Victory of the Stars

Chapter 12: Broken and Lost

The occupants of the Quetzelcoatlus watched in stunned silence as the massive energy beam crashed into the massive ship that was the Galactic Council.
For a second, all was still.
Then a powerful wave of energy tossed the ship, sending them all tumbling to the floor. By the time Vi forced herself back to her feet the Galactic Council was gone. Nothing remained except a little debris.
Everything froze. Time seemed to slow to the pace of molasses on a winter's day.
Vi pressed her palm to the burning-hot window, the only thing that had protected them from the same fate as the Council.
If only by proxy.
That beam was massive.
Suddenly, 8-6 swore furiously, cursing the Dartranian Empire and Xian with every insult that he'd ever learned or heard, even some Vi'd never heard.
Ragliam tapped like a machine gun as he ran around the ship switching things off and hiding things.
"CODE RED! EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED! QUICK, R-4!"
The hot marble had appeared in her throat, burning with such intensity that Vi wasn't sure that it hadn't burnt a hole through her throat.
She half-expected to just stop breathing, the air whistling instead through her throat like a lonely bird.
Kara stood frozen at the window watching the Annihilator draw closer to them. Vi's legs started to shake.
No. No. No. No. No. No.. That-that-that ce n'est pas possible ce n'était pas possible. Comment c'était possible? Ce n'était pas possible. Ils ne peuvent pas être... mort. No. No.
That didn't happen. That wasn't possible. Not possible. Not-not-not-no-n0-nonononono that didn't happen. How could that have happened? That didn't happen.
How did that happen?
That happened.
It's ... gone.
It's over.
She collapsed to the floor, her hands clenching and unclenching like she was trying to grab the last pieces of the Galactic Council. Hot tears spilled over her cheeks and dripped off of her chin as the marble closed off her throat and her face reddened, her nose and eyes turning purple with anger. Liam and Kara were rushing around the room in a frenzy as the ship started to move again.
Vi didn't trust herself to move.
She would fall apart if she did, break into a billion tiny pieces like the ship had and scatter so far apart among the stars that she'd never be able to fix herself ever again.
We're going backwards again.
She knew what that meant.
She shuddered down to her bones, the puddle on her skirt the only indication that she noticed that she was crying.
She was broken. Too many pieces of her heart had been pulled out and smashed.
Vi allowed Kara to pull her to her feet and over to a secret compartment in the floor. It wasn't very well-concealed, but if the Dartranian Empire didn't realize that they were onboard, they probably wouldn't find them.
Not that it mattered anymore. Her home was gone.
And it's all my fault.
Sitting in the tight, dark space with the others, Vi pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Kara draped Captain Riley's jacket around Vi and stroked her hair as she shook with silent sobs.
From their vantage, they watched as the last glimmer of space disappeared behind the Annihilator's gates as it pulled them into its gaping jaws.
Liam hushed them, and they listened as R4 carefully landed their ship in the docking bay of the Annihilator. There was muffled shouting, lots of banging, and then the hard, flat sound of boots running.
Even with her nose clogged, Vi could smell Kara's citrus-and-seawater scent, Liam (who smelled like new paper, chocolate, and surprisingly chili peppers), and the metal-and-oil scent of the droids. As the footsteps approached, so did a new scent. A new person.
Whoever they were, Vi recognized the scent. Nasturtiums, with an odd undertone.
The coppery tang of blood.
What is that? Who... who could it ... oh. Oh. It's her. Oh stars and supernovas, what
if she finds us?
Vi thought she was going to throw up. The marble had worked its way down to her stomach and was burning through her gut.
Liam motioned for them to stay still and quiet as Xian walked into the main room. They could see her examining the room without moving, the soldiers that followed her in searching everywhere. Liam and Kara were tapping quietly to each other.
The only word she recognized was "found." Over and over and over they repeated it.
Vi held her breath, tucking her hair behind her ears over and over and tugging at her collar as they watched Xian's immaculate boots tapping across the floor.
Besides her, Kara tensed.
"Oh, ----," she breathed, so quietly that Vi almost didn't hear her, and they were sitting right next to each other. Silently, Kara shifted, shaking Liam from his zoned-out half-consciousness. She whispered into his ear, quiet as the brush of grasses in the wind, and they both glanced out.
And then Vi saw it too.
The small piece of loose paper that she'd been sketching on.
Xian was looking down at it, half-covered by her boot. She bent down and picked it up, unfolding it and brushing a little dust off of it carried in by her boot. Even though Vi couldn't see it, she could imagine it quite clearly. A full-page drawing like something from a comic book: she'd drawn a daring bounty hunter wreaking havoc on a Dartranian Empire outpost. She saw Xian's shoulders shake ever so slightly before she glanced around her and shoved the paper in her pocket.
Xian turned, her mask and glasses making her face unreadable.
"They're here. Search harder."