Waking up was more painful than normal. It didn’t help that Simmo didn’t recognize her surroundings once she was awake. It was a hospital, she gathered that from the tubing and scanners that were attached all over her carapace.
She didn’t remember how she got here.
She groaned. What did she remember? Being on the Arum Bloom. That brought a flood of memories rushing overwhelmingly through her brain. She pushed them back. They could be processed later. What happened after?
She remembered being cramped on the shuttle. She knew she had passed in and out of consciousness a number of times. She remembered seeing an impossibly huge ship-fortress-thing and that it was getting closer. That must have been the legendary Rock Base she’d always heard of. Her antenna twitched suddenly. Oh. That’s where she was. She looked around her again. She was on the Galactic Confederation’s Rock Base? Well, it didn’t look like much from here.
Her mandibles rapidly clicked as she struggled to sit up. No. That wasn’t happening. Her sharp claws sunk into the soft gel underneath as she tried to at least prop herself up enough to get a better look at her surroundings.
It was your basic med bay room. Although the long-necked, armed guard at the door was probably not part of the standard package.
It was a striped Daydam, Simmo noticed. They were usually spotted. Its fur was also darker than most Daydam, or at least any Daydam she had ever come across before, ruddy brown and black with thin off-white stripes. It was slouched on all fours, but as soon as it noticed Simmo staring, it straightened up onto two legs and activated its comm device.
Simmo hissed. It. She’d been called an “it”. Not for the first time in her life, to be fair, but it had been a while. If she had the strength, she’d strut over to the pompous guard and cut some respect into them.
But she could barely lift herself enough to see the room. She couldn’t even quite reach up to all the wires and tubes that were attached to her. She was stuck here for the time being. Until whatever plans the guards around here had for her were put in motion. She gave her best death glare to the Daydam. She doubted that in her state she looked that threatening though.
Movement caught her eyes from beyond the door.
“Hey guys, I found Simmo, she’s in here!” Mike’s iconically loud voice made both her and the guard jump.
“Hey! What are you doing out?”
Mike was followed by Wenona who was wearing a blank expression and blinking slowly. Mike must have woken her up.
“What do you mean, ‘out’?” Mike stepped into Simmo’s room and quirked an eyebrow at the Daydam. It would have been a funny looking expression if it wasn’t being directed at a now very tense guard. “It’s basically house arrest to this medical ward. We’re in the medical ward. We’re fine.” He paused and looked over to Simmo. “Simms! What’s up with you? You look like crap.”
Simmo froze and tilted her antenna disapprovingly. “Excuse me?”
“Uh, sorry. You look like a mess.” He walked fully into the room followed by Wenona, and to Simmo’s surprise, Jebannuck, who immediately found a seat and sat down with a quiet huff. From her low vantage point, Simmo also thought she saw the tip of a poof of orange fur following him. A Booka gingerly tried jumping up into the chair next to Jeb. Simmo recognized her as the Booka from the rescue team, though the name escaped her. Seeing her struggle, Jebannuck leaned over and helped her up into the chair.
The dark Daydam looked out into the hall, back at Simmo’s visitors and huffed. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
Wenona closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. “And why not?”
The sounds of steps pulled the guard’s attention back to the hall. Two more guards marched into the room. One was wearing a different uniform. It must have been significant of some leadership role.
“How long has the Montauk been awake?”
“Not long, Chir.”
“Where’s the medic responsible? I’ll need to let him know he’s relieved of care.”
“I believe he’s with the other humans.”
Mike cut in. “Woah, Woah, Woah! Uh, what? What’s going on?”
The head guard turned their bulgy eyes to the human, it’s shiny skin reflected the lights on the ceiling, studying Mike for a moment before responding. “We’re taking the Montauk to the brig for closer watch before we’re ready to begin the criminal hearings.”
Jebannuck frowned. “You’re processing her? She hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s been with us even before we were on the Arum Bloom.”
“That may be,” the head guard made a low creaking noise as it turned back to Simmo, “but under Security Code ruling 89 sub-section 4, we cannot allow pirates free access on Galactic Confederation domain.”
“I’m not a pirate!” Simmo argued at the same time Jebannuck countered the guard with, “You’re using that ruling completely out of context!”
The guard looked a bit taken back and turned to Jebannuck. “I beg your pardon?”
“Then beg,” Wenona murmured under her breath just loud enough to be heard.
The guard paused but blinked her huge eyes before she continued. “Who are you to challenge me on Security Code?”
Jeb carefully lifted himself back up to his feet and braced himself as imposingly as he could. “Jebannuck Sefra, Head Security Officer aboard the ESS Gladius. I know the rules, and I also know you can’t take a patient from a medic’s care without proper clearance and medical release.” He made a show of looking around the room. “I don’t see Medic Demfar here.” He looked back at the head guard. “She’s not going anywhere, Chir.”
Chir glared back, the low creaking noise from her throat getting louder. “If you have an issue with my interpretation of security policy, you can file a complaint. I have jurisdiction here. Not you, Sefra.” She turned to walk to Simmo but was stopped by Wenona. Or rather, Wenona’s back. While she hadn’t been looking, the human had stepped up to Simmo’s medical slab and just stood there.
Wenona stared at Simmo. Not angrily, she realized with a start. Just stared. Looking at her like she was looking for something. She eventually turned back to Chir. “She’s not going anywhere unless we all are.”
“Listen,” the taller Daydam by the door spoke up, “We’re just following procedures. We have to-”
“I don’t care,” Wenona cut them off. “You can go tell whoever you report to that if they want to take away any of my friends, they’ll have to go through me.”
All three of the guards shifted their weights uncomfortably. Even more so when Mike stepped up beside Wenona. “And me,” he added.
The Chir sighed exasperatedly. “Listen, we’re here to just do our jobs. You’re civilians and need to stand down and let us work.” She reached a hand out as if to try pushing her way through, but Wenona grabbed her hand firmly to stop her.
“We’re about as far away from just ‘civilians’ as we can be right now,” she hissed. Chir’s expression changed- the pompous air about her lessened ever so slightly. “You’re not taking Simmo. End of story. If your superiors have a problem with that, they can come here and deal with us themselves.”
The guard pulled her hand back. The rest of them looked at the group, a bit vexed, but the humans weren’t budging. Neither was the Sefra or Booka that had stood up and hobbled to their sides. With a nod from the head guard, they turned and left the room quietly.
There was a collective silent sigh of relief.
“And just what do you… what do you think you’re doing?” Simmo’s voice haltered. “I’m a Montauk. To the Galactic Confederation, I’m a criminal, through and through. You’re all a… all a bunch of idiots!” There was a small catch in Simmo’s voice at the end, as much as she tried to play it off. It was all true though, she thought miserably. A rogue Montauk without a hive. Without her crew. Stuck in the middle of the Galactic Confederation.
Wenona turned back to her and this time glared at her for real. “You’re the idiot Simmo.” Her gaze softened a bit.
“But you’re our idiot,” Mike finished with a smile.
“Do you think we’ll get in trouble for that?” the Booka chirped up.
Everyone shared a glance and then shrugged.
“What are they going to do? Send us back home?” Wenona smiled and sat on the corner edge of Simmo’s medical slab.
“If they try anything,” Jeb found another seat, “You better believe I will be filing a report on them. That was an egregious attempted misuse of the Security Code.”
“Yeah, you tell them Jeb!” Mike lightly punched the Sefra’s shoulder. One might think it was an odd action, but Simmo knew it was one of camaraderie between humans, or at least it was with Mike.
She stared at the group around her. There was a swirl of mixed feelings and she wasn’t sure how to really process or understand all of them. She felt warm and pleased that she was surrounded by these aliens… these beings that seemed to tolerate and even seek out her presence. That defended her.
At the same time, she felt a wave of cold loss. Sadness. She thought back to a time before her life had been torn apart. She had spent time like this with her crew. Their battle calls and their laughter echoed inside her head hollowly. She had mourned them after their death. She had spent several of her first nights on Gamnut 5 screeching and wailing to the silent stars above her. She thought she had finished and left those feelings behind. Why were they bubbling back up now?
“Simmo?” Wenona’s voice pulled her back out of her thoughts. “Are you okay? Are you in a lot of pain? We can leave if you need more rest.”
“No,” she whispered. Her voice had an edge of desperation. She hated sounding weak, but she couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t go home. A lone Montauk? Without her crew, she had no hive. “Please… don’t leave. I don’t have anyone. There’s no one left.”
She could never go home. She had lost her hive, and in the eyes of her people, she was no better than a deserter. A traitor. A rogue.
Mike bent low enough to be eye level with her on the slab. “Wenona was right, you are an idiot, Simmo. You’re not alone. You have us.” He grabbed Simmo’s shoulders, and, careful of her still-healing wounds, pulled himself closer to his torso and held her. She’d seen the humans embrace like this before. She’d always thought it was weird, but it felt oddly nice and comforting.
Mike pulled back and smiled. “If you don’t have anywhere to go, you can just come with us back to Earth. We’re not technically part of the Galactic Confederation, and most of Earth isn’t either anymore, apparently.”
Simmo stared at them. They smiled back.
Wenona adjusted her sitting position. Wenona’s knee accidentally bumped into Simmo’s leg. It wasn’t hard or anything, it was only really perceptible to her because she knew Wenona usually make it a point to avoid physical contact at all with her. She didn’t seem to notice though, and instead just looked steadily into Simmo’s eyes. “None of us have gotten through all this without having a lot of loss or pain or whatever. It’s okay to not always be okay.”
There was a moment of just content peace. Everyone seemed to be able to feel it. Simmo felt like they’d all been through the pits and back. But they had made it back. Not unscathed, but they had made it.
After a moment, Mike almost jumped out of his seat. “Oh, I just realized too- my family owns Near Star! I could get you guys jobs too when we get back! Simmo, you’re great at fixing stuff- I mean, you built the Junk Lego from scrap! I bet my parents would hire you on the spot!” He looked around at everyone. “You all can come! I mean, I know Thurrin and Jeb, you’ve already got jobs, but you should at least come and visit!”
Jebannuck nodded quietly with a smile.
Thurrin’s fur just about exploded with faux fire. “I’d love to come visit!” She jumped up and stood with her front paws on Jeb’s shoulder. “Jeb, when do you think they’ll let us visit Earth?”
Jebannuck closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Thurrin continued to nearly bounce with excitement until the strain became a bit too much for her injured back leg and she slowly calmed down as she ran out of immediate questions about what Earth was like and what they should do first when they got there.
Simmo looked the two humans over. Their offer felt genuine. Her mandibles clicked together excitedly. After everything, they could share their planet with someone like her? With a Montauk? Would she be able to settle on an alien planet? To stay? Maybe. At least for a while. She felt a warmth in her chest that she hadn’t remembered feeling in what felt like decapartecs. Mike and Wenona looked at her, smiling and waiting for her answer. She cleared her throat and flicked her antenna noncommittally. “You really expect me to go live on a death world like Earth with you?”
Mike’s smile spread across his face. “Don’t worry, we can help you call it home too.”
*** *** *** *** ***
I thought this was going to be the last chapter, and that I was just going to an epilogue, but what I want to wrap up might take a bit more than that. At least one more chapter with two perspectives? We’ll see. I swear...
Just as a help for the next chapter: Is there anything you as the reader noticed that I’ve forgotten? I’ve left threads to pick up on for future stories, but are there any actual loose ends I need to address for this story? (I know there are a few and that’s why I’m doing at least one more chapter) but I just want a bit of outside perspective to make sure I’ve got everything taken care of before I start redrafting this story. Any feedback or comments is always appreciated! Thank you, you beautiful you!
The Warlock, Road, was used to taking care of fallen stars. What he wasn't used to, was taking care of two fallen stars, an emo ghost, a sorceress who really needs to stop taking his clothes, and his own rapidly declining mental state. When his life seems to fall apart, will Road be able to keep himself, and his powers, in check?
