About five hours later in the early morning hours, there was a loud commotion. Everyone raced in that direction to find the three soldiers dead, Quinn, Fex, and Paul present and Paul had blood on him. Cia was getting ready to scream but Vorden was all over it and closed her mouth to preserve their ear drums. Kaz was missing and Quinn looked for Peter to discover Kaz beat Peter and took the remote.
Quinn told Fex to store the blood and bodies. Give some of a body to Peter to heal. He then heard the sound of the ramp lowering.
Once again, Lana was tempted to go and see what happened. Everyone was heading for the canteen. Lana asked if she, Shalt and Caser could step out of the ship for just a few minutes. She claimed to need some air. Vorden looked at her and was about to protest but realized she needed to know. He would not be able to stop her. Peter gave the remote to Shalt and the three went down with Peter heading to the canteen to join the others.
Lana sat on the ground at the foot of the ramp and concentrated. There was a park not too far away. She couldn't see it but could hear the murmurings. With concentration she was able to find out what happened to the city and to know that Truedream potentially got out. There was no way to be sure but a ship arrived and left not long before a man who looked like an older version of Sil showed up and destroyed everything with such devastating ferocity that it took less than 30 minutes.
The trees then showed her all the things that happened since then until now. She saw what Kaz did to the other 7 soldiers. She didn't hear the explanation Kaz gave Quinn for her actions but this was a cold-hearted murderer. She didn't know it but she had tears streaming down her cheeks. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing forest green and her tears were the same shade.
Shalt saw her eyes and ran to get Vorden or Quinn. Lana just sat there thinking of the things she saw. Shalt burst into the Canteen and asked both men to come quick there was an issue with Lana. Lana stood up and walked slowly up the ramp, not even looking at anything. Caser had a tentacle wrapped around her leg and stayed really close.
All three saw her enter and were dumbfounded. She saw Vorden and finally recognized him through the haze of insanity she had witnessed. He ran up to her and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. She whispered in his ear, "he must be stopped."
He picked her up and carried her to their room. Quinn took the remote from Shalt who went with them to post outside their door. Quinn decided to explore outside to see if he could find any answers for himself as well as see what Kaz did to the other bodies. She had murdered them all because she decided it was better if the military still assumed they were missing or dead.
Kax essentially stepped over Quinn's authority as Tenth Leader and Leader of the Expedition. He was not happy on so many levels. Neither was Paul. Paul also had to go to his room to regroup while Quinn was gone. He had lost control as a newly turned vampire and drank his first human blood. It was that of a soldier. It was hard for him to reconcile.
In their room, Lana didn't want to give any details of what she had seen. She wanted to calm down but she told him a man who looked like an older version of him wearing really nice armor was the one who hit this city. She told Vorden he had to be stopped. He was a danger to humanity. This was not something Vorden wanted to hear. All three of them were afraid of this man. In fact, the whole family was.
Upon hearing this, she insisted on the things he wanted preserved needed to stay with her in case he was able to get way in the future. She took the twin yin/yang swords Quinn gave him and his wedding ring. She also made sure to take that nice outfit from the vampire world and all the outfits of hers he been keeping were all left in her care. They stowed it in a bag and put them in the ship that Logan had modified for her personal use.
Everything she didn't think she would need on the planet would be stowed there. This included all the crystals she had. She asked Shalt to go through his things as well. If it wasn't needed day to day, leave it on the transport, especially if it identified him as a vampire.
Logan explained the ship was powered by crystals and she learned how to refill it. He had installed a stealth mode on both ships. They also had both the coordinates for her planet and the frequency for the homing beacon of the big ship. The remote she was given allowed her to call her ship to her but not the other one. If this feature was used, it would automatically use stealth mode so it would not be detected by planetary security.
Stealth mode required slower movement so she was advised it could take hours and the ship would come to the location she was when she called it. This meant she was unable to change locations after calling the ship. Her ship was reduced to only two guns and a mini sleeping area was installed. Also the three seats in the front behind the two piloting seats were changeable to being able to have children in them, the space version of a child safety seat.
Logan decided this would be necessary after hearing what he did in their room in the vampire world. There was also a hot plate and a refrigerator installed. Too much modification, though would reduce cargo and seating space. Vorden looked it over and was pleased.
"Think you can fly this thing?"
"It looks self explanatory. I plan to have some of my team with me but we'll see. I need to find everyone. I know where my brother and main team should be but I don't know where Quinn wants to go. He needs to find what suits him and we can come together there. Also, I didn't tell anyone but my watch was modified so I would be able to contact Oscar."
"While every else's watches were limited to just the school, mine was changed. Paul was right when he said the coms were limited at the schools. Leaders and such were under different rules. When I bought the planet, I was considered a leader even though I was still a student."
"That means you can make sure your planet has not been invaded?"
She nodded. "It also means if I can't find my friends through other means, I can ask Oscar if they are under him and see if he will transfer them to me. Once I'm ready, Logan will help me set up my Family faction. If I can, I want it under Quinn so I do need him to create his own faction."
Vorden nodded and smiled. "You got this." He kissed her on the forehead. "Let's go join the others."
She nodded.
Shalt reminded them he was there and this ship looked easy enough. They would be just fine.
Quinn was just walking back up the ramp when they rejoined the group. Vorden had his things on his back. She had her bag as usual. The girls and Logan were also ready. Logan was drilling Peter on how to run the ship. She was paying attention because she had a few of the same buttons but her remote was stowed safely in her bag where a fingerprint was required to access it.
Logan flew the ship to a mountain area that was near an Earth station. They took a smaller ship that had been modified to resemble a commercial vessel by Logan. They parked and those who were leaving purchased tickets. Peter remained with the ship. The girls left first with Logan leaving next.
Vorden had a longer wait. He passed the dummy card he had gotten to hide his purchases from the family to her before leaving the ship. All the money he had gotten from the military minus about 600 credits. He didn't tell her the ring he got was on his other card. He planned to tell the family he gave it to someone to give to another as a gift if asked. He was allowed to have friends after all, just not share the family secrets and not talk to them once he got back home. Total isolation.
His ticket got called. He gave Quinn a fist bump. He looked deep into her eyes. He didn't touch her. Didn't show any emotion because he knew there were cameras. He turned and walked through the portal after looking back at his friends, his real family, hoping it would not be his last time seeing them. Lana walked a bit closer to the vampires and they all had eyes on her. Quinn asked, "since when do you have three heartbeats?"
Lana looked confused. She then placed her hands on her stomach and he smiled with his eyes glinting. She looked back at the portal Vorden had just vanished through and she placed her hands over her mouth. Fex placed an arm around her shoulder, "you can tell him when he gets back. Won't he be surprised!"
Lana, still in shock, "yeah…"
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