by Sonia Nova
Naomi nodded, and they immediately rushed deeper into the corridor, making their way quietly toward the cell that held the rest of the women.
Another explosion rumbled through ship. The quakes were more frequent now. She hoped that Arez was right and that the Alliance truly had all the Krezlians forces busy fighting for their hold on the moon.
In less than a minute, she was standing in front of the now familiar cell door that separated her friends and coworkers from freedom. The metal surface looked just as impenetrable as it had the first time she had stood before it. But this time, she had Arez.
“Can you open it?” she asked hopefully.
“Move over,” he said, his voice determined.
Naomi stepped away from the door just as he aimed his gun at the lock and fired. With a sizzle, part of the lock separated and fell to the corridor floor… but the rest still held the door to the wall with its mechanical innards exposed.
“Dammit,” Arez cursed. “This lock is more secure. It goes straight through the wall of the cell.”
With both palms on the door, he pressed his full weight into opening it, just as he had with the cellblock door. But the maimed lock still held tight.
“Could you shoot it again?” Naomi asked, trying to hide the anxiety from her voice. Her heart pounded in her chest and she gave a quick, worried glance toward the entrance of the cellblock.
They were so, so close to saving her colleagues. Failing now was not an option.
“The shot could go straight through into the cell,” Arez said. He glanced at her and seemed to see through her façade of confidence. “I’ll get it open, don’t worry.” His voice was so gentle that Naomi nearly felt tears in her eyes.
He turned back toward the door and studied the exposed wiring of the lock. “Looks like I shorted out the system,” he said. “So… This could either kill me or be the easiest solution…”
Before Naomi could ask him what he meant, Arez plunged his hand into the mess of broken wires and circuit boards. With a firm tug, the rest of the lock came out in his hand and he tossed it aside.
“Ah. Good. No live wires left in there.”
Naomi just stared, too overwhelmed by the whole situation to chastise his risky behavior.
Arez leaned against the door again and shoved. This time, the door moved a couple inches and Naomi heard a feminine scream from the other side. She quickly ran to the thin sliver of an opening. All she could see was darkness inside the cell, but she could hear soft crying.
“Shhhh,” she thought she heard a woman hiss. “We don’t know who’s out there.”
“It’s me,” Naomi called out quickly. “Naomi. Give us a second and we’ll get you all out.”
A hiccupped sob and something that sounded like “Thank God” was her response, and she stepped aside once more, allowing Arez better access to the door.
Arez shoved one more time, opening the door just enough for a human woman to fit through. He stepped to the side, taking post.
“Go on in,” he said, and Naomi quickly slipped inside the cell. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the low light, but as they did, she was happy to see everyone inside.
The women moved toward her, their faces pale and their eyes wide. Iris wiped tears off her cheeks. “Naomi!” she exclaimed as if she could barely believe what she was seeing.
Tammy stood and ran to her. “What’s going on out there?”
“The Alliance is here,” Naomi said, tears of relief now starting to form in her eyes. The women were alright. She grinned at them all, unable to stifle her joy at knowing her earlier words of comfort to the women had been the truth. “I’m going to get you all out safe.”
The women shared relieved glances and hugs. At that moment, an explosion sounded somewhere close by. It was so powerful the cell door shuddered in its frame, and some of the women who had just gotten on their feet nearly stumbled to the floor again.
“I can’t guarantee this is going to be easy,” Naomi said, reminding herself as well. “The Krezlians – well, most of them at least – are occupied in the battle outside, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe passage from here. We still need to find a way out. Maybe there are shuttles somewhere so we can get off the moon.”
“You have a gun,” Tammy said, looking at the heavy weapon that she held in her uninjured arm. “Where’d you get it? Are there any more?”
Naomi looked quizzically at the team leader. Although Tammy was definitely one of the tougher women in the group, Naomi wasn’t aware she had any kind of weapons training.
“I got it off a dead Krezlian,” she said slowly, not wanting to scare the women but knowing that they would have to face the corpses on their way out of the cellblock eventually. “There are plenty more.”
“Good,” Tammy said. “I know Krezlian guns aren’t anything like human ones, but I’ve been hunting with my dad and brothers since I could hold a weapon. I’ll help you out.” Her expression darkened. “And save a shot for Mareb too.”
“You can help cover the group while we try to find a way out of the ship,” Naomi said, ignoring the violence in Tammy’s words. They both knew Mareb would face trial and receive consequences at the full extent of the Alliance law.
Naomi faced the rest of the group. “There’s an Alliance guard outside this cell right now who will help us find our way out. Stay together and move quickly. He’ll start leading us out of the cellblock.”
Naomi checked in with each woman as they left the cell, making sure they were unharmed and feeling strong enough to walk through the corridors. Arez led the group down the cellblock, Tammy walked behind him with a gun lifted from a dead Krezlian, and Naomi stayed to the back, ensuring no one strayed.
Soon, they reached the entrance of the cellblock where the beam had fallen, partially blocking the doorway. Remains of dead Krezlian guards splayed over the corridor wall and ceiling and a few bodies blocked their path. Naomi saw some of the women cover their mouths, gagging at the sight.
But no new Krezlians had arrived at the scene, and their absence gave Naomi hope.
Arez stepped to the other side of the beam and started to help the women over the blockage. Tammy went first, keeping her gun ready toward the corridor, watching out for any Krezlians. Naomi stayed behind in the cellblock, helping the women cross from her side.
As all of the women had passed over the beam, Arez turned to Naomi.
“Do you need a hand?” he asked, reaching out to help her through. Naomi was about to tell him she would be fine on her own when he added under his breath, for her ears only, “I’m not going to see you hurt by this piece of fucking metal – or trip on my watch – again.”
Naomi blushed, suddenly reminded of her near-fall out of the shuttle on Agaria, and the way Arez had caught her.
It all seemed like a lifetime ago already. So much had happened since then that she hardly even felt like the same person anymore.
She wasn’t about to argue with him this time though, or pretend to be tougher than she was. Her cheeks flaming, she took Arez’s hand, feeling the warmth of his skin against hers, and stepped over the beam.
Arez’s eyes sparkled as he looked at her, and Naomi’s heart skipped a beat. He let go of her hand gently, and Naomi could feel the loss like it was a palpable thing.
“So… Where to?” Tammy asked as they were all on the other side, snapping Naomi back into the moment.
“To the left,” Arez replied, lingering beside Naomi. He lifted his gun to her in a salute and said, “Here’s to an uneventful rest of our journey.”
He grinned widely at her before dashing to the front of the group to take the lead again, and Naomi couldn’t help the slight smile spreading on her lips too. They fell back into their earlier formation, this time with Tammy and Naomi both sticking to the back of the group to cover their backs, and Arez leading the group.
“Emergency shuttles are this way!” Arez called after a while as they walked past a large sign on the wall bearing several unfamili
ar symbols.
They took the turn and began to make their way down the corridor. The hallways of the ship were eerily empty, as if the whole craft had been abandoned by the Krezlians. The ground shook beneath their feet every so often, but the sounds of the explosions were the only thing they heard.
The emergency shuttle signs led them along numerous twists and turns before they finally made it to a large, open doorway. The entrance revealed a small platform with six shuttles in the compact Krezlian design.
Several explosions went off somewhere close by, and the whole ship shook from the impact. A few of the women gasped.
“It’s fine,” Naomi said. “That just means the fight is still going on outside the ship, keeping the Krezlians busy. Keep moving.”
The group of women followed them into the bay, chattering worriedly. They had made it about halfway to the emergency shuttles, when Arez abruptly stopped on his heel, so quickly that a few of the women almost ran into him.
“Shhh,” he hissed, holding up his hand.
The group immediately fell silent. Naomi couldn’t hear anything, but based on the way Arez stared into the open doorway they had come from, he clearly could, and the knowledge made Naomi’s heart race. His next words were hurried, and he turned back toward Naomi.
“Get them into the shuttles, now.”
Tammy was already directing women into a larger emergency shuttle and Naomi ran to join her, making sure that each shuttle had someone with at least some spaceflight training. Arez could fly the last one.
A moment later, four Krezlians came running onto the platform, calling out in their language as they lifted their weapons. The guards shot toward them, but by the time they had reached the platform, the first five shuttles were already loaded and doors closed. The plasma shots were no match to the shuttle’s thick walls, and the women were safe.
Glancing around one last time to make sure every woman was accounted for, Naomi jumped into the final shuttle, right behind Iris and Cara, the two girls from the Trade Negotiations Team.
“Arez!” She called out after him, noticing he’d stayed behind to shoot at the Krezlians in an attempt to slow them down.
He fired a series of shots behind them in the Krezlians’ direction, slowly making his way toward the shuttle himself.
“Cover me so I can fly this damn thing,” he said as he reached the shuttle, climbing inside.
Two more Krezlians entered the platform, just as the other shuttles started to lift off and hover around them. Naomi nodded to Arez, moving to the shuttle’s open door, although she had no idea how she was supposed to keep so many guards away from the shuttles with just her one gun.
Then, her eyes caught several fuel tanks by the entrance, right behind the guards, and a crazy idea struck her.
She pointed her gun carefully toward the fuel tank, aiming closely so that it was impossible to miss – and pulled the trigger.
It only took her one shot.
The tanks immediately blew up in a thunderous explosion, catching the Krezlian guards in the fire. Ear-screeching screams filled the platform as the Krezlians writhed on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but to no avail.
The smell of gasoline and burning flesh drifted into the shuttle, and Naomi pulled the shuttle door shut behind her. She met Arez’s gaze and he gave her an approving look, with his eyebrows raised.
“Nice one,” he said.
The wall of the shuttle bay began to open in front of them, revealing the darkness of open space before them. They shuttle rose slightly, and they took off with a gentle tug.
Grabbing the ship’s intercom, Arez tuned into the Alliance frequency. A few clicks on the other end told Naomi that he must have been transferred to the Alliance’s central communication. No doubt a Krezlian ship choosing their frequency had triggered their alarms.
Now, their only hope was that the Alliance would listen before they shot them down from the skies…
CHAPTER 25
AREZ
“Alliance Guard EX-4968 to Central Command, do you copy? Requesting clear passage to the planet. I have the Earth Ambassador with me – Naomi…”
He cursed himself for not knowing her full name. After all, Arez doubted she simply went by Naomi in her work. She didn’t seem phased, however, and grabbed the intercom.
“Earth Ambassador Naomi Rourke speaking. Do you copy?”
Silence answered them on the other end. Naomi cast a worried glance in his direction as the seconds trickled by and they waited for a response.
“Ambassador Rourke to Central Command, do you copy?” She repeated the request.
Arez glanced behind them, looking out the back windows of the shuttle. At least, no Krezlians were following them. Not that he had really expected them to. They had taken all the emergency shuttles at the platform and any Krezlian battle ships were no doubt already engaged in the fight.
But they still needed the Alliance to grant them safe passage in order to fly anywhere. Because while no Krezlians were chasing them at the moment, it would be a whole different story once they entered the battle zone. A group of six Krezlian emergency shuttles would not simply sneak by… and they could easily become a target for both sides.
“Ambassador Rourke to Central Command,” Naomi repeated once more, clearly starting to feel desperate. “This is not a Krezlian-controlled vehicle. I’m here with several human women we just freed and an Alliance Guard.”
She turned to the two women in the back of the ship, and Arez saw they both wore concerned expressions on their faces. Could the Alliance not hear their call?
“Send visual,” a cool male voice finally replied through the speakers of the shuttle.
The answer was brief and the voice doubtful, but Arez’s shoulders immediately relaxed and he released a heavy breath nonetheless. At least, they had been heard.
Naomi seemed equally relieved, and she set down the intercom. Arez hit the visual call button just as the shuttle exited into the moon’s skies, five other shuttles in tow.
Explosions went off everywhere around them as the Alliance and the Krezlians warred. The sight made Arez wonder whether Zeon was among the Alliance troops. He would’ve enjoyed this, letting off some steam. Arez knew he would’ve liked it too, but getting to smack the lizards straight in their faces and break their bones had somehow felt even better.
Their little fleet of emergency shuttles was still safely to the side of the raging battle, but they were fast approaching the center of the fight. Seconds trickled by and when the Alliance didn’t respond to the visual call, Arez’s heart started to race.
“Why aren’t they saying anything? You sent them the visual,” one of the women asked, her scared tone expressing the fear Arez was trying to hide.
“I don’t know, Iris,” Naomi answered in a quiet voice.
Arez checked twice to make sure the command center had approved the call, and they had. They should’ve been able to see him, Naomi, and the other two women inside the ship – should’ve. He hoped the Krezlians weren’t messing with the broadcast, because if they were, they were all fucked.
Four Alliance speeders suddenly turned toward their shuttles, and Arez’s heart nearly stopped in his chest. He grabbed the controls of the shuttle, despite knowing that if the speeders got within missile range, there was no way he could avoid them. The controls of the clunky emergency shuttles weren’t made for that. But the ships seemed hostile, and he had to at least try to do something. After all, the command center hadn’t told them they’d hold back fire.
Fuck. He needed the Alliance to clear their troops and grant them safe passage, now.
“Central Command, do you have visual? Requesting safe passage–”
“Passage granted,” the response came at last. “We’ve just spoken to the women piloting the other shuttles. Sending the coordinates for a secure landing location. Please hold.”
Arez let out a heavy breath, letting go of the ship’s controls. Thank the gods. A moment later, the
coordinates arrived, and he immediately entered them into the shuttle’s system.
But the four Alliance ships kept approaching.
They flew closer at a steady pace, speeding toward their shuttle with no intention of stopping. Arez gripped the controls again, a cold sweat dripping down his spine, adrenaline pulsing in his veins. In his head, he kept measuring the distance, counting the seconds to the moment when the speeders would be in missile range and he and Naomi and a dozen human females would be nothing but dust.
Call them off, he prayed.
His hand reached for the intercom again, but just as he was about ready to scream at the command center for fucking up, the Alliance troops dispersed around them. Arez relaxed.
His eyes widened as the speeders flew around the shuttles in formation, seeming to form a barrier around them. He hadn’t expected them to protect the shuttle so closely; especially since no Krezlian ships were coming their way. But then again, they had an Ambassador on board and all the rest of the human women from the moon. And looking out the windows of the shuttle, Arez realized there were far more Alliance speeders than Krezlian ships on the field anyway, which meant there were troops to spare.
Clearly, the reinforcements had arrived.
With a shaky breath, Arez finally sat back on his seat and looked at Naomi, sitting calmly as the shuttle’s automatic flight path took them toward the given coordinates. The Ambassador was turned around, talking with the two women in a soothing voice. Her bright curls framed her face perfectly. She seemed a lot more relaxed now too.
“The speeders are escorting us to safe landing coordinates,” she explained clearly. “Are you alright back there? It shouldn’t be long until we arrive on the planet.”
The two women nodded, obviously still shaken but seeming to hold themselves together the best they could.
“Good,” Naomi said. “We should be right there.” She turned to look out the back window of the shuttle, probably trying to get a good visual on the rest of the shuttles.
