Shane
After waking up snuggled to Wiphas, I feel slightly embarrassed again. I can't even remember when I moved to him. I only know that I never felt as safe as this morning waking up warm and comfortable next to him.
God, what's happening to me? This damn humidity and heat will kill me sooner or later, I muse while staring at my lap, sitting cross-legged from Doc. Wiphas and Davac just left after giving me the scare of my life. Even when he has wings, why did he just jump off the tree without warning? Stupid Alphas.
"Are you alright, Shane?" Doc asks me.
"Yeah, if the humidity and temperature aren't killing me, besides those freaking big monsters roaming the forest."
"We will find a way off this planet. It could be worse, though."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I shouldn't complain after all the crewmen you guys lost. I just feel out of my depth here. Without you guys, I wouldn't survive a single day on this planet."
"You need to release the pressure. Eating it into your soul will not help. We all feel similar. For surviving, For being helpless to save the others. There was no way. We did not see the fourth ship. One against three were already bad odds," Orin says to me, squeezing my shoulder.
I look up at him, I just met him yesterday after Wiphas and Davac rescued them. He looks identical to Suri, his twin. Both of them are six feet two of average build slightly muscles with light brown skin, yellow slitted eyes, and short cut silver hair. I can see five small horns on each of their heads. I only know this is Orin because he has a scar on the right side of his face under his eye. He told me yesterday while we trekked throughout the forest, that he got it from a fall out of a tree as a child. Both are Betas. Being rebels for nearly 6 years already.
Besides Doc sits Krelak, if I met him on the streets of Terra-Solaris, I would have run in fear. He is seven feet three, brawny his muscles have muscles. You can see every scar on his black skin. They are lighter, and there are many. He has long braided Hair of orange color and dark green slitted eyes. Two impressive curved horns on his head, even without them, it would be obvious he is all alpha.
Shuu is on the other side of Doc. He is an easygoing guy, I like him. He is an omega like me. He is five feet eight and handsome, only slightly muscled from his work in engineer. He has olive skin and short spiky black hair, light blue slitted eyes. You would think he is a beta, were it not for his one small protrusion on his head. I hope his right leg will soon heal.
Standing with Suri surveying the area is Halam. He is nearly as big as Krelak with his seven feet one heavy muscled frame. His dark brown skin reminds me of chocolate. It's a big contrast to his beige hair he keeps at shoulders length. Light gray slitted eyes give him an otherworld look. His two curved horns show he is an alpha. He looks young, he has only a small scar on his left arm.
Davac, who left with Wiphas, is the last alpha of the group. He is slightly smaller than Wiphas six feet seven only. Like Halam he is heavy muscled, I think it is because they are both working in security. His skin is beige, and he has dark brown short hair. But that isn't the most significant difference from the others. His slitted eyes have different colors. The left one is red, and the right one is blue. I never meet a person with two different eye colors.
While we wait for the return of Wiphas and Davac, we eat some meager breakfast of more of those energy bars. They taste not the best, but it's better than going hungry. I hope we soon get something else to eat.
"I hope they will be back soon, those big predators are giving me the creeps," Suris says.
"You see one?" I ask shocked, turning around looking down.
I see nothing besides trees.
"No, but I'm sure we will see them again, we need to be careful of them and possible bounty hunters still on our tracks."
The mood gone bleak, nobody wants to speak what nags everybody. But I do hope that this planet will not be our future home and grave.
"You know, what would be cool?" Orin says to lighten the mood,
"One of those big ass fuckers as a mount."
"Brother, you are insane," Suri says while shaking his head at his twin.
"But just image, riding on his back into battle and…"
"Nah, it would just eat you," Halam interrupts him,
"And you wouldn't even be a tasty treat. At least you would be a bigger mouthful than Shuu or Shane."
"Gee, thanks, Halam," Orin utters.
"I don't want to break up your fun, but I for one doesn't want to get eaten," Shuu says nonchalantly,
"I want to leave this hole in one piece."
"I think we..," I try to start, but Orin clasps his hand over my mouth.
"Shhh, I hear something," he whispers.
The twins and Halam draw their weapons. Surveying the area, out of one of the bushes, runs something. All three shot, all of them hit their target. It drops to the ground, shocked.
"It was only some small animal," Halam says, relieved.
"You think it's edible?" Krelak asks.
"I wouldn't bet on it, with your luck lately it would be poisonous," Doc comments.
"Suri, we will be back in five," Wiphas says over the coms.
"Roger, Captain, everything is calm here."
I just hope it isn't the calm before the storm. I look up at the clear sky behind the tree canopy. In the distance, I can see two black points. That must be Wiphas and Davac. The points getting bigger and bigger, the shape seems off. Alarmed, I cry out.
"Look, something is coming."
"That's not east," Suri curse tapping on his com,
"Captain, we have incoming from West hurry and get out of the sky. I'm not sure yet what it is."
"Ok, we are near you guys. Try to stay hidden as long as possible."
Orin grabs me and pulls me near the trunk. Doc and his two patients shuffle to me.
"Give me my sniper rifle," Krelak says.
Halam looks at Krelak and wants to object when someone nearly shots him. The marksman missed only a few inches because he turns around to look at Krelak. All of us dropdown. Orin takes the rifle from Halam and gives it to Krelak. Sitting the barrel on his right arm, he aims with his left. Looking throughout his scope. He fires several shots.
"Dammit, we are surrounded," Krelak curse.
I look up again, the former two points are drones. Searching for life signs with different measurement methods. They located us. Suri looks up when he sees where I'm looking and starts shooting at them. He hits one, the other can dodge. It backs off, it must be called off now. The exchange of fire is still going strong, nobody of us got hit yet. What seems strange.
"Are they missing on purpose?"
"I think Shane is right, don't waste your ammunition," Suri orders.
The group hiding east of us suddenly gets shot from the back. This must be Wiphas and Davac. I try to look and don't pay attention to my surroundings. Realizing too late that the ground under my knees starts to drop. With a scream, I fall out of the tree. While I fall, I can see that the missed shots aren't missed at all. The rest of the part of the tree that supported us drops too, and all of us are airborne. All of them react with shifting, Halam tries to dive after me, but I fall faster and faster. I close my eyes, only to rip them open again when I hit something. Wiphas holds me in his shifted form.
Then purple smoke is everywhere. I can't breathe. Chemicals coat my tongue. Wiphas starts to shift back, and we hit the ground hard. The purple smoke lifts, and we are surrounded by bounty hunters pointing their weapons at us. Of to the side, I can see Davac on his knees weapon pointed at the back of his head. Wiphas who protected me from the fall is unconscious under me. He is no longer in his shifted form, I can see the blood pool under him. I start to panic.
"Drop your weapons and get down here and shift back to your humanoid forms or we will kill those three," one of the bounty hunters shouts into the sky.
One of them grabs me by my hair, I scream while he pulls me away by it. Forcing me to my knees besides Davac, I can feel his weapon on the back of my head. Terror engulfs me. This is it, I will die, I start to cry.
"We surrender, don't kill them. Please let our Doc look at our injured crewmate," Suri states, calmy while slowly descending with the others.
They shift back and drop their weapons. Holding up their hands. Doc supports Shuu. Shuu was the only one who didn't shift at all. A group of six heavily armed bounty hunters surrounds them. Searching for additional weapons and finding none. Taking the rest of their survival kits. One of them grabs an injector. Walking to the group, they inject everybody besides Shuu.
"This will prevent you from Shifting to your Xerxerus. Your Doctor can look after your captain now and treat him, we do need him alive after all," the leader of the group says.
Doc grabs his medi-bag back from the bounty hunter before him and runs to Wiphas's side. Davac and I are hauled up and get walked to the rest of our small group. They shackle us together by our wrists.
Doc works fast on Wiphas, I can't see what he is doing.
"You will support the omega with the broken leg," the guy chaining us tells Halam, "Once he is healed, he will fetch a good price at the slave market."
The leader walks up to Doc. I don't know what they say. But their leader doesn't look too happy.
"You two get a stretcher and chain him to it, I don't care if he is in a coma, we need to move away from here before nightfall. Leave the dead. The doc and one of the betas will carry the stretcher."
The bounty hunter with the keys moves back to Suri and unchains him.
"One wrong move and the others will pay."
Suri just nods and slowly walks over to Doc. Both start talking, Wiphas got seriously hurt because of me. I begin to shake. Orin, who is beside me, claps our chained hands.
"He will pull throughout, our captain is a hard nut to crack," Orin whispers to me.
I nod and hope he is right. But Wiphas injuries are our least concern. As soon as Wiphas is on the stretcher, we are forced to move one behind the other, our shackles just leave us enough slack to walk without pulling the guy behind to strong. I have no idea in which direction we head. I should have paid more attention to summer camp all those years ago.
-------
We walk non-stop for hours. My feet hurt, and my throat is dry. I'm getting tired, I barely keep up. No longer paying attention where I walk, I fall to the ground hard, taking Orin, who walked before me, and Davac, who walked behind me with me. I hear angry shouts all around me. Suddenly I'm grabbed by my hair. I have no strength left to get my feet under me. The pressure on my scalp get unbearable I cry out with the last power I have.
"Please, I can't, I'm exhausted, please I'm begging you, give us a break and water."
"Shut up, get up and start walking, or I will shoot one of the others," the bounty hunter grabbing my hair says unkindly.
"You Idiot, let his hair go, his father wants him unharmed back," the leader shouts after turning around to see what the commotion is about,
"You will carry him."
He points at Davac behind me. Davac complies immediately and takes me in his arms bridal style.
"I'm Sorry, Davac…"
"Don't worry Shane, we will find a way, I carried heavier things for hours without a break or water."
"Gee, thanks."
I slump in his arms using his chest as a pillow, I close my eyes and stop fighting against my fatigue.
-------
Hours later, I wake up to Doc checking me over.
"You were dehydrated, it wasn't easy to reason with them to let me give you an IV with fluids. You should start to feel better now, your vitals look already better than two hours ago."
"How long was I out and how is Wiphas?"
I'm still carried by Davac, my nearly empty IV bag is hooked around his neck. I follow the short tube down into my left hand.
"Two and a half hours. Davac had to beg the leader to let me check you up. You weren't responding, and he started to get worried. Rightly so. This long march without any breaks was too much for you and I got Wiphas stabilized for the moment," Doc says while glaring over Davacs shoulder.
I can't see who stands behind us, but I don't need to.
"Humans are such weak creatures, don't glare at me like that Doctor. You can call yourself lucky that you are useful to us. We only get a bounty for the boy and your captain, after all. And Betas aren't as valuable as omegas or alphas for the slave market," the leader tells him angrily.
Doc immediately looks down and tries to school his features back to his professional mask. I look at Doc and mouth the word asshole to him. He just shakes his head.
"I recommend to let Davac carry him for the whole journey. As you said, he is in no condition to make the trek," Doc says to the leader, looking all business.
"That's fine by me, now get back to the stretcher, we still have to make a few miles," the leader says while walking to the front.
Soon we start to move again.
-------
Finally, as nightfalls, we stop. We are still in the forests the trees as thick as before. I thought the bounty hunters were humans, I guess I was wrong. But with their full-body armor and their helmets, it could be any races under those. Davac carefully sets me on my feet. They buckle, but with his support, I manage to straighten. The three bounty hunters standing near us make us sit down on the ground. Doc and Suri place the stretcher beside me. I look at Wiphas, he looks terrible. His head is bandaged, the left arm is in a sling, and I can see bandages peeking out on his left shoulder. The zipper of his bodysuit is open to his bandaged abdominal muscles. At least he is breathing without support.
"Will he make it?"
He nods to me. Looking around me, the only one looking slightly tired is Doc, Shuu, and the twins. Even Davac and Halam, who had to carry Shuu and me, don't look tired at all.
"You guys got great stamina."
"That just part of our military training."
I see him observing our captors and the surrounding trees.
"Are we gonna be on the ground the whole night?" I ask, frightened.
The bounty hunters start to laugh.
"We should leave the worthless betas as fooder for those predators," one bounty hunter suggests.
"Nobody will get eaten yet," the leader replies sharply,
"We may need them still. Get out the sensors and secure the perimeter. And by Rokna, don't forget the electric field. That should repel those bastards."
Shit, I think those bounty hunters are Reshtans. That explains their full-body armor. Reshtans are small, around three feet. Their arms and feet are spindly looking like they can't hold their weight. They are light blue-skinned, their skin is like leather. The head seems too big for their bodies. To overcome their physical weakness, they invented fighting suits that are moveable by the mind. Being as fast and moveable as a real body. I hear Orin beside me, curse quietly.
"They did not land with a shuttle. That's why we still wander back in the direction of the coast. They need landing space for their ship," Orin explains to me.
"How can you be sure?"
"Their fighting suits can withstand high temperature and have a separate breathing apparatus. So they could quickly drop out of their ship in orbit and fly with their suits to the ground."
"The camp that we found didn't imply Reshtans, from what we gathered it was a mix of human, liths, and elvecs technology. So there was more than a fourth ship following us to the planet. Reshtans don't work together with other races. Especially if the profit is as high as those two bounties," Davac informs us,
"There was a shuttle, but it got pretty fucked up and was damaged beyond repair."
We are in a big mess. If I hadn't told my father, I was gay. Would I still end up here? Would anybody have to die then, because of me? I pull my knees to my chest and try to hide. It is all my fault. Would it have saved lives, if I asked to be handed back to my father? Would it have been better if I was a slave already serving the king? My dark thoughts get interrupted by Davac.
"Shane, don't give up hope. I know it looks bleak. But the sacrifices we made. Will not be in vain."
"But if everything would have gone according to my dad's plan, nobody had to die. I would be a slave already. This seems to change nothing on the outcome besides the loss of life."
"Stop these thoughts right there," Krelak says.
He sits beside Davac and looks seriously at me.
"We are still alive, and till we take our last breath, we will look for a way out of this."
Feeling moved, I nod.
"I will help. However, I can."
He nods, smiling a little bit at me. We stop any more talk as two bounty hunters approach us. They give us those damn energy bars to eat. I'm grateful for the food, but I still wish they would taste better. Each of us gets a flask of water too. Afterward, they leave us alone. Cooking their food over the fires they build.
They sure trust their electric field to repel those big predators. But then I start to smell what they cook, and my stomach turns in revulsion. The foul stench burns my nose literally. I begin to gag.
"Breath throughout your mouth. It's less disgusting this way," Doc says.
I take his advice to heart. Their food smells like shit getting cooked. When they finally start to eat, I have to look away. In the distance, I can hear clicking noises.
"They are near."
"Stay calm, the field really should repel them," Shuu calmly says to me.
I try to regulate my breathing. One of the predators steps out of the trees charging at us. I want to scream, but Davac put his hand over my mouth. It comes within a 131 feet radius of the camp when it starts to hit an invisible wall. It starts to scream and making pained noises. I can see a burn on its snout. It angrily clicks and turns around, disappearing into the trees. I can see two other shadows following it.
"See, I told you. We all should try to get sleep."
I start to lay down, but Davac pulls me into his chest.
"Sleep, you can use me as a pillow, and you will need my body heat later into the night."
I comply without any protests. Closing my eyes, sleep doesn't come easily.
-------
I wake up to bright light and a shout from one of the bounty hunters. Waking us and throwing some more bars at us for breakfast.
"Wake up, you filth. This is all you get to eat till evening!"
Then he steps closer and injects everyone that can shift with their damn serum again. A second one comes and gives us each a bottle of water. I greedily open mine and try to drink it empty in one go. But Davac gets hold of my bottle and takes it away.
"You need to slow down, or you make yourself sick. We don't know when we will get water again."
I feel ashamed of my behavior.
"I'm sorry I didn't think it throughout. I'm just so thirsty."
His features soften,
"Here, but try to drink slowly in small sips."
Davac offers me my water bottle back, and I drink a few swallows slowly now.
I rip open my bar and eat it slowly. I'm still hungry, but I will not complain. But Davac seems to read my mind or expression.
"Take mine too, I'm not hungry and can go longer without food than you."
"But you need your strength. I should have offered mine to you."
But he's still holding it out to me stubbornly. I sight and finally take it. I break it in half and offer it back to him. I see that refuse is on his lip.
"Please eat at least half. Otherwise, I will not eat the other half."
Staring at me for what feels like minutes, he breaks eye contact and takes the half and eat it in one go. I smile at my small victory.
"Enough sitting around and chatting. Stand up all of you. We still have lots of miles to cover."
We all stand up together. I walk like three steps before Davac gets hold of me. Hauling me back in his arms. I want to protest, but he just shakes his head at me.
So I keep quiet. Doc and Suri are back to lift the stretcher. Doc changed Wiphas bandages this morning. Thankfully, Doc told me that he is improving. He isn't in a coma, as the leader of the bounty hunters said. Doc told me it's a healing sleep, it's deep like a coma, but he will wake up as soon as his body is healed. The only thing that slows down his healing abilities is those damn serum injections. The purple smoke was a fine mist of the anti-shifting serum they use to capture shifter races.
It represses their animal side. They even can't feel it. I imagine that must be a terrible feeling like a missing limb. My thoughts get interrupted by a shout behind us.
One of the bounty hunters fallen over some tree roots. Instead of helping their comrade, they just stand there and laugh at him.
"They are not a good team."
"That's right. Reshtans are not working well together, their base instincts often clash. Their greed, egoism, and self-preservation is a danger to the whole group. But it's also our best chance at escape if the situation is right."
I should read more about the other races. Such information seems vital for our survival now. I think back to school what I learned about other alien races. Reshtans especially. But I come up empty. Dammit, I should have paid more attention.
-------
The second day since our capture is the same as the first. We trek throughout the rainforest till evening. We could hear sometimes clicking noises in the distance, but we did not encounter any more of those big predators. They remind me of dinosaurs that lived on earth sixty five million years ago. Davac carries me the whole time without breaking a sweat. Around noon he gave me his water. I was already beginning to overheat again and getting dehydrated.
-------
Finally, we camp and get some energy bars as food again. I shouldn't complain when the Reshtans start to cook their vile food again. I'm quite happy with my bar. This time I refuse Davac outright when he tries to give me his food.
"No, you need to eat, or I will stop eating too."
"Fine, but I don't need so much."
"You need your strength, I could not forgive me if we miss an opportunity because you didn't eat properly."
"Tsk, I understand, but you look like you could gain a few pounds."
Davac says unhappily to me, but he eats his bar in a few bites. Suddenly I can hear a rustle of the bushes from left and then right. Then in the opposite of us, one of the predators appears. It looks straight at our camp, but it isn't moving. I feel like it is studying it. Then it makes a high pitch clicking noise and from the right and left the other two charges at the camp. Both hit the field at the same time. It flickers for a moment, but it stays active. My heart began to race. Trying to pound out of my chest. Both of them shake their head, licking their snouts and running back into the forest.
The one opposite of us just observes. It starts to creep me out.
"You guys sure those predators aren't sentient beings?"
"I hope not, for a moment, I thought they break throughout the shield," Shuu says.
"Is that possible? I mean, I saw it flicker, but…"
"Unfortunately for us, it is. Those shields are generally for the smaller beast than the one roaming this Forest. Just let's hope they don't find out how to break throughout it," Krelak throws in.
"If they manage to break it, we will be sitting ducks. You guys can't even shift."
"You should calm down, for them to get the credits they need to hand you over alive. So they should at least protect you if a breach occurs," Doc states matter of fact.
"I don't want to lose you guys. You are like friends and family since this whole mess started. You could have washed your hands off me. Instead, you decided to protect me. Even bring me home or die trying. I will never be able to repay you, even if we magically can escape this new mess."
"We know, and that's why every one of us would lay down our lives for you or our captain. And make no mistakes we are friends and family kind of," Davac tells me, and everybody nods.
Warmth blossoms in my chest. Even in this dire situation, I can feel a spark of happiness at their declaration. Now, all we need is a spark of hope, that can grow into a flame.
The camp is calming down, so I cuddle with Davac and try to sleep. Before I'm fully asleep, I think I hear Davac saying something into my hair.
"Shayla chooses well for our captain, we will find a way out of this."
-------
I wake up to heavy rain coming down. A few raindrops drip throughout the tree canopy. Splashing against my nose, I sneeze. Waking Davac, who was still sleeping. We look quietly around. The Reshtans are still sleeping, they didn't even bother with guards keeping watch.
"How can they trust their electric field will hold the night?"
"Arrogance, they think those beast are imbecile, but I'm not so sure. Life appears in many forms, colors, and intellect. We only presume that technological progress distinguishes us from the more primitive-looking races," Doc explains to me,
"Just take humans, for example. The first contact was made 213 years ago. From what I read, it took humanity one hundred years to finally be accepted into the federation."
"We had first to overcome our issues and the damage we did to our planet. But I read that the different governments tried to persuade those aliens. And the federation was clear about not letting us join before we couldn't even stop our infights about resources and land. They laughed at our governments. Telling them how small they are from their point of view. Twenty years later, humans learned to work together for the next big goal. It wasn't easy to get everyone at the same table. Our whole history, we tried to kill each other or enslave. Even now, it's not wholly peaceful back on earth or even in the colonies like Terra-Solaris."
"That's true, but it's the same with every race. There always will be greed, corruption, exploitation of the weak, or injustice. Even the federation is far from perfect," Davac throws in.
"It at least prevented an all-out galaxy war for the last two millennia. The previous war costs not only many lives and resources. Four whole planets were destroyed. Billions vanishing instantly. Before finally, this madness could be stopped. Four races lost their home planets over their greed."
"Which?"
"One of them was the Reshtans since then they are outcast. No longer part of the federation. That's why most of them are bounty hunters, smugglers, or pirates. The Frysers went extinct. At least nobody saw any of them since then. The Mordas live like the Reshtans. The last one is the Quintens still part of the federation. They never took part in the war. Unfortunately, they were neighbors to the Frysers. Their planet got destroyed like the rest of their system. When the Reshtans used a sun-destroyer. This is also the reason they were cast out."
"I heard of the Quintens. They are a small peaceful race with fairy-like wings. Living in harmony with their environment. I heard they can control plants because of their symbiotic relationship, they are the only races that use organic space ships. That's the only reason I heard about them. They are fascinating."
Their ships are not only organic but are living beings. The Reshtans seem to finally wake up. One of the bounty hunters comes over, handing out food and water.
-------
After packing everything and eating breakfast. We are forced to trek again throughout the Forest heading in the direction of the coast.
I don't even complain anymore when Davac carries me again. When we stop for the evening, I can smell weakly salt on the breeze. We get close to the coast.
"This will be our last night in this hell hole. Soon we will be on our way to your dearest father," the Leaders says to me and then starts to laugh.
The others join him.
"Maybe we can strike a deal with the Xertian King. I think he would love to get his hands on you rebels," one of the bounty hunters throws in.
Every one of them starts to laugh again. How I hate those bastards. We eat our bars in silence and go to sleep.