Allison was sitting cross legged putting her hair into a long braid, just outside the guest bedroom’s ensuite bathroom. The door was slightly ajar. She heard the shower stop and the dryers turn on. This elicited a squeal of delight from Robin.
“It tickles!”
Allison smiled she remembered saying the same thing when she’d had her first shower. Though this was Robin’s second. Allison had just let the first be shower and towel dry. She heard the dryer turn off so she called out.
“Just stay there and close your eyes. It’s going to spray something else. It is very important.”
Robin came out of the room dressed in a pair of Allison’s old heavy winter leggings and one of the many dresses Allison had never liked. Robin had picked it out of the pile, so Allison hadn’t stood in the way. At least someone would get use out of it, she never did unless her mother forced her to wear it. Allison stood up. Robin looked at Allison’s hair.
“Can you make my hair look like that.”
Allison glanced at the time she was already a couple of hours behind the schedule she’d wanted to keep but she decided to just make Robin happy. There would be time for schedules when she started school and that would be her mother, or another adults problem. Allison stood up and searched around for another hair elastic. She pulled the desk chair out.
“Have a seat, let me see what I can do.”
Robin hopped onto the chair eagerly and Allison ran her fingers through the girl’s long blond hair. At least her mother had trimmed the ends. Robin’s hair was comparatively longer than hers. Allison used to have it longer, but pure laziness had necessitated cutting some of it off when she became a pilot. Even as it was getting it into her helmet was starting to get annoying again. She deftly braided Robin’s hair and wrapped the elastic near the end. Robin looked at herself in the dressing mirror she was grinning wildly showing one missing baby tooth. Allison glanced down at her as they stood in front of the mirror looking at their reflections.
“You look amazing, I wonder if anyone will even notice me.”
Robin blushed and giggled.
“Come on shorty, we have some deliveries to make before we can go shopping.”
They got their cold weather outer layer on. Robin followed Allison out to the garage. Oozie rushed ahead of them and sat beside the pickup truck. Allison crossed her arm and looked the nargle up and down.
“Really?”
Oozie inched closer to the truck.
“You heard I was visiting children didn’t you. Oh, you’re so predictable.”
Oozie inched closer to the truck. Allison rolled her eyes and opened the passenger door and lowered the seat for the nargle to hop in. She helped Robin into the front seat and went around to get in the driver’s seat. Robin pulled her seatbelt on without being told or seeing Allison do it. She wiggled her feet and looked down at the bright red winter boots that hadn’t lost their shine. Allison remembered how much she’d loved them as a girl. Robin looked at Allison who was waiting for the garage door to open.
“What was the spray?”
Allison held up her finger and got herself onto the road and headed towards the embassy. Allison pointed up at the Eden’s sun.
“We have a very special sun here. For people like you and me, it is bad for our skin. For people like my mom, and the people we’re about to meet, besides the kids, it’s fine. But it burns us very quickly. So, you get all red and blistered. The spray stops that from happening. Trust me, you do not want to go outside during the day without it. I promise you; You will never forget again. The good thing is, it lasts all day but if you shower at school you need to reapply it, but don’t worry the showers know and will remind you.”
Robin nodded.
“I had a sun burn once when we snuck out of the old places and went swimming. Papa spanked me so hard. I was all red.”
“Well, this it that, only way worse, without the spanking. So never forget your spray. Its okay though, they’ll find you somewhere safer to live where you won’t have to worry about it.”
The little girl gripped onto the Dark Mother picture book tightly.
“I’m not staying with you?”
Allison shook her head.
“No, I’m just a kid like you. The System’s Alliance will want to move you someplace where you can go outside without worrying about a major sun burn in minutes.”
Robin’s lip started quivering. Allison stopped at an intersection and let several military supply vehicles drive past.
“Shh, Robin, that won’t be for a while yet. I’m not old enough to take care of you all the time.”
Robin shook her head.
“Sissy was just like you, and she had two sons. She was old enough.”
Allison’s fingers gripped the steering wheel more tightly, but she tried to keep a soft tone in her voice. Sixteen and two kids. It was sickening. Sissy probably thought that was normal. Allison pulled across and drove down the curved road. The Yorleer of the mammalian persuasion smiled and motioned her through. She envied the fur covered man. He was basically wearing his uniform and nothing else.
Robin completely forgot about the fact Allison was practically tossing her out of the house when her eyes caught sight of the gate guard. He looked like a cross between a furry koala and a ferocious bipedal sabertooth tiger. Allison’s experience with them so far had been pleasant, they were usually soft-spoken and friendly to a fault. Not what she had expected on first sight. She parked the car in the underground parking lot that the auto-deployment system had fabricated. The trio got out of the pickup and piled on the elevator. Before Allison pressed the button to go to the main floor she looked at Robin.
“Okay, so, this is an Embassy, so that means we’re not in the System’s Alliance anymore, we are in the League of Sentient Races. We both need to be on our best behavior. A lot of the people here are going to appear strange, but they are good people and I consider most of them friends, besides the ambassador, wonderful man, but I try to avoid him if at all possible. He has a lot of nervous energy. I need to take care of some things here so while I do that, would you do me a big favor and keep Oozie out of trouble? She got into the kitchen last time and well, some of the staff threatened to ban her from the Embassy. Just give her lots of petting, maybe keep her occupied with the other kids so she can’t get up to her usual mischief.”
Robin giggled. When the door opened Oozie ran off Robin chased after her causing the red boots to squeak across the floor. Allison sighed and shook her head. She knew Oozie would keep Robin safe and entertained. She was a brat, but she was also an excellent guard nargle. Allison found T’hyl watching the children playing with a Silwrath guard who was teaching them some sort of game with a ball. Allison smiled at the sight. Oozie and Robin had already joined in. The latter’s coat, hat, mittens and boots had been tossed aside carelessly. T’hyl noticed Allison.
“Battlelord. Is the one with the yellow hair your charge?”
Allison nodded.
“She’s adorable, she seems happy. It is so nice we can give them the gift of laughter in the wake of such a terrible tragedy. I believe you would like your data bundle and to call Silwra.”
“Yes, I’d love both, but I need some help, I have several boxes of clothes and toys from when I was younger, it is probably too much but maybe it will help the daycare.”
T’hyl smiled.
“Anything will help Battlelord. We are lacking in human things and even Silwrath warriors have their physical limitations. He’s already getting tired out. I will have some of my cousins help you.”
Allison and a few of the furry Yorleer security forces moved the boxes into a room where someone could sort them out. Allison checked in on Robin and Oozie before going into the secure comm room of the embassy. Every time she came to the embassy, or interacted with the League Defense Forces she was amazed at the access and trust they showed her. The data bundle had been encrypted onto a human data storage device for her and she made the call to Futara’s father as requested. He squinted at the hyperwave comm screen.
“Oh, Battlelord. I am so glad you returned my comm request so quickly. I received a message from the council, via the embassy from someone named.”
He squinted at his data tablet moving it back and forth.
“Eyre. She advised me that you have been resurrected twice by your nanites and the second time took substantially longer and required outside intervention. She is concerned. I must admit so am I. You should return to me with all possible haste. I can tell nothing without samples and testing. I have brought your case up with the Synthlin Science Collective. They are eager to assist. They have no records of the nanites actually passing to a descendant. They are supposed to dissolve when they reach end of life. They have concerns. Based on my samples and scans and Futara’s samples and scans, your body is becoming more dependent on them as time moves on, if they are failing or you’re not producing enough, you may need supplemental nanite injections.”
Allison pulled her braid around her shoulder and started fiddling with the end of it nervously.
“I can’t, my starfighter is being rebuilt. I have no transportation and with the Sal’nash attack and the Ratoan rebellion we’re on high alert, I’ll never get approval to travel to League space. Can we take the samples and scans here at the embassy and send them via diplomatic channels? It is probably nothing. I was shot the first time if my bikini top was any indication and the second time I got a double dose of Sal’nash poison. They probably just had to get that out of my system before they restarted my heart. Maybe they killed me so they could save me. I’m fine. No memory issues, no haziness. If I died like they said I did, I didn’t have oxygen for two hours.”
He frowned and his wings drooped.
“Child, your health should come first. Let the adults fight the wars. Battelord or not, I’d drag you in here by your wings if I had my way. I still recommend you find your way here, but if that is not an option, we can try taking the samples and scans there and transferring the data here.”
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Allison smiled.
“I appreciate everything you’re doing for me. I know I’m a hard patient.”
The doctor grated his teeth.
“You’re worse than another medical professional, you’re a warrior you all think you’re immortal. I’ll wait for the scans but the very moment you can get here, you come to Silwra. I take my patients health seriously and like it or not, I’m now your doctor.”
Allison smiled, in truth Futara’s father was probably the best doctor she’d ever had and she’d only seen him once.
“Thank you, Doctor, I am honored to be your patient.”
He waved his clawed hand dismissively, while muttering something about youth and warriors. His words and wave said he didn’t care that much, his wings told her everything she needed to know. He actually cared. The signal went dead. Allison stood up and bowed her head to the communications tech who’d let her use the secure comm room in privacy. She moved to track down Robin and Oozie but was intercepted by the one person she’d have loved to avoid. The ambassador. His nose was twitching and he had his three fingered hands tapping on his round belly.
“Battlelord, am I to assume you ended the Sal’nash threat for good this time?”
Allison wanted so badly to say yep, she had blown the hive to smithereens but she did not feel like causing a diplomatic incident the next time it appeared and she was sure it would appear, they had not found what they were looking for on Yellowstone.
“I am sorry Ambassador, but no, they left before I arrived.”
His whiskers started to twitch, then his nose. His ears went down, and he pulled out a monogramed handkerchief and rubbed it across his furry brow.
“I don’t mind telling you that this is not welcome news, Battlelord. What assurances do we have that the embassy is safe?”
Allison really wished she could just call the System’s Alliance ambassador assigned to the Andromeda sector who happened to be headquartered at the Eden government building. Unfortunately, the last four times Allison tried to pawn the League ambassador off on him, he’d dodged her calls until it was too late. Allison kept her voice level.
“As costly as this attack was to our people, their lives were not lost in vain. We learned valuable lessons that will improve our defensive capabilities. The System’s Alliance has reinforced all of the colonies with battle-ready fleets, including this one, it is our capital of the Andromeda Galaxy, so we have an additional escort carrier and her destroyers. You, the embassy and this colony are well situated to survive any further Sal’nash incursions.”
Allison at least hoped some of that was true. He continued to rub his forehead and nose rapidly with his handkerchief.
“And you Battlelord? We have received a lot of communications about you recently, is the High Council evacuating you to Silwra? Are your people evacuating you to your Earth? You are a religious figure and princess of your ruling council. Your fellow soldiers can’t seem to defend anything without you. What will we do when you leave us defenseless again?”
Allison tried desperately not to roll her eyes. Literally the man thought of every single thing that could go wrong and then picked the worst of the worst-case scenarios to cling onto as what was going to happen. Then he took that as fact until someone convinced him differently. She kept her voice measured so she didn’t laugh at the absurdity of her being evacuated to League space, like the vampire council would let that happen.
“Ambassador, I am in no danger of being evacuated anywhere for the foreseeable future. I will not be leaving the surface for at least another week unless there is an emergency situation; My fighter was damaged in the last engagement with the Sal’nash and requires major structural repairs. My next scheduled off world event is a masquerade ball at the Ratoan royal court, that is not for another two months. I am sure if the Sal’nash are considered a clear and present danger my trip will be cancelled. While yes, my biological mother is of some religious significance to my people, I am not. And yes, I am technically next in line for the role of Empress, I am sixteen and my sister, who is Empress, is sixteen hundred years old. Until I am much older, they would more than likely appoint a regent, such as Isis, who is quite old and wise. I will be here defending the planet, as I usually am. No change, except for the next week, I would be using a different starfighter. As of now the only concern you need to have is the children you have running around here.”
His nose twitched.
“Are the children dangerous?”
Allison plastered that smile on her face that screamed everything is fine. I’m fine, you’re fine, everything is fine.
“Only to your sleep. Human children in groups can be quite rambunctious and loud. Their laughter can be therapeutic though. If there are no further concerns Ambassador, I need to check in with your medical staff to confirm they have everything they need for the children.”
He waved his handkerchief and sputtered.
“Of course, of course, carry on Battlelord. Thank you for your time.”
Allison bowed her head.
“No, thank you for your time and attention, most esteemed Ambassador.”
That got his chest puffed up and he walked up with his shoulders up. She turned and gave a small roll of her eyes. She ran right into Oozie and Robin who had apparently witnessed her entire encounter with the short and stout ambassador. Robin, ever the inquisitive one asked.
“Who was he?”
Allison smiled; This one was genuine.
“He is the ambassador for the League of Sentient Races. He is their representative. All done playing?”
Robin shook her head very slightly.
“No, Oozie was worried about you.”
Allison looked down at Oozie. She just bet it was the nargle. Her white furry friend knew how much Allison disliked having to deal with the ambassador.
“How did you know Oozie was worried?”
Robin scratched her nose and shrugged.
“I just felt like she was and that we should find you.”
Allison ruffled Oozie’s fur.
“Well Robin, that makes you a very special young lady. She doesn’t talk to just anyone.”
Robin wrapped her hand around Allison’s. Allison didn’t recall ever being that clingy, especially at eight, but she let it go and squeezed Robin’s hand. Not like she had a clue how to deal with PTSD in a child. Her plan was the same as it had been since Oozie had thrown Robin in her path; She would try and give the girl space or affection, whatever she seemed to need at the time.
“Why am I special?”
Allison started walking towards the medical clinic.
“Well, Oozie is smart. So smart she’s just as smart as you or I, but she can’t talk like we do, so she uses her mind to talk to us. It’s usually only when she’s really worried about something that she can make us understand. My friend Aryna and Oozie can have whole conversations. I’m still working on it, but she wouldn’t have been too worried about me talking to the ambassador, so if you can hear her thoughts, you must be special. Now I’m kind of nervous about this next part.”
Allison bit her lower lip, leaned down and motioned Robin closer.
“I need to go get some tests done. They’re going to take some blood and run these scanners over me. They always scare me. It would really make me feel better if you and Oozie got them done too at the same time. You think you can help me out?”
Robin blinked a few times.
“You aren’t scared of anything. Gartza, he was the scaley man, told us stories about you. How you faced a horde of the bugs fought their giant Queen with just your knife and Oozie by your side. How you blew them all up.”
Allison wondered how long it would be until the story was she’d run through all of the hives leaping between them while they were in space in a loin cloth with a bone knife hacking fourteen billion Sal’nash into chunks. The Silwrath sure did like their embellishments.
“Well, I swear, this is the only thing I’m scared of.”
Allison showed her the pinky swear her mother and her twin used to use. It was complicated and usually spoken in Swahili, but she translated it for Robin who loved it. Allison finished off the intricate hand movements and hooked her pinky around Robin’s.
“Pinky swear.”
Robin looked down at Oozie who nudged the pair forward. The Yorleer medical tech was in the room. Allison pretended to be nervous.
“Hello, ma’am, my doctor told me I needed some scans. But I’m a little scared. My friends here offered to go first. Just to make sure it doesn’t hurt.”
The Yorleer understood immediately and put her hand on Allison’s back.
“Well, Battlelord, I promise it won’t hurt, but just in case I’ll start with these two.”
She put her hands on her hips and looked between Oozie and Robin. Robin immediately pointed at Oozie who promptly shoved Robin forward gently. The Yorleer medical tech made a tsking sound. Allison pointed at Oozie.
“Do the nargle first. I think she might be sick. She loses a lot of fur.”
The medical tech was obviously familiar with Allison’s frequent companion to the embassy and just how intelligent she was. She pointed at one of the beds after tossing a sheet over it.
“Loosing fur, up you go.”
She ran her scanner over Oozie and drew some blood.
“Well, I can’t say for certain without a blood test but she has a very serious case of adorableness and that does cause some fur loss.”
She motioned to the floor.
“Off you go.”
Oozie kept sitting there and looked at a drawer expectantly. The Yorleer shook her head.
“Fine, I suppose you were good and there were no tears.”
She went to the drawer and pulled out a berry filled granola bar ripped it open and threw it to Oozie who caught it and gobbled it down. Oozie jumped down to the floor and then started pushing Robin to another one of the beds.
Robin climbed up on the bed and watched the Yorleer nervously. Robin jumped when she felt the cold blood drawing device press against her arm. She lifted her arm and looked at the spot she’d been touched, once satisfied she wasn’t bleeding she kicked her legs and waited. The medical tech opened the drawer and looked all of it over. Finally, she selected a chocolate and peanut butter candy and offered it to Robin who bit it cautiously then devoured it. The Yorleer motioned to a bed.
“Your turn Battlelord.”
Allison got on the bed she spoke to the tech while she was being scanned.
“Do Battlelords get candy too?”
The tech shook her head.
“No, you made the other two go first.”
Allison pouted.
“How about, uh, half for me and half for Robin?”
The tech drew four vials of Allison’s blood. Allison grimaced.
“And they call me a vampire.”
The med tech smiled and pulled out a bottle of the League version of Synth-O and offered it to Allison. She then went back in the drawer and got another candy for Robin who thanked her. The girl ate that one quickly too. Allison downed the blood and offered the empty bottle to the tech.
“So, do we pass?”
The tech smiled and nodded she looked at Oozie.
“It seems Robin has a sweet tooth, that is what it is called here, right?”
Oozie wagged her tail.
“Why don’t you show her to the kitchen, I hear they just finished a batch of double chocolate chip cookies. If you hurry, you might be able to get them while they are warm. I just need to talk to the Battlelord about her test results.”
Robin was apparently not completely bereft of treats before she came to Eden Prime because she sure recognized what a cookie was. The pair ran off the tech looked at Allison.
“Battlelord, she’s not in the best of health. She is malnourished. Her teeth are full of cavities. I see signs of healed injuries, the kind of injuries if I saw them in the League I would have to report to the authorities. Bone fractures that were not treated properly. Repeated beatings. Scars from what appear to be some form of whip. Her neuron count is underdeveloped for her age when I compare her with the other children’s medical records. She has several bacterial and viral infections, some are new, others have been around for a while. There are also signs that I should not see in a girl her age. She has all the trauma markers in her brain scan. Before you leave here she needs a full spectrum bacteriophage injection, then another in a week, a t-cell enhancer injection, another in a week, and finally she needs a super dose of wide spectrum antivirals. She needs comprehensive dental work. Her bones need to be broken and properly regenerated. She needs therapy and neural therapy to treat her mental trauma. She has all the markers of your genetic engineering, if she wasn’t engineered like you, she would be dead right now, her enhanced white blood cells are holding the infections at bay, but it will only take one acute infection and they will be overwhelmed. Whoever she was with before she came to you, she cannot go back. I would strongly protest with your government if they put her with whoever did this to her. I cannot imagine putting a child through that. I have never seen anything like this, even on our poorest worlds. This is prehistoric levels of medicine.”
Allison knew it was bad but not that bad. She couldn’t just let her mother throw Robin to the wolves. They hadn’t even bothered to give her a token medical scan at the medical center. Allison crossed her arms.
“Well, there is no danger of her going back. Her family and I guess their commune were killed by the Sal’nash. Are there any signs of neurological damage? Recent. It is showing up all over the place in the other refugees.”
The med tech shook her head.
“No, Battlelord, only that she’s undereducated and has suffered significant mental trauma both recently and over her lifetime.”
Allison wrinkled her nose.
“Wait, you can tell if someone hasn’t been formally educated?”
The tech laughed.
“Not exactly, if you look at neuron development as children age you can determine relative education level some children have no formal education at all, but they’ve been taught trades, some children just read more, they’ll show more advanced neuron development. Hers is on the very low side. We see this typically in sheltered children who aren’t allowed to ask questions or who are punished for investigating things on their own. It is a good indicator of reading comprehension. Language skills especially reading have an exponential impact on the amount of neurons your brain develops.”
Allison blushed.
“Gah, I never want to know what mine looks like. I must be the bottom tenth of a percentile.”
The med tech laughed.
“Actually, you have one of the more complex neural networks that I’ve seen, so I think you’re doing fine in school. Except literature. That part looks a tiny bit empty.”
Allison blushed.
“Really? You can tell that?”
The med tech laughed.
“I am sorry, Battelord, I just overheard you complaining about your literature classes to T’hyl one day.”
Allison wagged her finger.
“That was really mean. So uh, if I take those injections, will they hurt me?”
“No.”
Allison sighed.
“Well, I hate injections but give them to me first so she can see they aren’t bad.”