“We promised each other we’d escape together.”
“And I intended to…until that night on the cliff,” she grunted and inhaled sharply. “I knew they would keep chasing us until they got us.”
“We should have jumped together.” Fox noticed the sounds of battle dying away. They had run out of time. “We both could have been free.”
“We always had different ideas about freedom, you and I…But you would never listen…Funny how you heard me when I spoke as Lord Vismark.”
“But why the charade?” He gestured to the throne room. “If you wanted my help, all you had to do was ask.”
“I suspected someone was watching me, but I couldn’t figure out who. Turns out it was Doctor Grong all along. Besides.”
“You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Michelle gritted her teeth. “Please…I thought you would resent me…finding out I was still alive after all this time…that I’d deceived you.”
His heart burned. “Oh, Michelle.” He lifted her chin. “I could never resent you.”
And now they were going to die together anyway.
She smiled.
“I hate to break things up, Fox,” Ernest said. “But they’re heading this way.”
“It’s no use,” Fox said.
“What are you talking about? We’ve got to get out of here.”
Michelle’s hand shook as she reached out to take Fox’s hand. “There’s still a way.”
“Then hurry up,” Ernest said.
Her other hand opened a hatch on her belt and pressed a button. Her armor hummed.
She looked to the ceiling and let out an agonizing howl. Fox jerked away in a start.
Sasha whimpered and clutched Ernest’s leg tighter.
Michelle stopped screaming and looked back at Fox.
She seemed more alert…more alive.
“Come out and we won’t shoot,” Lord Darris shouted, his voice slick with false promise.
“What are you doing Michelle?” Fox said ignoring the slave lord.
“When they made this suit, I had them install a few tricks. I just injected a special concoction, but it won’t last long,” she said, standing with little sign of discomfort.
“I don’t understand.”
She forced a data crystal into Fox’s hand. “That should answer some of your questions.” She flicked her wrists and two humming black blades sprang free. “I can give you a little over five minutes. Get to the doors.”
Michelle stepped forward and Fox grabbed her wrist.
“Please Fox.” Her eyes moved from his mouth to his eyes as she studied his face. “Let me go this time. I have to do this while I still can.”
Fox let go of her arm and stepped aside.
She secured her helmet. And nodded. “Wait for my signal.”
“Ah, if it isn’t the imposter.” Lord Darris said. “Wait a second—"
“Drop the weapons,” another Drahk ordered.
“Open fire you idiots!”
The sound of plasma fire was cut short by the cries, roars, and gurgles of dying Drahk.
“Now!” Michelle’s metallic voice screamed.
Fox watched Michelle as he led the others to the table. A dozen Drahk surrounded her, but somehow, she still held her own. Her blades moving in blurs, Drahk limbs and guts spinning through the air, as she fought her way to Darris.
Fox and Ernest grabbed the metal bar across the door and heaved. It wouldn’t move.
“Plasma has welded it to the brackets,” Ernest said. “We’ll never move it.”
Engines roared behind and Fox spun as a gunship pulled up to the windows, and more of Darris’s men leapt through the windows into the throne room.
Michelle charged the newcomers and cut down one or two, but their numbers overwhelmed her.
The gunship’s turrets fired on her, mowing down its own kind.
Michelle went down and the remaining Drahk piled on, claws swiping and teeth gnashing.
“No!” Fox cried out.
“We can’t help her,” Ernest said, pulling him back. “We need to get that door open.”
“We’ll never get it open on time. We’re trapped.”
Sasha cried and Ernest tried to console her.
“This way,” the pilot said, pulling Sasha by the hand.
Fox sent five shots into the Drahk numbers and followed Ernest behind a pillar as the they returned fire.
And explosion erupted by the windows, filling the throne room with smoke and dust.
Fox looked out from behind the pillar, trying to see what was happening.
Shadows moved about inside the cloud.
A turret rang out by the window, cutting the figures down.
Fox coughed as the dust settled.
Sable hovered by the window, her ramp against one of the windows.
“Come on, get on,” Corri called from inside.
“Ernest, take Sasha. I’ll watch your back.”
The pilot led the girl to the window and passed her to Corri.
A downed Drahk shifted in the rubble as he reached for his rifle.
Fox put three holes in him before sprinting forward.
His boot caught on something and he crashed onto stone and glass, his blaster skidding across the ground. He looked back to see what he’d tripped over to find Darris’s claws dig into his calf.
He tried to pull away and yelped.
Darris crawled out from under a pile of broken plaster and pulled a rifle from a fallen guard. He pointed the weapon at Fox’s head and it pinged. “You aren’t so scary, Fox.”
A black blade plunged through Darris’s eye socket.
The slave lord dropped the rifle and folded to the floor like a concertina.
Michelle fell next to the dead Drahk and Fox clawed his way over to her, the gash in his leg slowing him.
He crawled to Michelle and removed her helmet.
“It’s okay Michelle. Help has arrived. You’ll be okay.”
She chuckled and blood gurgled from her mouth. She reached for his cheek. “I’m sorry, my Fox. For what it’s worth…I never stopped loving…you.”
“I love you too, Michelle.”
He leaned down and kissed her soft lips.
They were much colder than he remembered.
He pulled away to find her vacant eyes staring into nothing, her smile touching her eyes even in death.
Something smashed against the giant doors, shaking them to the hinges.
Ernest appeared over him. “That door won’t hold for long, Fox, and I’d rather not try to explain what happened here to those Drahk when they break through.”
“Help me get her body onto Sable.”
“We don’t have time,” Ernest said.
Fox looked into Ernest’s eyes and snarled. “We can’t just leave her here.”
“Fine,” Ernest spat, reaching under Michelle’s arm with one hand. “But I’ll cut your balls off in the afterlife if we don’t make it out after all this.”
They slowly dragged Michelle over the mire and cobbles.
Fox’s one leg almost gave up entirely and his arms burned in objection. Fatigue seeped into his bones and every shred of him wanted to just lie down next to Michelle and die.
“Come on guys,” Corri called from the window.
“Damn armor is heavy,” Ernest moaned. “How did she even move in this thing?”
“Hurry up!” Corri shouted. “We’ve got bogey’s heading our way.”
They had dragged Michelle to the windows when the doors starting splitting.
With Corri’s help, Fox and Ernest hoisted her into Sable. Corri pulled Fox on board as the first Drahk broke into the throne room.
Gunfire bounced off Sable’s plating as Corri raised the ramp.
“Thank the heavens for Sable’s audio controls. Nice work, Corri,” Ernest said, sliding into the cockpit. “Time to get out of here, people. Hold onto something. This is going to get bumpy.”
19
Starfighter
Kelvin reclined in Sable’s cockpit inside the ASTRA station hangar as he waited for Fox to come collect his things.
He looked forward to getting back to human space where life tended to be a little quieter. He hated few things more than having nothing to do but figured he’s seen enough action for a lifetime.
His comm system bleeped. An encrypted message from Lora.
He hit play.
“I hope this finds you well, Ernest Perry. Admiral Dyson was really happy to receive those root files. The engineers are still working on decrypting the communications, but they’ll break the code given time. You should have seen the Admiral’s face when I told him the good news. I’ve never seen him more impressed. I’d say you’re in for a big promotion when you get back. Tell Sable I love her. Lora out.”
The audio, however didn’t stop playing.
Kelvin was about to hit stop when Lora starting speaking again.
“Listen up, Ernest. I’ve only got thirty seconds of encrypted audio. I finally found a detailed file on Doctor Riley. Looks like she was involved in some serious shit before the Drahk took her. I’ve sent you a copy. Check out who her father is. I don’t know what it means yet, but it can’t be good. Take care…wherever you are.”
Kelvin opened the attached file, wondering what could be so important Lora had to encrypt it twice. He flicked through several pages stamped top-secret. He finally reached the section on her family history and his eyes scanned down the page.
He had to read again to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.
Under biological father, it named Jax Dyson.
As in Admiral Jax Dyson?
That didn’t make any sense.
Something rattled behind and he caught a glimpse of Fox’s reflection in the display.
He turned the display off and spun around in his chair. “Dammit, man. You scared the shit out of me.”
“Is everything okay?” Fox asked, eyeing the display.
“It won’t be if you keep sneaking up on me like that.”
“It looked like you were focused on something important. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Just personal family stuff. How about you?” he said, eager to change the subject. “Did you get sorted with ASTRA?”
“Corri and Sasha have been processed. ASTRA will return them to their homes immediately.” Fox swallowed a lump. “They agreed to return Michelle’s body to her family. It took some convincing and I had to forgo most of my fee.”
“That’s really harsh.”
“ASTRA like to avoid intergalactic affairs. It can get messy, given their line of work. I’ll just have to find another way to procure a new ship.”
“You did the right thing. Are they going to address your other…concerns?”
“None of the board members were available for discussion. Administration said they would take my notes into consideration.”
“That’s just a fancy way of saying they’ll do jack-shit.”
Fox nodded. “They’ll meet with me when I threaten to bring the information to the news networks. They won’t want people learning that they had dealings with a slave lord, even if they didn’t know it at the time. Bad for publicity. But another problem for another day.”
Kelvin’s eyes quickly glanced to the display and back to Fox again. “Have you checked that data crystal Michelle gave you?”
Fox shook his head. “Not yet. I’m just not feeling…ready.”
“I understand,” Kelvin said. “Probably best you take your time.”
Fox looked at his shoulder. “How’s your arm?”
“Better than ever.” Kelvin said, rolling up his sleeve and stretching his robotic fingers.
“It’s a pity they couldn’t save your original.”
“Are you kidding me? Those prosthetics guys really know what they’re doing. I’m still getting used to it, but I love this thing. How’s the throat?”
“It’s not exactly what I had in mind, and my surgeon tells me it should stop hurting in a few weeks, but I guess I can’t complain. I’ve got a voice back. Even if it isn’t my voice. Now I just need a new ship and I’ll be a complete Vosan again.”
“I wish I could help you out on that front, Fox.” Kelvin said. “But I don’t know anyone out this way.”
Fox tapped his chronograph. “I picked up an assignment. A little boy called James was sold to a businessman on Felex Three. It also just so happens to be where a certain ship seller I know lives. He’ll be able to sort me out. I just need to find a lift there.”
“Is it far?”
“The next system over.”
“I can drop you on the way.”
“Thanks, Ernest. That would save me a lot of trouble.”
Something rattled in the aft compartment and Fox spun, his had going for his blaster. “Did you hear that?”
Kelvin nodded.
Fox unholstered his blaster and walked to the back of the cabin, Ernest in tow. “Just when I thought we were done with surprises,” he muttered quietly.
“Do you think a Drahk got on board back on Roth?”
“Might be rats.” Fox whispered as they reached the hatch. “But better safe than sorry.”
Ernest lifted a finger to his mouth as he gently pulled the hatch lever.
Fox position himself, blaster ready.
Ernest swung the door hatch open and the cargo hold lights activated.
Fox’s eyes darted about, looking for anything that might have been out of place.
“I think you were right,” Ernest said. “Must be rats.”
Fox held his hand up for silence as he advanced further. He reached out for skimmer’s cover with one hand while aiming the blaster with the other. He snatched the sheet free.
Nothing.
Something moved by the skimmer’s folded wing and Fox aimed his weapon. “I saw you by the wing. Come out with your hands up.”
“Okay, just don’t shoot.”
Corri appeared from under the wing, her hands in the air.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Fox mumbled, lowering his blaster.
“You weren’t supposed to hear me, but someone didn’t secure the crates properly.” She gave Ernest an accusing glare.
“What are you doing here. Fox said ASTRA was returning you to your home.”
“They were. But then I decided I wanted to stay on board Sable instead.” Corri said, fluttering her eyelids.
“What?” Ernest said enraged. “You can’t just decide that you want to stay on someone else’s ship.”
“Fine. Then may I remain on board your fine vessel, dear very kind and generous sir?”
“This is an enterprising vessel. I can’t just allow every helpless woman I come across to stay on board. It would look unprofessional.”
“Helpless?” Corri seethed. “If it wasn’t for me, both your asses would have been served up for dinner on Roth.”
“Nonsense. Sable did all the work. You just told her what to do.”
Corri put her hands on her hips. “And if I hadn’t told her what to do, what would have happened?” She left the question dangling in the air like bait, but Ernest refused to take it.
Fox smiled at the pilot. “She makes a fair point.”
Ernest threw out his arms. “Whose side are you on?”
“I’m not taking sides on this one, Ernest. You’re on your own.”
“Then she can’t come with us.”
Corri looked up at Fox as she bit her lip.
“You can come with me to Felex Three,” he finally said. “The people there are strange. It would be nice having someone…normal for company.”
“But…”
“I’ll pay her way,” Fox added. There go the rest of my credits.
Ernest let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright. But I’m not babysitting.”
“Screw you, Ernest. I’m eighteen years old.”
Ernest scratched the growth on his chin. “Eighteen-
year-olds don’t sneak onto people’s ships.”
“And professional contractors don’t speak to ladies like this.”
“Just because I agreed to let you stay doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Corri looked at the ceiling. “Sable.”
“Yes, Corri.”
“Are you happy to have me on board?”
“I am happy to have you as a passenger, Corri.”
Corri pointed to the ceiling. “See?”
They continued arguing as Fox made his way back into the main cabin.
“I need a drink.” He rummaged for a glass bottle among his things.
His hands wrapped around a glass neck and he pulled the bottle of Starfighter from the pile.
He threw himself onto the couch and unscrewed the lid, throwing his head back and taking a sip. The brandy burned pleasantly as it went down, numbing the dull throb around his scar.
He stretched out, kicked off his boot, and put his feet on the small table.
Nagging voices carried from the cargo hold as Ernest and Corri continued to argue.
I’m going to need more than one bottle of this stuff.
The End
To follow the dynamic trio on their next journey, check out Interceptor – Freedom Star Book Two.
Contact Us
Two authors, Killian Carter and Brandon Ellis, wrote and edited Starfighter: Freedom Star - Book One. If you’re interested in contacting one or both of them, their websites are below.
Killian Carter:
https://www.kccarter.com
Brandon Ellis:
https://www.brandonelliswrites.com
Join Brandon’s Facebook Group:
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