13
They arrived at the Solaris system the next afternoon to find chaos and terror there.
People were running for their lives. Ships were lifting off the surface and fleeing the system, but the people on those ships had to know that there was nowhere to go. The Federation was closing in, and they had seen evidence of that as they had flown into the system.
Lornia stood on the ship’s bridge, staring down at the scorched surface of the planet as they docked. That war had already come was clear, and that the war being fought right then was one for survival. Those who had the means to flee were, and those without the means were killing those who did and stealing their ships.
Cowards.
The word came up in her mind and immediately she felt terrible for having thought it.
Faced with death, all races and species had the instinct to do whatever it would take to survive. She had seen members of her own race turn their backs on others in order to survive, and had she not fled herself, and willingly at that, when war had come to her system?
Yes, she had. She wanted to flee then too, but how could she when she was the weapon, and she had no choice or say in the matter?
Besides, she owed the Federation some payback. No, the ones she had been in contact with could never be paid back for what they had done and allowed to be done by their leader, but the ones who existed there in that space and time and universe were just as guilty of crimes equally horrific.
The ship landed. Drake said, “Stay close to me.”
She nodded but didn’t answer. She knew he was worried about her wellbeing. The last week that they had been on the ship had been spent making love and talking and for every good thing she discovered about him, she also uncovered one more thing that made her wonder where his ambitions ended and where his feelings for her began.
His hands lay on her back. She turned to face him, forcing a smile. His dark eyes drilled a gaze into hers. “I mean it, Lornia. It’s mass panic down there. You don’t look like anyone down there, and they may try to kill you for that and no other reason.”
She felt that sorrow coming back up inside her being. That was true, and she knew it. She also knew she could be deadlier than anyone who came at her. “I know.”
The bay doors opened. Drake took up a position in front of her. Lornia felt a smile come up as he did so. Blade said to Tara, his mate, “Stay behind me and remember to fire when needed.”
Tara said, “I have your back, Blade.”
Jessica and Talon needed no words. They had been fighting together for so long that they even moved as one person. Jenny and Marik also exited the ship, followed by Margie who was being protected by Jeval.
The streets were filled with rotting bodies. Lornia’s stomach churned as they passed them. Jenny cried softly as she bent to help one small human and then stood, shaking her head before moving onward. The sound of weapon fire rattled across the streets and from rooftops. The sound of ships flying away rang out and contrails blazed across the sky. It was overwhelming. Too many people. Too many buildings.
Too much death. Lornia shook as they kept walking, heading to a destination she had no idea of. The streets ran downhill, and she slipped on something. She looked down just as Drake caught her arm and held her upright. At her feet lay a body, one covered with the red welts of laser fire.
A mob raced toward them. They were intent on murder. Lornia shifted, her hands going to her weapons. She didn’t have to draw them because the mob moved past them, shouting some madness that made her ears ring.
Black smoke erupted from a building, and a man ran from it, clutching the remoters from a ship. A woman, her face bloody, fell into the street screaming that he was a thief and he had stolen the only way off the planet that her family had.
Lornia said, “We have to stop this!”
They did. There was no way this could be life. How could any being stand it!
Drake said, “We have to get to the communication building. From there we can broadcast to the people all across the planet. We have to get them to fight the Federation and stop fighting each other to try to escape.”
Lornia had to struggle to breathe as even more people raced by her. Their fear was so real and present that it tore at her soul. She knew why they were afraid, and she could understand, but that fear buffeted against her body and heart, made her legs go weak, and her skin rise up into gooseflesh.
The city was worse than she had thought from above. Buildings were burned out. The streets had buckled patches, and there were looters, people intent on having a good time while the whole world burned all around them, ramming heavy battering rams into windows in order to break them and take the goods displayed within.
Why?
Why would they care about things that they would die before they could use?
Lornia was confused by the looters, and even more confused by the people who simply stood there staring at the devastation around them, not moving or speaking or trying to even get out of the way.
Why were they not even trying to run or fight?
The world was ending, that was why, and they knew it. They had given up already. They had accepted death and all it would bring to them.
