Slicing through the door like a hot knife through butter the pointed nose of the arrowhead shaped Syncline craft punctured the thin steel with an explosive bang. Darting though the sudden chaotic maelstrom of escaping air the Navigator smashed through the folded wings of a SMCAF bomber before banking quickly to bleed speed. He brought the ship to a hovering stop in a vacant spot beside a cargo bulkhead. Shrill Alarms blared as torrents of wind continued to rush out of the jagged hole in the bay doors. It took a few moments for two auxiliary blast doors to slam shut over the wound. As the air settled the arrowhead shaped craft vented steam benignly as it settled into an idle hover

  “That was some great flying!” Taylor exclaimed. Jakob raised his fist feebly and gave a weak little cheer. It was the most he could manage in his rapidly deteriorating condition. He needed Liz and Quintek to help him stand with the others in the cockpit. Despite her advice he’d wanted to see the action for himself.

  “You did very well,” Agra congratulated the Navigator in the sacred tongue. She turned away to check on the others. The Navigator remained in the cockpit, his clawed hands still trembling. He had survived two intense bouts of flying back to back with little to no preparation. He relaxed his arms and sank in his chair gasping as he watched panicked human engineers and cargo workers flee in all direction.

  “Here they come,” Liz said watching the holographic feed from the exterior sensors. Armed SMCAF soldiers in full battle dress had begun to push past the fleeing men and pour onto the polished heat resistant landing bay tiles. Jakob managed to stumble forward out of his friends grasp to touch the dancing pixels of the monotone red projection. He savored the sight of armored marines with a choked sob.

  “The cavalry is here,” he smiled faintly. “We’re home.”

  He swayed back and forth on his feet and would have fallen over if Quintek wasn’t there to help him.

  “They don’t very look friendly,” Quintek noted with a snap of his beak.

  “They’ll back down once they know who we are,” Taylor assured his Syn comrade.

  “We have to do this carefully,” Liz said looking up at Agra. “I’ll be the first to announce who we are. I’m the highest ranking officer after all. I need to prepare them for you.”

  Agra wringed her hands together and nodded her head shamefully. Jakob’s initial treatment of her had been enough to validate her father’s warnings. She knew she was the enemy to all the people outside. So was Quintek and his kin.

  “I’ll follow your lead,” Agra agreed.

  “Then let’s get a move on,” Jakob complained.

  Liz ran down the passage past the atrium and waited just out of sight of the soldiers outside as the Navigator unfurled the ramp. She heard their discomforted whispers and the frantic orders to stand down until they knew what was going on. Agra and Taylor hid further back down the darkened corridor with Jakob held limply in their arms. Quintek, The Navigator, and the other Syn would stay far out of sight for now. Agra alone was already threatening enough. They had to take things slow.

  “Here goes nothing,” Liz mumbled self consciously. An unaccomplished science officer before the offensive she was now faced with arbitrating first contact between humankind and the Syncline. She took a deep breath and announced herself as loudly as she could.

  “Hold your fire! I am Lieutenant Elizabeth Nishizawa, Science officer first class, SID 0502390.”

  She repeated her name and Service Identification number as she descended the ramp with her arms raised in a nonthreatening manner. She watched as a Commander, a Lieutenant, and a vaguely familiar woman in mixed service and civilian clothes pushed their way through the crowd of stunned soldiers. The Commander asserted her authority by reliving a befuddled Lieutenant of their data pad.

  “Says here you were marked KIA after contact was lost with the SMCAF Orion,” The woman read with incredulity.

  “It’s a long story Commander-,“ Liz began.

  “You can address me as Commander Sparks and I’d appreciate a long story from you right about now 2nd Lieutenant Nishizawa. You are aboard an enemy ship which just violated the defensive sphere.”

  “I don’t have time to talk to you. One of my shipmates was mortally wounded by a Syn and needs immediate medical attention. The rest of my crew and I need to be debriefed by SMCAF High Command immediately. We have information vital to the war.”

  “So where are others?” Commander Sparks asked skeptically as she looked past Liz at the empty ramp. “How many? Where are they?”

  “Two other survivors of the Orion, plus some others we picked up along the way. We wouldn’t be here without them. They helped us commandeer this Syn ship.” Liz cautiously explained being as vague as possible. She nervously glanced at the dozens of rifles still pointed at her. That is when her gaze once again fell on the young woman about her age standing behind the Commander dressed haphazardly with an officers tunic thrown over her pajamas. That is when it suddenly clicked. She did know this mystery woman, or at least had heard of her.

  “I do recognize you!” Liz exclaimed suddenly. “You’re that soldier who supposedly killed a Syn with their bare hands during the siege of Pantomime III. You’re Lieutenant Adelaide Anson-.”

  Liz froze with a look of wide eyed recognition on her face.

  “Enough about her,” Commander Sparks interjected. “Explain yourself or you will be shot.”

  Liz ignored her.

  “You don’t happen to be related to a certain Lieutenant Greg Anson would you?” Liz asked awestruck by the sheer odds of this meeting. Behind her Agra became restless.

  “How do you know that name!” Adelaide demanded. She strode past Commander Sparks with balled fists. “How do you know about my father!” Agra could no longer take it.

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  “Because he was my father too,” Agra announced proudly as she appeared at the top of the ramp with Jakob held in her and Taylor’s arms. They slowly began to shuffle down the ramp as the incredulous soldiers watched on. “Greg Anson was the one who found and raised me as his own.

  Soldiers raised their rifles reflexively as they doubled back in apprehensive disbelief. The Syn had spoken to them! Commander Sparks speechlessly held her ground as she looked upon the red feathered Syn draped in dirty white cloth with a look of stunned indecision. Adelaide was the only one immune to Agra’s words.

  “What did you say?” she challenged desperately. She raised her stammering voice at Agra and demanded answers with a pointed finger. “What did you just say?”

  “Who is that?” Taylor asked Liz and Agra. He frowned nervously at the many rifles pointed at him and his friends. Jakob’s head rolled limply on his neck, his feet dragging the ground as Taylor and Agra held him up.

  “Is she a doctor?” he managed with slurred exhalation.

  “That isn’t important right now Adelaide. My friend needs a doctor,” Agra said tempering her obvious excitement as Jakob went limp in her and Taylor’s hands.

  “Jakob!” Taylor yelped as he tried to shake him awake. Jakob mumbled incoherently.

  It knew her name. Disarmed Adelaide stumbled back towards Commander Sparks who had come to her senses realizing that she needed back up.

  “Send everybody. Lock down all of sector 15 immediate.” She pleaded into her wrist comm. She grabbed Adelaide as she drifted beside her.

  “You’re not going anywhere!” she barked with her usual hardness. She pushed Adelaide back towards Agra and the others at the base of the ramp and drew her pistol. “No one goes anywhere until I find out what the hell is going on. You especially.”

  “Wait a minute!” Adelaide protested. “You think I have something to do with this?”

  “That damned thing knew your name didn’t it? It said something about your Father.” Sparks countered as she leveled her pistol in Adelaide’s face. Adelaide backed away with her hands raised.

  “Don’t do that,” Agra hissed.

  “Or what Syn?”

  Agra snapped her beak angrily, her eyes glowing with frustration. A presence in her mind offered up a suggestion. It was Quintek. Agra’s feathers ruffled as she considered his bold and aggressive words. She channeled his ultimatum with supreme satisfaction.

  “Harm her and face the wrath of my people. I am a Queen of the Syncline Empire and the others can know where I am if I let them. Be grateful you’re speaking to me and not them. All I ask for is a little respect and understanding. I am not your enemy, but I could be.”

  “You tell her,” Jakob croaked in a brief moment of lucidity.

  “Then why shouldn’t I just kill you now?” Commander Sparks growled as she pointed her weapon at Agra.

  “It would be the gravest mistake you have ever made human.”

  “Are we really doing this? We’ve all but lost the war and you’re going to shoot what may be our last chance?” Liz pleaded furiously. She put herself between Agra and Commander Sparks and gestured angrily at Jakob. “Can’t you see my friend is dying? If you want to hurt her you’re going to have to hurt us too.”

  “You really trust that thing with your life?” Adelaide asked with surprise. She glanced back at Agra with a disheartened look.

  “Not necessarily,” Liz said with a stone faced expression, “but she’s probably the most amicable Syn we can hope to find. We have your Father to thank for that.”

  Adelaide glanced at Agra skeptically. She conjured a harsh retort in her mind, but said nothing as Agra stared back at her.

  “We came here because we needed help. Help us!” Taylor cried as he desperately tried to shake Jakob awake.

  “Why aren’t we? He’s not the enemy!” a soldier exclaimed. There were dissident murmurings of agreement. They wanted to help Jakob. “He’s one of us!”

  “This is beyond us Commander. Get him help and let the High Command deal with the Syn,” Lieutenant Satre urged.

  “Fine,” Sparks conceded. She gestured at Taylor and Liz. “Bring your friend over. I’ll have him rushed to a medical station.”

  “Not without us,” Taylor insisted.

  “Go with them,” Sparks sighed to Lieutenant Satre with a weary gesture. He quickly ordered several soldiers to drop their weapons and grab a stretcher affixed to the wall. They rushed aid to Jakob. They stood by nervously as Agra gingerly lowered him onto the stretcher.

  “Thanks Agra,” Jakob wheezed. His parting sentiments to Agra came as a surprise to the soldiers who silently considered the implications with obvious discomfort. Adelaide especially seemed shaken by Jakob’s blissful smile as Agra gave him one last comforting pat on the shoulder.

  “I’m sure you’ll be alright,” Agra soothed as Liz and Taylor helped hoist their injured friend off the floor.

  “See you soon Agra,” Taylor smiled. Liz shared his goodbye with a thankful nod before rushing through a bulkhead door and down a corridor with the others.

  “See you soon my friends,” Agra called out as the doors sealed with a hydraulic sigh. For the first time since Altaire IV Agra felt painfully alone despite all the soldiers watching her and the constant presence of Quintek lurking in her mind.

  “Why act so surprised? I could have told you this would happen” Quintek opined.

  “Could have gone worse,” Agra said hopefully. Adelaide met her gaze with silent apprehension.

  “Stop looking at me like that. What am I to you?” She demanded solemnly. Agra was unable to answer as a group of Generals, Admirals and scientists had just stormed into the hanger with the military police. Turning away from Adelaide temporarily Agra held her crowned head high and took another step toward her destiny.

  “I am Agra Anson.” She announced proudly to the shocked members of SMCAF high command. Agra then glanced back at Adelaide and said what she had wanted to say.

  “I am Agra Anson,” she again repeated adding, “Adopted Daughter of Greg Anson, sister of Adelaide Anson, and a lost Queen of the Syncline Empire! I’ve come home.”

  “Adelaide!” Crozier yelled with surprised recognition as he took in the scene. For everyone in the hanger this was the point of no return.

  Elsewhere Jakob languished in dreams and shadow. Concerned faces floated in and out of view as harsh corridor lights smeared his failing vision. Clouds darkened his world as time seemed to stutter.

  “Stay with me buddy!” someone cried. It was Taylor. Jakob blinked and he was gone, replaced by Liz. Good ole Liz Jakob thought nostalgically.

  “We’re back on the Orion?” Jakob slurred feebly. Liz faded from view, her horrified look lingering for a moment longer. Why does she look so worried? Wasn’t I in pain? Where am I? These thoughts floated to the forefront of Jakob’s mind as he was carted into another brightly lit room. That much he was aware of. His vision faded again, the soldiers surrounding him evaporating into shadow. Now he was crowded by figures in white smocks. He felt a dull pain radiating from his shoulder as the doctors worked. Jakob saw them remove soiled bandages. He struggled to listen to their voices, clinging to every syllable.

  “Nasty infection,” a doctor commented with a curt voice of concern. “Patient presents heavy laceration of the left clavical muscle and artery.”

  A light flashed

  “Slow pupil response. No bleeding. What’s this?”

  “Some kind of solidified organic mass?”

  “Where did they find this guy? Ever see anything like this?”

  “No.”

  Jakob felt himself slipping, no longer able to resist the tempting promise of peaceful darkness.

  “Maybe Doctor Anson would know.”

  Anson! That name evoked a flash of lucidity.

  “Greg,” Jakob croaked, “Agra.”

  “What’s that? What’s he saying?”

  “Who are they? What are you?” Another presence pondered faintly in a strange but understandable voice. Jakob lost himself in a sea of stars before he could give his befuddled answer.