullet and capacitor magazines out his rifle. "Em, look for more of these battery things in particular. I have a dozen more laying somewhere and normal shots suck."

"Sure, one sec." Literally a second later the young otter returned, his time dilation allowing him to gather two of the specialty mags. "Here. Make it last a bit."

"For a pacifist, you sure a hell know how to fuel a war." Yoyo reloaded his sniper but paused so the enemy would group up near their oncoming claymore-fueled deaths. "Thanks, son. Now cover your ears."

"On it." Rose clasped Themis' head to her chest as she joined from the rear group. "I thought we weren't using things that went boom."

Said boom shook the entire tunnel, warm flecks and shards of the stone walls flying back to shower the defenders. Cid smiled at the effective carnage, but quickly wiped that expression from her face in favor of professionalism. "I couldn't help myself. They're mostly flak anyway."

"That might have done the trick, though. No complaints here." Yoyo peered through the dust and haze, finding little to no movement of note. "Might not be the end of them, but that's a hell of a start. Keep the coalition lined up. I'm checking on Lulu and her girls."

"Son, don't be hasty." A larger set of figures lumbered through the fog of war, their heavy steps shaking the air with each crunch over dead bodies. "I think we have a problem."

Sydney took a shot in the dark and got chills when her powerful bullet barely made any sound. "Seriously? The bloody hell are those?"

"Rooks. Fucking rooks." Volk pulled back his rifle and reached for a bandoleer of thermite grenades. "Son, yank out the heaviest shit you're packing. Fourth of July."

"Uh... This is my Fourth of July."

"Seriously? Nothing more? I can't get close to those fuckers in these tight quarters and--"

An arrow flew forth, landing in a spark before violently exploding on the surface of a rook. The shock-wave cleared lingering smoke from the old lava tube, revealing the massive, six-legged beasts. Comprised of foot-thick slabs of stone armor, the alien battle tanks shrugged off the pathetic attack and lumbered forward. That's when they were hit with a high-impact grenade from Mikhaila's gauss cannon. Michelle followed through with another two explosive bolts, the combination forcing one of the rook pilots to pause in caution.

"Perfect timing, girls!" Vasily welcomed his granddaughters with open arms as they dove into him for cover. "I'm glad someone decided to pack a heavy bag."

<Girls, cover while I charge my rifle. I have some armor piercing rounds I can try.>

Chelle dropped her bow, having exhausted her supply of explosives already. <Uncle Yoyo, we've got something better. We found two of these in our stash.>

Yoyo caught two rifle bullets and gave them a quick inspection, their pointed tips holding some sort of cylindrical ring midway down their length. <Shaped charges? Are these sabot rounds for a fucking rifle?>

<Custom made just for yours.>

<Forget every time I've ever scolded you two.> Yoyo popped two rounds out of his magazine by way of the bolt then clicked the new prototypes into place. "Ready to see something cool, dad? Mini-RPGs, coming right up."

"Enough jokes. This is really serious." Vasily watched as his son fired a round, the powerful armor piercer only crumbling away a corner of one massive granite plate. "We're out-gunned. Retreat might be our only chance here, guys."

"'Tactical withdrawal', Volk. Let's try all our options first." Cid took Mik's gauss cannon and fired a grenade into the damaged shoulder, flying backward onto her tail due to the surprisingly immense recoil of the weapon. "Holy fuck. That sure as hell didn't look like a plant weapon."

"Those girls are stronger than they look. Maybe don't try that again?" Vasily checked the damage and found the remainder of the armor plate had broken free, revealing yet more armor around a joint beneath the surface layer. "That's more damage than Carbon or I have ever managed, but I don't think it'll be enough."

"Wait, you've never downed one of these before? What did you do?"

"I already said--retreat."

"Not in the playbook today, old friend." Carbon eased Ex up to the opening but out of sight of the enemy for a dash of surprise. "Ex has better guns on him than the last time. Let's see if we can't pull off a mira--" Something caught Carbon's attention, causing her to drop Ex down in a defensive posture. "Incoming! Hard cover, now!"

Volk grabbed his deaf granddaughters by the scruff of their necks and shoved them hard into the ground. "Lose line of sight!"

"What? How will--?"

Sydney garnered the same treatment via Rose by hesitating. Only a fraction of a second later a beam of invisible heat and death burst past all exposed points of cover. For a moment it appeared a nuclear blast was searing past, obliterating and even vaporizing the whole or partial soldiers exposed to the death ray. After a few seconds the attack ceased entirely, all affected surfaces smoldering, glassed, or molten.

Carbon rose back up and readied Ex's shoulder-mounted particle beam. "They brought a rook!? We can't fight that down here!"

"Three, Carbon. They brought three." Vasily reached for his rifle atop his cover and immediately regretted burning his paw on liquefied metal. "There's no other option now. The other two probably have their weapons charged too. Everyone fall back!"

"Go. I'll hold them off." Carbon primed a plasma caster on Ex's right arm as well as a rocket salvo on the other shoulder. "Fuck the rules. I'm blowing shit up."

Sydney started to run until she heard those words, desperation choking into her voice as a result. "Don't! You'll just die, Carbon! Don't... Don't sacrifice yourself for us!"

"Fuck that. I won't die here." Carbon slid Ex into view of the behemoth tanks and let loose an endless volley of plasma, more to cloud their field of view than do damage. Then she carved a line out of the ceiling of the tunnel with her particle beam and injected about twenty rockets into the wound to guarantee results. "Get going! We don't know how long this will hold!"

"You too, Otter! Grab me and go!"

"Polecat." The hybrid snatched Sydney into one of Ex's hands and used booster jets to get ahead of the dozens of retreating soldiers. "I'm not an otter right now, silly."

"Well I don't give a damn, Otter. Lead us out of here."

"Carbon, lend a paw?" Ilaria launched a bundle of explosive arrows into her smaller lava vent, but the otter couldn't quite collapse the opening. "It just needs one good shake."

"You got it, Ari." Ex transferred Cid to his other hand and aimed an arm-mounted minigun at the ceiling, a rain of explosive bullets pelting the stone into submission. "Good ol' American firepower. That'll buy us a minute."

Volk stumbled through his wounds as he caught up to the friendly golem. "Carbon, we need to clear the locals out the back. Didn't you say they had another plan?"

"They have another cave they found. It's too deep to make tactical sense for us though." Carbon scanned the surrounding camp and the frightened inhabitants populating it. "We'll distract the enemy our direction since they can't directly follow us off world. By the time they come back for these people they'll have hidden themselves deeper."

"I'm down with that, so long as those rooks don't get involved. With any luck they're stuck over there."

"They can pulverize this porous volcanic stone. We seriously don't have much time to act." Carbon found his quarry, stomping to a halt before Eve and Hori. "Eve, get in here. <Hori, now is the time. Guide our family to the cavern below and stay quiet until they give up their search.>"

"<So we're only left with the poorer option...>" Hori took a breath and forced a smile, for the sake of the paralyzed children around her. "<Our Chleek will bring the evil invaders to the surface so we may root deeper. Let's be good little saplings and follow her orders.>"

A young adult boy stood and guided the others to do the same. "<Yes, teacher.>"

Carbon made room as Evelyn floated into Ex's open cockpit. "And what of our goal here? Mission successful?"

"Possibly. I took clones of whatever memories I could find. Hopefully their markers will unlock more of my own past accounts before the copies fade." Eve pulled Sydney into the cockpit and phased herself into Carbon's ring. "Take us out of here. We need to give your family a fighting chance. They're... well, family."

"Roger that." Carbon shut the cockpit and followed the locals through the rear exit, acting as a makeshift shield for them in case things went south. "Keep moving. I'm hailing the dropships. Wounded take priority with the grounded craft and the rest can hold off the landing zone for the other boats."

Cid meeped, "So I take it we're in the latter group?"

"The orbiter is the only thing we have with enough thrust for Ex and Ceylon and it should already be on the ground." Carbon smiled in reassurance for her wife. "You're getting your fine ass back to our daughters first."

"Why don't I feel relieved about that?" Sydney Linked to Ex to get a visual of the outside world, that shared connection to her wife revealing all. «You're volunteering for a later ship? But... why?»

«Because it's always been my way as a leader.» Carbon cradled her wife close as she channeled memories of past battles. «I'm always the first set of boots on the ground and the last on the evac. Only way to make sure nobody gets left behind.»

«Noble, and stupid.» Eve made herself known between the two, evoking a shadow of herself in her mates' shared vision. «That's exactly why I fell in love with you.»

«I'm coming back. I love you both far too much to do otherwise.»

«I know, Otter. I know.» Sydney clasped her paws around one of Carbon's and fell limp in her mate's lap. «I love you too.»

---

"<I love you too, daddy.>"

"Entropy..." Niishal forced a frown to inject a little parenting into his adopted child's life. "What have we talked about? When we're outside..."

"We speak in English. Sorry, daddy. I love you." Entropy's curious and bored mind immediately sent her zipping from feature to feature of the desert canyon outside the bunker she called home. "Why can't you play with me, daddy? What're ya' doin'?"

"Entropy, this is why I tell you to listen. We can't stay in that base any longer. Even with the ætir, there are limits to recycling resources." Niishal groaned as he pulled himself into a recently built, untested golem created mostly of concrete. "Stand clear, my sapling. I'm sure this one will actually work, but... just in case it goes like the last time..."

The four-yearOld child skipped a handful of paces away and sat on a warm rock. "Yep!"

"That's my good girl." Eiita coughed into her arm for a moment, then joined her daughter from the shade of the bunker. "Pray the gods grant us fortune here. If we can't get the golem to work then we can't move the ætir. We need this for water and food, little Entropy."

"Okay. Let's pray for daddy."

"Thank you, my sapling." Niishal settled into the cockpit of the beast and shoved a power control crystal into a slot between his legs. The entire stone biped lurched as it came to life--even going so far as to crumble away one of its hands against a nearby wall--yet it eventually settled down and waited for a Link. "Success! I'll need to do some repairs, but the fir's main cores are intact."

"So do we get make water?"

Eiita chuckled for her child as she pet her long hair. "I take it you're thirsty?"

"It's getting hot." Entropy stood from her rock and paces around a bit. "Do we have any water, mommy?"

"Not at the moment. We'll make some more."

"Actually, we should give Entropy a booster. We'll be on the move starting tomorrow, so we need to make sure the radiation won't affect her." Niishal hopped out of the golem and headed for the girl, ready to pick her up before he noticed secondary movement from something she hid in her chest. "Entropy, show me that. What is it?"

"I just wanna see it!"

Niishal gently forced his daughter's arms open to reveal a black-footed ferret kit that was still waking from an afternoon nap. "Entropy, I know you love studying the animals of this place but many are dangerous. This one has claws and sharp teeth."

"But he's so fuzzy and cute..." Entropy scritched her fingers all around the animal's neck, checking the ears, teeth, and responsiveness more than just playing around. "Can I keep him a while?"

"You mean to domesticate this creature?" Niishal nudged his head to the large doors of the bunker. "Let's administer your treatment first. We can talk about your plan's feasibility afterward."

"Thank you, daddy."

"Hey, I never agreed to anything yet." Niishal found his ætir and rested beside it, placing a hand on the device and another on his daughter. "I know you don't like this, but be strong for me like always."

"Yep!"

Niishal used his body as a conduit for the ætir's fii, the nanomachines flowing from his hand as it passed over various points of Entropy's body. "There we are. Good as new. Did I hurt you anywhere, my sapling?"

"No, daddy. It just tickled that time." Without a moment's notice Entropy changed the subject by placing the sleepy ferret on the ætir's flat upper surface. "Now can we talk about Mister Fuzzies?"

"You shouldn't name him if he isn't yours, Entropy. You'll only get your hopes up and greaten your disappointme--"

"You've got a wiggly body, don't you Mister Fuzzies?" Beyond all comprehension, Entropy simply started manipulating the ætir to perform some type of scan on the mustelid. "Oh, you're hungry. Daddy, can we make him some food? Even if I can't keep him, I want to make him feel good."

Niishal Linked to the device and found hints of his daughter mixed in with the machine. He wanted to question when and how she discovered she could access the Link, but the father he always wanted to become shoved those queries aside. "Feel better. We'll make him feel better, not good. Remember your mother's English lessons or she's be disappointed in you."

"So we can keep him!?"

"Yes, Entropy. Consider this a lesson in maintenance. If you do not take proper care of this youngling we will take him away and send him back to the wilds, for his own good." Niishal's scientific side intervened for a moment. "Do you even know what this creature eats? It can't be anything appetizing if it's found in the irradiated wastes and our food here may be poison to him."

"He eats... meat. Just meat." Entropy fine-tuned her scanning and played it off as a game, or perhaps her curiosity worked in a way that required her to vocalize her thoughts. "What's that, Mister Fuzzies? You like bones too? We'll have to find you other animals then, won't we?"

"You're developing far faster than I ever dreamed, my sapling. If this Mister Fuzzies helps you question the world around you then I wish you both a lucrative pact of servitude together."

"Huh? I don't own Mister Fuzzies." Entropy gave the dusty ferret a kiss between the ears and promptly blew sand off her lips. "Mister Fuzzies is family now."

Eiita slowly made her way back into the cool shade of the bunker. "Everything alright here, you two?"

Niishal walked over and gave his mate a hug. "Yes. I'm honored to have a wonderful family."