A Daring Rescue

Akima didn't really know what to say. Ganyu was injured. Despite standing slightly wobbly on his massive legs he bluntly refused any help and only agreed to go to one of the Atlantis' medical wards because she insisted and told him not to be as stubborn as his daughter. Eventually he accepted with a grunt. However they were not alone. Apparently nobody trusted a Mantrin aboard which was understandable given the current situation. Even Captain Wright came down personally to take a look but simply ordered a quartet of four armed men to escort the large alien as he moved around the ship without even speaking a word to him or offering him anything. Of course he noticed and he didn't seem to pay attention to it but still she felt sorry for him. She didn't know Stith's father that well and their first meeting wasn't exactly a warm welcome from his side but he had a good pair of hearts. His bitterness over what a group of humans on Solbrecht did to his people in the past made him fly out to her as if he blamed her personally. At that moment she was really afraid that he would harm her, so much anger did the mere sight of a human being rise up inside of him. But his daughter was the one who finally managed to convince him that humans weren't like that and that she was the best friend she ever had in her whole life. But Ganyu was angry at this very moment. Secretly, and of course she couldn't know for sure, she figured part of the reason was not just over his daughter's fate, but because he was now forced to seek help from the people he used to despise before he was reunited with his daughter. But still she had pity on him. She accompanied him on her way to the nearest sickbay and Cale was with them too and of course the four armed officers. From the corner of her eye she noticed they had their hands ready on their holsters, in case they had to shoot Ganyu on sight if he tried something that could compromise the safety of the ship and crew. She knew he would never do that.

"We're almost there."

Her soft and calm voice was in sharp contrast with the heavy thumping of Ganyu's clawed feet on the deck and the boots of the officers in rhythmic staccato. He grunted in affirmation and with a slight groan. He seemed to have trouble using his right leg but instead of complaining he walked on with clenched teeth. Mantrins were like that.

On the way, they were met by people, mostly officers of the Atlantis who either hastily dashed out of the way or shot filthy looks as they walked past with squared shoulders. Ganyu pretended he didn't see it and didn't care but he had trouble keeping up the tough exterior. Akima could see it in his eyes and the position of his ears which constantly changed from standing up firmly to drooping down. The two armed men walking in front of them went through the automatic doors of the sickbay before letting them in, as if trying to secure the area first and making sure everyone was out of the Mantrin's way.

"I won't harm anyone," Ganyu grunted as he walked past one of the men, who kept his weapon charged and pointed his way.

"There is only one way to be sure of that," he said firmly, anger layered over his voice. "Roberts, Ivanov, take position on the other side of the door."

"Yes, sir."

The two men that came in last did as instructed and took positions on the other side of the opening on either side so that the automatic doors could still close. He and his colleague however kept a close eye on the large alien and never lost him out of their sight. Ganyu's presence in the medical ward alone was enough to scare some of the people present. One of the nurses made a soft frightened sound, like a cry and did a few steps back. Not paying any attention to the frightened people in the room (some already went back to work after recovering from the initial shock) Ganyu sat down on one of the few empty beds, the second one from the left row. The two officers assumed position close to him, just far enough out of range in case Ganyu decided to stretch his leg. A few seconds of silence passed, but no one came. No doctors, no nurses, nobody dared to come near the Mantrin, even though he was visibly injured. But Akima figured it was perhaps more a question of hatred than fear.

"Isn't anyone going to help him?" she asked in general. A few heads turned, patients and medical personnel looked up from what they were doing. Others simply ignored her even though it was close to impossible that they hadn't heard her in the relative quietness of the room. Cursing slightly under her breath she pushed herself past the lead officer of the squad. His weapon was still aimed and armed. He's hoping for a reason to pull the trigger. "You and you men can wait outside or at least give us a little space here."

"I'm sorry, Commander. We are under strict orders from Captain Wright to keep an eye on the... subject at all times. Should he become a security risk, we have orders to remove the threat, one way or another. Besides, you have no authority on this ship. A state of martial law has been declared and there are rules to follow. If you have any complaints I'm afraid you'll have to take it up with Captain Wright."

Heaving an exasperated sigh she furiously broke eye contact with the man who flashed her a cocky grin afterwards which infuriated her even more.

"Can you believe that?" she grunted at Cale who waited at a distance. He didn't respond but she was aware of how he thought about it. But her husband's opinion didn't matter to her in this case. They were talking morality here. Stepping toward the nearest nurse who didn't seem to be busy treating patients, she wiped her hair out of her face and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, nurse. Is there a set of general equipment I can use? 'Cause if no one is going to help him, I will do it myself."

The woman, she estimated her only a little older than herself, looked up from her work. Her reaction was strictly business-like.

"If you want to borrow medical equipment, you'll have to arrange that with the chief medical officer of this sickbay. I'm sorry. I can't help you."

Akima felt her supply of patience dwindling quickly. They were in a state of war. It was easy to mark every member of the opposing faction as an enemy. But she knew the person sitting across the room and this was wrong.

"Please I'm asking you, as a mother who almost lost her child to this conflict. Could you help me with him?"

Suddenly the nurse seemed as if she was stabbed by anger. The expression on her face hardened and she placed everything she was working on down firmly.

"Haven't you been there? Haven't you seen what they did to us? They destroyed our planet. They murdered our people. They even allied themselves with the Drej who came back to exterminate as all."

Shocked by her outburst, Akima looked down at the ground. But her determination to help a friend in need took over quickly.

"He's not like that!"

"How do you know? Why do you want to help him so badly?"

"Because he's a friend! And he's injured." She pointed furiously in Ganyu's direction. During her brief look she noticed that Stith's father looked up. Obviously her words meant something to him. She called him a friend. Akima wasn't so much aware of this yet. Instead she kept talking to the nurse. "I know nobody here wants to help him because he's a Mantrin. But he's a victim of his own people. And his daughter is too, and she's the best friend I ever had. That was before all of this happened!" Finally the nurse seemed to show some level of compassion and understanding. She sighed while considering everything she said. "Now if you don't want to help him at least give me the things I need to do it myself."

Raising her hand, to stop the waterfall of accusations she finally gave in.

"All right. I'll help you. I'll help him. Let me get what I need. Do you know what happened?"

"Shuttle crash on the hangar deck. He's having trouble using his right leg. You might wanna check his lungs too. There was a lot of smoke."

The nurse nodded and went toward the back of the sickbay. Akima watched her for a couple of seconds before she turned around and walked back to the bed. Ganyu had a look in his eyes that warmed her up on the inside entirely. They looked rather moist but she decided not to say anything about it. The officer that grinned at her before laughed mockingly.

"He's your friend? That explains a lot."

"Shut up!" She walked past without even looking at the man. The nurse was already on her way back with a hover cart loaded with the equipment. "Let's have a look at you," Akima said in a friendly manor, walking around the alien's enormous legs, his feet firmly planted on the floor.

The nurse parked the hover cart near the one end of the bed and took a hand-held scanner first. After letting the device do its job for a couple of seconds she nodded approvingly.

"Couple of bumps and bruises. Most of it is superficial. He's lucky he's so tough. His leg needs a couple of minutes of regeneration at most or it might get worse. I'm going to perform some tests on his lungs, see if he hasn't inhaled any harmful compounds." She handed Akima a tissue regenerator and some warm moist cloths to clean the blood which stuck to Ganyu's face. In the meantime Ganyu removed his red long-sleeved uniform shirt which was stained with blood in some places. "You better start with that head injury first."

Akima nodded. She noticed the nurse tried to stay as far away from her patient as possible. Ganyu noticed.

"You can come closer. I really won't bite."

The nurse muttered something under her breath.

"Well, I'm gonna have to if I want to take a closer look at your lungs. I'm Karen by the way."

"Akima."

"Ganyu."

"Could you please bend down a little?" Akima asked.

She wasn't that tall but Ganyu was and she could barely reach the Mantrin's head from her current position. Doing as instructed she took one of the cloths and started cleaning his right cheek.

As Karen installed the regenerator for his leg and configured the device for his physiology and the specific treatment, Akima treated Ganyu's wounds which were fortunately, as Karen had determined, mostly superficial with the tissue regenerator. He was lucky that whatever caused the wound missed his left ear. It was obviously caused by something sharp. Carefully pushing his ear down she noticed how remarkably soft and smooth it was. It was a strangely pleasant sensation and a rare one. Touching a Mantrin's ears was rarely allowed by others than family, very close friends or loved ones and considered a major offense by anyone else. She had even touched Stith's ears only once or twice, once also because of an injury caused by a shoot-out with slave traders on some godforsaken floating pile of junk in a backwater alley of the galaxy. But just like his daughter, Ganyu would be all right and she was glad about it. At least she got someone to help her with him. Cale, who was looking from a distance finally decided to be of help instead of acting like a piece of furniture, asking them if they needed anything.

"Just some water please," Ganyu said quietly, his mighty powerful voice closer to a whisper. Cale nodded and left to get it while the two women continued their work around the large alien. Akima noticed his eyes constantly flashed in her direction and back to the floor. He also opened his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something but decided against. She knew the question which was burning on his tongue and as expected he cracked eventually. "Did you... really mean what you said? Do you really consider me a frie?-"

"Hold still. You're moving." She was almost done with his head injury but because he moved, it went out of her reach. Doing as he was told he moved closer to the human woman and waited patiently for an answer, his muscular tail slowly whipping left and right. The golden eyes with a bit of his daughter's spark in them where hard to say no to. Akima sighed, finishing her work, answering the imploring look first, she tried to smile but she was afraid she left a bit too much seriousness in it. "I told you before. In everything that I've been through, I couldn't have wished for a better friend than Stith. We pulled through where others would have stopped, as a team. Together we were unbeatable. You're her father. That should at least count for something."

For a second his bottom lip quivered when he opened his beak to take a breath but he snorted instead. There was no reply at first but no one could ignore such strong words. He took the glass of cold water Cale handed him and took a couple of big gulps. Turning the glass with the last bit of its contents around in his clawed hands while staring at it he bit his lip.

"I misjudged you. I-I made so many mistakes. I left her alone again. It's my fault."

Putting the glass down -he almost dropped it- covering his face with his hand he sobbed, taking short irregular breaths. Akima swallowed and had trouble doing so. Ganyu was in so much pain. The pain caused by the fear of his daughter being in mortal danger, that it was his fault and that there was nothing he could do to make it right. It got people's attention. They seemed surprised that a Mantrin was capable of showing emotions other than anger. But Akima was way beyond the concept of outer appearances. She wasn't looking at a Mantrin crying instead of shouting or growling. She was looking at a father who was worried sick about his daughter. His child who happened to be her friend. Tears wetted his cheeks. Akima gently placed a hand on his massive shoulder. She was surprised that he actually felt it. In fact he placed his own hand on top of hers and held on to it.

"It's not your fault. She told me she wanted to stay with the Imperial Guard just like you."

But Ganyu didn't reply. Even Karen had temporarily seized her work. She let Ganyu be for a moment as well. After a short while which felt like ages to the people around him he dropped his arms in his lap and immediately thereafter grabbed his head again with his right hand, furiously wiping his tears away.

"I feel like I could just yank my ears off. The pain would actually be less than what I'm feeling right now." He shook his head, the same ears lazily flapping around. He gasped slightly when he felt Akima's hand on his wet cheek, wiping the tears away. His golden eyes looked into hers. He seemed so surprised that the human woman cared for him so much. "Why are you so kind to me? I haven't been very kind to you before."

Akima thought about it for a moment. Was he still expecting her to be upset over the day they met?

"Because I went through the same thing only moments ago. I couldn't find my daughter. Cale and I thought we'd lost her too. That was terrible. But she's in good hands now. Stith is my friend and you've made me worried about her. We're gonna rescue her and everyone who's down there with her."

She seemed surprised that her words came out of her mouth with so much determination, even though she didn't have much of an idea how to get it done. Cale strengthened the latter thought when he heard her say that.

"Akima, how're we gonna do that? We don't have a ship. The Valkyrie is gone and this time I don't think we can build something that is capable of taking us all the way to Sogowa from spare parts. On top of that, I don't think entering Imperial space is even a possibility right now. I suggest we-"

"Cale. We do have a ship. Captain Wright just needs some convincing before he'll give it to us. And we'll just have to mask our signature and stay out of range of their ships. I think the Atlantis even has a couple of the new cloaking devices on board."

The look on Cale's face changed from confusion into surprise and back. He didn't seem to understand how this was going to work. As Karen activated the regenerator and told Ganyu to hold his leg still, she took the scanner again and held a sensor to the center of the Mantrin's chest. She was standing very close to him now, between his massive legs. But she didn't seem afraid and Ganyu tried his best not to be intimidating or threatening, as good as that was possible for someone with his posture, letting his arms rest beside him.

"Okay, I need you to breathe deeply. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Nice and slowly."

He did as she said, breathing deeply but slowly, his enormous chest expanding and contracting with each breath of air. Karen nodded approvingly after a few times.

"Your lungs look okay. I'll give you something just in case. Just stop by if you have any further complaints."

Ganyu nodded gratefully and thanked her. As a final act Karen pressed a hypospray against his skin which was the precautionary medicine she decided to give him. In the meantime Akima finished up on the smaller injuries on other places of his body. He had such a grateful look in his eyes.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what else to say."

"Hmm, well I have a few questions," Akima began, handing Karen the equipment she used.

"Anything, if I can help."

"Do you know where Stith is? What do you know about the situation on your homeworld?"

Ganyu nodded.

"I just came back from a routine patrol when we found out. My Captain informed the entire crew about the situation. I was among the few who figured out that something wasn't right, right away." He sighed. "You know what's going on. They're my people, but from another universe. A much darker place. Their ships are everywhere. I went down to Ta'keth. Not to the palace right away. I had some stuff to take care of in the city first but they were there too already. Patrols. Forces from the other universe. They were harassing civilians, asking all sorts of questions. I even saw them taking people away for questioning, or other things I didn't want to know about." He shook his head. Akima and Cale drew close to him, listening carefully. "It was then that I realized that the situation was worse than I thought. I tried to contact someone in the palace. My daughter, Kero, the Palace Guard, even The'lah. No response from any of them. And the Son of the Empire was orbiting the planet but they weren't responding to my hails either." He shook his head again and scratched behind his right ear. "I got to the palace but it was heavily guarded by those other Mantrins. When I asked them about my daughter they never even heard her name. They wouldn't even let me enter the palace grounds after I told them who I was, so I left." He balled his fists. "I was angry. I wanted to know what was going on exactly. I knew my daughter was in danger. That's when I went back to the spaceport and noticed I was being followed. They had their eyes on me too. I realized I had to do something fast. Instinct got me where I am now. They were about to arrest me but I managed to get to one of the brand new warp-capable shuttles which stood there ready for takeoff. I fled. I knew there were only a few people who might be able to help me. That's why I came to you. I heard about Earth's destruction. But I knew, and sorry if I offend you by saying this, that they wouldn't be able to kill you all. They couldn't do so the first time. The Drej and those monsters who dare to call themselves children of Kirliya." He put his uniform shirt back on, careful not to move his leg. "I have to get back. I need to get Stith and her family... my family outta there."

It wasn't hard for Akima to imagine how he felt. She felt the same thing. She felt obligated to help. She was certain that Stith would've done everything in her power to get her out of there if the roles were reversed. Cale had a few questions of his own to ask however.

"But how did you find us? And your shuttle was pretty damaged too. I hope you weren't being followed."

Ganyu shook his head. He smiled faintly.

"If you're a bridge officer for as long as I've been you'll learn a few tricks to make sure people can't find or follow you. That wasn't the hardest part. I was shot a couple of times during my escape from Sogowa but the shuttle's shields took care of that. No, the hardest part was when I finally found your fleet by following one of the groups on their way to the rendezvous. They were hard to track but being an officer aboard a science ship has a handy side. It was actually your fleet that began shooting at me the moment I entered the system. They only spared my life because I asked them to be taken as a prisoner, deactivated my weapons and even my shields."

"Fortunately there're still a few people willing to listen to reason," Akima sighed.

He could have died. They could've destroyed his shuttle with a few well-placed shots. Ganyu was lucky to be alive.

"Okay, listen up. This is what we're gonna do. I'm gonna convince Captain Wright to give us a ship, a shuttle at least. It's gonna need some modifications. That's where you come in, Cale. You're gonna make us invisible to every possible eye. We're going to Sogowa and we're gonna rescue Stith."

Cale obviously still had his doubts but before he could express them, Korso and Brian entered the sickbay, Brian with his wife Alicia, looking for their friends. Karen deactivated the regenerator after a final scan of Ganyu's leg and gathered the final pieces of equipment. She was ready to dismiss her patient.

"Try your leg. It's all right. You can stand."

Pushing himself up, Ganyu tried his leg by shifting weight between left and right, moving his feet and stretching a little. In order for him to do this, they had to move back quite a lot.

"Feels okay," he grunted. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Karen said with a friendly smile.

She left the group alone and continued her duties, wishing them good luck as she overheard most of the conversation. Korso and Brian greeted Ganyu formally but Alicia was a bit hesitant as she didn't know him and seemed a bit afraid of him as well.

"Don't worry dear, he won't hurt ya," Brian said with an arm around her shoulder.

She wasn't entirely convinced yet but they did exchange a greeting and a weak smile. The officers however immediately went on with the more serious issues.

"Okay, what did we miss?" Cale asked, crossing his arms.

"Not that much," Korso replied. He paused for a moment for a message from Captain Wright over the com. "Hold on a sec. We're gonna jump first." There was the faint sound of warp coils spooling up, followed by a slight vibration and a bump as the Atlantis jumped. They had to keep the fleet on the move to avoid the Drej and the Mantrins. After the jump to warp speed, Korso continued. "It is actually rather simple. Time travel using the trans-dimensional gates as a medium. According to Doctor Richardson and the science division's research, stable portals have rather unique properties that will allow them to be used as time traveling devices. Normally they'll lead to another universe, parallel, in a different time, a different place and there're many other factors. Brian, if you'd be so kind?"

"Sure Joe. Basically they wanna use a coherent Tachyon beam directed into a stable portal to open up a temporal rift. That way, they can make the one end of the portal lead back to the same universe but in a different timeframe. In other words, time travel. The only problem is that it will take time to set this up. It requires an enormous load of calculations and one small mistake can make the whole thing blow up in our faces. It could cause a massive temporal incursion that will destroy more than it'll fix. Careful planning, no mistakes, with the Drej and the Mantrins, no offense, gunning for us. Hunting us down till the last human child."

A moment of silence followed. The execution of this plan required time. Time Akima wanted to use to plan and execute her own mission. To rescue Stith and her family from the evil counterparts of her own people. She had other things on her mind.

"Okay, Cale are you with me?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Cale gave in.

"I'll inform the rest of the crew, if you can get us a ship. One that is at least capable of getting us in and out alive."

"Don't you worry too much about that."

"Ehm, guys? Is there something we should know about?" Brian asked with a frown, one copied by Korso.

"We'll fill ya in when this is done. We've got our own jobs to do."

And with those as her final words and nothing left to do in sickbay, Akima took the first firm steps toward the exit where the security officers were still waiting.

"You really think you can make it down there? Are you out of your mind?"

"Can it douchebag. I'm going to Captain Wright. The Mantrin is on our side so you can resume your play of the security guard somewhere else."

"Still need the Captain's signature for that."

"Yeah, well let me get that for ya."

"Are you sure you're feeling well, Commander? Did that Mantrin knock you on the head or something?"

Of course this was the reaction she expected. She was quite sure he could be convinced, but she needed to throw in everything she got.

"No, sir. He did not and I am quite well. Thank you for asking."

Wright grunted, muttering something under his breath. He slowly started walking back and forth through his ready room. The fleet was still on the move and would arrive at their next temporary destination soon. So far they hadn't been attacked but that could change at any second.

"Have you taken a good look around lately? Earth has been destroyed, once again, in the same way, by the same enemy. Only this time they're even stronger. We are, and forgive me for using the word, in deep shit here. And you want to go to their homeworld to rescue your friend? You'll never make it."

Akima sighed. Okay, this is it.

"With all due respect sir, you're wrong. We are wrong and we have been all along. Ganyu gave us a lot of useful information about what's going on in the Empire at the moment. He'll be happy to share that info of course."

Wright scoffed.

"I'm sure you have your reasons to trust him. All right, I'll consider not making him a prisoner. But back to the main issue here. Suppose you manage to rescue your friend. What do we get out of it? We can spare one ship. Got other things to take care of anyway, like working on a way to turn this entire crisis around. You don't suppose rescuing your friend can turn things around? If I understand correctly their government has been overthrown by their own kind from a different universe."

"No sir," Akima answered honestly. "But I do believe and Ganyu knows for sure that there are those still loyal to Emperor Zahn and the Tiraya family. They are victims just as much as we are. We might be able to win some of them for us. We can use their help. Think about it."

Wright took a breath and turned around to look at the window through which the stars shooting past could be seen. It took a while for him to make his decision but Akima waited patiently and hoped for the best. With his approval or not, she was going to find a way to rescue Stith. She owed that to her friend.

"I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'll have one of the larger warp-capable craft assigned to your crew. You're not going to get very far without that cloaking generator so I'll get you one too. What I can't spare is personnel so you're gonna have to make the modifications yourself. If there is nothing else, Commander?"

"Just one more thing, sir. How're we gonna find our way back to you?"

"We're still deciding which portal we're going to use. The details will be made clear in the next few days. It's gonna take time and that's the time you have for your mission. Is that all, Commander?"

"That'll be all, sir. Thank you, Captain."

"Then your dismissed." After saluting, she made a quick turn toward the doors with her heart still beating a little fast from excitement. Hold on girl, I'm coming for ya. "Oh and Commander? Good luck."