Dynah Battleship, First Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

Mya sat as still as she could manage as a medic glued her shoulder shut. Yes, glued. Nezerra lay on a bed nearby, out cold. The medic had put her to sleep to scan for any cranial injuries from her trauma and more so to give her rest. She'd begun crying and shivering uncontrollably when she arrived in the med bay. The medic claimed it to be shock and after it had grown to become hysterical gave her something to knock her out.

Mya winced but her attention was wholly fixed on the comm pad in her hands. It showed a direct feed of what could be seen in the control room through the viewing screen. She scanned it for any sign of Zogan and Mara. They were the ones their ship waited for now. Their allies had pulled back after being given the green light to leave by Ravanna when they'd returned. Everyone wanted to be as far away from the life engine when it exploded including the Kozan. But they still waited, their commander and lieutenant weren't there, and they planned to wait for as long as they could. Ravanna and Azazel had estimated how long they had for the destruction of the life engine. It amounted to ten more minutes; a timer counted down at the corner of her screen. Her breath came in shallow pants as she stared at the screen.

"Come on come on come on!!" she muttered as if her urges would be heard by her mate.

Something silver glinted on the bottom screen and Mya stood, forgetting about the medic working on her arm and bolted out of the medic bay, through the winding hallways and skidded to a halt in the control room. The hologram flashed red as it identified the flying object. Enemy. Her heart sank as she looked at the screen. The warriors on weapons duty clicked in commands and a soft chirring started up.

Azazel sprang to his feet. "Wait!"

His subordinates paused in their actions. Mya stepped closer to him and peered at the screen. The silver ship flew erratically, bouncing around unsteadily. It was as if its pilot had never flown before. Mya's breath caught as they zoomed in on the vessel. Through the translucent protective shield, she saw two shapes.

"Flash them." she ordered.

The warriors obeyed and flickered the lights on the hull of the ship in a series of patterns. The pilot of the ship stuck their hand out of a missing side plate and waved it frantically. The ship swayed precariously as if about to fall into the abyss below. A short laugh leapt from Mya and tears streamed down her face. Azazel just stared, his throat spasming with his swallows, his grip tight on the small projector before him.

"Ready for static travel." came Ravanna's calm voice. He sat in the commander's chair in Zogan's absence. Always assured, calm and measured in stressful circumstances.

A loud wail began to build as his commands were followed. The timer at the side of the screen flashed red emitting a sharp beep. They were almost out of time; Mya's brain did the calculations and saw that there were only five minutes left.

"Transport them in." Azazel's voice quivered.

Ravanna nodded, "On it."

Mya looked on as the small silver ship dipped again, tipping sideways. It flickered and disappeared before it could completely turn over. There was a loud thunk and a faint vibration that travelled through the Dynah. Mya turned to head to the docking centers to go find her mate.

"Now!"

The lights dimmed and she was knocked onto her back. The movement of the ship blasting her against the floor, some unseen force holding her to it, pressing her very bones onto the ground. Her skin felt as if it were being peeled from her bones. She'd been warned about the unpleasantness of static travel. It seemed as if it had been under explained to her. The wound on her shoulder pulsed as if something were trying to rip it open again. She grunted and sank her fingers into the grooves of the floor, trying to hold still under whatever forces worked to propel them away from Seethkar and the first Quarter. She watched as the screen blurred, everything streaking past in such a hurry that any object that they passed by registered as indistinguishable blob bleeding into the surroundings. The ship shuddered violently as if it would break apart as it ran away from the life engine and its death grip.

A blue light flashed, and a loud beeping sounded in rhythmic beats. The timer chimed as they were spat out of the gateway into the third quadrant. The ship shook again, and the lights flashed on causing Mya to blink rapidly. The vessel's flight slowed, no longer able to carry out the static travel.

"Engine is in need of additional repairs, please dock at the nearest station." a mechanic voice filled the cabin.

The entire room was silent as they watched the screens before them.

She slowly got to her feet, eyes on the swirling dark gas clouds shown on the screen. Red electricity shot from it as if trying to ensnare their lumbering ship that now struggled to move away. The clouds swirled violently like a whirlpool. The ship vibrated again, and something groaned loudly. Sounding suspiciously like the ship was being torn apart by the force at its tail. Their ship tipped forward. The clouds looked like snakes consuming themselves. The swirling gateway shrunk sucking at them as they tried to move in the other direction.

Azazel lunged forward and typed in a command. The ship groaned again, loudly, as it fired ammunition from its weapons bay, propelling them forward, explosions bathing the screen in a bright yellow light. The room chimed and the ship began to zoom forward smoothly. They were released from the pull of the gateway. It winked out of existence leaving only the empty vastness of space behind them. Mya blew out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and ran to the transporting dock. There was only an empty ship that researchers had begun to dismantle. One of them noticed her expression and quickly pointed her to the medic bay.

"Zogan?" she ran through the hallway, eyes scanning the tanks and waiting pods for her mate.

She saw Yavik and five other medics up ahead wheeling a large pod toward an off-limits procedure room. A mud-covered Mara walked briskly beside him. She glimpsed a blood caked hand hanging over the side of the pod and ran forward. Her knees quaked.

"Zogan!"

Mara shot her a look and her eyes made Mya's heart stop. She shuffled forward and looked. Zogan lay in the pod, eyes closed his scales looking lackluster. His abdomen was dark with blood, his soft suit torn into shreds the saturated fabric not allowing Mya to see the full damage. He did not move. A sob escaped her, and she looked to Yavik whose face was grim and she moaned.

A pained sound.

Mara's arms came around her and she struggled against her embrace. Yavik led the pod away into the awaiting room, leaving Mya trembling in her sister's embrace. Mara ran her hands over Mya's head and whispered nonsense trying to get her to calm down. Mya could not hear her words; all she saw was the image of Zogan lying in the pod unmoving. Would he survive? Was he dead? Her knees gave out and she sank to the floor, her cheeks wet. Her cries were a high keening sound. Mara moved and scooped her up taking her to a private room where no one would see her grief.

"Yavik will do everything he can." Mara said again.

Mya shook from her sobs. He had to be okay, he had to live. He had to be alright. There was no way that Mya would allow anything else to be the outcome.

*************

Mya sat near Zogan's pod and held his hand. He had been dressed in a grey med robe. His face was a mask of calm. He'd just been taken out of a synthesizer tank. A tank different from the one Mya had woken up in weeks ago. His injury having been so severe that he'd required extensive work. His wound was outwardly healed, the tank's DNA liquid having worked to regrow torn organs, arteries, and anything else that had been destroyed when he'd been brutally stabbed. The repair process was grisly and had just as much chance of killing the patient as it could help them. They'd still put him in, there was nothing else that could've been done.

The dagger had plunged straight through him and ripped through the scales of his back, the Ajal blade had also ejected serrated spikes into his body. Mara's decision to tear it out had caused even more damage but leaving it in would've killed Zogan immediately according to the medics, she'd made a good decision. But even the tank had its limits. He still hadn't awoken. His body had a lot of internal healing to be done and he'd needed a blood transfusion before and after the tank too. Mya bit her lip and stared down at him.

"You better wake up Zogan," she played with her lip between her teeth. "There is no way I came all this way for my fucking mate to die... you hear me?!"

She squeezed his hand hard and searched his face for a reaction. A twitch. Anything.

Nothing.

She dropped her head onto their joined hands, eyes watering.

The door chimed and she looked up. It was Nezerra. Her eyes were wide as she sat near Mya. She hadn't been handling Zogan's injury well and had been displaying symptoms of trauma. She hunkered down and put her head on Mya's small shoulder.

"Are you doing better today?" asked Mya, her voice gentle.

"I should be asking you that," her voice was soft, timid. Mya looked at her then, she seemed smaller somehow, her eyes shadowed. "This is my doing. I-"

Mya cut her off with a raised hand, her lips pressed together. She'd had enough of repeating this conversation. "It's war, everyone made decisions that they thought were best in the moment. No one blames you Nezze, no one."

Nezerra closed her eyes and trembled. It would be a long time before she forgave herself for the things she thought she'd caused. Mya sighed and clasped Nezerra's hands with her free one. Her hands and arms were scarred from the fight she'd put up against her would be rapists. They'd dug their claws into her and torn away her scales and flesh. She couldn't sleep or eat properly, and she woke up screaming or crying next to Mya almost every night since.

"Everything will be okay, everyone's here and Zogan will wake up." Mya kept her voice steady. The words more for herself than for her shivering sister laying on her shoulder.