Amar Svoboda waved at one of the Ixians patrolling the quarantine perimeter as he made his rounds. The alien warrior returned the gesture, one more reason they held a warm spot in his heart. They were an honorable race, once you’d earned their respect, and if they gave you their word, they would die before betraying it. There were few others that could make that claim… Terrans included.

Still, there were times he missed the familiarity of being amongst humans. The Knights went where they were needed, often to far-flung reaches where there were no other Terrans to be found. As he was discovering, it could be a lonely existence. He had hoped to attend the next Rendezvous in order to remedy that, but since the Yīqún attack, that possibility seemed less and less likely. Maybe when it was all over.

Assuming that day ever came.

He’d discharged half a dozen patients yesterday, sending them back to their families once their isolation period had ended and showed no signs of infection. With no fresh cases in the past three days, it felt like they had finally turned a corner and gotten hold of this epidemic. Being a Valkyrie line medic had its moments; patching wounded soldiers back together while the bullets and beams screamed all around them, but the satisfaction he felt amongst the Knights was on a different order altogether. They were building something here alongside the refugees, establishing connections and working towards a brighter future. There were times he missed his old squad terribly but given the same chance, he still would have made the leap, and never look back.

On most days, that is.

Amar knew he owed Blye a great debt and felt guilty for not backing up her and Prash when they needed him most, but he also knew there was no way in hell he could keep from doing something dangerously stupid around the Aggaaddub. He hated the Troika, seen too many comrades die at their hands, lost friends, and found family to their relentless pursuit of power. Ever since Sonoitii Prime, there was a part of him that seethed with righteous fury at the three races, forever hungering to balance the scales, wanting to see them suffer as he had. Oh, he wanted that badly.

He paused, taking several moments to center himself and employ the breathing techniques Blye had taught him to calm his nerves. Letting himself get worked up like that served no purpose, and with the Aggaaddub on the planet was downright hazardous. It wasn’t easy finding inner peace, and it took him more than a minute before he had his emotions in check once more. When he’d first arrived aboard the KHCS Malta and located Blye, they’d spent several hours talking about his former life amongst the Valkyries. When they finished, she’d gently covered his hands with hers and offered to help treat his PTSD.

Amar sighed, shaking his head, as he resumed his rounds. He’d accepted her kind offer… it seemed rude not to… but honestly? As far as he was concerned, there wasn’t a Terran anywhere in the Perseus Arm that didn’t carry that burden. Life was harsh for the children of Earth, and the trauma that went with it was the price you paid. You clung to those close to you to survive the dark times, stood by them when they needed you in return, and if you were very lucky, you’d get to die in your bunk of natural causes.

Besides, if it ever got too bad, there was always the airlock.

As he neared his destination, he spotted some of the younger Qi-Tam children playing a game near the jungle’s edge. They were tiny things, by human standards, less than a meter tall with spindly limbs and an oversized head. The kids shrieked in delight as they chased one another through the trees, scrambling up the small bluff that half-buried the ancient Precursor vault. It looked like an alien version of “Tag”, though the rules seemed to be applied haphazardly. Smiling, he hefted his medical bag as he continued on his way.

A piercing scream whipped him back around as a child tumbled from the small hill, landing headfirst with a meaty thunk that set him running before he realized what his legs were doing. The other children were now howling in terror as he arrived at the scene, kneeling beside the fallen youth as he assessed their vitals. Unconscious and bleeding from a head wound were not good signs as he frantically searched for a pulse, only to grimace in dismay as he discovered they were in tachycardia. Gently probing the child’s skull and spinal column, he found no obvious injuries, but for safety’s sake, they needed to be immobilized until they were certain.

“You’re going to be okay,” he reassured the child, though they were still unconscious. Their playmates hung nearby, huddled together and watching with frightened eyes. Looking up, he managed to catch their attention.

“What’s their name?” he asked them.

“Iqtasi,” one of the others answered nervously. “Is she going to be alright?”

“She’s going to be just fine,” Amar reassured them, as the Ixian guard appeared beside him.

“What can I do to assist?” he asked.

“Find me something flat I can secure her to,” he answered. “A board, a mattress, anything. I need to protect her spinal cord.”

The alien managed a curt nod and bounded off while he continued his examination, pulling a penlight from his bag before realizing his mistake. Unlike Terrans, Qi-Tam eyes lacked pupils, using instead an interior filtering system to regulate light intake, making a concussion diagnosis even more difficult. There was obvious swelling and bruising on the exposed skin, so Amar broke out an ice pack and applied it to the injury while checking for vitals.

The Ixian reappeared, holding out a flat slab of wood. “I pried it from one of the huts,” he explained.

“It’s perfect,” the Knight said gratefully, reaching for the board only to hiss in pain as a hidden nail ripped open his palm. Giving it a quick glance… it wasn’t bad, just some torn skin, though it was already bleeding… he ignored the injury and focused instead on his patient. “Flip it over so that the nail doesn’t cut her,” he cautioned the Ixian, as the pair gently rolled her onto the improvised backboard before securing her to the brace. She stirred, her eyes fluttering, as he reached for the comm unit at his waist.

“This is Amar at the quarantine site,” he radioed, “requesting assistance. I have a Qi-Tam female child with a possible concussion and spinal cord involvement. I need to transport her to the clinic for assessment.”

Prash’s voice came back almost immediately. “Copy, Velsa and I will head your way and fetch the patient. Any other risk factors involved?”

“She’ll need a full decontamination before transport, but other than that, I think we’re good,” he informed the other Knight, as she opened her eyes and looked up in confusion.

“... what… what happened?” she said groggily, trying to sit up.

“Just lay still,” Amar cautioned her. “You fell while you were playing, so we’re going to check you out and make sure everything’s okay. Can you tell me where it hurts?”

“My head,” she mumbled, as she reached up above her jaw, towards what would be the Temporal region on a human. Amar caught her hand before it landed and carefully guided it back down.

“Just lie still, my friends will be here soon,” he smiled. “Maybe they’ll even give you a treat if you ask nice.”

That perked her right up, earning a chuckle. If she responded that quickly to the possibility of candy, odds were she’d be fine, though he still wanted her checked out to be certain. Looking back to her friends, still hovering nearby, he asked, “Do any of you know her parents?”

One child raised a reluctant hand. “Could you go tell them what happened and bring them back here?” he asked. “I don’t want them to worry.”

The youth nodded and sped off, their tiny arms and legs pumping frantically as they raced to carry out his request. Despite what he’d heard from one of his old squad mates, they weren’t too bad, though he hadn’t yet experienced their big holiday. Pushing himself up, he wobbled briefly on unsteady feet before reaching out to steady himself, hissing in pain as his bloody hand contacted the intricate carvings that covered the vault wall. He pulled back almost immediately while he reached for the disinfectant… when a rumbling sound brought him up short. His immediate thoughts were for his patient, even as the other children squealed and scattered like mice. Bending down to her, worried about her trying to move, he was looking in the wrong direction when the Ixian gasped in shock.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

The alien warrior pointed wordlessly at the vault. From his current position, he couldn’t see anything, so once he was certain the young Qi-Tam was safe, he went to the Ixian’s side, only for his jaw to drop in astonishment as he saw what had unnerved the others.

The vault, sealed since long before the Cambrian explosion, now lay open.

The Terran and the Ixian turned to one another, their mirrored expressions one of astonishment and wonder before the blue-skinned alien slowly backed away. “... I must notify my superior at once,” he stammered, before heading off in search of Spata Zhai.

Amar stared at the now open threshold, and into the gloomy darkness beyond.

“... yeah… me too.”

Getting Blye to the quarantine site was no easy feat. With Prash and Velsa already en route, Amar waited to pass the word directly instead of risking the comms. With the Aggaaddub both in orbit and on the ground, the possibility of being overheard was simply too great to ignore. Once Prash saw the now open vault for himself, they carried the young Qi-Tam girl back to the clinic where he could tell the head Knight directly. Dodging the Kaihautu to deliver the message wasn’t too terribly difficult, but Blye realized that charging off to inspect the vault would almost certainly arouse suspicion.

They needed a cover story.

At least that was easy enough. Blye loaded up a satchel of medical supplies and loudly announced she was off to perform her weekly camp outreach. She even went to the Kaihautu and asked if he wished to accompany her, but once she began explaining in gruesome detail the injuries and ailments she routinely encountered, the Aggaaddub commander immediately lost interest and sent her packing. She actually hit several spots and saw patients to maintain the pretext before finally swinging around to the vault itself. Once there, she discovered a small crowd had gathered, awaiting her arrival. Leading the pack were Amar and Spata Zhai, though to her surprise they had taken the time to track down Akuum Wuzah, their drilling expert and the closest thing they had to an engineer.

“So what have you found?” she asked them.

All eyes turned to the Ixian. “We have not yet entered the vault,” he informed her. “I felt it best to wait until your arrival so that I might once again petition you to leave it untouched.” His mood, already on edge, darkened noticeably. “Shun this place, Chevalier Tagata. No good can come from it.”

Sighing, Blye shook her head. “If it were still sealed, I might agree with you, but now? We have to know what’s inside, if only to keep it from the Troika.”

“And what if the Precursors protected it with hidden mechanisms, designed to slaughter the unwary?” he persisted. “Are you prepared to risk your very life in this endeavor?”

Stepping forward, she reached out and touched the Ixian’s arm. He glanced down at the contact, then back up at her. “Would you rather let the Troika do it?” she asked him point-blank.

The alien warrior muttered something under his breath and looked away, not meeting her gaze. She wasn’t certain, not speaking Ixian herself, but she was willing to wager, based on his tone and body language, he was letting off a string of invectives caustic enough to strip the paint from a starship’s hull. Finally, he faced her once more, though his mood had not improved one bit.

“Then I will join you in this madness,” he said at last. “Let it not be said an Ixian wavered in the face of danger.”

Blye smiled and squeezed his forearm. “I’m honored to have you by my side,” she said.

Akuum Wuzah took a cautious step forward. “I’d… like to accompany you,” he said nervously. “All the time I spent trying to learn its secrets… I have to know.”

“Maybe you’ll spot something we miss,” she agreed, “though I’d really like to know what made it open up now.”

“I have no idea,” Amar told her. “I was treating the child that fell off its roof when it started making noise.”

“... that is... not entirely accurate.”

Everyone turned to the speaker, the Ixian warrior who had assisted Amar in treating the injured Qi-Tam child. “What do you mean?” Blye asked him.

He pointed at Amar. “You were touching the vault when it opened,” he said, his posture conveying a sense of both veneration and apprehension.

Amar stared at him in confusion. “So? It’s got to be a coincidence. Lots of folks have touched it, and it never reacted.”

Blye nodded in agreement before something caught her eye. “Amar… you hand,” she said, pointing at the fresh bandage wrapping it. “Did you injure it before or after the vault opened?”

He thought for a moment. “Before,” he said. “Cut it open on a nail.”

The Spata looked at her curiously. “What are you thinking?”

“Show me where you touched it,” she ordered, forestalling the Ixian’s question.

Amar shrugged, then led her to where they’d treated the girl, pausing as he tried to estimate the exact spot. “About… here, I think,” he told her.

Leaning in, she peered carefully at the section of wall he’d indicated. Upon closer inspection, she could see small flecks of dried blood dotting the surface, her head bobbing as she confirmed her theory.

“Chevalier Tagata, what have you learned?” the Ixian insisted.

She looked up from the structure and faced them. “We’ve been assuming there was some sort of physical barrier preventing us from entering,” Blye told them, “but what if instead, it was a biological one? One that required a DNA sequence in order to open?”

The group looked at one another as they considered that before Amar shook his head. “Ma’am, it's an interesting theory, but why would my DNA open a Precursor vault? When it was sealed, Terrans didn’t exist. I’m pretty sure mammals weren’t even a thing yet, back on old Earth.”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “It’s just all I can think of.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Akuum Wuzah said eagerly, holding up a lantern.

Squaring her shoulders, Blye gripped her quarterstaff tight. “Then let us see what’s inside,” she said, leading the party to the vault’s entrance.