Thrissko

Sally spun the knife nimbly through her fingers. Skis sat in front of her on the floor of the quarters we had claimed. He chittered on in that language I didn't care to learn. I sat on the couch. I stretched out my legs in front of me feeling every pull of muscle underneath my exoskeleton.

Sally's shoulders moved as if she laughed, but no sound came out.

Skis said something else.

Sally repeated the laughing movement.

Skis turned and spoke directly to me. I didn't understand his words, but the miasmids relayed his meaning. "I don't know when we'll fight again," I said.

He said something else.

Sally nodded as the miasmids relayed Skis's words to me. "It's hardly fighting when we just stay onboard. I wish we could fight out in space like the enemy do."

"Me too," I said.

"Zizs vlazh," Skis said. I decided that meant 'me too'.

The miasmids inside me panicked. There was a sense of urgency that made me stand. Sally and Skis immediately stood as well and I knew they felt the same thing I did.

The enemy was attacking. It had surprised the miasmids. The planet was already surrounded and escape was not impossible, but difficult. We were to return to Brist immediately. We weren't that close. It would take several F.T.L. jumps.

Captain Svolun made a ship wide announcement, "I'm sure you are all aware by now. Prepare to jump back to Brist immediately. We will be engaged in battle as soon as we arrive. All personnel are to be at their stations. The rest of you are to be prepared to fight if any of the enemy manage to get on board. Be vigilant."

The broadcast ended.

I couldn't help but wonder if I would finally see Vai. The Gathering had used him and his new friends as a symbol in this fight. I had to admit - the miasmids had to admit - that Vai and his friends had been a detriment to their plans.

And my first thought was if I did see Vai again, he could heal me. The pain started as sharp as tiny knives stabbing my brain over and over again. Before the pain got any worse, I switched my thinking. I would kill Vai.

The pain was immediately replaced with pleasure. Great pleasure. The miasmids had changed their minds about me killing Vai at some point. In the past whenever I thought of it, they had discouraged that way of thinking. But now that Vai had these powers - now that he could heal us of the miasmids - they wanted him dead. Nothing else. Just dead. So I made sure my thoughts were filled with images of killing my former friend and I buried deep any thought or hope of seeing my friend and being free of the miasmids.

*

Vai

Warpaint had his Aether shield spread around me and him even though I still had my light shield up. All around me - below me - above me - everywhere - there was fighting. Green light would temporarily light up space as the Brist fired their weapons on our ships, on our people. This was difficult. Impossible. This wasn't the small enemy fleet that had occasionally attacked us. This was almost the entirety of the Brist armata.

There were other healers in space with us. There were 2 others at the moment, but they were from other ships and had spread themselves away from me so we could maximize our efforts to heal.

A small group of 5 from the Shadow did not move away fast enough and got the full blast from the Brist weapon. The 5 of them were immediately incinerated. There was no possible way that I could have healed them fast enough to prevent their deaths. I felt it to my core. My hands began to shake. I turned my focus elsewhere before I could dwell on it.

There was a small group of 3 from the BlackOcean who had been grazed by the green beam from a Brist ship. I healed them quickly. They waved a 'thanks' in my direction before they resumed their attack.

I looked quickly for my friends when I had a small break. They were below me and far to my left. Shel had already taken care of their weapons and had moved on to a neighboring enemy ship to do the same. His localized power seemed especially effective against their weapons.

Esther and Gray had made a large hole in one of the Brist ships. Many Brist had been sucked out into space and were dying. I let them. It was a little easier to let them than it had been previously, but only because I needed to save as much energy as possible for my own people.

The Corruption abandoned the Brist, but before they could head down to the planet, or away into space, Minmin and Owen directed their lightning and fire to engulf the pink cloud until there was nothing left.

This was not the first time during the fight that the miasmids had abandoned those they controlled. Every time it happened, I was tempted to reach out with my light and break down their molecules until there was nothing left. But I remembered my main purpose was to heal our people. My people killed the Corruption every time. I needed to let them do their jobs while I concentrated on mine.

"Sir!" Warpaint grabbed my arm and pulled me from the area of space I had been in just as a streak of green went passed me and crashed into the shields of the Shadow.

"Thank you, Warpaint," I said.

"You need to be more careful, sir."

"I need to concentrate on healing," I said. I stretched my light out to find those who needed me. "You need to continue to watch out for me."

"I will, sir."

The green beam that had almost hit me, had grazed 4 of my fellow companions from the Shadow. I healed them, but didn't spare them a glance to see if they would thank me. The environment was too chaotic for that.

Time passed in strange ways. One moment I thought that 2 hours must have passed, but the next moment I thought that it hadn't been that long since we exited the Shadow.

I healed more and more. There were others who didn't move fast enough and got caught completely in the enemy's beams. There was nothing left of them to save except for their volos which were programmed to stay out of harm's way. We would need to remember to collect all the ownerless volos later to pass on their owner's history and legacy.

The other 2 healers were getting tired. Everyone in the battle was getting tired. My light started to stretch towards the healers. I wanted to give them some energy back, but before my light touched them, I realized I was also weary. 2 hours hadn't passed yet? And I wondered in the few moments in between healing people where was the rest of the Corruption's fleet?

I was startled when more ships jumped in. Relief washed through me as I realized it was our own ships not the enemy ships. The Gathering warships we had been told to watch out for. I had never seen them up close before. They were massive and covered in weapons in all shapes and sizes.

The Gathering exploration ships moved out of their way. Those of us in space moved away from them.

Now we would have a real chance of breaking through the Brist fleet. The Brist shields could withstand the lesser weapons on the exploration ships, but they would not be able to withstand the Aether blasts from our Warships.

The Warships front weapons - their biggest weapons - began to hum. White light tipped their barrels. Some of the Brist ships moved to intercept the Gathering warships. The warships fired.

Not on the Brist ships, but on the planet itself. I felt them die. So many of them - Brist and the Corruption as our weapons scorched and upended entire cities. Millions of screams of terror of pain and dying. It scorched me. Burned into me. The screams. The dead. The dying.

"Vai!"

"Sir!"

Lieutenant Tanpo and Warpaint grabbed me from either side. I didn't realize until then that I was shaking. The Brist ships completely ignored us and the exploration vessels now. They moved directly into the path of the warships and their weapons to minimize the damage to the planet's surface.

"Vai!" Lieutenant Tanpo yelled at me again. I finally focused on her. "You need to heal," she told me.

"I can't," my voice cracked. "There are too many dying. Too many dead. Too many hurt." The planet drew me in.

"Not the Brist," Lieutenant Tanpo said. She let go of my arm and instead grabbed my head and turned it to look directly into her eyes. "Our people. Hani and her mother."

I saw Hani and her mother then, just behind Lieutenant Tanpo. Their left sides were completely blackened from their heads down to their toes. They were in pain. Injured. But it gave me something to focus on. My green light stretched out to them, encircled them, mended muscle, repaired nerves, revived the skin.

As soon as I was finished my okulus beeped signaling the end of our 2 hour shift. Warpaint pulled me back towards the ship. I was grateful to him because I wasn't sure I could have made myself move away from all those that needed to be healed.

We met up with my friends before we boarded the Shadow. "Don't think about what's happening on Brist," Esther said to me gently.

I didn't want to think about it, but I felt them.

"I didn't know the Gatherish were capable of such destruction," Brownie said as she and the other two Awakened Ones followed us into the Shuttle Bay. "I have never seen such weapons as on those big ships. If you had told us, all of our people would have awakened to join you."

"Well, tell them now," Esther said.

"No need," Gray said. "Our people have already awakened."

"They will join us?" Esther asked. "Soon?"

"We were spread out," Brownie said. "They will be here when they can."

Being inside the Shadow helped a little. I could ignore the need to heal a little more. The Awakened Ones stayed on the shuttle bay as the fresh fighters exited to battle. The rest of us made our way to the elevators. Minmin, Esther and Shel got off at level 7. Owen, Warpaint and I got off on our level. We parted ways with only a wave goodbye.

I collapsed on my bed with the thought that it was going to be impossible to rest for 2 hours, but I must have been more tired than I thought because I fell asleep almost immediately.