Arrival

FER’RO

I grip on to the side of the Scrit as I climb upward.

I’ve climbed high and fast, hoping I am not too late.

But, I am.

I reach the orb the moment it takes my Adee’ra. I see her legs disappearing into the central vent.

A loud roar leaves my throat.

I’ve already blown our cover by climbing on top of the vessel.

I’ve wrecked our plans and probably our chances of saving this planet.

But the fact the Gryken hasn’t blasted me off and activated its shields…now I know why.

It’s too focused on Adee’ra.

It hasn’t noticed me.

There are other hyu’man females within the Scrit’s belly and when one of them turns and sees me, I see the moment her astral being leaves her core.

She screeches, her mouth and eyes going wide, but I ca

I do not care that she is frightened.

At this moment, I only care about Adee’ra.

I scramble upward, my symbiotes preventing me from sliding off the Scrit’s smooth surface.

The Gryken within will sense me soon.

I have to hurry.

I have to rescue Adee’ra before…

I growl at the thought of the Gryken implanting its spawn within her belly and I hasten.

I reach the top of the Scrit in a matter of seconds and I can see within.

In the water the Gryken dwells. Within its chamber a being floats.

My blood organ lurches at the sight.

Adee’ra…

But it is not her.

It is another hyu’man female.

One that is bred.

About to bear young.

My gaze searches the liquid…

There is movement lower.

Pale skin fighting to get to swim higher.

Brown filaments floating behind her head.

My senses flare.

Adee’ra!

But she is not aware of my presence either.

Neither is the Gryken as it swims toward her.

It is solely focused on her and the sight of it makes my hackles rise.

It grasps her around the neck pushing her lower and another roar tears from my throat.

I raise my fist, my palm lighting up with the energy core I retrieved from the ground.

I’m about to co

“Wait!” Ga’Var clicks.

He followed me.

“No!” I ca

“Wait!” He repeats. “Look!”

I turn my gaze back to the water when I see Adee’ra’s symbiotes activate, covering her entire being.

And then…

The interior lights up.

I’m frozen as I stare at her—at what she’s done, what she has managed to do against the odds set against her…

As the Gryken releases her and the Scrit short circuits and begins to fall, I am frozen in disbelief.

She’s done it.

The little female…

Adee’ra…has done it.

Shock tears through me at her bravery just before reality hits.

There is no time to waste.

I ca

Pushing down hard, I launch myself upward, fighting the pull of the falling machine as it heads toward the ground.

I need to get to the spot above the i

There, I can send a final charge down through its sealed surface and get it to open.

But it is falling quickly and the moment it hits the ground, we will have only a few seconds before the Gryken regains consciousness.

I can sense my brethren on the ground below, rushing into position.

They are black streaks across the brown earth as they move.

No longer camouflaged.

Can’t waste the energy to do so.

Everything depends on catching the Gryken alive.

We have to do it now.

We have to do it quickly.

I reach the spot as I see Adee’ra swimming toward the i

But the membrane won’t open for her.

Not with the Scrit disabled.

She’s thrashing around, desperate to reach it as the Scrit flips, her cheeks puffed out as if she ca

Because she doesn’t know that she can.

The ba’clan have sealed her entire being. Even her face and head are covered as well as her nostrils.

They will breathe for her.

But she does not know this.

A new sense of urgency fills me immediately and I activate the energy core in my hand as I slam my fist against the Scrit’s i

The membrane wobbles for a moment as it absorbs the attack, before it weakens.

It’s enough for me to do the rest of the work.

I slice through it with one swing of my arm, my hackles moving through the weakened material.

Water gushes out and unto me as I dive within the machine, my focus on Adee’ra.

She’s still trying to get to the vent but she’s not going anywhere.

The Gryken.

It’s got one of its filthy tentacles on her.

The rage that fills me as I shoot forward, slicing the leg in two as I grasp Adee’ra, is rage that I have been harboring for many moons.

My arms close around my female and relief floods through me.

But all is not over yet.

As soon as my arms close around her, Adee’ra panics.

She kicks and struggles, her limbs flailing as she tries to get away from me and it is only when I spin her around and bring her toward my chest that she stops.

Her body stiffens as our eyes meet and then she relaxes against me.

But she is still trying to hold her breath and I can see the effect it is having on her.

As I hold her there, she begins struggling again, her eyes going wide.

Air.

She needs to breathe.

It is strange seeing those brown pools under the dark protection of the ba’clan and I suddenly realize how strange I must have looked to her from the start.

I spin, ready to take her upward when the entire chamber shakes.

The water shivers around us before it suddenly stills.

We’ve taken the Scrit down.

Gripping Adeer’a to my chest, I propel myself upward, back to the spot I just weakened.

It has already sealed again. It resealed the moment I slipped through it and the hackles on my arm extend toward the spot I weakened.

That’s when her body heaves against me.

Her lungs make one final attempt to pull in air, and I sense the moment she realizes she just took her first breath underwater.

Her blood organ hammers against mine as her chest heaves.

I want to share in this moment with her, this revelation, her new experience, but I ca

I focus on the job at hand.

Her life…the fate of her planet…depend on it.

As I slice the membrane open once more, I surge upward.

Someone grabs my arm and pulls us through.

Fi’rox.

I click at him, urgency filling my voice.

“Do you have the container?”

He clicks the affirmative as he slips through the hole I just made and into the Scrit.

I know he only has a few seconds remaining but my entire focus is back on Adee’ra.

She is limp in my arms.

Again.

But this time, I am not nearly as calm as on the first occasion.

This time, everything within me is screaming.

I jump from the Scrit, launching myself into the air and I land on my feet.

There is dust around us, kicked up by the fallen machine, but I trudge forward.

There is a soft patch of dead grass nearby and I rest Adee’ra on it, leaning over her as my symbiotes vacate my head and face.

“Adee’ra.”

As I touch her face, her ba’clan retract as if they sense I need them to.

She coughs, her gaze meeting mine as her ba’clan move away.

Her eyes are wide, her chest still heaving.

“Adee’ra?”

She is in shock.

“Fer’ro. The Gryken…it was—”

Something is building within me that makes my ba’clan writhe and I pull her to me.

It is a heat. An all-consuming heat that is pulling me to this female.

“You took a big risk.” Even as I speak, I am aware of the darkness surrounding us.

A new phenomenon again. One I do not care to observe or wonder about.

But Adee’ra notices. “What’s happening?”

She looks around us then down at herself.

The ba’clan are leaving her body as they are mine.

Surrounding us.

Creating a cocoon…melding together.

Two separate colonies, merging as one once more.

“You are safe now.” I look down into the gaze of this being who is turning my world on edge.

Her pale skin…

Her small body…

Her weakness…and her strength.

“Adee’ra…”

She stares at me as she pulls her gaze away from the swirling ba’clan around us, and I sense when her beating blood organ slows down from its erratic pace.

Deep brown eyes.

I see an image of myself in them. My own reflection.

A Vullan that has almost been ripped inside out.

Adee’ra…

A female I didn’t know I wanted…but one I know I need.

Never again will I let her out of my sight.