Awakening the Lightforged

Uuchantuu looked to Araana as the woman stopped before her.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said, looking to Oka’ada. Then she frowned. "Who did we lose?”

Araana's face was a mask of pain as she listed off the names.

Uuchantuu swallowed. “How bad are the others?"

"They'll live," Oka’ada said. "But they're out of the fight. And they need to get back to base soon to make sure that doesn't become permanent."

Uuchantuu frowned, but nodded, then looked to Araana.

"Run back to the speeder and bring it over here. We might be able to salvage this."

Araana nodded and sprinted back the way Uuchantuu had come. As she did, Oka’ada looked past Uuchantuu and perked up. Uuchantuu followed his gaze to see Naruuna's team and the others jogging toward them. Two carried bodies over their shoulders.

Uuchantuu's fingers twitched as she took them in, and her chest tightened. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing it away.

No. I need to get us out of here.

Just as Naruuna and her people stopped before her, a mechanical hum reached Uuchantuu's ears and she sighed as Araana pulled up beside them in the Imaia speeder.

At least this part might go right.

Uuchantuu looked to Oka’ada and Araana, pointing to the speeder. "Wounded and fallen in there."

She turned to Naruuna and pointed at the uncoupled cars. "I need your help hooking these up to the speeder so we can pull them away down the track. We can do that, right?"

Naruuna nodded, voice muffled by her mask. "I should be able to, if we have the right components."

"Make it happen. How many cars can this pull? At top speed?"

Naruuna thought for a moment. "Down the track? As many as we need. Once we need to leave the track, it depends on the terrain."

Uuchantuu nodded, they could worry about that part when they came to it.

She looked to Naruuna's team. "I need these cars linked together. All of them. We need the equipment inside, and we don't have time to get these ready for the transports to carry out. Move it."

Even as her team moved to follow her orders, Uuchantuu's radio crackled. Jaran spoke into her ear a moment later.

"Uuchantuu?"

"Jaran? What—?"

"We've been made," he said, sounding out of breath. She heard screams in the background. "We got some of the equipment inside but I couldn't hold off the Imaia long enough. We need to get out of here."

Vittu.

"Edendo's on his way," Uuchantuu said. "They should be here in minutes. Can you hold out that long?"

"Yes," he said. "But the entrance—the Imaia saw us. The guards, we might have been able to take, but with the soldiers backing them up—"

"Destroy it."

"What?"

"Destroy the entrance," Uuchantuu snapped. "You have Tshala with you, right? See if she can pull down the entrance. If not, set off an explosion inside. The Imaia might be able to dig out the tunnel at some point, but we'll be gone by then."

His radio was silent for a moment. "You know this means Ironpeak is burned, right? Even if we don’t destroy the entrance, they saw us going in. My people will have to evacuate."

Uuchantuu's throat tightened. "Send one of your team through to warn them."

"Yes, sir."

"And Jaran?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

He didn't respond. Uuchantuu hadn't thought he would.

Taking a deep breath, Uuchantuu turned back to the speeder and jogged over to Naruuna, "How's it going?"

"Not good," she said, crouching behind the speeder. "I think I need to detach a coupler from one of the cars and fix it here, but I don't know if that will hold."

"Can you do it?"

Naruuna shrank. "I—"

Uuchantuu's radio crackled before she could ask again.

"Uuchantuu?"

"Luuhuuta, where are you?"

"You have more Imaia incoming."

Uuchantuu tensed.

"From which direction?"

"North. We can still retreat down the rails."

Uuchantuu gritted her teeth.

"How long do we have?"

"Three minutes. We'll be there in two."

Uuchantuu cursed.

"Make it ninety seconds."

"Done.”

Uuchantuu looked to Naruuna.

"What can you do in less than two minutes?"

Naruuna shook her head. "With these? Nothing. I'd need a power drill. I don't have that.”

Uuchantuu clamped her jaw shut to keep from cursing again. Estingai would have had one on her belt. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of something, anything she could do to salvage this mission.

There wasn't.

I failed.

The thought chilled her, nearly paralyzed her, but it was true. She'd failed.

Uuchantuu let out a ragged sigh, shaking. A few seconds later, she heard the roar of the transports' engines on the wind.

She looked around to her team, then activated her radio, tuning it to all their channels. "Everyone board and get out of here, the Imaia is on its way with reinforcements."

Uuchantuu yanked Naruuna up, then helped her into the speeder with the wounded, and hopped in beside Araana. "We have sixty seconds before we need to be out of sight or else we risk being followed. The mission is a loss. Let's go home."

Araana's expression darkened, but she brightened the engine and whipped the speeder around as Muuzuuri and Luuhuuta touched down their transports for boarding, then sped off south.

The sun beat down on them, hot despite the cool wind whipping by their faces.

Uuchantuu felt only the ice within.