#the drev

(check reblog for two more)

Sunny glowered forward, “I would rather face the immortal abyss than meet you in the afterlife, besides.” She taunted sarcastically, “Maybe the human gods will adopt me seeing as I have granted the favor in return.”

The square went silent as if the entirety of life had held its collective breath. Even the wind refused to blow. The only sound was came from the distant, heaving breath of the mountain taking over respiration for the silent world around it. Sun broke through the cloud of ash, and as if by some divine providence illuminated the center of the square and the circle within. Light crossed in a diagonal across Sunny’s carapace illuminating her like the brilliant blue of shallow ocean water.

General Cosma stood in the direct rays of light her dark purple carapace burning with dark cosmic light. Like staring into a deep space nebulae.

Neither of them moved.

Captain Vir had managed to wriggle out of the circle on his side like some distasteful sort of rock worm. And now sat with his back against the stone step staring at the scene in front of him in awe and disbelief. The tears from earlier had completely dried, leaving no sign of such recent despair all replaced with the dusty look of tensed confusion.

It was only Sunny and General Cosma now staring toe to toe, squared against each other, “Choose-your-weapon.” Cosma snarled through her clenched teeth.

Sunny stared up at her mother with an expression of distaste though Vir swore he detected a hint of something in Sunny’s eyes, something that was difficult to read, and as he looked around at the crowd and their wide eyes, he began to understand something…..

She didn’t expect to win.

She didn’t expect to make it out of this fight.

“No weapons.” Sunny announced, and the entire square shifted with anticipation. “We do this how it was meant to be done.” She whispered.

***

The war drums thrummed through the ground like the beating of a massive heart. The moss underfoot vibrated with each thud. Inside his chest, Vir’s heart thudded fit to burst as he looked on in abject horror as the events unfolded around him (From the sidelines with the other Drev, untied, as was his right as part of the clan).

Sunny and General Cosma stood just outside the circle, one at the North and one at the South. Behind the clouds of Ash, the Sun hung directly overhead in the sky. Carapace glittered blue and purple against dim light, painted now, as was custom with circling lines and patters on white, chalky paint.

The war drums thudded in unison and then went silent. The two stepped forward into the circle pausing where they stood. Another loud cacophony of drums rent the air, and the two slowly sunk into position. Cosma lowered herself into a low crouch. Sunny shifted into a triangular stance raising her hands, in balled fists, to just under her chin.

Vir could hear General Cosma Goading her daughter from across the ring. The drums began to beat faster, faster, faster, faster, until it was one continual wall of white noise. And then stopped… General Cosma charged across the ring right towards Sunny.

***

General Cosma roared forwards with all the power of her anger, towards the small, inconsequential shape in front of her, intending to rip her apart with all her ferocity. But, like a flash of light, Sunny was gone, and General Cosma struggled to find her.

Light on her feet like a skyrunner, Sunny had darted to the side already set for another engagement, general Cosma had never seen anything so fast, nothing that had ever flanked her so quickly. She snarled down the anger at the insolence of her daughter, trying to run away like a coward and swiped at her with an open palm. The sharp tips of her nails glittered in the ambient light, but they cut through air, just air overbalancing her with nothing to resist. Sunny had rocked back on her feet, avoiding Cosma by inches, and for a moment, Cosma locked eyes with her daughter.

Her gaze was absolutely still, completely locked on Cosma like a weaponized targeting system, a stare that was horribly intense and predatory. The gaze seemed to look past her hands, terminating on her trunk and her throat, as if Sunny was looking to rip her throat from her neck, and then she snapped forward, a single hand darting out and past Cosma’s defenses. Pain blossomed through her side from the strike, powerful enough to knock the breath and wind from her, staggering her a little to the side.

Outside the ring, the crowd, hissed and roared with the glee of first contact…. First contact not attributed to General Cosma.

How could this be? Anger built up inside her like a corked bottle, and General Cosma snarled through her gritted teeth, “Stop Running, Coward!”

Sunny moved in again, and General Cosma launched herself into a set of furious attacks designed specifically to take advantage of her superior reach over Sunny, and to her frustration the other just kept blocking them. IT WAS INFURIATING. This wasn’t how Drev were supposed to fight. Drev were aggressors, not defenders. Sunny was doing this ALL WRONG… as was per usual. In her anger, she moved faster, hammering against Sunny willing her to break, willing her to snap in half and give in to the greater power.

She watched the eyes, as Sunny kept eyes locked on her middle, never moving, as if she could somehow predict Cosma’s next move, and then, the eyes flicked suddenly down. Cosma barely had time to react, and even as she did, she realized the attack was not coming from the expected place. Sunny’s hands were still raised to her face, they hadn’t moved. Something, slammed itself against the side of her knee. She screamed as her leg buckled, throwing her to one knee, and then Sunny was there teeth barred against her as a predator. With all four of her hands, Sunny grabbed Cosma with an Iron grip, and then drove her knee forward, once, twice, three times into Cosma’s belly.

The pain was horrible, radiating, debilitating. She couldn’t even scream. This wasn’t right, you didn’t use your feet to fight…

Cosma spurred her anger forward rising to both knees with a swift push flinging Sunny to the ground feet away in the circle. Sunny landed on her side, and then rolled, skidding to her feet against the dirt before charging in again giving Cosma no time to regain her breath.

Cosma tensed her body for an impact, and was again caught off guard, as the girl leaped into the air, and came down on her shoulders. She bucked like a wild beast, but Sunny had her tight. Legs wrapped around Cosma’s neck one ankle crossed over the other as sunny jerked her body to the side throwing Cosma and herself to the ground. Cosma found herself on her hands and knees as the breath was choked out of her by Sunny, who slowly constricted to crush the life out of her.

Outside the ring, the Drev howled. They had never seen such fighting.

Vir was on his feet now, screaming instructions at Sunny as he watched.

Cosma struggled against the incoming darkness fighting it back with her anger. She wasn’t done yet.

And with that thought, she reached up and grabbed Sunny by the leg, digging her sharp nails into the skin as hard as she could, puncturing through skin, and towards bone. Sunny screamed, but didn’t let go, though she stopped constricting.

General Cosma began kneading her fingers back and forth grating against the bone. Warm blood ran down her hand in orange rivulets. Sunny screamed even louder, and was loosened.

Cosma took that moment rearing backwards and slamming Sunny against the ground with all her weight. Sunny’s grip broke like a brittle bone as she went skidding across the circle. Cosma rolled to her feet and so did Sunny, though she was limping and shedding drops of blood behind her on the dirt.

This time, Cosma didn’t engage so quickly, and the two circled each other, a predator against a warrior.

They exchanged blows in the middle a few times. Sunny cut Cosma Across the throat with a shallow gash that had the other Drev howling for blood. Cosma snarled her anger and lunged for Sunny. Instead of stepping away like she had expected, Sunny darted inwards grabbing Cosma by the arm, pivoting on the spot so her back was against her larger opponent, and then pitching forward.

The world tilted around Cosma in a streak of light, as her feet were thrown over her head, and she flipped landing on her back with a terrible CRACK. The stone underneath them had split with the power of it. The wind was nocked from Cosma’s body and she gasped for air. But, somewhere, Sunny still had hold of her arm, and sliding forward, she threw her legs over Coma’s larger chest and face pinning her arms and capturing the hand and the wrist against her body.

Cosma pitched and struggled, but Sunny snarled leaned back and arched her back throwing her hips upwards against the joint of the elbow.

The sound of her joint snapping filled the clearing. Cosma let off a howl of pain that could have cracked stone and all at once, Sunny was thrown off by the power of sheer anger and pain. The surprise was clear on Sunny’s face as she skidded into the ground. She tried to regain her feet before Cosma, but the other had been a warrior for far longer, and made it to her feet, one arm dangling listlessly at her side. Her eyes now glittered with the fire of her hatred as she charged forward.

The ash above had thinned out, but now enough to allow the sun to break through. Instead, the scene was bathed in bloody red light. Sunny scrambled to her feet, just in time to lift her eyes upwards, and see the descending hand aimed directly at her face.

***

The blow was terrible, blood sprayed into the air in a glittering arc as Sunny was knocked across the circle to come face down against the stone. She lay there writhing in her agony, hand over one side of her face. She couldn’t see, could barely think through the pain where she lay. Blood pooled on the rocks below her. Behind, the Drev were silent, wilted…. They should have known all along, General Cosma was their greatest warrior after all. Even with her fancy tricks and underhanded tactics, Sunny still stood no chance.

General Cosma let off a rasping chuckle as she walked forward flicking blood from the tips of her fingers, and onto the stone, “I’m surprised at you Sunny, you fought well, ALMOST well enough to call you MY daughter. But alas, not good enough.”

Wind brushed past her skin

“Come on SUNNY, shake it off, you only need ONE eye, Promise I’ll get you another one.” The voice was out of place in this landscape, oddly out of place against the red sky. It was too friendly for this scene, too encouraging. A dark shadow cut over her rimmed in red light.

“Come ON, SUNNY!”

General Cosma reached down to her fallen opponent, very much intending to choke the life from her, and received a double-kick directly to the face, she reeled back blood welling from her mouth, stumbling against stone. Her vision flashed black and red, and as she regained her sight, she looked up to find Sunny stumbling to her feet. Blood drenched her front, from her eye and the scratches on her face all the way down her front to spill onto the ground.

“Don’t worry mother, Sunny whispered, they can just…. Put me back together.”

General Cosma stepped back in horror, as the thing walked towards her, moving with a limp and an unnatural jerk unseeing from one eye, and she remembered the battlefield that day, the air thick with ash, and those unholy creatures walking form the darkness their eyes glowing with a false light, their bodies moving on false limbs. Alive like it was unnatural to be.

“You know mother, I realized something.” Sunny said, her voice distant, “You are no Drev, No general. Everyone knows that war is impersonal, and yet. Here you are, seeking revenge. Father died in battle against a strong opponent, and your pride cannot accept that, because that means you aren’t as strong as you thought you were, that father wasn’t the perfect mate.” Feet scuffed against the ground, “You are afraid because everything you know is crumbling, you can’t hold onto your past, or your pride.” She took another step forward, “I saw father die, and I was…. Saddened. If it weren’t for you, I think he could have been proud of me, WAS proud, though he couldn’t say it.”

She screamed and ran forward again.

The fight was desperate this time, Sunny’s strength flagged, her blood spilled upon the ground, but still she took pieces of her mother away with her. There was no more cheering now, no more noise as slowly, Sunny could no longer hold herself, her hands fell and she stepped back with each blow. A blow to the stomach, a claw to the neck. Sunny fell to her knees.

Cosma kicked her over with contempt panting and bleeding, her blood mixing with the blood of Sunny on the ground all around them. They were both breathing heavily, “Would your father be proud now.” Cosma hissed as she leaned down grabbing Sunny by the throat and slowly squeezing.” Overhead there came the distant roaring of an engine. Or at least, to Sunny, that’s how it seemed.”

She looked up to the sky, vision from one eye fading in and out. The sun was hidden behind a layer of ash. It wouldn’t show itself, not even one last time as she died. That was a pity, a real pity too that she would never see Earth again, never see the warm blue sky overhead, with the sun on her skin and the smells of a forest.  Then she paused.

“I know why you lost.” The sound of the shuttle grew engines roaring.

Cosma snarled, but did not tighten her grip.

“Because…..”

General Cosma waited, waited for the idiotic piece of wisdom her daughter was so desperate to share, she did not feel the shadow steel over her back.

“Because… humans work together.”

Cosma jumped in surprise. That wasn’t Sunny’s voice.  She turned her head eyes widening. A pair of pearly white K-9 teeth glittered at her in a sinister smile a single green eye was locked on her face black pupil nearly engulfing the green of the Iris and the world erupted into pain, red turned to black, and then….. she was gone.

The last thing she heard was a stone clattering to the ground before darkness enveloped her.

They looked around at each other before one of the creatures raised his weapon…. It was not dissimilar in style and shape to a human sword, accept cut form volcanic stone and glass. He was sure it would shatter against stone, but against the soft flesh of his throat…. There was no reason to hope.

He closed his eyes, “We’ll splurge, my paycheck for a year, how does that sound?”

Something swished softly through the air, cutting towards his throat.

“STOP!”

The blow never landed, Captain Vir opened an eye, his only eye, and glanced upwards. The Drev soldiers had turned away, their circle breaking slowly as they milled in confusion. Beyond them, just outside the village, a large, dark shuttle sat docked still settling into the dust. The ramp had been lowered into the strange, soft moss, and another group of Drev soldiers had spilled outwards watching them all with intent gazes. Their weapons weren’t held aggressively, but their posture was cautious.

One of the Drev soldiers surrounding Sunny, and Vir, stepped forward and a bit to the side, opening up his view a little more to reveal a large shape limping towards them. The figure was nine or ten feet tall, with thick plated red armor, and a set of familiar golden eyes.

“Cannon!” Vir exclaimed in shock. Below, Sunny had clawed her way from the edges of unconsciousness and blearily opened an eye, she seemed surprised too, as surprised as she could be in her current state, “You…. Know my…. Brother?”

The massive shape limped is way forward, pushing the other soldiers out of the way, “Step back, give them some air.”

The soldiers milled around for a moment in clear confusion, “Cannon? Aren’t you supposed to be….”

“Dead?” The Drev asked, turning his cold golden eyes onto the other soldier, “Wouldn’t that be convenient for you.”

“But, the rules.” The Drev sputtered.

Captain Vir looked up to the Ex Drev officer, “Cannon, what are they on about?”

“An ancient Drev custom, human, if you are crippled in battle and can no longer fight, you are encouraged, no…. expected, to rid the clan of your presence, so that you don’t waist valuable resources. In the past, it has been tradition to toss yourself into the fire as an offering to the gods.”

Captain Vir spluttered in surprise, “They wanted you to kill yourself!”

“It is not a custom that we use greatly anymore, but you understand that our family was very traditional, and tended to uphold any and all of the old traditions. Only Sunny knew what I had done in leaving this planet for the stars, everyone else thought I had gone through with my mother’s wishes.”

Captain Vir glanced towards General Cosma still sprawled in the dirt, “One sick puppy.”

Cannon took another few steps forward, but was blocked by one of the other soldiers, “This ends now, Cannon, you no longer have influence here. Your rank was stripped, and once the General learns what you have done, you will be disowned.” He pointed towards Captain Vir, “This one interfered with the laws of the duel, and will be put to death accordingly.”

Cannon looked on in bemusement, “Now remind me, I’ve been away for a while, but what is the law regarding duels?”

The Drev opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, “Well, I don’t know the exact wording, but I know what he did was illegal, against principal.”

Cannon tapped his claws against his arm musingly. The posture, and the gestures were surprisingly human, “That’s interesting because I’ve been involved in a lot of duels in my time, and I seem to remember that they were supposed to be overseen by the village’s reconciler who would then make a writ of the terms of the duel. Furthermore, each duel was supposed to be held to specific stipulations. Did mother mention this was to be a one on one fight?”

The soldier remained silent.

Cannon grunted, “Well, that seems to be a problem then. Without a formal writ, and no witnesses, I can assume that my mother was not following protocol, which makes this an illegal duel. Sunny is not experienced enough to know the rules, so it couldn’t have been her fault. And in any case,” He motioned to the human’s leg, “I see some of Sunny’s armor there, and if that’s Sunny’s armor, than by way of the rules, he IS Sunny to an extent.” He looked on one set of arms crossed the other resting on his hips, “But of course, I am just the crippled disgraced son who didn’t throw himself into a volcano, so what would I know about the rules of dueling.”

The square was quiet, but after a moment, the Drev soldiers backed down bowing their heads as Cannon moved forward ordering his men to detain General Cosma. By then, Sunny had lulled back into unconsciousness, blood still welling from her eye socket and onto the hard packed dirt below. Captain Vir tried to hold pressure on the wound, but it didn’t seem to be helping as much as he might have wished.

After he was done ordering the soldiers around, Cannon knelt across from Vir, and looked down at Sunny. You couldn’t tell by way of skin color that Sunny wasn’t doing well, but she was growing cold, and that didn’t seem to be a good sign, “What do we do?” Cannon asked, it was clear he had no more idea of what to do that Sunny did. The Drev weren’t known for their great medical skill. It seemed that their response to illness and injury amounted to, if you are strong you will survive, and if you die than you were probably not worthy of living anyway.

Captain Vir looked up at the sky, “I have a medic aboard my ship…. If he’s still alive. If anyone can help her it’s him.”

Cannon nodded, and slowly moved to his feet ordering some of the soldiers forward to help. Captian Vir stepped back as one of them picked Sunny up off the ground and carried her back to the shuttle. She lolled, a dead weight in their arms, with two of her hands dangling limply from the side of her body. Blood trailed on the ground behind her. Captian Vir stayed close by trying to staunch the blood with the already saturated cloth. Aboard the shuttle, he removed his overshirt discarding the rag on the floor as he knelt over her.

A few of the soldiers were left behind to deal with general Cosma, but Cannon joined them aboard the shuttle forced to sit as the craft rattled into the air. Captian Vir clenched his teeth. He didn’t like riding in aircraft that he wasn’t flying. He knew it was petty to think so highly of himself, but he hadn’t yet met someone who could outfly him. This particular pilot had a habit of fighting against the controls, white knuckling against the natural roll and yaw of the craft as it moved through the atmosphere. The result was a rather rattling, jarring ascent.

He looked up again, from his blood stained shirt and upwards at Sunnys Brother, Cannon. He was, in fact, the first Drev Captain Vir had ever met personally. In fact, he was probably the first Drev that most people had ever met. He had been a real mess when they had first encountered each other. It had been a while after the war, after Vir had finally started recovering from his PTSD, and while he was still in the probationary stages of being a Captain.

He had been working at one of the Oxyclinics near the Galactic Assembly homeward getting himself used to being around aliens again, getting used to trusting them again after the war. It was during this time, Cannon had turned up, crippled, in chronic pain, and showing nearly all the symptoms of a major depressive episode. It’s rather interesting to note that humans have the highest rate of mental illness in the galaxy, they seem more susceptible to it, in most of its forms. In other species, mental illness is rather rare. The Drev, for instance don’t seem to experience post-traumatic stress like humans. Though they had not been studying the Drev for very long, the rates of PTSD remained at 0%.

For this reason, It’s a general rule in the clinic that if an alien is showing symptoms similar and almost equal to human mental illness, than there is something horribly, horribly wrong. At first, Captain Vir hadn’t been able to stand in the same room as Cannon without devolving into a full blown PTSD attack, but a desire to recover had driven him to change that. Cannon had been his mountain, and he had been desperate to help both of them.

It took months of trying on both of their parts before they were functioning again.

Captain Vir shifted Sunny into a more comfortable position cradling her head on his lap as Cannon watched head tilted, “You’ve come a long way.” He commented wryly

“I could say the same for you.” He glanced down at Sunny and then back up at Cannon, “Small universe.”

Cannon nodded looking down sadly at his sister, but he didn’t say anything and the captain didn’t ask, silent as they approached the Drev ship, and its magnetic claws gripping around the U.S.S Stabby. The rest of the Drev soldiers that had come along with them moved towards the docking station ready to make entry aboard the ship. Captian Vir stayed where he was, more worried about Sunny than he was about making entry. He hoped that they would manage to do something…. He hoped that his crew wasn’t dead. The shuttle pulled into the docking station with a rattle and grinding noise that set Vir’s teeth on edge. It was a terrible noise. Whoever was piloting this hunk of steel really should not be piloting.

They ground to a halt, and Cannon stood staying towards the back of his soldiers as he gave the order. One of them slapped the opening button and the doors released a pressurized hiss. A gust of wind blew through the compartment as the pressure equalized. Captain Vir readied himself for whatever might be behind those doors.

And was surprised to find, a rather scruffy group of marines standing over the unconscious bodies of the Drev soldiers. Two of them were holding wrenches, one of them brandished a crowbar, and all of them were mostly undressed. Two of the marines were wearing only their boxers, and one of the marines was conspicuously garbed in only a towel, one about her body and the other wrapped around her hair. She tossed a hammer up and down in one hand.

“They glanced over at the docking bay and like a group of wolves, they formed up on each other stalking forward. The Drev pulled back at the sight pulling aside to put the Captain in View. The marines perked up, “CF! You’re alive.”

Captain Vir stood in time as the marines pushed their way into the shuttle thumping him on the back, “We were just on our way to rescue you.”

The other marines nodded, “Yeah captain, these big beetles didn’t stand a chance.” The marine glanced over at Cannon, “No offence, of course.”

The captain responded with a weak grin, “You crazy bastards….” He paused, “Tell me, is Krill still alive?”

***

“I have a theory that the number of missing body parts is directly related to Idiocy.” Krill glowered at the captain, who sat on the edge of one of the cots, “First it’s you, and then it’s Sunny.” He waved his arms in front of the two of them, “You see this, it’s called having all of your limbs. It’s what happens when you are intelligent enough to be cautious, but no, the two of you can’t help but mount insurrections, challenge duels, and charge blindly into situations that will eventually get you dead.

Captain Vir glanced over at the bed on his left where Waffles was lying with her head resting on one of her paws ears up tail dangling off the side of the cot wagging slowly. He was immensely grateful the dog had survived with only minor injuries. She had been knocked out coming out of warp, and injured her paw, but otherwise, she was ok.

Krill had moved over to Sunny’s bedside where she lay bandaged, heavily drugged, and healing.

“I swear, the two of you give me palpitations. If we sewed the two of you together, we might end up with the correct number of eyes and limbs.” Krill grumbled bustling about the infirmary with help from one of the marines. He had injured some of his legs coming out of warp. If he floated, he didn’t have to use his legs, but movement wasn’t so fast, so he had commandeered one of the marines to pull him around the infirmary to help the injured.

Captain Vir sighed and rested back against the bed. He wasn’t really injured aside form a mild concussion and some bruising about the neck and wrists, but he was immensely exhausted. This past month or two had been exhausting. He just wanted to sleep, just for five minutes without their being antagonized by yet another problem.

He just wanted to sleep.

***

The Galactic Assembly stood as the Drev representative stepped into the room. The chamber was mostly quiet as the Drev’s silver armor sparkled in the light. Behind him Captain Vir, mediator to the Drev, stood with a group of other delegates including Sunny, and Cannon. The chosen Drev representative was General Magnus from one of the neighboring Drev tribes. For a Drev he was known for being open minded, cautious and astute.

As he sat, the assembly sat.

The chairwoman of the assembly stood, “The Galactic Assembly welcomes the Drev representatives on this historic day. Is there anything you wish to say before we begin peace talks?”

Cosma had come up with the idea during the night while reading over one of the papers, slowly trying to peace out the strange alien language coming across something called “pack bonding”. Apparently humans had the capabilities to socially bond with pretty much anything. It was strong enough to bond with other species, and even with inanimate objects. They were known for being surprisingly gullible and trusting if given the right circumstances, so she thought….. it couldn’t hurt, but who would be expendable enough to try.

A daughter desperate to win her mother’s favor perhaps? Yes…. That would be good enough. She would be small enough for the humans anyway, less threatening.

And it had worked, Worked so much better than she could have imagined. She chuckled at the thought. The human actually seemed to have thought they were allies, friends even. Oh how niece could he have been. Like a Drev could ever be friends with a human. Besides, even Sunny wouldn’t have been stupid enough to foster such a bond. Friendships weren’t for rue soldiers, and Sunny was desperate to be a good solider.

Outside, in the vastness of space, the reflected light of their moon broke through the darkness cutting through the window and onto the human’s porcelain skin. It was a stomach churning sight, like the dried skin of a maggot, or a mossworm. She stepped forward grabbing the human below the chin and lifting his head.

He didn’t bother to fight against her hand. One green eye stared bleakly out at her from the creature’s face. She turned his head towards the window, “See that, worm.” The green eye failed to focus for a long moment, she shook him, “The moon.” The human pupil locked onto it, and an odd dark shadow upon its planet-side surface. She let him go, “The Galactic Assembly does not have a monopoly on technology. Our scientists developed it, a device that can sense and disrupt warp tunnels, quite the feat don’t you think?”

The human said nothing dropping his head once again, “We’ve been waiting for you for a while… did you know, information is also sent through warp tunnels, your radio signals. They wouldn’t make it across the universe otherwise. Much faster than that ship of yours, but if you have a signature, you can catch them. That Vrul of yours is a very astute little weevil, and he has a habit of recording your plotted courses in his transmissions to the Galactic Assembly, Isn’t that interesting?”

The human said nothing slumping even further towards the floor. The maggoty skin on its face was wet under the single eye.

Uh…. Pathetic. She walked past the creature kicking it over with a kick of her foot. It hit the deck with a clatter and a grunt. The soldiers that sat around looked on in humorless boredom. At the back of the shuttle Sunny was turned away.

“Daughter, come here.” Cosma snapped.

When Sunny didn’t move immediately, she was hauled to her feet, “That was an order, soldier.” She hissed

Sunny looked at her with a blank expression. Her golden eyes, So much like Cosma’s, were blank and unseeing as she stared straight forward.  

They were entering the atmosphere now, and the shuttle rattle and jerked around them. Sunny reached for the side of the shuttle wall to steady herself. Cosma watched the movement as she did. Something was strange about her daughter, something in the way she moved. It was oddly…. Predatory, not like a warrior, but like something else, was it the way her eyes moved, slowly tracking the moving landscape both inside and outside the shuttle. Whatever it was, it was hardly the Drev thing to do, and it made her uneasy. She would have to speak with Sunny about that in the intervening hours.

The shuttle landed against the stone with a rocky thud that jarred the two of them forward. Cosma took a few steps forward to balance herself. Sunny kept her grip against the outer edge of the shuttle. As the engines shut off and began to cool, Cosma slapped her hand against the release button, “Watch the worm.” She ordered her soldiers, pushing outside and onto the rocky, moss covered face of the Drev homeworld.

Behind her, Sunny took a few hesitant steps pausing to look up at the sky and the volcanic ash which blotted out the sun. The landscape was awash with the red haze of the filtered sunlight. Distant dwelling crouched in the moss interwoven with small specks that were, clearly, other Drev.

Cosma walked the two of them away from the ship pausing to look down at their village, just on the outskirts of the fertile belt. She liked it here, with their backs against the volcanic lands, they had a greatly defensible position. She didn’t bother to look at Sunny as she stared down at the village, “Your report, soldier.”

There was a long silence, Cosma turned to look at her with annoyance, and only then did Sunny speak, “You got what you wanted, what is there to report?”

Cosma’s movement was almost too fast to be perceived, and the slap landed with a sharp crack Sunny’s head jerking to the side. Cosma stepped back arms crossed a muscle in her cheek twitching, “Don’t you dare backtalk me, I want to know why it took you so damn long! You were out there almost a year cavorting with the creature that killed your father. And it seems that a year hasn’t done anything to curb your insolence.”

Sunny slowly turned her head back to look at her mother, “I don’t fly the ship, General, I don’t decide where we go; that’s the captain’s job. Plus we stopped on Earth for a few months, and that wasn’t in my power either.”

Cosma barked a sharp tone of bitter laughter, “Taking orders from humans….. wait….. earth you say?”

Sunny paused, “Yes?”

Fire sparked in Cosma’s eyes, “You’ve been to their homeworld?” When sunny said nothing Cosma began pacing very suddenly and excitedly up and down the outcropping, “You know where it is, you could take us there. Oh daughter….. this is better than I could have planned.” She turned to look at Sunny, “Do you understand what this means?”

Sunny shook her head as Cosma beamed teeth gritted, “You have finally managed to do something right.”

Cosma turned away unaware of Sunny’s reaction if she had one at all, the possibilities of knowing the location of the human homeworld was too exciting. She had so many plans, plans that would be fulfilled all thanks to her daughter. Who would have thought something so ludicrous, but it was true.

***

Captain Vir knelt at the center of the ship head hanging low, heart hanging even lower. How could he have been so stupid, so trusting? It was so obvious, you couldn’t trust a Drev, especially not the Drev that mutilated you on the field of battle, and now he was going to die, his crew was going to die, all because he was so stupid and so trusting.

He felt hot tears prickling at the corners of his eyes, once he would have fought them down, but he let them flow freely now, what did he have to loose, his dignity? That was already gone. Small dark droplets thudded softly against the shuttle’s metal floor. His entire body hurt, his soul hurt, and he was attached to it, the LEG, a piece of her, the very symbol of his idiocy and trusting nature. He desired nothing more than to rip it off and throw it across the room, scream and curse, rip this entire damn planet apart. The Courts had been right, he had been a fool, he should never have brought her aboard the ship. Inside his chest, his heart twisted with a terrible constricting beat that closed up his throat like that bitch still had him around the throat.

He squeezed his eyes shut as thoughts of his fallen crewmembers flashed through his head. Krill lying lifeless over the seats. His lieutenant bloodied, his coms expert twisted into a horribly painful position, and his dog lying whimpering and unable to move. The surge of hatred that followed those images could have torn him apart, would have torn him apart if he let them, but instead the flow of tears only increased in intensity as he stared at the floor below. Around him the Drev soldiers stared on in silence.

A loud clatter at the back of the shuttle, and he glanced up from under his bowed head to see the General step in, trailing Sunny in her wake. He could barely look at her, the traitor, could barely look at those blank, and unfeeling eyes. The general stopped to stand over him hooting with sadistic glee as she dragged him to his feet by the hair. He gasped in pain and struggle against her. He tried his best to keep his feet as she dragged him towards the exit, “Look at what you’ve done, worm.” She laughed, “You’ve condemned your entire species to destruction. You idiot, giving away the coordinates of your home planet.” More cutting laughter, “Once I’m done with you, your planet is next.”

Even to his own ears, the sound Adam let off in response to the revelation was horrible, a strangled sob mixed with a pained scream, not physical pain, but horrible psychological pain. His cry broke across the open space bouncing outwards and down the hillside. Heads snapped upwards to look at they passed, as he was dragged down the dark obsidian pathway ad towards the center of the village where a large circle was carved into the stone.

He was thrown to his belly there tears wetting the rocks turning the black stone blacker and washing away the dust. His mother had been right, and now, because of him, they were all going to die. His brothers, his sister, his Neace and nephew, his father. He had condemned them to death

What had he done?

Around the circle, other Drev had begun to congregate, watching the spectacle with their impassive, angular faces multiple hands and arms still occupied with their earlier tasks, now forgotten. The traitor stood in front of him, but he couldn’t look at her.

The general stepped over him, still laughing as she raised her staff, and brought it down against him with a hard crack. He gritted his teeth against the pain, unwilling to give her anymore satisfaction with his cries.

She chuckled, “Don’t worry, worm, I’ll make this slow.” She lifted her head to the other Drev, ranting and raving like a madman speaking of revenge, of her dead mate, of the war. As she spoke she grew in frenzy. Looking around, the captain was confused to find the Drev staring on blankly, a blankness that covered….. something more.

Her rant grew to a crescendo before she leaned down, “Earth is next,” She hissed, and then spit out a string of umbers at him. For a moment, he couldn’t tell what the words were supposed to mean. Suddenly, it dawned on him….. Coordinates. His heart sank, but, something was wrong. He ran the numbers over in his fuddled mind for another long minute. As he did, his heart quickened, he ran them again, and as he did once, twice, three times, a sharp bark of laughter broke from his throat.

The general stepped back in shock and confusion. The laughter grew from choked to manic, until he was howling with it. The tears that now ran down his face were tears of mirth, he looked up at her through bursts of laughter, “You…. Idiot.”

Anger in her eyes, the general lunged forward slamming him back against the stone. He felt the leg of his pants rip as they caught against stone. The breath was driven from his lungs, and the laughter cut off.

“What are you laughing about you insolent maggot.”

“Those…. Aren’t…. coordinates to… earth.” He choked out through his gasps. She stared at him uncomprehending. He couldn’t help the laughter, “Those are the coordinates, for the black hole in Messier 31. In other words NOT coordinates for Earth, but the supermassive black hole at the center of Andromeda you absolute fuckwit, not even in the right fucking galaxy.”

The laughter broke from his throat again.

She stood in terrible anger jabbing her staff towards him, “You LIE you-“ She paused suddenly, her eyes dropping down to his legs, and the torn fabric. Her eyes widened and then narrowed.

With a quick jab, she cut the fabric the rest of the way, and the two pieces fell apart to reveal the glittering prosthetic, and the metallic carapace, which covered it.

A gasp filled the square, the General froze in place her body tensing fire igniting in her eyes. She turned towards Sunny who stood outside the circle. Her blank expression had grown to one of absolute and sadistic satisfaction.

“What did you do…..” The general choked out.

She bared her teeth at her mother in a very human snarl, “What’s wrong, mother, did someone ruin your execution.”

“YOU, YOU….” She suddenly deflated, taking a deep breath, “No matter, I can still duel him. It will be like an execution anyway, and THEN. I deal with you.”

“No mother, you deal with me NOW.”

Her voice rose so the entire village could hear, “General Cosma, I Weapons Officer Sunny challenge you to a duel!”

The captain’s hand pressed forward on the controls, and below decks, somewhere in the bowels of the ship, the warp core pulsed once, thrumming with a pulsing power that rolled its way through the ship dimming lights and flickering projections as power was diverted to the warp for a split second. There was one horrible moment like they were all being folded inwards, and then the view outside of the windows whent completely white as the cameras shut off.

The entire crew slumped in relief as the feeling passed, and they were finally on their way. If the calculations were right, they should appear just off from the Heaven’s Gate Nebula, and then circle around the perimeter, a journey that would take more than a few months with strategic warp jumps spaced throughout.

Captain Vir sighed turning sideways in his chair and throwing his legs over the opposite armrest. Under the leg of his pants, the blue, metallic prosthetic of his new leg winked out at the crew. It only had two toes, like the foot of the Drev and a single backward facing spur. It had taken a while for him to get used to the dynamic of the leg, but once he had, it was almost impossible to notice the difference.

Inside the warp channel, the crew allowed itself to relax, moving from their attentive positions back to their postures of relaxation and sleepy watchfulness. A warp was run completely on autopilot, to do it manually would be to commit suicide in in the most spectacular way possible, perhaps by flying themselves straight into the sun. Either way, the only thing to do now was to sit back, relax and monitor the inner workings of the ship.

Captain Vir was taking the advice quiet seriously, closing his eyes and turning to a light nap within the embrace of the warp channel. Oddly enough, one of the safest place in the universe happened to be carried on the wings of a powerful and reactive force capable of causing planets to implode. It was surprisingly calming, like being rocked to sleep by the universe. The ship itself did rock gently ever few minutes rising over the strange currents residing in the warp tunnel. Sunny was back to listening to her music, and the Captain was fast asleep.

And then the entire world imploded.

If going into warp felt like being folded, than coming out of a warp felt like being stretched and then let go like a rubber band snapping back into place. Coming out of warp forcibly, however, took the rubber band feeling and multiplied it by about a thousand. The entire world was pulled, dragged, and snapped. The ships interior constructions screamed and protested. The entire crew deformed, shifted back and were thrown suddenly and violently from their seats screaming to match the crying of the ship.

The main power of the ship was disrupted plunging them into darkness, before emergency lights kicked on around the room. Captain Vir had been thrown from his seat and lay face down on the deck unmoving.

Warp protocol was strictly regulated for many reasons, the sudden termination of a warp was physically horrendous, and potentially catastrophic. The humans lay across the bridge moaning and contorted into positions of pain against their own whiplash, some of the humans lay very still.

Krill lay draped over one of the seats, also unmoving.

Sunny struggled to her knees armored carapace having protected her form the worst side effects of the warp termination. “No, no, not now, not like this.” Sunny whispered. The ship shuttered and jolted with a metallic screech. The emergency lights cast an unholy glow over the room. Sunny scrambled across the floor and onto the defense console. Ahead of her at the systems console, she watched as the ship desperately tried to reboot itself. As far as she knew the main power sources and life support would have remained intact. If there was one thing surprising about humans, it was their extensive need to create backup systems to their backup systems. In some cases, humans could be very cautious.

The ship rattled again, and Sunny desperately rattled at the battle station controls.

Weapons systems offline.

She cursed under her breath, and tried to pull up close radar of the area. The loading screen seemed to take forever as she pulled it up, “Please, no.”

The radar came up, but the small signature of their ship was completely surrounded, a mass shape dwarfing them, engulfing them. Somewhere below the ship, a loud metallic thud reverberated through the hull. Sunny raced towards the wall, dashing the coms from the wall, pressing the button and screaming her orders into it, “DON’T FIGHT THEM, REURN TO THE BARRACKS, DON’T FIGHT THEM.” A loud screech echoed through the corridors of the ship, “PLEASE, YOU WILL DIE!” She thought about the marines, those idiotically brave humans. How could they not fight; she had a horrible image of the marines lying on the ground, dead.  The rattling continued for some minutes and then went quiet.

Sunny rushed over to Krill checking for signs of life, she didn’t know what she was looking for, she was a solider not a doctor; that was Krill’s job…. But to her….. he…. Wasn’t moving. She couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t feel anything. She shook him gently, but his large head just flopped forward like a rag doll.

Breathing hard, she lay Krill gently on the ground and then leaped to her feet running over to where the captain lay on the floor nearly tripping over waffles, who lay on her side voice wheezing with a quiet whimper as she struggled to breathe

She threw herself to her knees next to the captain and flipped him over placing her hand over his chest. She knew relatively where a human heart was supposed to be, and placed one of her hands over his chest desperately feeling for some signs of life. There she felt it, the distant thudding of his human heart and his chest rising and falling with labored breath. She shook him to trying to wake him up, if anyone knew what to do….

Just like Krill, the man slumped forward upper body falling against her chest head sagging downwards. She knelt on the floor holding him in her arms trying desperately to wake him up, and she was still there as she listened to the floors begin to rattle.

Something was coming.

“Captain-“ She began, ready to beg him, to plead with him to wake up, and it seemed as if his eyes had begun to flicker.

The door burst open with a loud CRACK, hinges squealed as metal warped in protest bending and twisting into unintended positions. The door itself rattled to the deck, skidding halfway onto the bridge. A light haze of smoke poured into the room, obscuring the figures behind into shadows. Three figures rushed into the room one after the other ducking through the small space weapons raised to point at the incapacitated crew.

The mist dissipated.

Sunny felt her heart skink….

The Drev soldiers stared back at her with expressions of impassive disinterest. From where they stood, they fanned out across the room brandishing their weapons, blasters, razors, arm cannons, lasers, and of course their armor slid into place between and over the already armored carapace.

They were a good two feet taller than her on average.

Captain Vir shifted against her chest arms limply trying to regain consciousness fully.

And that’s when the fourth figure stepped into the room. The shape was so massive they had to bend almost double to make it through the door and into the room stepping with a soft clatter on the floor. Humans may have grown out of predators, but nothing at that moment could have looked more sinister than the shape that stepped from the shadows, and out onto the deck raising itself to a full 10 foot height only added to by the magnificent set of armor about her shoulder, and the mighty war staff in her upper right hand.

….

Sunny’s mother stood, metallic purple armor shining in the light of the emergency illumination, casting shadows about her body that turned her normally warlike form into nothing short of sort of hellish. Like the goddess of war herself reincarnate, and come down from the fields of battle to grace her presence on this very isolated ship.

Her regal armored head turned about the room taking in the fallen crew, some of which were finally beginning to stir, and then her eyes locked on Sunny. Sunny rested the captain back down on the floor and took to her feet slowly forced to look upwards at her mother’s face. The piercing golden eyes stared back at her as she stepped forward, easily striding over the fallen door with her massive pace.

She paused over Sunny staring down at her.

Sunny stared back.

Captain Vir groaned and struggled to his hands and knees. His bleary human eyes were out of focus ad cloudy with confusion.

Sunny’s mother bent down, and with her other massive hand, she grabbed the human by the throat, and hoisted him into the air like he was nothing more than a kitten in the jaws of a lion. He gasped, and gagged and struggled against her massive grip hands desperately scrabbling at her wrist and fingers. His legs kicked as his lips began to turn gradually blue.

The noise of his choking filled the entire bridge from front to back.

“Pathetic little creature, aren’t you.” She mused as the other humans were just beginning to pull themselves from the floor, only to be encouraged back there by the weapons of the Drev soldiers, “To think many of the Drev consider you to be mighty warriors, but look at you now.”

All that could be heard over the sound of the rebooting system, was the human slowly choking. His kicking grew more frail, more labored as he began to grow limp. Sunny took a step forward.

Her mother’s head snapped up, and with a flick of her wrist, she discarded the human to the floor. He hit the ground with a sickening thud and a reverberation through the metal. A desperate gasp rent the air as he took in breath hands to his throat.

A set of golden eyes fell on her. The gaze that had contemplated her many times, and only ever come back with disgust and distaste was filled with something else this time. A smile broke across her face, “Daughter…..” She looked around to the assembled Drev, “My daughter, a true soldier in the art of espionage. Good work, you did your job perfectly… quite a miracle considering your….usually lacking in these areas.”

On the floor Captain Vir choked a single word breaking from his lips, “Sunny…” A word filled with so much betrayal and despair, it turned Sunny’s blood right to ice.

She didn’t want this.

Her mother laughed, “Look at the poor stupid thing, Sunny, seems you did your job better than I expected.” Her laughter rose, and with it came the laughter of the other Drev soldiers, echoing out of the bridge, down the halls, and through the ship to die in dusty corners with its sinister intent.

  Scale of captain Vir to Sunny o Sunny’s mother for some context. 

“So you mounted a machine gun on the back of a Drev, and now you are riding her like a war pony of death.”

He patted Sunny on the shoulder and grinned moving the mounted weapon so it was pointing up at the ceiling. “Hell yeah, Alright Sunny, you can back it up.” She did as told returning to the cargo lift. Vir Stepped off the “Buddy pegs.” He hopped down to where Krill waited, “So my four legged friend, what’s up?”

The little creature scrolled down on his holographic clipboard, “You received a transmission, from your brother. He’s engaged, and they are setting a date for six months from now.”

Vir broke out in a wide grin, “David? Yeah, thought so. It’s about damn time!”

“Engaged?” Sunny wondered as the battle reference for the word didn’t seem to fit in context.

Vir glanced at her, “It’s when two humans become a ‘mating pair’ as you aliens would say. Usually involves a lot of that sort of ritualistic stuff, a big party and what not.” He grinned some more, “Getting married, well good for them. They’ve been dancing around each other for almost four years now. Was almost worried they wouldn’t make it.”

Sunny watched in interest, she didn’t really know anything about human mating rituals. She didn’t even know that humans paired off. From what she understood they sort of just…. Went for it, but apparently there was a difference between a fling and actual mating, which had totally never occurred to her.

As a Drev things were a little different. Since their species culture was based entirely around war, it had become customary to include a ritual that showed your prowess in battle. It was imperative that a Drev pair off with someone equally as accomplished in battle as they were, and the only way to figure that out was to fight each other. Once an attachment was established, and those involved wished to act upon it, a day was set aside for the big fight. The terms of the fight could be set differently depending on how high status or how high profile the pairing was. You could fight, to the death, or to surrender. However, if you were to pick to the death but then surrender, you were immediately shunned and shamed; if you agreed to die, than you were expected to do it without complaining. The mating ritual was successful if both of you survived without surrender, or neither of you could gain the upper hand leading to a stalemate that lasted over a 1/25 cycle. The fight could occur at any time, and after that you were open to become a pair at any time, or, deciding otherwise, to pair with someone else. Generally, those who did successfully complete the ritual and then decide to be together often fought side by side in, what Sunny considered, the greatest example of trust and romance that one could hope for.

She sighed longingly thinking about it, at this point in her life, she had no real hope for something like that.  Though she was still young, she hadn’t seen any of her own kind for some time, and even considering that, no one had ever shown interest in her beforehand.

Kind of heartbreaking…. Watching everyone else fighting alongside a companion when no one had ever even looked at her in that way. She doubted anyone here understood that. The only other nonhuman on the ship, Krill, wouldn’t understand these feelings. His species had no need for romance, everyone was just so logical that they simply mated to keep the population stable.

Meal slid away from carapace, and she rolled her shoulders, the captain stepped down from the box, his metal leg whirring slightly. He looked up at her, “Hey, why the long face?”

Sunny was always surprised to find the human understood her facial expressions. Humans were very good at that sort of thing, krill told her that the humans had a special place in their brain for that, it was called the Fusiform Face area in the temporal lobe, and apparently its knowledge could be expanded to include alien facial expressions.

“Come on, lighten up Sunny, you and I reining death and destruction, a killing machine, come on you like that sort of thing.”

She shook off her blues and nodded. She did enjoy war, and she very much like it when they could make her more deadly than she already was, so that was something. Captain Vir motioned Krill over, and too the clipboard from him looking over the message as he did. He was wearing only one boot today, just for his real leg, the prosthetic foot was clear from under his pants. He said it was easier to move when the foot was bare.

That was the first and only time Sunny had ever felt a twinge of guilt for something she had done during war. To her war was war it was impersonal, it was distant, but to the humans it was very personal, and from what she knew, though humans could survive great physical stress, and come out completely fine, they often received mental damage from war. The mental damage often being worse than the physical damage.

What she had done to Vir had likely left him mentally crippled for much longer than it had taken his leg to heal. She knew that, depending on lighting, or their interaction, or if she accidentally caught him off guard, she could still trigger old wounds. She had done that to him, after all. Yet even despite all of that he had made the decision to accept her aboard his ship, and even manage to enjoy her company, at least she thought so.

“You have siblings.” She wondered.

The captain nodded, “Yep, three older brothers and one older sister.”

Sunny tapped her foot on the floor, “So, you are not born in litters?”

He barked a laugh handing the clipboard back to krill, “Not generally. It is possible for a human mother to have up to eight at once, but that is super rare. It’s more likely to have one to two at the same time, more often one though.”

This was all very interesting, “And how far are you through your lifespan?”

He shrugged, “About a quarter, or less than if I’m lucky.”

“And how many offspring do you have?” She wondered

He barked a laugh, and nearby crew laughed with him as they walked past.

He looked up at her, “None Sunny, not a single one. I’d have to get a date first, and I’m kind of inexperienced in that department. I try not to let it bother me though, otherwise I wouldn’t go back home. My sister has been married for a while, David is getting married, Jeremy has a steady girlfriend and I think Thomas is single right now, but he tends to jump around, so I sort of expected that. How about you?”

She shook her head, “I have one brother, he is much older than me, and was paired when I was born. I just reached adulthood when the war began, and I have many years left, but I have no children. Drev consider a few things in mating, the color of your armor, your fighting prowess, and, I think this is shallow but it’s true, height. I am very short.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, “Sunny, you’re like seven and a half feet tall.”

She nodded, “Yes, and my brother is nine and a half feet tall. No one pays much attention to someone who still looks like a child.”

He shook his head, “Well Sunny, I promise your battle prowess is more than acceptable, and if blinding metallic blue isn’t attractive to your species, than I don’t know what would be.”

She nodded to him thankful for the complement.

Captain Vir turned to Krill, “Set a course for earth so we can be there a week before six months from now. I should probably set up something with the admiral to get the crew shore leave. We’d have been out long enough by then.” He looked down at Krill, “What do you think, ready to go back to earth?”

The little alien looked a little hesitant, “During winter?’

The captain waved a hand, “No, who the hell would want their wedding in winter where I live? You’d have at least a fifty percent chance of having to cancel the wedding because all the guests got snowed in.”

Krill sighed, “If I must, Captain.”

“Oh come on, you had fun the last time we were there.”

He gave the Captain an incredulous look, “ok, yes maybe, but I was also stressed and terrified the entire time. If I do that to much, I will die of a stroke. I might just go ahead and die of a stroke while we are there because I am sure you will all come up with something horrifying to do while we are there.”

The Captain rolled his eyes and crossed his arms turning to look at sunny, “What do you think Sunny, what to come with us to a death world, and then maybe then I won’t be stuck with the party-pooper.”

Earth? Wow… now that was something she wanted to see.

She kept her head down, that was fine, as long as she finished second, and did it right, she could feel good about herself. Something tugged at her leg from behind, pulling her onto her stomach atop the hard stone. She bit back a grunt and a whimper. Something scuttled past her, as a shadow loomed over her pressing down on her back and using her for leverage as it moved forward. This time, she cried out in pain as the sharp volcanic stone cut against her. They didn’t even move back as the bigger Drev children pushed past her.

She lay on the stone seething and hurting as she watched them go. Someday, when she was bigger….

Just then, she was eclipsed by another massive shadow looking up through her pain to find the tall shape standing over her. Gold eyes, not unlike her own, flashed against the volcanic sky…. General…. Her mother.

Sunny quickly scrambled to the correct position bracing to be yelled at, but the mass, regal form turned away from her in dismissal, “LOWER DOWN SOLIDER” She scolded towards the back of the group. Sunny felt her heart drop, what she would have given to be yelled at instead of simply ignored.

She vowed to try harder, pushing towards the front scraping and cutting herself against stone, dripping blood onto the rocks before limping to her feet at the end of the course, her entire front was slick with little lines of blood. She ran to her place in line and stood straight as the others pushed themselves over the line. They were less bloody than she was, but she could take the pain, she had finished fourth after all.

The general was here again, walking up the line with the purple metal of her carapace glittering in the light of their sun breaking through the ashy ceiling. She eyed them passing over Sunny and then stopping. She said nothing. Pointing towards a group of younglings at the back, “Moderately acceptable work you three.” She lifted her noble head adorned by the decorative and ceremonial armor, “the rest of you…. PATHETIC!”

She stormed about the grounds yelling insults at the young recruits, as Sunny felt her heart sink, but she had tried so hard, so much pain, but she kept quietly to attention her head up and her eyes staring straight forward. The general made her way down the line pausing by Sunny for a long moment. She didn’t make eye contact with her, she stared straight ahead.

“Next time, just focus on your form, and stay at the back. You’re an absolute mess.” She walked away just then fading into the ranks of Drev as the sky’s ash thickened, and Sunny was thrown into darkness.

***

She jolted from sleep by the slowing of the tram nearly running her face into a metal bar. Vir was already ushering Krill to his feet as they stepped off into the city. Sunny followed in silence trying to shake off the dream.

Vir glanced over at her, shrugging his duffle bag into a more comfortable position, “Feeling alright, Sunny?”

She waved a dismissive hand at him, as they continued their way down the city, and past a line of shops cutting into the large white, and towering buildings. They walked at about mid-level in the city, higher than the subcity where they had slept the night before, but low enough that the tallest spires still hung high above them. Vir cut around a corner, and then shouldered his way through a swinging door, pulling Krill and sunny in his wake.

They stepped through into the wide open room. Most of the floor was made from stiff grey concrete. One large corner was completely covered by mats, and the very center was taken up by an odd platform surrounded by three lines of rope increasing in height until they surrounded the very perimeter of the platform.  The room was large, and despite the mid-size crowd of humans that congregated there, the space seemed rather empty.

On the center platform two humans stood circling each other. Sunny watched in quiet fascination as the humans lunged and danced at each other. Their hands were almost completely covered by comically large padded gloves, and their heads were encased in cumbersome padded helmet all while their shins were protected by the large padded guards. Despite this, it didn’t stop them from trying to beat the life out of each other fighting in that way only humans had using closed fists, and, legs as only humans could.

They approached the center platform as the fight continued. Sunny watched as the smaller human made a feint jab towards the face of the other before coming in with the real punch, an underhand strike towards the abdomen. It made contact with an audible THWACK doubling the second human over as the wind was driven from his chest. The smaller human took a step forward just then grabbing him under the arms, turning quickly and bracing her back against the other human’s front.

Then, with a quick jerk, she threw her upper half forward levering with her hip and so, throwing the larger human in a cartwheel through the air and onto his back with a SLAM. He lay where he had fallen gasping and wheezing.

The other human stood over him, and pulled off her face helmet. Her light-chocolate face was slicked with sweat and her hair was pulled back in a rather matted ponytail. She had the body of a warrior, and the eyes of a predator. Their approach had not gone unnoticed, and she stepped forward pulling off her gloves and leaning against the ropes one eyebrow raised at them, “Well, Adam Vir, haven’t seen you in ages.” Sunny’s eyes looked down surprised to find the woman was missing both her legs. She hadn’t noticed before as the prosthetics she was wearing were very well made and matched the color quality of her skin.

“Ramirez.” The captain nodded dropping his bag next to the stage, “Was hoping that offer you made still stands.”

She ducked under the ropes and down from the stage resting her gloves behind her, “Of course, offer always stands.” She walked over and clapped him on the arm, “It’s nice to see you again.” She leaned down and patted Waffles on the head eyeing Sunny from the corner of her vision, “I wonder if it was a good idea to bring your friend here though. You know a lot of the guys here still have a thing against them.”

Vir shrugged, “They can get over it, I did.”

She watched him for a moment, “Very well then. What can I do for the three of you?”

***

Sunny hadn’t been worked like this in years. When Vir had requested a training session, she had assumed it would be working mostly in fighting, which she had looked forward to, and while it had many of those elements, it also had elements designed to frustrate and exhaust. Human exercises were modified for her, and she did them side by side with Vir as Krill watched form the sidelines having declined in participating, he was a doctor, not a warrior after all.

Her body ached, and with that familiar pain came a numbing sensation in her head. The slow sinking of her mind into a place where she could no longer feel pain…. She had to do her best…. Had to prove that she could do better.

***

She could barely breathe. She ran with all the conviction in her body pushing against stone and moss, thrusting her body forward as hard and as fast as she could, but still, it was only enough, only enough to keep up with the back of the pack, with the legs almost a foot longer than hers. They ran with the effortless grace on their long strides as she charged at the back shorter strides thudding against the stone in a desperate staccato beat.

She was falling behind. She lifted her eyes to the sky pleading for strength, catching, instead a gaze from the distant ridge, and a disappointed expression as the figure turned and disappeared behind the stone. She sped up despite the screaming in her body, but would it matter anyway? No one would see…

But on the off chance they did…

***

They raced back and forth across the length of the room bending down to touch the painted line before dashing back again. Vir had fallen behind many minutes ago, racing on his prosthetic doggedly at her heals. Sunny desperately wished to slow herself down, but she couldn’t she had to keep going, she had to go faster.

The whistle blew, and she turned on instinct and raced across the room with Vir at her heals, stopping by the large bags. She closed her firsts in the way the humans had taught her pulling them up to cover her face and her throat. Her feet planted against the ground, she lunged forward. Again, like the humans taught, she brought the power from the back of her heal, up the twisting of her body and into her shoulder blades, allowing the power to be released in punches which slammed against the bag in a flurry of motion.

She had to be perfect, she had to get everything perfect.

***

She crouched in the circle opposite of her opponent. Moss eyed her back his glittering green carapace dark under the light of the sky. They lunged at each other, Sunny in desperation trying to bring all her power against her larger opponent. There was a flurry of motion, ground, sky, stone and Moss, and then she was on her back staring up at the sky winded and pained.

“Stay down Sunny, before your embarrass yourself.” Moss muttered, “There is still time to forfeit.”

She snarled and launched herself off the ground slamming into Moss’s chest and sending him flying backwards. But he didn’t lose his footing, grabbing her around the middle and crushing her with both of his large arms. She struggled and wriggled against him, and the longer she did, the more she could feel the humiliation leaking into her body as the group around the circle looked on in pity and disappointment.

She wouldn’t stop fighting though, and she continued through she grew weaker and weaker by the moment.

“Stop this NONSENSE!” The call was commanding and powerful. Moss stopped struggling, and so did she. A mass shape pushed through the crowd gold eyes alight with an angry fire. Moss dropped Sunny to the stone, and stepped back. A hand reached down grabbing Sunny by the arm and hauling her to her feet out of the circle, past the crowd, and away towards the dwellings.

She was thrust to the stone, “What were you thinking! Embarrassing your father and I like that.” She snapped.

Sunny remained stubbornly silent, head down.

“You better hope they all think that was just a joke. By all rights you should be dead, those are the rules of a true duel. What made you think you could pull a stunt like that! You should know your place by now. Keep your head down and stay at the back where you belong, like your father told you. Honestly, Sunny, what were you thinking. Moss is one of our best soldiers, and you….. well….

***

“Sunny! SUNNY!” Her eyes cleared vision blurry. She saw orange, it covered her hands and rolled down her palms, but she couldn’t stop.

Something caught her arms, she jerked to the side raising her fist, and pausing. Captain Vir stared back at her with wide eyes, gripping the wrists of her lower hands pushing her back away from the bag. Her hands were slicked with blood, “Sunny, calm down, stop.”

Looking around, she found the entire room staring at her. Human eyes blinked at her with wary confusion and some in disgust, she knew that look. She pulled her hand’s from the Captain’s grip and ran from the room, out the back and into the alleyway breathing hard watching her blood drip onto the pristine stone.

The door flew open behind her, but she didn’t look back to the door head down.

There was quiet for a few long minutes as she began to calm.

“Sunny….” The captain quietly stepped around to her front, “penny for your thoughts?” He wondered in that odd way that humans had. His expression was non-confrontational non-judgmental. He seemed honestly worried.

She stepped back, and sunk down against the wall, looking at her hands now covered in blood where the skin had opened sours against the bone.

Vir knelt in front of her, taking her hand in his, cleaning her up with his own towel until it was stained orange with her blood. He wrapped her hands patting them once he was done.

He looked up them watching her with critical green eyes. He held up the back of his hands so she could see. Small purple scars glittered against the first few knuckles of his right hand, “It gets better the more you do it.”

She said nothing

The human frowned. Then, “You know…. I got some Oxy with your name on it…. I’m licensed, so under medical laws, I can’t let anyone know.” When she said nothing, the human took the matter into his own hands scooting forward on his hands and knees until he rested, back to her as close as he could. At this time he said nothing trying to convince her, almost like she had seen the dog, that he was safe.

She refused for a long moment, but eventually caved hugging the human to her in a desperate chase for that illusive feeling of worth and happiness. At least the human thought she was good enough.

It was an odd feeling that flowed through her after a while, a sense of subtle relaxation.

“Come on Sunny, let’s go, and finish what we started.”

***

You will do as you’re told, you will do as ordered, you will keep silent, you will stay where you will not cause trouble.

You will not embarrass this family.

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