But they didn’t.
In the last second, Toryx felt the ship lurch sideways. He opened his eyes to see that the world had rotated ninety degrees. On the viewing screen in front of him, he saw the Starburst slip on its side into the airlock, missing the giant glass sealing door by mere inches. Then the ship skidded to a halt mere inches before colliding with the outer airlock door.
Suddenly, everything was still. The sound of the blaring sirens was blocked by the thick glass of the airlock door, and the storm raging on the other side of the airlock was just as muffled by the outer door. Toryx looked over at Evie with his mouth hanging open.
“Well, sludge me,” he finally managed to say. “I thought for sure we were dead. No wonder everyone calls you the best pilot in the Seven Galaxies.”
Evie smiled weakly. “Thanks. To be fair, I wasn’t sure that was going to work. But I figured we’d come this far. We might as well try.”
“Well, that was a sludging good try.”
“Thanks. But that was nothing compared to what we’re about to face.”
Evie nodded at the storm outside, and Toryx winced. Seeing the swirling debris from the storm up close made it all seem much more real. But Evie and Toryx were committed to this now. There was no going back without facing Daxar’s wrath. This was their one shot, and they were going to take it.
“Well,” Toryx said, trying to puff out his chest and appear brave. “Let’s get going before they disable the outer door.”
For security reasons, the outer door was not as easy to disable as the inner door. Daxar had wanted to make sure that anyone rushing in from a storm or some other danger was always able to at least get into the airlock chamber. But the doors could be disabled, and Toryx had no doubt the techs were working on doing just that at this very moment.
“No time like the present,” Evie said, agreeing with him that they needed to move quickly.
Toryx entered the codes to open the outer gate on the computer interface. Moments later, the interface blinked green and the outer door started opening. Evie gripped the ships controls, once again ready for a difficult flight. She looked stunning in her slimming black shirt and pants, with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She was all business, and ready to kick ass.
Toryx couldn’t help himself. He leaned over, and when Evie turned to look at him in surprise, he planted a firm kiss on her lips. Her eyes widened and filled with questions, but he just shrugged as he sat back in his seat and tightened his safety restraints once again.
“Just in case,” he explained. “I didn’t want to go to my grave without the chance to know how kissing you felt.”
Before Evie could respond, the outer airlock door opened, and the storm was rushing in at them.
It was show time, and the next few minutes would determine whether they lived or died.
Chapter Four
Evie was flying blindly.
None of the Starburst’s navigational equipment was working properly. The gauges were displaying random numbers that didn’t make any sense—that is if they were even displaying anything at all. The ship’s computer seemed to have completely given up on many of the gauges, which had gone dark and displayed no data.
Evie had only one thing she could rely on: an old fashioned analog altimeter. She kept the old altimeter, a relic from twenty-first century earth, attached to her ship’s dashboard for good luck. Her father had been a spaceship pilot before her, and her grandfather before him. Both men had claimed that the old altimeter had brought them good fortune, and although Evie had never believed in luck, she had kept the altimeter as a sentimental reminder of her father and grandfather.
Right now, she was hoping that she’d been wrong, and that luck did actually exist. Because she was going to need all the good luck she could get.
With the storm outside making everything as black as night, and with her gauges all going haywire, the only thing Evie could do was try to keep flying upward away from Zocrone’s surface. And the only way she knew which way was up was by looking at the altimeter. As long as the altitude on the old analog gauge kept climbing higher, Evie knew they were heading in the right direction. If they could just make it high enough to break out of Zocrone’s atmosphere, they should be able to get away from these storms.
But Evie wasn’t sure they could get that high. And from the look on Toryx’s face, he wasn’t too sure either.
They had known there was a good possibility they might die. But back inside the safety of Zocrone’s City Dome, that possibility had seemed so abstract. It hadn’t really seemed real. Now, with the storm raging all around them, and the Starburst struggling to fly, everything felt much more real than either of them wanted.
But there was no going back now. Either Evie found a way to get them out of this, or they died trying.
“What can I do to help?” Toryx yelled over the roar of the storm and the blaring of the Starburst’s alert sirens.
Evie looked over at him again and shook her head helplessly. “Nothing. Just stay strapped in tightly so you don’t go bouncing around the bridge and crack your skull open.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to put a survival suit on, but she decided against it. What was the point? If the ship crashed, no one was coming out to rescue them. And a survival suit wouldn’t hold up long against the force of this storm.
Evie turned back to looking at the useless gauges. Even though they were telling her nothing, she couldn’t help scanning her eyes across them out of habit. Besides, it was better than looking at Toryx’s face. He did not look happy right now. Evie knew he wasn’t the type of guy to enjoy sitting around feeling useless, and she’d be willing to bet that he had never felt quite as useless as he did right now.
Evie herself felt useless, even though she was piloting the ship. None of her attempts to change the ship’s direction did anything, and she had long ago given up trying to keep the Starburst steady. The whole ship lurched left, then right, then back again. It was tossed one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and flew upside down so many times that Evie’s brain couldn’t make sense anymore of whether she was right-side up or not.
All she focused on was putting all the ship’s power into keeping the altitude on the old altimeter going up. She had the thrusters at full force, and auxiliary power running at one hundred percent. And still, it was a struggle. They were still climbing, but slowly. They would gain one hundred feet and then lose fifty to a sudden surge of wind. Then they would gain fifty but lose ten. It was a constant cycle of slow gains, and Evie worried that a surge from the storm that was just a little too strong would send them hurtling so far downward that they wouldn’t be able to recover.
Not only was there a danger of crashing from completely losing control of the ship, but there was also a danger of running out of fuel. The Starburst ran on a combination of solar power and plasma fuel. Since Zocrone’s sun hadn’t made an appearance in months, the solar power hadn’t been replenished in a long time. And the plasma fuel was quickly burning off in Evie’s attempts to get above this storm.
We’re not going to make it. Evie was starting to accept this reality more with every passing second. She had flown through some awful storms and deadly situations before, but she’d never had her ship be as unresponsive as it was right now. She glanced over at Toryx once more, and she thought her heart might break.
She didn’t want to die now. Not when she had only just realized that there was something between Toryx and her. She’d never considered him as a potential romantic partner. He was too loud and brash. Too proud and sure of himself. Not her type at all. She couldn’t stand it when men were overconfident about everything, and thought they knew better than everyone else how things should be done.
But she couldn’t deny that she’d felt some sort of chemistry when Toryx had reached over and grabbed her hand before they left the City Dome. And she couldn’t ignore the way her own heart had started pounding with desire when their eyes met just before they left the a
irlock and headed out into Zocrone’s open, stormy atmosphere.
Something had changed between them. Apparently, there was something about facing a life-or-death situation with someone that opened your eyes to how you truly felt about them. All Evie knew was that she was feeling things for Toryx that she’d never felt before, and she wanted a chance to explore those feelings. She didn’t want to die not knowing whether there was a chance for a romance with the big blue alien sitting across from her.
He was obnoxious and proud, but he was also a good man. After all, he’d been willing to risk everything for his people. Maybe that was a little crazy, but Evie couldn’t fault him for being crazy. Not when she had also agreed to this crazy plan to escape into the storm and attempt to bring water back to Zocrone.
Besides, in addition to being the type of person willing to give his all for his people, Toryx was damn good-looking. Even before Evie had allowed herself to consider the possibility of something more than friendship with him, she’d thought he was handsome. How could she not with his soulful eyes, dark blue skin, and those edgy scars that showed he was a warrior?
I am not going to die today. Evie gritted her teeth together and glanced over at the altimeter. Their altitude had barely changed in the last few minutes, and Evie knew their progress was too slow. If they didn’t break through the atmosphere in the next few minutes, they would run out of fuel, which would send them hurtling toward the planet’s surface below. A death sentence for sure.
Evie had to do something, and quick. But she was already doing everything she could. The Starburst was just too heavy. Its Zekkardite shields kept the storm debris from breaking through, but they also weighed the ship down more than Evie was used to. The extra weight wouldn’t have mattered in most flying situations, but in this fight against the storm of the millennium, every ounce mattered.
Evie made her decision, and started unstrapping herself from the safety harness in her captain’s chair.
“We have to abandon ship,” she said calmly as she looked over at Toryx. He looked back at her like she’d completely lost her marbles. And maybe she had, but this was their last chance to survive.
“What?!?” Toryx didn’t move to start unfastening his safety straps.
“We’re burning too much fuel trying to get out of the atmosphere. The ship is too heavy. Our only option is to get in the tiny dropship on board and hope for the best.”
Toryx still did not move. “But the dropship doesn’t have anything in the way of shields, does it? We’ll be dead in a matter of minutes.”
Evie shrugged. “Not if we’re lucky and we get out of the atmosphere, and this storm, before we’re hit the wrong way with a piece of debris.”
“We’d have to get awfully damn lucky.” Toryx still looked doubtful.
“Look, we’re dead for sure if we stay with this ship. This is our only shot, and I’m going to take it. Are you coming with me or not?”
Toryx let out a long sigh, but began unfastening his safety harness. Evie had known he would. He wasn’t stupid, and he could see their fate as well as she could if they stayed with the big ship.
With sirens blaring all around her, Evie grabbed the altimeter and tore it off its spot on the instrument panel, then began running in the direction of the dropship with Toryx hot on her heels.
She hadn’t used this dropship in forever. It had been invaluable when crew members were shuttling around on planets trying to arrange pickups for smuggling jobs, but on Zocrone there hadn’t been much use for it. Evie had even been thinking about turning it into scrap metal, but she had been postponing the job out of feelings of nostalgia for the old dropship.
She had never been happier that she’d procrastinated on something, because right now the dropship was her only chance of survival.
When she got to the dropship’s small docking station, she began a hurried preflight checklist on the small vessel. Thankfully the ship was in good condition and already filled to the max with fuel.
“Alright, Tor. Let’s go.” Evie’s voice sounded strange, even to herself. She felt like her words were hollow and coming from far away. Like she had already accepted her fate, and knew that she was going to die.
No, no, no! I’m not going to die. We can do this.
She and Toryx hopped into the dropship and strapped themselves in. Evie took one last deep breath and began the sequence for the Starburst’s giant cargo doors to open and let the dropship out. As she waited, she felt a warm, comforting pressure suddenly covering her right hand. When she looked down, she saw one of Toryx’s big blue hands covering her own. She looked up at him, and when their eyes met she saw such deep care and concern in them that she felt like she might melt. They had to make it through this somehow. She wanted to know how deep his feelings ran, and whether her feelings for him ran just as deep.
But for the moment, there was no time to do anything except give him a brave smile.
He smiled back at her. “You’ve got this,” he said in a low, husky voice that warmed Evie down to her soul.
And then, they were off. The Starburst’s doors were open, and Evie was flying into the storm once again, her heart threatening to pound right out of her chest from the mixture of excitement, adrenaline, and fear.
Thankfully, she didn’t have much time to even think about how worried she was. From the moment the dropship entered the open air, Evie was busy doing her best to dodge debris. She swerved the ship to the left, then the right, back and forth over and over. Several times, she was sure she wasn’t going to be able to avoid the fragments of rocks, asteroids, and other random shit that the storm was hurling through the air. But as long as the dropship was still flying and still in one piece, she was going to try.
On the positive side, she could immediately see that the dropship was gaining altitude much faster than the big ship had been able to. The altimeter’s needle was showing a steady climb, and Evie started to feel hopeful once again. She swerved and prayed, swerved and prayed. She wasn’t a religious person, but facing down death always made her figure there was no harm in trying to reach one of the Seven Galaxies’ many gods, just in case they actually existed.
She didn’t dare look over at Toryx. She didn’t have time to take her eye off of her work for even a split second. The wind and debris demanded all of her attention, and she was going to do everything she could to get through this—the ultimate test of her piloting skills.
Sweat dripped down her forehead, and she was biting her lower lip so hard that it was turning bloody. The noise outside was deafening, and her heart’s pounding felt like it might break her ribcage. But still, she persisted.
And then, she saw up ahead two giant rocks flying toward her so quickly and so closely together that she didn’t think she was possibly going to be able to miss them. Beside her, she heard Toryx scream out her name, and she knew he had seen them too.
“Evie! Watch out!”
She didn’t answer him. She gritted her teeth together harder and banked the dropship’s nose up as sharply as she possibly could. She didn’t worry about what rocks or debris might be above these two rocks. All she could do for the moment was try to avoid the certain death these rocks would bring.
She saw the rocks getting closer and closer, and she knew they weren’t going to make it. The ship was banking upward as much as possible, but the rocks were too close, and the wind was moving them too quickly.
Evie squeezed her eyes shut and waited to die.
And then, suddenly, everything was quiet. She didn’t feel any pain, and the sudden wild jerking from the wind had stopped. The only noise was a soft beeping from the dropship’s dashboard console.
Evie opened her eyes, and saw to her astonishment that they were out in open space. They had broken free, and left the swirling, stormy mess of Zocrone below them.
“Holy shit,” Toryx said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. And then, he was yelling out joyfully. “Holy shit! Evie! Evie you did it!”
Evie lo
oked around in disbelief. It seemed impossible, and yet here they were. Out in open space, away from the storm. With shaking hands, she ran her fingers across the dropship’s computer screens, swiping through status reports to see whether all of the major systems were still running.
“We have some significant damage to the hull on the starboard side, but it’s not enough to make us lose pressure or to cause an oxygen leak. If I can find somewhere safe for us to land, even just an asteroid, I can go out in a survival suit and probably patch it up quite nicely. And we still have plenty of fuel. Now that we’re in open space, we won’t need much at all since there’s no resistance.”
Evie looked over at Toryx and saw that he was just staring at her, shaking his head with wide eyes.
“What?” she asked, confused as to what the expression on his face meant.
“Evie, slow down a moment,” he said, then took her face in his strong blue hands. “Stop with the sludging diagnostics for just a moment, and take a second to appreciate the fact that you just did the impossible.”
Evie blushed and tried to pull away from his hands, looking away from Toryx. But Toryx was having none of that.
“Look at me.”
Reluctantly, she met his gaze.
“You did it, Evie! You turned what should have been a suicide mission into a successful victory.”
“The mission’s not over yet. We still have to get to a planet that has supplies and then get them back in through the storm.”
Toryx’s face softened. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. This was a huge first step. We’ll figure out the rest. I’m really sludging proud of you.”
Then he leaned forward and planted a kiss on Evie’s lips.
She closed her eyes and let the warmth of that kiss wash over her. Perhaps she should have fought it more. Part of her knew she should guard her heart, and be careful not to let her emotions run away with her in the middle of the biggest task of her life.
But another part of her knew that she deserved this moment of happiness, however brief it might be. She had just cheated death, and Toryx had been a big part of her motivation to do whatever it took to survive.
Taken by the Alien Rebel Page 3
