Ch5 Spruce Onions: Rescue [Comm42]

[Paid to be continued as a commission. Content warnings for this chapter: death threats (nobody dies, nobody gets injured), hostage situation, character who thinks they’ve passed away]

Fractalia Caepe, Second Bloom [any/all pronouns], longingly watched as the Vengeful Cobra departed the double hangar. Oh how they wished they were aboard it with Vera…

Before heading back Carrot’s hab, Fray unwove some of his vines from within vimself and stared blankly at their dry, wilted greenery. She knew that her next reblooming was imminent, but still he held on just a little longer: ze would have time for that later.

“Hmmm… Maybe ‘Fractalia Caepe, Third Bloom, ve/ver/vers’? Maybe not…” They muttered softly. “Why can’t I find pronouns that fit me? Everyone else can, so why can’t I? Maybe I won’t have made a decision by the time I rebloom again after all…”

Of course, Fractalia knew it was just as good to use any/all pronouns as it was to use specific ones, but… no Terran pronouns they knew of fit so far. Many affini had only a passing preference for their pronouns, but for some reason, Fractalia felt like xe needed to find ones that were just right. It was an odd, inexplicable sensation that served to further his understanding and empathy towards sophonts whose genders and expressions were mismatched with the ‘norms’ of their species’ cultures.

Fractalia shook zir head. Now wasn’t the time to fall down the rabbit hole searching for pronouns again.

After briskly walking back, she stepped into Carrot’s hab to find Talia sitting on the shore of the pond with her tablet in hand. As soon as the little human noticed zyr presence, she looked up and smiled.

“Welcome back, Miss Fractalia!”

“Hello again, petal. Where’s Niamh?” Fray scanned the wide open area, but there was no other sophont in sight.

“Oh, she’s just in the washroom.” Talia pointed behind herself. “And in case you wanted to know, she took the companion dress with her, completely unprompted!”

A hopeful smile couldn’t help but grow on Fractalia’s face as they instinctively began petting the little Terran woman. Talia practically melted into the affini’s gentle touch.

“Thank you for helping Niamh acclimatise, flower. You’re such a good girl, and we love you so much.” Fray cooed admiringly. Talia’s adorably blushy little face and contented biorhythm prompted zem to dedicate more vines to petting duty. “You’re such a precious little sophont, and we’re incredibly lucky to have you in our lives. We’re so proud of you, petal!”

“Thank you, Miss Fractalia!” She hummed blissfully, lavishing in the massage of pets and pats.

The affini rumbled softly. “Silly thing, I’m the one trying to thank you! You’ve already helped relieve some of poor Niamh’s fears, and just… helped to comfort her. So truly, thank you.”

“Of course! I’m more than happy to help!” Talia’s smile began to fade. “...Miss Fractalia, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, petal. What is it?”

“...Do you think Niamh wants to be my friend?”

Fractalia carefully lifted the cotyledon into vis arms so ve could give her a big hug. “I think Niamh already sees you as a friend, darling.”

Talia grabbed an armful of vines and squeezed. “I hope so…”

Fractalia hoped so too. They knew how hard the years of recovery had been on Talia, and how isolated and lonely she was back then. A handful of affini and a few guests were hardly adequate for a social species such as Terrans, but that was all she had during her extended time being bedridden in intensive care. If only they’d known then what they know now…

“It’ll be alright, petal…”

“I’m sorry Miss Fractalia, it’s not that I don’t appreciate you, Miss Vera, and Mistress! I just…”

“I understand, flower. No need to say sorry, I promise. I know you want a big family, and I know in my core it will happen! Unfortunately, it just takes time…” Ve hummed caringly.

Talia lovingly nuzzled the big plant person holding her. “You’ll always be important to me, Miss Fray! I hope you stay part of my family forever!”

“Hmm hmm hmm~” Fractalia giggled musically. “I will, darling! I promise.” She continued to pet the floret in zyr arms, but looked over to the washroom, which was still occupied. “Let’s go see how Niamh’s doing.”

Fractalia stepped over to knock on the washroom door, which appeared to lead inside a massive tree: however, it was merely an illusion projected by the hab’s decorations. As soon as xe was near, he felt Niamh’s distressed biorhythm from inside.

“Niamh? Are you alright?”

There was no response.

“Niamh? I’m coming in unless you respond-”

“Don’t come in, I-I’m ok…” Niamh was unsuccessfully trying to mask how verklempt she was. There were a few little sniffles and the sound of running water, then moments later, the door opened. Her eyes were puffy and her face was damp; she’d evidently tried to hide that she was crying by washing her face.

She was still wearing the same ragged, grey worker’s clothes she was found in. Despite the urge to clean her up and adorn her in clean new clothes, the affini knew that doing so without the consent of a fresh rescue could feel violating - especially having woken up in a strange place surrounded by huge aliens. Since her clothes were not a threat to her safety, they would stay until Niamh chose to remove them. Fractalia just hoped that Niamh would discard them sooner rather than later…

“Oh petal…” Fractalia sighed. “Everything will be alright, I promise. Vera and the rest of the rescue party are on their way to save every single sophont aboard those ships, including Linna. Soon you’ll be reunited, and we’ll be right here to help you both heal and be happy.”

Talia opened her arms invitingly. “You look like you could use a hug.”

Fractalia extended a few vines, but waited for Niamh’s approval. Once the anxious Terran nodded, Fray lifted his ward up and into vis arms to join Talia.

The affini altered its own biorhythm to be as soothing and homely as possible. When she was being hugged by the pair of sophonts, Niamh once again burst into tears.

—

The Vengeful Cobra’s dingy, worn interior rattled as it approached the God-Given Right. How anyone could possibly bear to live in such an abysmally depressing and harmful environment was beyond Vera, who was just glad that this ordeal would soon be over. She could rest easy once they’d finished the job and decompiled these nightmarish contraptions once and for all.

“They’re hailing us.” Borealis muttered, pulling up the incoming transmission on the viewscreen alongside the link from the replica bridge.

The Vengeful Cobra, with the help of a few affini modifications, was automatically forwarding the video and audio links between the feralists and the replica bridge. The God-Given Right had no means to discover that the transmissions weren’t originating from inside the real Vengeful Cobra.

“Sir.” One of the rescued Terrans greeted. She appeared as though she were standing on the true bridge of the Vengeful Cobra, just as unwashed and physically unwell as when she’d been rescued - the one difference was that there was now hope and determination in her eyes where there hadn’t been for a long, long time.

“Where’s Captain Campbell? Who the hell are you?” A mustached man snapped immediately.

“Acting Captain Nada Sarkis. As for Captain Campbell… he didn’t make it, sir. The plants got him.” The rescued bridge crewmember stated firmly.

“What!? What the hell happened!?”

“They poisoned him, sir. We took on contaminated supplies; many of our crew are dead or seriously ill.”

“Damn, dirty, cowardly weeds! I’ll kill them myself!” The officer spat furiously.

It was an unfortunate necessity to lie at the expense of the Compact’s reputation, but at least he seemed to believe it.

“We’ll make sure this has a happy ending, sir, you can count on that.” Vera appreciated the truthful optimism Nada hid in plain sight.

“You’re damn right, crewman. Now, prepare to fly in formation epsilon so we can jump the hell out of here.”

Oh no.

“...Sir? Has there been a change of plans?” Despite a brief moment of visible concern, Nada did an admirable job keeping composure and taking the situation in stride.

“A real captain never questions his orders, crewman! Best you remember that.” With that, the God-Given Right abruptly ended communications.

The Vengeful Cobra erupted in a flurry of activity as the affini prepared for contingency measures. The cramped area inside the tiny ship was practically a bowl of writhing plampt spaghetti as the many affini aboard readied emergency breach pods.

In the event that their cover was blown and they needed to extract sophonts as soon as possible, the breach pods were little self-contained spacecraft that could pierce through hull plating, swiftly open up, and release an affini rescuer inside feralist vessels. Once the affini was out and aiding in the rescue, the breach pod could then deploy vines and semi-autonomously disarm a sophont, immobilise them, and contain them safely within. All the while, the breach pod would release potent class-E xenodrugs into the feralist ship that would sedate anyone other than an affini as quickly as chemically possible.

Breach pods would help ensure minimal casualties, but that alone wasn’t good enough: they wanted zero casualties. As such, this was why breach pods were merely a contingency to the ‘trojan horse’ plan.

“Alright crew, follow that order for now, but get ready to execute the primary contingency maneuver on our mark.” Borealis spoke through the modified comms system on the ship. “Wait for the target location on the second artificial gravity ring to reach target angle 1.52 radians.”

“Roger that.” Nada confirmed, turning away from the camera to help the rest of her skeleton crew remotely fly the Vengeful Cobra. “Alright comrades, let’s fucking go!”

“Yeah!” The handful of other Terrans shouted in unison. The sheer determination in their voices was almost tangible, and it warmed Vera’s core to hear. It couldn’t have asked for anything better to hear just before sliding into a breach pod.

Once the Vengeful Cobra was in position as ordered by the mustached man, all affini - minus Borealis, who was stationed at the helm - were encapsulated inside their designated breach pods. After another moment of anticipation, Borealis’ voice came through the comms of each pod. “The God-Given Right is priming its jump drive, prepare to breach!”

Vera shook as the Vengeful Cobra rapidly maneuvered into place, and then the moment of truth arrived. “Launch!”

It only took a second for the couple dozen breach pods to tear out of the Vengeful Cobra, lodge themselves in the God-Given Right, and open up again. Vera lunged into the feralist megayacht, immediately disarming a Terran and injecting them with a sedative.

The affini were in perfect position: the cooperative Terrans in the replica bridge had performed flawlessly! Such precision implied that the other pods all hit their marks as well, including the bridge and engine room.

A mere two seconds after launch, at least six feralists were safely neutralised that Vera could see. Gaseous sedative xenodrugs were already being pumped into the air, and even more feralists were being snatched up by the breach pods.

“WEEDS-” One feralist managed to shout as Vera disarmed and injected him.

Most of the hostages didn’t even bat an eye. Those poor darlings must have been so worn-down and exhausted… But Vera didn’t give herself time to think about that. It pushed its body to the limit, working as fast and as accurate as possible.

“FREEZE, WEEDS!” A muffled, gravelly voice shouted.

Ten seconds had elapsed since launch, and every Terran in sight was unconscious - all except one. Standing in a door was a tall, lanky man in a pristine business suit. The man was wearing a gas mask and was holding a sleeping captive with one arm. His other arm was steadily aiming a pistol at the captive’s head.

Vera recognised the captive as the woman being held at gunpoint when the feralists announced they were taking hostages - it was Linna!

“Let me off, or I-!!”

Since it was the closest affini to the man, Vera stealthily slithered a number of her vines along the floor and ceiling towards him. In an instant, she pricked him in the leg, injecting him directly with sedatives! She had also lodged another of her vines behind the trigger of his gun, preventing his weapon from firing when he squeezed it in his last split second of useful consciousness.

The man in the suit went limp. Vera caught Linna and the suited man before they fell to the floor.

“Clear!” Another affini transmitted the good news, and within microseconds, the pair of docked affini vessels jumped directly next to the Terran ships to begin standard rescue ops. Vera double checked for herself: all hostages were accounted for, all feralists nearby were either unconscious or contained within a breach pod, and every entrance had been secured so no more masked feralists could run in and hurt anyone.

Finally, it was over.

—

Niamh was clinging tightly to Talia, whimpering quietly as she waited. Fractalia was gently petting them both as ve held them up against his warm, soft core, and was singing a soothing song for them. Well, Niamh new ‘singing’ probably wasn’t the right word, but the lovely sounds emanating from the affini were genuinely helping her feel better.

Again she’d accepted a dose of calming xenodrugs, and again they took the spiralling anxiety away. They did not, however, help her think with any less pessimism or concern. All she wanted was for Linna to be ok… for Linna to be safe… for Linna to be here, with her…

Then, after what felt like an eternity, Niamh was gently prompted to look up by one of Fractalia’s vines. The trio were no longer right by the pond - in fact, they were no longer even in Carrot’s hab. Niamh knew she could get lost in her own thoughts, but was nonetheless surprised she hadn’t even registered that they’d moved.

They soon met up with Carrot and Vera in a huge, grand hallway. Signs on the doors read “Abiegnis Xenoveterinarian Care Unit” In a number of Terran and Rinan languages, followed by the room number. Unlike Terran hospitals, this place was decorated with pleasant vegetation all around: from a mossy floor, to blooming vines woven into the wall, to a lush canopy of leaves far above them. Most surface area along the walls that weren’t covered in (non-affini) plants were covered in a variety of art pieces. Niamh figured they must have been created by florets, long-term patients, or a combination of both.

“Mistress!” Talia greeted her owner warmly. She was then gracefully transferred over to Carrot’s vines from Fractalia’s.

Niamh was then gently set on her own feet. Now that she was no longer directly beside Fractalia’s core, she could hear the three plampts ‘singing’ together in a joyous harmony. They wore big, genuine smiles on their planty faces that were almost contagious. None of them said anything; Vera simply opened the nearest door.

Warm light seeped out into the hall. Inside that room, sitting on the side of a hospital bed, was the best sight Niamh had ever seen. “Linna…” She mouthed breathlessly.

“Niamh!?” Linna gasped.

The fresh rescue jumped off the bed and rushed toward Niamh, who stumbled forward a step before falling to her knees. The tears were already back with a vengeance, distorting the sight of her approaching crush.

“NIAMH!!!” Linna dropped to her knees just before reaching Niamh out in the hallway and tackled her in a hug. “Niamh! Niamh, my Niamh!”

“L-L-Linnaaaa!!” Niamh wailed, sobbing so loud that all the nearby affini turned to look her way. She pulled Linna close and buried her face on the other Terran’s shoulder.

“I knew you’d w-wait for me!” Linna was choked up and on the brink of sobbing too. “Maybe now we can finally… be at p-peace…” With that, she too broke down and began wailing.

“Definitely pinnates.” Fractalia muttered quietly.

“Certainly.” Vera nodded.

Eventually, the crying reached its natural end, and the reunited Terrans were left sniffling as they continued to hold each other. Niamh had no idea how long they’d simply sat there in each other’s embrace, but she really didn’t care. She never wanted to let go.

“Alright darlings, how about we head home for now? You two must be so hungry.” Vera knelt down next to the pair of women.

“I-I want to stay with Niamh!” Linna’s grasp on Niamh grew even tighter.

“Don’t worry petal, we wouldn’t dream of separating you two. We’ll make sure you’re together as much as you want.” Vera assured. “But you’re both severely malnourished. We’ll get you fed, then go from there, hmm?”

“I don’t care… I just want… I just want us to be together now… I want my Niamh…”

“Flower…” Vera cooed. “You really do need nourishment, and we will see you back to health - that’s a guarantee.”

“Who needs food when you’re already dead… J-just give me this time with Niamh… P-please…”

Niamh’s blood ran cold. Were they all dead? No… No, they couldn’t be… They were finally together! She didn’t want it to be over! The three affini’s songs had also dropped off a metaphorical cliff, shifting from relieved and heartwarming to heartbroken in an instant.

“Linna, you and Niamh are still very much alive! That is why we want you to eat.” Vera instinctively began to stroke Linna’s hair, but she shied away from its touch and nestled in even closer to Niamh. Vera ceased immediately.

“B-but… Niamh died… I-I watched Niamh die!” Linna gasped, struggling not to break down sobbing again.

Niamh shook off her doubts: she’d already determined she was still alive, and therefore neither was Linna. “I… I didn’t die! M-my heart is beating too fast for me to be dead…” She squeaked. “Linna, I’m so sorry! It was all my fault! Y-you thought I died, and they captured you again, a-and! And-!!” Niamh was about to cry again, too.

“No, nonono, Niamh no, please it’s not your fault!” Linna looked up, placed her hands on the back of Niamh’s head, and waited for Niamh to meet her gaze. “Please don’t blame yourself, Niamh. You’ve always looked out for me! You’ve always been there for me! I… I-! I lo-!!” Her bottom lip quivered. Her teary eyes were glistening in the warm lighting. Her every breath was coarse. “I love you!”

“I-!! L-Linna! Y-you really love me!?”

Linna nodded.

“I-I love you too! I’m so sorry… I love you, Linna… I’m so sorry…”

“Shhh… My sweet Niamh…” Linna sobbed, trying to gently rest her forehead against Niamh’s. “Shhh… You have nothing to ap-pologise for…” She steadied her breathing, trying not to sob anymore. “If you’re right… If we’re r-really not gone… I… I don’t know what to do anymore…”

Niamh eventually caught her breath. “I guess we’ll just have to do what we originally planned for if we’d escaped: just take it one day at a time.”