The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3)

by Katherine Bogle

  Kayl sneered. “You all deserve it. Might as well take you down with me.”

  Selene’s heart jumped back into gear as she turned toward the doors. The molten line had almost reached the bottom. Any second and they’d be surrounded.

  “Everyone get behind something and get ready! We’re gonna have company!” she barked the orders, not caring whether it was useless now or not. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

  Ivy nodded curtly, the first person to break from their haze. She dove behind the barrier on Selene’s left, training her pistol on the door from the small gap between tables.

  “You heard her!” Rikkard snapped.

  The others jumped into action, diving behind control panels and tables, their guns trained on the door, just as the molten line reached the bottom and the sparks on the monitor stopped.

  Rikkard crouched beside her, determination on his face. Selene exchanged a quick look with him, her eyes wide, and her tongue frozen on the thousand things she suddenly wanted to say.

  “Don’t you dare.” He smiled. She’d said the same thing not long ago. “This isn’t over yet.”

  Selene flashed an adrenaline filled grin of her own, and faced the doors. “You’re right. It’s not.” And whether they lived or died in the next ten minutes, she was happy to say she’d lived through a lot of shit, and was going to go down with the only people she’d ever cared about at her side.

  She took a deep breath, and steeled her resolve, facing the door, her eye jammed against the sight of her weapon. She stared down the crosshairs, ready to shoot the first person to come running through the door.

  Metal screeched as it was torn apart. Pain burst through her ears, and it took all of her mental energy not to slam her hands over her ears to protect them.

  The doors parted at the middle, only a small crack at first. Some sort of metal instrument stuck into the space and pushed the doors apart.

  Selene ground her teeth and waited. Any second now.

  The doors burst open with surprising speed, but before she could squeeze the trigger, an alarm blared through the entire ship, causing her, and everyone around her, including their enemies to pause.

  Selene’s eyebrows furrowed as the other screen on the opposite side of the room flashed with light.

  She looked over her shoulder in time to see an image of space. Satellites flew in the distance, and the moon seemed closer than she’d ever seen it. The alarms continued to blare as a ship suddenly appeared from hyperspace.

  The ship was twisted and curved dark metal with blue lights flickering through it, and huge cannons hoisted on the front.

  Her breath caught. Could it be? Had the Zahkx already received their message? Hope swelled inside her.

  Earth was fucking saved.

  Selene couldn’t believe the Zahkx were actually going to save them. After all the fights, all the missions, all the shit they’d been through to save the damn planet, and themselves, the Zahkx were on their way at last.

  Her heart raced as she looked from the screen, to the others. Across the room she caught Flik’s eyes. While the others looked as relieved and elated as her, Flik’s eyes had gone wide, his lips forming a small ‘o’. She’d never seen him look so utterly terrified.

  “Flik?” Her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

  Flik dragged his gaze from the monitor to look at her. “That’s not the Zahkx.”

  His words sent a cold spear through her joy. If that wasn’t the Zahkx, then who was it?

  Flik’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “It’s the Darri.”

  Selene nearly fell on her ass. She reached for the table with one hand, balancing precariously on the toes of her boots. “What?” she gasped.

  Rikkard met her gaze, the same look she was sure was written on hers, mirrored back at her. They were fucked.

  “Take them!” a voice shouted.

  Selene looked up in time for a wave of Dominion soldiers to race into the room, pushing past or jumping over their barricades.

  Instinct had her leaping to her feet in time to swat away the reaching hand of a guard. She growled as she thrust her gun beneath his chin, and squeezed the trigger of her rifle. The man’s expression was wiped clean and he collapsed to his knees before slumping lifelessly onto the floor.

  Everywhere around her, her friends engaged with the enemy, fighting back with all they had. There was no time for thought, no time for thinking about what the hell they’d just done. Now was all about survival. They had to get the hell out of this bunker.

  Selene swung the butt of her rifle at a man grappling with Rikkard on the floor. It slammed into his skull with a sickening crunch, and Rikkard pushed the man off.

  “Watch out!” he snapped.

  Selene spun and ducked, a rifle flying over her head as she swung her leg out and took the man off his feet. He hit the ground hard, but another soldier had already leapt the barricade, grabbing her hair and pushing her to the ground.

  She yelped as pain speared her shoulder. His heel descended for her gut, but she quickly rolled away. He cursed, and dove for her, but Selene was already back on her feet, pulling her rifle to her shoulder.

  Someone grabbed her from behind, yanking her hard against them, and wrapping their arms around her shoulders to grab either end of her rifle. He jammed it below her chin, yanking it taut against her throat.

  Selene gasped for breath as pain squeezed her neck, and her breathing was cut off. She grabbed her gun, trying to pull it from his hands, but his grip was too strong, and she could only flail as her attempts grew more and more desperate.

  “Give up!” the man growled in her ear.

  Never! Though she couldn’t say it, she felt it with every inch of her being. She was not going down like this. Not now, not ever.

  Selene slammed her heel down onto the man’s foot, and he howled in pain as she twisted in his grip, loosened just enough for her to turn and slam her knee into his groin.

  His breath burst from his chest, and she yanked her rifle away before slamming it into the side of his face.

  The man fell with a thump, out cold.

  “That’s enough, kitten.”

  The voice made her freeze. Her eyes widened and her heart raced. No. She knew that voice.

  “Naughty as always,” Pate mused. He chuckled softly as Selene slowly turned to look at him.

  All around her, her friends were captured, wrists bound behind their backs, bruises forming on their faces. Blood dripped from a few cuts here and there, but otherwise they’d mostly just been subdued.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” she snapped. Her fingers became fists as she laid eyes on the man that had ruined her life.

  Pate’s smile twisted up on one side of his face, his usual tilted smirk nearly concealed by a well-trimmed short beard. That was new. But whereas he usually held some sort of amused glint in his eyes when it came to her, now all she saw was cold fury.

  His amber gaze lifted past her shoulder, and his smirk disappeared as his eyes landed on Kayl, who still hovered near the beacon’s command module.

  “Kayl,” Pate greeted, his voice edged with danger.

  “Pate,” Kayl hissed between his teeth.

  “Just as helpful as your wife was once,” Pate taunted. Kayl stiffened. “Thank you for leading me to them.”

  Selene paled as she spun to look at Pate. “What?”

  Pate barely spared her a glance as he took another step into the room, his hands held behind his back, his chin up and chest out. He thought he’d won. “You’ve been a good little pet.”

  Kayl snarled. “I’m not your damn pet!”

  Pate smiled. “I suppose not. We do want the same thing after all.” He turned his gaze back on Selene.

  Her heart squeezed painfully. “Me?”

  “Yes. We both want our revenge for destroying our schemes. Though I’m sure you know why Kayl wants you dead, you’ve done much worse to me than simply kill a wife.” Pate’s smiled dropped, his gaze
gone cold once more. He stepped around the table in front of her as a guard at her back grabbed her wrists and twisted them painfully behind her.

  She hissed out a breath, cursing herself for letting her guard down for even a moment.

  Pate grabbed her chin and forced her to face him. “You ruined my career, my life, and my plans to get it all back.” His grip tightened, and Selene couldn’t help but wince. “I’m tired of dealing with you now, so if I can get a little justice before I kill you, I will.” His smirk was malicious, almost serpentine.

  Selene shivered in fear. She did not want to know what he had in mind.

  Jerking her chin to the side, he released his hold and stepped around her to face Kayl. “You…” he paused, looking between Kayl, the monitor with the Darri ship, and the beacon. His nostrils flared. “You were supposed to go along with them, and let me track you, not send the damn message!”

  Selene’s eyes widened. So he’d known about their plan? But how?

  Kayl spluttered. “I-I had no choice. They were going to kill me if I didn’t!”

  It was a lie, and they all knew it. Pate pulled a sleek black pistol from the back of his pants and aimed it at Kayl’s forehead. “And I told you I’d kill you if you did.”

  The whine of the pistol filled the quiet before he squeezed off a shot. A black hole burned through Kayl’s forehead, and his eyes went sightless as he fell to his knees before slumping face first onto the ground.

  Pate cleared his throat, slipped his pistol into the back of his pants once more, and righted his suit before he turned to the rest of them. “Now then.” He looked at her, and then back at the man she’d seen leading the assault on the door before.

  The man straightened and nodded in some sort of unspoken understanding. “Round them up, bind their hands and bring them with us,” he said.

  Pate stopped beside the man, and they both stepped to the side of the door to let the rest of them through. “Captain, you have the facilities I requested prepared, correct?”

  The captain nodded feverishly. “Of course.”

  Selene had a feeling he was scared of being the next body on the floor.

  The man at her back jerked her toward the door, twisting her wrists painfully. Selene hissed out a breath and tried to yank away, but he’d already clamped something tight around her wrists that dug into her skin. Zip ties most likely from the bite of plastic.

  All of her comrades were forced out of the room, and through the twisting maze of halls back out into the bunker.

  Selene startled the moment they stepped off the ramp. Black-clad bodies littered the floor, dozens of Dominion soldiers dead.

  She looked around at the ones pushing them toward the steps back up to the catwalk. Pate must have something on the captain and his crew, or else why would they kill so many of their own?

  Confusion wrapped around her as she was forced forward and up the steps. None of them really fought much for freedom, as at least two dozen guards ushered them up the stairs, passed body after body, until they arrived back at the bunker doors.

  Selene stepped over the edge of the curved metal and out into the fire-licked yard. Some of the flames had died with nothing more to eat, but the trailers and a few of the speeders were still ablaze, giving her plenty of light to see the large Dominion cruiser sitting at the center of the clearing next to the ship they’d borrowed from the pirates.

  The ramp was already lowered at the base of the ship, which rested on stilts jutting from the curved metal hull.

  “Move along!” someone growled up ahead, pushing Rem to keep up.

  Selene’s nostrils flared and a growl rose into her throat. They were lucky her hands were tied, or she’d launch herself at anyone who dared harm her friends, and tear their throats out if she had to.

  The captain and Pate followed close behind, talking quietly until a blast of static came through a comset stuck to the captain’s jacket.

  He cleared his throat, and motioned for silence before he hit the comset. “Go for Team Victor Bravo.”

  The static died and a voice came through. “All units are to report to Earth’s orbit to protect the planet. Further instructions will arrive shortly.” The message cut out.

  Selene’s heart pounded hard. So the Dominion wasn’t quite ready to give up on Earth yet either.

  “There’s no time for this,” Pate snapped.

  “I have to comply with direct orders, sir,” the captain said slowly, like he was speaking with an impatient child.

  “Fuck your orders!” Pate said.

  “If we don’t listen to orders, sir, my boss will know something is up and come for us.” The captain raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

  Pate snarled, but didn’t say another word. He ran a hand through his hair and drew in a deep breath. “Fine.” He ploughed ahead through the group of soldiers towards the cruiser, disappearing up the ramp just as the first of them, a soldier holding Steven, arrived. Their boots clanged up the grated metal ramp, and soon they were all hurried inside the ship.

  The captain barked orders about getting the prisoners to their cells before returning to their positions. They were heading to orbit, and they needed to be ready for a fight.

  Half the soldiers went left once inside, while the other half pushed Selene and her friends to the right down a slope and through a few halls.

  Selene jerked her shoulders against the man who held her. They couldn’t get stuck in some cell. If they did, they might very well head up to space only to be blown to smithereens by the Darri. They had not come this far for nothing.

  The man behind her twisted her wrists, and Selene cried out.

  “Stop struggling,” he snapped. “We’re almost there.”

  Selene gritted her teeth as she was forced deeper into the ship. A door whooshed open ahead, and the others disappeared inside. She was last through the door into a long room nearly the length of the ship, with clear glass cells on one side of the room, and nothing but metal walls and panels on the other. Once patted down and stripped of weapons, the Icarus were shoved into the cell on the end, then Rem, Darius and Rikkard in another, followed by Sav and Flik in the second to last.

  The last cell door popped open and the man at her back thrust her inside once he was done groping her for weapons. She spun to leap back, but was met with a glass door in her face.

  Her heart raced, and she kicked it angrily. This is not how she expected this mission to end—not at all.

  She looked around the cell for anything of use. There were two silver slabs for cots jutting from the left wall, and a toilet and sink on the other. She could see through each cell down the row, and her friends stared back, all with looks of confusion, uncertainty, or anger.

  Selene spun back to face the door as the exterior entrance closed. She had no doubt at least two of their guards would remain behind.

  “What now?” Sav asked from the cell next to hers.

  Selene sighed and went to the wall between them. She was glad if anything that at least they could all still speak. If they could talk, they could plan. And if they could plan, they stood a chance of getting out of there.

  “We escape,” Flik said matter-of-factly.

  Selene smiled. “Damn right.”

  They exchanged a small smile before everything caught up with her, and her smile dropped. This wasn’t good. Even if they could come up with a plan of escape, they were on board with at least two dozen Dominion soldiers, a murderous Pate, and Aldar only knew what else.

  An image of Kayl’s body hitting the floor flashed before her eyes and she winced. In all the madness she hadn’t even really registered his death yet. Her chest contracted, and she sat down hard on the edge of the lower cot.

  Though she’d never gotten along with Kayl, he had still been one of the smugglers, one of the team, and Sarah’s husband. She’d never liked him, and especially didn’t now that she knew he’d betrayed them yet again, but he was still a person, and he’d had a life. Everything he loved was taken
away from him when Sarah died, and though she wanted to be angry that he’d given them up to Pate, she wasn’t. If anything, she was sad he didn’t get a chance to move on from all the bloodshed and horror their lives had become.

  “Selene?” Rikkard’s voice was quiet from so far away. She looked up. “Anymore crazy ideas in that head of yours?”

  Selene couldn’t help the tug of her lips. She couldn’t believe now was when he chose to try and make jokes. “Give me a minute. I’m sure something will come to me.”

  Rikkard nodded. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder on the glass, keeping as close to her as humanly possible even from an entire cell away.

  She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about Rikkard, or Kayl, or anything but getting herself and all of them out of there.

  “Do you think the guards would rush in if one of us fakes sick?” Ivy suggested, her voice hardly reaching Selene so far away.

  Selene stood and crossed the room, hoping she could hear better if she was closer.

  “I doubt it,” Rem said. “They seem like they’d know better.”

  “There’s got to be some way to unlock these things,” Darius grunted.

  Selene thought about it for a minute. All of their gear had been taken before they were dumped inside. In fact, it all sat in a bin outside their cages. If just one of them could get out, they’d be able to free the others and arm themselves.

  Nibbling nervously on her lip, Selene twisted to inspect her cell again. “Everyone take a look around,” she said. “Maybe there’s an air vent, or something we could use to escape.”

  They all nodded, understanding her reasoning and began inspecting their cells. After a few minutes, Selene sighed in defeat. “Nothing.”

  They’d all come up with the same.

  “Does anyone have any gear left?” Flik asked.

  Selene looked down at herself, feeling practically naked without her utility belt, guns and knives. When her gaze brushed the edge of her boot, she couldn’t hold back her grin. “Yeah! I have a knife.” She didn’t dare take it out, not in case there was anyone watching. Instead she propped herself on the edge of the cot, and slipped her hands out under her, and over her legs, wincing as her shoulders pulled painfully.