Hsing felt the blast to the ship's hull in the core of his being. It had been a long time since he'd felt such a blast. The first and only other time he'd felt such a disturbance was when he'd lost his parents. It wasn't only Hsing who'd lost his parents that day. He looked up at Pakua’s grim face and knew the male waded through the same memories.
On that fateful day, the entire second moon of Elysium had shaken from the blast. Hsing, who was at the edge of younghood at the time, had felt every being, every life form on the planet halt in shock. Eloheem were a peaceful breed, even the warrior Yin. They were a race of healers, protectors. It was unconscionable that any sentient life form would train a weapon upon their moon.
Back in the present, the same blast that had wrought genocide on their moon was now trained on the Mothership, the last vestige of their home world.
"Damage report," Hsing barked.
"The blast hit her under belly, near the energy springs," Chen replied.
Hsing hadn't needed the words from his brother. He heard the information through the link his brother had while tapped into the consciousness of the ship. But Hsing needed the rest of the crew to know the damage. The report was not good news.
An Eloheem ship was a living, breathing creature; called a Mothership for a reason. Once a tribe of Eloh matured, they left their home world on the Motherships to use their healing talents to tend to womb rocks, rare planets that had the ability to bring forth life. A Mothership's interior was a living womb that cared for and provided for all the beings on board. The energy springs were the source of the ship’s life force. If that essence ceased to flow or became contaminated, the ship would die, and with it the last link to their home world.
"We need to use evasive maneuvers," Chen insisted.
Hsing grimaced. Chen's advice sounded so much like their father's words from that fateful day when they lost everything they held dear.
When the blast shook the surface of their moon so many cycles ago, the Eloheem looked up to see that a Draconian ship loomed in their orbit. The warmongering reptilian breed had no cause for an all out attack on the Eloheem. Horror rocked the double hearts of every Eloh male when they saw the truth of the attack. The Draconians were not attacking all the Eloheem. They targeted one male from each pair.
Eloheem males were born in pairs; one Yin, the other Yang. To separate a brotherhood in any way caused an imbalance. When such a severance happened, the community was able to embrace the remaining brother and provide a semblance of balance. Although, the solo Eloh was never whole again.
Solitary Yang would often retreat into themselves, preferring the inner world. Lone Yins would reject society entirely, becoming territorial and aggressive.
On that day, when the Draconians invaded their world, they trained their weapons on the paler Yang males, leaving a host of lone Yins with no community to ground them. With the passive side of their duality severed in such a deliberately violent manner, the agitated Yins lost hold of their sanity. Their marred souls turned to something dark. They turned their aggression on everything and everyone around them.
It took Hsing's Yin father, Hung, to move into action. He sent all the children on the tribe’s Mothership, putting young Hsing and Chen in charge while he and the other adults stayed behind to ward off the vile Draconian attack. Hung insisted the males and their mates could not travel with the children for fear of what a severed triad might do to the younglings.
Chou, Hsing's Yang father, gave Hsing the instruction to use evasive maneuvers to outwit the Draconians. He assured his sons that they would all meet again. Hsing trusted his prophetic Yang father’s words and did as he was told. What Hsing knew now was that his father, Chou, did not tell him that their next meeting would be in the world after.
The evasive maneuvering worked according to their father's plan. The Draconians gave chase to the adults and left the children alone. Many of the young pairs of Eloh brothers felt the demise of their parents. In the coming star rises, other brothers onboard felt something different.
For some, only their mothers' and Yang fathers’ spirits passed on. They continued to feel a link to their Yin fathers. But the links grew dark, twisted, and unnatural.
“They’re almost upon us,” announced the pale, green Lung.
Back in the present, Hsing’s eyes locked onto the screen before Lung. By the grimace on the young Yang’s face, Hsing knew that Lung sensed it was his father’s marred spirit giving them chase.
Hsing grabbed the controls and set the ship on a course into the path of the renegade ship. It wasn't another Mothership. Motherships, like theirs, did not have any weapons on board.
Hsing spied the artillery on the bay of the ship. It was a metal ship that befit the Grey Reticuleans, minions of the Neterians. The Marred Ones’ must have taken over the ship. The Grey's were formidable, but Hsing assumed the Greys would never anticipate an attack from a pacifist tribe of Eloheem. They would never suspect a fractured band of marred Yins to overtake them.
"We will not run," Hsing said.
"You cannot mean to do them harm, Hsing-I?" Chen spoke telepathically to his brother, not wanting to show any seeds of dissension amongst their ranks.
"Harm is their intention upon us."
"Their minds are sick," Chen insisted. "We need to bring them in."
"Our fathers tried that. Look where it got them."
"Vengeance is not the answer.”
"The time for diplomacy is over," Hsing said aloud. "They mean to destroy us."
Chen grit his teeth.
"They would destroy everyone on this ship. Including her."
That got Chen's attention. It also niggled at Hsing's mind. He'd not yet touched the woman, but his soul already knew that they would entwine. He would protect her well-being over his very life.
It was as though his fathers stood over his shoulder, one on each side. Chou, his patient, compassionate, Yang father suggested that Hsing opt for forgiveness and diplomacy. At his other shoulder, the hard glare of his Yin father, Hung, insisted that his son stand his ground and protect his people.
Hsing steadied his grip on the controls. At the last minute, before he pulled the throttle, a calming hand came to rest on his shoulder. Hsing shook Chen's hand off. But Chen must have anticipated the move because he tightened his grip.
"We will run no longer from our enemies, Chen-Na,” Hsing said telepathically.
"An enemy only exists when there is anger inside,” Chen countered.
"I will deal with my anger, and my enemies, face-to-face."
"You do not have to face an enemy to engage them, Hsing-I.”
"We cannot turn the other cheek, Chen-Na. They will fire and we have no weapons at our disposal."
"But we do, brother. We have our minds and our solidarity."
Through their link, Chen showed Hsing his plan. It was a risky proposition, but...
"You trust me brother.” There was no question in Chen's statement.
Hsing pulled on the controls and turned the ship around. In his mind’s eye, he felt Chen close his eyes and reach out to every male on the ship while he steered the Mothership fast and true.
The Marred Ones’ metal ship gave chase. As it came closer, Hsing sensed that there were only two beings on board. The males’ spiritual signatures were identifiable. Hsing had known these males all of his life.
They were in range enough for a telepathic hail. Hsing sent one out to the males. What he got in return was a cluttered mind full of madness and a hunger for destruction.
Eloheem were powerful beings. But that power had always been aimed at balance, protection, and enlightenment. Turned to a darker pursuit, a single Eloh could cause untold destruction on countless living beings.
Hsing felt the other males of the Mothership connect with him. They didn't question his command. Hsing and Chen had kept them safe since their younghood. Each male did as instructed.
Hsing navigated the ship closer to the Earth's orbit. It was difficult flying as there was a ton of debris in the atmosphere. But that clutter was what might save them.
Another blast hit the Mothership. It knocked Chen to the ground. The awareness of his brother's pain momentarily blindsided Hsing.
"That was a direct hit to the ship's energy stores,” Chen announced aloud.
Next to Chen's bruising, Hsing felt the ship's agony. "We cannot take another hit."
The metal ship was gaining. Hsing aimed the Mothership into the graveyard of debris from the humans below. The space junk rattled and smacked the sides of the ship.
Hsing felt Chen reach out for his brethren once more, making sure everyone was at the ready. They had to act fast. One more blast and they could face the same fate as their parents.
From all around, a hailstorm of satellites and debris around the earth's orbit arrowed toward the metallic ship.
