"All the guards and Zirkan mages have been rounded up. Human guards will be turned over to the local authorities, but the Zirkan mages will be escorted back to base for questioning. GDF and the international space council have agreed that you will be joining us for the interrogation, Rywa. Then we'll turn them over to your group to deal with as you see fit," said Chris.
Rywa nodded. "We'll take them back to Zirka, where they will be doled out their punishments."
"What about the Zirkan wildlife?" Karl looked hopefully at Rywa.
Rywa looked conflicted. "Let's go back in first, there's something I need to confirm."
Rywa touched one of the bio chambers, examining the creature inside. Clenching his other hand, his expression grew dark. The others quietly watched as he went on to the next chamber. And then the next one. He kept going until he had checked each and every bio chamber down to the last one, then finally shook his head. Karl's heart sank.
"But the monitors on the bio chambers still indicate vital signs. Is there really no way we can save them?" Bianca asked, her tone desperate.
Rywa shook his head then turned towards Karl. "Pardon me," he said, before touching the projection gem Karl was wearing as a pendant. Their communicators projected a board in the room where they found the hele pup.
"In one of the rooms Karl and I investigated earlier, there were diagrams detailing the experiments. One of them was this."
Rywa showed them an illustration of a full grown hele with its body parts labelled. On the chest, there was something that looked like a starburst with an arrow pointing to an identical starburst outside the hele's body.
Viernn gasped, then spat out every syllable with scorn "That monster!"
"Within every living being, there is light. A starlight shared with their planet's own starcore. Big or small, whether their life is long or fleeting, though the intensity and power may differ, everyone shares that same light. And the experiments being done here were to extract that very light.
Once you've taken that light out of a living being's body, all that's left is an empty shell. Though the shell might still be physically alive, like all the ones in here, they are no longer with us. They're no different from living corpses."
Bianca covered her mouth, despondent.
Tala's face contorted with repulsion. "And after the extraction was done, that bastard kept them alive in these bio chambers and did as he pleased with their bodies. So that was what he meant when he called them 'by-products'"
"I'm afraid so," Rywa's voice was laced with grief. "The only thing we can do now is give them a proper send off."
"What can we do to help?" asked Chris.
Rywa looked up at the creature inside of the bio chamber with a reptilian lower half and an avian upper body, wings folded and bound. Touching the transparent tube, he looked at Chris and said "Please help me take them out of here so we can perform a sending."
Chris nodded. "Got it. Let's start with deactivating these bio chambers and taking out what we can. Once we're back outside, I'll contact GDF and request for more manpower."
"Captain, we have a problem. All the exits are all blocked," Bianca projected the map from her watch. "That ship earlier caused damage to the ground above this facility, blocking off the exits. They must have intended to bury us down here."
"Viernn, do you still have teleport gems?" asked Rywa.
Viernn took out a small pouch from her pocket. "I do, but not enough to take all of us out including all the guards and mages."
Seeing all the guards tense up, Bianca gave them a cold glance and taunted. "Then maybe we should just leave them behind."
"Viernn, please take Tala and Bianca with you and teleport out of here. The rest of us will figure our way out," said Chris.
"All right. Ladies, please hold on to me." Bianca and Tala held on to each of Viernn's arms then disappeared.
"We might be able to get out from the hangar if we can blast open the gate," Karl suggested.
Rywa called on Sahd to do the job. With Chris in front and then Karl and Rywa at the rear, they ushered the guards and mages towards the hangar. Chris conjured a barrier around everyone to protect them from the oncoming blast.
"Ready when you are, Captain Norland," Sahd spoke over the comms.
"We're all set. Go ahead."
The hangar's gate flew off in one powerful shot.
After everyone got out of the facility, Sahd and Viernn joined the GDF operatives who escorted the guards and mages back to GDF.
Team Aceso, who came to treat the hele pup and other wildlife Lin and Hogan had taken out earlier, was getting ready to transport the patients back to the IDF's vet ward, while Lin had already reverted to his original size and was curled up in Bianca's arms.
Zephyr finished giving instructions to his team then went over to Karl, who immediately asked "How are they?"
Zephyr exhaled through gritted teeth. Though his voice was steady, there was anger and a hint of frustration in his tone.
"Whatever those bastards had done to them in there has left them in really bad shape. We've given them emergency treatment, but with our medical knowledge and facilities here on Earth, there's only so much we can do. They're gonna need more advanced care, and from people more equipped to give them the intensive treatment and recovery plan they need. The sooner, the better."
Karl's gaze was absently fixed on the sleeping hele as he listened.
"And you?"
"Hm?" Karl looked up at his brother.
Zephyr tucked loose strands of hair behind his ear. "Still holdin' up? You look terrible. Do you realize how pale you are? You honestly look like you're about to pass out.
We're heading back to GDF after all the patients have been loaded to Team Aceso's air ambulance. Why don't you come with us so you can rest?"
Karl shook his head, weakly smiling at Zephyr. He then shifted his gaze to Rywa, who was talking to Chris as they gave instructions to the GDF operatives preparing to go down to the underground lab for the retrieval operation.
"I want to be by Rywa's side during the sending."
As if feeling his gaze, Rywa looked their way and walked towards them.
"I've reached out to our allies in Zirka. They said help is on the way. However, given the distance between our galaxies, even with our fastest spacecrafts, it should still take them a few weeks. Until then, I entrust them to your team's care, Zephyr."
"We'll do the best we can."
And so Zephyr and his medic team left.
Karl, Rywa, and the rest of Team Alpha went down to the facility once more. It was close to midnight by the time they had taken everyone out and laid them on the ground for the send off ritual Rywa was about to perform.
Karl heard the familiar call of an eagle and looked up. For the first time since this mission began, he felt as though the veil of dark emotions that shrouded his heart had been lifted. The mere sight of the majestic bird of prey gave him comfort.
Gobaith perched on Rywa's gauntlet then promptly pecked Karl's arm.
"Hello to you too," Karl let out a feeble chuckle.
Perhaps because he had finally relaxed a little, the exhaustion was starting to kick in. It took every ounce of energy he had left to keep himself standing.
Stroking Gobaith's head, Rywa explained, "Typically, during a sending, we would be performing a ritual to send off the dead's light. Every living being's light– their starlight– returns to their planet's starcore from whence it came.
However, in this case, they've been robbed of their lights. So we'll be performing a different kind of send off.
When a Zirkan dies in a foreign land, there is a way to bring their bodies back to the motherland without having to physically transport it, and that is by sending them off with a sacred flame— flame that comes from the guardian spirit of fire himself.
Mystical firebirds are said to share that sacred flame. After all, it is said that their power comes from the guardian spirit of fire."
The GDF operatives around exchanged looks and curious murmurs. Some were wondering if Rywa had the power to summon the guardian spirit of fire from his world, while others wondered where they can possibly find a mystical firebird at this time of the night— if there were even any on Earth.
Tala silenced them with a stern look, as Rywa continued his explanation.
"Tonight, the one who will perform the sending is the mystical firebird in our midst."
Rywa raised his arm and Gobaith jumped off his gauntlet. He circled on top of the wildlife lying on the ground, whose eyes were closed and looking so serene as if they were just sleeping. A crimson array lit up beneath them and at that exact same moment, Gobaith's entire body was engulfed in flames… as was every single body that was within the mystic array below.
Karl could only watch as the bodies burned. As if their ashes were glowing, the bright crimson dust within the flames stayed afloat. With a hauntingly beautiful cry, Gobaith flew upwards. The river of crimson ashes followed him like a skyward procession of vermillion fireflies that illuminated the midnight sky.
Rywa uttered softly, as if whispering a prayer, "May the sacred flames of the guardian spirit of fire take you home."
Upon hearing those words, Karl felt something within him snap. Tears fell down from his eyes. Silently, yet uncontrollably.
Rywa looked to his side when he heard Karl take a soft yet shaky breath. His body moved on its own and took Karl into his arms. Feeling Karl tremble in his hold, Rywa tightened his hug.
After wiping a tear or two, Bianca didn't bother anymore and simply cried. Hogan gently wrapped an arm around her and pulled her head to lean on his shoulder.
Chris was gently tapping Tala on the back, as his vice captain's tears quietly trickled down her cheeks. His free hand tightly clenched into a fist, at the fate of all those innocent lives they had failed to protect and could not save from senseless death.