by Eva Delaney
The drones watched us with eyes that never blinked. Their long sinuous bodies slithered in place, waiting to lunge like predators. The silence stretched on, and I was convinced they could hear the sound of my rushing heart.
“What’s taking so long?” Orion snapped at the drones. “Get your plebs out here to answer to their prince.”
The drones shuddered, a ripple moving through their joints.
“They’re going to attack,” Antares muttered, his voice barely audible behind me.
Forty
I drew both blasters as I dropped to my knees. “Stay behind me, Mr. Pancake,” I said. I raised my guns to the drones. Antares’s guns swung over both my shoulders, aiming for the same bot, and we opened fire. Next to me, Orion and Polaris did the same.
Hamal and Rux’s heavy plasma cannons boomed out and one dragon shattered, raining down debris. A second shuddered as though having a seizure under our laser fire. The cannons boomed, and another drone splintered and crashed to the floor. But the fourth dragon reared up like a cobra, its length bristling with laser guns.
My heart clogged my throat. We couldn’t stop it in time. Someone was going to die.
A shadow leaped over my head, and Antares slid under the raised drone. His hand shot out and slammed the bottom of the robot. Mr. Pancake followed, running after him with something silver clutched in his mouth. He jumped, hitting the dragon and leaving the silver circle on its underside.
Antares grabbed the dog and rolled away, throwing one arm over his head and the other around Mr. Pancake. The drone exploded. I ducked my head against the flying debris and Orion threw himself on top of me. The heroic idiot. He should be protecting himself.
I glanced up. The dragon drones were a pile of ruins on the gray floor. Antares climbed to his feet, checking Mr. Pancake for injuries while ignoring the blood running down his arm.
Holy shit, they were good. They had moved like ghosts, so smooth and quick that the dragon didn’t even have a chance to aim.
The air behind me hummed with that gut-wrenching sound of a flier drone. The bomb-carrying bot zigzagged down the hall as quick and agile as a hummingbird. I twisted out from under Orion, raising my blaster, but the flier dodged my every shot. Rux cursed. He dropped to one knee with his heavy blaster on his shoulder and fired. The drone exploded in a small fire.
I blinked. “Nice shot,” I hated to compliment him, but he deserved it.
“I know,” he said, and I sighed, exasperated.
“Polaris, let’s go,” Orion ordered. Polaris darted for the blast door’s control panel, handheld computer in one hand and a tangle of wires in the other.
“Anyone injured?” Hamal said.
“Just bruises,” Orion said, dusting debris from his armor.
I sighed in relief. “Antares’s arm,” I said.
Hamal nodded and pulled a med pack from his belt.
“You call this an injury?” Antares said.
“There’s a metal splinter in your arm,” Hamal said as he shone a scanner over the jagged cut.
“That’s it? Allies have done worse to me by accident.”
An odd rage bloomed in my chest along with a desire to find the people who had betrayed him and make them pay. “Fuck those assholes,” I said.
Antares’s mouth quirked almost into a smile.
“It’s a good thing you have better friends now,” Hamal said as he set to work on Antares’s arm. Antares blinked at him, as though confused.
It only took Hamal a minute to remove the splinter and patch Antares’s arm with artificial skin. By then, Polaris had cracked the door’s code.
As it hissed open, I fell in step with Orion. We strode into the control room together with our heads high and guns raised. The black floor and walls reflected our images back at us as we marched across the room. Antares and Hamal were on our heels. Mr. Pancake panted happily as he hurried ahead. The sound of blaster fire didn’t bother him.
The center of the room was a sunken circle crammed with computers and uniformed workers. The four of us spread out at its edge and raised our blasters. The men, women, and bots at the controls stared up at us with wide eyes.
“How dare you plebs refuse the orders of a crown prince?” Orion roared. “How dare you force the prince’s personal guard to fight their way into your control room? If a representative of the Rigel family demands access, you grant it. Damn traitorous ignorant plebs.”
The Vinerans started yelling all at once: the base was on lockdown even to royal guards, we didn’t belong there, they had orders from Castor to capture rebels, the Supremacy had no authority here, they surrendered, they didn’t know who we were, they knew exactly who we are.
“Get out,” someone boomed as loud as cannons. I blinked and glanced towards its source. Hamal was glowering around the room. He shouted again, and his voice vibrated inside my ears. “Get out if you want to live.”
I snorted. I never expected Hamal with his sweet, soft rumble of a voice could be so terrifying.
The workers rushed for the door. I flicked my blasters to stun and watched for hands that strayed to hips. Surprisingly few tried to fight back. Tech workers, most of them, not soldiers. Anyone with wandering hands or slow feet went down under a stun shot.
Polaris and Rux dashed into the room and Polaris plugged into the door’s control panel. A moment later the door slammed shut. “I’ve changed all the codes,” he said, “but I don’t know how long that will keep them out.”
“We’ve got five minutes until reinforcements arrive,” Antares said.
“Polaris, open the jumpgate,” I said.
“It’ll take longer than five minutes. I need to route power from the star—”
“Then get started. Orion, stay with him in case of trouble.” They jumped down into the circle of computers.
“Hamal, Rux, guard that door.” But I didn’t need to tell them. They were already overturning desks to create a barrier to crouch behind as they fired on intruders.
“Antares,” I said, meeting his eyes. For once, they were bright and cheerful as though he was having the time of his life. “We need to find another way out of here.”
His grin widened. “The best smuggler in The Uprising and the best bounty hunter in the galaxy can figure that out.”
“So fucking cocky,” Orion said.
“Just the way you like it,” Antares said and winked. Orion glowered at him.
There was something charming about their half-flirting, half-arguing. “I’ll start checking the ceiling,” I said.
“Hold on.” Antares crouched down. “Mr. Pancake,” he said very seriously. The dog tilted his head. “Sniff for gaps. Sniff. For. Gaps.”
Mr. Pancake wagged his tail. He lifted his nose to the air and ran in a circle, sniffing.
I raised an eyebrow at Antares.
“He’ll smell out places where air is seeping in. Tell us where there’s hidden openings or weak spots in the walls.” I grinned, and he returned it. “He’s a good boy,” Antares said fondly.
We followed Mr. Pancake as he made his way around the command center and stopped before a narrow inner door. Antares and I slipped through to a short hall with small cabins for people to rest in while on call. As Antares checked the rooms for people, I trailed Mr. Pancake to a silver panel on the wall. A garbage chute. Of course, the dog sniffed out garbage. I was about to tell him to keep looking when Antares said, “Perfect.”
“It’ll lead to a molecular disintegrator, same as on the Firebrand,” I said.
“Not if we shut it off,” Antares said.
“There must be a maintenance hatch at the bottom that we can escape through. But the fall might kill us, unless—”
“We shut off the gravity,” Antares and I said at the same time. We smiled at each other and ran back to the main room. I found the control panel that controlled gravity and searched for the trash systems.
The room shook like an earthquake.
“They brought the big guns for that
door,” Rux said. “You have a few more minutes before they break through.”
Another thunderous boom and the door buckled inward at its center.
“Shit,” I hissed. I pinpointed the trash system and shut off its gravity.
“Docking bays are open,” Orion said. “Hopefully the mad rush for freedom will distract the Rigel bastards for a bit.”
I glanced at Polaris to see if he was done. He squinted at the screens, muttering code and calculations under his breath. Hurry, hurry, hurry, I silently urged him on.
“The disintegrators are off,” Antares said. He jumped onto a computer console and back onto the main level. “If they come through the door, I’ll hold them off. You go for the chute.”
“Fuck no,” Orion said. “You’ll be going down that thing first.”
“You still don’t trust me.”
“Never.”
“No one is staying behind,” I said.
“I’ve got the gate’s equipment pulling energy from the star,” Polaris called. “If no one shuts it down, it should open in 14 minutes.” The men cheered. I just sighed in relief. “I’ve locked the computer systems as well as I can, but without more time—”
“How long do we have?” I said.
He shrugged. His eyes were wide and bloodshot. I had never seen him look so tired and frightened before. “Twenty minutes, at the most, before they can shut the jumpgate again. Maybe less.”
I moved before he finished talking. Twenty minutes wasn’t enough time to capture a ship and travel through the gate, so I had to trust that Polaris’s security would last longer than that. I had no choice.
I rushed for the chute. “Everyone, into the garbage.”
“You sure know how to show a guy a good time,” Orion said.
“Only the best for my boys,” I said. His eyebrow quirked at the plural. I didn’t realize I had been talking about all of them. No time now to apologize or think about what that meant. I slid open the door, swung my legs over the edge, and jumped into the grasping darkness.
Forty-One
By the time we escaped the disintegrator and the maintenance corridors, Vinera was in chaos.
People were in a mad rush to reach the docking bays with whatever cargo they could salvage. They no longer made room for a group of Rigel guards. We shoved and threatened our way through the crowds. Hamal led the way, using his bulk to push through. Rux brought up the rear, using his scowl and large gun to scare people away. Behind me, Orion pressed one hand to the small of my back, a warm piece of safety in the insanity.
As we turned away from the main corridors, the crowd thinned until we reached a hall that lead to docking Bay R2. The one docking bay no one dared to enter. The only one whose entrance wasn’t clogged with panicking people. The only one with ships that wouldn’t be stopped at Supremacy checkpoints.
In the hall before its door, there was only us and a company of Rigel guards.
My hands itched for my blasters, but I didn’t draw yet. It would be suspicious and maybe we could pull this off without a fight.
Orion picked up his pace, pulling ahead of Hamal. “We have orders to take the fighters and stop those escaping ships,” he said. “Step aside.”
The guards glanced at each other. Orion didn’t slow, forcing them to shift aside and let him pass. I suppressed a smile at his courage. We followed his lead, diving into the group of guards.
“Wait,” one guard said. Her gaze fell on me, and my heart leaped. I knew that face. She was one of the guards from my room. The sleeping gas must have worn off. “I know you—”
I drew my blaster and backhand her with it in one smooth motion. Pulling my other gun, which was set to stun, I opened fire.
The whomp, whomp of stun shots echoed around me. Guards thumped to the ground, and in moments, it was over. The guards were down, and we were still standing.
I grinned at my men. Fighting Supremacy guards was way more fun with a team.
“Thank the stars that sleeping gas slowed their reflexes,” Hamal said.
“Door is locked,” Orion said.
Polaris hurried forward and plugged his computer into the door’s console. The hall was silent, waiting, heavy.
Part of me hoped the door never opened because we’d be splitting up when it did. That was the best way to increase the chance of someone escaping. It’d be harder for Castor to stop five stolen Supremacy ships than one.
Once we entered the docking bay, I would be on my own again. Alone.
A warm, callused hand grabbed my wrist and squeezed firmly. I glanced up at Orion’s determine gaze. “I’m not leaving your side again,” he said. His jaw was set, his shoulders drawn back. He looked unmovable, like he always did before a battle when he pledged to cover my back.
I tried to smile, to cover the sadness welling up inside me, but I couldn’t manage it. I sniffed back tears instead.
The door hissed open, revealing a docking bay half full of war ships waiting for pilots. I let out a sigh of relief. The ships were still here, rather than shooting down merchants or guarding the gate.
We still had a chance to get away.
“Let’s go, lovebirds,” Rux said racing into the docking bay.
I felt Orion’s gaze on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I broke our handhold and followed Rux into the bay and toward fresh loneliness.
“Everyone pick a ship,” Rux said as we dashed into the bay. He darted around a stack of crates and skidded to a stop. I nearly crashed into him. “Fuck,” he cursed.
A semi-circle of pilots stood between the ships. Their gazes were fixed on a tall man whose dark hair was bound with a length of scarlet. “Shoot down anyone who won’t return to the base,” he ordered, his voice rough.
I tried to drag Rux behind the crates, but it was too late. The pilots started shouting, their hands went to their weapons, and the man slowly turned to us.
Across the docking bay, Prince Castor’s yellow gaze locked on me.
Forty-Two
Castor didn’t look surprised or even angry, as though he had been waiting for me to show up.
“Get back,” Rux yelled. He yanked me behind the stack of crates as blaster fire ripped through the air. I guessed the one thing Castor had learned from all this was to shoot me rather than talk. I smiled to myself at that.
Rux’s hand was still gripping my arm. I shook him off. He rolled his summer-blue eyes, and I glowered at him.
The other men dropped to their knees around us. “How many?” Orion said, his voice serious and confident. I missed having him around in a fight, and I’ll miss him when I lose him again.
“Fourteen,” I said.
“Twenty,” said Rux.
I shot him a look to find him shooting me one back.
“Eighteen,” Antares said, frowning deeply. Mr. Pancake huddled under his knee. If they were worried about the prospective of a fight, it must be bad. “It’s his honor guard of pilots. Always eighteen. A birthday gift a few years back.”
“Thanks for the history lesson, asshole,” Orion said.
“Now’s not the time to start arguing again,” I told them.
“Whatever the number, it’s too many,” Hamal said. “They’ll pin us down with laser fire, then circle around these crates to take us from both sides. We have a few minutes at most.”
Polaris gripped his computer tighter against his chest.
“Then we start firing back now.” Rux hauled his heavy cannon onto the top of the crates while remaining in a low crouch.
“That’ll only scatter them,” I said. “Then they’ll flank us right away. Plus—” I was going to say that we didn’t want to kill the pilots, just knock them out, which his heavy cannon couldn’t do. We weren’t monsters, after all.
We weren’t worse than Castor himself.
But Rux cut me off by firing. I cringed at the boom and the sound of concrete exploding. “Why can’t you follow orders?”
“Why can’t you give good ones?” He fire
d again.
“Don’t you talk to Cali like that,” Orion snapped.
I groaned and rubbed my temple. The crates shuddered against my back as laser fight pummeled them. Beams flashed through the air above us in a continuous stream. We were pinned down. Trapped.
Hamal propped his cannon on top of the crates. “We’ll provide cover. You run for the ships.”
My heart leaped into my throat. He was volunteering to stay behind to be captured or killed.
“The moment some shitbag rounds those crates, you’re dead,” Antares said. He drew his blaster. “I’ll cover you.”
Hamal nodded grimly. “Thank you, brother.”
Antares’s eyes widened as though in surprise, but he quickly steeled his expression to cover it. “Take Mr. Pancake when you go,” he said to me.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. Hamal, Antares, and Rux were risking their lives to save the rest of us. My heart was pounding loud and anxious in my head, telling me to run.
And telling me to stay.
“Go,” Hamal ordered. He, Rux, and Antares opened fire over the edge of the crates.
It would do them little good if I were captured or killed alongside them, but still, I couldn’t make my legs move or my body turn away. I couldn’t leave them. Not again.
“You two split up,” Polaris was saying to Orion and me. “Take separate ships. I’ll…” He turned to Antares, Rux, and Hamal. “If one of you can get me to the computer terminal by the door, I can close and lock the docking bay after they fly out. Before Castor’s ships can chase them.”
“Po, no,” I said softly.
He stared at me with scared and determined eyes. So frightened and brave and steady all at once that it cracked my heart. “Anything to keep you safe, Commander. I’ll buy you time.”
Antares nodded. “I can get you there safely. Let’s go.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t worry,” Orion said as he grabbed my hand and squeezed. “We’ll fight shoulder-to-shoulder for as long as I draw breath. I’m not leaving you this time.”
