Resurrection (The Inherited War) (36 page)

PART FOUR

TO THE FINISH

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” Plato

“The great end of life is not knowledge but action.”  Francis Bacon

CHAPTER 27

             
Sky awoke to the sudden blaring of an alarm klaxon going off overhead.  She had fallen asleep still dressed after a long day of training in the med bay.  She glanced at the time display and stretched her arms over her head.  She was surprised that she had been asleep for almost twelve hours.  She snapped her mind back into focus.  That was an alert alarm.  Hastily she got up and tied her hair into a quick tail that would keep it out of her way.

             
She opened the door to her small room that led out to the medical bay.  The shift of doctors, nurses and medics on duty where at their station and patiently waiting for follow on instructions.  Sky stopped and waited herself.  After a few more seconds of the alarm ringing in her ears, it finally went silent.

             
“Crews to stations, stand by.”  Thalo’s voice rang out over the com.  Seconds ticked by.  Was this it, were the Esii finally moving to attack?   A nervous ball started to form in Sky’s belly.  Could they hold them off?  Could they win against such an overwhelming force?  A few minutes passed then thirty.  Nothing from the bridge deck.  Sky could feel a nervous sweat being whisked away by her suit.  What was going on?

             
Suddenly the big ship shuddered.  A vibration ran from step to stern.  Everyone in the med bay exchanged halting glances.  Multiple shudders started to wrack the ship.  The med bay was located deep in the bowels of the ship and would be far away from any impacting weapons, Sky hoped anyway.  The shudders and vibrations continued for some time. 

             
“Medical,” Thalo’s voice came over the com, “prepare for heavy casualties incoming.”  The vibrations had reached their peak.  The whole ship seemed to be humming.  Sky shifted her focus from the ship to her job.  She sent a call out to all shifts to report to the med bay and a secondary facility they could use in case the casualties were extremely high.  She moved to the door and stepped to the side.  She had become quite deft at quick triage and could help direct patients to their needed areas.

             
Sky heard the sound of pounding feet coming down the corridor.  “Here they come.  Standard procedures, those that can survive by a quick stabilization are low priority.  Massive trauma gets on the tables first.”  Sky spoke with confidence.

             
The first wave of patients broke against the med bay.  Combat medics and Marines had wounded slung over their shoulders, on stretchers or carried between them.  They ranged from unconscious, in shock, to wide awake and screaming in pain.  One thing they all had in common was they were Nixa.  Sky was shocked into inaction. 

             
“Doc!  Where do you want em?”  The first medic was shouting.  He reached out and shook her shoulder. “Doc!”  He shouted a little louder this time.  “Snap out of it.  Where do you want them?”  The shouted words brought Sky around.  She ignored the fact that these were her people being brought in even though none of her people should be anywhere near this area of space in any great numbers and began to take control of the situation.  Sky started to direct the flow of casualties into her small corner of the galaxy as best she could.  There were just too many of them.  She had to change her focus and help those who had a higher chance of living.  She redirected the last few waves to the secondary facility and turned to help with the work of saving lives.  Sky found an empty table and waved a patient forward. 

             
A pair of orderlies lifted a badly wounded Nixa female onto her table.  Sky looked at her with clinical detachment.  Massive damage to her central chest.  It looked as though she had been impaled by something.  She read the scan that appeared above the Nixa’s body.  Damage to the heart and surrounding tissue.  Sky injected her with a massive dose of painkillers.

             
“Take her to recovery and bring me someone that actually has a chance to be saved.  If she is still alive when we have worked through these that have a chance, bring her back to me.”  Sky said in a low voice.  The orderlies looked at each other before removing the patient.  A few moments later a new one was on her table.  This one she could save.  Sky went to work and spent the next twenty-four hours straight with patients on her table.  She never even noticed when the ship stopped being hit.

             
Sky wiped sweat from her forehead as the last patient left her table.  All the incoming had been processed and those that could be saved were.  She went to turn the power off to her table but a hand grabbed onto hers and stopped it.  Sky looked up into the eyes of the orderly that had just grabbed her hand.  He didn’t say anything he just pointed to the gurney behind him.

             
Sky’s jaw dropped, she couldn’t believe it.  “Quick get her onto the table.”  There was no way this Nixa could have lived as long as she had with the damage she had sustained to her heart.  The Nixa had defied the odds and was back on her table.  Sky couldn’t let her die now, not after having fought so hard to stay alive.  Sky yelled for help from a nearby surgical team and went to work.

             
It took them almost ten hours of constant work to repair the damage the young Nixa had suffered.   Sky and her doctors had worked nonstop until they were done.  When they were finished, Sky collapsed wearily into the nearest chair.  She looked around the once orderly room.  Nixa blood covered the floor while splatters and sprays streaked the walls and ceiling.  They had outpaced the cleaning system in the room.  She vaguely remembered having to order it shut off because there were too many people in here and the cleaning bots were getting in the way.  They had had doctors and medics operating on any flat surface they could find.  Floors, chairs-if it was conductive to the type of surgery, desks anywhere that could hold a patient.

             
“Justice,” Sky wearily spoke to the ship, “reactivate cleaning protocol for the med bay.”  Within seconds small robots controlled by The Justice’s AI where whizzing and whirring over every surface.  With every pass the blood and bile left behind by the wounded Nixa disappeared.

             
“Rough day?”  Sky heard the voice but couldn’t find the energy to focus on it.  She finally mustered the energy and turned to see her sister taking the seat next to her.  She offered a wan smile.

             
“Had worse, not many though.”  Sky responded.  They sat in silence and watched as the small robots went about their tasks of cleaning the bloodied room.  Sky’s mind finally overcame the veil of exhaustion that clouded her mind.  “What happened?  Where did all the Nixa come from?”

             
“I may be a better person to answer that.”  The voice came from the open med bay door.  Sky’s fatigue vanished in an instant and she was up and moving as soon as she recognized the speaker’s voice.  Snow reacted just as fast.  She wrapped her sister in a bear hug from behind and held her in place

             
“Sky, wait.  Listen to him.”  Snow grunted as she restrained her sister.  Sky’s sudden burst of energy drained the last of her energy reserves and she collapsed backwards against her sister.  Snow fell backwards onto the couch and clutched her sister tight as sobs shook her body.

             
“Why are you here, shouldn’t you be back home?  You betrayed us all.”  The last was a choked whisper. 

             
“I can never expect you to understand why I did what I did.  Suffice to say that I had my reasons.  That is the past and this is now.  I came with the Home Fleet as soon as I found out what was going on.  Those injured you were treating were from ships that didn’t make it all the way to the safe zone.  They came out of warp too soon and fell prey to the Esii blockade.  Thalo was quick enough to move the Justice into a blocking position to cover for our surviving crew to be rescued.  This ship took a pounding but managed to rescue a lot of our people.  I felt that I should tell you in person.  I will leave the majority of our ships here and take the Reckoning to the other side of the system.  I have deferred to your Admiral and am under his orders.”  Fury stopped speaking and looked at the sisters holding onto one another.  Neither said anything so he turned to make his leave.

             
“Thank you.”  Sky said to his back.  Fury paused and looked back at his one-time friend.  He offered her a warm smile before his face darkened.  He turned back to Sky.

             
“I have another bit of news.  Something you may not want to hear, but I feel since I am not a person you much like anyways, it won’t make you any more mad at me.  One of our scouts made it to the Esii home system.  Before being chased off by the remnants of the Esii Home Guard, he managed to get a close look at their planet.”  Fury paused for a breath then continued.  “He reported and I saw the footage, the planet is dead.  Covered in lava flows and volcanoes.  The surface temp is exceedingly high and the atmosphere is thick with toxins and chemicals.  I am sorry.”  Fury turned and walked away.

             
Sky pushed herself away from her sister and stood on her own.  Her shoulders sagged as whatever energy she had left drained from her body.  She gave one final sob before collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion. 

             
“Jeth, get in here.”  Snow called to the big Worlder.  Jeth stepped into the room and carefully moved through the maze of equipment and cleaning bots.  “Let's get her into bed.  I think she turned her office into her bunk.”  Jeth gently enfolded Sky in his massive arms and without effort lifted her into the air.  He followed Snow to the back of the bay and into the office that Sky had indeed converted into her quarters.  Jeth lay her down on the bed and backed out of the room.  Snow covered her sister with blankets and made her as comfortable as possible.

             
Snow gently stroked her sister’s face and pushed some hair that had come loose from in front of her face.  She said a few soft words of sympathy before rising and leaving the room.  She stopped and looked into Jeth's face.

             
“She is suffering so much and now, with this news, she has lost hope of finding Cole.  We can’t even leave to go get him.  This is so useless.”  She leaned into Jeth’s massive chest as he gently wrapped his arms around her.  “Not useless, I mean we are protecting your people but, well,” she breathed out, “you know what I mean.”

             
“Yes,” Jeth rumbled from deep in his chest, “I know and am frustrated as well.  We must force a change in this situation.  We have waited too long, I will speak to Thalo.”

             
“No, we can’t jeopardize your people or your planets.  There is something here that they need and they will attack at the first sign of weakness.  They have to have watchers on all of the human ships and the Reckoning was never at one hundred percent before she jumped so far in system.  I overheard some of her crew talking.  They said it would be days before she was back to fighting trim.”

             
“Thalo will think of something.”  Jeth had monumental faith in his bond brother and his ability to out think other beings.  The sound of another being interrupted their moment.  Snow hastily separated from Jeth.  She caught a glimpse of the intruder to their small part of the ship.

             
“Forgive me for interrupting,” Gavreal said as he entered the room.  “I have felt a great deal of emotion coming from this room and was worried.  I felt extreme sadness mixed with frustration and deep love.  I was concerned.”

             
“It’s Sky; she just heard what Fury had to report.  She is exhausted and fell asleep.”  Snow told the winged being.

             
“She suffers greatly.  Her sorrow permeates the ship and my people sense it.  I will sit with her and attempt to aid her troubled spirit, if you will permit?”  He said with a slight bow.

             
“Sure, if you think you can help.”  A hint of optimism colored Snow’s voice.

             
“I can but try.  Another of my brethren is protecting the crew of this ship in my absence.”  Gavreal shifted his focus to Jeth and continued speaking.  “Please, let us know when a plan has been laid to rescue the creator’s descendant.  We very much would like to participate in his rescue.”

             
Jeth nodded his head at the Kin and walked away leading Snow.  Gavreal walked through the med bay and entered into Sky’s small room.  He knelt next to Sky’s bed and laid his head upon her chest.  He placed one hand on her stomach and the other on her forehead.  Closing his eyes he began to breathe in a slow rhythmic way.  Slowly he extended his wings to cover her from head to toe.  The Kin’s mind expanded and joined Sky on a depth no Nixa could ever achieve on her own.

             
“Come child,” Gavreal’s mind whispered to Sky’s mind.  “Unburden yourself to me and free your spirit.”  A soft glow began to emanate from the two bodies as their minds began to speak.

~

              Jeth entered the bridge and wedged himself into one of the overly small chairs.  He gently placed his hand over the over the ships bonding mechanism and closed his eyes.  Jeth didn’t like leaving his body too much and avoided it whenever possible.  He needed to talk to Thalo though, and Thalo was on duty.