The War Revealed - 3rd Novel in the Shadow Series

Chapter 28 .

Thrissko

Sally spun the knife nimbly through her fingers. Skis sat in front of her on the floor of the quarters we had claimed. He chittered on in that language I didn't care to learn. I sat on the couch. I stretched out my legs in front of me feeling every pull of muscle underneath my exoskeleton.

Sally's shoulders moved as if she laughed, but no sound came out.

Skis said something else.

Sally repeated the laughing movement.

Skis turned and spoke directly to me. I didn't understand his words, but the miasmids relayed his meaning. "I don't know when we'll fight again," I said.

He said something else.

Sally nodded as the miasmids relayed Skis's words to me. "It's hardly fighting when we just stay onboard. I wish we could fight out in space like the enemy do."

"Me too," I said.

"Zizs vlazh," Skis said. I decided that meant 'me too'.

The miasmids inside me panicked. There was a sense of urgency that made me stand. Sally and Skis immediately stood as well and I knew they felt the same thing I did.

The enemy was attacking. It had surprised the miasmids. The planet was already surrounded and escape was not impossible, but difficult. We were to return to Brist immediately. We weren't that close. It would take several F.T.L. jumps.

Captain Svolun made a ship wide announcement, "I'm sure you are all aware by now. Prepare to jump back to Brist immediately. We will be engaged in battle as soon as we arrive. All personnel are to be at their stations. The rest of you are to be prepared to fight if any of the enemy manage to get on board. Be vigilant."

The broadcast ended.

I couldn't help but wonder if I would finally see Vai. The Gathering had used him and his new friends as a symbol in this fight. I had to admit - the miasmids had to admit - that Vai and his friends had been a detriment to their plans.

And my first thought was if I did see Vai again, he could heal me. The pain started as sharp as tiny knives stabbing my brain over and over again. Before the pain got any worse, I switched my thinking. I would kill Vai.

The pain was immediately replaced with pleasure. Great pleasure. The miasmids had changed their minds about me killing Vai at some point. In the past whenever I thought of it, they had discouraged that way of thinking. But now that Vai had these powers - now that he could heal us of the miasmids - they wanted him dead. Nothing else. Just dead. So I made sure my thoughts were filled with images of killing my former friend and I buried deep any thought or hope of seeing my friend and being free of the miasmids.

*

Vai

Warpaint had his Aether shield spread around me and him even though I still had my light shield up. All around me - below me - above me - everywhere - there was fighting. Green light would temporarily light up space as the Brist fired their weapons on our ships, on our people. This was difficult. Impossible. This wasn't the small enemy fleet that had occasionally attacked us. This was almost the entirety of the Brist armata.

There were other healers in space with us. There were 2 others at the moment, but they were from other ships and had spread themselves away from me so we could maximize our efforts to heal.

A small group of 5 from the Shadow did not move away fast enough and got the full blast from the Brist weapon. The 5 of them were immediately incinerated. There was no possible way that I could have healed them fast enough to prevent their deaths. I felt it to my core. My hands began to shake. I turned my focus elsewhere before I could dwell on it.