First Contact Fallout

reattach your head and those of a few others before you were unrecoverable. The others suffered too much brain damage and were reduced to hatchlings. You were attended to first, and slipped into a coma that protected most of your brain from the Kich’a’kat. That is why I was able to slowly put you back together again, but some of your memories should be permanently gone. Can Essence bring back past memory?”
“I do not see how, but I cannot rule out anything.”
“Is there something you cannot remember that you should?”
“Not obviously. If there is I will discover it when I seek it,” he said, pulling some more foodstuffs to him and hoping that would have some effect on his Essence depletion, for it was gnawing at him with no relief.
“Are you capable of leading the empire again?” she asked with a mix of apology for asking the question and necessary prudence.
“I am myself, though weak in body. Have I done any training?”
“None worth mentioning. How did you fare in battle?”
“You did not see?”
“I was most likely in shock, if not unconscious. I did not see.”
“My combat skills are intact,” he said succinctly. “If there is anything I have lost, I will replace it in time.”
“I think you will,” Sol’an said, feeling pride and relief that her task was nearly done. “Where do we go from here? We are far from safety.”
“What do you mean?”
“This region belongs to the Zak’de’ron. We evacuated the Zor’do save for a handful of people while I continued to work on you. Only it had the necessary equipment.”
“Why not move the equipment?”
“We could not leave the planet. And there is nowhere on the planet that is safe. When the invasion landed near to us, all forces on the planet moved to counterattack. In the end the invasion continued, but both sides were decimated. The Zak’de’ron claimed aerial superiority, and the Zor’do had to be evacuated on foot. We could not take the equipment that way, and you would recover no further without it. We had to stay here as long as possible.”
“The Zor’do is nearby?”
“Yes.”
“Are there records of my stay there?”
“No. We deleted everything. Your existence is unknown.”
“Then we need to keep it that way. My taking command will not create any more ships, and there is much I need to catch up on. Where can I get armor?”
“There is none available or you would have it already.”
“Are supplies that low?”
“I am told so, but the Zen’zat know better than me.”
Mario’topa, where can I get armor? he asked the gunship overhead telepathically.
There is none within our reach. I could procure none. We must travel beyond Tullupeg, at the minimum.
Where are we currently?
North of Svegarneu. The invasion point was Kinnven and they are currently assaulting Vitolor.
I trust your guidance. I cannot reveal myself for a variety of reasons. How can we get beyond the battle lines without assistance?
There are few battle lines. Forces are exhausted everywhere. If we do not attract attention we can move freely. So far no one is approaching. The troops you killed were from the occupation force sent to take possession of the Zor’do. They assumed it was empty and we ambushed them, but were unable to keep it.
Is there any reason to return?
No. When the Kardopa returns you must leave on it and keep to the surface. Low orbit is unsafe despite the shield.
How many Zen’zat remain?
Three others.
Any Era’tran?
Only Sol’an, and she is not suited for combat. We are on our own.
So be it. Find some place remote we can hide out that has access to the comm grid. I need to know how badly we have been hurt before I decide how to proceed.
The transport will be here within minutes. Prepare to move.

9
May 11, 128800
Jamtren System (Era’tran capitol)
Holloi
The Kardopa moved slowly, essentially towing the gunship along behind it with an energy tether for days and staying away from inhabitation, whether it be friend or foe. Large chunks of Holloi were left to nature, so avoiding them was easy and fortunately no pursuit came for the transport and its pair of Era’tran passengers. It seemed everyone else was too busy or too beaten up to care, allowing them a pathetic escape across the jungles of the planet in the captured craft.
Their eventual destination was not a city, but one of many private residences scattered across the planet, and when Mario’topa queried the residence to announce themselves upon arrival he got no response of any kind.
“Something is not right,” he told Mak’to’ran, who was sitting in the main hold. “There is no activity at all from Garuva’s palace. Not even any tracking beams. I can’t contact a single individual in armor either.”
“Hold us here and have the gunship be our eyes.”
“Yenni?” he asked, glancing at the nearby Zen’zat pilot.
She nodded, reforming her armor from the jewel-like gauntlets that she wore and heading for a side hatch. The Zen’zat opened it mid-flight and crawled out across the hull of the transport back towards the energy tether as Mario’topa telepathically ordered Ben’ra to slow them to a halt.
Yenni continued climbing across the nearly vertical hull using the grip points on her armor, then she got her feet under her and leapt from one craft to the other, landing on the exterior of the gunship and breaking off a few more fragments of charred armor on impact. She crawled inside and slid into the central pilot seat, then disconnected the energy tether and began to drift the gunship around and ahead of the transport at a slow crawl on the one and only gravity drive the small craft had left.
It took nearly 15 minutes for her to come up on the palace, and