Page 6 of Crash Landing
I only wore one and it was tucked in my braid where few could see it.
“An assignment?” he asked, sliding his weapons onto a rack on the wall. “I thought that would be a good thing. You’ve been so restless.”
“I have been restless.” I slid my jacket on over my sweat-damp body and stood with a sigh. “It’s not so much the assignment that’s distracting me. It’s the timing. Apparently, the council is having a meeting with representatives from Earth. Seems our two races are getting closer.”
“It was bound to happen. When Vahko found a mate in that human woman, it forced things a little. Valerians can breed with humans. It’s life-altering for us. We went from a dying species to one with hope overnight.”
“Sure, it was bound to happen, but…” I trailed off.
D’Syrion groaned as he leaned up against the wall. “You think your assignment will have something to do with humans?”
“I don’t think. I know.”
“And?”
“And I’m a pilot. I’m military. If I get sent on some mission to talk to humans again or babysit some diplomat, I’m going to lose it.”
“Then why didn’t you go with Vahko when he asked you?”
“Because…” I paused again, eating my words. “Because he and Innifer were getting closer. And…”
“Don’t tell me you thought they needed time alone. Vahko has a crew, you know. They’re not traversing the galaxy alone.”
“No, I know. I mean…sjek.” I straightened my shoulders, cracked my neck to the side, and smoothed my hands over my jacket as calmly as I could. “I’m bitter, alright? My best friend found someone. And I’m happy for him, but Vahko didn’t even want it,” I scoffed. “He tried everything he could to avoid it. I would kill to feel a surge. To feel my other heart again.”
“You think Vahko took it for granted?”
“No. Not at all. When he finally realized how much he loved Innifer, he was all in.” I hissed, spinning on my heels to head out of the training arena. “Listen, I’m being a thorn in everyone’s side. Maybe this assignment will be really good for me. However boring it is, it’ll keep me busy, right?” I shrugged. “Right.”
I stood with my feet shoulder-width apart and my hands behind my back as Zoval walked down the grand stairwell into the Skoda. The room was used primarily for large groups of military or other officials to gather. War plans, assignments, meetings. The room saw all of it. The glass walls showed the outside, but outside eyes could not see in. On Caeol, the sun was eclipsed by Valer so the only light we had was artificial. Which was fine with me considering valerian eyes were sensitive to light. Stepping aboard human vessels was always blinding unless we had our helmets on. It came with the territory. Earth orbited a bright star. Valerian planets mostly orbited dwarf stars. They were smaller. Dimmer. Less obnoxiously prominent.
The Skoda had a slick, reflective floor that was cleaned regularly to ensure it was always shining. A sign of respect to the officials that held their business in there. I’d been in that room a hundred times since I was awoken from stasis. I was usually there with Vahko, but without him, I was running solo. I didn’t know my other comrades well and I didn’t really want to know them. They’d all been born after the Thinning. After stasis. Our people called them miracles because only one in a hundred natural pregnancies ever saw a birth and most of those were carefully monitored in labs.
I was an older generation. One that remembered our world when it was a thriving society with a large population. So you could say that I didn’t relate too much to the men I was standing next to in that room. Except for D’Syrion. He hadn’t told me his whole story, but at least I knew he had one. He walked in and stood next to me, giving me a nod.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered.
He shrugged. “Got a message for volunteers just after you left.”
I furrowed my brows as Zoval made it to the middle of the room to stand in front of three lines of soldiers. Zoval, like D’Syrion, was older with a long, thin braid of silver that hung past his waist. His crown was cracked like mine, but instead of it being from a friendly tussle, it was from battle. He’d seen plenty of it.
“You’re all here for your assignments,” he began, speaking in a heavy northern accent.
He lifted a silver pad in front of him and began sifting through the information. He listed a dozen names before telling them they were assigned to one of the many military bases on Valer for recruit training. Then he listed a dozen more names to assign them to one of the labs to oversee the valuable transportation of embryos to one of our other lunar bases.
Both assignments would have been a nice change of pace, but I wasn’t on either list. When he named off six other people, I finally heard my name.
“You’re all going to the Nexus to escort a group of botanists into the Phesian wilderness for research,” Zoval said.
I blinked slowly with confusion, wondering if I’d heard him right. I was close to blurting out my reservations in front of everyone, but that kind of thing would have only been met with consequences. I might have been rusty but not rusty enough to talk back to my superiors.
D’Syrion noticed my tension and nudged me with his elbow as Zoval finished his lists. Once he was done telling everyone when and where to report, I swept my head toward D’Syrion. He raised his brows like he knew what I wanted to say, but neither of us spoke. I just needed the damn room to clear out so I could approach Zoval with my questions. D’Syrion cleared his throat as if in protest, but I wasn’t exactly known for thinking things through.
As Zoval was walking back up the steps, I jogged up to meet him.
“Sir,” I said as respectfully as I could.
He turned, his hands behind his back and his chin raised.
