Fall of Icarus

Grimacing, she turned toward the frowning Adam as he walked in. “You don’t look much better than I feel. Did your lunch not agree with you?”

Adam grunted as he walked past her, stopping finally at the curved window and staring out at the stars. Feeling slightly dejected, Keryn turned after him. He barely acknowledged her attention and chose, instead, to continue his musings at the back window.

“Adam,” Keryn said, concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“Now why would you think anything would be wrong with me?” Adam asked from behind her as she felt strong hands grab her around the waist.

Spinning, Keryn’s eyes widened with confusion as she came face to face with Adam. Smiling broadly, Adam winked at her before his gaze moved past her face to the stranger behind her. Turning back toward the first Adam, the one who had passed her and stood at the window, Keryn now found herself facing the featureless black oval of Penchant’s visage. Though Adam laughed heartily, it took Keryn a couple passes of looking back and forth before she realized what had happened. Though Penchant had no expressions on his face, she could almost feel him smiling mischievously at her.

Joining Adam’s laughter, Keryn shook her head in wonderment. “You’re getting pretty good at that. You really had me going.” She leaned forward until she was only a few inches away from Penchant’s smooth face. “Of course, now you’re going to make me wonder what else you can do with that body.”

“It would never happen,” Penchant said in his gravelly tone. “I hear you Wyndgaarts are a little too rough during your mating rituals.”

“What’s all this talk about mating rituals?” McLaughlin asked excitedly as he walked through the door, his arm thrown over Cerise’s shoulder.

“Leave them be,” Cerise said condescendingly. “You are only going to encourage them.”

“Hell,” Keeling commented as he walked in behind the couple. “If you’re going to talk about mating, you might as well come to the expert.”

“If I wanted relationship advice,” Keryn retorted, “I’d be better off asking an Oterian rather than you. No offense Rombard.”

The massive Oterian ducked under the doorway as he entered, his horns still nearly brushing the sides of the doorframe. “None taken. Female Oterians are a lower intelligence life form. They’re really only good for mating.”

Adam blanched at the thought. “No romance? No seduction? Just ‘get Bessie’s head caught in the fence’ and you’re good to go?”

“I won’t act as though I understand the reference,” Rombard rumbled, “but romance is a waste. You mate to produce strong young for your clan, not for a lasting relationship. Why? How is mating done between Pilgrims?”

Adam shrugged. “Pretty much the same way.”

“I just ate,” Keeling interjected. “Is there any way we could not talk about Pilgrims mating? If you want to hear some good stories, you might as well…”

“If you children are done with story time,” the Oterian instructor roared as he entered the room, “then I believe we are ready to pick back up with your training.”

The entire team let out a simultaneous groan.

Keryn tried her best to stay on her feet at the end of their training, but wound up succumbing to her exhaustion and collapsing into a nearby chair. Her breath was labored as she tried to breathe through ribs that she was sure were broken. Though she had tried to ensure equal time with the instructor for everyone on her team, Keryn had the unfortunate pleasure of being selected to spar against the Oterian for a second round. She remembered a few tricks from their previous combat, but it had mattered little in the end. By the time they were through, Keryn was once again staring at a spinning ceiling from the flat of her back.

Now alone in the training room, she shifted positions in her chair, trying to reach the bruise that she knew was spreading between her shoulder blades. If she remembered nothing else from her training, she would always remember that a stern punch between the shoulder blades was enough to stun nearly any race in the Alliance.

As she finished grimacing from the pain and opened her eyes, she was surprised to see a large fur-covered hand holding out a glass of water. Looking up, she met the gaze of her instructor. Keryn nodded her appreciation as she began to sip the water, savoring the burn in her raw throat.

“Thank you,” she said hoarsely. She took another drink before continuing. “I’m surprised you stuck around.”

“I made a promise that I would,” the Oterian said quietly, his voice still carrying in the empty room.

Keryn looked up inquisitively. “Promise?”

“I’m your last instructor, Keryn. You’ve been trained on every major topic that we thought you might need. My job was to determine if you not only retained that previous knowledge, but that you were ready to face Cardax in battle when the time arose.”

“So you were testing us?”

The Oterian turned away, though his voice was still clear. “Did you wonder why an Oterian was teaching you hand-to-hand combat? My race has vastly superior strength to the other races of the Alliance, but if you wanted the best combat instructors, you pick a Wyndgaart. So why me?”

Keryn nodded, realizing that this was yet another test. “Because Cardax is an Oterian.”

“Exactly. It didn’t make any sense to have you learn to fight against a Wyndgaart when your target is an Oterian. You needed to learn my race’s weaknesses, few as they may be.”

“But you beat us every single time we fought.”

The instructor turned back to her. “You’re right. Fighting isn’t the only lesson I can teach you. I can also teach you humility. You don’t like losing; I can see it in your face. But when you realize that you’re not always going to be the best, you will learn to lean on others for support. All of you were able to hold your own against me by the end of today. Maybe not defeat me, but at least impress me. I have injuries that I’ll be nursing tomorrow as well. But if I were attacked by all of you, not just in hand-to-hand combat but with you all carrying your pistols and rifles as well, I wouldn’t stand a chance. You’re a team now, regardless of your individual feelings for your teammates. Use their strengths and you’ll be bringing Cardax back within no time.”

Keryn smiled as she stood. “So we’re leaving?”

“You’ll be departing tomorrow,” the Oterian replied. “Good luck.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Yen sat in the cramped confines of the engine compartment on board one of the Cair transport ships. A series of tools lay strewn across the floor next to him, mostly forgotten. For over three hours, Yen had been tinkering with the new warp generators that the High Council had installed on all the ships in his Squadron. He couldn’t shake the sense of distrust both toward the generators and the Council, but found solace sitting and analyzing the new machines. Even so, his interest in the generators had waned nearly an hour before and, since that time, he had remained in the engine compartment, lost in thought.

Focused on his own thoughts, Yen didn’t hear the hatch door on the Cair open, nor did he notice the soft, quiet steps as someone approached the back of the ship where Yen sat huddled. He had left the engine compartment door open and was clearly visible to anyone inside the ship.

“Is this a private party or can anyone join?”

Yen looked over as Iana stooped lower, examining the engine and trying to deduce what caught Yen’s attention so intently. With a brush of his hand, Yen pushed the tools aside. Sliding over, Yen made room for Iana to squeeze into the engine compartment and take a confined seat beside him.

“You’ve been in here for hours with this thing,” she said, reaching out and running a finger along the top of the newly installed black cylinder. “Since it’s still in one piece, I can only assume that you didn’t find anything interesting. I mean, to keep your attention for all this time, I would expect the generator to be doing tricks.”