Dynah Battleship, First Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

Zogan

The transporter had not fully finished its docking inside Dynah, but Zogan pulled Mya into his arms, his grip on her leg tight and ran to the exit. His hearts squeezed tight, she was so light, curled into his chest like a youngling. What if he was too late? What if- No. He cut his wild thoughts off. He couldn't think like that, he would not survive it. The ship shuddered as the panels below shut.

"I need a medic!" his voice filled the docking room loaded with desperation.

Mara, Azazel and Ravanna followed closely, drenched in gore, faces stricken. The crew slowed their work to look at their commander and prince run through the corridors with a limp clutching Mya in his arms. He did not see them, his red haze vision like that of a tunnel. Yavik appeared beside him, reaching for her, he was clothed in his lead medic uniform. Zogan sank to his knees.

"I can barely hear her heart!" his voice broke with sobs that escaped him. Yavik nodded, his eyes travelled along Mya's prone form, he tried to take her from Zogan's arms whose fingers refused to let go of her and of her mangled thigh.

"You have to let go! Zogan let her go!" he yelled. His voice sounded muffled to Zogan, barely registering but his fingers loosened and Yavik gently took her, he ran towards the medical bay.

"Commander, they're tracking us, their weapons are locked on." said a soldier whose face was grave.

Zogan turned and Mara seeing his expression spoke, "Do whatever you need to do to escape, wipe them all out."

"There is a slight problem, when they disabled our transmitter with an electro pulse one of our engines were also affected."

"How badly? Can we get to the gateway for our quarter?" she said and ran a comforting hand along Zogan's arm.

He stood frozen, torn between leading the ship to safety and going to his mate. He would not be of help in the medic bay and Yavik was a very skilled medic, one who also loved Mya too. There was only one course of action then, he would ensure that everyone got home to safety and trust that Yavik would save her life.

Zogan swallowed his grief and spun on his heel heading into the command room. Mara and Azazel beat him there. Ravanna locked eyes with Zogan and inclined his head indicating his intent. A quick flick of his head towards the bay was all Zogan could manage and Ravanna left them sprinting to the medic bay to stay with Mya. He let loose a steamy breath. At least someone would be there for her while he got things under control.

"We may be able to make it – but only if we get rid of those Zon behind us." replied the frustrated warrior.

Zogan strode to his seat strapped in and put on the ship wide transmitter. "Commander Zogan here, all crew members please ensure that everyone is safely secured, we are about to engage in static travel, commence lockdown sequence protocol." He clicked off the transmitter.

There was a loud rapid beep thrumming through the room indicating the high probability of failure in one of the engines.

"Are you sure? The engine will fail quicker if static is used for too long." said Azazel from his seat before the weapons system control.

The ship shook wildly as they absorbed a hit, and Azazel fired back rapidly clipping the engine of one but missing the other as it spun out of the way.

"We only need to get to the gate." He looked at his crew assembled in the room. Tension permeated the space. The ship shuddered under another onslaught of lasers from their pursuers. "They would not dare follow us through that gate."

A whirring filled the room, the remaining engines gathering energy to pull off the static travel.

"Send out a distress signal the moment we get through the gates; our allies will help us."

His communication team nodded. "Yes commander."

The panel showed the eight ships pursuing them like tiny insects, they danced behind the bulk of the Dynah, light shooting from their weapons. Pulses of light rippled about the ship when the enemy's fire connected. Taking down the much larger Dynah was not an easy task, they had some time to escape.

"Now!" shouted Zogan and clenched his hands around his seat's handles.

The clear screen that wrapped around the room showed the stars begin to streak and the Zon ships pursuing them blurred. Zogan felt his scales prickle as if something were trying to rip them off. Static travel was uncomfortable to say the least. The ship vibrated beneath him, a wail climbing in crescendo, until it felt like it might come apart from the force of their travel. The missing engine was throwing the Dynah off balance. The beeping intensified and a blue light flashed, illuminating the crew in an eerie light. There was a loud shriek and then everything halted. The silence was deafening.

They were through the gate.

"The Qai are on their way commander."

Zogan nodded. The lights in the room powered down, their ship going into preserved power. Only purified air and the bare minimum were now functioning within the ship. The medical bay being top priority.

He sprang up from his seat leaving Mara and Azazel to command in his absence and headed toward the medical bay. Small flashing, white lights lit the hallways throughout the ship. Taking deep controlled breaths he stepped out of his gift, thinking of his family, his mate, and his home. The red haze left his vision, and he could see clearly again, even in the darkness.

The med bay was empty, Zogan strode through the long corridors looking into the quarters until he saw a pink male with lowered fimbriae and a dark figure sitting behind him. The room held one suspension tank. Yavik was before it typing into a screen display that protruded from it. Zogan stood silently beside Yavik who continued his adjustments to the tank. Ravanna sat hunched over, arms braced onto his thighs, looking up intently at Yavik's movements.

The tanks were cylindrical and towered over them, filled with a thick purple liquid that accelerated the healing of those placed inside. Inside was Mya, her hair billowed out behind her, eyes closed, she looked serene. She was clothed in a white wrap suit that cut off right above her thighs. Tiny mechanic arms worked at her thigh, carefully stitching it back together. Their movements blurred by the movement of the liquid around them. Yavik finished his adjustments and turned to Zogan and saw the question in his eyes, the pain etched on his face.

"We had trouble synthesizing the right blood for her, the system didn't recognize her species."

He looked tired, his skin a paler pink than usual, his fimbriae normally high with excitement drooped, and his large eyes were moist. "I had to recreate it manually, encode her DNA sequence and work from there, it took a long time, too long."

He sat in a chair next to Ravanna, before the tank, its soft light glowing across his face. Zogan followed, eyes still fixed onto Mya's ethereal form before them. She floated in the tank, oblivious to whatever was happening beyond its walls.

"I-I didn't know what else to do so I put her in the tank... I've never dealt with humans before... no one in this quadrant has." Yavik's voice wavered and Zogan looked to him. "I don't even know for sure if the Zon anti-venom worked."

"Thank you Yavik." He said, voice soft.

Yavik's gaze was fixed on the floor, "I hope it was enough." He whispered.

They all looked up at the tank, Zogan's hearts pulsed. This was his fault. His fault. His fault. Artemisia lay near the base of the tank whimpering softly. They sat together in the darkness, lit only by the purple liquid's glow as the Qai ship reached them. They still sat together as the Dynah was towed safely to Kozantei.