Watching Enya travel through the dense underbrush of the jungle was like watching a master acrobat at work in her element. The young amaranthian was clearly at home in the unforgiving jungle as she bounded across fallen trees and gripped at low-hanging vines to swing herself over hazards. Octavia found herself struggling to keep up with her guide, having to sprint as fast as her secondary skeleton would allow through the muck that covered the ground beneath them.
Every now and then Enya would pause on a rock or a tree stump and wait for Octavia to catch up, looking over her shoulder with a playful smirk as her technological counterpart made her way towards the young huntress. Then as soon as Octavia made it to whatever object she was standing, off Enya would go once again, bounding through the forest as if it were a Sunday morning stroll. Octavia didn’t have time to rest as she sprinted off after Enya from pause to pause, trying her best not to fall behind.
“Since when are unmodified amaranthians so nimble?” Vita asked, her digital voice coming through slightly strained with Octavia’s fatigue bleeding into her.
“Probably since they evolved for jungle living rather than desert living,” Octavia replied breathlessly as she focused on her breathing. Though her implants were doing wonders for keeping her active, they had been running non-stop through the jungle for the past hour without so much as a minute’s pause. She was impressed that Enya didn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat and still managed to stay leagues in front of her the entire time.
“Ei!” Enya shouted, drawing Octavia’s attention to the young huntress who was balanced on a low-hanging tree limb. Octavia slowed from her sprint into a jog, then from a jog to a stop beneath the branch as she looked up at her guide.
“What?” Octavia called out through her helmet.
“Iato,” Enya replied, bringing her hands up to the front of her face as she bared her teeth and shaped her hands like crooked claws. Octavia didn’t need a functioning understanding of Enya’s language to recognize the name of the beast that had attacked her before.
“Iato?” Octavia asked, her hand instinctively reaching for her gun as she looked around, “Where?”
“Neh, neh!” Enya replied quickly, shaking her head insistently as she held her hands up with a placating look, “Neh vashar!” she insisted.
Octavia frowned slightly, but she slowly pulled her hand away from her gun as she peered up at the huntress curiously from behind her helmet. Enya stared down at her for a moment before patting the branch next to her with an expectant look. Seeing no other options, Octavia shrugged and took a moment to crouch, bracing her legs. Finally she leapt up as hard as her implants would allow her, catapulting her armored mass up into the tree.
She gripped onto a branch above her as she swung her legs forward onto the branch that Enya was balanced on, coming to a stop on the same limb. She paused to make sure that there were no ominous sounds of wood cracking, then when she was sure she was safe she let her hands drop and balanced on the limb closer to the tree. She turned her attention towards Enya expectantly with a slight tilt of her head.
“Iato-fashtan,” Enya explained in a subdued voice, crossing the distance between herself and Octavia. Octavia was slightly taken aback as the young amaranthian pressed herself up against her armor, but as she gazed down at the huntress she was surprised to find Enya was pointing somewhere off to the west expectantly. Following the direction of her finger, she peered off into the jungle and squinted for a moment.
Sure enough, Octavia could see the Iato den as clear as day. An enormous circle had been cleared out of the jungle floor and dug through the muck to create an open-top den clear of underbrush. The side walls of the den were piled up with muck and moss thick enough that from the ground no one would be able to see it unless they literally walked into it. Without being in a feeding frenzy, Octavia could see their features far better than before.
There was a much larger one than the rest, who was currently curled up on its side with its legs sprawled out and its head tucked against the side wall of the den. Octavia’s eyes went wide as she realized the one she had fought wasn’t even the biggest one that there was; the one she assumed was the den mother was easily twice the size of the previous one. If she had to compare, she assumed the size of an elephant from Earth would be about correct.
There was an entire litter of much smaller ones as well, with the smallest one only being the size of a full-grown domestic canine. At the moment they mostly all seemed to be asleep, tucked into one another to form an enormous mat of grey and black fur within the dugout crater.
“You know, they’re pretty cute when they’re not trying to kill us,” Mack mused curiously.
“For physics-defying death dogs? Absolutely,” Vita remarked with a laugh.
One of the puppies was squirming around at the bottom of the pile, and as Octavia watched it playing it suddenly disappeared and reappeared in the air a few feet above the rest. It tumbled to the ground and disrupted the rest of the puppies in the middle of the den which immediately roused and began playing with one another, tackling and biting at each other. She was surprised to find that during their playing they began disappearing and reappearing within the den as much as they were jumping and running - true teleportation was a hypothetical, and yet here were baby creatures teleporting as easily as walking and breathing. Octavia had to admit that she was stunned.
“Iato-fashtan,” Octavia repeated quietly as she peered into the den, watching the puppies play as they blinked in and out of reality. She looked down at the amaranthian who was still pressed up against her and gave a smile, “Your jungle is full of wonders,” she mused curiously.
Enya looked up at Octavia with a wide smile, clearly not understanding the words, but her enthusiasm refused to wane. She peered off towards the den herself, her tail wagging excitedly behind herself, betraying her contentment. After a few more drawn-out moments of fur against armor, Enya pulled away from Octavia and made a beckoning motion as she whispered, “Naeoi twa vasha,” she punctuated her sentence by raising a finger to her mouth as she made an exaggerated shushing sound between her lips.
“Stay quiet and you won’t die,” Octavia replied with a nod. She held a thumbs up in understanding, “Gotcha.”
Enya seemed pleased with this response and took one last look at the den with a wide smile. Finally she ducked down, gripped the limb she was standing on, and allowed herself to tumble out of the tree in an elegant front flip that deposited her onto the ground below with her bare paws in the soil. Octavia couldn’t help but scoff quietly at the display.
“Show-off,” Vita teased with a short laugh.
Bracing herself against the base of the tree, Octavia dismounted quietly from the limb and fell into step behind Enya. She mimicked the huntress’s lowered stance as they began to creep through the underbrush, circumventing the den as they snuck ever northwards. Octavia found herself far more grateful for the guide’s presence, knowing that if she had ventured north herself she would have stumbled straight into the Iato’s den.
Their pace slowed as they snuck their way through the dense underbrush, keeping their heads low as they all-but swam through the greenery around them. Octavia had to keep her head above the dense leaves surrounding her to keep Enya in her sight, lest she lose her guide amidst the foliage. Even though she couldn’t feel it through the armor, she could tell that her suit was getting soaked from the moist underbrush if the buildup of water dripping down her visor was anything to go by.
They maintained their crawling pace for another long while, occasionally pausing to let Enya peek her head above the foliage and glance around. Even though Octavia couldn’t see any threats within the jungle, she trusted that the huntress in front of her had more experience in these matters, so she endeavored to mimic her guide as much as possible. When Enya stopped, she stopped. When Enya started moving again, she started moving again. She figured that doing anything but would just get her killed in the hostile jungle.
Eventually, Enya stood up and turned halfway to face Octavia with a sidelong look, “Neh naeoi, neh iato,” she spoke reassuringly, offering a smile as she offered her hand out to Octavia. Slightly amused at how the tables had turned, Octavia reached up and took the offered hand more as a symbolic gesture than as actual support as she pushed off of the ground with her powerful legs. Stretching out to her full height, Octavia looked down at Enya as she let go of her hand.
“Thank you,” Octavia bid, giving an overly-emphasized nod towards her guide in lieu of a shared language. Enya returned the overly-emphasized nod with an enthusiastic grin, then she straightened and looked out through the jungle as her ears flicked this way and that, picking up on sounds that Octavia would have easily missed. She couldn’t help but wonder what the young huntress knew that she didn’t.
“Neh taval. Taval-fashtan hal,” Enya declared suddenly as she turned and pranced through the foliage towards a fallen tree. She disappeared around a corner, forcing Octavia to jog briefly to catch up to her.
To her surprise, it wasn’t a fallen tree, but rather a small campsite that had been so well camouflaged in the dense jungle that Octavia could have walked straight past it and not noticed it was there. Within the cradle of a fallen tree, tucked within a hollowed-out trunk was a cleared section of the jungle where the muck had been packed down with wood mulch and pebbles. There was an old, burnt-out campfire in the center, and several sizable stones that had been dragged into the hollow for decently comfortable seating. The entrance was even covered with enough vines and moss that it served as a natural door between the outside world and the sanctuary within.
Enya was already sitting on one of the rocks, fishing through her backpack for something. Octavia stepped inside and reached up, removing her helmet with a sigh as she took in a breath of fresh air. She was once again nearly choked by the overwhelming scent of peat and jungle decay, but she managed to choke the air down without embarrassing herself. Taking a seat next to Enya, Octavia set her helmet down between her paws and rested her elbows on her knees.
Her muscles thanked her for the break, the steady pounding she had felt in her leg muscles began to abate as her already overtaxed nanosurgeons set to work on getting her muscles back to working order. She closed her eyes briefly and let out a long breath of air, decompressing within her armor as she rested for the moment. Her thoughts wandered to the woman of light she had seen in her fever dream earlier, lingering on the sensation that had revived her.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Enya nudged her, shaking her out of her reverie. She looked over at her companion and was surprised to find that the huntress was holding out a small cotton sack filled with tree nuts and dried fruit. Octavia hesitantly reached out and took the sack, glancing at Enya to make sure that she wasn’t misunderstanding, then she cradled the offering carefully as she began to eat with her free hand. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the Valiant, and despite the fact that it had only been several hours, it felt like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
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As she greedily scarfed down the food offered to her, a glowing to her left immediately drew her attention, her gaze snapping towards Enya with wide eyes. The young amaranthian was holding her hands a few inches apart as if she were cupping an invisible ball in her hands, and the light blue glow she had noticed was emanating from within the young huntress’s palms. Octavia’s eyes went wide as she watched the air between Enya’s hands slowly and steadily swirl and shift within the blue glow, condensing until it formed something fluid in the air; water.
Octavia’s heart nearly stopped as she watched the process as air turned into clean, flowing water that twisted and twirled in a sphere held aloft in Enya’s hands. There was still an inch of clearance between her palms and the twisting sphere of clear water, the bubble suspended in mid air and illuminated by the blue bioluminescence. Everything she understood about the laws of physics came crashing down around her as she stared like a slack-jawed idiot at Enya’s display.
Then she was suddenly choking and sputtering as Enya straddled her knees and forced the sphere of water against her muzzle. Octavia tried to struggle against the sudden assault with wide eyes, but Enya held fast as she scrubbed the water into the fur on her face, the sensation of Enya’s rough palms scraping against her face forcing her to recoil until the back of her head bumped against the tree bark behind her. She was trapped as the young huntress forcibly cleaned the dried blood off of her muzzle with the sphere of physics-defying water.
“Hey!” Octavia complained, sputtering for air between the combined assault on her senses.
“Neh batto nao sah,” Enya admonished with a frown, leaning in on Octavia’s lap as she continued her forceful grooming, “Octavia, neh haeda vara batto,” she continued. Enya’s tone struck Octavia as the same that Valentina would use on her whenever she had made a mess of herself, which instantly filled Octavia with a burning sense of embarrassment as her cheeks flooded with red.
“Damnit, Enya,” Octavia defied indignantly, trying to turn her face away from the huntress. Another moment of harsh scrubbing overwhelmed her senses before finally the assault stopped and Octavia fell still, glancing up at Enya with a displeased expression. The huntress stayed still as she regarded Octavia, leaning this way and that to regard Octavia’s features with a discerning eye.
Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her as she finally nodded and dismounted from Octavia’s lap, standing up in front of her. The sphere of water next to her had been tinged red with the dry blood that she had scraped off of Octavia’s face, but Enya’s hands were still devoid of any blood themselves. The huntress regarded the water for a moment with a distasteful expression before she snapped her hand shut which had been apparently keeping it aloft. The bubble burst and fell to the ground, soaking into the soil as if it had never been there in the first place.
“Octavia, varana,” Enya remarked teasingly, her maw twisting up in a wide grin as a childlike giggle escaped her. She pointed at Octavia playfully, “Varana, varana,” she teased before bringing her hands up to her eyes and made a mimicry of crying and rubbing her eyes.
“I… I think she’s calling you a baby,” Mack suggested in a stunned tone.
“Oh my Laws, she’s making fun of you,” Vita added, breaking into a laugh of her own.
Octavia’s cheeks and ears filled with blood as embarrassment welled in her chest. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Oh, shut up,” she dismissed defensively. As Enya continued to giggle and point at her, Octavia couldn’t keep the smile off of her own features. The huntress’s positivity was infectious.
“Qual thur, meh taval,” Enya declared as her fit of laughter slowly died down. She reached up and wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye as she drew to the end of her laughter, shaking her head with evident amusement. Finished making fun of Octavia, she raised her hands into a cupping motion once again and water began to pool in the air between her hands, another sphere forming before Octavia’s very eyes.
“Woah, woah,” Octavia replied, holding her hands up placatingly, “No more water. I’m fine, no need to keep cleaning me,” she defended urgently.
Enya noticed Octavia’s reaction and a short bark of laughter escaped her, the grin returning to her face once again. She quickly shook her head and replied, “Neh, neh! Haeda vara batto, varana. Qual thur,” she insisted, gesturing to the water.
Seeing Octavia’s trepidation and lack of understanding, Enya brought the ball of water to her own lips and sucked inwards, drinking the water. She took several large gulps, but the sphere never shrunk, its capacity seemingly infinite despite the small volume. Satisfied, Enya pulled the ball away and then held her arms outstretched towards Octavia with the sphere held aloft for her.
With her attention brought to her own thirst, Octavia was suddenly painfully aware of just how dry her throat was. Her armor’s life support system was down, so she hadn’t been receiving the water that she needed in the jungle. She was desperate for water, her skin felt like a blanket of pins was pressing down on her from all angles, and the steady throbbing in her head told her that she was on the edge of serious dehydration. Despite this, she found herself concerned about drinking from the ball of water in front of her.
“Come on, Octy - either you drink from the mysterious ball of ethereal water, or you have to keep trekking through the jungle dehydrated. Worth the risk, I say,” Vita weighed in encouragingly.
Octavia sighed, realizing that Vita was right. Despite her concerns, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the swirling sphere of water. It was surprisingly cold compared to the sweltering heat of the jungle around them, and she felt a degree of relief as she began to suck in the fluid. She kept the first mouthful on her tongue long enough to taste it, and to her surprise it was easily the cleanest-tasting water she had ever drank.
Octavia’s eyes went wide at the revelation before she began greedily drinking the pure, cold water from its suspended animation. She drank and drank, the relief palpable as she felt her energy returning. She had been so hot and dehydrated, and she hadn’t even really noticed until the first of the life giving fluid began settling within her. The realization that she probably would have collapsed if she had to fight again only served to reinforce her gratitude towards the native guide who had saved her life.
Enya giggled as Octavia hungrily drank from the offered water, and she kept her arms steady the entire time. A few long moments passed before Octavia finally pulled away from the swirling sphere, her stomach full of water and her system recovering for the time being. The huntress nodded towards her with a grin, “Qual thur?” she asked enthusiastically.
“I’m okay now,” Octavia replied with a small smile, holding up a hand dismissively as she shook her head in response. Enya nodded her understanding and closed her hands, letting the bubble burst. The water sank into the soil below, disappearing from view just as the previous one had.
“Taval?” Enya prompted, gesturing towards the moss-covered doorway.
“Taval,” Octavia agreed as she picked up her helmet and stood up. Enya slung her backpack over her shoulders and hurriedly slipped out of the shelter, holding the moss and vines out of the way for Octavia. She slipped out beside her guide as she donned her helmet once again, sealing herself in as she prepared to set out north once again.
However, before they could begin, Enya’s tall ears perked up to their full height, angled straight forward as they strained to hear something that Octavia couldn’t. She peered around curiously, trying to catch a sight or sound of what Enya was sensing, but she couldn’t seem to find anything. She finally turned her attention towards her guide and asked, “What?”
Rather than reply, Enya suddenly rushed off, sprinting off towards the north with no flashy maneuverability or acrobatic flairs. Octavia had to break into a dead sprint to keep up with her as they rushed through the underbrush towards the north. As they raced away from the shelter, Octavia thought she could hear voices in the air, though without the assistance of her armor’s sensors she couldn’t tell where they were coming from.
Daylight shone through the jungle in front of them and a few moments of travel saw them burst out of the jungle into an open, grassy valley. The transition was instantaneous, as if a line had been drawn that the jungle wasn’t allowed to grow past. But Octavia didn’t have time to take in the strange geography; down at the bottom of the valley in the foothills of a mountain, she could see two groups of people facing off a few feet apart, shouts of anger being thrown back and forth as each waited for the other to escalate.
“I said get away!'' The deafening boom of B’roka’s baritone voice carried up the hill to Octavia’s ears, instantly filling her with equal parts relief and dread. The Federation soldiers of Longsword 771 were clustered together with B’roka, Merith and Jace at the forefront with their rifles raised towards their counterparts, while Zuur acted as a wall of flesh and bone directly behind the three to conceal Remiel, Alex and Cody.
“Naeo nay hal fashtan! Naeo nay hal, vashar! Vashar!” screamed an adult male amaranthian in response, a longbow held in his hands with an arrow pulled back at full draw. Even at the distance, Octavia could clearly see the arrow glowing green in the sunlight with its own illumination. There were several other amaranthians in similar leather garb and wielding bows and spears, each pointed towards the Federation soldiers in front of them.
“Octavia!” Enya exclaimed, “Neh vashar, gashtal-fashtan!” she urged with wide eyes full of terror.
Though Octavia couldn’t understand the words being used, she had picked up enough to be certain that her crew was currently in a standoff against Enya’s family and were several seconds away from killing one another. She looked down at Enya with a look of concern, her fear welling up within her. The Federation had given them orders to treat natives like hostiles if they got in the way.
Her mind made up, Octavia pointed at the group of Federation soldiers and exclaimed, “Octavia-fashtan, neh vashar!” in hopes that Enya would understand what she was trying to get at. She then pointed at the tribe of amaranthians and exclaimed, “Enya, taval gashtal-fashtan,” she insisted. She had no idea whether her exclamation even made sense to Enya, but rather than wait around to find out, Octavia turned and began sprinting down the hill as fast as she could towards the Federation.
“Wait!” Octavia screamed as she pounded her way down the incline, her clawed paws leaving shallow grooves in the soil as she charged towards her crew as fast as she could.
Alex was the closest one to her, being held aloft by Cody’s arm around her. Alex turned her head towards Octavia and her eyes shot wide in disbelief, “Octavia?” she exclaimed at the top of her voice, drawing everyone’s attention towards the newcomers. Octavia was stunned to see that Alex was missing an arm from the shoulder, leaving her with only the arm that possessed her prosthetic hand.
“Neh vashar!” Octavia could hear Enya exclaiming as she similarly sprinted towards her family, her hands waving wildly in the air as she screamed her pleas.
“Enya?” the aggressive male called out, the shock evident in his voice. He glanced from the Federation soldiers in front of him to the young woman running down the hill at him.
“Neh vashar, neh vashar! Enya nae yemo taval gaton gashtal, neh vashar!” Enya screamed, her voice raising high enough that she yelled herself hoarse. Her voice cracked as she stumbled down the last few meters of the hill, only to rush in front of the amaranthian tribe with her hands up pleadingly.
Octavia mirrored Enya’s display by scrambling to a stop in front of the Federation soldiers with her hands up, “Don’t shoot! They’re not hostile!” she insisted, screaming through her helmet towards her friends.
“Guardian Tiberius?” B’roka asked in disbelief, his rifle lowering a few inches. His head turned from left to right, looking at the soldiers on either side of him before his featureless gaze turned towards the amaranthians behind Octavia.
“We’re not murderers, damnit! Put your guns down!” Octavia shouted, “We’re trespassing on their land, they have every right to get defensive!”
Somewhere behind her she heard Enya delivering a similar plea. She couldn’t follow the foreign language well enough to figure out what she was saying, but from the way that Enya screamed herself hoarse she figured that they had the same idea. Octavia just hoped that Enya’s family were similarly disinclined to shed blood.
“Where the fuck did you come from, butch? We thought you were dead!” Jace called out, his gun still raised defensively as he glanced towards the tribals behind her with clear anxiety.
“Long story, I’ll tell you when you put your guns down!” Octavia insisted, gesturing downwards with her hands repeatedly, “Just do it!”
There was a brief pause as the valley was suddenly cast into silence, both sides listening to their respective representatives. The tension was palpable as Octavia stood between her crew and a war crime, her hands held out in front of her pleadingly. She saw B’roka glancing between her and the amaranthians behind her once again, and for what was the millionth time she wished she could read ryjax bioluminescence.
Finally, the Lieutenant lowered his rifle and barked, “Stand down,” he insisted, glancing left and right to the soldiers under his command.
Merith instantly lowered her rifle, a look of relief crossing her as she slipped her finger off of the trigger and fixed Octavia with an unreadable expression. Jace was slightly more hesitant, but after sparing a glance at B’roka he similarly lowered his rifle, though he visibly kept his finger on the trigger. Zuur remained bristled with its maw parted to reveal its glistening fangs, but without B’roka’s command there was no chance that it would leap into action. Octavia let out a heavy breath at the sight of her friends standing down, a weight falling off of her shoulders as she paused to look behind herself at the tribal amaranthians.
Enya was looking at her with a relieved expression, and behind her the tribe had lowered their weapons. Bows were un-notched, spears were lowered, and their various furious expressions had eased slightly at Enya’s insistence. Though silence remained heavy in the valley, Octavia was relieved to see that they had diffused the situation. She nodded gratefully towards Enya, the young huntress eagerly returning the gratitude with a smile and a short, awkward laugh.
Their little moment of relief was interrupted as the ground between them suddenly exploded as pristine white needles impacted the soil, kicking up dirt all around them. Enya’s eyes went wide in surprise as the male behind her grabbed the back of her tunic and yanked her away from the ordinance, a scream of terror escaping her as the amaranthians hastily backed away from the alien needles. With the horrifying repeating hiss that Octavia recognized far too well, more needles began to impact the ground from above, all of which were directed squarely at the cluster of Federation soldiers.
“Omni!” Jace screamed, eyes wide and face contorted in horror.
“Run!” B’roka ordered as he turned, rushing in the opposite direction.
The first round of needles exploded, sending the valley into absolute chaos as the miniature suns of the needle’s thermite cores began to ignite. A veritable wall of fire separated the Federation soldiers from the fleeing amaranthians, and as Octavia peered through the blinding wall of sparks and flame she caught sight as Enya was dragged to safety by her family.
“Octavia! Neh vashar!” Enya screamed, barely audible over the deafening warzone that had suddenly erupted between them.
Don’t die.
Octavia would try her best.