“Here boss, you need to eat this.” K3 said, tossing Ronin one of the freshly harvested queen’s guard cores. It was clean of orange blood, but it was harder for Ronin to forget where it had come from while still standing in the hive.
“I thought we were doing a tree sap only diet for a while?” Ronin asked, confused, as he caught the large, richly colored crystal.
“Don’t argue and eat the dang thing.” Elyria said angrily, still fuming over his latest escapade. Not wanting to argue with both his companions, Ronin surrendered to the inevitable and popped the core into his mouth. It was nearly too big to fit inside, but the clear shell surrounding the highly refined nutrient fluid quickly broke down, and his mouth was flooded with sweet nectar.
“Wow,” Ronin said, blinking in shock as the world came into sharper focus around him and his mind seemed to speed up as he ate. “Is there something special about the guard cores?” He asked, looking at his bodyguard in amazement. “I feel ten times better than I did a moment ago.”
“No, you idiot.” Elyria said with an exasperated sigh. “You were completely out of it and half dead on your feet a moment ago. You’re just feeling like your normal self. Now, get back to the ship and take a nap before you do something even crazier.” Ronin frowned, wondering if that were possible. Thinking back on his recent trip into the hive, it really felt like it had happened to someone else, and he’d just heard about it second hand. His frown deepened as he realized she was right. He hadn’t realized it before, but he was exhausted.
“How many days has it been since I slept this time?” He asked, his mind clearing at last. He didn’t regret going into the hive, but in hindsight it was an extremely risky move.
“Not as many as last time,” K3 said, motioning him towards the ground. “But I’ve had you fighting for one hour in four and reduced your diet to the bare minimum. Between the constant healing you’ve been forced to do, and the lack of sleep while you worked on the suits, you’ve burned yourself out.”
“Huh, well I feel much better now, and we have a whole tree to harvest so…”
“No, White Flame.” Elyria said hovering at eye level with him and glaring into his gore splattered visor. “You are getting sloppy; you need to rest before you make a mistake with real consequences.”
“But the wasps…”
“She’s right boss,” K3 said, a smirk on his thick lips. “I’ll handle the cleanup, don’t worry about it. Elyria, why don’t you take him back to the ship and make sure he stays in bed? It will give Jackson an opportunity to try out one of the suits… if you don’t mind sharing, boss?” Elyria’s face went red at his words, but she didn’t argue, something that surprised Ronin greatly.
As for the suit, well, Ronin would be lying if he said the idea of letting someone else wear it didn’t bother him, especially the lunatic gangster woman. It would be stupid to keep the suit locked up on the ship while he slept though, especially when he knew just how much it would speed up the harvesting process. So, he had no choice but to relent.
“Ok, fine.” He said, slipping the latches and climbing awkwardly from the suit. “But I don’t want anyone killing the wasp eggs, or any of the larvae or pupa or whatever the aphids and ladybugs have. I think we can still take all the fruits and seeds if there are any… Also, don’t pump the waste onto dead ground this time. let’s at least fertilize the trees with what’s left over, after we’re done taking from it.” K3 only nodded at the instructions, turning to Jackson and Jaya, already barking orders any drill sergeant would envy.
“You going to make it down ok, or should we have Stone give you a ride to the ground?” Elyria asked, when Ronin missed a handhold and almost slipped.
“No, I’ve got it.” Ronin said with a frown. “I’m just used to the slow reaction time of the suit. I kept expecting my arms and legs to lag on me, and when they didn’t, I got tripped up. It’s fine now I know to watch for it.”
“Ah, I heard that’s something sailors have to deal with. After being at sea for a long time they feel like the ground is moving beneath them once they reach land.” The elf said, seeming to buy his excuse. Though Ronin didn’t miss her quiet whispering in the com, or how Stone flew closer on the gryphon after putting a hand to her ear.
Ronin wanted to repeat that he was fine, then again, dying because he’d fallen off a tree would be far too embarrassing, so he kept his mouth shut and focused on the climb down instead. An eternity later, they finally reached the ground. The core was already wearing off, and Ronin’s mind was fogging over again. Now, all he wanted to do was get some sleep. They passed Karr and his people, dragging the waste tube around, to dump the orange slop back under the tree’s branches. Ronin greeted the man with a silent nod, which was returned with a salute, as he continued towards the ship.
“Why did you ask K3 not to kill the eggs, and to fertilize the tree, when last time you harvested everything and dumped the fertilizer into the sun?” Elyria asked, voice somewhere between curious and accusatory. Coming from an elf, even a moon elf, Ronin wasn’t surprised and didn’t take it to heart. They all loved and revered nature more than anything else.
“Ignorance.” He said with a shrug, the look on the elf’s face letting him know one word wouldn’t be enough so he explained. “I thought the lizards were going to terraform the planet when they got here. So, I didn’t see any point in leaving anything alive just to be killed… yes, I know. I should have asked or read about it. But now that I know, there’s no way I’d kill them all for no reason.” They walked in silence for a time after that, Elyria only breaking it when they reached the ship’s ramp.
“I assumed it had to be something like that,” she said eventually. “I didn’t think you would sentence anything to death without a reason… ignorance isn’t the best reason. But it’s still a reason. And you adjusted your approach after learning, see White Flame, you’re getting better at leadership all the time… now go take a shower. I’ll be waiting for you to get out.” The persistent elf pushed him towards the small shower unit, set up inside the house. Too tired to fight the inevitable, Ronin just nodded and climbed in.
The shower, like many of the human additions to the dropship, was made of a combination of human inspiration and beetle technology. It looked a lot like a standing shower unit pre fall, except it was entirely self-contained. The stall rested on a water tank that held a heating element and a filtration system. The water being used was filtered and sanitized before falling into the tank, where it was heated and pumped back up to the shower head.
Ronin was skeptical at first, when he saw the flood of orange gore and chunks of bug internals flaking off his armored body and pouring down the drain. Not interested at all in having that particular mix of awful, raining back onto his head. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened in any of the showers he’d taken so far.
He didn’t stay in the shower for long. His body wasn’t sensitive enough to feel the hot water, and he was too tired to enjoy it, even if he could. Only staying in long enough to get most of the filth off himself, Ronin got back out and toweled off. He was fairly sure the towel had been made from tree fibers, but his ship given memories told him it was soft as cotton… which was also a plant-based material? At least he thought it was. It was hard to tell with the implanted memories, and nothing made from natural materials had survived from the fall to the time of his birth.
The white towel was stained orange before he’d even finished drying himself, and with a sigh, Ronin climbed back in the shower. He knew better than to leave the washing area still filthy. Elyria would just force him back in there anyway. So, he took the shortest path and decided to wash himself properly. This time, the towel was clear of wasp blood when he dried off, and he left the stall feeling more refreshed, and happy he’d taken the time to clean off properly.
“Oh good, I’m just finishing up myself.” Elyria said, still drying her silver hair. The white towel looked washed out, beside her pale skin, and the white scales that covered her torso. Ronin blinked, averting his eyes from her naked form. Noticing his gaze shift, Elyria blushed, but nevertheless answered his embarrassment with a barbed comment.
“What are you worried about, White Flame? Didn’t you strip naked in front of me for a bath not so long ago?... Besides, we’re both naked here. It’s just my body is covered with refined scales while yours is covered in icky bug shell. Not like there’s anything to see…” Her retort stalled, as she wrapped the towel around herself, putting a lie to her words. That caused Ronin to chuckle.
“What’s the matter?” He asked, making his best impression of a leer. “Thought there was nothing to see, why don’t I just…” he reached out, as if to grab her towel. Steel flashed so quickly Ronin wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it, until he saw the orange blood leaking from a small cut on the back of his hand. Elyria was gone by the time he’d raised his eyes from the shallow wound. He grinned, knowing the elf could have likely removed the offending hand entirely if that had been her goal. What she’d actually done was so insignificant, it was already scabbing over.
Yawning, Ronin headed for his bed. Still amazed at the world he found himself living in, Ronin blearily thought about the life he used to live. Hiding in the cave, taking what he could from the crystal tree outside. Never hoping to make enough to be crystallized without a team of fellows to work with. Now, he had influence, something he knew he didn’t deserve, and people who depended on him. He lived in a world he could affect. Like a hero in a story, he had the power to save people. Also like a hero, he had the power to fail them. People that would really die if he didn’t find the ship and get off the planet. With that comforting thought still playing through his mind, Ronin reached his bed and fell backwards into the soft mattress. Not even bothering to cover up, he was out in seconds. The stress of the last several days dragged him into sleep’s comforting embrace.
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Ronin was dreaming again. At least, he assumed he must be dreaming. He was up in the tree wearing his armored suit, extracting a seed from one of the flowers that looked like a cross between an apple and cherry blossom. The trees were filled with flowers, but only a tiny fraction bore seeds. Of those, even fewer would form fruit. Ronin wasn’t sure why they were so rare, but they’d only found two so far during their harvesting sessions, and he hadn’t been involved in finding them. Having left it to Karr’s team after he’d killed the ladybugs and wasps.
He caressed the seed with his armored hands, being careful not to damage the football-sized emerald seed. His thoughts turned unbidden to the rain of them that had infected his planet. Then the enclosure that had survived one hundred fifty years of apocalypse, only to be destroyed by one of these same seeds. Filled with sudden rage, he tried to crush the beautiful object. Only, he wasn’t wearing his armored suit anymore. He was in his old human body, breathing mask chafing against the stubble he couldn’t seem to get rid of, and mouth feeling empty without the full set of teeth he’d only gotten after crystallizing. Panic filled him as he looked at his weak human hands, blood now oozing from under his nails at the pressure he’d exerted on the seed’s shell. Doing nothing to the protective layer that could survive atmospheric entry.
“My lord,” Owl Two said, now standing beside Ronin in the house sized flower. Except they weren’t in the flower anymore. They were standing in the auditorium where the government spokesmen had shown them the video. “We are running out of time, my lord. You’ve reached the mining town, why haven’t you gone down yet? Find the ship, find out how it got down there and how we can get it out and I’ll take it from there. Please my lord, you must hurry.”
The screen that’d showed the lizard ship had turned on while the android was speaking. It once again focused on the lizard’s ship. Only now the ship, clearly visible as a pyramid made of fourteen perfectly square cubes, was closer. Much closer. Ronin blinked, as he recognized the gas giant the ship was currently flying passed. He wasn’t well versed in astrology, but he’d recognize Jupiter anywhere. One of his favorite books had been about a man who’d been paralyzed and gone to live there among a species of giant winged fish, and the planet was shown on the faded cover.
“Wake up, get your people, and get to the ship.” The android’s voice grew distant as he felt himself coming back to consciousness. Blinking rapidly to clear the fog from his mind, Ronin looked down at himself, wanting, needing, to know that he hadn’t been turned back into the old, weak, human version of himself. Thankfully, his body was still ship grown and practically thrumming with vitality after his rest. Only, not everything was as it had been before he’d fallen asleep. Elyria was now sleeping fitfully across his chest. Ronin’s mind went into overdrive as he tried to figure out what the slowly groaning, and twitching elf was doing there. Once his racing thoughts slowed enough for him to actually think, the answer was clear enough.
The elf was sitting in a chair she must have pulled over to the bedside. Ronin blanched at the thought of her sitting over him, watching him sleep. The cunning elf could have done him in right there if she’d wanted to, though Ronin didn’t think she would anymore. She was holding Ronin’s injured hand in her own, along with a small brush, she’d used to apply some healing sap to the small wound she’d caused earlier. Elyria had clearly been as tired as Ronin since she’d evidently leaned forward onto the bed… and Ronin… and fell asleep after tending to him. Her feet tucked up under the chair, and her wings spread out over Ronin like a gossamer blanket of translucent silk.
Elyria twitched again and mumbled something that sounded like “…ship.” He couldn’t be sure, but he thought it likely she was having his dream, or some variation of it anyway. Where Owl Two told her to get to the ship. Freeing his hand from hers, Ronin intended to shake her awake, before he paused. Taking in her sleeping face, Ronin couldn’t help but smile.
The worry lines were gone, and without them and the mocking smile she always wore for him, the elf looked like a different person. A person unburdened by life’s trials, who hadn’t been forced to suffer. A person, who, Ronin found himself coming to care deeply about… the spell was broken a moment later, when Elyria’s dream caused her brow to furrow again, then twitch and mumble unhappily. Finishing the move his hand had started only a few seconds before, Ronin gently shook the elf’s shoulder.
That gentle shake cost him a blow to the head and a flurry of furious wing beats to the face as the elf woke with a violent start.
“Huh, what the… What’s the big idea White Flame? Trying to attack me out of nowhere like that…” She said, blinking sleep from her eyes as she came back to herself. Ronin chuckled, rubbing his jaw after the blow that hadn’t really hurt.
“Me? You were the one sleeping on my chest, I thought you were trying to finally make good on all your death threats. When I woke up, I could have sworn the wasps had come back, but it was just your snores… Ouch, what was that for?” He asked in mock outrage when she hit him again.
“I do not snore.” Elyria snapped, “and I wasn’t sleeping. I was only checking to see if your hand was ok, it looked like you hurt yourself being a fool again.…” The Elf’s ears had turned red at his jab, and Ronin couldn’t help but push a little further.
“Really? It must have been bad then, look, you drooled all over my chest plate…” Ronin trailed off as she hit him again, laughing at the weak blows he knew weren’t intended to hurt him. His laughter doubled when he saw her surreptitiously wipe her mouth and sneak a peek at his chest armor.
“You rotten…” Elyria said, smacking him again. They both laughed for a little while, until Elyria calmed down and spoke. “In all seriousness though, did you have another dream about Owl Two?” Her question all but confirmed she’d had a dream too.
“Yea…” He said with a frown. “He told me I needed to hurry and showed me the ship already passing Jupiter… if that’s true then they’re only days away.” They stared at each other for a moment, before they seemed to realize at the same time Elyria was still leaning against him, and they moved apart as one.
“Regardless of if it’s true or not,” Elyria said, rising to her feet. “I think it’s time we move, even if it means leaving without Leo.” Ronin frowned at her words, but before he could respond, a voice from the door caught his attention.
“That won’t be necessary,” a tired sounding Leo said. Ronin jumped at the sound, eyes darting towards the lionid, who he hadn’t heard entering the house at all. “Hey, settle down you two.” Leo said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. Ronin noted how Elyria was now hovering near the ceiling, short sword in hand. The violent beating of her wings whipped the small room into a tornado, before she settled back down again, and sheathed her blade.
“How long have you been back?” Ronin asked, getting out of bed. “I thought you’d be another day at least…. And what happened? You look like hell.” Ronin was only now taking in just how battered the lionid was. One of his arms was locked in a full-length cast, as was his right leg from the knee down. He had several lacerations across his body, and it looked like no less than a dozen bullet wounds. They had been patched up with something similar to the glue Elyria had used to seal his hand injury. If it wasn’t for the confident look in the older man’s eyes, Ronin would have assumed he was close to death’s door.
“We just got here.” Leo said, not moving from his position, leaning on the door. “I talked to Karr before I came to see you, seems you’ve been asleep for a whole day. Looks like we had similar experiences with the government SWAT boys… only we didn’t come out as well as you did, follow me.”
Ronin exchanged a shocked glance with Elyria, looked like she was surprised at how long they’d slept too. Before they followed Leo as he slowly walked from the house and into the troop transport portion of the ship. He listened with growing horror as Leo described the battle that cost him nearly all his people. His horror only grew when they reached the ramp, where he looked with confusion at the gathered group of lionid women and the pair of restrained prisoners.
“What’s this?” Ronin asked looking at the group. There were three gravely injured lionids, kneeling on the ground, each with a clawed hand at their own throat. Next to them was a pile of four armored suits, in various stages of destruction. Behind them stood a pair of gryphons, each with a lionid on their backs, one of whom Ronin recognized as Gnash.
“I brought you the wreckage of our enemy’s armored Exo-suits. Also, the members of my pride too injured to remain… There is no room for weakness in the pride.”
“There is no room for weakness in the pride.” His words were echoed by all the remaining lionids. Causing Ronin to become even more confused.
“Listen kid, I’ll explain later, ok?” Leo said in a near whisper. “Right now, I just need you to tell these three you accept them into your pride, or they’re gunna kill themselves. Got me?” Exchanging confused looks with Elyria, Ronin nevertheless did as he was told.
“I accept you into my pride.” He said, unsure of what was going to happen next. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what he expected to happen, but he was disappointed. The three just released their throats and climbed to their feet, or foot in one case as that woman was missing a leg.
“What are our orders?” They asked in unison. Still confused, Ronin looked at Leo again, who only shrugged and motioned for him to continue however he wanted.
“Do you have any wounds that need to be treated?” Ronin asked at last, to which they shook their heads. They did look a little better off than Leo, but they were in a sorry state regardless. Each missing at least one limb. “Then I’ll get Jack in from clean up duty. He can teach you all how to play POWF. It’s an integral part of being on my team, er, pride. Once you know the basics then I’ll have more orders for you.” Dismissing them, to do the first thing he could think of that didn’t require much physical effort, he turned to Leo and motioned him to follow him back into the house.
“Please explain,” he said, seating himself in the library and motioning for Leo to join him.
“Not much to tell kid,” Leo said with a pained shrug. “When we stopped to engage them, they fired as soon as their ramp opened enough for them to see us. Killed half my pride before we even made it to them and nearly the rest of us during the melee. After that, I told Red I’d fly the captured ship over. We just got here a few minutes ago.”
“And the suits, prisoners and lionids?” Ronin asked, knowing full well Leo knew what he was asking and had deflected.
“Life in my world is hard kid,” Leo said at last. “While I grew my pride, it was necessary to implement harsh rules on those worthy of what little resources we had available to us. These rules stuck, and even now that things are better, they are still followed. I had to give them to you, or they would have killed themselves, since there can be no weakness in the pride.”
“That’s idiotic,” Elyria said with a shudder. “Why would you come up with a system that forced your injured warriors to kill themselves?”
“Why would your dryads kill themselves to save the elves, but leave all the other races from your moon behind?” Leo countered, but continued to speak before the elf could reply. “Look, it is what it is ok. You don’t have to like it; you just have to accept you can’t change it. Because you can’t. Period.” That was enough for Ronin. Elyria eventually nodded as well, though she clearly wasn’t going to let this go long term.
“And the prisoners and armored suits?” Ronin asked again, not letting the lionid off the hook. Leo looked at him for a long time, not saying anything, before he finally sighed and deflated in his chair.
“Listen Robert,” he said at last, taking Ronin off guard. “Let’s just say I owe you a debt I didn’t realize until recently. One I have to pay for my own honor if nothing else. But it’s not the right time to talk about it. So, please don’t ask me right now, ok? Just take the suits, the prisoners and the lionids, and let’s get going. I heard you and your girlfriend talking before you noticed me. I remember you having a dream before. If there is anything to it at all, then we really need to move. And we need to do it now. I promise I’ll tell you all about the debt, if we survive.”