Spears of Uu'kata

Chapter 68 - Tuesday

The farm was gone. Charlotte's chest felt tight and there was an ache behind her breastbone as she watched the footage again, taken from one of the Tilith ships.

Domes and squat structures nestled on the surface of the moon, quiet and still, a barrage of missiles, burning bright. Multiple flashes of brilliant light, and then the farm was gone. Vaporized into nothing more than dust, glittering in the light of the nearest star as it drifted into space.

She looked up from the feed, into Vasquez' sad, dark brown eyes.

They shared a long look and an entire conversation transpired between them in that look:

Did we do the right thing?

Too late to go back now. We're in this together.

I got your back...

Charlotte swallowed and held her fist up and Vas bumped it with his own.

"Delta strong, sister," he said softly.

"Delta strong, brother," she said.

He glanced over her shoulder as Shodara came up behind her.
"You gonna do it?" he asked.

Charlotte stared at the rack of decorative spears behind Ahnekk's throne. After a long silence she walked up to it, unclipped her assault rifle from the harness, and set it on the last rack, right above Tasha's spear.

Her jaw and lips ached from being punched in the face and she was so tired she felt she could fall asleep standing. But she felt right.

"That is not a spear," Shodara's voice said from behind her a moment before her arms slipped around her.

"It's my spear," Charlotte said. "It's who I was."

"And, who are you now?" Shodara asked.

Charlotte took Shodara's hand and lifted it to her lips, brushing them against the velvety hide of her knuckles as her eyes fell upon the celdar propped against the throne.

Slipping from Shodara's arms, she bent and picked it up.

"Maybe it's time to stop fighting, and start living. Creating music. It was always nothing more than a dream before. But now..."

Shodara said nothing and when Charlotte looked at her, she found the female watching her with pure love in her eyes.

"I'm going to go play some music for my people. Maybe it will help to calm some of their nerves while we get them situated," Charlotte said.

Shodara nodded and wiped at her eyes.

"That's a good idea, my heartmate," she said.

Charlotte stood on her tippy-toes and kissed Shodara on the lips, and Shodara wrapped her arms around her, holding her against her.

Stepping back, Charlotte glanced at Vasquez to see him staring, mouth parted as he adjusted his pants.

"Seriously?" she said dryly.

"I can't help it!" he said defensively. "No warm-blooded straight man is gonna stay soft while in the same room with girl-on-girl action going on, mija. Chill. I just called you sister. This is not comfortable for me."

He turned around and grumbled, "Stupid dick."

Giving Shodara a final kiss, Charlotte walked up to Vasquez and gripped his shoulder, then teleported.

The people they'd kidnapped were divided into five different warehouses in dove different cities. Charlotte chose the one where the most children were being kept, right in the outskirts of clan Kothos.