“Me too, but they must feel like the Morinians are completely different. I’m not sure I would be as forgiving after what I went through.”
“Can you tell me a little bit about what happened to your mate? I just want to understand how you would end up following someone like OrIN.”
“I met my mate when we were young. She was fifteen and I was eighteen. I knew the moment I saw her that she was the one for me. She was so strong and exuberant — not to mention beautiful. She tried to scare me off quite a few times because of the mutation that only affected the females of her family. She called it more of a curse. All the females in her family died when they reached the age of twenty-one. Many mated early and had children before the age of twenty, hoping for males.”
“That sounds horrible, to know that your death would be at such a young age,” Sharon said sympathetically.
“I thought so too, but not my RowANa. She treated every day like it was the most special day of her life. She never took one moment for granted. When we mated, she wanted to have children right away but the Goddess did not grant us any and I was glad for that. If I had a daughter, she would be destined for the same fate. The mutation when it kicks in starts with a sore throat. Once that happened, her system started to shut down little by little. The medics gave her nanos to try to stop it, but it didn’t work. All they could do was manage her pain. It was the single most difficult thing I’ve ever had to go through.”
Sharon put her hand on his arm, “I’m so sorry, MarIK.”
“I took a break from my position as senior lieutenant and withdrew from commander training when she died. I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. Then Prime Leader RendEL brought the first few transports of Earth females. It was like a slap in the face, watching how all the males fell over themselves trying to impress and gain a mate. All I wanted was my mate back and healthy.”
“I was probably one of those women they paraded in front of you.” Her heart ached for him and the pain he had to have been going through.
“I was watching the transports as they were bringing the females from Earth when OrIN approached me. I was angry and resentful. It felt like a betrayal of our people to just bring in new females to breed. It didn’t take much more for OrIN to convince me to join his cause. I was an idiot.”
“Don't be so hard on yourself. You had just suffered the terrible loss of the woman you loved. OrIN is to blame because he knew that he needed someone with your skills. He probably even used the loss you suffered to convince others to join him, too.”
She was right. OrIN had used his story to help convince others to join them. He hadn’t talked much to anyone about losing his mate or about his vulnerability when OrIN approached him. Sharon was easy to talk to and she listened without judging him. As he looked down at her, he noticed that her face was a little strained and her breathing was rapid.
“Let’s take a small break.”
“I’m okay. I don’t want to make us fall behind and have OrIN catch up.”
“I would hear them if they approached. That fire looked like it would burn for a while so they wouldn’t have been able to follow us until it died down.”
“What if they decide to come at us at the other side of the tunnel?”
“That’s a possibility, but they don’t know for sure where the tunnel comes out. It will take them a while to find it. Go ahead and sit down and rest.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I haven’t been able to reach anyone on my comm link since the explosion. I’m going to try again.”
MarIK walked a few feet away and tried contacting his men. “This is MarIK. Is anyone available?”
He heard nothing but static. He took his comm link off and opened the back end to see if the wiring was disconnected somehow. Everything looked okay. He had probably lost the channel they were using. It was possible the device would come back online after a little bit more time.
“Did you get a hold of anyone?” Sharon asked when he walked back over to where she was sitting.
“No, just static. I’ll keep trying, though.”
Sharon stood up. “I’m ready to keep going.”
“Are you sure? You could rest a little while longer.”
“Nope, I want to get as far away as possible.”
“The good news is that I believe we’re almost at the end.”
After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at a large vaulted door that he knew would lead to the surface of the luna. After he looked around, he was relieved to see two body suits lying across a bench. He spotted a note as he moved in closer. He read it out loud.
“Commander, we followed your orders, though it went against everything honorable that you taught us. We left you the body suits. Make it across the ridge to the caves where supplies are kept. We will come back for you there. May the Goddess be with you.”
“Caves?”
“Yes, when we came over a week ago, we explored the whole of the luna and found caverns that went down below surface. It was used for stocking supplies brought to the trading post. Some of them have natural pools of water filtered by minerals that comes from below ground.”
