Hobbes and Lex stared at each other as the knocking came again.
"You need to answer it." Lex hissed.
Hobbes nodded, then silently mouthed the words "Back door. Forest."
Lex nodded back quickly. Shouldering her pack she shadowed Hobbes down the stairs, making for the back door. The rapping came again, more insistent this time. Hobbes stood in the hall with her heart in her mouth as Lex moved silently down towards the kitchen. In the doorway she paused, holding up both hands, fingers outspread "Count of ten." They shared a brief smile and then Lex was gone, disappearing as she activated her cloaking device.
The medic swallowed hard and tried to calm herself, smoothing down her hair as she counted under her breath. When the knock rattled the door again, she called "I'm coming!" and walked as calmly as she could manage to answer it.
She recognised the caller as Sergeant Jim Hernandez, a member of the local police force. Hobbes partially relaxed, she knew Jim to say 'hello' to. He sometimes stopped by her bar, though not in an official capacity because the Trading Post wasn't that sort of place. He drank there because he wanted a quiet, off-duty beer somewhere he wouldn't see anything that would mean he'd have to go back on duty.
"Hey Jim," She smiled, "What can I do for you?"
"Hey there, Alice," He touched his cap brim, "Just doing the rounds, we've had some reports of suspicious persons in the area; you ain't seen nothin' strange?"
Hobbes tried to look concerned, "What kind of strange?"
"Not seen anybody behaving strangely, not had anyone creeping around the place, break-ins, that kind of thing?"
"No, I haven't seen anyone, Gabe and the girls are away. I've just been sitting on the couch watching daytime tv."
"On the couch? You got flooding right now?"
"What? Oh..." Hobbes followed his gaze downward to look at the bottom of her jeans, which were muddy and soaked with snowmelt from her trek up to the landing site.
"Been out for a morning hike?" Hernandez said. His tone was friendly but Hobbes felt suddenly wary: it seemed an odd question to ask. Her eyes flickered past him to the patrol car parked in her driveway. Another cop she didn't recognise sat there. That was unusual. Hobbes lived in a small town - you didn't routinely see cops patrolling in pairs.
"Just out in the yard. Raccoons turned over the trash cans." She improvised at random.
"Oh yeah?" Hernandez raised his eyebrows, "You sure it was raccoons?"
Hobbes shrugged helplessly "You really think there could be someone sneaking around out there?"
"Mind if we take a look out back?"
Hobbes opened her mouth to protest, but what could she say? A genuinely concerned householder would want the police to have a look around - it would seem weird if she refused. "Sure." She said, hoping Lex was far away by now.
As he gave the nod to his partner, "You go round the side!" He called as the other man got out of the car.
As she showed Hernandez through the house to the back door, Hobbes got the distinct impression he was here for something more specific than a routine patrol but told herself that she was being silly.
As they stepped out onto the back porch the other cop called out "Hey you gotta come look at this!"
Hernandez told her to wait on the porch while he disappeared around the side of the house. While he was gone, Hobbes looked around: she couldn't see any sign of Lex although there were footprints across the snow. After a moment, Hernandez came back, "Alice, you sure you ain't had no problems with break-ins out here?"
"No, none."
"And you ain't been climbing out the window this morning?"
Hobbes shook her head, nonplussed - then felt a little ice cold trickle of doubt as she remembered about Spyrro's escape.
"Cos we've got what looks like evidence of an intruder," Hernandez was watching her carefully - or was it her imagination? "There's a broken window and some tracks in the snow, you sure you ain't seen nothing?"
Hobbes shook her head again, not trusting herself to speak. She could feel inexplicable fear rising in her stomach. She tried to tell herself she was just letting Lex's paranoia rub off on her. Of course the police would treat a broken window as suspicious. She prayed they would assume her shocked expression was down fear of a possible break-in.
Half an hour later, she had made them both a cup of coffee and she was sitting in the kitchen with Hernandez and going over a severely edited version of the morning's events, when she was startled to hear another knock at the door. She realised Hernandez was looking at her, "I'll just get that." She said awkwardly.
She opened it to find another man standing there, this time she was pretty sure he wasn't a local."Definitely military or at least ex-military." She thought. He had blue eyes and dark hair in an army buzz-cut and was mid-height and broad shouldered. He wore a suit rather than a uniform, but as an ex-soldier herself, she could tell.
"Ms Hobbes?"
"It's Mrs." Hobbes said, frostily.
"Ma'am, I'm Stan Ostrowski,"
"What can I do for you?"
Behind him she could see an anonymous looking black car and another man, also military by the looks of him, but wearing less formal attire than Ostrowski.
"With your permission, we're just going to have a little look around your place?"
"Now, wait just a minute," No stranger to the military police, Hobbes could feel herself tensing up "I'm not going to just let you search my house without a warrant or any kind of explanation! Who are you and what the hell is all this about?"
"Well Ma'am," Ostrowski's mouth turned up at the corners, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, "I was hoping you could help us with that."
Scar sat at the console of the Chameleon, long legs stretched out in front of him as he pressed coordinates into the navicom. They had been on this planet for some time, staying for as long as he had considered necessary for his sons to continue testing their skills against the Avissa. Now, they had killed enough of the creatures to satisfy him and harvested sufficient supplies of Thei-De Nanth'e' into the bargain. Scar felt it was time to move on. He had driven them hard recently, been more exacting in their training. Both boys were sitting in the cockpit with him, sharpening and priming their weapons, as he had taught them. Selim seemed calm and self-contained as ever but he could still detect a sullenness about Isaac: "That one has inherited my temper!" He mused. "He needs to learn more self-discipline."
"Like you have learned it S'Kia?" He could imagine R'Zuul's mocking laugh, knowing only too well what his old mentor would have said."You are hardly qualified to lecture anyone about self-restraint!"
Snorting to himself, he touched the navicom again. He lingered for a few moments over the image of To'Phet, the planet hanging there, round and glowing. Then he dismissed it with a snarl. He was idly flicking through schematics of different worlds when the console lit up, signalling an incoming transmission.
He frowned, spiky brows creasing "Who would contact me, way out here?"
He stretched out a talon to press the button.
"Scar, this is Lex! We need you!"
He shot to his feet. There was a gasp from Selim behind him and a clang as Isaac dropped the whetstone he had been using to sharpen his blades onto the metal deck. Scar did not hear either of them. Even though there was no picture, even distorted by stress, there was no need for her to name herself; he knew her the second she spoke. He stood absolutely still while, inside him, chaos reigned.
"Is that Mei'Varsi?" Selim demanded, but Scar silenced him with a gesture.
"Spyrro is in danger! She's taken the Dragonfly and locked me out of flight controls. She's about to leave Earth's atmosphere and I think she's headed towards you but I have no way to go after her."
Both boys were on their feet now, staring in amazement at the screen, as if that would somehow show them more than the luminous sound graph on the display.
"I know something went wrong between us, but please… you have to bring her back!"
There was a crunch of static, then the console went quiet.
"That was Mom!" Isaac burst out.
"It sounds like she's in trouble!" Selim said hoarsely.
Both boys turned towards Scar uncertainly, not knowing what reaction to expect. Since the start of the message playback, he had not moved a muscle. He stood with his back to them and neither one could see the expression on his face.
"Mei'Savir?" Selim asked hesitantly.
"S'Kia?" Isaac said, with rather more sharpness.
Finally, their father seemed to notice them again. He shook himself like somebody waking out of a daze and turned to look at their shocked faces. Whatever emotions he might have felt, they didn't show. "You have point three of a unit to stow your gear and make yourselves ready for take-off." He said. (about 15 minutes)
Selim and Isaac didn't wait to be told twice. They snatched up weapons and armour, sliding blades and firearms into holsters and cases, all of which had to be stored in the many lockers around the Chameleon, intended to stop equipment floating around in the cockpit during space flight. Both knew they could not afford to be sloppy: nobody wanted to suddenly find a bladed weapon flying at their face during a high speed manoeuvre.
Scar was still standing at the console, entering coordinates into the navicom. Selim paused next to him, "Where are we going Mei'Savir?" He asked, Isaac coming to join him as he craned over Scar's shoulder.
Their Father did not answer his question, but carried on punching the controls. "Strap yourselves in." He said.
The boys scrambled into the co-pilot seats on either side of Scar, dragging the large safety harnesses across their chests as their father secured himself in the pilot's chair and hit the control to engage the Chameleon's turbines. They remained silent as the roaring of the engines shook the cockpit.
"But what about Mother's message?" Selim demanded finally, when they had broken free of the planet's atmosphere. "What about Spyrro? Are we not going to find her?"
Scar did not turn to look at him,"Of course, we must retrieve your sister."
"I do not understand what has happened," Selim frowned. "Why would Spyrro run away?!"
"Maybe she got sick of being cut off from half her family!" Muttered Isaac.
Scar glanced sharply at his second son, then shook his locks irritably. "Whatever the reason," He said "She is at great risk out here alone, all the more so if the ship is indeed decloaked."
"At risk from who?" Isaac said.
"You forget Mei'Sika, the Dragonfly is originally a… Bad Blood ship… like the Chameleon. If her trajectory holds true, that takes her to us… through Rough Skull space."
"So what?" Isaac asked "It's not like she's going to attack anyone!"
Scar turned to him with one scaly brow raised, "A rival clan ship ... in Rough Skull territory? What do you…. think they will do?"
"They would shoot her down," Selim said worriedly "Father, she could be killed!"
"Exactly." Scar nodded grimly "But even if she were to be taken alive her chances of long-term survival may not be much better!"
"But why?" Isaac burst out "She's just a little kid! Why would they hurt her?"
"Yes Father," Selim said slowly "I thought yautja had a code of honour - why would they hurt a lone juvenile like Spyrro?"
"Because she may unwittingly reveal to them who... and what she is," Scar took a deep breath, "Spyrro is half human, just like both of you. Her very existence would be considered a grave blasphemy."
"But why?" Selim's expression showed hurt and puzzlement "Why should that be?"
Scar sighed heavily. "I have never discussed these things in front of them - so of course they do not understand," He thought. "Perhaps it is time they do!"
"Yautja," He said "Do not consider humans as their equals."
Selim looked affronted. "Are you saying the clan would disapprove of us?"
"More than disapprove. The Rough Skulls consider humans a subspecies - dumb animals, mere livestock! To spawn offspring with one they will see as … unspeakable: an abominable crime. Something that should be exterminated."
Both brothers absorbed this information in shocked silence. As Scar leaned forward over the console to make some adjustments to their course, they exchanged a horrified look behind his back.
"Then why did you?" Isaac said hotly, "Why did we ever get born if humans are so pathetic and stupid and inferior - "
Scar turned to look at him, "Do not push me, Mei'Sika." He said quietly.
Isaac blanched. In the corner of his eye he caught a pale, warning look from Selim, and he hastily shut his mouth. In truth he was half relieved to let the subject drop. He felt like he was hovering on the edge of some awful pit of secrets. Right now, he had no wish to go further into those murky depths.