Respin

It is the female who has flipped him off earlier. The air between her horns seems fizzle as if she plans on using her powers. Immediately Respin feels frightened, which causes his ears to twitch backward in alarm.

"Hey there, Nethra!" Serfin greets the short-haired one "It's been a while…"

"You know her?" Respin asks him bewildered.

"We were Bondmates durin' our time as cadets," he answers nonchalant.

Nethra grins in an intimidating evil manner and advances step by step. This is all Respin needs to see to tense up. Nethra stops and plants her feet firm on the ground. He expects her to aim an arrow at him, but she doesn't move. Only the air around her horns starts to move ever so slightly.

A moment later her face contorts into an unpleasant grimace of pure fear. Shocked he backs away and walks into Serfin, who has drawn his bow.

Nethra jumps forward in an explosion of furry and noise.

There are no words in her scream. It's the feral sound of pure fear.

With the pounce of a wilder-beast she jumps into the air. Her claws ready to shred Respin to pieces.

He can't move.

His mind crashes to a halt.

But Serfin has his back.

Without a second of hesitation he jumps at Nethra and slams her to the ground with his elbow.

"Run!" Serfin shouts between gritted teeth as he puts all his strength into subduing Nethra, who fights like a cornered animal.

Respin wants to thank him from the bottom of his heart, but there is no time to express his gratitude. In great haste, he adjusts the pale creature on his back and runs towards the central archway Nethra and her partner have arrived from. As he passes at the arch, he looks back and sees how Serfin and Nethra's Partner try to subdue her.

Respin starts to run faster than he thought to be able to. The path beneath his feet as well as the chiseled walls with strange depictions of beings like the one on his back fly past him in a swirl of grey and brown colors. Soon his throat and gills starts to burn with every step he takes, but he can't stop. A dull fear gnaws at his mind — he feels followed and watched — but he doesn't let it come through. If it gets hold of him, he is one hundred percent certain he would stop without being able to move ever again. But as he tries to get his head clear, he notices with dread that he hasn't paid attention to his surroundings. A mistake, which can prove fatal in such a labyrinth.

Suddenly something black jumps past him in a blur.

Respin screams and comes to a sudden halt, panting heavily. The wish to drop the creature and run forms within him, but he fights against it and pulls it up again.

I need to move on!

He can't be sure about Serfin and the other female being strong enough to keep Nethra at bay for very much longer.

Maybe she has broken free already and gets closer by the second.

Maybe she is just mere feet behind him.

Ready to maim.

Ready to kill.

"Stop being paranoid…" he murmurs with his eyes screwed shut. "Calm down, Res! You need to be calm!"

But he can't.

He can't keep his heart from pounding against his ribs.

He can't keep his lungs from yearning for air to elevate his sore throat.

He can't keep his mind from imagining Nethra right behind him.

He can't keep his imagination from showing him Serfin as a bloodied corpse.

Nervous and uncertain he looks around. The gray walls around him cage him in. The only way to go is either back or ahead, and so he chooses the latter.

Slow with measured steps he moves on, while trying to get his sixth-sense to work again. But he only manages to walk from enclosed space to enclosed space without seeing anything but rubble and dead plants.

He has definitely lost his way.

Desperate Respin stops again in a small chamber and lays his charge down. While still being paranoid about being followed, he uses this chance to take a closer look at the pale creature. He hopes to get at least his mind away from his livid imagination.

From the way Captain Slicer and anyone else has spoken about it, Respin has expected this creature to look dangerous or hideous or even both, but this isn't the case. She seems utterly harmless to him. Inquisitive he takes one of her hands in his own and takes a look at her fingers.

They are thin and end in soft tips with blunt fingernails — the chitinous creature might have kept them short since they were in its reach. Still, they aren't even remotely useful to defend oneself against even the smallest wilder-beast on Cetus. He then moves to her face and checks her teeth. Even her canines are round and do not look very sharp. The rest of her teeth aren't any different. They are nothing to be afraid of. Even Respin has sharper teeth than that, and his teeth are considered blunt for a Menkar.

For a few moments, he looks at her face with its soft features. Somehow they remind him of an old friend, who has died during their time on Cetus. Feeling old grief surface, he forces his mind back into the present.

Soon he wonders about the question of who had pinned this creature to the tree. If it is some kind of weapon, then why keep it on a desolate asteroid? Why forcing it towards the Boundary of the Void?

"Questions over questions and no answers," he laments and picks the creature back up.

There is something he can't quite place. Something at the border of his perception. He can't tell what it is, but he knows it is there. He feels its presence.

Waiting.

Watching.

Cold sweat runs down his spine to the base of his tail. By pure force of will, Respin forces one of his feet to move. With it, he picks up a stone. While adjusting the still unconscious creature in his arms, he throws the stone up and catches it nimble in his hand. The surrounding silence seems to grow until it is almost touchable.

Suddenly, he hears or thinks to hear, someone moves right behind him. He jumps around and throws the rock in the same motion. It flies in a low arch through the air and hits the ground with a rather sad thud.

For a moment he holds his breath, only to choke a split-second later on it as someone laughs right next to him. Again he jumps around, almost dropping the so-called weapon from his arms.

There is no one in sight.

He readjusts his hold on the creature and steps backward. Somehow she gets warmer and warmer as he walks. What if she wakes up soon?

He has no time to ponder this question. He has no time for anything right now.

Slow he moves on. Uncertain where to go he follows the path through a half-collapsed archway. But before he enters the next area he walks right into the black chitinous creature.

Could it be? He wonders and swallows hard while looking at the small being in front of him. No… I doubt that it was this thing jumping around. It seems too harmless, or could it be that this is precisely what I'm supposed to think?

He backs away. The small creature tilts its head and seems to look him up and down. There is something inquisitive about the way it moves. Suddenly, it walks towards him, causing Respin to jump away.

"Please, don't," he pleads.

The creature stops and stands up straight, its hands folded over each other.

"Do you understand me?" he asks confused.

The small insectoid creature nods and steps with still folded hands forward. Respin wants to run but simultaneously he wants to see what it wants. The insectoid creature stops right in front of him, it reaches barely up to his hips.

It extends one of its hands and touches not the so-called weapon but Respin's hand. The touch is strange. The chitin is hard and smooth, yet it is much warmer than Respin himself.

Slow the small being pulls its hand back and walks away. After a few feet it stops and waves with the two hands on its right side. It seems to want him to follow.

Respin takes a deep breath and obliges the small chitinous creature with some reluctance.

The rest of the way passes by without Respin taking great notice of it. His gaze is trained on the back of the small creature leading him. Well, it could lead him into a trap.

I'm trapped either way, he concludes and hopes that Serfin is alright.

—

Serfin

Sharpened claws shoot inches by his face. In the last possible moment, Serfin ducks away and almost loses his balance as Nethra flies over his head. Like an animal, she lands on her feet and hands and immediately jumps back into action.

With a deafening scream more akin to a snarl she attacks. Again using the — for Menkar — typical elongated claws on her pinkies as stilettos. Serfin manages to catch her hands and interlaces his fingers with hers. Still, the momentum is enough to knock him on his back.

He knows that Nethra is strong and aggressive, but he would have never thought that she could be such a power house. If this had been a fight with someone else, he would have turned her into a pincushion for his bows worth. But since she is not only part of the fleet but also a former Bondmate he can't bring himself to kill her.

As he tries to think of something to make her stop flaying around, she breaks free from his grab. Before he knows what she is up to, she slams her head against his. Their horns bang against each other, which causes a sharp pain to run right into Serfin‘s head. Enough pain to freeze him for a few seconds. Luckily, the same happens to Nethra.

Serfin gets out faster from his stupor than her and manages to kick her off. But once he is back on his feet, she attacks again. Out of instinct he avoids her claws and manages to grab her by the collar of her uniform. With all the strength he can muster, he lifts her off the ground and throws her a few feet away. She falls against a statue, which crumbles by the impact. Yet this does not keep her from jumping immediately back into action.

It strikes Serfin as odd how Nethra's actions aren't thought-out attacks. She is hasty and uncoordinated. Her speed has hidden it for long enough but now he can see through it. It is almost as if she runs on some sort of autopilot. He would give his broken off horns to know what has got into her. This isn't normal after all. Neither for her nor any other Menkar. But he has no time to think about the why.

On all four she runs towards him. Instead of waiting for her, Serfin runs towards her with his arms extended as if he wants to hug her. He ducks as she jumps and warps his arms around her midriff. Using both their momentum, he slams her over his head to the ground.

Nethra gasps as the air is pushed from her lungs by the impact. Before she can recover he pushes her down and keeps her pinned to the ground with his whole body.

As soon as she knows she is trapped, she starts to thrash and wiggle around. With surprising strength, she frees herself and switches their positions.

Before Serfin can react, she closes her hands around his throat.

She growls and hisses like an animal as she stares at him with empty and unfocused eyes.

Despite her mental state she is strong. Very strong.

Serfin lets out a gurgling sound as he tries to push her off.

He fails.

He shoves his hands into her face.

She doesn't seem bothered at all.

Her fingers tighten around his throat, while her elongated pinky-claws dig into his gills.

The resulting pain gives him a momentary burst of strength.

He tries to kick her off, but she holds on like her life depends on it.

His vision grows dark.

His mind becomes foggy.

His movements sluggish.

Something thuds against Nethra's head, a moment later she drops unconscious on top of him.

He gasps for air and closes his teary eyes for a few seconds and wills the pain away. Once he opens them again, he looks into the worried round face of Nethra's partner. Her bright golden eyes glow in her dark green face, only broken up by the cream-colored spots on her left eye and her cheek. She holds an old splintered piece of wood on her hands.

"Nice call," he praises Nethra's partner in a raspy voice

Upon hearing his words her frown turns into a board smile filled with plenty of sharp teeth.

"Thanks a lot," she replies and pushes Nethra from him "Always like getting praise. I'm Topasa, by the way. Are you hurt?"

"My name’s Serfin," he introduces himself blunt. "And I only got a few bruises and scratches…"

"Good," she replies still grinning and offers him a hand "Mind me helping you up?"

"Not at all," he replies and takes her hand.

Stronger than she looks she pulls him back on his legs and then kneels next to Nethra. After a short check of the bleeding wound at the base of her head, she turns her partner on her back and looks into Nethra‘s reddish eyes.

"Out cold," Topasa remarks and stands back up, wiping Nethra's grey blood off at the pantleg of her uniform. "Mind helping me carry her back?" she asks innocently.

"Not at all," Serfin replies. "But how are we supposed to find our way back?"

"Don't worry, I've got it all in my brainy brain," she replies and taps her forehead with her finger before she walks over to the head of her unconscious partner.

Topasa pulls Nethra's upper body up while Serfin takes her feet and the lead.

For the first few minutes, they only talk when Topasa tells him where to go. Once in a while, Nethra mumbles something unintelligible only to fall silent again a second later.

What has fucked her up so bad?, he wonders frowning.

His thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Topasa.

"You know Nethra?" she asks with a huge chunk of curiosity dripping from her voice.

"You could say that," he replies absentminded, organizing his thoughts. "We were Bondmates for a while…"

"For a while?"

"Yes."

"Why did you go separate paths?"

"I don't really know," he muses "I guess in the end we hadn't much to say to one another. Isn't this kind of Bondmateship normal durin' the military trainin'?"

"Plenty ordinary. Could she hold a grudge against you for separating?"

"Why do you want to know all this?" he asks her distrustful, while he hopes Respin has managed to get back to the ship. "I doubt she has any reason to murder me."

"I want to have something I can blackmail her with if necessary," she replies and takes him by surprise.

"You want to blackmail her?" he asks confused.

"You're one of the gullible sort, aren't you?" Topasa laughs heartily. "Was just pulling your horns. Now go to the right. I get bored easy, you see. So, I like to keep myself occupied by gathering information that can be useful someday."

"About Bondmateships?" he wonders, not so happy that she walks behind him.

"About everything," she answers gleeful and seemingly happy to have found someone to waste her time with.

"For example?"

"For example… Hmmm…" she starts explaining. "I know that Captain Slicer got denoted for trying to create a private army. The Empress didn't like that very much."

"What?" Serfin gasps. "But that's treason! He should've been executed for it."

"Some higher-ups deem him worthy enough to keep," she says thoughtful. "Go further ahead. I guess it's because he's an aquatic Drone."

"Well, that explains it."

"About your partner… You're Bondmates?"

"Yes, we're Bondmates since we are four Solar-Circles old. Why do you want to know?"

"He always strucks me as nice but rather melancholic," Topasa muses. "He seems so alone sometimes. Watched you two sometimes during lunch. Continue forward, past that archway."

"It's because of his missin' horns," Serfin tells her before he can keep himself from doing so. "He's born without 'em. Gave him some trouble as kid, no one liked to hang around him. Called him a freak and such. And to be honest, if he wouldn't have had this nice Land-bound Drone takin' care of him he would've been killed. A hornless Menkar! Somethin' rather unthinkable, don't you think? I felt sorry for him, since he was always alone except with this other girl… In the end, I broke my horns for him. Then I walked up to him, wantin' to glue them to his head, so he wasn't forced to be alone anymore. He's such a nice guy. Never harmed anyone. Always carin' even about total strangers. Sometimes I wonder if he's too nice for a Menkar. Maybe the Empress hasn't just forgotten to give him horns but also a few important feelings. Anyhow… We're Bondmates ever since."

Topasa is about to reply something but takes a deep breath instead. A small group of medics arrives. While speaking, Serfin hasn't paid any attention to his surroundings. Because of that, he hasn't noticed that they‘ve arrived at the Starblazer. The silhouette of it looms over them like dormant God of the Void. A bit bewildered Serfin helps Topasa to put Nethra on the stretcher the medics have placed on the ground next to them.

"Did you fight over the honor to bring the weapon back?" one of the medics chuckling.

"Kind of," Serfin replies but Topasa shuts him up as she rams her elbow into his side.

The medic looks at them with a skeptical look but decides in the end to just do his job. While he does a short assessment of her, his colleagues take care of Serfin's and Topasa's injuries. Topasa only gets a short check-up but Serfin gets a few pumps of antiseptics on his bleeding cuts. He also gets a small bottle of the stuff jammed into his gills. The burning sensation makes him hiss, but he pushes through it. After all, infections are deadly.

While he gets treated, the other medics carry Nethra into the ship. To his surprise Topasa stays back and waits for him.

Once the medic deems his work done, he tells Serfin he can go. But before he can enter the ship to find Respin a terrestrial Drone stops him.

"Crossshot Vadias, Bladedancer Aricci, you two are to immediately go to Captain Slicer's office and make a report," she tells them bored.

Serfin and Topasa share a confused look and enter the Starblazer a few moments later.