Over the next few days, Lana focused on studying while Shalt and Fiza supported her with the menial tasks. At many intervals, she read her books to the babies who stared up at her with wonder in their eyes. She finally got to the point where she felt she knew what all the symbols meant by heart. She stood up and stretched. She watched as Olivia took several steps across the floor. Owen was happy crawling, it seemed. That, or he was frustrated that walking was so hard.
Winnifred burst through the door, unexpectantly. "The teleporter is down! I can't get to the kids!"
Lana scooped up Owen. Shalt grabbed Olivia and Caser ran down the stairs hearing the words. They all raced to the command post. "Report!" she yelled as she entered.
Kattie called down, "come up!"
Lana saw footage of combat on the Cursed Ship. Terror struck her heart. She raced upstairs where Kattie waited for her. Seeing the look on Lana's face, Kattie got right to the point.
"All three factions are under attack. A mothership has been sent to every planet inhabited by humans. In addition, the Blades have attacked the Cursed Ship with a whole bunch of ability users. Bonnie and Voyd were on the ship when it started so we are getting footage of that."
Lana nodded. "I'm going to Caladi. Send the other ship to the former Crow planet. Try to get our people out of there. Shalt, take Caser and the kids to my ship. I need to get the bags of provisions from my lab. They may be needed."
She flew to her lab and grabbed both bags from their hiding places. They had energy bars among other medical supplies, so Lana had to hide them from Sil. She flew back just a Kattie, Almin and Biff were approaching the other ship. Kattie kissed Almin and the two men were getting ready to board the ship when Lana landed in front of them. She quickly opened a bag, explained the contents and handed it to them.
"Stay safe out there."
She literally flew into her ship that was already, closed the door and was taking off before she was even buckled in. On the screen, Lana could see Nate fighting with the Chained. Lana had been told by Sil what conditions the Chained were kept in but her heart sank seeing their condition. They all looked weak, underfed. She wondered how some of them were even able to function.
Lana watched at the screen suddenly divided into 4 squares as more cameras were activated. Nate was fighting a strong person with Layla as backup. Lana was proud of how strong she had gotten. Soon, they were fighting a man everyone thought was dead. Burnie Sunshield. He had not been killed. He had been taken as one of Hilston's Chained. This was a hard fight for the Cursed Faction's finest. By the end of the fight with Burnie, Nate and Layla were tired and hurting but Burnie was discarded flesh.
Lana noticed Quinn wasn't there, likely out fighting the dalki in his own way.
On another screen, Lana saw the Blade children engage the invaders. She was both proud and enraged that children were forced into such a situation. She felt bad for all involved. The Chained could earn freedom. The Blades were fighting to keep it. Suddenly an old man saw the children and refused to fight them. He joined them instead and started fighting the Chained. Lana smiled with a lump in her throat. His ability was lightning.
The main hall looked like a battlefield. She didn't know hardly any of them but these were Quinn's people. She winced as each fell to their injuries but, despite the enemy being numerous, they were still getting the upper hand. Dennis, Sam and a few others joined those in the main hall after setting the injured Nate and Layla in a training room, out of the way
In another square, Lana saw two beasts fighting a blond female and a blond male. She didn't know them but clearly Raten and Vorden were fighting members of their family. It was in interesting fight. She wanted to keep watching but she was looking for Sil. He was suddenly on camera beating a greying blond man in the canteen shouting, "they need me!" The man lay on the floor and Sil ran off to help his family.
They were hours away from Caladi when the footage of the cameras indicated shaking. Soon, dalki were added to the fighting, and Lana was looking at a huge 5-spike dalki with a massive tail, fighting the man she knew as Hilston, thanks to the trees in what was formerly Dream City.
Soon one of the four panels went out then another came back online with a lower pixel rating indicating a camera was destroyed in the fighting and another was now in use. It seemed like minutes had gone by with Lana's heart in her throat and the whole ship was crashing. She knew that was what was happening because she heard Logan's voice telling everyone they were and to brace for impact. The planet they were crashing on? Caladi.
Lana looked at their estimated time of arrival. Two hours. She watched the footage as people were thrown around the interior of the ship a though they were paper. Even Logan, who had the most warning, wasn't properly braced. Soon people were leaving the ship. The camera even caught a small snippet of a man and woman running off through the desert. Lana couldn't be sure but it reminded her of the man Sil fought.
Now the cameras were showing the dalki and Hilston fighting in the dessert. Dalki were running out of the shelter to meet the humans and vampires. Those human who didn't run for their freedom, that was. The kids were struggling. They had been trained to fight humans, not dalki that get stronger with injury. The lightning user was right there supporting them but it was clear he was injured. Lana marveled at how well the kids listened and they followed him. Still, she didn't see all of them.
Soon, only the footage of the fight between the dalki and Hilston was shown. As they approached, Lana told Shalt to scan for life signs. She needed to find the kids before more were lost.
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This story has been re-written as an original story called Feisty Fae. I took my experience from this writing to make the story better. The new version is Romance/Fantasy Adventure. I hope you enjoy it.