Chapter 23: Chapter 9 ( Crash site)

A shadow appeared over the Petronian; her vision was blurry, but she recognised the blue and gold Inuksuk symbol on the midnight blue SAF (Space Air Force) uniform.

It was Yuka, pointing a Streak-gun at the enemy pilot. She said, "Drop your weapon." He slowly turned, looked up, turned back to look at Izzy and smirked. Yuka took a few steps toward him, placed her weapon on his head and said, "Obedience is not mandatory but trust me, it is HIGHLY recommended."

He finally pushed his weapon toward Izzy while Yuka took a few steps backwards, picked up a wrench and hit him on the head.

She ran to look at Izzy's injuries, "Oh my gods Izzy, I don't think I can move you."

Izzy nodded, but her breathing was getting even slower. She whispered, "Adrena......"

Yuka nodded, pulled an adrenaline pen from her uniform, and injected her.

She screamed, but it boosted her strength "Take him; his Glider is still outside. Take him to his Glider and fly him to Alliance space."

Yuka shook her head "what about you? You will bleed out."

Izzy forced a smile "we need his Glider to study it and I want him questioned; i think he was here for me, I was targeted, I want to know why."

Yuka gasped "Izzy, I can't leave you here. Forget about him, we will capture another pilot. I am taking you with me."

Yuka held out her hand to her Yerima but Izzy pushed it away "I am expendable; if I die I will be replaced. They are after me and my family; we need to know why. Take him, quickly."

Yuka shook her head again "no way; I am not letting you die here. besides, we probably already have some of those Gliders."

"If they had one, they would have shown us a plan of the drop's mechanism, but they didn't. We have a chance to fill this gap. Take the bloody Gliderdrop to our people."

Yuka was shaking her head, and tears had started running down her cheeks. She took her Yerima's hand and was sobbing, "please don't make me do this. Please let me stay with you, Yerima. I will send out a distress beacon; we will be rescued."

"Or Petra will find us first, and all will be lost. I am not asking anymore; grab him and take his craft to our space. This is a direct order from your Yerima."

Yuka started, "please...."

"Enough. I have made my decision, and it is final. Go...., now," said Izzy

Yuka raised Izzy's hand to her mouth and kissed it, "May the gods clear your path to Valhalla."

The last image Izzy saw before losing consciousness was Yuka shooting the Petronian with a Syngun to ensure he did not wake up during transport.

Everything was spinning, Izzy couldn't get up. She opened her eyes, she was on a bed, a bandage on her waist; she attempted to get up, but an intense pain hit her. She smiled, pain meant that she was alive, and the bandage meant she had been rescued.

She heard a knock at the door, oh wait, what if I was rescued by the Petronians? She looked around and it looked familiar; she frowned, but said in a tired voice, "come in."

A guard wearing the Korsning colours, gold, rosewood red and Egyptian blue came in and she felt relieved. He read her a list of people requesting to see her; she noticed Yuka's name, and her face lit up.

"Guard, what's your name?" asked Izzy

"Sean O'Connor, your imperial highness"

"You are not a northerner. Who gave you this assignment?" she asked

"Your imperial highness, it came directly from the council of war."

Izzy nodded "Oh, must be my aunt then, makes sense. Well, Sean, it's your lucky day; your assignment is now your holiday. Go, have fun; your guard duties are no more."

He opened his eyes in shock but kept quiet, smiled, bowed, and started to walk backwards when she said, "Oh and please do me a favour, let Yuka Jakobsen know that I will be delighted to see her. And please stop calling me your imperial highness, Yerima will do"

He smiled "Agreed, your imperial ...., I meant Yerima", she laughed and waved him away

A few minutes later, there was another knock

It was Yuka!

"Yuka! you are safe. You made it," said Izzy

But Yuka was still standing at the door, staring at her. Her eyes started to fill, and she let out a sob. Izzy tried to get up, but a sharp pain crippled her, and she let out a moan.

Yuka ran to her side and gently pushed her back on her pillows. She pushed Izzy's hair back, sat on the chair next to the bed, took her hand and kissed it while still weeping.

Izzy caressed her hair gently "I am so sorry, I had to send you away. Do you understand? Please tell me you understand why I had to do that"

Yuka was silent, Izzy asked "Who rescued me?"

Yuka raised her head and looked at Izzy. Her jaw was tense, and her bottom lip was trembling.

Izzy frowned, "what happened after I lost consciousness?"

Yuka took a big breath "I tried to carry him, but he was too heavy. I couldn't even drag him out, so I decided to strip him of his uniform."

"What? Why?" asked Izzy and she burst out laughing, despite the pain; she could not help herself.

Yuka continued "I was hoping he would be lighter that way." She raised one brow and a shoulder then added "Plus I had never seen a naked Petronians before. People are right, they are a beautiful race with those scales of them."

"Oh, my gods; did you take pictures?" asked Izzy

Yuka giggled, "you bet I did."

She pulled an HPA which is a holographic photo album shaped like a glass tile and switched it on for her Yerima.

Since the war with Petra, Yans had learned a lot about their enemy's physiognomy. They had discovered that like chameleons, Petronians' skin has a few layers; crystals called selective mirrors made the layers.

Petronians' skin also allows light to travel through their skin; it hits the crystals and bounces through pigments in the layer above.

The colour changes depending on how the light's angle hits their skin; it serves them well when they want to hide.

But being able to admire it from all angles was beyond what Izzy expected. She was so busy admiring the Petronian's skin that she had forgotten to ask about his craft or as Yuka called it, 'the northern girls' spoils of war.'

Izzy said, "continue, how did you get him into his craft?"

Yuka smirked "Believe it or not he was easier to drag undressed. I restrained him and went to check his glider; it did not take me long to be able to open it. Remember the old gliders?"

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Izzy nodded, and Yuka continued "the Gliderdrops have the same mechanism. I must admit, the Glidersdrops are even more beautiful up close. Its black coat has silver shimmering; is a work of art. It also has random specks of glitter and glass, making them sparkle in the light just like their skin; these people have thought of everything,"

"Maybe I should get myself one," said Izzy

Yuka giggled, "You and me both. Anyway, when I boarded it, I was not disappointed. The interior is light grey and cream, gorgeous, but the most impressive part was the pilot cabin. The technology is much more advanced than anything they ever had. It has plating changes, interface driving and scanners three times more powerful than their previous Gliders."

She then hesitated then added "then I went back and got you. I'm sorry, I just couldn't leave you there to die."

Izzy smiled and said, "thank you for saving my life."

Yuka turned red and nodded.

"What happened next?" asked Izzy

"I got curious and checked their database. Oh, and I also found an auto stretcher which I used to get you and the pilot on board"

Izzy frowned, "Hold on, what about his venom; did he release it?"

Yuka shook her head "no, he didn't have time."

Petronian secrete a venom that burns their target. Some of them can turn their venom into a mist, creating and infect an intimate space of two by three metres. The venom stings the eyes causing temporary blindness; the skin suffers burning pain and blister.

But the worst is what it does to the respiratory system; the inhaler feels a burning sensation in the nose and throat as soon as they inhale the mist. Coughing and shortness of breath follows; although not fatal, the effect last for five to seven days.

She continued, "I had already e-cuffed his hands and feet, so I wasn't worried about him waking up. I engaged the autopilot and directed it to Alliance space. As soon as we got there, I activated the distress beacon; two vessels showed up; a Huginn/Muninn battlecruiser and a Space Dragon."

Huginn/Muninn or HMs are the Alliance all-black vessels in the shape of a raven. They are heavily armed, as much or even more than Petronians battleships and faster than any other cruiser in the known galaxy; the only problem is that Petronians battleships are more protected and therefore harder to destroy.

Space Dragons or SDs, however, are science vessels. They are in the form of the blue dragon, a sea slug.

They dressed the SDs impress; it symbolises the Alliance's superiority in science and indicates the Alliance's love for advancement in all fields.

They have bright blue undersides and a silver backside and are floating science stations. They rescued the girls, and the air force took the Gliderdrop to be studied.

Yuka then started to look around the room; "By Freya Izzy, your cabin is so pretty and big compared to mine."

Yuka was right about that; officers and Members of the Tens cabins are spacious with a separate dressing area, a full bathroom, and a double bed. It also has an adjacent living space with a sofa and a desk.

Izzy also looked around and said, "Yes, it is, I can hardly believe we are in a battlecruiser."

Yuka was not that lucky; the navy crammed cadets into tiny cabins with grey walls and only one porthole; each cabin housed two cadets.

The trip took ten days rather than the usual three days; the ship was still trying to find more survivors. Izzy asked Yuka to share her cabin allowing the girls to bond even more.

Izzy found a packed recreational room when she first walked into the room; even the captain was there. They had set it up with Yuka; the students wanted to thank their princess for saving them.

Izzy oblivious to it was still chatting away when she heard claps; everyone was clapping for her. She turned red, made a face at Yuka, placed her hand on her heart and bowed. Tears of gratitude fell on her face, and she hugged her friend.

And the staring continued but for another reason. The Members of the Tens usually had separate living spaces and never interacted with anyone else. Commoners relaxing in the same room as the Yerima was unheard of.

Cadets surrounded Yuka when she went to get the drinks "Hi, you are Yuka, right?"

Yuka smiled and nodded; the girl added "We remember you from the presentation."

Another cadet said, "you seem to be really close with the Yerima."

"Yes, I am," replied Yuka while crossing her arms.

"Could you introduce us to her imperial highness?" asked another one

She raised one shoulder, "I'll think about it;" she then picked up her drinks and made her way back to her table.

A giggle escaped Izzy's mouth, "what was going on there? You look pretty pleased with yourself."

Yuka laughed, "more people wanting an introduction."

Izzy raised a brow "and...."

Yuka shrugged, "I told them I'd think about it."

Izzy gasped "what? I am fine with it; I don't mind."

Yuka leaned back on her chair and stared at Izzy; "Please let me enjoy my newfound power"

Izzy shook her head and burst out laughing.

"Yuka, why did you choose the armed forces?" asked Izzy

Yuka shrugged "I didn't choose the armed forces; I chose to be an engineer with wings, and you can't be one unless you join the air force."

Izzy shrugged and raised a brow "true"

Yuka then jutted with her chin at the other cadets "Is it bad that I enjoy having girls like them being envious of me?"

Izzy glanced at the girls, "What do you mean by 'girls like them'?"

"Children of essentialists"

Izzy nodded; she knew what dynasties meant to the empire. The empire started as a monarchy/meritocracy but over time skills that were considered essential for the growth of the empire kept changing. After a few civil wars, the Yans decided to move from a strict meritocracy to a social meritocracy; it worked but it was not perfect.

The essentialists, a group just below the aristocrats, are people working in a field that is vital for the growth of the Yan society.

Izzy placed her hand on Yuka's "and now you are one of them"

Yuka giggled "Yes, I am a big bad essentialist. I intend to be the most sought after one" and she winked at Izzy.

By the time they reached Yanar, Yuka had yet to introduce Izzy to anyone, but she knew she would have to eventually and that idea filled her with dread. She didn't want to lose the person who had now become her best friend.   

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