“I don’t have much of a choice.” The other male tugged on his helmet, and the two of them rode in silence back to S’samph’s nest. When they arrived, S’kasia was waiting for them with her tail and frill both raised high.
“Where is my human sister?”
“Taken.” S’samph pushed past his clutch sister. “I assume you will want to help us recover her."
"What’s left of her,” K’kaen muttered, inciting a swat of S’kasia’s tail. “This is my fault.”
“She is still alive. What purpose would the raviks have to take her only to kill her? If you are angry with yourself for leaving her, do not make the rest of us suffer in your misery.” S’kasia hurried to close the door behind them, preventing the winds from blowing dust inside.
“If she is gone, then I must give myself to the sands.” K’kaen’s voice was quiet and more deadly serious than S’samph had ever heard him. It was a dramatic gesture, one only asked for after an utmost betrayal. S’samph had been too caught up in fear and rage at the raviks to even consider K’kaen’s role. A wave of unfamiliar rage crashed over him now. Eleri was in danger, possibly dead, because K’kaen hadn’t been able to keep track of one small human.
“It is your fault. I asked you to watch over her in my stead. I was an idiot for trusting you with something so precious.” His tail lashed wildly from side to side. “I’ll kill you myself if anything has happened to her.”
“Aren’t you the head of security? Isn’t keeping residents safe your job?” K’kaen’s frill rose high above his auricles. “She’s your mate! It’s just as much your responsibility to keep her safe as mine!”
“Miserablef’fret. To think I called you my battle brother.”
K’kaen lunged toward him. “If anything has happened to her, I will bury myself in the sands, but you will be right beside me!”
“Enough!” S’kasia hissed at K’kaen, stepping forward to block his attack. “Keep your self-pity to yourself.”
“And you,” she snapped at S’samph, “division will give us no advantage. We will go and find Eleri, and you both will grovel for her forgiveness. For now, we will figure out why she was taken and what we must do to get her back.”
“Revenge. Myla wanted her gone.”
S’kasia’s frill rippled in uncertainty. “Raviks aren’t mercenaries. They have an honor code even if it is a bizarre one.”
“Could have fooled me,” K’kaen muttered.
“We need weaponry.” S’samph pulled the ancient datapad off one of the ledges overhead and tried to get into the communication center. It was mostly useless, but it was risky to try to send a message to his contact through the holocom center, as it was monitored as an official IA correspondence channel.
“There’s better signal at S’kasia’s home.” K’kaen reached for the datapad. “Anywhere nearer the magtrack has better connection.”
“The connection here is fine.” He smacked his hand against the device as if encouraging it to maintain a strong link to the network.
“Says the stubbornf’fretwho refused to get a datapad until I gave you my used one.” K’kaen started for the door with the datapad under his arm. “If you’re trying to contact who I think you’re trying to contact, then you’re going to need a stronger signal.”
“And how do you know who I’m trying to contact?” S’samph followed after him, while a grim S’kasia stayed behind to put together an AI-generated map of the ravik’s encampment and surrounding areas. They wanted to make sure they wouldn’t bring too much firepower in the vicinity of Indras, or they risked expanding the scope of the conflict. The last thing they needed was to make trouble for their neighbors.
“There’s only one reliable weaponsmith on Brasnia Prime who isn’t going to charge you an entire hectare of stellite for what you’re trying to order.”
“The teösian.”
“Who else?”
“He’s cagey. And you know he’s tied to their government agenda, be careful doing business with him.”
“I need quality weapons quickly. There aren’t other options.” S’samph began to jab furiously at the datapad. He’d never learned to type properly on the accursed thing, but he could begrudgingly admit that the signal was better out near the magtracks. He sent a quick missive to the teösian known as Arex and waitedwith growing impatience for a reply.
The response came back a few moments later with a dull ‘ping’. “Three standard months!” S’samph roared and threw the datapad to the other side of the room, where it landed with a crack as the screen spiderwebbed. He was uninterested in the status of his datapad. There was no use for it if Arex couldn’t offer him a better timeline than three standard months on weapons to rescue Eleri. They couldn’t afford to wait three standard days, let alone three months. No, they would use a few productive hours to create a plan and gather supplies and then go immediately. He wasn’t a hatchling naïve enough to march into hostile territory unprepared, but he also recognized that every moment was of the essence when it came to rescuing a hostage.
“We must go speak with S’kasia. If she knows anything or can help us find why Myla would do such a thing.” He stormed out of his nest with K’kaen close on his heels. When they arrived back at S'kasia's nest, she was hunched over her datapad with projection holos of the local terrain casting an eerie light on her face. Her frill remained flat against her spine as they entered.
"Is it that grim?" K'kaen asked, settling beside her to examine the display.
"It will be no small task." S'kasia gestured to the holos. "The ravik settlement is much larger than we anticipated. But beyond the size, it is hard to gain any insight into what goes on within."
S'samph peered at the projection, his tail lashing with growing frustration. The raviks were warlike, but also immature in their technology compared to other species. Imaging showed the perimeter of the settlement, but when they tried to gain insight into the inside, the projection was blurred. His nostrils flared with a deep breath. This would not be like Latilla again. He would not leave Eleri behind to die, regardless of the cost to himself.
