“Reclan,” said Vanbrook calmly. “Get that cylinder back to the shuttle. No arguing. Run. Now.”

Reclan obeyed immediately, her strong Dromean legs carrying her faster than any human could hope to run. The wolf serpent’s head struck out to snap her up in its jaws, but Vanbrook drew his pistol and fired at it. The serpent recoiled, and Reclan had time to exit the cave.

However, the shot did precious little damage and only served to anger the monster. It turned its attention to Vanbrook, rearing back and hissing. He dove out of the way of another strike, trying to move towards the entrance of the chamber, but the beast’s powerful tail swatted him back in.

Firing blind, Vanbrook cracked off two shots as he stumbled to his feet. The sound of the gun in the small, rocky chamber was disorienting to the serpent, but the rounds did little damage.

The fanged maw shot towards Vanbrook again, and he drew his sword, slashing at the monster’s face. The blade caught its nose as Vanbrook dove to the side, and the creature howled.

Vanbrook emptied the three remaining rounds into the monster’s face, hoping to cripple or blind it, but none of the rounds found a particularly soft target, glancing off the beast’s massive skull. Blood ran down the serpent’s jaw, but it merely snarled at its would-be prey, its wolfish face contorting into a look of pure hatred as it bared its fangs.

Holstering his pistol, Vanbrook activated his buckler and faced the monster, ready to parry the next strike. When it came, it was from behind, as the serpent tried to swat at him with its tail again. This time, Vanbrook anticipated the attack and pointed his sword into the incoming tail. The momentum of the tail worked against the serpent, and the sword bit into its leathery hide. Another pained roar gave Vanbrook hope, but even though the sword found some purchase, the strike had reverberated up his arm, reminding him how powerful a foe he was facing.

He intuitively swung his shield around in a powerful backhand, anticipating the follow-up strike that came after the tail attack. The wild swing connected with the side of the serpent’s head, causing it to reel back. The creature’s normal tactics weren’t working, and it backed up a moment to study its prey.

Taking the opportunity, Vanbrook dashed for the chamber entrance, this time making it without interference. He knew from the scream that echoed through the cave that he was being pursued, but he continued running. He hoped desperately he could make it to the exit before the creature could catch up.

***

Meanwhile, Reclan was still sprinting headlong towards the shuttle. She had left her pack at the cave entrance and was navigating the craggy path as quickly as she safely could, if not a bit quicker. Given the rocky terrain, the downhill slope and the fact that she was about fifteen miles from the shuttle, she figured she could make the run in under two hours if she didn’t stop to rest or worry about conserving energy like they had on the way up. She slowed down just enough to work her comms.

“Shuttle this is Reclan, do you copy?!”

“Copy, Reclan, this is Raivyn. What’s going on?”

“We found the cairn. I have a cylinder that probably has the coordinates in it, but we were attacked by some kind of serpent. Vanbrook ordered me to run and get these to you guys.”

“And he’s still back there?”

“Yeah. Yes, he’s still back there.”

Raivyn bit her lip. She was still ready to strangle Vanbrook for what he’d said, but there was no way she was leaving a squad member to die. The problem was they could barely cover their bases as it was. Between Trikac’s death, D’Jarric and Drixen’s injuries and the three Astralbians, there wasn’t a lot of personnel to spare.

“Reclan,” she said, “keep heading our way. If you see me running past you, don’t stop. I’m going to go get Vanbrook.”

She figured the run would take her about three hours, if she really pushed herself. As she threw on the lightest loadout of gear that she could justify, she shouted to Doc, “Reclan’s on the way back with the coordinates. Vanbrook’s in trouble. Look after your patients, but keep an eye on the others, too.”

Doc threw up his hands, but didn’t object further. She left, running towards the last person in the galaxy she felt like seeing.

***

The serpent growled as it wormed through the cave, following the scent of its quarry. Its face was marred and bloody, and hunger for meat had given way to vengeful rage. The light of day shone from the entrance of the cave, and the serpent could smell the intruder somewhere nearby. Cautiously, it began to nose its way out of the cave, sniffing the air as it went.

From his perch above the cave entrance, Vanbrook watched as the serpent’s nose appeared, followed by its snout, eyes, and mane. Once the neck of the creature was fully exposed, Vanbrook leaped, grabbing a fistful of mane as he landed just behind the serpent’s head.

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The beast began to twist and coil violently, but Vanbrook held on, even when he was slammed between the serpent and the cave entrance.

Waiting for the briefest lapse in movement, Vanbrook drew back his saber and stabbed it into the serpent’s eye. The writhing of the beast became more erratic, giving way to twitching death throws as it howled in agony. Vanbrook held on and rode the monstrous head to the ground, where it landed with a thump, quickly becoming motionless.

Vanbrook pulled his sword out of the wolf serpent's head, cleaned the blade and sheathed it. He walked back into its chamber, making sure there was nothing else of interest in the cairn. Satisfied, he grabbed both his and Reclan's pack and began hiking south through the arctic night.

***

Raivyn kept her head down against the wind and marched on into the valley. Night had fallen hours ago. She had passed Reclan earlier in the evening. The Dromean had gotten word from Vanbrook that he had survived his ordeal and was on his way back as well. Raivyn had considered turning back, but it wouldn't be right to leave a squadmate alone in a predator-infested region overnight, so she had pressed on, though not at full speed.

The first glimmers of cold daylight were shining over the eastern ridge when Raivyn finally saw Vanbrook's flashlight bobbing down the trail up ahead. Seeing her, Vanbrook dropped both packs, leaning back against a boulder to take a breather. She worked her way up the trail, stopping at Vanbrook's feet.

Raivyn picked up Reclan's pack and slung it over her shoulder.

"Come on," she said brusquely. “We have high priority assets to get back to the Wingspan."

Vanbrook let out a heavy sigh but made no further protests. Raivyn's attitude was colder than the arctic wind that clawed at their backs.

"Look, Rai-"

"Don't," she said, cutting off his attempt at conversation. The rest of the hike was silent.

***

Everything moved quickly once the two squadmates got back to the shuttle. Traelby was marched on to the commandeered star tree to go with Drixen, Raivyn, D'Jarric, Doc and the twins while Reclan, who had some experience as a pilot, and Vanbrook took the cylinder back in the shuttle.

Aboard the star tree, Drixen was getting a crash course in flying a biological ship before lift-off. The controls resembled two roots growing from a wooden console, held by the pilot like the reins of a chariot, while the pilot stood on a small podium that resembled a stump.

"Yes," Kiflin was saying, "push forward to speed up, pull back to slow down. That's the basics."

"How do I see where I'm going?" asked Drixen.

"The membrane in front of you," the Astralbian replied. “It's a screen. There are eyes grown at critical points on the outer bark of the tree, which can feed visual information to the screen."

“Oh,” said Drixen, uncomfortable with the idea of a ship having eyes growing on it. “Um, how do I turn it on?”

“Think about it,” said Triflin.

“Um, what?” said Drixen.

“Think about it, let the thought sink into the roots.”

Drixen’s face contorted as he tried to wrap his head around the concept. He grasped the roots and thought about eyes, but nothing happened. He tightened his grip and concentrated on the idea, trying to will the command into the ship. With a shudder, the screen suddenly lit up with a jumble of images and an uninvited presence snapped into Drixen’s mind. He recoiled from the controls, staring at them.

“Is the ship… alive?” he asked, staring at the twins in horror.

“Of course,” said Triflin.

“Alive,” said Kiflin, “but not aware. Certainly not sapient. Communication with the ship is fairly intuitive for an Astralbian. Maybe others have to… learn the language.”

“Can I give it a try?” asked Raivyn.

The twins looked at Drixen, who shrugged and nodded. Raivyn stepped up to the podium and took the controls. She thought about the ship's eyes, concentrating on the one facing skyward. She could feel her thoughts coursing through the tree's nerve-like communication network.

The screen flashed again, the variably pigmented cells forming a clear picture of the Hittanian sky. The image had a matte finish to it, making it look almost like a hyper detailed painting rather than the glossy look mechanical screens had.

Raivyn moved the eye with her mind. Clouds swept by as she looked back and forth.

"It's like puppeteering," she said, "Astralbians are known to have some basic, intuitive psychic abilities even if they're not trained or particularly gifted. It would be hard for a non-psychic to learn to pilot like this, if not impossible."

Drixen looked crestfallen. Triflin gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Beside the star tree, Vanbrook and Reclan had just taken off and Raivyn spotted them on the screen. Her thoughts turned to Vanbrook, and a quiet buzzing sounded throughout the tree.

Kiflin tackled Raivyn off the platform and Triflin grabbed the controls. Just as they did, a beam shot out of the tree's eye and grazed the Reclan and Vanbrook's shuttle.

D'Jarric, Doc and Drixen all trained weapons on the twins, who put their hands up and stepped away from Raivyn and the console immediately.

"What was that?!" shouted Reclan over the comms channel.

"Sorry," said Triflin, "new pilot orientation. Won't happen again."

"Everyone stand down," said Raivyn. “This was on me." Drixen let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The buzzing must have been the weapon charging. It was an accident on Raivyn's part, not an attack by the twins.

"Excuse me?!" this time it was Vanbrook shouting through the comms.

"Look," said Triflin, "Astralbian tech works very differently from what you are all used to. I suggest letting us fly the tree up to the fleet."

"Whatever," said Reclan, "I guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled either way."

Raivyn slunk over to Traelby's cell, deciding to focus her energy on keeping an eye on him. All she had done was think of Vanbrook, how furious she was at him for his stupidity and ingratitude. She didn't mean to fire a deadly weapon at him. Worse, Reclan was on the shuttle, too. She hated to think about what could have happened.

"Still angry at your companion, I see," said the Astralbian knight, smiling. “Don't worry, I'm on your side. We 'freaks' ought to look after each other.”

Raivyn said nothing.