by J. J. Green
A beat later, the shooting stopped.
“Oriana,” she said, “how badly are you hurt?”
“My visor says I’m incapacitated.”
“Damn. We’ll have to leave you here.”
“But outside of Darius’s Cloak they’ll see her,” Parthenia protested. “What happens when the Enthrall Casts start to wear off?”
“It’s either that or she tries to leave,” Carina said. “But leaving the hideout without the protection of a Cloak would be more dangerous. We’ll have to assume we would find her somewhere to hide.”
“I’ll go behind that rock,” said Oriana. “The guards won’t notice me while they’re Enthralled.”
“We have to hurry,” said Ferne. “We have to get down that tunnel before reinforcements arrive.”
Oriana left.
“Okay,” said Carina. “Let’s move forward, fast.”
The group advanced. Carina asked Darius to Cast Cloak again to keep them covered for the next encounter.
They cautiously passed through the aperture at the back of the cave.
Suddenly, mercs burst from the crack at the end of the tunnel that led to the second cavern.
“Get back!” Carina yelled to her siblings.
If they were Cloaked and they pressed against the tunnel wall, the soldiers might pass them by. She was surprised that Cadwallader had discovered their entry so quickly, or maybe he was guessing based on timing.
“Evacuate!” Cadwallader shouted over Carina’s comm. “Evacuate immediately! Everyone back to the shuttle. Run!”
“Huh?” said Ferne.
“What’s going on?” Parthenia asked. The mercs had reached them and run directly past.
“I don’t know,” Carina replied. “But something’s up. We’d better do what he says.”
They ran out of the tunnel and into the entrance cavern. The Enthralled soldiers were following Cadwallader’s command and leaving.
Carina ran back across the mountainside toward the shuttle, checking her siblings kept up. It was hard going in the one-point-six g. The way back was uphill, and she was soon sweating and panting as she made her way up the slope.
She stopped and looked back. The kids were having an even harder time of it. Castiel and Parthenia were several meters behind her and the two shorter figures of Ferne and Oriana were farther back still.
Darius! Where was Darius?
Carina realized the others had moved out of the vicinity of his Cloak so she could see them, but he was still affected by it. She couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Darius,” she said over comm. “Where are you?”
“I’m here,” came the little boy’s reply.
In any other circumstances his typical seven-year-old’s response would have been funny, but at the moment icy panic clutched at Carina’s heart.
“You’re Cloaked, remember?” she said. “I can’t see you. Can you see me?”
“Er…”
The icy hand clutched tighter.
“No,” said Darius. “I can’t see anyone.”
Chapter Thirty
“Where are you, Lin?” Cadwallader asked over Carina’s comm.
“I’m looking for my little brother,” she replied. “Whoever modified his suit accidentally removed the tracker. He isn’t on the system.”
The rest of her siblings had told her they’d made it to the shuttle, but Darius remained somewhere on the rocky mountain slope.
“The Duchess is about to be attacked,” said Cadwallader. “Return to the shuttle now.”
“I can’t leave him here!” Carina exclaimed.
“We can get him later.”
“No,” she said, fear and concern raising her pitch. “He’ll be terrified if we leave him here alone.”
A pause.
“You have two minutes, then the shuttle’s leaving, with or without you.” Cadwallader closed the comm.
“Darius!” Carina said. “Tell me what you can see.”
“I can see a bunch of rocks.”
The dark, rocky, sloping landscape spread out in front of her, bereft of movement. Carina could hear nothing over her external comm except the hydrogenous atmosphere sighing over the stones. Somehow, Darius appeared to have run in another direction after leaving the cavern.
Carina blamed herself for leaving him behind in her haste. If she couldn’t find him in time, Cadwallader would just have to leave without them both.
“What are the rocks like?” she asked.
“One of them looks kinda like Parthenia’s tarsul,” Darius replied.
Carina had no idea what a tarsul looked like. “Are they big rocks?”
“Yeah.”
“How big? Bigger than me?”
“Yeah. Much bigger than you.”
Carina swung around in a circle, trying to see what area of the mountain Darius might be looking at. To her surprise, she saw a merc running toward her from the direction of the shuttle.
It was Bryce.
“Go back,” she said to him. “You can’t get left behind too.”
“Shut up,” Bryce said. “You’re wasting time. Where was the last place you saw him?”
“In the cavern. He took a wrong turn somewhere on the way back.” As she spoke, Carina spotted a patch of large rocks over Bryce’s shoulder. “I think he might be up there.” She began to run up the slope. “Darius, look down the slope. Look for me and Bryce.”
“One minute, Lin,” said Cadwallader.
“It’s okay, we’ve found him,” Carina lied. “We’re going to make it.”
Forcing her leg muscles hard against the gravity, she sped up the slope. Loosened shale slithered past her in an avalanche of stones. She slipped, fell to her knees, got up, and ran.
“I can see you!” said Darius. “I can see you and Bryce, Carina!”
“Great,” she huffed, barely able to speak. “Run to us, Darius. Remember we can’t see you. But be careful. It’s easy to slip.”
She continued to struggle up the slope. The shuttle was more than a minute’s run away even in standard gravity. They were never going to make it.
Something impacted her. Carina looked down and saw Darius clinging to her middle. She’d come within the influence of his Cloak.
“Whoa,” said Bryce. “Where did you go?”
“I’ve found him,” Carina said. “He’s here.”
Bryce was only a couple of meters away, turning around as he scanned the view. He stopped, his helmet’s visor pointing directly at them. “There you are.”
The Cast had finally worn off.
“Darius,” said Bryce. “Jump on my back.”
The three set off for the shuttle. The two minutes Cadwallader had given her were up, Carina had no doubt. Relying on his kindheartedness to wait for them was probably useless. He would not risk the safety of all his mercs for the sake of three people, even if one of them was only a kid.
They rounded a ridge. The Duchess’s shuttle stood on roughly level ground in the distance, squat on its eight feet like a black bug. As she ran toward the vessel, her muscles screaming with the effort, the ramp rose and the hatch shut.
“Shit,” she said. She opened a comm. “Cadwallader, wait. We’re nearly there.”
The hatch remained closed. Carina fully expected to see the shuttle’s engine fire.
She noticed Bryce was no longer beside her. He’d dropped behind.
She ran to him. “Darius, get on me.”
Bryce didn’t protest.
Darius, usually easy to carry, felt heavy as he wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms around her neck.
The shuttle still hadn’t taken off. It was less than a hundred meters away. If its engine fired when they got closer they would be seared by the heat, their EVA suits offering little protection.
Then, while Carina’s gaze was glued to the vessel, the ramp lowered. She thanked the stars mentally. She had no breath for words. Cadwallader was kinder than she thought.
Seconds later
, they ran up the ramp. It closed as they were on it, sending them tumbling into the ship and through the airlock until they ended up sprawling on the floor of the cabin, between the feet of the mercs and mages. Carina felt the harsh shudder of the shuttle’s engine starting up. Next, she was forced into the floor by the acceleration force as the vessel tore itself out of the planet’s heavy gravity.
She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. All she could see was EVA suit boots and Darius’s small form, lying on his back with his arms and legs spread out. Even in the extreme circumstances, he was starfishing.
“I’m so glad you made it,” said Parthenia.
“What’s going on?” asked Bryce. “Has anyone said why we had to evacuate?”
“There’s a warship bearing down on the Duchess and Zenobia,” Ferne said. “It isn’t answering any hails. Cadwallader thinks it’s going to attack.”
“We really thought he was going to leave you all behind,” said Parthenia.
“He was going to leave them behind,” Castiel said. “Didn’t you hear him arguing with the pilot?”
Carina’s lungs continued to work overtime, her chest rising and falling heavily as she recovered from her desperate run.
“What?” she gasped. “Cadwallader was arguing with Stevenson?”
“Yes,” said Castiel. “The pilot refused to leave without you. Cadwallader told him the next planet we get to, he’s out of a job.”
“Thank the stars for old flames, huh, Carina?” said Bryce dryly.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aboard the Duchess, everything seemed in chaos.
Before the shuttle’s ramp had lowered the mercs had crowded at the exit hatch, and as soon as it was down they sprinted out into the ship, not wasting time to take off their EVA suits. After the mercs had exited, Carina, Bryce and the children walked out into the shuttle bay. Nahla joined them.
Carina lifted her visor.
Mercs were running everywhere. Even Stevenson didn’t stop to say a word before dashing out of the shuttle bay. Carina quickly lost sight of Cadwallader as he merged with the soldiers preparing for an attack.
“What should we do?” Ferne asked.
“Stay the hell out of the way for now,” replied Carina.
She knew that what appeared to be pandemonium was only the mercs getting to their stations, whether that was to man the ship’s weapons, prepare to repel boarders, or some other defensive task. She had played that role herself more than once, but now she had no role except to keep the children safe.
“Maybe we should return to the Zenobia,” said Bryce.
“No,” she said. “If we do come under attack we’re safer here than aboard a passenger vessel.”
All of a sudden, the floor lifted and turned, throwing everyone down.
“Get back into the shuttle,” Carina said. It was all she could think to do. They couldn’t help the mercs in a space battle. Starships moved too fast for Casts to work. But the shuttle was firmly clamped into the bay and the children could wear the safety harnesses inside.
The Duchess bumped and lifted again. Stevenson was probably making evasive maneuvers to avoid a long-range attack. But the mercs’ ship was attached to the Zenobia, which would make everything more difficult. A few of Cadwallader’s troops still remained aboard the smuggler’s vessel, guarding the prisoners.
While the children were strapping themselves in, Carina ran along the side of the well between the rows of seating and into the empty pilot’s cabin. Sitting in Stevenson’s seat, she activated the controls. Bryce sat next to her in the co-pilot’s position.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “Are you planning on flying us out of here?”
“That would be insane,” she replied. “I want to find out what’s going on.”
The shuttle’s console displayed the feed from the main ship. It took Carina a moment to figure out what she was seeing. Then she spotted it: a ship the size of a destroyer was approaching. The scan data indicated four pulse cannons, a single particle lance, and a smattering of smaller weapons, probably kinetic for close-range combat.
“Why the hell is that coming at us?” asked Bryce.
“I have no idea. Whoa.” The Duchess had swung violently around. Carina grabbed the console, her stomach feeling like it was taking its time to catch up with the rest of her body.
The Duchess’s pulse cannons fired.
“Isn’t that premature?” Bryce asked.
“I don’t think so,” Carina replied. “From the ship’s maneuvers I think we’ve already been fired upon.”
A sudden acceleration flung her back in her seat. The force pinned her in place and she looked down her nose at the display.
“I guess we’re trying to get away,” said Bryce.
“No. We’re heading straight at them. Cadwallader’s trying to scare them off.”
The enemy ship fired all four pulse cannons at once.
“Shit,” Carina said. She activated the shuttle’s comm. “Brace yourselves, kids.”
The Duchess returned fire, blasting three of the enemy’s pulses to pieces, scattering their subatomic particles across space. But the fourth one made it through. The Duchess shuddered at its impact.
“Carina,” said Darius over the passenger comm. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
She heard Parthenia say something to him before the comm cut out.
“I don’t know what Cadwallader’s thinking,” Carina said. “That particle lance could cut the Duchess in two if we get too close.”
The lieutenant colonel’s tactic of going on the offense didn’t seem to be working. The enemy ship wasn’t backing off or even slowing down. The two ships were flying at each other at top speed. Carina wondered what Lomang and his men were thinking, trapped in the brig and their cabins. They would have no idea what was happening.
“I still can’t understand why that ship’s attacking,” Bryce said. “How did it even happen to be passing in this region of space? We aren’t on a trade route. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Your guess is as good as…” She paused.
Bryce had made a good point. It was too much of a coincidence that another starship was within distance to pick up their trace, and the ship was a destroyer that wanted to attack them. The chances were so remote as to be nearly impossible.
“Does someone have a vendetta with Cadwallader or the Black Dogs?” Bryce asked.
“It’s possible. Merc bands tend to make plenty of enemies along the way. But something tells me that isn’t it.”
Fire flashed from the destroyer and four pulses of pure energy flew toward the Duchess. Carina cursed under her breath. The merc ship could only take so much battering. Cadwallader’s strategy of aggression seemed desperate, as if he knew they couldn’t outrun their attacker. Yet neither could the ship withstand a close encounter with the particle lance.
This time, two of the pulses made it through. The judder the Duchess gave seemed about to tear her apart.
“This is it,” said Bryce. “We aren’t going to make it.”
She had to agree. The Duchess wouldn’t survive another hit like that. The enemy didn’t even seem to want to preserve the mercs’ ship for boarding. It was intent on blowing it to pieces.
They were going to die, and no one knew why.
Carina gasped. The scanners were picking up energy building in the particle beam. The enemy was preparing to strike its final blow.
She turned to Bryce. He read the look on her face and his own paled.
Carina reached out for his hand.
“Bryce, I’m sorry—”
“No,” he said. “I am. I’ve been a—”
“No, it was my fault.”
There were no more words to be said. Carina gripped Bryce’s hand tightly.
The scan readings were going off the scale. White-hot brilliance shone out from the destroyer. A blade bright as starlight leapt across space, bridging the gap between the Duchess and its vanquisher.
&
nbsp; Carina tensed, wanting to scream, but no sound came out.
Then it was over.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The blade had vanished and they were still alive, but something was very, very wrong. The emergency lights were flashing and the reverberating, repetitive alarm wailed.
From outside the shuttle came a terrible roar and a cacophony of objects clashing and banging. The shuttle shook. Outside the Duchess the destroyer continued to bear down on them but its pulse cannons remained inactive and the particle lance was drained of energy.
Perhaps the enemy did intend to board after all.
Carina couldn’t figure out what the noise was. It was familiar, yet she couldn’t place it. Then it hit her. She’d heard the same sound years before when the Duchess’s hull had been breached. What she could hear was the rush of escaping air, but highly magnified. This wasn’t a small hull breach, it was a massive hole cut in the side of the ship. Maybe the mercs’ vessel had been sliced in two as she’d feared.
She comm’d the children. “Close your visors. You’ll be breathing your suit’s atmosphere from now on. And, whatever you do, do not unfasten your safety harnesses.”
The bay was empty, the shuttle was clamped to its floor, and in their EVA suits they couldn’t feel any of the effects of the breach, only hear the awful toll it was taking on the ship. Carina watched her HUD as it displayed the falling atmospheric gases. Many mercs had probably been sucked out into space, though luckily most of them were also wearing EVA suits and should survive if they were picked up.
Anything not bolted down would be gone and anyone in the way of an exiting object would be injured or killed. If the particle beam had sliced into the Duchess’s engines the ship would be dead in space, vulnerable to whatever the enemy had in mind for its occupants. Carina hoped that none of the mercs would spill the beans about her family’s mage powers, but she had to face the fact that one or two of them almost certainly would, hopeful of buying some clemency from their attackers. The one called Chandu, for instance—he wouldn’t hesitate to betray them.
