FSE

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Tyra awoke quickly, sitting upright. Joshua lay next to her, still sound asleep. The lip of the cave had been barely graced by sunlight. It was still early, but she felt more than rested. She pressed a finger down on the cot. That comfort was intoxicating. No point in lingering any longer. Tyra got up, making certain not to wake Joshua, and went over their supplies.

This was a poorly formed plan, but there was little else they could do now. The emergency signalers for the distraction. The weapons for the assault. That was all there was to it. Then they’d be away in the stars yet again, and then… Tyra looked back to Joshua. And then? She shook her head. Focus on the now, she told herself.

Was there anything she was missing? Some special variable that would guarantee their survival? Tyra couldn’t grasp anything tangible. They really were out of their element. Two hardly military creatures going against specially trained agents that wouldn’t hesitate to eviscerate them in an instant. But they had been through so much more before. This fight had to be no different, right? Tyra laughed to herself. She had clung to what Joshua said earlier, that human reaction. “We’ll get through it.” Perhaps there was a wisdom in that wishful ignorance. Or her intensive research had bled through into her psyche.

“So, you ready to go?” Joshua asked.

Tyra continued to look at their supplies. “I believe I am. Are you?”

Joshua settled down next to her with a stretch. “Well rested, fully fed. No better than now.” He shook his head. “Maybe not well fed. I feel full and empty.”

“The sand eels likely aren’t a good source of nutrients. The ship will have rations.”

“Why didn’t you say so? All the more reason to get onboard.”

They reiterated their plan, as simple as it was. Travel a ways down the ravines, activate the alarm, wait for their arrival, ambush. Joshua had opted to use the boarding spike, hefting it over a shoulder. Tyra kept her small firearm, which did little to comfort her, but she had the advantage of actually being the same species as her enemies. They may yet still believe her to be of genuine character, she figured.

Then came the physical part. They moved through the valleys after stocking up on sap, eventually settling on a spot far, far away from the ship and their little cave. It intersected at a meeting of four canyons, giving them at least some room to hide and escape if need be. The travel was long enough to the point where the sun had begun to set yet again. They set up in a shallower hole along one of the ravine paths. Joshua had brought his bag of personal items. Tyra had considered denying him, but he deserved at least something.

Finally, they did a quick check of the ravines, looking for pathways upward. The ship was likely to land on a plateau, and it would only be a miserable end if they couldn’t actually reach it. The surrounding areas all had, at least, one shaky pathway up, giving Tyra a shred more hope.

One final break had them sitting in their nook.

“Your radio,” Tyra said, handing him a metal patch.

“Thanks.” Joshua took it and pressed it into his neck.

Tyra nodded and did the same. “Say something.”

“You’re the coolest gal I know,” Joshua said.

Those words vibrated through Tyra’s chitin. It was more of a farewell than a test, wasn’t it? Tyra gave a soft nod.

“Thank you,” she replied. “You’re the most impressive man I know.”

“I’ll take it.” He nodded. “No more stalling. Hand over the signaler and let’s rocket.”

“Are you certain you want to do it?”

“Well, I can handle the heat a bit better than you, even if the sun is going down. No idea how quickly they’ll get here, right? So whoever does it is gonna have to bolt back.”

“Reasonable.”

Tyra procured one of the emergency devices and held it up.

“Once you have found your position, press your thumb onto this center button here. It should give way and then you pull outward. Set it down and return here. A projectile will be launched shortly afterward.”

“And the guards come running.”

“Yes. I suggest a position somewhere within the other ravines, that way we may observe their approach.” Hopefully.

“Sounds good!” Joshua wasted no time taking the thing and getting up. “Wish me luck.” He jogged out into the ravine with a strange burst of energy.

Tyra could only assume adrenaline was taking hold in him, as well as a mix of delight that he was finally leaving. It made perfect sense he was the apex creature on his world. You would see no other beast march happily into conflict. She watched, and watched, and watched, up until he disappeared around a corner. It was then that she realized her horns had popped upward. She slowly lowered them back down.

A touch of worry grew in Tyra with Joshua out of sight. Suddenly, there was a hiss in her radio, rattling along her body. The signal must’ve been launched. Joshua came bursting around the corner, running right back to Tyra. He made it back to their crevice and slid to the ground, heaving. She pulled her radio free.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Hell of a marathon, though. Did it work?”

“Yes. Chance is now in play.”

Joshua nodded. “Fingers crossed.”

The two stared at the slice of sky along the valley’s rim. She slung out a few prayers to whatever cosmic deity might listen. Joshua was likely doing much of the same. Good. They would need it.

Time marched on while everything seemed frozen. The ship could have been anywhere. Maybe already in orbit, maybe still sitting in the hangar, maybe the corvette was gone. Tyra was certain that the signaler couldn’t reach out much farther solar system, so that left them stranded if the military force had truly left. Stranded, yet safe.

Minutes melted into hours.

A gentle breeze ran along the valley, picking up in Joshua’s black hair. A distant hiss came, growing into a roar of engines. The two glanced at one another, then right back to the sky. A glimmer of metal caught in the sun. It was here. The sleek ship hovered above the central meeting point of the ravines, likely scanning for its quarry. Land. Please, just land.

The ship drifted a little further, nearing a mesa. Its tapered front end edged over flat ground. Please. Soon enough, it was out of sight. A metal clunk rang out under the rumbling of engines, and then, everything was quiet. They had landed on the plateau directly opposite to the couple’s staging area, likely near the center of where the valleys mingled. They were almost there.

A figure appeared at the edge of the plateau. Tyra and Joshua eased back. Their target jabbed something into the ground and rappelled downward, quietly landing in the gorge. Definitely Vesperratus. They glanced around, then proceeded toward the signaler.

“Where’s the other guy?” Joshua whispered.

“They must be with the ship,” Tyra replied.

“Figures.” Joshua hefted up the boarding spike. “I’ll go for the one up there. I guess you’ll have to go for the scout.”

“You can’t be certain there’s only one up above.”

“I can’t, but that’s life, huh?”

Tyra placed a hand over her gun. Her plates shifted, tightening. This had to happen.

“Radio silence unless necessary,” she said.

Joshua gave that funny “OK” human hand gesture and got up. He waited a little longer, then began a quiet jog toward one of the few pathways upward, right where the heart of the enemy lie. Tyra took a few imagined breaths, replaced her radio, and began stalking her target.

Tyra had seen those suits before. They were the officials that personally delivered human objects and corpses. Retrieval was more broad than she thought. They wore a tight suit that clung to their plates, with armored parts jutting out over more sensitive areas. It was an odd mix of sleek and clunky. Most apparent was the large helmet that appeared entirely blank, save for an errant camera jutting out of its side.

The target moved around the corner, allowing Tyra to speed up her movements. She glanced upward, hoping that Joshua was managing a safe approach. Each step became harder to take as an innate screaming desire to flee certain death pounded at her muscles. Tyra pushed through, following right after her target. There was no more running.

Soon enough, the next ravine came into view. The target, however, was gone. Rocks and boulders littered the area. Tyra crept forward, glancing every which way as she did.

“Stop,” a voice said.

The word didn’t register in Tyra’s mind at first. It took a moment for that familiar language to seep into her thoughts. That was her target speaking. She raised her hands.

“Turn around.”

Tyra slowly faced her enemy. They stared back blankly from behind the safety of their rifle. One shoulder jutted higher than the other. Male.

“Greetings,” Tyra replied. Her mandibles hadn’t moved in her own tongue for so long. “I am pleased to see your arrival.”

“What is the situation?” he asked.

To the point. Flat. Gun trained on her. Deception would be difficult.

“Expansionist incursion. I apologize for being unable to respond during your initial call.” Why? For what reason? The ship was functional, ergo, there would have to be another reason. “I am uncertain how they boarded, but we were quickly subdued.”

“A surveillance vessel boarded?”

There was some chatter over his own radio.

“A survivor has been located,” he replied to the voice. The grip on his rifle lessened. More chatter. “No, I have not.” The rifle raised again. “Location of the ship?”

“Several days walk down this ravine. The crash obliterated the exposed within. Local fauna and structural instability forced me to flee.”

“Others?”

“Dead.”

There was a long pause. “State your assignment code.”

The request stung. “Expand, error, night, moon, 5980.” The words that had sealed her fate all that time ago.

“Vessel.”

“Satellite of the barrens along the exposed expansionist rim.”

He radioed those special words back to his partner. Tyra’s fear suddenly dropped. There was only acceptance now. Her fate was sealed, but she made a good attempt of it, didn’t she? Joshua would hopefully be thankful for that. In a way, it was funny she was dying for a human. She had spent so much time poking and prodding at them, it was only fitting she eventually be turned into a cadaver in service of one. Perhaps that was a sort of karma?

“Your vessel was reported destroyed far before this incident. Why are you here?” he asked. “You should be deceased, as reported.”

“Clearly, I am not.” Her hands dropped. “What shall we do about such a predicament?”

“Answer.”

“A ship found us. The others fought, I did not. The ship was disabled, and eventually I repaired it.”

“Abandonment of post.”

“Yes, I suppose you could say that.”

“I knew you reeked of fear.”

Tyra paused. That hooked far into her. Keep calm, you are still alive.

“And what becomes of me?” she asked.

“First, you lead forward to the vessel. Secondly, imprisonment.”

“Understandable.”

“Confirmed identity of survivor, as you stated. Refusal to attack and abandonment of post. A cell will have to be prepared.” He turned his head. “I do not understand how you live with that level of distaste for your crew members.”

“Distaste?”

“Why else would you refuse to attack?”

Tyra’s horns raised. “I cared for every single one of them. They were what little I had in that pathetic existence, sitting in a box waiting to die.”

“And you should have.”

“Very much so. I should have died, I should have returned fire. But I realized the futility of that, in that moment. Death, and for what purpose? To join their corpses? Would I be honoring them if I remained in that void perpetually?”

“A preferable existence. They may have even survived if you had joined them.”

“May have?! I am a researcher plucked from my work for some demented violent cause I will never see the end of! I am not built for war! You may relish in the violence, knowing your position guarantees a comfortable existence for you, but I do not.”

“Your experience is irrelevant, and your outburst only confirms why you were placed in such a remote location. An errant, angry individual not suited for anything else.” His rifle lowered. “You bleed rage.”

“And so I am. No place to belong.”

“You may speak of your woes to your wardens. Toward the ship, now.”

Tyra lowered her head. She was still alive, and Joshua was likely, too. There was still time to make this easier for him.

“I’m afraid this planet has left me weary and dehydrated. I will need some time to recuperate.”

“Move.” His rifle raised again.

“Shoot me now and the ship will remain buried forever.”

“We will find it, in time.”

“Are you so sure? Even if you are, I’m certain your captain would like the swiftest retreat, gear in-hand.”

“One last indignation. Pathetic.”

“Ah, you see right through my ploy.” She ground her mandibles together. “A drink of water, if you will.”

Surprisingly, he relented, tossing her a canister pulled from his shoulder. Tyra quickly picked it up and opened it up, downing a fair amount of it greedily. Her whole body relaxed, feeling that cool liquid settle inside of her. She barely managed to pull herself away from it and tossed it to the soldier’s feet, liquid life dribbling away into the sand.

“Thank you. Some time and I will be ready to leave. I’m certain you’re aware of the lack of humidity here, not that you would feel it in your shield of death.”

“Perhaps we should leave you here. I think this place is a fitting punishment.”

“At this juncture, I would simply be happy to be rid of others like you,” she replied.

“And the others, the same with you.”

The sand stirred beneath his feet.

“Are you aware of what I did before all of this?” she asked.

“I am not interested.”

“I researched the expansionists. Those strange things we’ve slaughtered by the thousands.” She tilted her head. “And none of you seem so interested in them beyond the level of flesh. Why is that?”

He didn’t respond. Probing teeth poked from beneath.

“We have an entire creature so different from us, existing, moving, thinking, iterating, and none of that sparks any sort of interest in your bundles of nerves. Seek and destroy.”

“Do not divulge your fetishistic obsessions,” he replied.

The syringe worms broke the surface, delighting in liquids.

“How can you not be obsessed with this wonder of our existence?!” Tyra laughed. A spark of anger hit her. “I would beat this obsession into all of you if I could. We could stand to admire the universe rather than coldly carve through it.”

“You are simply insane.”

“I welcome it.”

A blinding white light crashed into the sky. A scream of metallic agony slammed into the valley, followed by a loud, reverberating thumping. Tyra fell backward as a massive grey ship faded into place above them, humming proudly and so angrily.

The humans were here.

Tyra glanced to her enemy, worms now trailing up his legs. He was far too preoccupied with gawking at the ship and barking something to his partner. A muffled bang came from somewhere above, and down came a Vesperratus corpse. A large harpoon was embedded in their chest.

“Tyra? Everything alright?” Joshua asked.

Joshua’s words poured into Tyra. His voice was so clear among the chaos. It felt so good to hear for that brief moment, before being interrupted by more yelling as the worms began their assault, stabbing at the scavenger. His weapon dropped as he produced a blade to strike down at them.

Tyra stumbled to her feet and slammed into him, sending him to the ground. She rushed over to the other corpse and quickly searched it. Her thoughts smashed into one another in a panic, searching for a key. There! In the helmet! She yanked the thing off. The corpse stared back. Tyra paused.

“Tyra?!” Joshua called.

“I am fine! Retract the cabling and hold onto the spike tightly!”

Tyra grabbed onto the harpoon’s cord. It made its ascent upward. Joshua peered over the edge, reaching out a hand for Tyra, grabbing onto her arm as she neared him. He had the largest, dumbest smile she had ever seen. They rushed into the ship’s side and Tyra sealed them in.

The ship immediately beamed to life. It was a much smaller space than the previous ship, but a welcome one all the same. Tyra rushed into the pilot seat and slid her arms into its control console. The viewport flicked on, showing all directions around the ship. Including up. That human ship still hung overhead, but made no movements. Best flee now, she thought. Joshua stood next to the seat, hand on the back of it.

With a few movements, the ship was up in the air and rapidly gaining altitude. For a moment, Tyra was shocked to be there in that moment. After all that had transpired, was she truly there at all? Her hands tightened on the controls. She set the engine to jump as soon as it was able to, which she increasingly hoped was any second now.

A confirmatory ping sounded through the ship. The engines spooled up. Then a flash of white clouded the displays, and the ship halted to a stop, still in-atmosphere. It groaned in alarm.

“What just happened?” Joshua asked.

“I do not know.” The console in front of her bled out alerts of varying shades. “The human ship is halting our ascent. Whatever they’ve done to us is too overwhelming for the engines to obfuscate against.”

“We’re stuck.”

Before Tyra could agree, a new voice piped in.

“Greetings vesperratus vessel. This is the captain of the ship Phaethon. We’ll skip names and get to the point.” There was a smugness in his voice that somehow carried through the ship’s automatic translator. “We know you’re a recovery vessel, we know your distant frigate is going to be slow on staging an attack, we know you have technology. So, we can simply have you dock, or we could destroy you now. You might notice the blinding light holding you in place.”

“Is it the vespers?” Joshua asked.

“No. That is a human captain. He’s mocking us and asks us to rescind control to him, believing us to be aligned with the other vessel,” Tyra replied.

“Son of a bitch. Military bites me in the ass again.” He perked up. “Can you put me on the line?”

“I suppose if you’d like. What do you intend?”

“I’m going to fight for your spot as best actor. Mind switching off that translator, too?”

Tyra nodded and pressed a few buttons on the console, then gestured toward Joshua. He nodded, then stood at attention with his hands folded behind his back.

“This is Joshua Wright of the united military command, may I ask why you’re halting my recovery of this vessel?”

There was a pause.

“Apologies, Mr. Wright, but I don’t fall for schemes that easily. Very impressive you’ve managed a voice replication on short notice.”

“Voice replication?” Joshua looked to Tyra. “Pardon me, Tyra, does this bug bottle have a camera to show off how much of a living man I truly am?”

She looked around the array of buttons and then hastily hit a few of them. The console showed a small viewfeed of Joshua as he was now. Rugged, battered, all-too-happy. Cute.

“Now, I hope you’ll excuse my sudden departure, but we intend to make tracks with our prize. And you might, too, before you blow this whole thing apart. Forgot the frigate out there?”

Another pause.

“You have a code to go with that claim, Joshua?” the captain asked.

“You think something of this caliber is going to use a code? There are no codes in this line of work, kid. We got the job done and we get out.”

“I’m finding that story hard to believe, really.”

“Well, just think, what the hell am I doing out here with a vesperratus ship under my command? This hellhole isn’t exactly a tourist hotspot, and I’ve got enough alien wildlife in my guts to prove it. Now, either you let us go, or you’ll see hell slam down on you for fucking this whole thing up.”

“What’s stopping me from just reclaiming the ship now? After all, we’re on the same side, right?”

“The fact that you and nobody on your ship are qualified or have the clearance to handle alien tech like this. It needs to be controlled, safe. Just because you pulled some fancy gear out of your ass doesn’t mean my mission is shoved off course. Now cut the shit and we’ll all go home.”

There was a burst of static, then the beam dropped. Tyra immediately shifted themselves back upward, bursting through the uppermost part of the atmosphere not long after. Joshua breathed a sigh of relief, then chuckled.

“Now get us out of here before someone else tries to bring us back to that damned rock,” Joshua said.

“Anywhere, certainly,” Tyra said.

Tyra tapped the console, selecting something nice and remote for now. The jump initiated. Darkness clouded the screens, the reverberating hums of the ship rattling through her plates. It felt good to be in the sky again.