Chapter 4

"I don't wanna go!"

Jade's voice rang through Emiaj's house as tears rolled down her cheeks. She stomped her foot on the floor as Xander cringed a bit from her shrill, angry voice. He put his hand on her shoulders and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Jade, I'm sorry you've had to move so much, but it's so you can be safe. You'll still have Emiaj."

He looked at her daughter and swallowed a bit, his heart breaking as he saw the sadness in her eyes. She hiccuped a little and rubbed her eye.

"But I wanna stay with you, daddy," She threw her arms around him, "I love you! Don't make me go!"

Xander closed his eyes as he held Jade close and looked up at Emiaj as she walked in and gently put her hand on Jade's hair.

"It's ok, Jade. I'll take care of you two. Your fathers will be back soon."

Jade pulled back and looked up at Emiaj.

"It won't be the same! I want daddy! I want dad! I want them with me!"

She stomped her foot again as tears rolled down her cheeks. A small sigh came from behind Xander and a young voice sounded out.

"Jade stop it."

They all turned and stared a little at Cain as he stood there, their suitcases in the hall behind him. It was so rare for him to speak that every time he did, everyone was surprised. Cain walked over to Jade and took her by the shoulders.

"They're fighting! Dad was taken away to fight, daddy's going to stay here to help hurt people. We gotta go to be safe."

Jade looked down a little as Cain spoke, almost like she'd been reprimanded by one of their parents. She turned and hugged Xander, wrapping her arms around his neck. He hugged her back with one arm, then gently drew Cain into the hug, holding them both close.

"You two are the most important things in the world to me. You know I wouldn't make you leave unless I absolutely had to."

He kissed Jade's forehead, then Cain's, and sat back, looking into their eyes.

"You two go to the shuttles now ok?"

They nodded and went to pick up their cases. Xander stood and looked up at Emiaj. He didn't even have to say anything. She nodded to him.

"I'll take care of them, Xander. I promise."

She put her hand on his shoulder before following the twins out, leaving Xander alone in the room.

He took a shaky breath and picked up his own case, hoisting it up onto its wheels and starting out the door. He was going to be the medic in the first ship to be sent out on patrol. It was a dangerous area, close to Cogian territory, and he was one of the best the Consortium had. As he walked, he tuned his ear bud to the frequency that would be tutoring all medics on Gyirk physiology. He started to memorize the various parts of the body, the locations of arteries, healthy body temperature, clotting time, everything he could. By the time he was in the shuttle, he was as informed as he could be on the Gyirks.

On the shuttle, he looked around and assessed what he would be working with. They were on a Consortium shuttle that had been outfitted with weapons and stealth technology from the Gyirk fighters. Inside were two Gyirks, a Risous, a Danoo, and himself. He pulled his medical bag off his shoulder and started looking through it. The ear bud informed him of what the various tools were and what they did, since they were mostly Gyirk tools.

Nodding, he set the bag aside within easy reach and started watching the Gyirks, running through everything he'd learned about them and associating it with a real body. Once he was satisfied that he had everything committed to memory, he just sat back and watched as the shuttle ported to White Space. If Xander hadn't been so familiar with the way White Space worked, he would have been wondering why the shuttle felt so still. There was no movement in White Space. No mass to hinder their progress, therefore no resistance and no turbulence. It was peaceful. Xander smiled a little and listened for the telltale beep that would signify when they were about to jump back into normal space.

As the ship exited and decelerated before falling into its patrol path, Xander sighed and stood, walking around the ship. He was mainly trying to keep active so the nervousness wouldn't make him jittery. The Danoo looked up at him curiously and started following him as he paced. They were a curious race, always trying to figure out what they didn't understand whether they knew they would understand it once explained to them or not.

With a sigh, Xander turned to the Danoo and crouched down, realizing in the back of his mind that it was about as big as Jade, but this one was full grown.

"What're you curious about, Jasu?"

Jasu's big blue eyes blinked in surprise.

"Jasu wonder why Xander-Human wander like that. Xander-Human scared?"

Xander smiled a little and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A little scared, yes, but not for me."

Jasu's ears perked up a little at this.

"Then who?"

Pulling out a small crystal, Xander pushed it down with one hand, then held it out in his palm as an image flickered to life. Jasu stared at the image. It was a family picture that had Xander, Aaron, Jade, and Cain all sitting together and smiling happily.

"My family. Aaron is fighting, and my children were sent away to a place where they should be safe. But I still worry about them."

"Because Xander-Human loves them?"

Xander smiled a little and nodded.

"I love them more than anything in the universe."

Jasu smiled a little and put her hand over Xander's, curling his fingers around the crystal.

"Then keep memory safe. Keep family safe."

Xander smiled a little and nodded before putting the crystal back in his pocket.

"I will. And I'll see them again soon, so I don't have much to worry about."

...

"Sir, may I come in?"

Aaron looked up at the sound of the voice, then nodded at the young Gyirk standing there. He pushed his work pad aside as the Gyirk, who had introduced himself as Emjia the last time they'd met, approached his desk.

"What is it Emjia?"

Emjia walked a bit closer to Aaron and held out a report slate.

"There's something you need to know, Colonel. It's very important."

Aaron frowned a little and looked down at the report. As he read, his eyes widened a little and he put his hand over his mouth in shock. It made sense now. It all made sense. How the Cogians had taken control over so many planets so quickly and how they'd kept the original population from rising up. His head snapped up and Emjia cringed away, startled.

"You're sure? You're absolutely sure!?"

He jumped to his feet and gripped the edge of his desk. Emjia nodded nervously and swallowed as he stepped forward again.

"We're positive, sir. We've captured some to do tests and make sure."

Aaron's heart began to pound as his mind started to wander toward Xander, Cain, Jade, and Emiaj. He balled his hand into a fist and took a shaky breath. He had to be calm. He needed to think rationally.

"All right . . .  Well we can't let anyone be captured. They'll get all our information. Tell all ships if there's any sign of major danger, retreat if possible, self destruct if there's any chance of capture."

Emjia nodded and transmitted the orders as Aaron pressed his hand to his earbud and tried to contact Xander. After a few moments, Xander's voice came faintly over the system.

"Hey, Aaron what's up?"

"Xander I need to give your shuttle an update."

"All right, we're listening."

"If there's any sign of danger, we want you to retreat at the earliest. If retreat is impossible, try using one of my parries, if either choice doesn't work, self-destruct."

There was a short pause as Xander took everything in.

"Aaron . . .  are y-"

Xander was cut off by an explosion that echoed so loudly, the sound hurt Aaron's ear. He winced a moment, then stood, his heart starting to pound as the earbuds began to blare distress and coordinates.

"Xander? Xander!? Xander can you hear me!? XANDER! Someone get me a ship!"

He grabbed his flight suit, running out the door as he started to pull it on, shoving his Gyirk guards aside. They didn't know what was happening, since the Consortium hadn’t had the chance to adjust any earbuds for them. Aaron kept one hand on his earbud the entire time he ran, trying to listen to what was happening on the other end. All he could hear were screams and explosions as the attack continued. As Aaron was jumping into his fighter, he froze as he heard a hiss and a language he'd only heard once. There were four weapons shots, then static. Aaron's voice shook as he spoke, the worst situation possible coming to mind.

"Xander? Xander please... answer me..."

He sank down in his seat, shaking all over as he put his head in his hands. Several people stood around him, all silent as they watched him crumble. A pair of Gyirks came up to the ship and lifted Aaron out, setting him on his feet and helping him back to his tent. His hand remained on the bud the entire time, refusing to stop trying to contact Xander.

"Xander.... Xander c'mon... don't leave me."

...

"Xander.... Xander c'mon... don't leave me."

The words registered in the back of his mind, almost echoing there. Xander couldn't really comprehend the words until he started to regain consciousness. Aaron's words were still in the back of his mind, but there was another voice. Smaller, lighter, simpler, and familiar. He groaned as he felt a small tapping on his forehead. The voice squeaked eagerly as Xander's eyes started to open.

"Xander-human! Xander-human wake up!"

Jasu's voice pierced Xander's consciousness and shocked him awake. He opened his eyes completely and looked up at Jasu, blinking a little.

"J-jasu? What's going on? What happened?"

He slowly sat up and groaned as he felt a pang in his stomach. He looked down and pulled his shirt out a bit. It was blackened a bit where he'd been hit by an energy weapon. Jasu leaned over into his line of sight, the already large blue eyes larger with fear. Xander looked over, noticing a jagged cut on her forehead. He reached up and touched her forehead.

"You're hurt... here let me..."

He reached around his back, trying to find his medical pack, but as he looked around, he noticed they weren't on the shuttle anymore. Everything was dark in color, a deep purple that was just a few shades away from being black. He looked up and stared through bars at a large blue creature that stared down at him with a snarl, its lips drawn back over its long, razor-sharp teeth.

He examined the reptilian creature in a somewhat detached way, his medical training taking over. Its nose shifted upward into a small, but sharp horn while two more protruded from its chin on either side of the jaw. He looked up at its eyes and was instantly frozen in fear as it glared at him. Its eyes were dark red with black, jagged pupils that seemed to crack the red like a black hole in space. He swallowed nervously and continued examining it. A row of spikes grew from its head like a rooster's comb, moving between two long, curving horns that swooped back over its neck. Each one was at least two and a half feet long and ended in wicked points that could easily skewer an unfortunate victim. Its neck snaked down for a foot or so before ending in two pairs of arms covered in large, bony spikes that ran down along the outside edge and ended in four large hands with four fingers ending in long, sharp black claws. Its two legs were much the same, the knees bent backwards and his feet were much like his hands, ending in large black claws. Xander's eyes trailed up its tail and froze on the weapon there. The creature's long tail ended in a large, spike covered mace. They had been captured by the Cogians.

Looking around, he could see several other creatures in cells, the majority of which he didn't recognize. He turned to the cell next to him as he heard a sigh. The two Gyirks that had been on the ship with him were there and looking at him with pity in their eyes. The female spoke quietly to him.

"We were hoping you wouldn't wake. Death is better than what they do to prisoners."

She leaned into the male and he wrapped his arms around her, holding him close as they both shook. Xander was about to ask what they meant, but before he could speak, the doors whooshed open and several more Cogians walked in. He noticed that some had membranous wings. A gender difference, perhaps?

As he watched, they moved to the cell across from him, which had a single creature inside, something local. Xander didn't have time to examine it closely. He only had a chance to note that it was a quadruped bird with large wings growing from its shoulders. Before he could see any more, one of the winged Cogians moved forward and shoved a syringe into its neck. The creature shrieked in pain and writhed away from it, but it was too late. The syringe was empty.

The Cogians left silently while the bird tried to stand, but just collapsed forward in pain. It looked up at him, cooing pleadingly. Jasu moved forward and wrapped her tiny hands around the bars as best she could.

"What they do to four leg bird?"

She looked up at the Gyirks, who had their heads bowed as though at a funeral. The female looked over, sadness in her eyes.

"Just watch. You’ll understand."

She looked back at the bird as its feathers molted as the skin underneath darkened to a deep blue. The eyes shifted and changed, the pupils becoming dark, evil, jagged slits breaking up what seemed to be a pool of lava in its eyes. Its entire demeanor changed as well, shifting from terror to cold detachment.

Xander stared for a few moments before his eyes widened in understanding. He looked to the Gyirks, who solemnly closed their eyes in silent acknowledgement. Jasu looked between the two in confusion, and Xander looked down at her, swallowing before he explained.

"It's going to become one of them."

Jasu's eyes widened in shock, and turned back to look through the bars.

Slowly, the transfigured alien stood and looked to the guard that had been staring intently at Xander, who turned and walked over to the cell, then opened the door and spoke to the alien. Its voice was low and dark, grating like rocks in a tumbler.

"You know your assignment. Get to it, Conkra."

Conkra nodded and walked out calmly as though it had always been a Cogian. The guard turned back to the Consortium creatures in the cage, and Xander found Jasu suddenly huddled up in his arms, shaking. He held the little Danoo close and looked up at the guard, trying to be brave as he stared it in the eyes. It smirked and walked back over to them.

"Don't bother trying to tell your people about us. We've disabled that part of your communications devices. You're very interesting creatures. We will enjoy studying you."

Jasu whimpered at those words and Xander's eyes narrowed in a false face of bravery.

"You won't get the chance."

The Cogian laughed and turned, walking out.

...

"Is daddy going to be ok Emiaj?"

Jade's fearful voice was high and almost a squeak as she clung to her Gyirk protector. Emiaj wrapped her arms around Jade, holding her and trying to comfort her. Jade had been completely terrified ever since Aaron had contacted them in tears, informing them that Xander and his ship had been captured by the Cogians.

"He's going to be fine, Jade. He's strong and smart."

She looked down at Jade and cooed softly. Jade just buried her face in the Gyirk's chest as she trembled.

"But why can't we talk to him? Why can't he hear us? We're supposed to be able to talk to each other."

She reached up, touching her ear bud with a shaky hand. No matter what Emiaj said, Jade always just turned right around and came up with another argument for why Xander had to be dead. Emiaj sighed and just stroked her hair.

"Jade please. You're going to make yourself sick if you keep worrying like this. Go to bed, Jade. You'll feel better in the morning."

"No. No I won't go! I wanna wait for Dad to tell me what's happened. I want to wait!"

"Jade, just go to bed ok?"

Emiaj gripped her shoulders a bit, then sighed and closed her eyes to keep from losing her temper too badly. She looked down at the terrified human girl and stroked her hair gently.

"You don't want to be sick when Xander comes back do you?"

Jade looked down a little, then shook her head.

"No... no I... I don't want to. I'll go sleep."

Jade paused a moment, then took her ear bud out, handed it to Emiaj, and walked into her room, closing the door. Emiaj looked down at the device for a moment, then reached up and placed it in her ear. It beeped several times, then started testing several languages until it found that the user understood Gyirk. She blinked a little as everything was translated for her and she sat down, listening. There was little sound coming from it at first, but after a couple more beeps, it tuned into channels that were only accessible by adults. She scanned through some of them until she began hearing military chatter, mostly focused on Xander’s ship.

Many reports passed through the system reporting forensic scans of the area where the shuttle was captured. There were traces of fire from Cogian weapons as well as burned bits of the shuttle. The current theory was that the Cogians caught the shuttle unawares with an immobilizer pulse, then boarded them and took everything, which meant they had White Space technology in their grasp. She closed her eyes and whispered a colorful curse as she heard the news, then jumped as she heard someone address her.

"Emiaj? Emiaj is that you? How did you get an ear bud?"

She blinked a little and took a moment to recognize the voice without the buzz from the throat translator.

"Aaron? You heard me?"

"Yeah, you're broadcasting everywhere. I would like it if you answered my last question."

"Oh... um, Jade handed it to me before she went to bed. I was curious, so I decided to try it myself."

There was a sigh on the other end, then, "Thank you for taking care of them, Emiaj. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there."

Emiaj cooed softly.

"You don't have to thank me, Aaron. I'm sure you'd do the same for my Darjan. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that children are very rarely difficult to comfort. No matter what planet they're from. Though I must say, your Jade can be nearly impossible to convince when she wants to be."

Aaron laughed dryly on the other side.

"Yeah, even we'll admit she can be a brat sometimes, but we love her. We're trying to cure her of it, but she's stubborn."

Emiaj could only chuckle and reply, "You don't have to tell me."

They were both silent for a few moments and Emiaj lowered her head a bit as she asked what he most likely was expecting her to ask.

"How are you taking it, Aaron? Must be rough."

A sigh, then a pause before he managed to speak.

"It's rough. Before, everything was easier because I knew he was safe, that he was coming back, but now... Emiaj, you know what the Cogians do to their prisoners. I just don't think I could bear finding Xander... like that."

Emiaj closed her eyes and wrapped an arm around herself, wishing it was Aaron she was holding and comforting instead of nothing.

"You'll get him back Aaron. I know you will. And even if they've transformed him, I promise you that we will work day in and day out for however long it takes till we find a cure. You will have your husband back, Aaron. I promise."