“How can we not?” Osiris asks. “That’s how you got involved.”
“Right, but the other species involved in the interaction have to choose to target me. I still chose to help. That’s on me.”
“You regret helping us?”
“Hell no. I’d do it again. Trust me, the Talhuskins are the least of my concerns. I’m just saying that there are a lot more factors: my decisions, theirs, and yours. Maybe others. We all know Talhuskins have worked with Denarso in the past. And Denarso steal tech like portals and cloaks. So let’s just move on, work together, and get Jorusk back in the race. I came here for a mate, not another job.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rykarn, Vryskas, and Osiris say like a team that just got a talking to.
Jorusk calls to me. “Brynna…You should be with someone safer.”
“Screw that. It was no Rage Roar, but punching that Talhuskin felt so good. I am right where I want to be.”
He cracks a smile. “Wish I could’ve…seen it.”
“I’ll replay it for you later. Just rest,” Sidius says to him.
Jorusk closes his red eyes.
Sidius pulls up a seat and doesn’t look like he has any intention of leaving Jorusk’s side. After losing his whole team, I’m certain he’s afraid of losing Jorusk, too.
“Can I do anything for you?” I ask him.
He looks up, confused. “What? No.”
“Sidius, this is a team effort. I’m happy to be a part of one again, one that feels whole. Let me know what I can do for you or the crew or whatever.”
He shakes his head and drags his eyes away. “Just the fact that you care at all means more than you know. We are shunned by most of the universe because of what we resemble. We have been hunted, enslaved, frozen, and poisoned to death. I knew something like this was going to happen. I just didn’t know how to stop it.”
His wings droop the longer he stares down at Jorusk. Osiris waits patiently behind me.
Sidius continues, “He’d just fixed our mobile missile launcher. We were headed for base. And it was just a flash. My team was gone. The launcher had caved into the ground, leaving metal shards everywhere. The only reason I survived was that I was inside the shielded gunner’s box up top. Ended up blown a hundred paces from the launcher.”
Only as he shifts do I see the bruises on his wings and the healing scars that seem to be everywhere.
“We are not evil, though we have the potential to be deadly. But we are frightening to many. And most cannot confront what they fear without a weapon. So no, we will not ask you for anything. It is why Aura did it on our behalf. It will onlyperpetuate a stereotype that has destroyed us for centuries. Even human stories about us are wrong. We do not eat souls or trick others into doing bad things. And we do not serve the exiled Leosantian named Lucifius.”
“Brynna?” Osiris calls to me from the doorway. “DIA wants to speak with you.”
I glance over Sidius’ heartbroken posture and wish something could change. I have been alone, and I see now that even Drathious, though there are many more than just one, still feel alone in the universe.
Following Osiris, I descend their ramp and walk to the next hangar, where an inky black ramp unfolds. Osiris stands at the edge and motions me up. “She does not want me. Only you.”
“She?”
“DIA, Drathious Interactive Assistant.”
“Okay…” I hesitantly hike up the ramp inside the vessel that gleams with red lights. “Hello?”
The pilot’s seat swivels around. “Brynna Thatcher, welcome. Please have a seat.”
“Uh, I’m good.”
“I understand you are hesitant because of what’s been going on.” A fiery female face manifests on a screen beside me. “Is this better?”
I’m not so sure.
“You can relax. The last thing I want is to harm Jorusk’s fated.”
