Wherever the young Motherguards ran, laughter followed.
It wasn’t uncommon to catch the two of them at play in their off hours, chasing one another through Mother’s gardens, darting beneath the spray of the automatic waterers, weaving between the legs of their older cohort members. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely fitting of their station, but it was an open secret that the latest recruits were barely more than hatchlings, still in their final adolescent instar. And besides… Mother’s chambers could always use a bit more laughter, especially in those dour days.
Today, however, they had already twice caught a scolding from the Commander of the Guard and wary of receiving a third, had taken their play elsewhere. Kajj had only endured a mere halfhour of quiet reading within their chambers before he had turned to Qud with a grin and suggested that they should go exploring instead.His hatch-mate had heartily resisted at first, always the more sensible of the pair.
“It’s off limits for a reason,” he had sang, chest clicking with the self-righteous annoyance Kajj had come to expect. But who could resist the call of adventure? It had only taken a few longing sighs and a casual mention of the ship’s propulsion systems and inertial dampeners to change his hatchmate’s tune. How easy, in hindsight, to hate himself for the manipulation. To come to resent his ability to alter the other’s mood.
Getting there had been an exciting adventure in and of itself. Qud’s eyes had nearly glowed with the excitement of slipping past the Guards, using their training to bypass the security systems meant to keep unauthorized members of the colony out. Kajj could still remember the way his pulse had raced, his body nearly singing with the thrum of his coron as they hid within the shadows, ducking behind consoles and crates, crawling into the service tunnels to escape the regular patrols.
When they reached the great humming core of the ship, Kajj knew it had all been worth it just to see the complete and utter awe that swept over Qud’s face. What other time would they have been allowed to witness such a remarkable feat of vincam engineering? Together they had laughed and whispered, running their hands over sleek input panels, gasping in quiet delight at the sight of the flagship’s massive and powerful engine. The air thrummed wildly with it, even as the flagship idled, and Kajj could feel the vibrations of it within his chest as if it was his very own song.
Had the day ended there, it could have been one of Kajj’s most precious memories. Had they slipped quietly back out of the room, he could have remembered it as a present he had given to his hatchmate, an adventure filled with youthful mischief, but no true harm. Had he any control over the flow of time, he would have stopped the day right there and he would do so over and over again in his dreams.
But of course, reality was another matter altogether.
Kajj was running his hands along one of the sleek plasma conduits when Qud had grabbed his arm, yanking him back into the shadows. Kajj frowned but followed his lead, though it didn’t take long for him to pick up what Qud had as well — footsteps, heading rapidly their way, only just audible beneath the mighty thrum of the ship’s engines.
“–intruders, somewhere in the engine room,” a voice had hissed, their song low and angry as it approached the Motherguard’s hiding place. “Someone with access codes. Alert the Motherguard. This could be serious.”
“Shit,” Kajj cursed. Commander Essin was going to have their shells for pottery! Dreck and dross, but it was always his stupidity dragging Qud down with him, wasn’t it? They were going to be running laps for sure. It was only when he turned to exchange an apologetic look with his hatchmate that he realized.
Qud was looking at him in exasperated horror.
The bootsteps had stopped.
Well. Shit again.
The pair of them burst from their hiding spot a bare jit later, slipping just beneath the grasping hands of the Guard as they scrambled up out back towards the entrance.
Kajj had taken the lead, his slightly longer legs affording him a small advantage over Qud, and his boldness taking him through tight and dangerous paths through the bowels of the ship without hesitation. The pair of them were small, but they were strong, they were fast. They could use that to their advantage.
They had nearly reached the service elevator when the bulkheads started closing, the doors slamming down faster and faster behind them, their clearance smaller and smaller along the way. Just a few more doorways and they would be out!
Kajj couldn’t help but laugh, a grin spreading across his face as he pushed himself harder, racing the slamming doors, knowing that soon the pair of them would be safely back in Mother’s chambers and beneath her wings, free from the wrath of the others with one more grand story to tell —
“Kajj!” Qud had called out behind him, his song high and a little fearful. “Kajj, stop! We’re not going to make it!”
Kajj had trilled back at him, raising a hatchling’s buzzing war-song, drunk on adventure and excitement and daring, dropping to his knees to slide beneath the penultimate door, the final already closing ahead, the elevator in sight…!
//WARNING!! Proximity analysis — at our current rate of speed–//
“I can make it!” he sang, laughing, joyful as he dropped once more into the slide — shit that was awfully low, wasn’t it? — the door lowering more quickly that he would have thought — fuck, oh shit, I– he threw out his hands behind him, claws digging into the floor tiles but too late, too late —
Kajj’s world exploded into a white hot lightning strike of pain.
Someone was screaming.
He was pretty sure it was him.
The world splintered into shards —
The hot spill of magenta beneath his hips, floor slick, cracking his head in panic against the floor.
Angry voices buzzing around him, the words sharp and indistinct.
Hot bile and cold shivering waves, wracking his body, his world shuddering apart in a choking, gasping knot of indescribable pain, reality warping in an attempt to accommodate it, to try and process the signals that were flooding his brain.
Familiar arms wrapped around him, floor dropping out beneath him, flailing, panicking, he wasn’t ready — it wasn’t his time to go!
Qud’s fearful face above him, now bleeding — hands slick. Had he done that? Who had done that? He couldn’t *think*… !
White robes and sea-green eyes. A gentle song and then cool peace swept through him, cold numbness replacing the panicked heat.
Beeping monitors and hushed arguments that floated in through the haze, one voice rising above the others, just one final phrase before the cool darkness pulled him under.
“I’m sorry, Mother…. He’s broken.”