Hazel was in her Atlantean armor tonight. The Atlantean steal sword lovingly forged by her mother was strapped to her back and she wore a holo-web around her neck. Between the armor’s built in radar absorbent properties, its thermal protections, and the holo-web she was virtually undetectable save for the air she disturbed with her passing and a slight shimmer if she moved too swiftly. She patted the Atlantean pistol at her side. Her mother’s typical side arm for the 29th century wasn’t her style. But she felt naked without a gun in this situation. Likely due to her time with the KGB. Ahead of her the eclectic group of criminals that Miles called friends were making their way through the New Amazon space docks. They were dressed as a maintenance crew wearing holo-masks. They were a cheaper, and because they only had to mimic a face, more reliable version of a holo-web. If not for her Aunt Maria’s code her holo-web would have basically existed for camouflage of stationary objects. She was using her mother’s untraceable military grade holo-phone. Between the holo-web, her Aunt Maria’s software and the holo-phone, she was wearing enough equipment that a small country in the 21st century couldn’t have afforded it. Zebra lost her shit when she saw Hazel vanish using only a holo-web and a holo-phone. She’d begged Hazel for just five minutes with her holo-phone. It would have done her no good. Maria’s encryption was born of several hundred years of paranoia and her genius.

The group was approaching their first real hurtle. A security check point. Terrorism was becoming an issue again. People were not happy that humanity was reaching into the stars and that things were reaching back. Mostly religious fundamentalists who believed that humanity was first among God’s children and were protesting the peaceful relationship with the Sauroids who were in their opinion godless. Miles, who was the face of the group gabbed with the System’s Alliance guards while Zebra with her far off gaze hacked their unscheduled visit into his holo-tablet. Miles was flirting with the female soldier. She actually looked interested in his advances. Hazel snarled quietly as jealousy started to rise up in her. She felt Dimi’s hand on her arm. Unlike his last touch this was more to calm her down. She was still getting pissed. She was after all born with a wolf soul and quite territorial over her stuff and her mates. She decided to distract herself with the news holo-feed playing on one of the displays. Normally it would be sending an advertisement to her contact lenses, but it couldn’t make a connection to the encrypted device.

“System’s Alliance is reporting that our ships engaged and defeated unidentified alien craft three days ago. There were no casualties and successfully captured the craft. They were autonomous. The world that they were protecting is an Earth-like planet. Early reports suggest there are ruins of an ancient civilization, and that the planet is habitable. Once planetary scans are completed and the System’s Alliance has had a chance to assess it, there is hopes it will be our third extra-solar colony world. If you would like to know more the System’s Alliance Xenobiology node on the System Net has full details and images of the alien craft and some early images of the ruins. In other news, The Holy Order of God’s High Priest, the Holy Father Aticus Alonzo has declared Triton’s independence from the System’s Alliance citing their relations with the minions of hell, the Saroids, and Countess Rubina of the Silwrath Empire. System’s Alliance President Amee Jace has released a public statement stating that she regrets they feel that way and that legally it was allowed provided the Holy Order of God reimburses the System’s Alliance, Formally the WTO for the cost of their habitation domes. She also stated failure to pay would result in forced eviction by System’s Alliance forces as per standard habitation dome policy. The Holy Order of God’s Council of Cardinals and their High Priest did not return our requests for comment. The eleven pm news will return after this word from our sponsors.”

Hazel glanced at Zebra who was still staring off into space. Miles was leaning on the checkpoint desk and the female soldier was playing with her hair. She grimaced and looked back to the commercials.

“Do you want to know what it’s like to feel the real sun on your skin? Breath air that wasn’t recycled. If you want to own your own land, grow your own food, live like the farmers of old, sign up now at your local System’s Alliance Colonization Office. Signing bonus, free land, prefab structures, seeds and livestock are all included. Start your family’s dynasty now.”

Hazel heard the male guard clear his throat loudly. She turned away from the holo-feed and noticed the female soldier straightened herself up. The male guard motioned the group through she heard him make a comment as she tailgated behind Zebra.

“What was that about? Seriously?”

Hazel lost the rest of the conversation and the group moved on towards their goal. Hazel had not been to the Space Port before. Usually if she was going off-world, she was going on a military craft to Pluto Station. She was expecting the slick clean, white, polished passenger terminal she’d seen on the Holo-Feed, but this was grungy greasy and dirty. They were in the bowels of the port. Cargo being carried on hover drones guided by humans in dirty coveralls was moving in a chaotic fashion through the halls. She had been worried the group would stick out in their dingy coveralls, but they fit right in and were ignored. They found the cargo door for target dock. Zebra wired into it while the group pretended to be doing maintenance on nearby panel. Hazel was around a corner nearby out of sight. She heard Miles on comms.

“Trouble.”

Hazel peaked out and saw a solitary man walking towards the group. He was wearing black fatigues and no patches. He was armed with an assault rifle, pistol and combat knife. Well at least those were the weapons Hazel could see. As he walked past the service passage, she was occupying she grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth with her hand. She slammed him into the wall harder than she expected. She was used to the armor, but she didn’t usually get into hand-to-hand combat in it and was surprised by the super strength. She crushed his holo-phone’s wrist band and with her left hand and smashed his face into her armored knee three times before he stopped fighting back. She’d caved in his faceplate. His vitals were still good, but his brain took a good hit. She pulled binders out of her mother’s pack and hooked his arms around a pipe. She didn’t need to say anything. She was transmitting her contacts feed to the group. Dimi grunted.

“Fuck. I thought you was joking when you said you would rip my arms off and stuff them up my ass. Remind me not to piss you off again. Still, that was super-hot.”

There were a few chuckles from the group comm. Hazel leaned on the wall. Zebra was working as quickly as she could, but Hazel was finding she disliked the waiting part. She was tempted to shift to half wolf and just rip the door open. The thought of what Dimi would say to that amused her more than it should have. She spoke as she waited.

“I doubt you’d find me attractive when I’m really angry.”

Dimi chuckled.

“Why do you turn green or something?”

Hazel snickered.

“Something like that.”

Pinto interjected.

“Quiet guys, we’re here on a job.”

Dimi snorted.

“We’re supposed to be working, have you ever seen a quiet maintenance crew.”

Pinto sighed over the comm-link. Miles had been quiet since Hazel had put the Crusader thug down. Hazel silently wondered if it was because he didn’t realize that she had it in her. Zebra spoke.

“Got it. Just put the code Hazel got in.”

Hazel walked to the group and started passing out weapons they had given her to secret into the port. They didn’t realize they had been in the Atlantean dimensional space. Pinto checked his pistol and looked at Zebra.

“Hit the distraction.”

Zebra nodded blinked a few times and a fusion fuel cell breach alert started sounding. Workers were either rushing towards the nearest emergency exit, or the source of the alert depending on their responsibilities. Miles put the code in, letting Pinto and Dimi go ahead of him. Hazel heard Pinto shouting.

“Put down your weapons and no one will get hurt.”

She heard several weapons hit the ground. Dimi was using an auto-fire bolter. The kind of weapon that if there were a war would be banned on the basis of being ridiculously inhumane. It was like her mother’s pistol, only it could fire a hundred armer piercing rounds a minute. After Dimi and Pinto moved forward, Zebra, Miles and finally Hazel followed. Zebra immediately jacked into the interior console and locked it down. Seizing the door. They’d need a fusion torch, strong cyborg, explosives, power armor or as Hazel had acknowledged a werewolf to get through. Dimi was covering Pinto when the later shouted.

“Holy shit!”

Dimi dover for cover. The doorway lit up with plasma blasts. Slagging the metal of the wall and floor. Hazel’s armor was detecting movement that was larger than any human had a right to be and she could see the Crusader personal starting to go for their weapons. She heard synthetic voices now.

“Drop your weapons and surrender. Or you will be destroyed.”

Hazel having camo was able to peak out of cover and there were two ten-foot robots with heavy cannons instead of arms, they were black, and walked on four legs. They seemed to have come out of nowhere. She could see shields shimmering covering them where they interacted with the air. In response to their demand Dimi stood up and let loose a stream of armer piecing bolts. They shield deflected them and the robot’s weapons lit up. Hazel guessing her armor would give her some manner of protection shoved him out of the way and took the rapid blasts of plasma to back of her armor. Her armor’s plates starting humming and crackling with electricity, but it was reporting its structural integrity was way down. She’d never seen it hit by energy weapons before. Her Atlantean sword fell to the ground. Dimi was looking at where she might be, only because he could hear the energy crackling. Miles was shouting.

“Hazel! Hazel!”

Hazel scooped up her sword.

“Take out the humans, I got the robots.”

They robots couldn’t track her because of the holo-web. She ran towards the one that had hit her. She figured the armor would just do what she thought it should and was pleasantly surprised when it channeled the energy into her hands which in turn sent into her sword as she struck the shield. Sparks flew from the robot and the shield went down. The discharge and feed back fried her holo-web. Thankfully it seemed her military grade holo-phone was shielded. Her team saw her appear in a flash of the typical off turquoise energy of Atlantean tech. Dimi cheered as she lept on to the machine and clambered up it and stabbed her sword into its armored top. The Atlantean steel pierced the armor like butter. Miles stood up to see what Dimi was cheering about and though Pinto pulled him down he took a hit on the shoulder from the robot Hazel was fighting. Her stab didn’t seem to do much. Her armor was severely weakened and she could feel small arms fire pelting her, though it was being reflected back with an equal and opposite force, she was still feeling it. The bar on her suit's HUD that tracked armor’s integrity was moving downwards rapidly. Seeing Miles take the hit pushed her over the edge and she lost it.

In the fasted shift in her lifetime, she turned into her nine-foot silver furred half wolf form. The robot under her struggled under the weight. The small arms that had been damaging her armor were barely registering on her supernatural hide. She jumped up in the air still grasping her sword. The force shoved the robot towards the ground forcing its legs to spread wide. When she slammed down this time the sword was buried to the hilt and there were sparks flying. It was spinning around and she was riding on it using the sword as a handle. The other robot seeing her as the biggest threat started shooting at her but she slid down the opposite side of the robot and used its body as a shield. With her free hand she started tearing through its body with her razor-sharp talons. The steel armor of the robot started to peal away and she grabbed handfuls of electronics and hydraulics ripping them out.

The Crusader personal were under cover again. Once the group got over the shock of seeing a giant silver werewolf tearing apart a robot they had started firing on them. The robot Hazel had been riding collapsed to the ground spraying hydraulic fluid and sparks. She ripped her sword out and with her free taloned hand grabbed one of the legs and spun it around while the other robot was dealing with the plasma weapon’s cooling cycle. She released the robot from her hand. Her throw sent the partially destroyed robot into its partner. There was a bright flash when it impacted the shield. It hit the robot hard and sent it skidding across the floor. Hazel left her Atlantean sword on the ground. Forgotten in her battle frenzy. She lunged at the other robot before it could right itself let out a howl of rage and stabbed into its armor with her talons and ripped. The armor tore away under her half-wolf form’s supernatural strength leaving the robot torn in half, hydraulic fluid pooling under it.

Hazel turned to the Crusader troops nearest to her and leaned towards them, arms back and roared causing the floor to vibrate. They quickly scrambled toward the exit on the opposite side of the dock. She moved more swiftly then she could have as a human towards the transport shuttle’s open rear cargo door. She took two bolts to her midsection it was painful but neither was silver so they were already healing by the time she reached the first power armored mercenary. Her grabbed him and held him on front of her she heard bolts hitting his armor and could hear the human inside the armored shell grunting as each impacted. She crushed down and the armor responded with a wrenching sound. The talon on her thumb pierced the chest and her other talon’s pierced the back of it. She flung him out of the transport and looked to the other three mercenaries blood was dripping from her talons. She roared at them and spoke one word.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Run”

Her ability to communicate in human languages in this form was severely limited but effective enough for her meaning to be understood, they ran out of the transport and fled past team. Hazel squeezed through the man door and came out carrying a woman in a pilot’s jump suit. The woman screamed, pissed herself and then fainted. Hazel gently put her out of harms way of the thrusters and shifted back to her human shape as she walked back towards her fallen sword. She picked it up and the armor formed a sheath on her back for it. She started to board the cargo transport. Everyone was staring at her she looked at the group and their slack jaws.

“We need to go, I bought us time, but they are going to come back at us ten times as hard. So pick your jaws up and check for the package.”

She turned away from them and headed to the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s seat and pulled the connector the console and connected to her holo-phone. She tapped the option to add Apollo to the encrypted comm-link the group had set up. She tapped the piloting app Apollo had given her and started going through the various holographic controls on the console in front of her doing all the checks the walkthrough was showing her. Zebra who seemed to the only one with enough balls to be near Hazel came in and sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Hazel nodded to her then spoke onto the comm-link.

“Apollo do you have access?”

“I have you. My sensors are picking up gunship launches at the Crusader compound. My ability to provide fire support is limited in the Dome. And your craft is not maneuverable, and it has no armor or shields.”

“Understood.”

Hazel twisted so she could look into the cargo bay. She saw everyone was inside and the door was closed.

“We’re going now. Its going to be bumpy.”

Hazel flipped on the antigravs as she was instructed and as soon as the shuttles landing gear had cleared the edge of the docking wall she hit her thrustors. Shuttle traffic was light but there were still some. She heard the shuttles communications flare to life as New Amazon Space Dock control was yelling at her.

“What the hell are you doing Transport 86911. You are not cleared for a launch window.”

Hazel ignored it and chased another ship out of the environmental field before the blast door could close on her. She hit the turbo-thrusters indicated to go trans atmospheric. The compensators stopped everyone from going flying to the back of the shuttle but even with them the intense g-forces she was subjecting them to could be felt. The beat-up old shuttle creaked under them. Once they breached the atmosphere the pressure faded. Five trans atmospheric fighters were closing fast according to the sensor feed Apollo was providing.

“They are in weapons range. I am taking control and engaging them.”

Zebra looked at Hazel, the teenager’s only response was to shrug and take her hands off the controls. The shuttled started to follow a random zig zag pattern utilizing three-dimensional space and no gravity. Its movements faster then a human could manage. Zebra jumped when she saw Apollo’s purple form decloak while passing over the cockpit windows. White beams of light flared from his particle beam cannons. Zebra leaned out of her seat and pressed her face against the window trying to see what was going on behind them. Hazel didn’t she had front seat of them blossoming into fireballs. Their shields and armor were not even close to capable of stopping the advanced alien weaponry her mother had installed in place of Apollo’s old rail guns. Maria had drawings of something similar, but they were a century out from production. Apollo released control to Hazel who put her hands back on the console. His gleaming metallic purple skin glinted with the running lights of the shuttle. Zebra was staring at him as she spoke.

“What the fuck is that?”

“That’s Apollo. My mother’s fighter.”

“Your mother’s here?”

“No, Apollo is a sentient AI.”

Apollo spoke of the communal comm-link.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

Zebra put her hand on the cockpit window and just stared at him.

“That would take…a supercomputer.”

“He is a supercomputer. More processing power then New Amazon’s computer core so I hear.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a look at his code.”

Apollo responded.

“That is a somewhat rude thing to say.”

Zebra blushed.

“Sorry…its just it must be beautiful.”

“It is. Hazel, System’s Alliance has taken notice of our scuffle and are launching patrol ships and calling in a capital ship to help search for you. I’m doing my best to scramble your shuttle’s profile but a concentrated effort will breach my ECM.”

“Uh what now?”

“Please wait Hazel, I’m receiving a high priority comm-link for your mother.”

Hazel continued to fly straight. She wasn’t quite sure how they were going to get away with their loot. Their shuttle and the transponder were going to be all over the System’s Alliance net momentarily. Pinto came up front and started staring at Apollo like Zebra was.

“Is that an alien ship?”

Hazel shook her head.

“No, my aunt built him. And he is a he, not an it or a that.”

Pinto looked at Hazel. She could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t about to argue with the girl who could turn into a nine-foot-tall furry death machine. It took a few minutes for Apollo to speak again.

“Hazel, it is a high-priority distress call from a vampire elder. There is no way we’ll reach them in time by conventional means. I advised her that your mother was in a coma, and she responded that you could help. We can get to her if we… take extreme measures.”

Hazel glanced at Pinto and Zebra who were the only two near her. Zebra shrugged. Pinto rubbed the back of his head and spoke.

“So uh, will it get us out of this jam?”

Apollo responded quickly.

“Yes. She is about six light hours from us. Wormhole travel is untraceable except by Pluto Station. Once you’re secure and helping her I’ll let mother know why I opened the wormhole.”

Pinto swallowed hard.

“Wormhole? Is this even safe?”

“Yes. I have completed one wormhole jump successfully and I have precise coordinates its all that is needed. Charging wormhole generator. Follow through quickly and do not touch the edges. I’ll be using all of my computing power so you’ll need to do this yourself Hazel.”

“What happens if we touch the edge.”

“The wormhole destabilizes, and you could be destroyed, or end up in random spot anywhere in space and time.”

Hazel swallowed hard.

“Don’t touch the edge.”

Apollo’s metallic skin separated, and silver rings formed and started crackling with energy. It began to arc between the circles. A cylinder of green energy flared forward. Hazel had seen the same kind of energy every time her and her mother created a pathway to Limbo. Hazel heard Apollo.

“Go now quickly. An assault carrier and its escort are approaching.”

Hazel hit the thrusters and the shuttle lurched into wormhole. The space inside didn’t feel any different then outside. It wasn’t like transitioning to FTL. Hazel was careful in the thirty seconds they were inside to keep the transport absolutely steady. Sweat was dripping down her forehead when they came out the other side. They were greeted with a large silver ship with gold trim. It was almost the shape of a pyramid crossed with one of the Isis’s Egyptian temples. Everyone was up front now staring at the massive thing. Hazel blinked a few times; She didn’t have to guess who the vampire was. Only Isis would build something this…exotic. She shook off the awe of the thing and started towards a docking bay that Apollo had indicated for her.

“Wormhole is closed. No signs of pursuit. I’m sending a comm to mother to let her know it was me. I will join you shortly on the ship.”

Hazel followed the instructions her app was sending her on how to land the transport properly. She grabbed the pack and her sword and rushed towards the cargo bay door. Miles was sitting in one of the jump seats and looked up as she passed. She paused and the looked into each other’s eyes for several seconds then Hazel said.

“I gotta go, my friend is in trouble.”

Hazel rushed down the cargo ramp and towards the interior of the ship. Apollo had sent her a map to her destination, and it was displaying on her contact lenses HUD. She found a distressed looking Isis. The ship was deserted, and she was alone and in labor at the base of her throne. The baby girl she was carrying didn’t like the schedule she’d selected. Hazel rushed forward putting the pack down beside her.

“Isis. How long?”

“It started fifteen hours ago. I thought…I was wrong. Help her please. I can feel her weakening. I can hear her thoughts and she is scared and suffering.”

Hazel took Isis’s hand and squeezed it and kneeled down beside her. She pulled out one of the Atlantean tablets that thanks to her years in the past and having to learn Atlantean magic she could read. She held it over Isis’s abdomen.

“You’re right. She’s going to die if we don’t get her out, and she’s not coming out the normal way. Do…I need… this is going to be strange, but I need to use either my claw or my sword. I have nothing else that will cut you.”

Her companions slowly drifted in and stared at the dais and throne. Then down to the pregnant Egyptian woman who’s normally marble like skin was flush and covered in sweat. She screamed again. Hazel looked back at the group.

“Don’t just stand there. Get me hot water, towels anything. Go!”

Zebra who seemed to be the least phased by new situations just walked back into the ship and started searching. Pinto noticed and followed her. Miles came forward and kneeled down beside his girlfriend who had tears on her cheeks. His hand touched her back. Dimi scratched the back of his head and went in the same direction Zebra and Pinto had vanished. Isis touched Hazel’s hand.

“I wouldn’t have told your mother’s fighter to bring you here if I didn’t think you could do it. Little did I know when I saved you in Egypt that I was saving my own child.”

Isis seemed about to say more but cried out as another contraction tore through her body. She’d spent thousands of years never feeling pain and now she was suffering the worst pain a woman’s body would go through. When it passed she was panting.

“Do what you need to, whether I survive or not my child must.”

Hazel nodded and shifted into her half wolf form. She still had the blood on her claws from the Crusader she skewered. She shifted back and pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and shifted back to to half wolf and dumped it all over her furry and taloned hands. She did the same to Isis’s abdomen. She doubted the vampire would die from an infection, but she did have grafted human tissue in her womb. She reached down and gently ran the talon on her index finger where the tablet had indicated, and the skin and muscle parted easily for her. Isis cried out in agony. Wolf-born claws was an anathema to the flesh of all other supernatural entities. She shifted back to human form and slipped her hands inside to pull out the baby girl. She pointed to her sword with her chin.

“Miles. Cut the cord. Hurry she’s going to heal fast.”

Miles did so with a shaking hand that could barely lift the blade. He just managed to get it clipped when Isis’s body started to seal itself up. Hazel held the baby in her hands and did her best to wipe her face off. With her thumbs. Zebra rushed in with some of Isis’ clothing and Hazel used it to wipe the baby down. She started to cry, and Hazel sighed with relief as her lungs started to clear. Isis was looking up at her. Hazel collapsed back on her butt. Isis recovered quickly, being a vampire had it’s benefits. Hazel offered her daughter and Isis gingerly took the bundled child and looked at her. Her eyes began to drip blood.

Hazel looked at Miles who was looking at the baby. Dimi came in with a tub of water Pinto was leading the way. Dimi grinned like a kid when he heard the baby crying. He rushed forward and put the tub down. Pinto rushed to catch up and the pair joined Miles and Hazel on the floor. The whole lot of them looked exhausted. Hazel rubbed her face. Isis pushed her top down and let the baby latch on. She didn’t seem to care those three young men were gawking at her. Like most ancient vampires she was long past bashfulness. Hazel elbowed Miles who stood up and tugged a very disappointed Dimi and Pinto out of the room. Zebra touched the water and snapped her hand back. It was way to hot for the baby. Isis looked at Hazel. The lines of blood still on her cheeks.

“Child, I owe you a debt I can never repay.”

Hazel shook her head.

“You took me in when I had nowhere else to go, only knowing I helped kill one of your brethren.”

Isis looked down at her daughter who was suckling away. She looked at Hazel with her golden eyes.

“I did not understand then, what your mother must have felt. I have never understood it. Until I felt her life waning, I would have done anything to save her life. My motives were not pure, I wanted to meet your mother… I believed her to her older than my creator.”

Hazel smiled. Zebra was looking between the pair in confusion. She motioned to the water.

“It is cool enough now.”

Hazel nodded and reached towards the baby. Isis gently pulled her off of her nipple and handed her to Hazel. Isis pulled her dress up over her shoulder. Then looked down at her blood covered clothing.

“I trust she is in good hands?”

Hazel nodded. She’d bathed Miko just after her birth. She did so again for this child, she did not know what her name would be though. She wiped her down gently. The baby had been crying but as she touched the water she grabbed at with her hands. And marveled when it fell through her fingers. Hazel traced a rune in the water with her free hand before starting to clean her. It was to summon the spirits so they would bless the child’s birth. She’d learned it from her sisters. It was meant to bring good fortune and health among the spirit born. She hadn’t done it for Miko and she still had a feeling that it might have saved her sister’s life. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Isis returned shortly after leaving holding a towel, a diaper and a baby blanket. She kneeled beside the bath and she could see something neither Zebra or Hazel could at the moment. She traced the place the rune Hazel had traced in the water and looked at Hazel.

“What does it mean?”

“It tells the spirits that a new child is born and needs their blessing of good fortune and health.”

Isis nodded and reached down and picked the baby girl up and wrapped the towel around her and dried her off. She had a tuft of black hair on head. Isis put the diaper on her and wrapped the blanket around the child and sat on the metal deck of her throne room. She rocked the baby who after trying to grab for her chest a few times dozed off. Zebra had watched everything silently. Finally, she spoke.

“Are you like Isis as in…. the Egyptian goddess?”

Isis looked amused by the young woman’s question.

“Yes.”

“So… like we just helped a goddess be born?”

Isis shook her head.

“No, she’s nearer to you in kin then me. My blood will give her strength and long life, but she will grow old slowly, and she will pass on unless I turn her. Much like your friend here. She is not wholly human, but she is also not wholly vampire or wolf born.”

Zebra nodded but her expression said she didn’t truly understand any of this. Isis motioned to a door.

“If you would like to eat, gather your friends and go through there, if you go to the end of the corridor, you will find a fully stocked kitchen and a robot chef.”

Zebra nodded and stood up and called out for Miles, Dimi and Pinto. They appeared quickly. She motioned to the door and spoke quietly. Hazel went to follow them, but Isis touched her arm.

“Please, stay for a moment child.”

Hazel settled back down, once the crew had vanished through the door Isis spoke.

“I see fear in their minds. They are frightened of you. I saw the battle you fought to save them. Mortals do not understand our ways. Tread carefully. The one you call Miles he is the most fearful of them all. I see he loves you, but he may not understand. I can make them forget…if you would like.”

Hazel went to answer but saw that Isis already knew her answer when the vampire nodded and motioned towards the door with her golden eyes.

“I understand. Secrets are poison. I agree. You and your friends may stay as long as you need. I will notify Maria of the assistance you provided… though not the circumstances of your arrival. I see you and they are thankful for a place to conceal yourselves. When you’re ready you can use my automated FTL cargo transport and it will get you back to Earth. I will dispose of the other craft.”

Hazel nodded and without asking permission hugged Isis carefully avoiding squishing the baby.

“Thank you, Isis.”

Isis patted Hazel’s back with her free hand, she looked unaccustomed to such affection. She smiled as Hazel thought of how tightly she’d clung to her mother during her early years, Isis saw it through her eyes and suddenly realized what she’d gotten herself into with a child.

“You will always find a safe haven within my domain child.”

Hazel smiled and stood up. She scooped up her mother’s pack and gave Isis a small wave before heading towards the smell of food. She felt like she could literally eat a whole cow at this point.