The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Awakening

Lash frowned as he scanned over the multiple medical monitors that were now tracking the status of the rescued liliths nearly an hour after their successful extraction from the Salt Palace.

"You don't look happy," Ellie said as she joined him in the midst of making her rounds checking in on the unconscious liliths.

The Ventru little sister, filled with purpose and confidence since their intimate encounter, had become invaluable as a med tech. She had taken charge of the removal of the shield suits and the first wave of recovery treatment, getting the liliths into the med bays and converting the sleeping berths into double spot med beds that enabled them to care for the first group of queens.

Lash quickly saw the fruit born of his decision to keep her on board. They would still be uselessly spinning their wheels back on the small island they picked as a fallback if it weren't for Ellisondra taking control of the situation.

"I would've thought you'd be ecstatic to have rescued so many liliths from those filthy slave traders."

"Happy we saved them, yes," Lash said as Ellie carefully took his hand, entwining her fingers with his and leaning against him. "But we still don't know who any of these queens are, Ell. Romanescu kept them so juiced with zombie lotus, they could be unconscious for a month before waking up. And I need to know now if I successfully saved Amylia or not."

The Ventru little sister nodded, her expression becoming thoughtful. Then her eyes narrowed as something occurred to her.

"Could we give them a kickstarter?" she asked, looking up into his face. And watched his frown become thoughtful.

"I mean, they trigger regeneration in vampires on death's door. We don't need that. But with all the stimulants and endorphins; they could hasten the process of pushing the zombie lotus out of their bodies!"

Lash nodded himself as he continued considering the suggestion. Why not? Ellie was right about the massive amounts of natural stimulants, like adrenaline and nor-epinephrine, along with two or three mutant variations of the same. Coupled with the endorphins, they could increase the body's activity enough to counter the powerful paralytic.

"Nighthawk One, Nighthawk Two. Dru or Meredith, do you copy?"

When the two Nighthawks had rendezvoused at the fallback to redistribute the recovered liliths to make sure they all had bed space, Ellie and the three queens drew lots to see who would go over to One to make sure the queens were being properly cared for. To both Dru's and Meredith's chagrin, they drew the short straws. Not wanting to be physically distanced from Lash for any reason, they were reluctant to go.

Yet, both recognized the need to have liliths caring for liliths with a queen's unique needs. So they went despite their feelings on the matter.

"Dru here. Good to hear your voice, Lash," Dru purred into his earpiece, her longing for him audible in her voice.

"Always good to hear yours, Dru," he replied. "I'm contacting you because we're going to try a radical treatment over here in an attempt to rouse one of your recovered sisters and I wanted you to listen in. And, if it works, start applying it to your patients over there."

"Copy that," Dru replied, making an effort to be more professional. "I have Meredith now with me. We're standing by for your signal."

Hearing that, Lash looked over at Ellie and nodded. Seeing the nod, she lifted the hand she was holding and kissed the back of it before letting go and moving to the medical supplies locker.

As she did that, Lash looked towards the flight deck.

"If you have a moment, Fiadh, we're going to try a new treatment to see if we can rouse one of your rescued sisters."