“What’s the droid doing to her,” Axel asked.
“I think,” Adam started to say, then stopped. Miranda opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was one person now. Fuzzy around the edges, but still there was only one of him in her line of site.
“I think he’s stabilizing her,” Adam finished.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Fox said from somewhere to her right. She didn’t try to move her head around to see what he was looking at. It still hurt too much. She tried to talk again.
“I’m ok,” she said. The words actually came out and didn’t sound like they were underwater. Adam reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Just let the droid do whatever it’s doing,” he said. Miranda shrugged. Her shoulders responded to her request. She could feel her fingers and toes again. That was nice.
Oscar’s one tentacle arm retreated back to wherever it had come from and Miranda stood up.
“I’m fine,” she said patting down each of her arms and legs banishing the tingles and hurts from her fall. Adam nodded at her slowly.
“We’re in a jam,” Adam said. “We can’t call the ship, even if we wanted to. I’m afraid that the rebels may have taken it over. If that’s the case...”
“Then they’d ignore us and leave us here to rot anyway,” Fox finished. Miranda nodded to show she was listening.
“You said it yourself, that was the last shuttle off this rock,” Axel supplied.
“Yes,” Miranda agreed.
“So even if it hadn’t had Eric on it,” Adam added. There was a flash of anger in his eyes, but then it was gone. “We would still have needed it to get up to the ship.”
“So we might have survived the exposition,” Fox said.
“But if we don’t get up to the ship before it leaves, ” Adam continued.
“We’re dead,” Axel added for comfort.
“Ok, I get it,” Miranda said.
“Beep Bop Boop,” Oscar chimed in.
“Not now Oscar. I’m trying to think,” she said to the droid.
“Beep bop boop,” he said again.
“I get that you know, but we are trying to think of a way off this rock and unless you know where that may be then we got nothing,” Miranda said.
The little droid pulled on her pants, pushing her to and fro. He wanted her to follow him.
“Fine,” she said, giving in. Her head wasn’t one hundred percent yet anyway and all the talking and thinking gave her a headache.
“We’re playing follow the droid,” she told the others. Axel looked at Fox, Fox looked at Adam, Adam shrugged and followed after Miranda, who was already wobbling after the droid.
They passed through a long hallway devoid of anything, into another hangar bay. It was as big as the last one. There were scattered boxes here and there; otherwise it was empty. It took some time to weave in and out of the boxes. At the middle of the room the droid stopped.
“Beep beep,” he said bumping the large crate in front of him. Miranda looked from the crate to the droid and back again.
“I can’t believe it,” she said.
“Beep boop,” the droid answered. Adam, Fox, and Axel caught up behind her.
“We have a way off this rock,” she said pointing at the crate.
“But...” Adam said.
“It will only fit two, max,” she said. Every face fell. There were four of them. How were they ever to choose who would go and who would be left behind?
“I’m staying,” Axel said at the same time Miranda said, “and there’s another catch,”
“What’s the second catch,” Fox asked. Miranda took in a long breath.
“This is a H176 planetary escape pod,” she said. Oscar shocked the crate. Planks fell back to reveal a small pod that looked to be a little taller and just a bit wider than Adam in full dress uniform.
“Oh,” the three soldiers said together.
“That means?” Adam asked.
“That means that unless someone else on this team knows Droid, I’ve got to be the one driving it.” All three men looked at her.
The pod ship was pretty cool for being over two hundred years old. The lines were a bright metallic shade, something between vibranium and silver, while the outer shell shown white that changed depending on what angle you looked at it. The ship reminded her of an Easter Egg wrapped in wires and ready to be dipped into different colors. It was a common practice to celebrate the union of God back in the Eternal place.
“But Fox is our best shot at saving the ship,” Axel pointed out.
“And Adam is our mission,” Fox said. “Rescuing him is a top priority.”
Miranda sighed. “So you see the problem.”
“I’ll stay,” Adam offered. “If you can’t take the ship back then we’re dead anyways. If you do take the ship back then I know you’ll send a shuttle to pick us back up.”
“No,” Axel and Fox said at the same time. The two men looked at each other, wondering which would be the first to say more. Axel ducked his head and crossed his arms.
“No,” Fox said again, “You are the mission. What if we get up there and the ship’s already gone?”
“I could set the pod up to signal a rescue, but...” Miranda let the word hang between the three of them.
“No,” Axel said again. “I ain’t gonna be the guy that messed up the mission.” At the same time Fox said, “Mission first.” The two of them looked at each other then looked away. It was decided then.
Miranda stepped into the pod and started it up. Her fingers danced over the keys she knew all too well from all the practice she’d gotten opening doors in this place. It would be a tight fit. The two of them in a pod made for one. She would have to sit on his lap. The thought of being that close to an Ironside, let alone the crown prince, brought heat to her cheeks. She never believed she would see royalty in her lifetime. The royal professionals never made their way out into the territories. Now she’d saved him from a cell and was going to be riding with him, her back against his front all the way to the spaceship. It was too much for her heart. She ducked her head behind the control panel to hide her embarrassment.
“Ship’s all warmed up,” she said.
Adam slipped in behind her. She rested her weight against him.
“Beep boop,” Oscar chided.
“No, I haven’t forgotten about you,” Miranda responded back. She leaned over half in half out of the craft to get a good handle on the droid. Then she lifted him up onto her lap. He made it harder to reach the controls, but he fit.
“Sorry,” she said, realizing that she’d just stuck her butt in the crown prince’s face.
“It’s fine,” he said, “let’s just get out of here.” His voice had lowered. She couldn’t see his face, but something in her wanted to. Wanted to know what he was really thinking in that moment. But she settled on closing the hatch and starting the launch sequence.
Adam had placed the blasters in such a way that the stocks hung over his lap a bit. It was the only way they’d fit in the pod, but it meant they were constantly poking Miranda. It made for a very uncomfortable seat. Not that she expected this ride to be comfortable, but since they were traveling to their possible doom she wanted to be as fresh as could be. She shifted back and forth, trying to find a spot that didn’t pinch without disposing Oscar from her lap.
“Miranda,” Adam growled. She started, half sitting up and banging her knees. He knew her name. She hadn’t even remembered telling it to him. But he knew it well enough to call her by it.
“Do you mind?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she said, settling back into him. She stopped squirming even though the position was as uncomfortable as it had been before. She was just going to have to be pinched.
There was a large jerk. All three of them were pressed forward, then back in a sudden motion. The spacecraft had taken off.
“Here goes nothing,” Miranda said, pressing the last button in the sequence. She closed her eyes an
d whistled the starter command. The ship broke through the planet’s upper atmosphere and everything in the cabin went weightless. They were packed in so tightly nothing really moved, but Miranda still felt better given that all her weight wasn’t pressing her down onto the hard blasters.
“How long until we reach the ship?” Adam asked. Miranda whistled a few commands.
“About half an hour,” she said, reading the zeros and ones on the screen. They fell silent again.
“Since we’re stuck like this, why don’t you tell me about how you got into this mess in the first place.” she said. Miranda felt his breath on the back of her neck, her hair having decided to fly up into the space above her ears.
“I was a fool,” he said.
“I doubt that,” Miranda said. The man she had met and rescued was anything but a fool. No, something else had happened.
“I was meeting with some rebel members,” he started his tale. “We’d been fighting their forces on an outpost planet near Reverie 14. It’s in the guardian cluster near outer territories. It had been a tough two weeks. I’d thought that their side was as tired of fighting as ours. They had more losses, but my men were done. They just wanted for it to all be over so they could go home and kiss their loved ones.”
Miranda thought of her loved ones. Her heart ached to see all of them again, just once. She felt she knew how those soldiers did.
“So when the rebel leader offered a truce to talk about a surrender,” Adam continued after a moment, “I jumped at the chance. It was at a secure location between both of our territories. Watchable by both sides. So I never saw it coming.” Adam paused to collect his thoughts. Miranda was glued to the story. They had nothing better to do and it was proving interesting.
“Go on,” she encouraged him.
“It was a trap, the whole thing from the very beginning. A trap to get me. The men I brought with me, they were good lads, most of them, but the regular army sent backups. I didn’t know any of them. That should have been my first clue, but I was so intent on brokering peace and getting home by Easter that I failed to take the proper precautions.” He stopped talking and laid his head against her back between her shoulder blades. He rested it there, breathing against her neck. They stayed that way for quite a while. Him resting on her. Her sitting on the edge of her seat, waiting for him to continue before he noticed how red her face was flushing.
“And?” she coaxed him.
“They struck from all sides. All the soldiers were rebels in disguise. The two Ironsides I brought with me didn’t have a chance. I was captured, but not before I took out a number of them first,” he added.
Miranda giggled. Of course he would emphasize that part of the story. Men always did. When this was all over the stories would grow from five to twenty to one hundred and beyond. That’s just what happened. Like her father's trout stories.
“I fail to see the humor,” Adam scolded. They fell silent again.
“We’re here,” she said at last. His tale had taken up the whole space ride. Miranda held her breath. The holo screen in front of her turned black as the pod slipped into the shadow cast by the interstellar ship. Something bumped against their pod. A whining sound echoed as the thing scraped across the bottom of the pod.
Kuthunck.
Another something hit the top of the craft. They were still on course for the landing bay, but something was wrong. Very wrong. Miranda just didn’t know what.
“What was that?” Adam whispered in her ear.
Luck must have been on their side because the landing bay’s door were wide open. Black shapes, dots in the ink really, littered the path between them and the landing bay. Miranda’s mind refused to process it.
They were running on silent. No reason to give the rebels they knew were waiting for them any reason to think that they were there. She watched as the landing bay doors began to close. She had one of two options, speed up towards them, coming in hot and possibly being detected because of the noise, or hack the computer system from the pod’s remote port and have the landing bay doors reopen, which could also draw the attention of the rebels.
Miranda hit the excelerator. The ship lurched forward. The closer they got to the bay door, the fewer things they hit. Whatever had been spaced was traveling out.
The doors were picking up speed as they came closer to the opening. Miranda crossed her fingers and hit the excelerator button again. If they didn’t pick up speed they weren’t going to make it. The doors were closing too fast. The pod was too committed to its course. Either they were going to just make it or they were going to be splat balls against the side of the ship.
They passed through the opening as the doors slid shut behind them, locking them in. Miranda didn’t sigh with relief just yet/ they were going the pod’s maximum speed straight at the dock walls. She hit the left turn button hard, sending them into a tailspin.
Around and around they went hovering above the landing zone, but it was just enough to slow them down and get them to stop.
Miranda dumped Oscar to the floor and threw up. Adam reached behind her just as he exited the ship. The motion of the landing left her head spinning and her body wrenching.
“Bee boop boo,” Oscar said, pulling at Miranda's shirt. She put her hand to her head.
“What’s he trying to tell us?” Adam asked. He’d recovered enough to be able to put his hands on his knees.
“Rebels are coming, we have less than a minute,” she said between gasps of air. Miranda scanned the bay. There was nothing to hide behind. Everything in the hangar had been spaced.
“Beep boop boop!” the little droid cried.
“I know, I just don’t know,” Miranda yelled back. The little droid pointed at a spot on the wall.
“Over here,” Miranda said, dragging Adam to the wall with her. Oscar stuck his tentacle arm into the wall. A panel popped free, revealing a maintenance shoot.
Oscar lost no time in climbing in. Miranda followed.
“Come on,” she waved at Adam to get in behind her. He’d stopped at the door.
“With the ship landing they’ll be expecting someone. That someone has to be me.” His eyes gleamed with determination and something else, fear maybe? But he was the scourge of the galaxies. He couldn’t possibly be afraid.
“Get in here,” she said reaching for him. He stepped to the side.
“You’re our only shot,” he said.
“No,” Miranda protested.
“Save me,” Adam said, closing the panel door behind him.
Miranda stood up to the grate, not knowing what to do. She heard a door slide open, then footsteps. Adam had somehow run back to the ship. Miranda watched watched through the grate as two rebels leveled guns at her prince.
“Well, well; lookie what escaped his prison cell after all,” said a female rebel. She had bright red hair that shone crimson in the bay lights. Her face was heart shaped, her eyes a beautiful green color of a field in full bloom. She was fit. Her blaster hung off a hook belt that rested at an angle off her hip. She wore a light brown, natural-fiber shirt over a dark brown pair of leggings that showed off her legs. The picture perfect poster girl for rebel causes. The other one spat.
“Better for him if he’d stayed down there to die,” the male rebel said. He was a head taller than the girl, with broad shoulders and a square face. A brown mop of hair poked out around the edges of a blue pilot cap. It was a size too small, so it had to be borrowed, or stolen off a newly made corpse. Miranda grimaced at the thought.
He lifted up his blaster as if to fire point blank at Adam. The woman put a hand on top of the gun and pushed it down.
“Not so hasty, buddy,” she said. “Captain might want him alive.” Miranda’s heart skipped a beat. Was the captain of the ship really a rebel spy? Had he given them all up to steal his own ship? The possibilities made her head hurt more than their landing had.
“Whatever you say, love,” he cooed back. It didn’t take much to determine who the brains wer
e and who was the brawn in this team.
“What are you doing here?” Adam asked ask them as the girl tied him up.
“We’d come to see if there were any hangers on,” the male said.
“What about your ship?” Adam said. The two exchanged looks and then broke out into laughter. Mirand heard the slip click of the restraints sizing to Adam’s wrists.
“Move,” the girl said. She pushed him forward with the tip of her own gun. Adam stumbled forward, gained his footing and then started walking forward of his own free will. His shoulders were back, his head high like he was their leader and they were the ones captured.
“So you weren’t here for the last shuttle?” he asked again.
“You talk too much, pretty boy,” the guy said. He swung his gun out, hitting Adam in the back of his head as he passed the man. Adam dropped like a rock.
“Look what you’ve done now,” the girl complained.
The man shrugged.
“He was walking of his own free will and you went and knocked him out,” she said.
He scratched under his cap.
“Well, I ain’t carrying him three flights of stairs all the way to the bridge lift,” she spat at him.
He looked at her then at the body.
“You dropped him, you carry him,” she said.
“Nah,” he said.
Her green eyes flashed as her hand hit the back of his head in and upward sweep. It knocked his hat from his head.
“Ouch,” he said, rubbing his head.
“I’m telling the boss you left the prince unattended in the landing bay,” she said, stepping over Adam as she walked towards the door. The big guy bent over and picked up his hat. He looked at her, then at the prince, then back at her as the door closed behind her. He brushed the hat off and sighed. Then he slung Adam over his shoulder with one hand and headed out of the landing bay.
Miranda turned away from the grate. Her breaths came hard. Her mind refused to let go of the words the two rebels had said as she climbed up the shaft after Ozcar.
They hadn’t been waiting for their people at all. The landing bay had been open for another reason. They knew the last rebel shuttle wasn’t coming and they were ok with that. Planned it, even.
Imperial Edge Page 12
