Callum swished back and forth in his liquid cockpit. He was anxious, just waiting here while Nita took on the task of freeing their potential allies on her own. Nita had insisted it had to be that way, however. They couldn't just leave their mechs alone and Nita knew her way around carcha technology far better than Callum did. It made sense. But Callum hated it all the same. So far all he had done was scare away a group of carcha that came to investigate the hanger. He thought that maybe he should have killed them, so that there would be less carcha for Nita to deal with, but he was growing concerned about his kill count as it was. Stray thoughts from Valencia suggested she was feeling the same.
"How long is this going to take?" Valencia suddenly asked. Callum wondered if the fluid made it so they shared emotions as well as thoughts. 'God, I hope not.' He wasn't sure if that thought was his or Valencia's.
"It hasn't been that long yet," Callum said, trying to sound relaxed. "Nita did say that she was going to free three people after all."
"Yeah, and two of them are carcha! She's crazy."
"I don't think so. She thinks they can help us and, I mean, if the carcha put them here, they aren't gonna be on good terms with the carcha government."
'I bet Nita could say anything and you'd agree if she was waving those cow tits of hers in your face.' Valencia realized even as she was thinking it that he could hear her thoughts and a wave of mortification flowed out from her. Callum tried to send understanding thoughts her way, though he was honestly surprised at how catty she could be in her private thoughts. Too late to stop it, Callum realized Valencia knew exactly what he was thinking. The shame increased on both sides, sending them into a horrible spiral where both of them just wanted to die.
Luckily, a figure entering the hangar broke them out of their whirlpool of humiliation. Callum didn't make a move, since the figure was alone. 'One of the people Nita freed?' As the figure came closer, it became apparent that it was a human woman. Nita didn't say anything about rescuing a human. Callum was surprised to see her. He thought that any human that crossed the carcha would have ended up on Ragrun. The woman was of medium height and slender under her standard robe. She had long, dark brown hair in a loose braid and narrow, suspicious eyes. "Hello," Callum ventured. "Did Nita send you to find us?"
The woman ignored him completely. Instead, she made a beeline for Nita's empty mech, shucked off her clothes and clambored inside without a moment of hesitation. "H-hey, wait…" Callum said, stretching out one of Angra Mainyuu's hands. Nita's mech came online and then blasted out of the hangar before Callum could do anything more. He watched it go, paralyzed with confusion. 'What...what the hell just happened?'
"Who was that woman?" Valencia asked. Callum could tell she was just as flabbergasted as he was.
"I have no earthly idea." Nita is going to kill me.
Head's up. Another person just showed up. Callum glanced around at Valencia's warning to see a carcha woman entering the hangar alone. She was tall and lean, with long ink black hair. She was also covered in blood, though from the ease of her movement Callum thought it probably didn't belong to her. Even though she was alone and unarmed, there was something about her that made Callum want to draw his sword. "Identify yourself," Callum said, trying to sound calm and in control.
"What is this?" the carcha said, ignoring him completely. She put one long finger to her chin and studied the Angra Mainyu. "I've never seen a selachii like this before. I like it. I may have to have it."
"Um, excuse me," Callum said. "This is our mech. It was designed specifically for humans." The grin the carcha woman gave him almost made him take a step back, even though he was in a giant war machine and she didn't even have a weapon.
"Chajin!" Callum relaxed as soon as he heard the voice. It was Nita. She sprinted into the hangar accompanied by another carcha carrying a little girl in her arms and the fie woman Yem...Yema...Yemayerto?
"Nita!" Callum said. "I'm so glad to see you." He did his best to ignore the unkind comments floating through Valencia's mind.
"Yeah, it was actually a lot easier than I thought. These guys were completely unprepared for a…" she trailed off, the smile disappearing from her face. "Where is my mech?"
Callum's elation was flushed away. "It was taken," he said nervously.
"Taken! The whole point of you being here was to keep the carcha from taking my fucking mech!" Nita shouted.
"It wasn't a carcha," Callum said, feeling contrite all the same. "It was a human."
"A human?! Who?!"
"I have absolutely no idea. She came in and took the mech without a moment of hesitation. She never even said anything to me." Nita stared at him with the same lost expression he thought had probably graced his own face during the event.
"Hey, if your mech is gone, it's gone," the smaller carcha said. "Shouldn't we be figuring out how to get out of here before the guards figure out a way to stop us?"
Nita put a hand to her head. "You're right. God damn it. Come on." She led her freed prisoners to a small skiff that was the only other vessel in the hangar. They all piled inside and Callum waited uncomfortably. He couldn't hear what was going on inside the skiff. Finally, though, it levitated off the ground and drifted toward the exit of the hangar. Abruptly, it blasted out of the hangar. Valencia hurried to follow. They entered the blue storm and then the regular atmosphere of Algnen. Valencia did an admirable job of keeping them steady in the buffeting winds and Callum could feel her confidence growing. They actually exited the atmosphere before the skiff and had to wait for it. Once the skiff had joined them, they burned for Ragrun. As Cosmos put them to sleep once more, Callum realized that Nita and the others would have to stay awake. He hoped they'd be alright.
He woke just as they approached the access point to Ragrun. Thanks to the carcha gate, entering the false atmosphere of Ragrun was a much smoother ride than entering Algnen's. They headed back down to the carcha buildings at the base of the atmosphere spire and Callum was shocked to see hundreds of humans milling about. He had known that his sister, Riley and Russell had meant to try and convince the humans of Ragrun to escape with them before the carcha came but he hadn't really expected it to work. Callum didn't know how many humans lived on Ragrun but he imagined this had to be the majority.
Valencia guided Angra Mainyu in smoothly and Callum almost instinctively bent his knees to absorb the impact of the landing. Once Angra Mainyu seemed settled, he swam to the top of the PFC liquid and surfaced for the first time in close to a week. He then proceeded to cough up what felt like a week's worth of the orange liquid. When he was finished, he glanced at Valencia who had just coughed up her own lungful of the stuff. "I wonder if the carcha have it this bad?"
"If they do, they're crazy. Come on. I need to get this taste out of my mouth." Valencia climbed out of the cockpit and Callum was right behind her, trying not to notice how well her jumpsuit molded itself to the contours of her bottom. He was glad they were no longer sharing thoughts. Callum's muscles began to burn as they climbed down the rope ladder. He found that strange, since he'd done almost no physical activity in the last several days. Maybe just operating Angra Mainyu for so long was enough to exhaust him. Venus had said he needed to channel her power to do it.
Once they finally had their feet on solid ground again, Callum and Valencia headed for the small skiff. They still hadn't met the prisoners they'd risked so much to free, after all. As they approached, Callum found he had eyes only for the fie. She was astoundingly beautiful and...exotic. The two carcha women were exotic as well but not especially attractive to him. They had the same thin bodies and sharp features as carcha males. And the tall one gave him the chills. He stopped just short of the group and said, "H-hello." He coughed up a sprinkle of orange goo and tried to surreptitiously wipe it on his suit. "My name is Callum."
The fie woman gave him an appraising look and very obviously found him wanting. She made a small sound of dissatisfaction that cut Callum to the quick. It was the tall carcha woman that answered him. She gave a sweeping bow and said, "Chajin Mikui Goeanu. So you're the pilot of that delightful selachii. I like your taste."
Callum was saved from figuring out how to answer that by Russell. The miniature man's voice boomed out across the tarmac. "How dare a carcha praise the God of Chaos?! I would throw up if I still had a digestive tract!"
Nita subtly oriented herself between the new arrivals and the three alien women. Accompanying Russell were both Riley and Catriona. And now it was his sister that Callum only had eyes for. She seemed healthy, no longer walking with the limp she'd gone through great pains to hide from him. The new tightness around her eyes and fragility to her smile were still present. A snake of anger uncoiled in his stomach. Callum regretted killing the carcha he'd had to kill but he also regretted not getting to kill the Odontas with his own hands. Cat jogged up to him with a smile and said, "You're alright."
Callum lifted her up easily and spun her around. "And so are you! I saw all the people you've convinced to come here. You've done a wonderful job!"
Catriona smoothed down her robe as he set her down, blushing prettily. "It wasn't just me. Russell and Riley have been working very hard." Callum glanced at Riley and his friend shook his head slightly. As Callum thought, it had likely been mostly Catriona that convinced the humans to come. Riley wasn't very good at talking to people and Russell's peculiar style probably only worked on a particular subset of young men. Callum wanted to praise his sister more but there was a showdown brewing between Russell and Nita.
"I thought you were going to get that hot alien with the connections!" Russell shouted. "So why the hell do I see two of the fucking fish women with you?"
"We need the help, old fool," Nita snapped.
"Not from the likes of them!" Russell cried. "You can't trust them. Stabbing people in the back is as natural to them as breathing. Maybe more natural!"
Chajin flowed around Nita like some sort of eel and snatched up Russell. "What is this little mini-human?" she asked, a grin stretching across her face. "I like him. May I have him?" That sent Russell into a barely coherent streak of cursing.
Nita gently took Russell away from her. "He's not anyone's to give or have. He may look like this but he's still his own man." Chajin let Nita take him but Callum got the feeling that she hadn't given up. She was staring at Russell with undisguised greed.
"Do you mind if we continue this inside?" the fie woman asked. She had a very odd accent and a delightfully melodious voice. "That shuttle only had emergency rations that tasted like blisforou shit."
"Yeah...I don't know what a blisforou is but they did taste like actual shit," Nita said. "I'm starving."
"I didn't think they were so bad," said the smaller carcha.
"You wouldn't," Nita said, rolling her eyes. "Come on."
They all made their way to the main carcha building where Catriona made them lunch. It was insanely tasty, as expected, and the fie woman suddenly turned gracious and friendly. When she was speaking to Catriona anyway. After they ate, everybody was reintroduced so that they were all on the same page. Callum still wasn't confident that he could pronounce it but he at least tried to remember that the fie's name was Yemoramato. At least Chajin and Dahri were easy. Once that was done, they got down to the business of trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do next.
"Contacting Tsyirinsaku must be our top priority!" Yemoramato declared.
"Nobody is arguing with you," Nita said. "All we need to know is what you need to contact her. This base is equipped with a decent communications array and Cosmos knows how to operate it. Tell us what to do and she'll make it happen."
Yemoramato suddenly seemed uncertain. "Really? All ready to go just like that? Excellent." She paused for a beat and said, "Are there cleaning facilities here?" She touched her hair. "Perhaps I should…"
"We really don't have time," Nita said. "I'm sure she'll understand."
Yemoramato muttered something in her own language and then said, "Alright, virtual slave, prepare to broadcast to these coordinates…" she rattled off a long series of numbers and letters.
"Acknowledged," Cosmos said. "Prepared to broadcast."
Yemoramato stared straight ahead and began to speak in her own language. It was very songlike and gentle, unlike the carcha tongue. She only spoke for a few moments before she ordered Cosmos to send the message. There was a prolonged stretch of silence when Yemoramato finished. Riley was the one who finally broke it. "What did you say?"
Yemoramato favored Riley with a glare of such withering contempt that Callum was very glad he'd kept silent. "I sent a message that will start a relay reaction that will get to Tsyirinsaku without revealing her location. The carcha are always looking for her. She'll contact us once she can set up secure communications."
Riley slumped down in his chair. Callum hurriedly changed the subject. "While we wait, we should talk about our other options. How many people have joined us? Would it be possible to evacuate all of them with the ships we have?"
"I've been keeping track of the arrivals," Catriona put in. "Right now we have about three hundred and eighty total people."
"We've learned that the smaller carcha ship can hold about twenty people comfortably," Riley said. "Maybe fifty if we jam them in. The other ship is about five times as large so that gets us to around three hundred if we really cram it…"
"Don't forget that we would need room for food, water and other supplies…and the mechs, unless we want to be completely defenseless" Nita chimed in.
"So in other words, it's not possible unless we leave some people behind," Callum summed up. "Speaking of food, how are our supplies doing?"
Riley leaned forward. "Right. We've been meaning to speak to you about that. Remember how we would receive new supplies every forty-five days?" Callum nodded. "Well, me and Cat did a survey of everything the carcha had here and determined that they also must get a supply shipment every forty-five days." Callum nodded for him to continue. "So...that means we can figure out when the carcha will be here with another shipment."
"Oh! You're right! That's smart." Riley grinned and Cat smiled slightly. Callum thought back. "We got our last shipment about thirty days ago, right?"
"Thirty-one," Riley said. "So we only have fourteen days before they show up."
"Less," Nita said. "I'm sure they come a few days early so that they have time to sort and organize before delivery to the separate villages." Callum glanced around at the glum faces that resulted from that news. They had less than fourteen days before the carcha would arrive. The knowledge settled into his stomach like a cold weight.
A beep made almost all of them jump. "Message incoming," Cosmos said.
"It must be Tsyirinsaku!" Yemoramato exclaimed.
"Wait," Nita said. "It could be from the carcha. Can you tell where it is coming from, Cosmos?"
"Negative. The signal's source has been sent via a number of relays."
"It's her!" Yemoramato shouted. Nita nodded, though she still seemed unsure. Yemoramato patted her hair and adjusted her robe, suddenly seeming nervous. She took a long, slow breath and said, "Alright, put it on."
Without further ado, the head shoulders of a woman appeared in the center of the table they were seated around. Callum was astounded at how realistic the hologram was. It was as if the fie woman were really in the room with them. 'Well, her head and shoulders at least.' He was also awestruck by her appearance. She was beautiful. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Apart from his sister, of course. There were enough similarities to Yemoramato that he could tell they were the same species but the newcomer's coloration was the exact opposite of Yemoramato.
Her skin was a light, pale blue and her chin length hair was bright pink. Her eyes had the same double iris of the other fie but hers were purple and pink, blending together hypnotically. She also had a much softer face than Yemoramato, given more to smiles than scowls. Whatever she was wearing left her shoulders bare and exposed a generous amount of cleavage. In fact, with only her head and shoulders showing, he couldn't be sure she was wearing anything at all. Callum swallowed past a dry throat and saw that Riley was also struggling to keep his eyes in his head. Callum dared not even glance at Valencia.
She began to speak in the fie tongue. Her voice was high and breathy and Callum thought he could listen to it forever, no matter that he couldn't understand. Yemoramato's face tightened, the excitement draining from it. She seemed defensive as she started to speak.
Nita coughed and cut in. "Sorry but none of the rest of us speak the fie language. Do you mind speaking in carcha?"
"Oh, how rude of me," the fie woman said with a pretty frown. She somehow made the harsh carcha language pleasant on the ears. "My name is Belmavidelko, an aide to Lady Tsyirinsaku." Her gaze turned back to Yemoramato. Her smile seemed to sharpen, just a little. "I am afraid our Lady does not have time to speak to you personally. She is quite busy, with her top commander imprisoned."
Yemoramato rocked as if physically struck but her expression firmed. "I did what I thought was best at the time. If Tsyirinsaku disagrees, she can tell me herself." Yemoramato glared at Belmavidelko, who gazed back with an air of amusement. A little of the air went out of Yemoramato and she asked, "Did...did my unit make it back to you?"
Belmavidelko's gaze softened. "They did. All of them talking of your heroic sacrifice to give them the time to escape." She sighed. "But there will be time to talk of such things when you return to us. Now tell me, what has happened to you?" Yemoramato explained quickly. It was a short tale, after all. Belmavidelko listened quietly and when it was over, she bowed her head low. "On behalf of the last free fie, thank you for rescuing our beloved Yemoramato."
Nobody was quite sure what to say so Callum eventually just said, "Happy to help." It was sort of awkward to be thanked so sincerely for doing something out of pure self-interest. "Do you think you'll be able to help us?"
Belmavidelko nodded, causing her hair to wave. It looked so soft and smooth that Callum wanted to reach out and touch it. "Yes. However, you've caught us at a bad time. We are on the eve of a critical mission that cannot be postponed. After we are finished, I'm sure my Lady will hurry to your Ragrun with all speed but…"
"How long?" Callum asked, his stomach tightening.
Belmavidelko closed her eyes and rocked her head slightly from side to side. Her cheeks puffed out a little. It was very cute. "Based on the distance to Algnen...if everything goes perfectly...probably twenty days." Callum's stomach sank. So there was no way they were getting out of here before the carcha arrived. "And that is if everything goes perfectly. I am sorry but I cannot promise you an exact date."
"Damn it, Bel!" Yemoramato slammed her hand on the table. "We might all be dead by the time you get here!"
Belmavidelko turned to her. For the first time, her face was utterly serious. "Commander Yemoramato," she said quietly.
That was all it took. Yemoramato shrunk back and glanced down. "Sorry," she muttered.
The smile returned to Belmavidelko's face instantly. "Don't give up hope, friends. You all seem very capable! If you can survive until we arrive, you'll have a chance to live as free beings. Good luck!" Her hologram disappeared like a popped bubble.