“Dandelion, Dandelion, can you hear me?” Ronin shouted into his comm, now on his feet and staring in horror at the still violently spinning camera. He knew the comms were still working, because he could still hear her screaming as the young elf was sucked through the large tunnel to parts unknown. “Damn it,” he yelled, slamming a hand into the table. His blow didn’t even jostle the laptop, thanks to the stone construction of the furniture. “I’m coming,” he said, turning around and heading for the door at a sprint.
“Hold your sparrow there, buddy.” Elyria said, grabbing him by the cloak and dragging him to a halt before he was able to leave the storage room. “You need to think about this before you do anything hasty.”
“But she’s getting dragged away to… who knows where,” Ronin said turning to face Elyria. He could have pulled free of her grip but knew that was a bad plan in the long run. Since the elf would never let him live it down if he did.
“Exactly,” she said, dropping his cloak and crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t know where that tunnel leads. If you leave right now you won’t even know if she survived the trip or not. Hell, White Flame, you don’t even know how to swim. What are you going to do, jump in the water and just sink until you get dragged away by the current? She was lucky to be in the middle of the stream, you wouldn’t be. You’re more likely to be smashed to a paste against the rocks. Use your head, will you?”
It was a strange thing, but Ronin always found it easier to keep his cool when someone around him was losing theirs. Perhaps it was because he felt that someone needed to be the rational party, but whatever it was, seeing Elyria freak out on him brought him back to himself a little. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the screen to see she was still being dragged along at a frightening speed through the dark tunnel.
“What do you expect me to do then?” He asked, looking from the monitor to the elf, who was now heaving from emotion after her outburst. She looked taken aback at his sudden shift, but took it in stride, visibly gathering herself together.
“The mission, White Flame.” She said evenly, staring him in the eye. “I expect you to do the mission we came here for. It isn’t pretty, but all our lives depend on getting to that ship and getting it working. Dandelion is a sweet girl, and I know you still see her as the small child she used to be. But losing her is an acceptable price to pay, if it means saving the rest of your people…”
“But she’s…” Ronin tried to say, only to be talked over by the elf.
“Also,” she said loudly, putting both her hands up, palm out. “We don’t know she’s going to die yet. Look at the screen,” she said, pointing at the monitor where the young wood elf was still being whisked away down the tunnel, though her screaming had died down. “She’s still fine. And if you run off halfcocked then you won’t know what happens, as it happens. So, sit down already. Watch until she stops and see if we can get ahold of her when she’s calmed down enough to talk to us.”
Ronin paced around the room for a while, looking at the monitor after every lap. He couldn’t believe how long the tunnel was, and that she’d made it as far as she had without hitting something. He did his best to ignore both Elyria and Jaya, who were just standing there, watching him pace. Ronin knew he was showing more emotions than he had when four of Karr’s people had died. Heck, more emotion than he had when half of Hunter’s team died in the attack on Undercity. He wondered why that was as he paced. Eventually, he decided IT was because those people had just died. It was sad, but they were dead, and there wasn’t anything he could do about that. Dandelion, in contrast, was still alive. She was alive, yet still outside his ability to reach. As he came around again, Ronin caught movement on the screen that he hadn’t seen before.
“Looks like she’s finally coming out.” Elyria said, coming over to stand behind Ronin. It was true, she’d finally been shot out of the tunnel into a large open space. The only problem was the camera feed was starting to cut out. Panicking at the flickering video feed, Ronin tried his comms again.
“Dandelion, can you hear me?” He asked, watching the screen for any signs she’d heard.
“…I’m ou… don’t kno… will swi..up…” After that short message, the video and comm feed went dead.
“No,” Ronin said, balling his hands into fists, but refraining from hitting the stone table for a second time.
“Relax,” Elyria said, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him to face her. “She made it into the open, safe and sound. And I’m pretty sure she said she was going to try swimming up. If she finds air great, she will survive. If not, well those tanks have, what four days’ worth of air in them? There’s time to find her. Now, switch the feed over to K3. He’s likely been trying to contact you for a while.” Ronin took a deep breath, again, and nodded. She was right, Dandelion had plenty of air, and her bag contained several crystal cores. Enough to last her until her air ran out, at least. They had time, and he had a job to do.
“Alright,” he said, nodding and taking another breath. “Alright… you’re right.” He said, smiling at Elyria, who was still holding him by the shoulders. She seemed to realize their proximity at that moment as well, because she let go of him and stepped back, clearing her throat.
“Good, then. I, ah… I’m glad to hear it. Now, Call K3.” She said awkwardly, earning a silent smirk from Jaya, who’d not moved throughout the whole incident. She’d just stood by, watching Ronin’s back quietly. Ronin frowned as he looked at her, wondering if he’d been saddled with another babysitter without his ever noticing. He shrugged; not like he could make her go away if she had been. For being ‘in charge’ his people sure did tend to ignore his orders often enough. Besides, the silent woman was beyond competent.
Walking back to the table, Ronin sat down in front of the laptop and flipped through the point of views until he found K3’s. The kaldarr had climbed out of the underwater tunnel and was now walking toward the ship. Ronin changed comm channels until he picked up the giant’s line and listened in to what they were talking about inside the hangar.
“…thing is huge,” Jack was saying. “How is it possible that something that big was hidden under our noses all this time? I mean, just how big is this thing...”
“The individual ships are a mile cubed.” Leo said, walking along at the kaldarr’s side. “Each of the fourteen ships have six sides. Each side is exactly one square mile. With the top ship gone, that means there are thirteen ships left. There should be nine on the bottom layer, and four on the second layer up… I don’t know how it’s possible we missed this pre fall. This cavern is huge, easily big enough to fit this ship with a mile to spare on, well this side anyway. It shouldn’t have been possible to hide this.”
“Are you telling me that ship is two miles tall… and it’s missing its top layer? We’re underground here man. How can it be two miles tall? This is insane… Why are there fourteen cubes like that? What’s different about them?” Jack continued, earning a disapproving glare from Karr, but Leo answered him anyway.
“All fourteen are identical.” He said, shrugging thick shoulders as he continued to walk towards the ship. “Each one is space capable all on its own, but they can move faster when they work together. I’ve read about as many as twenty-seven cubes flying together in a giant cube formation with other ships before. Of course, this was millions of years ago, back when the lizards were actively confronting known opposition. In later years, once they’d conquered most of the inner galaxy, they spread out into groups of fourteen. Enough to provide support to each other, without tying too much of their numbers up in exploration units.”
“How do you know so much about this stuff?” Jack asked, looking over at Leo, “you don’t look like a bookwor… I mean, that’s valuable information to have.” He backpedaled very quickly when Leo let out a low growl, showing his teeth to the talkative soldier. Ronin smirked, stress for Dandelion momentarily suppressed thanks to Jack’s foolish antics. He didn’t know if he disliked the man or not, but he was easily able to pick him out of Karr’s squad thanks to his inability to keep his mouth shut.
“Stow the chatter,” K3 said once Jack had been silenced. “Lord Ronin needs to know if there’s another way out of here or not. Stone, Whisper, did you bring any drones with you?” He asked the two smallest members of the group. The camera angle shifted, as the kaldarr turned around to look at the two goblin scouts. Each held a small remote controller in their second pair of hands, under their rifles, which were held ready in their main arms. Ronin blinked, having forgotten they even had those. Thanks to the gryphons Leo had lent them, they hadn’t actually climbed a tree under their own power, at least not that Ronin remembered.
“Yes, sir.” Stone said, giving him a sloppy salute, and earning a sideways glare from Whisper. Ronin grinned at the goblin’s antics. She was a lot like Jack, in the fact she was laxer with discipline and liked to crack jokes. Strangely, Ronin didn’t find it annoying when she did it. “We each got a pair of these bad boys from the Doc. And I’m pretty sure they fly faster than we can run. Want us to let them out and see what’s out there?” As she spoke, she pulled a sealed case off her back, flipping open the lid to reveal a pair of drones that weren’t much smaller than a crystal tree seed. Something like the size of a pre fall football.
“Do it,” K3 nodded, causing the camera’s view to bounce. “Any word from Dandelion yet?” He asked next, turning towards K6 who was walking at the head of her reduced team.
“Negative sir,” K6 said coming to attention with her hand pressed over her chest. The four remaining members of her team did the same behind her. “If she contacts me, I will inform you sir.” She added, waiting for the older kaldarr to nod before releasing the pose.
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“Oh, right.” Ronin said, figuring he should have contacted K3 with the news already. “K3, this is Ronin, can you hear me?” He asked into his comm and watched as the kaldarr put his hand to his earpiece.
“My lord, I can hear you. Do you have any additional orders for us?” He asked without preamble.
“No soldier,” Ronin said with a smile for the man’s professionalism in the field. “I just wanted to let you know that Dandelion got swept through the cavern and into another tunnel. She made it out into another large open space before the connection was broken. She’s still alive, so we’ll have to go after her, but we need to find a way for the ship to come down first.”
“Understood my lord.” K3 said, turning to address his people. “Dandelion got pushed through the cavern to somewhere new. We need to complete our mission before we can attempt a rescue, so let’s kick it into high gear people. Two teams, around the outer wall, drop anything that’s going to weigh you down and haul it as fast as you can go. I want to know the second you find another exit to this place. Now move.” Once everyone, except for Leo had dropped their equipment and rushed off into the blackness of the hangar, K3 put his hand back to his earpiece. “Don’t worry boss, we’ll hurry. I know you have a soft spot for the elf girl.”
Having finished speaking, K3 and Leo exchanged wicked grins, before tearing off in opposite directions. Likely in a race to see who could reach the other side first. Ronin knew K3 was fast, but he was weighted down with armor that Leo didn’t have. Not to mention how Leo could lope along like a dang rabbit. He didn’t see his friend winning this competition, still it was nice to see the fighting spirit in both men.
“See, everyone knows what they need to do. Now, go fix the hands on your suit. You bent the fingers when you clenched your fists earlier.” Elyria said, shooing him away from the computer. “Once you finish with that, I think another spar with Jaya is in order. That ought to give K3 and Leo enough time to find what Owl Two needs… Go on now,” she shooed him until he moved, then turned to Jaya. “Take care of him, will you?” When Jaya replied with a thumbs up, she nodded and flew from the room without another word.
“Where’s she off too?” Ronin wondered out loud, knowing no one would answer. He sighed, thinking about how crazy the last hour had been. He’d broken his elbow, learned his parents were dead, found the lizard ship, and watched one of his people get flushed away. He inspected the hands of his suit. Not seeing any real damage. Still, he decided to change the parts anyway. It wouldn’t have been worth the argument with the elf if he didn’t. Besides, Jaya wouldn’t let him get out of his sparring session no matter what. So, it seemed smarter to drag it out as long as he could by working on the suit.
Ronin spent the next two hours immersed in a mix of equipment upkeep, sparring, and sitting in the med unit. He’d needed the break from the stress of leadership more than he’d realized. He knew it was bad when he preferred getting his body broken by the vicious Jaya, and then having it put back together again by a bunch of syringe-tipped tentacles over dealing with his responsibilities.
Several hours later, he was seated in front of the monitor, watching K3’s team search the empty hangar for an exit that didn’t appear to be there. He’d replaced every part that had even minor damage on both his, and Jaya’s suits, had three sparring sessions, and spent an equal number of times getting put back together again in the medical unit. It had been long enough by now, he was starting to feel like he was wasting time, rather than decompressing. Thankfully, that was when Elyria flew back. She was flying as fast as Ronin ever remembered, and the grin on her face had him wondering what could have happened.
“We found her.” She said, crashing into Ronin at near full speed, taking him to the floor under her still grinning weight.
“Ugh, dang Elyria, give me a warning next ti… Wait, what. Did you say you found her?” He asked, irritation at being bowled to the ground now completely forgotten. “You mean Dandelion right, you really found her?”
“Calm down, White Flame.” Elyria said with a chuckle that was borderline giggle, and a finger to his lips. “Yes, we found her.” She said, climbing off him and seating herself in his now open chair. “I asked Mycroft if there was any way to track her. Since I figured she had tracking devices in all her equipment. Turns out she did. Though her laptop wasn’t strong enough to pierce all the stone… I mean, clearly since its right there.” She added, hooking a thumb over her shoulder. “But the old Priest was nearby, and he has that whole room dedicated to surveillance equipment. So, he was able to find her… you’ll never believe where she was. Go ahead, guess where she was.”
“I don’t know, just tell me already.” Ronin said, staring at the grinning elf in wonder, starting to feel a little giddy now that she’d returned with good news.
“That tunnel spit her out into the nearby lake… you know, the lake just outside the mining town’s city limits? The lake that Owl Two parked our dropships in?... yea, that lake. In fact, we already contacted him once we figured it out. He said he couldn’t risk exposing one of the ships to let her back in right now, but he’s been in contact with her already, and will pick her up when he’s ready to launch. Until then, he’s sending your ship down to see if he can force it through the tunnel… isn’t that great?” Ronin grinned along, right up until her last sentence.
“What?” He asked, looking at her in disbelief, “why is he using my ship for his test run?” His mind jumped to the house that had been built inside the dropship, and the comfortable library that it held.
“Because it’s not holding anything of value to the mission.” Elyria said with a sigh, “we put everything of value in the ships we captured from the human government, remember? Since they had full growth vat tanks and tons of raw materials. Owl two said he’s already swapped his researchers into the bodies of the seven SWAT troops, and they’re hard at work fixing the suits and making arms and armor for the new bodies growing in the vats… I know you’re fond of the library, but it can’t compare to the value of the other ships.”
“I guess,” Ronin said, not wanting to admit she had a point. He couldn’t even ask why they weren’t using the Doctor’s ship, because it was filled with equipment for her crystal body experiments. If humanity had any chance of a future, then it would be because of the work she was doing. “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “How long until he can get here?”
“No idea,” she said with a shrug. “He isn’t actually on the ship you know; he has to drive it from inside your pocket world, which is in space. Honestly, I don’t know how that even works, but he said it would be touch and go until he proved the concept with the first ship. If it makes it, the next one through will be easier.” They talked a little longer about the ship, Dandelion, Owl Two and the lizards. When Ronin finally got around to asking a question he’d been holding back on.
“Has there been any progress on the project I asked Doctor Mycroft about?” He asked as casually as he could, of course, that didn’t mean anything to the perceptive elf. Who scrutinized him closely before answering.
“There have been a few bites, but nothing has shown itself yet. Now, level with me, why did you want the Priest to invite all the crystalized people on earth to come through the teleporter? And don’t give me that bull story about wanting to save as many people as possible. Oh, I know that’s part of it,” she added with a raised hand to forestall any retorts. “But that isn’t why you want them all here. What are you trying to do, White Flame?” He looked at her, then at Jaya, who wasn’t even facing them anymore, she’d turned her back to watch the door when Elyria had tackled Ronin. He sighed, wondering if she thought she was giving them privacy.
“Because” he said at last, deciding to just tell the truth. “I want to kill Stanly.”
“So, Mark and Amanda Jones…”
“Were my parents, yes,” Ronin said. He was still seated on the floor but had sat up. Now, he scooted his back against the stone table to make himself more comfortable. Wrapping his hands around his knees, he continued. “My parents abandoned me when I was ten.” He said, not sure if he’d ever told this story before. He probably had, at least, he’d thought about it enough. “They had gotten enough credits to be crystallized and left with Leo to live on the ship. They promised to come back for me when I turned eighteen, but they never did.”
“Gosh, I’m sor…” Ronin barely heard her speaking, as he continued with his story.
“They were a team, the four of them. My mom and dad, Leo, and Markus. They’d gone out together as often as they could, saving resources for years to finally be able to afford to go to the ship. Only, they didn’t have enough money for everyone, and Leo was tired of waiting once his wife died. So, Markus stayed behind with his wife, and promised to look after me and Alexander… I waited for years for them to come for me. I think I was twenty-five when I realized they never would. I thought they’d just gotten to live the life they wanted and had forgotten about me.”
“Oh no,” Elyria said, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. “That must have been terribly hard for you.”
“Honestly,” he said with a shrug. “It was easier when I thought they’d abandoned me. At least then I didn’t have to feel guilty about hating them for leaving me. But now I know they died to Stanly, something that couldn’t have been too long after they’d left… They were dead the whole time, and I never knew it… it’s strange, but even though I know they’ve been gone over twenty-five years now. It still feels like I just lost them today.”
They sat in silence after that, neither of them speaking. Jaya hadn’t moved from her spot near the door, so it was easy to pretend they were alone in the room. Ronin just sat there, staring off into space, Elyria now seated beside him, hand on his arm. He wasn’t sure how long that moment lasted, but it was broken by a comms call.
“Boss, it’s K3.” He lifted his hand to his ear to both push the earpiece further to hear better, and to indicate to Elyria that he was getting a call.
“Go ahead K3, what do you have for me?” Ronin asked, getting a nod from Elyria, telling him she’d understood. They swiveled around together to look at the monitor that was still showing K3’s point of view. Elyria reached out and pressed a button.
“Sorry boss,” he heard both from his earpiece and the laptop. “But there isn’t another way out of here. We’ve been searching for hours. Both on foot and by drone. It’s like they dug out this giant square to put their ship in, and then buried it again before they left. Apart from the tunnel we came in through… I’m sorry boss. We’ll keep looking, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.” Cursing himself for a fool, Ronin only just then realized he hadn’t told K3 Dandelion was safe and Owl Two was even now trying to find his way down through the tunnel leading out into the lake.
He supposed he shouldn’t blame himself too much, he’d only just found out, and he’d had a lot on his mind. Still, letting his people search in ignorance like that had been cruel. Reaching up for his earpiece, Ronin was prepared to apologize to his friend when Elyria got their first.
“Good news big guy,” She said speaking into the laptop’s microphone. “We just got word from the surface. You know that tunnel Dandelion got sucked through? Well, turns out…” Ronin listened as she told K3 all about it. Not leaving any room for Ronin to say anything. Sitting back, Ronin smiled at the elf’s back. She could be a real pain sometimes, but she’d always been there when he needed her. Ronin hoped he’d be able to return the favor one day.
Shifting his attention to the screen, he saw K3 and the team packing it up to come back out, and his smile grew. They’d found the ship; they’d found a possible way in. He’d taken steps to save more people, and he was one step closer to getting off the planet. His smile turned feral when he thought about Stanly. If he was still on earth, he’d make the man pay for what he’d done. If he’d already left… well, he’d have a spaceship of his own, soon enough.