Lana hit the button and told Shalt to close the cargo bay door. As soon as it was closed, she joined her family in the seating compartment. They had hours to travel so Lana spent more time attending to wounds until she was too tired to continue. She didn't bring any food with her and she realized they couldn't stop anywhere because the planets were all occupied or contested by the dalki.
Lana dug through the bag she carried with medical supplies and found some energy bars. She ate one then grew some food items in her pots. The trusty things that had been helping her get by since her school days that seemed so far away now.
"Lana?" She lifted her head to see Deal was talking.
"Yes, dear?"
"Where are we going? Home?"
She nodded. "I took down that ship so we just need to wait until Logan can get the teleporter back active so we can go back through. I want everyone to get a good rest and have Rene look you over before going back but I'm going to put my foot down. You sleep at home from now on. If they need you to help rebuild, fine but your days away are done until you are older."
"But isn't Sil the final authority on that?"
Lana gave him an intense glare, "did you enjoy watching for family fall in battle?"
Deal shook his head, "but we won the battle overall because we all joined in."
Lana nodded, "because you were fighting your family. Dalki don't have abilities. You will sit out the rest of this war. I will fight Sil on this if I have to, understood? Focus on getting stronger to increase the chances you'll survive next time you need to be in combat."
"Lana, communication incoming from home," Shalt said.
Lana moved forward, "put it through."
"Lana, General Nathan from school landed a little while ago. They killed a dalki, recovered the sword from Ruby, just killed the last of the dalki and it appears he is taking those in that shelter off world. It looks like the planet will be all yours soon."
Lana smiled, "that's good to hear. I'm bringing back the kids and a special guest. I want Rene to meet us when we land."
"Understood. How many of ours were you able to save?"
"The planet was evacuated before we got there. Our people were sent elsewhere. I have not been told where yet. Any news from Biff?"
Kattie was quiet for a few moments. "Total loss. They scanned from orbit before going in. Some were still alive fighting for their lives but fell before Biff could get there. They barely got out just them."
"I see," Lana's voice cracked. "We'll catch up when I get back."
Lana made the others as comfortable as she could. The kids played with their niece and nephew. They didn't get to often because they had been stuck on the ship. They were looking forward to seeing vegetation again.
As the clock ticked down, Lana loathed the idea of having to tell family and friends they had lost people in this war. And it wasn't even over.
Lisa Tempest, Lonnie Franklin and Dan all perished in the fight from the original faction members; 24 Bree travelers were lost on the crow planet. The rest that were out were able to be recovered. The mother ship was still up so Lana took it down enabling the teleporters to work again. Her people were then able to return home rather than causing her to land.
As soon as the teleporter was back up, Lana went through to confront Sil. She found him upset because people were afraid of him after the way he killed his father. He was afraid he'd turn out like him. Like Hilston. His blood ran in their veins. Raten laughed at him. He pointed out they were all different. He said that Sil was still a child. They all wanted to know why Hilston did what he did. Why was he so obsessed with Sil to begin with? Vicky said the only thing she knew was he was looking for a Blade with a soul weapon.
After a few days had passed, Logan had the command center fixed up, and the Blades were rebuilding the shelter using their abilities, a meeting was called. Sil didn't fight on keeping the children at home. He never wanted the ship to be a permanent home for them anyway.
Eno and Mona arrived at the ship with Quinn in his shadow. Nathan arrived with Ruby and the sword. Quinn confronted Ruby over the sword, she asked about Arthur because he used the shadow. At the mention of Arthur, he started interrogating her and needed to be reminded how to speak to others.
Lana was in the command center with Caser, the babies, Shalt and Grim Greylash. Owen, Samantha, and Helen were there via hologram. Owen was happy to see his grandfather. Also there was Logan, Sam and General Sach that Lana had seen at school but had not been introduced.
"Lana, dear, it seems you once again are returning a family member to me."
Lana chuckled, "I didn't free him. I just found him. Once again, the Greylash family came between my family and true disaster. My family remains in debt to you.
Eventually, the last of the participants entered the room, Quinn, Eno, Nathan, Mona, and Ruby. Lana flew to Mona and gave her a big hug.
"I'm so glad to see you're okay! I want you to know, I have many of your family members in my shelter."
Mona smiled, "thank you my dear! Did you get the information you were looking for?"
Lana nodded, "I did and it was very helpful."
"Good. Where are my god-babies?" Mona asked as she looked around. She rushed to pick of Olivia, "I also noticed," she pated her tummy.
Lana chuckled and nodded. Mona came over and gave her a big hug, "congratulations!"
Lana hugged her back, "thank you!"
Lana looked at the new arrivals, "I don't want to disrupt your meeting so I thought I'd go ahead and let you know the things I want to say then take my leave," she glanced at Mona, "unless Mona wants to hold Olivia a bit longer…"
Quinn looked at her, "go head and give your report."
Lana nodded, "first, going forward, you should assume Arthur is working for the dalki. Arthur went to a certain settlement left, then came back. He then used his shadow to leave which I now understand that was when you called him. He returned. He went back to that place. Minny was waiting for him to return outside. I spoke to her for a bit. I told her if I found her father, I'd return him if possible. Arthur never returned. The dalki now have her. I have every reason to believe she was taken to make sure he upholds his end of the deal."
"What deal?" Quinn's expression was serious.
"Something to do with the vampires. I don't know the whole thing. The conversation was already ongoing when we started surveillance."
Quinn nodded.
"Since Oscar… met with tragedy, who do I speak with now?"
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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.