He peeked around the corner of the container. The figure still sitting, mouth agape, towards where the Wolvrun had departed,. It was the same species that he had encountered the other day. In fact, it was the same person that he had encountered. It had to have been.
Talrean poked his eyes curiously around the box. He narrowly escaped with his life, and didn’t want to chance risking it again, but the oddity of the events was far too great for him to just idly dismiss the bird species woman.
She was much further away that his first encounter with her in the baths, but the clear air made her details much easier to discern, even from that distance.
The woman worse all black. Some type of atmospherically sealed suit. With the lack of her helmet it was clear that oxygen and pressure regulation weren’t vital, if necessary at all, but merely worn to obscure her identity. There were many aquatic species that wore similar styled suits, but the lack of dorsal and tail fin apparatuses were a clear give away to the façade.
The suit itself was very tight, but fashioned specifically to remove any semblance of gender. The material was a polymodulate, which explained her ability to maintain quick mobility and swiftness, while appearing rigid. Honestly, Talrean was more enthralled by the garments the bird woman wore than he was with the woman herself. His inner engineer and geek getting the better of him.
She turned and looked directly at the young wolf, the look on her face still enraged. He ducked back behind the cargo pallet, hoping that she didn’t actually notice him there. The bird woman noticed.
“Wollvrune, vi dos hachkeiser?” The woman yelled in his direction in the strange language. Talrean was unsure if he should answer or continue to play hidden.
“Wollvr--,” The woman began to repeat before she was but off by her own groans of pain. Talrean peeked around the box once more.
The woman was holding her side in pain. Judging by the rasping of her breath and her lack of movement, she either had a bruised or cracked rib. Her injuries made her a lot less intimidating than she was moments ago, which allowed Talrean to feel much more comfortable about his current situation.
The young Wolvrun stepped from behind the container. “I don’t understand what you’re saying,” he spoke, cautiously making his way towards the downed woman. As he got closer he realized he was completely wrong with his initial judgment. Even with her injuries, the bird woman looked ready, and very capable, to kill the young wolf.
The woman’s feathers ruffled at his words. Her face furrowing and eyes piercing through him with an icy disdain.
“You do not speak the language of your own people?” She asked, looking over the young Wolvrun with cautious disbelief.
“Language of my people? I’ve never met anyone who had spoken in the language you and that other Wolvrun speak. This is my first time hearing it,” Talrean replied.
“Everyone speaks the Galactic Standard,” He stated matter-of-factly.
The look of confusion increased on Aietos’s face. “Well,” she said,” I was asking if you are with the demon.” She pointed towards where Nephadius had departed.
“Demon? Do you mean that white Wolvrun?” Talrean asked.
“Who else would I be referring to you stupid mutt?” Aietos scoffed in reply.
Talrean was beginning to wonder why the Wolvrun had bothered to spare the woman’s life. She was increasingly rude with every passing second. It also appeared that she had a deep seeded disliking of Wolvruns.
Aietos attempted to stand, but ended up collapsing once more. She gripped her side and swuaked a breath of pain. The young Wolvrun quickly caught her before she hit the floor. At the contact the woman jerked away from him, a look of disgust and hatred flashing across her face.
“DO NOT TOUCH ME, DOG!” She yelled.
Talrean backed away cautiously. Even though she was injured, Talrean had no intention of further crossing the enraged woman. He did not know exactly what she may still be capable of, and he didn’t want to find out.
Contemplating it for a moment, the Wolvrun decided on a plan of action.
“Look, I’ll help you out... If you want… That injury looks to be pretty painful,” The wolf said earnestly.
“I do not need your help!” Aietos shrieked.
She attempted to move away from the wolf, quickly collapsing to her knees after the first step. After a brief period of groaning her eyes shifted up to the Wolvrun. He stared back at her with pity and concern. The bird woman huffed and quickly looked away.
********************************************************************************************
The two hobbled down the hallway together. The long journey frequently halted by the groaning’s of the tall, injured Aietos. Her arm rested heavily across Talrean’s neck and shoulders as he propped her up. The young Wolvrun easily cleared six feet in height, but the lanky bird woman had an additional six to eight inches on him. She leaned over, distributing her weight onto the Wolvrun. He felt like he was carrying a Rhintok.
After a few more minutes of the staggered hobbling, Talrean spoke up, “…I don’t actually know how to get to the medical bay.”
The two stopped their motion, looking around for some sign of direction. They appeared to be in another one of the endless hallways that Talrean had encountered earlier.
“This ship is unlike any other I’ve encountered,” Aietos replied, “When I went to explore I ended up in corridors just like this one, endless, but any time I had a specific destination in mind I always seemed able to find my way.”
They both came to the realization at the same time. Though the idea sounded utterly absurd, both of them agreed to only think of finding the medical bay.
Continuing down the hall, the two focused on the single destination. After a couple more minutes of their slow movement the odd pair arrived at a large door. It automatically opened as they approached.
To their amazement and disbelief, in front of them was the ships medical facility. A sterile odor wafted out as the door opened. The two entered, door shutting briskly behind them.
The medical bay was humongous. Various machines glowed in steady colors, waiting to be used, large monitors displayed highly detailed images and simulations of injury and treatment and in the middle was a large three-dimensional hologram projector, running simulations of a sample patient. The facilities matched even the most prestigious of planet-side healthcare and treatment centers. To see such equipment on an old warship was plain crazy, but awe inspiring at the same time.
Talrean and Aietos made their way into the bay. They stopped at the auto-diagnosis station placed appropriately beside the 3D projector. The station was a large ergonomic table, designed to be laid upon. Once positioned, a patient, or in incapacitated, doctor, nurse, or friend, simply had to one-touch activate the machine. When activated, the system scans the patient, diagnosing any injury or underlying problems, and recommends treatment. Most treatments could be conducted on the spot, or in the same bay, depending on the available equipment and type of injury.
Aietos crawled onto the table with a groan, hitting the activation button once she was positioned. Almost immediately a computer generated voice spoke through speakers built into the station.
“Invalid scan. Please remove any excess clothing, body armor, or environmental space gear.”
Aietos groaned loudly at the automated words. Almost any subtle movements brought her intense pain, and having to get back off the table wasn’t something she was wanting to do.
Standing again, the woman removed her suit. Underneath she wore a thin compression jumper. The jumper was skin tight, conforming to her curves and features. It was gray, with an interlocking diamond pattern through it. The garment was specifically designed to maintain mobility while compressing the woman’s feathers neatly. Talrean was enthralled with everything he was witnessing.
She tossed the environmental suit to the floor nearby. It thudded heavily on the ground. The suit weighed much more than it appeared. It dropped like a set of weights would have, and didn’t move. Talrean’s eyes widened at the event, curious as the why the suit weighed so heavily, and better yet, how the woman managed to wear it without batting an eyelash.
Aietos sprawled back across the table, hitting the activation button once more. After a second a subtle humming sound reverberated throughout the bay. An arm with a scanning laser slowly drifted over the woman, building a 3D render of her on the nearby hologram. Basic information displayed on a nearby monitor.
Species: Eakawha
Subspecies: Ethegreal
Gender: Female
Apprx Age: 29-31 Cycles
Stasis Age: 178-212 Cycles
Current Status: Extinct
Talrean watched as the scan took place, the three dimensional render of Aietos building atop the projection table. The majority of the image displayed green, indicating healthy function and lack of injury. The closer the render got to Aietos’s right chest portion, the quicker the color shifted from green to yellow, from yellow to orange, and finally from orange to red at the most sever portion of the injury.
“Scan complete,” The automated voice stated.
The scanning arm retracted and the 3D model zoomed into the right rack of ribs. One of them was cracked in three separate areas.
“Recommended treatment: L1 Booster, L5 Booster, K12 Booster, X7 Booster, and Micro Reconstruction Injection. Estimated recovery time: 3 hours, 17 minutes.”
The Wolvrun stared at the machine, jaw unhinged at the diagnosis and treatment.
“Three hours? What kind of medical magic is in this thing?” He questioned rhetorically, also wondering why he laid suffering for two weeks in misery while he could have simply found this bay and been better, but he kept that portion of his thoughts to himself.
“Administer treatment?” The voice asked from the machine.
“YES!” Aietos screeched in pain.
Another arm extended from the side of the table. At the end was a small rectangular box with two forklike prongs protruding from it.
The arm swung over Aietos’s broken rib and lowered over the site. The two prongs hovered millimeters from her elastic looking outer garment. Without warning the prongs shot down, through the compression jumper, past her thick layer of feathers, and into her flesh. Aietos yowled in a high pitch cry as the machine stabbed into her chest. She jolted in pain but the machine had her pinned to the table.
“Applying Anesthetic,” the electronic voice stated calmly. The woman convulsed and wailed violently. Her yellow eyes wretched open and dilated in panic.
“Injection complete.”
Just as fast as the needled prongs sliced into her skin, the two daggers withdrew themselves. Aietos panted heavily on the table, shaking subtly with every breath. A second later she slumped against the table. Her muscles relaxing. The anesthesia coursing through her veins. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
“That seemed like fun,” Talrean remarked sarcastically.
Aietos peeked through one of her closed eyes and looked at the young Wolvrun. She scoffed, “Shut up,” and closed her eyes once more, relaxing.
Talrean made his way to the 3D model of the woman and analyzed the render. He flipped through the various sub-dermal layers, studying the anatomy. Her nervous system and inner organs matched similar enough to most mammalian species. There was only slight differences to the internal system, which was most noticeable with the inner workings of the reproductive system and bone density. Her bones seemed to be of a special composition, highly dense, yet lightweight, and hollow inside.
Talrean changed the model to the dermal layer. Her skin and muscles matched that of a mammal species, down to the outer extremities. It could be noted that her skin was extra thick, and riveted with tiny holes that allowed the placement and growth of her feathers, in essence, like oversized hair follicles. Talrean was impressed.
He looked over at the nearby monitor and studied it for a while. He had never heard of the species. He studied the name for a long time, pronouncing it over and over in his head. It sounded extraordinarily foreign and unfamiliar.
The wolf turned to the dozing Aietos and asked, “What is an Eakawha?”
Without opening her eyes, Aietos responded coldly, “I’m an Eakawha you stupid dog.”
Talrean almost felt stupid for asking. Before he could formulate his next question or response, Aietos sat up, looked at him, and continued.
“I’m from Eos, the sister planet to Vrune, the Wolvrun home world… Don’t they teach you anything nowadays?”
“Eos? I’ve never heard of it… and I’ve never been to Vrune either, but I did do a history project on it years ago in primary school. Every Wolvrun had to do a project on it in school. I don’t remember any Eos in my research.”
Aietos stared at the Wolvrun suspiciously.
“You’ve never heard of Eos? You can see the planet as cleas as day from the surface of Vrune. It is no further away than a nearby moon.”
Talrean scratched his chin curiously. “There isn’t a planet that close to Vrune,” he said,” I’ve looked at countless star maps and the planet is by itself in the sector.”
Talrean stared out across the room, reflecting on his lessons from his childhood. He repeated what he could remember.
“In the Galactic Year 7,293, twenty years since the start of The Great War, a force-majeure event occurred, causing billions of lives to be lost on the planet Vrune. A cataclysmic event sent the planet into near destruction. Massive earthquakes and tsunamis entirely eradicated the population of Vrune, leaving all trace of civilization completely destroyed. The destruction of the Wolvrun home world prompted the immediate end to The Great War, bringing remorseful peace to the galactic federation species. Vrune was since classified by the Galactic Federation a Class 10 Extruterive Planet, making travel or exploration of the planet and its sector, illegal.”
The wolf finished his history lesson and scritched his nails behind his ears. History was never his strongest subject in school, but he felt that he did well enough remembering his lessons.
He looked over Aietos, waiting for some type of response. The Eakawha woman stared across the bay lifelessly, her eyes distant, seemingly staring past the display screen with her basic info displayed upon it.
“Wolf… What year is it?”
“7,437”
“What was this ‘Great War’ about?”
“To my understanding, Wolvruns didn’t agree with Federation policy. Something about becoming accepted into the Galactic Federation as a species… I was never too interested in history, so I can’t exactly remember. Why do you ask though?”
Aietos didn’t respond to the Wolvrun. She stared at the word ‘Extinct’ at the bottom of the nearby screen. She slid off of the table and made her way towards the door.
Talrean called out to her, asking where she was in a hurry to run off to. The woman replied, “To an extranet station or a library, whichever I find first,” and left the bay.
Talrean shook his head. The woman remained a mystery to him. The young Wolvrun wandered around the bay inspecting the medical equipment for a couple more minutes. He stopped at the diagnosis station and hopped on, curious for a scan. The wolf hit the one-touch button and the scan began. After a moment the procedure finished, stating the male’s superb heath. His basic information displayed on the monitors above.
Species: Wolvrun
Subspecies: Wol
Gender: Male
Apprx Age: 19-21 Cycles
Stasis Age: 0 Cycles
Current Status: En Vita Popula
He looked over the information. Everything seemed in order. The words at the bottom stating ‘Of healthy population’. Even he was curious as to what the scan meant by ‘Extinct’ for Aietos. He ran out of the bay to find the woman.
It didn’t take long to track Aietos down. He was staring to get use to the odd form of navigating the ship. Talrean stepped into the room, behind the woman. She didn’t even turn to acknowledge his entrance. The woman stared up at a large screen, flipping through hundreds of pages of information.
“Lies,” she said as she continued to flip through the data. All of the articles were the same. Each page telling the same story about The Great War. At the same time, the woman’s search of ‘Eos’ returned zero results.
Talrean walked up and stood beside the Eakawha, looking over the pages with her. Apparently his memory was spot on/ Each article matched exactly what he had remembered in school.
Aietos requested a search for Vrune. Many of the results were the same. This time images and video of the wrecked planet displayed. Destruction could not begin to describe what had happened. Before and after pictures looked unreal. Entire cities and land masses completely wiped from existence. The woman stared at the images, her eyes transfixed on the destruction and chaos.
Her next search confused Talrean at first, but the further he read into it, the more the search made sense. The information left the young Wolvrun even more curious as to the weird events that had taken place. It was a single article with a single picture of a white Wolvrun.
‘Nephadius “Black” Stratus. Mercenary. Convicted and sentenced to death for inconceivable war crimes. Executed Galactic Year 7,294. Death by exile to space.’
Both of them were equally confused as to what they had read. By all accounts the white wolf from earlier had been dead for nearly one hundred and fifty years.
“That’s not the same Wolvrun… right?” Talrean asked. He studied the picture on the screen thoroughly. The Wolvrun looked exactly the same as the wolf he had seen earlier. He even wore the same turtleneck styled shirt.
“They are the same,” Aietos stated emotionlessly. She too stared at the image upon the screen.
“How is that possible?” Talrean asked curiously.
“Perhaps he somehow escaped death and went into stasis.”
“So he was a mercenary in The Great War?”
“It was just ‘The War’ back then, but yes. I guess you could say he was a mercenary.”
“So you knew him?”
“Knew him?” Aietos squawked, “there isn’t a single Eakawha who doesn’t know the Demon of Eos!”
“He was that well known? Why do you keep calling him demon? He seemed pretty nice earlier…”
Aietos turned and stared straight into the brown eyes of the sand colored Wolvrun. Her piercing yellow gaze was cold and struck deep into the wolf.
“Black Stratus, the White Devil, killed thousands of my kind without mercy. Women, children, the old, the sick, it did not matter. In the black of night, wearing all black, the Demon of Eos would make his way to his target, killing all of those in his path.”
Talrean gulped nervously. Aietos continued.
“His nickname came from his methods, and how black his heart must be. There is no other color that could describe the evil that that Wolvrun possesses. Some even say that he is what started the war.”
“How could he have started the war? The conflict was between the Wolvruns and the Federation,” Talrean said.
“No, Wolf. The war was between the Wolvrun and the Eakawha. That is why I cannot make sense of these articles. The events that happened do not match up. It doesn’t make sense,” Aietos replied.
“So you were there? During the war?”
“Some of it. About five years into the war I was sent on a mission to gather information about a planet we had been scouting to expand and colonize. The scouting party had stopped communications. I was sent to investigate why,” Aietos sighed,” It was a lengthy 6-month trip, so I went into stasis to conserve my energy. Somewhere along the journey my ship malfunctioned and got taken off course. Somehow the stasis clock got set to much longer than I had intended as well… I only woke a month ago. My ship was heavily damaged, and I somehow drifted all the way to Pnushalbor. I managed to land, but not knowing the status of the war, I had to keep hidden to avoid conflict.”
“You were sent to investigate a planet all on your own?”
“You ask a lot of questions, you know that?”
Talrean folded his ears back slightly. He was very curious about the woman’s past. It was clear that he was lucky to hear any portion of the woman’s history, and he didn’t want to push that luck by being nosey.
“That’s classified,” She said after a minute. It definitely wasn’t the answer he was looking for, but at least it was something. He thought for a moment then asked one final question.
“If he is The Demon of Eos, why would you hitch a ride on his ship?”
Aietos’s eyes narrowed, “He is heading where I need to go, and at first, I did not realize it was him.”
Talrean went to reply but was cut off swiftly by the tall bird woman.
“Enough questions, Dog, I do not have time to answer all of your petty curiosities. We will be landing soon, and I have questions of my own.”
The Eakawha woman closed out of the information and turned towards the door. She walked swiftly to the entryway and stopped, turning to look back at Talrean. He stared at her with a stupid look on his face.
“Well, are you coming or not, Wolf?”
She stepped out into the hall. Talrean followed quickly behind.
“I have a name you know,” he said as he paced swiftly behind her. It was almost difficult to keep up with her long, fast gait. She said nothing to his comment.
“It’s Talrean.”
Without turning or faltering in step, the woman replied to him in an uncaring tone, “Aietos.”
