Binx'o's Story

The Xupra had run for their lives. It was a case of get on a ship and go. The virus was spreading fast and they had to get out before they caught it or they'd die. Within a week eighty percent of the population was gone, the other 20% were trying to get out before it was too late. It had caused mass panic and hysteria. There weren't enough ships for a mass evacuation. No one had been prepared for a deadly virus because of their perfect genetics and because they'd wiped out all illness, sickness and disease. By doing that they had doomed themselves from the start.

The ship they were on was enough to carry a fleet of soldiers should it need to. Now it was carrying men, women, children, food and medical supplies. They were fighting to live. They needed a new planet to live on. A new home. And they had one in sight.

Xo and his co pilot Binx'o were now fighting for control. It had taken over a week to find another planet and they were out of fuel and cruising straight into this planet's atmosphere, threatening to kill the 100+ passengers that were crowded inside. It was way overloaded but they'd tried to save as many as they could.

"Prepare for landing!" Bo shouted.

Within minutes the ship had crashed into the field, breaking up into several parts and men, women and children littering the field that held various and rather scared wildlife that had run out of the way before creeping back, curious. It was quite the scene. An alien craft crashing into a field. Dead and living aliens scattering this new land.

Many weeks had come and gone since Avantia's departure from Volaria to travel to the Andromeda galaxy, and several more since her return which had been spent in Losenji. It seemed like months since she had last set foot within her own palace, and it was with some measure of relief that she found herself home once more.

It was not that she did not care for the traveling - no in fact there had been a time in her youth when she had reveled in such things - but the politics that seeded every decision were wearying. Some peace and quiet would be a welcome reprieve from matters of alliances and treaties.

Opening the shuttered windows of one of the many palace balconies she stepped outside and took in a deep breath to enjoy the fresh air. With a soft sigh she lay her hands atop the artfully sculpted railing that encircled the balcony, and for a time at least she left troubling matters for tomorrow. With the watchtowers completed and operational and preparations for impending war underway, she could rest in the security of her country for the time being.

"Staying long this time?" a man spoke up behind her. Kamil.

She hadn't heard him approach, but she felt him now as he slid his arms around her waist and held her from behind. She had missed this while she was away, the sense of safety and contentment that he could instill. It was nice sometimes to forget everything and to just be a woman for a time, rather than the Matriarch.

"I think so," Avantia replied. "There's still some matters of treaties with the TNG to see to, but it can keep for a time."

"Good. I can't perform my duties if you're flying off to foreign galaxies all the time," he chided.

"And which duties would those be?" Avantia replied coyly.

The light flirting was interrupted as far in the distance a foreign vessel broke the atmosphere, plummeting towards the planet. From their vantage point at the height of Volary, it at first appeared nothing more than a comet, but as it neared its destination and grew in size, it was fast becoming apparent that it was a vessel, and in trouble. At the velocity it was descending, there was little chance of it setting down intact.

The tremors of the impact were felt even as far as Volary and Avantia lay her arms over top of Kamil's as they both watched on unable to do much else.

With the tremors passed Avantia moved away from Kamil and quickly resumed the responsibilities of Matriarch as fluidly as she had set them aside for a time.

"It didn't look like a Taiyou vessel. Take some men out to find out what happened, and to search for any survivors."

"As you command," Kamil replied with a bow before he turned and departed.

Avantia looked back out to the horizon where the ship had gone down, her mind wandering to the possibilities.

It was a matter of minutes only before people began to gather at the field's edge from the nearby town of Jincai. The Xupra ship had driven deep furrows through the wheat fields, scattering crops and soil haphazardly among the fragments of the massive vessel.

Hushed murmurs and conversation passed between the gathered onlookers as they debated and argued over what to do. Their clothes quickly betrayed their simple lifestyle, and most wore the drab dress of farmers and craftsman, but it is oft the poor that have the strongest sense of compassion and it wasn't long before several of them joined the Xupra in the fields and a couple turned into a trickle until finally most of the farmers had joined the growing numbers of helping hands.

Though language proved an immediate barrier, the gesture of aid was a concept universal to all cultures and soon wounded Xupra were being transported to Jincai. Those that could not yet be moved due to injuries were being tended to in the fields by the locals, and shanty tents were being erected to shield them from the noon-day sun overhead.

Relief efforts were well underway by the time Kamil and those of the royal guard arrived on scene, and he was met by one of the village militiamen who quickly briefed him on the situation - and the lack of communication they were suffering with the foreigners. The Xupra tongue had been identified as a dialect of the common tongue spoken in many parts of Terra - but a poor village such as Jincai weren't well educated in foreign tongues.

Kamil thanked the man as he approached the wreckage with several of his guard in tow - Tahir among them - and though the avorians were armed, none seemed hostile.

When Bo came around everything started to spin. His eyes managed to focus on the blue sky around him and suddenly his ears picked up on the screams and cries in the field around him. As the captain of the ship he immediately got himself up, wincing in pain. Checking himself over, it didn't seem that much was wrong, though he couldn't see the blood on his head from going through the ships windshield on impact. small cuts covered his face from the glass. His neck hurt and so did his chest. But looking around there was more important things to do.

It was at that moment that he saw Binx'o, his co-pilot lying trapped under a big piece of the ship. "Binx'o!" Bo ran over immediately and tapped the man's head lightly, before checking his pulse. It was there. "Binx'o. Wake up." He spoke in his native tongue Xi. The man showed no signs of movement.

Immediately Bo stood again and looked at the surroundings. "People of Etrippe and Iiines." Again he spoke in Xi to the people that were walking around in shock. "Those of you that are able to walk and have little injury, this time we need your help. I need anyone that is able to help the wounded to help them. Anyone that is dead, I want you to move to the right, anyone that is injured, but can move, I want you to move to the left. Anyone that is severely injured, leave in the middle. Anyone that knows medical knowledge focus on those most hurt."

With orders given, and what looked like locals already helping, Bo went about setting up a system of some sort to show those that would live and those that would die, out of the severely injured. If there was a piece of metal by their right ear, that Bo had placed, they would die. Some of the Xupra had lost limbs and were bleeding to death, others had been impaled by parts of the ship. Those were the unlucky ones. The lucky ones were the ones that died on impact.

He didn't put some metal near Binx'o's ear though. Despite the Xupra being pinned by some of the ship, Bo refused to believe that his co-pilot couldn't be saved. As more resources came to help, Bo was glad. They needed the help. Over 100 people had being in that ship. And it looked like over half had been killed already. Some Xupra had resorted to English to try and communicate between the people helping them from the land that they'd crashed on, but even English didn't seem to be helping them.

Someone of importance seemed to be approaching, Bo figured simply by the clothing difference. Maybe he had some status. He moved over to the man, hoping that English wouldn't be a barrier between them. The Xupra, though living in isolation, had found out through technology that of the vast worlds out there, English was a popular language.

"Can you speak English? We need help. We need doctors immediately." He told the male once he'd gotten to him. "I am the captain of my ship, Bo Alla. We have crashed on your planet and need doctors. Please."

Kamil's grasp of the common tongue of Terra was limited at best, but he grasped enough of Bo's words to get the intent behind them. He spoke quietly with Tahir for a few moments before gesturing for some of the avorians to join in the aid of the wounded.

"Send word to the nearby garrison to send medical aid," Kamil told another while Tahir moved to speak with Bo.

Having spent several years traveling abroad, Tahir had no difficulty in understanding Bo's words.

"He wishes to know who you are, and where you're from. Also how you came to be here," Tahir explained.

Tahir glanced to the wreckage and his expression remained neutral despite the carnage. Impassive even; though, not uncaring. It was the look of one who had seen many things and was surprised by little anymore.

"Medical aid is being sent for," he added as he looked back to Bo.

Bo looked at the other man, glad that they could at least communicate better. He frowned a little at the questions though. They needed to go and help people, not stand here talking about where they were from.

"I am Bo Alla of the planet Etrippe and Iiines. You will not know of the planets or us as we've never left and no one has ever come to us. We are Xupra. We are here because we had an emergency evacuation from our planet. Before, we were immune to all sickness, illness and disease because or government found a way to perfect our genes. A disease has broken out though and within a week 80% of our planet was dead. We had to evacuate straight away. We didn't have time to check our ships over. We traveled for so long that our ship ran out of fuel before we found a place to land. Then we drifted this way, entered your atmosphere and crashed."

"Where have we landed?"

Bo glanced back at the carnage. More people weren't moving than those that were. And the body pile seemed to be counting up high. Men women and even children were helping people despite been injured themselves.

"Medical aid will be much appreciated."

"There's a garrison not far from here. They will be here soon," Tahir assured the man. "And you have landed on Terra," he explained. "In Volaria to be specific. This illness. Is it still with you?"

It was difficult to tell among the survivors, as illness could easily be masked under the wounds. Tahir didn't know a great deal when it came to matters of medical knowledge, but he did know that it was unusual for diseases to inflict multiple species. Still it would be best to mention it to Kamil.

"We're the survivors. We have been traveling for a while now. If any of us had the disease, we would all be dead now. We do not have it with us." He told Tahir. "And it affects us because we are immune to everything else. This is a new disease and it wipes out our systems. We are complicated beings. But enough. We need to help those that can survive. I need help getting my co-pilot out from under the side of our ship."

With that said, Bo immediately turned around and started walking to where his co-pilot lay, unconscious still.

Gunalar had tasked himself with coordinating the farmers and craftsmen who had been the first to respond, giving quick emergency lessons on first aid, while communicating with the Xupra that were luckily able to understand basic Terran. He guessed all that schooling didn't go to waste. It was somewhat tedious to switch back and forth, playing translator, as well as giving slight argument with the Xupra about which gender was of higher importance. Like Tahir, Gunalar was able to keep his expression professional, even when dealing with those who clearly had no hope of living. When not speaking, his jaw was clenched, however, betraying the fact that the slightly younger guardsman was less accustomed to such carnage. It was only though sheer force of will and an incredible dedication to his duties that Gunalar was able to keep from showing any of his own shocked horror. His job came first.

Once things seemed to fall into a sort of order, the guardsman saw fit to report the progress to Kamil, about the time that Bo was asking for assistance in retrieving his co-pilot. Gunalar gave the short word on the fact that everything had been coordinated, and followed Bo, despite not being ordered, or given permission, to do so. The lapse in by-the-book behavior was uncharacteristic for the guardsman.

Without hesitation, Gunalan knelt by Binx'o, checking first, to see if the debris could even be moved by hand without killing the trapped co-pilot.

As Gunalan knelt beside Binx'o, he was joined by another of the Volarian guard by the name of Ambar. He was young yet, and had not seen this level of carnage before, but he was taking it with a remarkable level of stoicism. He grimaced though as he knelt beside Gunalan to inspect the ship part that was pinning the man, and it was plain to see that the weight of the hull piece had thoroughly crushed Bo's legs.

"It's too heavy. Tahir might be able to lift it though," Ambar remarked grimly.

Even if they got the man untrapped, it seemed unlikely that he would ever walk again - if he would survive at all.

While they were tending to the matter of the co-pilot, more relief was arriving in vehicles with supplies and medical personnel.

"Tahir?" Ambar called out before looking over to Gunalar. "Get ready to pull him out when Tahir lifts it."

Bo knew enough to know that moving the ship could risk him bleeding to death. Especially when the hull was crushing the man's legs. It was dangerous and Bo didn't want to take any chances.

"Wait." He spoke in English again. "What about him bleeding to death once we pull the hull off him?" He glanced down at his friend before trying to figure something out. They needed to get to his legs as fast as possible and stop any kind of serious bleed by putting pressure on it.

"I want your people by each leg. We need something to put pressure on the bleeds. Binx'o cannot die. He will not be dying today." The Xupra spoke out.

Gunalan shook his head at Bo and motioned at the debris,"We're not going to be able to lift that completely off of him, we're going to have to pull him out. If you help lift, and I pull, then," he motioned at Ambar and Kamil,"We can quickly put pressure on the bleeding."

He made sure to detail the plan to his superior,"He seems to be important for some reason, so maybe we should call over some of the medics to make sure this guy doesn't bleed out right away. Your call, sir. Just giving my opinion." Whatever the decision, Gunalan knelt and got ready to pull Binx'o from under the wreckage, though he would make sure to support the fallen man's head and neck so not to make things any worse than they already where.

"Alright, only my count. One...two...three!"

Kamil was otherwise distracted helping with other aspects of the relief efforts and was unable to personally monitor and direct each individual. He was currently engaged in conversation with some of the medics that had arrived at the crash-site and a few of the villagers as plans were being made as to arrangements for the wounded. This largely left Gunalan, Ambar, and Tahir to the matter of Binx'o.

Tahir looked over the hull piece and then to Binx'o. It was easy enough for him to sort out what Ambar wanted of him, but one look at Binx'o left one to wonder though if the effort were in vane.

Ambar knelt down on the other side of Binx'o as he too got ready to help pull the man free of the wreckage while Tahir's eyes lit up with a golden hue. Along his skin golden tattoos were appearing and with the groan of metal twisting beneath its weight, the hull began to slowly lift.

Once it was raised up, Ambar wasted little time in dragging Binx'o free of the wreckage with Gunalan. Once everyone was out of the way, Tahir let the piece of wreckage fall back to the ground with the screech of metal that drew a few looks from others at the crash site.

Unfortunately there wasn't much to save of Binx'o's legs. The hull piece had thoroughly crushed both of them, and the damage was extensive enough that there was real way to bandage the wounds. Medics were moving in though to do what they could for the man - which for the moment mostly consisted of applying tourniquets to his upper legs while they got him moved to a stretcher to transport to the temporary medical facilities being erected in the small town. Amputation was likely the only option at this point to save the man's life.

They had managed to keep Binx'o alive as they got him into the makeshift medical tents that had been erected in Jincai so that they could help the wounded. Bo was in charge and seemed to be right mind frame to give whatever orders he wanted to give to the survivors and even to try with the people helping them. And why they were sorting out Binx'o, Bo was trying to keep himself busy and not interrupt things.

Ten more people had died that had been transported to Jincai. In total the death count was up into the seventies now. The people of Jincai had been set to lining the bodies they could find in the field. He was hoping that all of the survivors could identify them so that each could be given a proper burial.

The most sever injury was Binx's, but a couple of others had pretty bad injuries. A lot of people had broken bones, gashes, bruises and a mixture of injuries, but nothing like Binx'o's crushed legs. And the Xupra, with there amazing genetics and health had never had to experience the amputation of a limb for that reason - they'd never had to take a limb away because of accidents either. Normally with time and their planet's technology, even the worst injuries could be healed.

But for now it was a waiting game on Binx'o health. And Bo hadn't even thought of amputation despite the state of the man's legs when they'd brought him in. He just hoped that they could help their race despite their different body make-up and chemistry to others here. With that in mind he went to help the less hurt Xupra.

Gunalan left the matter of Binx'o in the hands of the medics now, as he could do no more for the man. His attention was turned back to the carnage in general, as he returned to his duties of organizing the villagers and translating between the Xupra and the natives. He almost felt mechanical, forcing himself to look at the situation objectively, and keeping his emotions in check with the training and protocol that had been drilled into his mind.

((kinda skipping my post))

Three days ago

Binx'o was still out cold from the surgeries to amputate his legs. It was probably a good thing, too. The place was chaotic, or at least had been. Maybe Xupra had died. Over one hundred had been squashed into a ship meant for 60 people. Now around 40 people had survived, the rest had been lay to rest in the Jincai fields.

Now that the mourning had begun with the species that had managed to survive, Bo couldn't do such a thing. He had to think about contingencies. They had no immune system without their android counterpart currently inside the ones that had seen their planet and species destroyed by the sudden outbreak of disease. Any bug here could threaten and kill them if it could be caught. To survive birth, they had to be injected with a special solution that created their immune system. They had barely a dozen left. They needed to learn how to survive.

It was while he was walking around, making his daily checks, that somewhere he thought he heard a coughing noise. Ears alert he looked around but saw nothing. Maybe he was just paranoid.

Current Day

Binx'o finally started coming around only to hear panicked screaming. He heard people shouting in Xi as his hand moved up to his head trying to stop the disorientation and sickness he felt. He had no idea what was going on but whatever it was wasn't good. People were talking about the sickness! People were screaming about been caged in. What was going on?

It took him a while to realise that he wasn't on Iilnes or Etrippe. They were somewhere else. His memory started to return and he tried to move but couldn't. His legs didn't want to move.

"Bo Alla! Bo Alla!" He tried not to panic himself but it wasn't possible. With all the panic around him and waking up to the unknown it was hard to know what was happening and even the hardest man couldn't not become scared in the situation. Something was seriously wrong here. Even though they'd made it to a new place, obviously, something must have gone very, very wrong. Or maybe the planet they'd landed on wasn't safe at all.

"Bo Alla!" He shouted again before managing to stop a passing Xupra. Talking in Xi, "What's happening? What's going on?" He asked the panicked woman.

"The disease! The disease! It followed us here!" With that, she ran off to find her family that had managed to survive.

"We need to calm these people down!" Kamil shouted over the panicked Xupra. "Tahir, I want this entire area corralled off from the rest of the town. Those showing symptoms are to be put in the hospital, everyone else who has been exposed I want separated from the rest of the town. Make use of these homes to put them up if need be. Get on it. Bandar, send word back to the Matriarch requesting more men out here. We need to roundup the Xupra that have gotten out of town. Are anyone besides the Xupra showing symptoms of the illness?"

"Doesn't appear so. It's just them," Bandar replied.

"Good. If we're fortunate it's not contagious outside of their species."

Tahir was already moving off to try and calm a panicked woman who was shouting that the disease had followed them. He tried to grab her arm and pointed her towards the area being corralled off for the still healthy Xupra.

"We need to get you people away from the sick, and separated until we know who are sick and who aren't," he explained to her.

With the Volarians largely unable to speak the common tongue, Tahir was one of the few who could communicate effectively with the Xupra. It was leaving a lot of panicked people being herded and in some cases forcefully relocated with no one to explain to them what was going on.

The villagers were taking it with a bit more calm. There was concern and worry etched into their faces, but they didn't share in the panic of the Xupra. In fact, as a man approached a villager to inquire into aiding the children, he was helpfully directed to the temporary hospital.

His arrival was interrupted by Kamil though, as the Avorian captain caught site of the stranger heading towards the building being corralled off for the sick. Kamil mistook him for a local villager and his words came in the Volarian tongue.

"We have a disease outbreak in there. We need to limit the exposure to anymore people. Are you with the volunteers?" he asked.

He could likely find the man other ways to help, while they tried to limit contact with the sick.

The Captain that Binx'o had been calling for, never showed his face. For Bo Alla was too busy trying to sort out the mess that was going on further away from his co-pilot. The chaos and panic was causing more trouble than anyone had probably planned and in a way (it was probably for the best) that many of the Xupra had died in the crash otherwise there probably would have been a stampede by now. But as there was, the panic at least was contained for now. But the lack of communication was what was causing a lot of the panic, along with the fact that the Xupra knew the truth of how deadly the disease was for them. No one wanted to come into contact with one of the diseased.

And the panicked woman right now, didn't want to go with the man that was trying to herd her somewhere. She wanted her children and she wanted to leave before the disease reached them.

"No! No! My family! My family!" She called out in Xi first and then in the common tongue to try and get the man to understand her as she struggled to get herself out of his grip.

Binx'o, upon seeing all of this frowned and tried to get himself up but couldn't. He had given up trying to call for Bo. Maybe the man had died in the crash. Instead he decided it was time he took charge. "Hey! You! Let her go and help me up. I can't move for some reason. I need help getting up." Bino'x could speak the common tongue well, at least.

"Binx'o! The disease is here! It's here! Get everyone out of here! We need another ship!" The woman cried out in Xi to a man she obviously knew more than just another member of her species.

Tahir was unable to stem the woman's struggles, or her panic and in the end he was forced to relinquish her to a pair of men who took hold of her arms to draw her away towards the as of yet, still healthy Xupra.

He caught his brother, Bandar, by the arm as the younger avorian was moving past.

"Find someone who can speak their tongue, and try to find that woman's family," he told Bandar. "And get them split into small groups and have them limit exposure with each other until we can separate the sick from the healthy."

"Uh... sure thing. Also by our estimates, it looks like at least six of them got out of town on us. Avantia's sending more men to help search the countryside and round them up."

Tahir nodded briefly before moving on. He didn't pay any notice the Binxo's shouts as he moved on to continue corralling the Xupra.

"You need to stay where you are," a nurse spoke up as she joined Binx'o. She was a young human woman, a local from the village who had volunteered to help with the refugees. "We'll get someone over to move you as soon as they can to limit any further exposure, but for now, just try to stay calm. You just got out of a major surgery, you need to rest."