Artemis' Bow, Part 17 (Patreon)

WAO WAO WAO! Sorry for the delay! After a (not so brief) hiatus, Artemis' Bow is back! I plan on finishing the current story arc, and will be dedicating substantial time to seeing this through! I hope you all enjoy, buckle up, and get ready for some story! <3 

No voting options this chapter, and I'm not sure about next either, as we wrap up the plot we've already got on the plate. 

As always, a very warm thank you to Firefox for editing my work! Without you, I'm sure my stories would be a lot more ruff! <3

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 The sky above the starport cracked with the engines of a heavy freighter as it broke atmosphere. It was late afternoon, the planet’s sun shining a dull orange through the colony’s energy shield bubble. Life moved on at the snail’s pace that the colony was used to, as though it were simply any other day. As The Jackal’s ramps slowly lowered, hydraulics hissing, Artemis contemplated that for them, that’s all it was. For her, the day had become something different. Much like her trip to the Outer Colonies, things had gone far beyond her comfort zone.

There, a short distance away from the Jackal, several armed men stood in a semi-circle. In the middle stood a wolf in a long black coat and leather gloves. Aava was kneeling on the ground in the center of the circle, beside Julius, who was lying on his side in a slowly growing pool of blood. At a glance, it was hard to tell if he was breathing.

With the Jackal’s ramp lowered, the men raised their rifles to Artemis and Alex, who stepped out of the ship, their own weapons in hand, lowered and by their sides. 

For a moment, the two sides stood in silence, the empty colony starport indifferent to the sudden tension. 

“I’m glad you came,” the wolf spoke, his words breaking the silence, but not the tension. “Not that you had much choice,” he added as he motioned to Aava with a casual wave of his pistol. “She was running out of time, wasn’t she?” 

Aava glanced at Artemis and in that look, she knew the lavender-furred rabbit was unharmed. A flood of relief flowed through her. She wasn’t sure what she would have done, had her oldest and dearest companion been hurt. 

“And he,” the wolf continued, “I fancy he already has.” He gestured then to the maned wolf, Julius. Now closer, Artemis could see the rise and fall of his chest, but his breathing seemed shallow, as though it might stop at any moment. She didn’t know the man, but his involvement in this seemed almost like hers. Incidental. She knew that if she didn’t play her cards right, she would share his fate. 

Looking away from the two, the black-clothed wolf turned his gaze back towards Artemis. “And now, you have what I asked for, right?” His eyes wandered towards the silver briefcase that Alex was holding. “You know how little time we have for games. I could have you all killed here, I fancy, and would still find the samples. But the thought of turning this backwater colony inside out bores me almost as much as this little chase of ours, already has.” 

Artemis nearly smiled. Whoever this Wayfinder mook was, he sure liked the sound of his own voice. That could work in her favour. She gave a curt nod towards Alex, who lobbed the briefcase over where Aava kneeled beside Julius, and into the arms of one of the mercs who had accompanied the black clothed wolf. The merc fumbled to catch it and maintain hold of his gun, swiftly giving up on the latter to maintain a solid grip on the briefcase. His gun clattered onto the plascrete of the starport.

With a snap of his fingers, the black clothed wolf beckoned, and the merc stumbled over with the case, unclasping it and revealing what was inside. Indeed, it was the mushrooms, each one still preserved perfectly in their medical stasis. With a satisfied nod the briefcase was closed and his attention brought back to the group. He opened his mouth to speak,

Artemis interrupted him. “That’s not all of it.” 

Her voice cut him off, and for that she was thankful, as corporate types like him seldom left loose ends. She was fairly certain his command would have been to kill them all where they stood. Now, instead, he seemed to be contemplating Artemis’ honesty.

After a lengthy pause, he finally said one word. “Explain.” 

“This one has a lab here, you know that, right?” As Artemis spoke, she motioned to Julius, who had long passed the point where he was able to comprehend what was being said. The wolf nodded, his eyes narrowing. “If you were watching our ship, you’ll know that we had a package delivered to his laboratory. You’ll know that’s why Aava went out, in the first place.” Again, the wolf nodded, slowly. He was beginning to understand. “A third of what we had went to him and the laboratory.”

“Where is it?” he snapped, his voice like the crack of a whip. It was the most emotion she’d seen him display. 

“I,” Artemis’ voice cracked. She found herself looking at Aava, feeling Alexandra’s weight beside her. These were her friends, but more than that, she was their captain. And this, this was her duty. “I can take you there.” 

Slowly, it began to dawn on the wolf. Artemis knew he was going to have them killed. By doing this, she could buy them time to get off planet. By sacrificing her own life, she could save theirs. Finally, both were able to share a look of solemn understanding. He seemed to contemplate on this for a moment, frowning. Loose ends were messy but there was truth to the captain’s words. Julius had to have been operating out of a laboratory all this time, and the maned wolf himself was in no state to take them there. It would be far better to examine the laboratory for himself, and to destroy it immediately, than to risk some pesky colonist finding it in the time it would take to locate it unassisted, and start this whole mess all over again. Surely.

“Fine.” He said, the word not a spit, nor an admission of defeat. With it, he seemed to concede only the sentiment that for now, he still needed them. He could have their ship flagged for explosive deconstruction later. “Alright captain. You’ll show us the way.” 

He snapped his fingers once more, and two of the armed mercs began to move towards where Julius lay, unmoving on the ground.

“Leave Julius.” The words came out of her mouth before she realised she’d said them. They felt shaky and uncertain, but a strength of sorts bubbled up behind them. “He’s been through enough.” 

The black clothed wolf appeared to contemplate this for a moment, before shrugging. “As you please. Now. After you.” He motioned for Artemis to join them and, as she went to, Alex caught her by the arm. Turning back to look into the dragonesses eye’s, Artemis almost wished she hadn’t. There was sadness there, fear she hadn’t seen before from her stalwart companion. Artemis swallowed, her mouth dry. She worked up enough of herself to say, “I’ll be okay,” before breaking away and joining the black clothed wolf. Alex knew what was going on. She knew the importance of this decision, and that it meant the freedom of everyone else. 

As Artemis, the black-clothed wolf, and the other mercenaries began to move away from The Jackal, Alexandra rushed over to Aava and helped her back to her feet. Together, the pair of them held Julius between them and rushed him into the ship.

- - - 

“Is the captain okay?” 

Demeter sounded almost worried as Alex hauled Julius’ considerable heft onto the medical bay table. He was a lot lighter than he looked, despite having a stomach that alone looked to weigh over one hundred pounds. It had a buoyant feel to it. When she felt her arms sink into it, she was reminded of the old airbed she used to sleep on as a kid. The dragoness couldn’t bring herself to answer Demeter, not when she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. It didn’t look good.

Aava had waddled herself to the other side of the medical table, panting and sweating, but still there and every bit as capable looking as she had been three hundred pounds ago. She started a quick medical scan with Demeter’s assistance, and began to probe around where the maned wolf had been shot. In moments like these, Alex felt a special kind of helplessness. She was a fighter, not a doctor. It took everything she had not to leap out the ship’s docking ramp and sprint after Artemis — if they had to go, they could go together.

“He’ll be okay.” Aava said, flashing a glance across the table that made Alex feel the rabbit knew what she was thinking. Aava grabbed a syringe and began to dose Julius with medibots, before grabbing her surgical toolkit and getting ready to close his wounds. “The bullet went clean through. Missed everything major. Blood loss is his biggest problem, but the medibots will help with that.”

“That’s,” Alex found herself choking on her words, “fine? Why do I give a crap about the backwater junker who got us into this mess?” 

Granted, the idea of reviving Julius just so Alex could inflict a more painful death on the manipulative wolf had some appeal. She wasn’t typically so vindictive, but this was not a typical situation. 

“Because,” Aava replied, “without him, there’s a good chance that I’ll burst like a fungus-spore filled balloon.” She leveled another one of her looks in Alex’s direction. “We’re both infected with some sort of symbiote. Please tell me you didn’t give the wolf all the mushrooms.” 

“Well of course not,” Alex said, “we’re not that stupid. The plan was to make him believe we’d sent a substantial amount to Julius with you. The plan was—” She trailed away. 

She couldn’t bring herself to believe that the plan had been to let Artemis draw them away from The Jackal so that they could escape, and Alex would never forgive herself if her captain got hurt. 

Aava opened her mouth to say something, hopefully some words of comfort, maybe a plan to get them out of this situation. But she was cut off by another voice. Croaky, parched. 

“Codes.” Julius wheezed. “Codes.” He struggled with the word, breathless and barely conscious. 

The dragoness growled. She did not need to hear from Julius of all people right now. But Aava seemed curious. 

“That’s right. Without the access codes, Artemis will have a hard time getting into your lab. Mind you, I don’t think she’s actually planning on going inside.” Aava trailed off, wondering what the captain was planning.

“Not get in,” Julius wheezed, looking at the morbidly obese rabbit beside him, “get out. Three. Five. Two. Eight.” He reached across to take Aava’s hand, his own still slick with his blood, hers clasping surgical tools. “Codes. Lock.” The words were clearly a struggle now. “In.” 

The maned wolf’s head fell back to the medical table’s headrest, and for a moment Alex wondered if he was dead. But soon enough, she saw the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing and that idea was dispelled.

“Well that was a merry little distraction. Alright Dem, you know what she’d have wanted. Let’s prepare to get out of orbit. If-” 

“Wait.” Aava appeared to be looking thoughtfully at Julius as she said, “I think... I think maybe we have a shot here. Demeter?”

“Yes, Aava?”

“Patch my comms through to Artemis.”