Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Qart
"I have managed to hack into the system. I am going to make the blips, where the ship passes through the net, appear as if collisions occurred against it. That appears to happen frequently enough, no one should look twice."
Olivia watched as the ship was brought right up against the net, it dropped and the ship hopped through before the net went back up.
"The next blip is scheduled for five hours from now. We have to be here, waiting for it to blip, in order to make it through."
"Alright, thank you, computer."
Olivia took over control of the ship, and steered it towards the mining camp.
"Wait! If you get too close to the actual mining area, the electronics on the ship will react with the materials below, causing an explosion. Let me scan for an area that would be safe for you to land," said the computer.
After studying the map that was brought up, Olivia landed almost a mile from the camp. She was going to have to hike all that way and bring them back in around four hours, to ensure she could escape when the net blipped.
Leaving the ship, behind, it didn't take her very long to find that a ship with supplies was at the landing pad ahead of her. Hiding behind some boulders, she watched as it hovered, and lowered a large wooden box with a rope. A group of the prisoners, a few of which she was sure were Gooblen, attempted to race up the rope before it was disconnected, but it was cut and the ship sped away.
Approaching them cautiously, she watched as they noticed her, and waited for her to reach them.
"Who are you?" asked a man, who she couldn't tell if he was human or not.
"I'm here looking for Granny Gooblen and any Uz'En that might be here."
"Granny is back at the camp, probably trying to build another ship. She crashed the last one into the net, and somehow survived the fall," said the guy with a shake to his head.
"How do you know Granny?" asked one of the other Gooblens.
"She raised my king from a young boy," Olivia said with a smile.
"Ooo, she really does know Granny!" laughed another of the Gooblens.
"You said why you were here, but not who you were," said the man, planting his feet stubbornly and crossing his arms.
Olivia couldn't help but notice the muscles that bulged on him, or the hard glint in his eye.
"My name's Olivia," she said, "Are you an Uz'En?"
"Maybe. I've been called a lot of things. What does it matter if I am?"
"I was sent to rescue the Uz'En and the Gooblens, but only if Granny was with them."
"You can leave then, because we don't want you." He turned and started back towards the camp, without a backwards glance.
Olivia gaped in shock as the Gooblens rushed to catch up with him.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" she asked, rushing to catch up.
"You are a racist piece of crap, for only wanting to take some of us off this dirtball. I'm not wasting my time if some of these people are going to be left behind merely because of what they were born. You can either take us all, or none of us."
She could tell he was dead serious. He hadn't stopped while talking, still walking at a fast pace.
"But what am I supposed to do with the non-Uz'En? My planet only allows Uz'En on it, and the Gooblens are only allowed if Granny is with them. I can't change that."
"How about you use that pretty little head of yours. Has it occurred to you that maybe we don't want to go to your damn planet? How many other Uz'En have you taken, who didn't want to go?"
"Most of the Uz'En we've taken, have been horribly traumatized because they were seen as property, not actual people."
"And what do you think you're doing?"
He looked over at her, as if making a point, and she opened her mouth to continue arguing when Granny popped her head out of a hulking mess of metal.
"Olivia? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Granny! Thank God! We've missed you back home," she said, moving towards her, away from the annoying man behind her.
"How could you? You were too busy chasing after imaginary mushroom men to pay any attention to your own man, and left him a miserable wreck," scolded Granny, climbing out of the wreckage.
"Look, I didn't come here to get chewed out and called names. I came here to rescue people and get the hell off this planet."
"Then why aren't you doing that?" asked Granny, whistling and motioning to everyone who turned to look her way.
Olivia opened her mouth to complain, and try to explain, but Granny wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. Every time Olivia went to say something, Granny would make a comment, or some rude noise. By the third belch, and second fart, Olivia gave up. Her stomach dropped when she saw that there were about thirty people, half of whom were obviously some other alien race.
"Wait, Granny, you may claim to know this person, but I don't," said the man from before, stopping everyone from following them out of the camp. "How do we know that she isn't just here to take us somewhere else? Or to sell us to some other master?"
"I would never!" growled Olivia, finally reaching her breaking point. This crap was going to end now!
"Really?" he growled back, balling his fists. "I could see the taskmasters using someone, that one of us knows, to manipulate us to do what they want. I think your just someone's bitch."
Olivia moved before she could think about it, swinging at him with her balled fist. He ducked back, out of the way, stepping forward to punch her in the gut. She managed to twist at the last moment, only getting a glancing blow to the side.
The entire camp circled them as their fists flew faster and faster, their bodies twisting and turning to avoid blows. She managed to land the first good blow, to the side of his head, but he took it, and managed to knee her in the groin. After that, the blows landed solidly, hard and fast. They both pulled back after a few minutes, blood flowing from their noses, both eyes black, and their clothes torn.
Olivia grinned as her wounds healed, and he raised an eyebrow.
"I want to know how you have that ability," he said seriously.
"It's only something an Uz'En can learn."
"So, you'll teach me?" he asked with a grin of his own.
"Just kiss and make up already so we can get out of here," grumbled Granny, slapping the man on the arm.
"Alright, I'll get you all off of here, but I can't take everyone back to the planet without permission from Dustin, and he's…busy," she said, suddenly remembering she had a time limit to this visit.
"Then let's go, and worry about what happens off this planet, when it comes," said Granny, motioning for everyone to follow again.
By the time they were back in the ship, Olivia saw she only had a few minutes to get to the net before the blip happened.
"Computer!" she cried.
"I'll get us there, but everyone needs to hold on!"
Everyone was thrown towards the back of the ship as it turned on its butt and zoomed towards the sky.
"My name's Qart, Olivia. It's nice to meet you!" the guy yelled as he was pushed back against the wall, barely able to breathe.
"You have horrible timing!" she yelled back, wondering what Dustin would think of it all.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab Sorry about no chapter yesterday, I just can't seem to catch a break. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and will try to get caught up by this weekend.
Chapter 17: Chapter 17 Even Space Ships Have Fuel Lights
"Alright, computer, get ready to jump us back home."
"We don't have enough fuel to make the jump. More is required for a jump of that distance."
Dustin shook his head, thinking hard.
"How close can we get?"
"Half way."
"There is a planet about that distance, that has the required materials we need to make more fuel. Do you have it in your database?"
He had connected his PED to it, but it didn't have enough space to allow the PED to completely access it. After a moment of speaking to his PED, the computer had the coordinates, and prepared to make the jump.
"So, PED," he said, through the computer so Cybele could hear and listen in, "tell me what you found out from the alien hard drives."
"According to what little I was able to extract, and the information that I have been able to compile from other sources, I have been able to determine that the Uz'En used to be at war with the Xalkak, a long time ago. Except, some of what I found points to the Xalkak being a robotic race."
"Well, all of them that I have encountered so far, have had implants," said Dustin, as the ship began to prepare to jump. They had left the aliens back on the planet. They didn't follow him when he left the atmosphere, so he assumed they missed him.
"No, it's more than that. The AI seems to be the last surviving member, and it looks like the race it uses is enslaved to do its bidding. As in they are innocent people being controlled."
"They aren't Uz'En, so why should I care?"
"They are being forced to hunt the Uz'En down, and kill them all. Some of the locations listed on the ships, are the same as some of the places that used to have Uz'En, and now don't."
"You mean the ones that I was going to go to, and didn't need to because they were no longer there?" he asked, starting to get angry. Those were his people! Most of them were no more than slaves, so why kill them?
"Correct," said the PED.
"Are you sure they aren't going to follow us back to your home world?" asked Cybele, looking at him. "If I was hunting something, I would want to know where more are, so as to be able to hunt many at once, instead of only one."
Dustin turned to her, amazed. Olivia would never have thought of that, only come up with ways to hunt them back. "You're right. I'll have to get a lot of fuel and take my time before returning home, when we're at the next planet."
"Dustin," said the PED, "You will need to create a suit for Cybele to survive on the planet we are heading to. Its atmosphere is not compatible with her physiology."
"There should be plenty of materials for the nanobots to make her a suit, as soon as we land," said Dustin.
"Thank you," Cybele said with a smile. "I would like to be able to breathe."
The ship went through the jump, and Cybele grabbed his hand.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I…I feel alone…"
"You probably had some kind of connection to your people, that was cut when we jumped."
"Is this how you normally feel?" she asked, looking at him.
"Kind of? I have the PED in my head all of the time, I guess, but otherwise, yeah."
Dustin steered the ship towards the planet that had appeared below them. He had used it multiple times, to grab fuel for jumps over the past fifteen years. Keeping an eye on the limited sensors this ship had, he watched for anyone following them, but knew the chances were slim. It was impossible to follow him when he jumped. As far as he knew, he was the only one, apart from the nanobot hive, that had the technology.
If they were tracking him, somehow, it would take them several days to warp here. He planned to stay at least that long, updating the ship, collecting fuel and building Cybele a power suit. He wanted to make absolutely certain they didn't follow him back to his home world. The thought unsettled him.
Finding a suitable valley, where a recent rockslide had uncovered the necessary minerals he needed, Dustin guided the ship in to land. He then sent the nanobots out to start collecting the materials to start Cybele's suit, so he could leave the ship without risking her health to the atmosphere.
"This looks like a nice planet. Are there any other people here?" asked Cybele, looking out the window.
"No, but there's plenty of plant and animal life. Honestly, this planet isn't that bad. I just like to come here for fuel whenever I need it."
"Tell me more about this Olivia you have, and your child with her."
Dustin chuckled. She didn't beat around the bush when she wanted to know something. While it was refreshing, he wondered if it would get annoying in the future.
For the next couple of hours, Dustin told her about how he and Olivia had escaped from the death planet, and conceived Kit. Cybele seemed very interested when he told her about how Kit had become the king of their people, freeing him from having to put up with everyone's crap. The concept of being the king had appealed to him, until he was actually the king. The moment he realized that the people actually needed him to provide for them and solve all of their problems, he was done.
"And your child grew up alone?"
"Oh, no! There were plenty of other kids for him to play with, especially Jake. He's become one of Kit's top generals. Helps with crowd control and whenever there's fighting among the people, he loves to wade right in. I worried about him a lot, but he seems to love it, so I let him keep it up."
"It's almost like Jake is another of your children."
"Well, the kid lost both of his parents, so I guess. He was the one that made Olivia alright with having kids."
"Why did the two of you separate? The memory in your head was stained with anger and pain."
"She left me. I didn't want her to, but she did. Kit didn't need her anymore, he was almost full grown, physically. I think something in her head drove her to find something that wasn't there anymore. No matter how I tried to fix it, she finally left me to try and find it anyway. She only came back when Kit told her I was leaving, damn tattle-tale."
"But you were happy to have her back? I remember that memory, because it confused me."
Dustin looked down at his hands. He had been happy. He had thought it was because she cared. He guessed she did in a way, but it didn't matter.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry as much as I have. You don't like that I saw into your head as much as I did."
"Why are you so interested in me, Cybele? I'm a mess. I can't be what I was supposed to be, and half the time, I'm wondering if what I am doing, isn't causing more problems."
"Only you can decide what you are. And you are trying to do something to help others. Sometimes, people don't know that they need help, and nothing you do, will change their opinion. I like the fact that you are trying, despite the feeling of doubt. You have a strength of character that I have never seen in any of my people, and I like it. I would very much like it, if I had children with that strength."
Dustin glanced at her, then shook his head. Her suit was ready, and he was ready to get out of this tiny ship.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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A little more explanation on his past, and why Cybele is wanting him so much as a mate. It's kind of interesting introducing new characters to my already established ones. We'll see how this plays out.
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