"We're gonna check it out."

"Okay, we'll finish up in here and then we'll head to you."

"Sounds good." Beth clicked off their communicator and turned to me with an intrigued gleam in their eye. We surveyed the scrap heap of discarded tech, outside the building with only brown fields surrounding us and the facility. "What are the chances there's something we can use in here?"

"I dunno." I said. It was super weird what we'd found in this place, everything ripped apart as if they knew we were coming, but then dumped in plain sight beside the facility for us to find. Probably meant that everything in it was broken, and yet, I couldn't help the urge to root through everything just in case there was something cool (even if it wasn't mission relevant). And Beth was right, the readings we'd gotten were strange. "Pass me the scanner."

They obliged and I frowned at blinking and pulsing on the screen. Something was working in the pile anyway, and the signal kind of seemed like a transmitter... but that would mean...

"Beth, we need to get out of here! I think there's a device in there sending out a beacon. The Weraynians know we're-"

And then it happened. In the blink of an eye Beth flung backwards into me, I didn't even process the zap of a device firing or the ripple of energy that blasted us until we were lying crumpled on the hard ground. Beth's scream was still ringing in my ears. My head hurt. I could hardly keep my eyes open. The others ran to us. I heard them talking but didn't understand the words. They sounded worried. I felt a hand dabbing at my head; was I bleeding? My eyes wouldn't focus. Was Beth okay? I got to my knees and reached out for them. I saw their hands. I took them. I heard worried mumbling. Their hands were slippery but I held tight.

"This was a trap." I heard a voice say.

Mickey spoke tensely. "We need to get them to one of the med stations as soon as possible."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't move. This was like Aldred, like Riowyn. Somebody pried Beth's hands from mine. I wanted to scream.

Abigail was still beside me, though everyone else had gone. I was begging myself not to shut down, but it was too late. "... Sophie ..." I could only hear bits of her trying to get me to move. Maybe the blast had done something to my ears. Abi suddenly leaped to her feet.

"We have to run, Sophie!" I gasped, my brain switching on in an instant. She dragged me to my feet. I saw a ship ahead of us, and people. That wasn't our ship... Those were Weraynians! I fumbled for my gun. We'd trained for this sort of thing. But I couldn't see well enough. Abigail was using her powers. She yelled and disappeared from my side. Soldiers surrounded me, weapons bearing down on me. I knew I needed to fight them off but I was so weak. "Abi! Abi!" I screamed for her, she'd never let me down before. Surely she could save me. And then nothing.

I woke up in a similar haze to before, but my vision and hearing was far clearer. I had no idea where I was. It looked sort of like a hotel room; I was currently lying on a bed, with a little desk and kitchen like appliances across from me and a wardrobe to the left, a potted plant in the corner. A darkened window was set into the wall, and there was a small alcove beside the wardrobe that I couldn't quite see to the end of - maybe there was a door there?

I pulled myself off the bed, crossed to the alcove, and found it had two doors leading off it. I opened one and found a bathroom type place. The other door didn't open. I peered through the foggy glass set into it and what I saw made my heart sink and brought my memory back in a horrible way. Weraynian soldiers. So I had been captured. This must be their form of prison. I had to admit, it wasn't exactly the worst conditions, and maybe in other circumstances I would appreciate it, make the most of my time here to learn and investigate. But given what had just happened... I couldn't.

I relived the blast continuously, when I closed my eyes, even in my sleep. I'd been so foolish to let Beth come with me then, and I couldn't believe they'd taken the full brunt of the blast, protecting me. It should've been me that was hit. The guilt was eating me up. The worst part was not knowing what happened next. If I hadn't shut down completely like the useless, pathetic person I was, I would've gone with them to the ship, wouldn't have been captured, would be with them now - alive. Please, Beth, be alive.

Yet I felt in my gut that they were dead.

I sat in my room for hours, bashing my head against the wall, loathing myself, desperate to escape consciousness whenever I could. I barely even noticed my surroundings. I knew things were delivered to me every now and then. It was probably food. I didn't know, I never touched it. I barely felt hungry, though I felt I should. Maybe I wanted to feel something that wasn't deep shame, and fear for my friends, a dull ache in my stomach to combat the one in my heart. Some physical punishment to at all measure up to my crimes. Not that I was without pain. My arm had stayed bent awkwardly since I'd been taken. When I'd arrived to the prison and a Weraynian went to examine me I'd thrashed and screamed, probably only making things worse. It soon became swollen and red, and hurt any time I moved it.

One day, who knows how long after my arrival to that place, the door opened only for one of the guards to lean in the doorway and say, "You should really let us take a look at your arm."

I stared levelly at her. I recognised her as one of the Weraynian guards who'd come in many times, and tried to hold me down for examination, eventually giving up when I wouldn't stop struggling. She had an electronic device implanted in her side, and her eyes gleamed in a way that told me they were not quite biological. She also had that hairdo where one side of it is shaved and the rest is swept over to the side. It was a very cool look, though I wasn't exactly in the mood to appreciate it.

"Why should I?" I said flatly, unable to even summon the energy for spite.

She stepped into the room. "So that you don't die, preferably."

I stood up to oppose her. "What do you care? You killed Beth."

"What are you talking about?"

I balled up my fists in anger. "The machine at the station you kidnapped me from? That blasted them? They were my best friend and now they're gone because of you!"

She held her hands up defensively. "Hey. I understand you're distressed about what happened, but be reasonable. I mean, I wasn't even personally involved in the situation there, I just got a debrief when you were dropped off. The Staarus forces have been targeting our military bases, heavily populated areas, but that place was a research station. When they drove out that town, we knew it had to be only because they wanted to use the station. We don't know what your group is planning with all your meddling, but did you really think no Weraynian would notice? That we wouldn't try to stop it in whatever way we could? That's why the place was stripped of any tech access, and devices were planted so we'd be alerted if someone like you turned up. From what I was told, the device was supposed to just stun you so you couldn't escape before someone arrived. If your friend had been brought here with you, we would've been able to reverse their condition. We wanted to restrain you, not kill you."

I was speechless. My brain was doing backflips trying to make sense of things. But I had to admit, it did make sense. Yeah, Beth had been in front of me, but barely, and it didn't explain why they had been hurt far worse than I had. Beth might have been half human, but their body was not human at all. They could eat crazy things and tolerate different conditions to me. Maybe the blast, which was supposed to do minor damage to people like humans (wormiformorous beings, as the Alliance classified them), disrupted some organ of Beth's. My gut twisted - that meant it was even more my fault! I'd brought Beth here, to a place where they were in more danger than a Staarus person. A part of my grief that I'd been trying not to think about - how this situation reminded me of the friends I'd seen die before, Aldred, Riowyn, how I was in part responsible for their deaths - bubbled up before me. My throat tightened and I couldn't hold back anymore; I had no anger to hide behind. I just buckled to my knees and started sobbing, something I couldn't remember ever doing.

The guard made a panicked noise in her throat. I couldn't see through my hair and the tears, but I heard her shift to sit on the ground next to me, and felt her hand on my shoulder. I didn't pull away like I normally would.

"Hey, hey, I uh- I know I'm not exactly a person you'd want comforting you, but uh- it'll be okay. There's every chance your friend recovered. The Staarus forces have some great technology, even if they haven't seen those injuries before." I wailed, embarrassingly. It felt good, in a way, maybe some sort of catharsis. The guard winced. "I'm- uh- sorry. I can leave you alone if that'll help. You are our prisoner here but- none of us want you to suffer. This war is so all this awful stuff can be over, so no one has to hurt like this. But it's not fair. I'm sorry, uh, what's your name?"

I was stunned by the way she was talking to me. I didn't know if I'd ever been cared for like this before. My friends at the Alliance had helped me to open up about some traumatic stuff in the past, but even with them I'd never been this bad. I managed to choke out, "Sophie. What about you?" I wiped my eyes and looked at her blearily.

She stared at me with an expression I couldn't read, the edges of her lips slightly tilted. "I'm Zoryla. Look, Sophie, I can't promise everything will be okay, but while you're here, I won't let anything bad happen to you. "

"But I'm a prisoner... right?" I asked.

"Well, yeah." Zoryla frowned. "Why should that mean you get treated badly? Despite what the Halapatovians and Paladanians say, Weraynians aren't monsters. We mainly just want to keep you out of the way so we have a better chance. If we can avoid killing people, we will. I mean, when I say we," she made air bunnies with her fingers around the word we, "My people aren't a monolith. There's lots of variety out there. There are definitely some factions that want everybody they're fighting to die, and to suffer. But again, not all of us. And also - don't tell anyone I told you this - we're not exactly the best staffed here, and this place isn't a fortress. So not a very good prison, as they go." She smiled awkwardly.

I stared at her, thoughtful but weary. "That makes sense. I guess I haven't really had great experiences with Weraynians in the past. My friend Jayken is really cool but I thought he was one of the only nice Weraynians until recently. A few years back, when my people first came to the Staarus system actually, I fought a Weraynian who tortured me, broke my arm and killed people in front of me, and then healed me, just to mess with me. So... I dunno what my point is." I trailed off.

"Yeah I get it." Zoryla said. "I'm wondering, was the arm that was broken all those years ago the same one that is swollen now?"

"Uhhh..." I glanced down at my arm, trying to visualise the fight on the human ship on Flauraan, swinging a mallet at the Weraynian. I was pretty sure it was my non-teleport watch arm. So my right arm. So the same arm that had been damaged in the blast. I nodded. "Yeah, same one."

"Hmm okay." she said. "You've been through a lot today, so I'll leave you be for now, but is it okay if I come back later and have a good look at it, maybe draw some blood to check for infection? We don't have much in way of medical resources but hopefully we can do something about it."

I nodded slowly. She stood up from the floor and crossed to the door. I watched her go from my spot still curled up tight. I relaxed onto my side, exhausted, and lay there for a bit contemplating everything. I wouldn't have expected being captured by Weraynians to be as chill as this, or for my captors to be as nice as Zoryla was being. She really seemed to care about me. Even with everything I'd learnt about Weraynians over the course of the war, and the prejudices I had been shedding, you still wouldn't expect good treatment when we were literally on opposing sides. It reminded me of something I'd learnt while training for the Alliance, how historically while some places left their prisoners of war to rot in horrible conditions, there were also a few examples of POW camps where, like Zoryla said, they weren't trying to do anything but keep you there, off the battlefield, and often captors left those camps when the wars were over with good memories of them. I guess I'd gotten lucky with this one. That didn't help the part of me that still felt I needed to suffer for what had happened to Beth, but you know. My eyes, still raw from crying, struggled to stay open, and I felt myself beginning to drift off. I hoped Zoryla was right and Beth would be okay. I didn't know how I'd live with myself if not.

I woke up feeling cold and fuzzy. I dragged myself off the floor and onto the bed. Not long after the door to my room opened and Zoryla came in carrying some medical stuff. She was probably waiting for me to wake up. That was nice of her.

"Alright show me that arm," she said and I sat up and offered it, wincing when she tapped around the swollen part, probably to figure out where to take blood from.

She picked up a needle and some fun looking attachments and before I even had time to prepare myself to be jabbed the needle was in and then it was out and full of blood and she was shaking a vial of it inquisitively.

"That was fast." I said, flexing my arm instinctively and lying back down.

"You'd hope so," Zoryla said. "I used to do this sort of thing all the time, before the war started."

"Really?" I asked curiously. "What were things like for you before the war?"

She shrugged. "Nothing special. In my community we looked after one another, made sure people had food to eat, shelter, basic stuff. We knew there were other Weraynians working towards justice for our people, and so when I was younger there was a lot of training and everything to make sure we were ready, but after that, before the force field was taken down, I kind of just did jobs here and there, whatever was needed. Worked in an enhancement centre for a bit, that's where I learnt to take blood and all. I was a delivery driver when I was younger. Helped out on a hydrocrop farm for a few years. Then obviously, when they needed people to guard this place a couple months ago, I came here. Hopefully I've got lots more different things to do ahead of me. What about you Sophie? What did you do before the war?"

"I'm from a planet really far away, but I traveled all over searching for a lost spaceship for a while, and then I joined the Alliance - they help people in conflicts, like this one, and do what they can to make things easier, provide food and first aid and stuff. It's pretty intense. We probably would have ended up here anyway helping out but my girlfriend is from Flauraan - I met her during my search - so obviously I wanted to help out when the war started." I glanced up awkwardly. "I mean, only because I only ever heard it from the non Weraynian point of view beforehand, and since the war started and meeting Jayken and everything-"

Zoryla's laughter cut me off. "Don't worry, Sophie, I'm not holding anything against you. The Staarus propaganda has apparently been very effective if even visitors are buying into it..." she slumped against the wall and laughed again, but it was a bit harsher this time. "This war is so stupid. You and I are here together now, all because some people with powers wanted to feel superior to my people hundreds of years ago, and when they couldn't control us they trapped us instead, poisoning our sky and forcing us into this vicious cycle of war and enhancements. It feels like it's never gonna end."

I watched her in her sadness and realised it was my turn to comfort her. "Zoryla, this war is stupid and crazy but it will end. There's so many people out there fighting for your guys' freedom, people's minds are changing, and me and my friends are doing what we can to help. We're trying to find out as much about the Staarus leaders' plans as we can, and then go help the Aandriggian activists on Halapatov. Heck, my friends might be doing that already. Though they might be a bit distracted... What I mean is, we aren't gonna stop fighting until everything is fixed, and one day you and I will be able to meet up together in that world."

Zoryla smirked. "That's quite a speech. You're not exactly doing much fighting from in here."

I shrugged and held my hands up dramatically. "Hey, I wouldn't bet on me being able to do anything to make a difference. But I believe in my friends, and I believe in the Weraynians and Aandriggians."

She shook her head with a smile, and then stood up, gathering her things. Before she left the room she gave my shoulder a squeeze. "I'll go get your blood analysed. I'll see you in a couple of days for my next shift. Stay out of trouble, okay?"

I feel like I managed pretty well to stay out of trouble over the rest of the week. Granted, I didn't have much of a choice as my arm injury decided to bring me some fun and fresh troubles, such as swelling more, filling with pus, leaving me in horrible pain most of the time. I hadn't been sick much in my life, but I recognised symptoms of a fever as I felt myself feeling both too hot and too cold, with barely any energy to do anything but lie around, stare at the faded beach picture on the wall, and maybe drink some water, if I didn't have too bad a headache, or if my vision wasn't hazy. I felt pretty crap. And each day it only got worse, with a different Weraynian guard (none as nice as Zoryla) checking on me each day, taking more blood, doing more tests, feeding me different concoctions, but nothing worked. I wouldn't have been able to tell you how much time passed before Zoryla came back for her shift, bursting into my room all worried to find me in my usual incapacitated state on the bed.

" I just talked to the other guards about your results. I'm so sorry," She said gruffly, staring at my swollen arm as I lay there in a sweaty, pained haze. "Whatever's causing the infection in your arm is completely new to us, and without the right resources there's nothing we can do to save your arm. We could stop the infection spreading though; it's still confined to the tissue surrounding the synovial joint."

"Yeah?" I managed to get out through gritted teeth.

Zoryla hesitated, as if expecting a bad reaction. I wondered how awful the treatment she was suggesting would be. I was already in so much pain. "Well, I'm sure you've heard about Weraynian expertise in prosthetics and genetic enhancements - I know it's not ideal but the easiest way for us to fix you... would be to amputate your arm and replace it..." She trailed off, watching my expression anxiously.

It took me a moment to process. I envisioned myself with a robot arm; building gadgets, doing my work at the Alliance, holding hands with Abi, wearing cool clothes that accentuated my prosthetic. I could barely contain my excitement.

"Really!?! You could do that? That would be amazing- ow." Tears sprung to my eyes as I forgot my injury in excitement and sat up a bit too hastily.

Zoryla looked surprised and then a bit relieved I thought. "Of course. It would be simple. We might not have the tools to fight your infection, but once the arm is removed it will be child's play to install a new one in its place. So you're saying you'd be happy for us to go ahead with that?"

"Yes. I trust you guys."

"You're full of surprises. You're the first non-Weraynian I've met who's been excited about the idea."

I grinned widely. "That's crazy. It's the coolest thing ever. Who wouldn't want a robot arm?"

She smirked. "Well, I'll go tell my colleagues and we'll prepare for the surgery."

Well, this certainly was a change, and a welcome one. I probably wasn't going to die from this infection, and I'd get a cybernetic enhancement to boot! Not that I wouldn't miss my arm, but hey, it was an arm, and if it was causing this much of a problem, I was more than happy to replace it. I eagerly awaited my procedure, using the enthusiasm to mask the constant pain, and then Zoryla and a few other of the staff in this place took me to a room with a bunch of machines and more needles and I barely had time to even give my horribly swollen arm a goodbye glance before I was asleep.

I woke up back in my bed in my room, which was pretty weird, and made me think maybe the whole thing was a dream that my brain had gifted me to cope with the pain, but then I realised the pain was completely gone and did the obvious thing - tried to lift my arm to look at it.

The sensation I felt was unlike anything I'd felt before, my movement was mechanical, and jolty. But hey, my arm moved! And what an arm it was. I couldn't get a proper look at it, as it was attached to my body, but I marvelled at it as I slowly flexed my fingers - it was very basic but a classic, with synthetic plating covering the wiring and connections underneath, with a cool ball and socket joint and tightly fitted pieces for the hand. It was a work of art. I was still feeling a bit hazy from whatever they used to put me under for the surgery so I just lay there staring at it for a long time, feeling relieved that I could at least relax now without pain. The guilt from before, the desire to torture myself for Beth's sake, was there. But this stupid prosthetic arm was making me somewhat happy.

I glanced up at the monitor attached to the ceiling, which I knew had a camera installed for the guards to keep an eye on me. I gave the camera a janky wave, feeling giddy. My arm made slight mechanical noises as it swung through the air, and I grinned hearing them. I wondered what Abi would think of this. The grin slid off my face as I was hit with a wave of sadness. It had been days (weeks?) since I'd seen her, and it stunned me how much I missed her, and it stunned me how much I missed her. I mean, obviously I always missed her when I wasn't with her, but in the past I'd coped with weeks, months, years without seeing her. This was a new scenario also. Abigail had spent plenty of time not knowing where I was, but never like this... And the others, Mickey, Steve, Beth... it hurt so much to be away from them, my family. I didn't know how I'd ever be able to face them again, after what had happened - no, Zoryla was right, I had to hold onto hope. Beth wasn't dead when I'd last seen them, and there was nothing to say how they were now. Mickey was a medical genius, and Abi as well, plus they had all the Alliance and Staarus resources at their disposal to save them.

Not like Werayne. I thought of Zoryla's anger and sadness about the war, about her life. I thought of Jayken and Lexie, and the settlement on Aandrigo. I thought of the Protector urging us to change sides. Working with the Alliance had taught me that conflicts were rarely black and white, but this was crazy. I could never get why people would intentionally hurt other people or try to stop them from having freedom to live the way they wanted to, just because they were different. I'd been in awe of the Staarus leaders when I'd first visited Flauraan, and horrified at the Weraynians (to be fair, the one guy I met was NOT a good example, he was a freak). Yet I could not understand or excuse the way the Weraynians had been treated, and continued to be treated. I could forgive Abi and her family, and all the other civillians, who'd bought into propaganda, that stuff was intense, but the leaders who were supposed to guide the Staarus system to the best it could be had instead been fear mongering and putting all their efforts for YEARS into a pointless war. Had none of them ever asked if there was another way?

My fever was gone, but I was angry now so I was still warm and trembling. That was pretty poetic.

So that's how I spent my days after my surgery; fuming quietly, recovering, testing my arm (it didn't work perfectly but it was pretty good), thought of cool modifications for my arm, chatted to Zoryla and the other guards, missed Abi and Mickey and Beth and everyone, did some small exercises each day to keep my sanity, waited for the war to blow over, I guess. The Weraynians wanted me out of the way so here I was. I got occasional updates on the war's progression, passing remarks from Zoryla, overheard conversations, the sounds of spacecraft and weapons in the distance. Apparently both sides were doing a good job at taking the others' territory, almost like they were swapping bits of Halapatov with Werayne. Flauraan sounded mostly untouched, save for a few scientific outposts. Then one day the sounds of war got louder and closer. The building I was being kept in shook. Zoryla told me you could see debris clouding the air around a nearby base from our roof. And then, the fateful day.

Zoryla entered my room all solemn.

"I came to say goodbye." she said stiffly. She was wearing a coat on top of her uniform and carrying a bag, ready to travel. She looked really tired. "We're abandoning this sector to the Staarus forces, taking everything of value and regrouping elsewhere, strengthen our defenses. No prisoners though."

I frowned. "So... I'm free to go?"

"Well, the official stance is that you will be left behind. The Staarus ships don't know this is a prison, so they might not even check before bombing it. So we're not exactly leaving you in the best sitch." I stared at her blankly, the thought of Staarus ships thoughtlessly blasting me into oblivion filling my brain. "However," Zoryla dug around in one of her coat pockets as I waited curiously. She pulled out a flashy disk and tossed it to me. I caught it cleanly with my right arm - my robot arm - and grinned instinctively (we'd been practicing throwing and catching for ages). "I grabbed the access disk so you could call for help, or figure something else out. Not officially because I'm not supposed to aid Staarus forces but hey, I don't want you to die, or any of the other prisoners really. This should give you a bit of a chance. Anyway, I've gotta head now."

I stared at the disk in my hand, feeling extremely humbled, and also excited. I might be about to see everyone I loved again, see if Beth was alright, everything I'd longed to do for weeks and weeks. "Thank you Zoryla." I said with a weak smile. "I hope we see each other again."

"Me too, Sophie. I wish you the best of luck with everything." she hesitated for a second at the door, and then left.

I sat there for a minute, stunned. Then as I heard the thrum of Weraynian ships powering up I stumbled out of bed and ran to the door, and out into the walkway. The facility was a big open hangar with rooms added as an afterthought, big boxes on rails. I ran through to an opening where i could see the Weraynians preparing for departure. Their ships glowed in various chinks in their armour, and then rose, gliding smoothly out of the open hangar door. And then they were gone. I stood there dumbly.

In the blankness that followed, I realised I wasn't alone. Other prisoners were tentatively exiting their rooms and staring after the ships wearily. I glanced around in a daze, and then I looked down at the disk in my hand, jolting back to reality in a split second. Now I had to act, for everyone's sakes. My boots clanged against the metal floor as I hurried towards the main area, descending stairs, sliding down a ladder, panicking when my arm bumped into something and it made a jarring hollow sound. Oh yeah, that's my new arm. Once on the floor of the hangar I crossed to the central control room, which was next to a lovely little break room, from the looks of the coffee mugs and chairs grouped round tables. I placed the disk in the correct slot and fiddled with the systems, muttering to myself until I found what I wanted.

"Settings, interface, files, communications!" i opened the right program and changed the output to the Alliance wavelength, one I thankfully knew by heart. I blasted out a distress signal and then slumped in a chair, heart racing.

Now, after all the waiting I'd done already, to wait.

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