Empyrean Iris

Chapter 21

The alien ship had been caught in a bubble of stunned silence, like being embedded in an ashbreak during a cinderstorm: an open pocket in the break of the ash, silent but for the wind.

No one made a sound as Chalan and the alien stood before each other, neither breaking eye contact.

She remembered that green, the green of this creature's eyes as it had stared at her—she remembered the eyes of her quarry, a human she had been searching for but hadn't dared assume she would actually find, and surely not like this.

Adam Vir: A name made of sounds she could not even pronounce.

The alien's hands shook, hands that had one more finger than they should have. His real voice quivered below the Drev translation, "It was my first ground opp. The volcanic season had grounded my bird, so I was sent in with the ground forces to secure the forward operating base." He thrust a finger at Chalan, "And this one ripped off my leg. They would have tried to reattach it, but this bastard chucked it off somewhere, and it was never found."

It was like he was barely even speaking to them anymore, mostly talking to himself now.

Chalan stood, surrounded by a circle of alien eyes, and wondered if she was going to die.

She watched the human as his head turned, and when he walked she sensed a slight strangeness to his movement: a strangeness she remembered—silhouettes in the ash.

"It's her fault, for everything. The PTSD and the withdrawals, and that stupid armor."

She held chin high, feeling a burst of heat through her skin and a sudden desire to defend her species, "That is how the Drev wage war, even against our own kind." She glanced down at his leg, "But you can clearly see how well our tactics worked against yours. Killing a human isn't so easy as just removing their limbs."

The room gasped duking to the side as the human pulled his sidearm again.

His hands were shaking, out of pure rage. Chalan stood with her head held high.

"I swear I will kill you."

She did not flinch, "If you plan on killing me, then do it."

Silence filled the room.

The human's hand shook even harder, the veins on his forearm practically leaping out of his skin, but then he dropped the weapon with a snarl, turned around and screamed, hands gripping his hair. The entire crew had backed away in shock and surprise.

She stepped forward, her voice soft "That is the strange thing about your species, human: undeserved mercy. You had a chance to kill me once and you couldn't do it."

The human was hunched forward looking down at his feet, hands still gripping his hair.

The room was frozen as if in time.

"Drev-Brig-now!"

This time, the crew didn't argue, rushing forward to grab her around the arms and drag her towards the docking bay.

There was a low sort of yipping noise, and Chalan turned to watch as a strange alien creature ran across the open deck charging up to the human and butting him with its head, licking at his hands leaping up on him gently.

He hurried out of the room, and the crew went quickly about their business as she was dragged away.

She did not fight them, as that had never been her intention, though their hands were rough against her back as she was shoved down a long, dark tunnel. Metal clattered underneath her feet reminding her of the other alien ships on which she had walked, though this ship was darker, more cave-like.