- Homecoming

It was afternoon Christmas Eve when our train pulled into the station and all of us was weary and ready to go into hibernation for the rest of the winter. I made my report to the supervisor on watched and made my report as the rest of the group stowed away their gear. The guys in charge must have been impressed with what we were able to do as not only did they give us a Christmas bonus, but also gave us ten days off for the holiday. When I told everyone the good news, everyone's spirit was lifted and I was happily mauled by most of them. Myself, I was happy when I found an extra 127 credits in my locker that I quickly pocketed. Not feeling like stowing my gear at work, I carried everything with me as everyone left. Mostly because I wanted to get home, but partly because I had a surprise that I was able to pickup for Xlilith in my gear bag.

I went out to my Arctic Defiant, a big vehicle about the size of an old full size Silverado back in the early 21st century. The Defiant was very similar to Earth's Humvee, it started out as a rugged vehicle that was primarily used by planetary explorers and military personnel as an all terrain armored vehicle sometimes. Part of the Defiant's popularity anywhere was that it had 4 powerful motors, 2 for the front wheels and two for the back. Though I opted to have treads installed instead for the amount of snow on Severa during the winter months. There was a rumor at one point that once a Defiant had even ran down a river of hot magma as a volcano was erupting. Most people just chalked it up as advertisement propaganda, as it was something that started during the First Contact War with the Caushae.

I threw everything in the back before going around to the cab and getting in. The thing purred to life as I started it up and put it into gear. The truck took off out of the parking garage and blazed a path down the street. I considered going strait home, but a grow from my belly changed my mind. The last I ate was on the train and I skipped lunch because of work. I mentally altered course and headed for the Pavilion's Kitchen. It was a little after four when I pulled off the street and parked the truck. As I had kind of expected, the diner was more or less empty, with only the Lycan, Vin, sweeping the floor. Looking around from outside the window, I didn't see Maggie or Xlilith anywhere.

At that moment something felt... odd.

A simple bell chime announced my entry into the diner. I ignored the quick glare I got from Vin. “Hey Maggie, Xlilith. I'm home. Anyone around?”

“CALVIN PRICE!” The voice was like a crack of a whip that nearly made me jump through the ceiling. “WHERE IN GODS NAME HAVE YOU BEEN!?!” Maggie came storming out of the kitchen and backed me right up to the wall behind me. “I've been trying to reach you for the last FIVE DAYS!”

“Maggie, calm down.” I said trying to defuse the situation I found myself in. “I've been out of town for the last week doing damage control at the other settlement that lost part of its snow barricade. I only got back into town a few hours ago and came here first thing.”

Maggie glared at me as my words sunk in. “Then why the HELL didn't you send me or Xlilith a message? You've been gone a week, you Should of let Someone KNOW!”

About then, I noticed a light snicker. I looked past the angry woman at Vin, and seen a smug grin on the Lycan's muzzle. My eyes narrowed as some of the pieces fell into place in my head, I decided to try something.

“But I did, I left you and Xlilith message. Even mentioned a surprise.” I held up a finger to hush Maggie as I strained my human ears for something.

It was barely audible but I heard what I needed. “... Kruut'ir bitca... No deserve good meal...”

I lightly moved Maggie off to the side. “How would you know I was going to cook Xlilith a holiday meal, Vin?” The wolf's ears pined back as his eyes grew to the size of saucers. He knew he screwed up and he was caught.

“I know nothing.” he tried to reply innocently.

“Bullshit and you know it you son of a bitch. What the hell did you do?” He glanced between me and Maggie, looking for a way out.

Maggie, for her part stood like a deer in headlights looking at the Antho alien with a confused look on her face. “Vin'corda... What did you do?”

I watched Vin, one thing that you learn when you're around them is that Lycans and Caushae are both very expressive with their emotions, all you have to do is watch for their tells, namely with their ears and muzzle. Caushae are slightly better at hiding their facial tells, but their tails still give them away. Lycans on the other had...

They say the only fair part of a fight is the opening moment when two opponents face off against each other. Being slightly shorter than Vin by close to a foot, I could easily watch his face and ears for what was going on in his mind. Right now, he was a trapped animal and the only way out was through me and Maggie. Which speaking of, Maggie was almost right behind me, having walked in stunned silence.I was in no means in fighting shape. Heck, if I was being honest, I wasn't really in much shape aside from the walking I did before.

“Vin... Tell us. What did you do?” Vin's ear twitched twice at the words.

I pushed Maggie back just as 500 pounds of alien body mass charged us. I wasn't sure what Vin intended on doing, but I seen that furry fist heading my way. I barely had time to lean back to missed getting clobbered in the face. I missed the second strike and was sent flying into a table by Vin's backhand. Vin had set his sights on me as he grabbed my jacket and lifted me up and slammed me into the table, knocking the wind right out of me.

“Kruut'ir oosa myo, Bicta deserves Death!”

I could feel my anger boil over at that point. My last coherent memory was me grabbing the backrest of a chair in one hand and a metallic object in the other. Then instincts took over and everything was a blur as my body reacted on its own accord. I'm not sure fully what happened, nor would I ever get a full account. But when I came back to my senses and regain control of my body, I was straddling the Lycan's body with a hand gripping his shirt while the other hand was pressing a spoon to his neck.

“Nobody deserves death you fucker!” I found myself spatting at the wolf as I sprayed saliva and blood from a split lip at him. “Not you, you Bastard, and CERTAINLY not HER!” I slammed his head against the collapsed table we were on. “Now, tell me, What Did You Do To HER! And WHY!”

“She's Kruut'ir. Reason enough.”

“Bullshit! Tell me the Truth, or I'll show you what I can do to you with this spoon!” I bluffed.

“I work for family as slave with younger sister. My sister was bicta's slave.”

“She has a name,” I say as I press the spoon into his neck. “Start using it.”

Vin glared at me as he continued. “Year before humans came. Sister was sent out into winter. She never came back. I wasn't allowed to look, made to wear collar, keep me in palace. Sister never found. No one knows what happened to her. Kruut'ir's fault. I take mother and two daughters life myself as vengeance, would of taken father too if not already killed.”

“Is that why you hate Xlilith? Because of what happened to your sister? How in the Fucking HELL do you know it was Even her fault? I Know first hand what the winters are like here. Yes, I agree that the ruling Caushe should of took measures to protect their people. But You had no Right to take lives you bastard!” I nearly rammed the blunt spoon in his throat right then till I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder to see Maggie standing beside me. More of my rage and aggression dissipated in my mind and I felt a horrible sense of guilt for my actions.

“What did you do to Xlilith?” Maggie asked calmly.

“I do nothing to bicta. I discovered messages to her and delete them. Told her you left, she no welcome here, she stay, I deal with her. She gone next day. No idea where, <Good riddance>”

I could feel my anger boil back up as he talked. Yes, I feel bad that he lost his sister the way he did, anyone would I think. Yet, was it right for him to kill others or make them possibly suffer the same fate in the name of vengeance? Was it right for me to kill him for what he has done. I'm not a violent person but there are a few things that pushes my buttons, and the wolf under me was pushing all the wrong ones. If it wasn't for the hand gripping my shoulder, I might of rammed that spoon into the Lycan's neck.

As it was, I raised the spoon up and jammed it into the fractured table that broke our fall. Maggie stepped back as I stood up, Vin started to pick himself up till my foot landed squarely on his chest and forced him back down.

“Don't you EVEN think I'm done with you fleabag. I am sorry that you lost part of your family, its a tragedy, no matter what. What you did to Xlilith, is far worst.” I added more weight on him. “You killed her family then condemned her to life on the street, perhaps even the same fate as your sister. Tell me Vin, think your sister would be proud? If I was her, I'd spit at you as you fell into the depths of Hell. You should have been working towards making sure others didn't befall her fate, not curse someone who seemed to be trying to make amends for their past.”

I walked for the door but stopped before opening it “I'm going to go look for Xlilith, and you better pray that I find her alive. Or else I WILL skin you alive with that spoon!” I stormed out of the diner to my vehicle and got in. The last few minutes came back to me like a flood and all I had were questions as I rest my head against the steering wheel. It took me well over a few minutes to regain my composure.

I started my search by calling the settlement's police force. However, despite having a 3 day head start on me, they were only down to 5 people because of the holiday and the disaster over in the other settlement. So that was a strike against me. My next move was to start my own search, now later on Christmas Eve, it was easy to drive around the settlement. But several hours of driving and searching yielded nothing. At my wits end, I decided to try one more thing.

“Hello?” An adult Almedha appeared in the screen of the center consul.

“She's missing.” I blurted out.

Asquen looked at me through the call confused. “What? Calvin? What's going on? Who's missing?”

“Xlilith, she's gone. Been missing for most of the week.”

“W-what? How?”

Before I could answer I heard another voice over the com-line. “Honey, whats wrong?” Asquen turned and started to conversed in an alien language and someone replied in the same language. Soon a Caushae stepped into the picture with Asquen. “I'm guessing that you're Aquen's coworker and friend.” She looked into the viewer directly at me. She had the look of a parent getting ready to scold a child. “Tell me everything from the beginning and don't leave anything out if you can help it.”

I started to tell the two of them everything, how she ran into me when she was chased out of the alley. How I found her and took her back to get her shelter. The highlights of the two weeks we've spent together. It was about 20 minutes later when I recounted the fight at Maggie's diner. Asquen and his wife, (mate, whatever,) stood and listen to the details I given them. Occasionally, one or the other would politely ask me a question which in turn, I'd answered honestly.

After a few minutes of thought the Caushae spoke up. “I can't be sure, but I have heard that until the shelters were built, a few homeless went to the snow fencing because of rumor of the heat that they gave off.”

I frowned. While the giant fencing was heated, but it was low level heat that would make the metal itself warm to the touch Just enough to melt any ice or snow that gathered on the four story structure. Which is why the Togark will sometimes rip apart the fencing. Any actual heat was in the fields, under layers of drifted snow some dozen of feet away. I had heard rumors when I first arrived of how sometimes humanoid bones and frozen bodies would appear when the snow started to melt, but I never understood why till now.

“That still leaves me with 5 to 10 kilometers to search through...” I said out loud as I put my vehicle in gear and started for the outskirts of the settlement. Looking over I could see Caushae's ears spayed out.

“I'm sorry, but that's the best I can think of.” I could hear the sadness in her voice.

“To bad she doesn't have a communicator,” Asquen mused. “Or a personal data pad... something that you could track. Even an ID pin, they might be low level, but still able to track it.”

“Haven't been able to get her a pad or a communicator. Heck, I don't even think she has any I... D...” My mind started racing. No she didn't have any kind of ID to my knowledge yet but... there was one possibility. I slammed on the breaks and skidded to a halt.

“Calvin? What is it?”

“My coat, the one I gave her when we first met. I never took it back.” Minimizing the call I called up the GPS of the settlement and input my personal ID tracking number and waited. The concept of the ID pins was similar to a trackable dog collar or military dog tags, everyone who came to the colony got one so if you get reported missing and needed to be found they could find you by a GPS satellite. I had my map focused on the area were I lived in one corner and Maggie's diner in another. The system dinged and a dot appeared. As I figured and partly hoped, the dot wasn't located near either building. Zooming out the dot continued to stay on the outskirts of the map till I had if far enough out to see the fence line. Sure enough, the dot was coming from the snow fence line.

“Son of a...” I cursed as I put the truck in gear and caused a rooster tail of snow and ice to fly off the tires as I pressed the accelerator to the floor.

“What is it?”

“She's at the fencing.” Asquen and his mate were silent. “I'm on my way there now, and will let you guys know what happens.”

“Okay, be safe.”

“And Asquen,”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for both your help.”

Asquen's mate spoke up. “Bring her home.”

“That's the plan...”