Laurel dreamed, at first she thought that she was in someone's arms and they were flying across the sky on a giant pale white Grah-na-it-lo, his face was a mix of emotions. He looked like he was in shock, and sadness was written there too, but mostly she saw fear. He glanced at her and she tried to smile she thought, unsure of if he could even see her. 

Then the dream changed to one of metal and she thought she was in a coffin and she tried to move, tried to lift her arms to hit the window, to beg someone to let her out. She saw shapes outside the window, not quite black in color, moving to and fro. She could not tell what they were doing out there, and then she felt the tiredness of it all fall upon her, and she closed her eyes to sleep and to dream.

 

"We got her here in time, Yuri, look at me." Winston took his arm gently. "Talk to the healers, they will all tell you the same thing, and they found her hand. Regrettably it had been torn away when she fell, perhaps she thought that she had let go, but Dahala had grabbed it."

Yuri was inconsolable, his heart breaking and tears flowed freely as he looked at Laurel lying there. He had held her, kissed her earlier, listened to her breathing as they rode at speeds unknown to this world to get to a jump ship. They may have even broken the sound barrier, he does not know, he only knew one thing, save Laurel.

"Yuri, I am Zerhera, a healer." He begins, "Here I am called Zeus, I and Tahla have checked your human female, you got her here in time." He takes Yuri over to the machines that are monitoring Laurels vitals. "Do you see this? It shows that her heart is beating well, she is breathing well, her injuries are grievous but they can be tended to."

Tahla approaches, "Her reproductive organs are intact and are not harmed by the fall, her head however, took a rather hard knock. She needs many repairs, but all of them can be done on U-leyla."

"I DON'T CARE IF SHE CAN GIVE ME CHILDREN! I JUST WANT  LAUREL!" Yuri rages and fresh tears fall, "I just...I just want her in my arms again, singing to me, kissing me." He collapses onto the floor in a giant puddle.

Zeus as he is called, helps him from the floor and walks him over to another stasis pod, "If we are to make a faster jump to our home, everyone but Tahla, the pilots and myself, must be in a pod. Is that understood? We are going to stay awake and monitor Laurel, we can jump and be there in no time."

"Alright."

"Winston, I must insist that you take a pod too." Tahla tells him, "You have jumped many times without going in stasis. I really must insist this time. For your sake and that of your son."

"Just let me help with Yuri and then I will."

"Very well."

"Please, watch over her, wake me..." 

"I promise, I promise to wake you Yuri." Zeus tells him.

"I will be right here Yuri, they will awaken us if anything happens, I have rode with this crew before." Winston tells Yuri, "They are good people, and with them I know we have nothing to worry about."

 

U-Leyla

Winston can hear someone calling his name, and as his eyes begin to clear he can see sparks and remnants of their spaceship. He slowly tries to get out of the cryostasis pod when a hand gentle grabs him and helps him clear the debris. It is not until he looks over that he see Zeus and Tahla scrambling to care for the other two pods.

"What happened?" He asks the young man, "Are you the pilot?"

"We do not know, we think it might have been a meteor," The pilot tells him and gives Winston a moment to get his legs under him. "We know that it was not a weapon, we would have seen that, it had to have been a small bit of meteor or even space debris."

"How many?"

"Sir?"

"How many did we lose?"

"All hands but the four of us that you see here," He points to his co-pilot and the two healers. "They have done everything to keep your son and his intended alive, those pods were protected from the fall."

"How?"

"The blast hit other areas," He shows Winston that his pod had been damaged, "They were over on that side of the ship, together. You and five others were over here, you are the only survivor."

"Damn. Is there anything I can do?"

"My co-pilot is trying to get the beacon out from the storage area, perhaps if you feel up to it you can help him Sir."

"Yes, yes. Were you able to get out a distress call before we went down?"

"I sent one, I am not sure if it was heard."

"I see," Winston pats his arm, "You did everything you could." 

"Lt. Colonel," Zeus calls out, "Tahla noted that this young man is the son of the elders."

"Elders? You mean ..."

"Yes, his parents are now elders," Tahla explains, "When his name came up on the pod I immediately sent a message to his parents, they were expecting us.If we do not show at the landing site, they will come and look for us."

"You are amazing." Winston assures her. 

"Sir," She begins, "Your son was in a rather upset state, we were going to awaken him, but his mental and physical well being was.."

"I know," Winston nods, "It is okay, you did what you thought right, and I would say to leave him in there as long as there is power."

"We have power," Zeus tells him, "We do not know how these two pods are working when the others all failed, but they are working and as long as they are we are going to monitor them. We hope that rescue comes with power or new pods."

"I do too." Winston walks towards the co-pilot, and they begin to dig beneath debris to look for the storage locker that holds the beacon. 

"Here, I have found it!" The co-pilot calls out after an exhaustive forty minute search.

"Thanks be to the Gods of old." Everyone says in unison.

"Where should we set it up?" 

The pilot comes from an area just north of their position, and tells the men that they would have to work together to set it up in an area that was not far from the wreckage. "It is over here, and one of us will have to stay with the beacon. I need help clearing some of these bushes so that the beacon will sit flat and firm to the ground.  Tahla, stay with the pods, and yell if there is any change."

"Understood." 

The men set off a little ways from the wreck, and yet they were far enough that Tahla could not see them, nor could they see her. She checked numbers and watched for any signs of change in the last two persons left in her charge. She thought she saw Laurel wiggle and she double checked her numbers to ensure that Laurel stayed asleep.

It was while she was bending down to check the adjustments on the pod that she heard the first rustling. She straightened, glanced around in fear and then when she saw nothing, she returned to checking the numbers. It was here that she had made the mistake, for in that moment it came, slowly it dragged its feet across the top of the pod and drooled upon her head. 

Tahla felt something hit her on the head, she reaches up to feel a giant glob of salvia, and she slowly looks up and into the eyes of the Pharent. What Earthlings would assume to be a giant dog, but these dogs were wild and aggressive, with wild black eyes. 

He was huge, perhaps six feet tall not including the ears, and his black fur hung nearly to the ground. The ears and body trimmed in this pale golden color made him look even more fierce, and the ears stood straight up and were nearly eight inches tall. He was gorgeous, and yet, he was frightening. People of Earth would think he would be a dog made up of an Irish Wolfhound, Doberman Pinscher, and an Afghan hound, a beast truly to be afraid of. 

She ducked down, scooting back towards Yuri's pod, her hand across her face. She wanted to scream, to call out for the men that were not far from her, but no matter what she wanted to do, she could not find her voice. The more that the great beast growled and drooled, the more she felt her throat tightening, and no sound escaped her.

She watched as the beast sniffed the pod, it moved all over, but never took his eyes from the woman cowering on the ground. It dug its claws into the pod, trying to rip it open, but it could gain no purchase on the metal. It became angry, it wanted the tiny little thing that was inside, not to kill it, no.... never kill it. It wanted to be near it, to lie down on the ground with it, to run with it. The beast had no idea why it felt this way, but it did, and no one and nothing was going to keep the little thing from it.

Winston, Zeus and the pilot begin the walk back to the wreck, they were talking about the chances of seeing the beacon and that it was the best choice of locations. They were being hopeful, until they rounded past a grouping of trees and they see it, a Pharent. It was massive, and it was crawling all over Laurels pod.

They slowly approach, talking calmly to Tahla and telling her not to move and just let him see that you mean no harm. She tells them to shoot it, and they tell her that if they shot it, then it would cry out and the whole pack would be called forth. They did not want a pack of Pharents coming down upon them, packs are usually made of at least five adolescents, and if they were all as big as this one, then they would be in a lot of trouble.

"I have never seen one so large." The pilot tells them.

"Nor have I," Winston replies. 

"What do you think it is doing?" Zeus asks as they watch the beast sniff and claw at the pod. 

"I don't know," Winston explains, "I have never seen one do this." 

The beast, roams around the pod, slowly looking for an opening. Its eyes focused on the little thing inside, wanting it to come out, wanting to sniff it and touch the soft skin. It paws and claws uselessly at the metal and it still does not give, he keeps his eyes on the woman and on the newcomers, all the while trying to get inside the pod. It finally breaks down, and from its throat it lets out a long sad howl, a cry of longing and fear. With the howl, it lets out all that it feels, this little thing is his, and he wants his siblings to help him get it out.

"Oh, shit." The pilot looks around, "This is not good, he is calling for backup."

"I think we are, as the Earthlings would call it, fucked." Zeus tells them.

Four more come out of the woods, the Pharents sniffing the air and growling,  as they charge over to their leader. They see this metal object, this strange thing that they do not know is metal nor understand as metal, and they see that their leader is pawing and clawing and now gnashing his teeth upon it. He is whining and howling, as he tries everything to get it to open, to allow the little thing out. 

"Can we fire upon them?" 

Winston shakes his head, "If we attack one, the others will kill us."

"If they get in that pod, she will die."

Winston looks at Zeus, "Then I must distract them, we must keep them from opening the pod. When I count to three, each of us will run in a different direction, if they catch you."

"If they catch us?"

"Lie down, face down with your hands over the back of your neck."

"Are you kidding me?" Zeus nearly shouts. "I am not running."

"What ARE you going to do?" 

"I am going to check on Laurel and open her pod." 

"You cannot be serious." Winston reaches for his arm, but Zeus was already farther away then he could reach, "Wait! Damn it, wait!" 

"They want her, we let them have her."

The pilot yells, "SHE IS THE WHOLE REASON WE JUMPED HOME!" He steps up and grabs Zeus, "I lost a lot of good men to save her, and you want to feed her to them."

"If it saves my life and yours," Zeus says smugly, "Then, yes."

Winston steps up, spins Zeus around and punches him in the face, "I will not allow you to sacrifice Laurel to spare your life. I will, however, feed you to the beasts." He tells Zeus and shoves him towards the pod.

They were not interested in this one, the one that suddenly came towards them, a male from the smell of it. The gnashed their teeth and growled at him, but did not desire to eat him. Their leader growls and one of the little ones grab the man and drags him from the area near the pod. She drags him to the treeline and leaves him there, only to return to the group and begin helping them try to open the thing again.

"If we do not stop them." Tahla speaks softly, "They are going to pull the wires and then the pod will shut down."

"What does that mean?"

The pilot looks at Winston, "It means that Laurel will die."