Enroute

The stars and planets all whipped by as Deirdre's crystalline craft sped past them.

Her people, the Vlondans, had discovered that the mineral Dianthium which grew so readily on their home world not only kept their hair pink but also was a perfect material for engineering spacecraft from.

It grew as crystals all through their colonies and with a small amount of tinkering, could be molded to grow in any form or size that they needed.

Homes, buildings, and eventually starships.

It had been over a decade since a Vlondan crystal ship had made its way through the stars to any place but another Vlondan colony.

Deirdre knew what she risked in defying the isolation ordinance. She also knew what she risked if she did not defy the ordinance.

She was enroute to Geimus 10, and there was a good chance she would not be able to return home.

The plague on Geimus 10 had become unstoppable, many great minds had failed to stem the tide of deaths.

The Vlond are powerful healers. Deirdre's people boasted some of the most powerful psychics amongst the races. They had been a training world for many of the other worlds psionically gifted.

Until one day, 13 years ago, they shut themselves away. Closed their landing ports and pulled back from all their neighboring worlds. They just WENT AWAY.

No one, not even the Vlondan people, knew why. It was not a popular decision, but it was an absolute one.

Geimus 10 was a Sigilian world, it was home to the Briv -a race that was unknown amongst the more aristocratic races but boasted many merchants and those merchants had spread everywhere amongst the planets and ports and way stations.

And now as it turned out, their DNA was able to host this plague and pass it to every species. They were the ultimate carriers and the Briv were everywhere.

The call had been made to the Vlodans for help, no one was hopeful of a response, but it had to be tried. And had Deirdre not heard the message by accident, no one from Vlond would have helped.

Deirdre was a gifted healer even though she was only an apprentice. She had surpassed her mentor, Kaltaca, 3 years ago. She also had prophetic dreams. Deirdre had dreamed of the plague on Geimus 10 for weeks before it broke out.

Upon hearing the message, Deirdre knew exactly what she needed to do as a solution to the plague had filled her dreams as well.

The remedy for the plague would be found on Geimus 10 where it originated, only there could a cure be made. She had already received the answers but knew she had to be there physically for the people to listen, a Vlondan healers’ presence could do wonders when all hope seemed lost. She also knew WHY the Geimian plague was so tenacious.

In Deirdre’s dreams she foresaw that the Briv were a root race. Meaning that most species in the Carnass regions had some Briv DNA in them, allowing the plague to spread freely. The Carnass region was sometimes referred to as the never-ending expanse.

Which meant that if this plague could not be cured, it would wipe out innumerable people.

So, Deirdre left a note for her parents, instructions to call her mentor, and she took a ship and headed for Geimus 10 hoping she was not too late.

Her people lived a long life, Deirdre was young and had only been on a starship once...as a passenger.

So, she chose a self-driving personal cruiser from the terrace storage chambers and let the computers guide her through the prep and launch.

The artificial intelligence that oversaw the storage was honor bound to allow a healer passage, even an apprentice. Healers always took precedence.

Knowing that policy would probably be redacted after her stunt, she forged ahead. Her conscience would not let her live this down if she didn’t.

After a seamless take off, once she was far enough from her home world to message Geimus that a Vlondan healer was enroute. Then put herself into stasis for the journey, allowing the ships artificial intelligence & seven scout crystals to pilot her to her destination.

On the ground,

Two male Vlondans stood watching Deirdres ship leave orbit.

The broader one clapped his beefy hand on the slimmer one’s shoulder "I’m sorry Kourac."

Tears shimmered in the man’s eyes "You can still stop that ship Trazac."

He sighed "It’s too late. She is out of range in 60 seconds.

Kourac glared at his friend of over forty years.

Trazac shut his eyes in response "Kourac you knew this day would come. Our seer prophesied this plague and all the damage it was set to do. They also saw that it would be a Vlondan healer who would bring about a cure. It was why the isolation was put into place. To give us time and to minimize the damage to Vlond. Our seers knew it would decimate our people the most."

Trazac took a deep breath at his friend’s palpable feeling of betrayal. He continued.

"Once your daughter was born, the seers knew who of us would bring the cure. She excelled in the healing arts; she is a prodigy. It is terrible and I would not be able to be in your shoes. But Kourac if she does not go.... Vlond and the rest of the Carnass region could very well become a wasteland."

"I can’t let her go. I tried..." Kourac sounded broken then.

"You tried to keep her from this, I know. I would have too. But it was taken out of your hands Kourac. She heard that call by being in the right place at the right time - by accident. It was divine timing my friend. I wish it wasn’t, but it is so."

Kourac began to speak when a high-pitched chime rang through the air.

They both looked up as the alert sounded that deirdres ship had reached the jump point.

"What do I do now?" Kourac asked bitterly.

As Trazac clicked the authorization codes to open the jump gate for Deirdres ship

"You can trust her skills and her gifts and her good sense that you have worked so hard to drum into her mind. And if it helps you...you can pray. For her, for us...for every life in the sector because it is all resting on her shoulders."

"It’s part of the reason that I never told her." Kourac bite out.

"That and the fact that she would have worried herself silly and probably had a nervous breakdown about it." Trazac snorted.

Kourac shook his head and laughed.

The jump point opened, and she was off.

Trazac knew that Kourac would be inconsolable, and his heart filled with sadness for his friend.

They had been friends since boyhood. Trazac had watched as Kourac had lost his wife - Allondra, Deirdres mother. Trazac recalled feeling the same sense of helplessness back then.

They both looked up to the sky and bid her good journey.

Then Kourac sat in the soft red grass and cried. Trazac was not spiritual, he held no faith in any higher powers, but tonight he knelt beside his friend and prayed with everything that he and that Deirdre would be all right and that his friend would not have to bury his child.

They stayed that way for some time.