“Time to go. Take us as far away from the Darri as you can. Keep an eye out for those Silver Shots and their laser cannons,” Rikkard said. His jaw worked. He still hadn’t removed his gaze from her eyes. “Send a message out to the civilian ships that they should do the same.”
Selene narrowed her eyes. Cold slid down her spine. A hard lump had settled in her gut. She knew he’d added the last part to try and alleviate some of the pain he’d just caused her, but she only shook her head and stepped away from Rikkard and Flik.
She ground her teeth as she walked calmly to the cargo bay door, and left without another word.
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Rem muttered. The hum of the ship made the halls tremble slightly until they were fully up and running.
They were headed into space, and they were leaving the last of the human race behind. What a fucking day.
Selene worked her jaw as she stared out the front window of the control room. She sat in her old seat, the one she used to occupy before the last few crazy months happened.
Even as she felt gazes upon her, she refused to look. She knew it was either Rikkard or Flik, but she refused to speak to either of them yet. Her blood still boiled as she recalled Rikkard pointing his weapon at her.
Her fingers tightened around both of her biceps. She sat with her legs and arms crossed, holding either of her arms in each hand. Though it didn’t exactly make her feel safe, it did make her feel more protected. At least she could still trust herself. No matter what she’d make sure the crew survived all the shit she was sure awaited them in space.
But there were only so many variables she could account for. How many supplies did they truly have? How long would it last between the group of them? There were four smugglers left, two former Alliance members, and fifteen Icarus. That was a lot more people than they were used to caring for.
As long as the oxygen regulator didn’t crap out, they’d be good for clean air. The water purifier had its last filter changed only a few months ago, so it’d be good for the years to come. She knew they had extra filters on board somewhere, so there was always that. But food wasn’t in the greatest supply. They had crates and crates of dried rations. That’d give them maybe three years if they tracked portions and rationed them well.
At the very least, the smugglers didn’t need to eat as much, being clones and all. The rest of their new crew, however, needed to eat like regular nats, or maybe even more food in Flik’s case. How much did aliens need to consume anyway?
She shook her head. She didn’t care—couldn’t—care about Flik right now. She knew it wasn’t his fault that Rikkard pulled a gun on her, but still, he’d been part of it. He’d been so keen on stopping her that he’d put a giant wedge between them, and at the worst possible time.
Selene’s chest grew tight again and she quickly pushed her thoughts back to rations. Rations she could deal with. Feelings? Not on the menu. Right now she had to concentrate on survival. They’d escaped Earth’s destruction, evaded the Darri waiting in space, and made it out to the clear dark depths around them. Now they needed a plan, and Selene was fresh out of those.
Biting back a sigh, Selene unstrapped herself and stood. She avoided Rikkard and Flik, only letting her gaze land on Rem. Though Selene was typically second-in-command on the bridge when Kayl wasn’t around, Rikkard had been treating Rem more like his second now.
At this point she didn’t really care.
“I’m going to go check on the supplies we brought on board,” Selene said. It was vague enough, giving her a purpose, and the more she thought about it, the more she decided it was a good idea. At least this way she could divide up what she thought each of them might eat, and count out exactly how long they had to live.
“I’ll come with you.” Flik jumped up.
Selene leveled him a glare that could spear even the coldest of hearts.
Flik winced and slowly sat back down. “Never mind,” he muttered.
Selene spun towards the door and marched out of the control room, leaving them in silence as she left into the ship.
The small heels of her boots clanged on the grated floor of the halls as she weaved through the ship. So many memories were locked away inside one large freighter. So many adventures in only a few short years. If they could survive this all, install the warp core, shields, and other security measures, would they be able to travel space? What would they do out there?
Selene bit down on her lip as she thought. She knew next to nothing about the universe, only what Flik and the Aldar had taught her. Most of what the Aldar had said was a lie, so in truth, she really only had Flik to rely on, and she was not his biggest fan at the moment.
She reached the cargo bay doors, and swiped to let herself in. She stepped over the threshold and inspected the mountain of crates strapped down beside the right hand wall. She sighed. Half of those boxes were full of weapons and parts. Not all held food, and that was a problem. To feed twenty-one people they’d need a lot of rations.
But what if they could install the warp core and travel space?
Her heart thrummed faster. She’d never thought much about space travel before, having far too much to deal with on Earth, but adventure called to her just like the excitement of smuggling had.
They could literally explore the galaxy, all the planets with atmospheres like theirs, and maybe even some without. Rem could fashion them suits so they could walk out on alien planets, maybe even meet some of the other alien species. They might not be able to get so far as planet Aldar, but they might still find other occupied worlds on their journey.
A grin spread on Selene’s face as she began to unstrap the nearest few crates. She found a crowbar to tear open the first lid, leveraging it right under the lip where she could pull up the nails.
She gritted her teeth as she just barely squeezed the thin point into the tiny gap. Then she heaved downward with all of her weight, and that one side popped up like a fish out of water. After repeating the same to each side, she leaned the cover next to the box.
Inside were hundreds of brown packets of rations. Her tongue dried just thinking about the gross taste of the oatmeal like substance.
They hadn’t had to live off rations in years, and even then it had only been for a few weeks when jobs were scarce and they couldn’t afford real food.
It wasn’t a pleasant memory. Darius had tried everything he physically could to make the substance taste better, but though the taste improved, it never lost the slightly powdery edge or the way it felt like lead in her stomach.
She shook her head and began rifling through the box, letting her thoughts wander back to the future.
Though she wanted to believe they could travel space for the rest of their lives, going from planet to planet and learning all about the different cultures of aliens, what if they couldn’t install the warp core? Or better yet, even if they could, how did they find the occupied planets? The planets with crops they could eat, or supplies they could harvest?
Selene paused her rifling. They had information from the Dominion database on Targen. She was sure they could find some sort of star charts or maps in those, but still the question remained.
What if they couldn’t install the warp core?
“Attention everyone!” Rem yelled in her ear suddenly.
Selene winced and groaned as pain speared her skull. Why did he have to speak so damn loud?
“Could everyone please return to the control room? Like now?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. Rem’s voice was high, desperate, and maybe a little fearful. In the background of his transmission she heard some sort of alert.
Selene turned and flew out of the cargo bay as fast as her feet could carry her. She wound through the halls, and joined a few Icarus on their way as well. When they burst back into the control room, red lights were flashing overhead and an alarm was just being silenced.
“What the hell is going on?” Selene snapped.
Rikkard spun to face her, his face as
white as the glamorous buildings in New Manhattan. His eyes widened, but he didn’t say a word. No one did.
Selene moved to the lower floor and came up beside Rem, who was typing furiously, a dozen screens occupying his entire dashboard-cubby. “Rem?”
Rem jumped like he hadn’t heard her approach, and maybe he hadn’t. “Selene! Oh, hey.” He turned back to whatever he was doing.
Long strings of code used the word ‘alert’ in all caps over and over. She scanned the messages; her eyebrows flying up as she realized what had them scared.
Another alarm went off and movement caught her eye as she looked up out the front window. No longer a black void of stars, a ship the size of the Darri’s emerged from hyperspace right in front of them, its metal twisted and dark, lights flickering across its surface.
Her eyes widened and her heart raced.
The red lights flashing in the control room grew more urgent with each passing second.
“What the hell is happening?” she whispered. Her fingers trembled and cold wrapped around her like an icy embrace.
The gigantic ship drifted closer and a set of large hangar doors opened near the lower half of the monstrosity. A red beam shot from the side of the ship suddenly, and all the lights in the control room went dark.
Then a green beam was the only source of light as Selene clutched the back of Rem’s chair. Her body suddenly felt weightless, and she distantly realized that was because without power, they had no artificial gravity.
“Someone do something!” Ivy barked. She didn’t stand, wisely staying strapped into her chair. Her green eyes were wild, her eyebrows twisted up in fear.
“Rem?” Selene said quietly.
Rem stared at his controls. No longer did he have screens hovering around him, or buttons lit up in every color. They were stranded. Completely useless.
The ship lurched suddenly, pulling them closer to the giant alien vessel.
“Shit,” Rikkard hissed.
“It’s a tractor beam,” Rem whispered.
Selene could only watch as they were dragged closer and closer to the open hangar doors. Her fingers dug into Rem’s chair painfully, and her muscles ached with the effort to keep herself from floating up.
“What do we do?” Selene asked no one in particular. There had to be something they could do. Some way to turn the power back on and rip out of the tractor beam’s hold. But the closer they got, the more dread settled inside her.
Silence reigned on the old space freighter, and an answer never came as a shadow passed over them, sending the control room into utter blackness as they were dragged inside the hangar of the alien ship.
Don’t panic.
Selene’s fingers dug into the back of Rem’s chair as she peered into the darkness outside the control room window.
A heavy bang shook the ship, and the pressure in her muscles relaxed. Some sort of artificial gravity returned, even if their ship didn’t cause it. Everything in the control room was offline and cast in shadow. They had no power, no way of defending themselves against whatever alien species had just pulled them aboard.
And though she repeated don’t panic in her head like a mantra, she was definitely panicking.
Her breaths came quick and shallow as her mind raced to come up with a plan. They had been dragged into an alien ship’s hangar, but it didn’t mean the aliens were bad guys. Sure, they could have given the smugglers a heads up first, maybe sent over a message. But they didn’t. Instead, they used an EMP to knock out the power and then tractor beamed the smugglers aboard.
That didn’t exactly spell good aliens in her book.
“What do we do?” Rem whispered.
Selene jumped at the sound. He was the first to speak in the deafening silence. She swallowed the lump in her throat and closed her eyes. It was just as dark behind her eyelids as it was in the control room. She tried to think, to figure out what the hell they could do in this situation, but her racing heart pounded in her ears with her anxiety. She couldn’t think through the rapid pulsing in her head.
They were in space—totally unfamiliar territory—and they had no idea who just beamed them aboard.
“We fight,” Ivy said.
Selene opened her eyes, but still, she saw nothing.
“We don’t even know who we’re fighting,” Rikkard said coldly.
Her chest squeezed at the sound of his voice. She was still pissed at him for pointing a gun at her.
“Ivy’s right,” Selene said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not going down without a fight—not after all the shit we’ve been through.”
Murmurs of agreement surrounded her.
“Just wait a second!” Rikkard snapped. “We don’t want to provoke them into attacking us, or worse, casting us out into space with no power.”
“That’s why we’re going to get off this rig,” Selene said. Her mind raced as a plan formed. They might not be able to use their weapons, or their ships, but they could get off of this ship and into the hangar bay of their potential enemy. From there, they could figure out a way to return power to the ship and get the hell out of there.
“What?” Rikkard asked.
Selene turned on her heel. She reached out and grabbed the railing behind her. She used it to navigate to the upper level of the control room and across the floor to the doors. She felt along the edge of the cool metal until she could slip her nails through the crack between sliding doors.
“What are you doing?” Rikkard asked, suspicious.
Selene grabbed a knife from her belt. She slid it into the crack between doors and wiggled it around until she had the blade lodged firmly between them. “Getting us out of here,” she said. She pushed hard and the doors cracked open with a small whoosh. She pushed them apart until there was enough space for her to slip through.
“And where are we supposed to go?” Rikkard grumbled.
“Outside,” Selene said. She slipped through the doors, but still darkness assaulted her. As someone who could see in the dark, the total lack of light was jarring. She couldn’t even make out shapes. “Who’s with me?”
She waited, listening to the soft footsteps and whispers until she felt a presence at her side.
“I’m with you,” Ivy said.
Selene flashed a smile. She couldn’t believe Ivy had once been her enemy. “Thank you.”
Ivy snorted. “Don’t get sappy on me now.”
Selene laughed and shook her head.
“What do we do once we’re outside?” Steven asked.
“Find a way out of this hangar. If we can figure out how they EMPed our ship, maybe we can restart the power somehow,” Selene said. “I’ll lead the way to an access port. Everyone hold onto the person in front of you so you don’t get separated.”
“Got it.” Ivy’s hand wrapped around her shoulder and squeezed.
Though Selene couldn’t tell who else was there, she could feel the presence of others.
“Selene, this is crazy,” Rikkard said. She heard his footsteps approaching the door, but he stopped short with a quiet grumble. He must have run into someone. “You can’t go out there.”
Selene inhaled sharply. “Stop telling me what to do, Rikkard. You don’t always know what’s best.”
The tense silence said more than his words could. She knew she was being harsh, but she couldn’t help it. He’d betrayed her. Pointed a gun at her. He’d forced her to stop doing the one thing she believed in—helping people. Who knew how many civilians had died trying to escape Earth because the smugglers hadn’t stayed a few minutes longer.
She clenched her fists. “Everyone ready?”
A few murmurs of acknowledgement were all she needed. Selene turned on her heel and walked down the hall.
She extended her hand, trailing her fingers along the right hand wall. She led the way through hall after hall, twisting through the familiar cargo ship until she reached the access port she was looking for.
“We’re here,” Selene said. She
stopped and felt along the wall until her fingers wrapped around a steel wheel. She twisted it, and with a whoosh of air, it opened. She tensed to listen. No one said a word as she strained her ears.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
“Someone’s out there,” Ivy whispered close to her ear.
Selene ground her teeth to keep from jumping out of her skin. Her heart raced as she tried to gauge how close they were to the enemy. Slowly, she crawled through the small access port and out onto the ledge. Before she could assess the sound any further, she turned and took Ivy’s hand from her shoulder. She dragged Ivy’s fingers along the rim of the port so Ivy wouldn’t slam her head trying to get through it.
Ivy squeezed her hand. She understood.
Selene released the Icarus and turned back to the hangar. She squinted in the dark, trying to see something—anything. But with the total lack of light, not even the moon to illuminate her path, her night vision was useless.
“Selene, this isn’t a good idea,” Rikkard whispered from inside the ship.
“Shhhh,” she hissed between her teeth.
She looked around in the dark. Something had changed. The clacking had stopped. Shit. Something was up.
Blinding light flared through the hangar and she cried out. She squeezed her eyes shut, jamming the palms of her hands against her eye sockets. Selene took a few steadying deep breaths before she braved it, lowering her hands and squinting into the light.
A body clad in black stood before her, looking just like an Aldar soldier dressed in military fatigues. Her heart stopped and her fingers quickly flew to her belt. She went to grab her pistol before she remembered the EMP would have rendered her guns useless.
“It’s the Aldar!” she shouted back at her friends, right before she slammed her heel into the soldier’s chest.
The alien flew back into a crowd of his friends, knocking at least four of them over. She wrenched a long serrated blade from her boot and dove over the next Aldar to approach.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 27
