by Stella Cassy
“Affirm, captain,” the computer stated.
Dashel threw his head back and rolled his shoulders.
A low grown drifted in from the hall, causing my heartrate to increase. With shaking hands, I loosened the red straps securing me to the seat and unbuckled the belt, darting out into the hall. A soft shuffling sound met my ears as I neared the end. With one quick glance behind me at Lehar, I turned the corner.
Kydoei limped by with a male strapped to a white board that seemed to be suspended by nothing. Their uniforms were torn, with smudges on the gray tops. She had been hurt while doing something to secure the ship in an attempt to get us all out of this predicament, just as Lehar and his crew were on the bridge.
“Kydoei!” She looked over her shoulder but kept walking. I ran after them. “Captain Lehar needs you on the bridge.”
“He sent you?” she said. “You are not Hielsrane, not trained.”
“Yes, there’s some sort of communication problem between levels.”
“I will come after I guide him to the medbay.” She tapped the lever on the board and continued walking. “The hover board keeps stalling.”
“He needs you now.”
The alarm blared again, the lights strobed, and then the lights started flashing at a faster rate than before.
“It is that hopeless?” Kydoei said. “I have to get back to Level three. Everyone is already performing the function of three.”
“Lehar and Dashel have a plan. Even if we go down, there’s a procedure in place. They didn’t say what it was. Some kind of senior level confidential protocol. Let’s go, I can help in some way.”
“We are that close to being defeated?”
God, was that what lockdown protocol was code meant?
“No, we’re not,” I said. “But they are beginning lockdown and disengage procedures for level one.”
She stared at me with an expression that said we were in big trouble. “He needs immediate attention.”
“Can I help with something? Should I go and find someone?”
“You go with him then,” she said. “Do you know where the medbay is?”
I took hold of the lever. She pointed to a few buttons on the side of the board. “Forward, then stop for the other. I will catch up with you. If I don’t, use one of the blue emergency seats.” She pointed to a row of blinking red rectangles along the wall.
I looked back as she disappeared down the hall leading to the bridge. I hope they really did have a plan. I didn’t want to leave Lehar, but I was useless back there.
The ship decelerated and shook, and the lights dimmed. My stomach dropped. The board jerked and stopped. I slipped and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the board didn’t. If it crashed, there was no way I could drag a seven-foot Drakon to the medbay. I hopped back up to my feet as well and pressed the resume button.
22
Lehar
Unexpected Failure
“Sir, Lara said you wanted me to report to the bridge.”
I looked from her to Lara’s empty seat by the door. “Where is she?”
“On the way to medical bay to deliver an injured crew member, sir.”
“Communications are down on level three. Report there to first crew to begin immediate disengage protocol.”
She repeated my command with a hint of awe in her voice. It was her first time experiencing the protocol in an actual battle.
“Don’t walk, wing it all the way there. If you see Lara on the way, send her back to med bay to strap down immediately until we have landed.”
“Yes, sir.” She left quickly, and I glanced at Lara’s empty chair once again. At least she was still on the main level. I sent a message to med bay repeating my instructions to the healer. I sent another main level communication stating the same. We had not received any messages since the last hit. I prayed that my crew were receiving them.
“Main level, primary and secondary fuel supplies have been breached, switching to backup reservoir,” the computer reported one system failure after another.
Every warning signal that was possible dinged and the computer would not shut up about alternate procedures and resources being diverted to avoid what looked to be inevitable—an emergency landing.
The klaxons and lights dimmed, signaling that they were operating on secondary power.
I checked Tarion’s position. “Hiels One has already dropped back and jettisoned two of its lower levels. We have to switch to full evasive maneuvers,” I said to Dashel. “They are going to detect us immediately when the cloaking fails or when we return fire.”
“If we hold out a little longer, there’s some chance that the rest of the Hiels One’s fleet could return ahead of schedule.”
Dashel’s voice was confident, but I knew it was not viable. “We will not last half that time. We might have to do a full jettison.”
Dashel’s hands hovered over his console. “Should I contact Captain Tarion?”
“No. Let the system auto report.”
I glanced over, hoping Lara had come back, but her seat remained empty. She was headed to the medical bay where I had sent instructions for the doctor to keep her there and for Kydoei to stop there on her way back to her station. They had better keep my Lara—my mate—safe.
I fought off the urge to locate her. I glanced at Tarion’s battle statistics on my screen which weren’t much better than ours.
I issued the order for all Class A fighters to alternate fire while Class B cloaked and took off in different directions. The diversion should cause enough distraction for us to cloak and reposition while the others appeared like debris, invisible. Hopefully the tactic would work long enough to pull back and regroup. It was the only solution at this level, one I had no recent experience with.
Dashel was correct. It was uncommon for the Hielsrane to run, but I had something more important to preserve: Lara and my heir, along with ship full of Drakon with lines of their own, just as Tarion did. I should have insisted Lara go with the others, so that she at least would be safe, even if we did not make it. Tarion would care for her.
The ship shook and I strapped in, securing myself with the secondary belts used only in emergency situations. “Keep your secondary safety harnesses on from here on out.” I shouted above the alarm. Dashel nodded and shouted the command to the remainder of the bridge crew. The voice amplifiers were almost useless with all the alarms.
“Take out their right guards and I will aim for their left. If we go down, we’re taking their mothership with us. Neswove is our primary target, without him their confidence will be undermined at the very least.”
“Cloak.”
Before Dashel could strap in his secondary harness, the ship rattled and alarms switched from intermittent to continuous. I slid right in my seat as the ship tilted and rocked. The altitude reading plummeted. “Computer, decrease altitude by fifty percent.”
“Altitude decreasing by five percent...ten percent...Malfunction detected. Stand by for analysis and repair.”
“We are taking whatever hits we get. On the count of three, aim all resources to the hull of their mothership.”
In lieu of the computer’s overload, which usually performed the countdown, we counted, “One, two, three!” I toggled all resources straight at their mothership.
At first, nothing happened, but then Neswove’s craft broke away from the fleet, pieces of it breaking off and falling into space before a third of it disintegrated.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
Neswove’s ship hurtled out of position, clipping two of its fighters, one of which got off a round aimed at us. The computer went into an endless cycle of warnings, analysis and reporting. The ship shuddered.
“Ended him!” Dashel shouted as he gripped the console at the forty-degree angle he was leaning.
“Operational capacity falling below seventy percent, manual repair recommended on main level,” the computer said.
Shouts filled the hall and the distinct smell
of smoke and combustion retardant filled the air. Hissing and pops grew louder. The altitude reading doubled in the negative direction.
The computer stated, “Prepare for Emergency Evacuation.”
I fought against the force of dropping pressure in the bridge to level out the ship but it was not enough to stop the inevitable. We were going to crash. The screens that were still working showed the muted greens of Kanet’s surface rushing closer. My primary safety straps popped, whipping across my neck as I hung upside down, grasping for the emergency controls.
Smoke rolled into the bridge until only Dashel’s flailing limbs were visible.
“Prepare for emergency pod ejection for captain and first officers. Emergency lockout beginning ... Emergency landing autopilot initiating...”
23
Lara
Reunited
I coughed, breathing in a familiar, musky, floral scent. We landed—crashed, if the smoke and flames were real. My last memory was running back toward the bridge. It was closer than the medical bay, but I could barely walk a few feet without falling. I knew I couldn’t make it there, that we were going to crash, so I buckled into one of the seats in the hall. A faint buzzing permeated my ears, a remnant of the blaring alarms announcing our impending doom before I passed out, smoke filling the hallway.
I put a fist over my stomach. “We’re going to be okay.”
My hand scraped across the rough floor, not the ground, and I pushed up with both hands. Pain sliced through my wrist. I rolled over and pushed into a seated position with my left hand. I opened my eyes and blinked away dust and particles falling from my hair.
I wiggled my toes and looked at the sandal boots on my feet, making sure I could move them before inspecting my hands. The sleeve of my jumpsuit was torn, and small cuts crossed the backs of my hands and fingers.
A dime-sized smear of red, my blood, dropped from my wrist to the pebbled surface of the floor. I was okay. My hand went to my stomach. Was the baby alright? My body didn’t feel sore. No more blood. I could move every part.
“Lehar?” I whispered. When I saw the same black and silver bars that I would never forget back on Nish, I buckled over, landing on my injured wrist again. I gasped and pulled the ripped sleeve over it to soak up the remaining trickle of blood. They must all use this type of cage for prisoners.
The Moset, traitors to Hielsrane, had me in cage. Were Lehar and the rest of the Drakon in cages, too?
Let them be out there, somewhere, alive until the rest of the Drakon arrived. Hopefully, one of them was looking for us.
I looked beyond the bars, hoping to see the bright, colorful doors and flowers of Kanet. The green terrain was nowhere in sight, nor were any other signs of life other than harsh blades of jagged grass that surrounded my cage. The smell of smoke lingered in the air, but the area was unfamiliar and dark.
If I survived, certainly most of the Drakon had survived the crash. God, let one of them be Lehar. He was alive, I knew it. I circled my stomach and curled up on my side.
“You!” Pain shot through my foot and I instinctively drew my legs in, pulling my knees to my chest as my eyes cracked open. I noticed the brown boots first, but my eyes were quickly drawn to the large orange paws of a Moset standing outside of the cage.
“There. You see, she’s alive. Completely intact with a neck full of gems. Got treated well.” He snickered and jabbed his paw at me. “You deserve what's coming to you, after you and your Drakon killed our commander. Got some special plans for them.”
If Lehar was dead, I was glad that Neswove was too, but I knew not to say anything. It had worked for me before. I kept my eyes on the ground.
“Gemstones are already sold,” he said.
A white furry leg appeared beside his.
No, no, no, no. Before he said a word, I knew I was really back where I started, just on a different planet. Dark, circular eyes looked me up and down. He wasn’t the same one who abducted me, but he was Pax. The look in their eyes was neither cruel nor kind, only intensely focused on the task: buying me.
“Agreed. Those are not my specialty. Although I could use some fuel and chromite rods. We’re heading into a rough quadrant I’d rather bypass.”
“Got plenty of that, a fresh supply, but we’re not a trading post, so it’s going to cost you.” He snickered and looked back at me. “Don’t look like we’ll need quite as many reserves as we thought.”
“Come back for your slave later. She’s not going anywhere.” He cackled.
I looked up at the white furry alien so like the one who had stolen me from my patio. The Pax. He dropped a pouch of cylinders into the Moset’s hand.
They were selling me back to God only knew what. Lehar had to be dead. Tarion and Dashel, all of them. I closed my eyes for a second. I wished I really were dreaming this time, but I wasn’t.
I intended on driving that stick through whatever soft part that would bring him down, and it wouldn’t be his foot. I didn’t care if they killed me; hoped they did if the alternative was to end up as a slave to any of them. But I didn’t want anything to happen to my baby. How long could I hide in the thick grass? Could I make it back to the crash site? I didn’t know where that was or where I was.
The hills and grasses wavered as tears streamed down my face. I moved as far away from the Pax as I could and pulled my ripped shirt over my nose, wiping my wet face. I squeezed my eyes shut.
I was in an alien horror flick, B rated. No, I was on Lehar’s back between his beautiful wings, my arms around his neck. My nose filled with his smoky scent. I held on tightly, as we flew straight up to the Empire state building, to the observation deck, where he set me on my feet and kissed me.
“Please, kiss me again,” I said.
24
Lara
Escaping the Moset
I lay across the hole we were taking turns digging. Growls and voices came from two cells away.
The Moset guard scowled through the bars as he did every time he marched by the entrance of the cave. Dashel paced diagonally across our cell beside and behind me. His restlessness helped mask Tarion’s periodic disappearances.
I hoped they did not have Lara in these caves. She did not take well to the cold. If she had been in the next cell, I could have kept her warm with my breath only. At least she had on Hielsrane material which automatically adjusted temperature.
With my caudal, I whacked the two bars just above the hole to signal to Tarion that it was safe for him to dig again. He dragged out small piles of dirt and Dashel scattered it with his feet and caudal.
“You were right. I should have sent Lara ahead.”
“Carissa and Matilda would have been with me had she not been close to delivering,” Tarion said. “How many of the crew do you think are down there?”
“Three other Drakon if my estimate is correct,” I said quietly. They were too smart to put us in one cell or next to each other. It would have been easy for us to dig ourselves out.
“The next time the worm slithers by I am going to turn him into a pile of ash.” Dashel hissed and huffed and rattled the bars in the left corner. He had been on the verge of shifting and had to be talked down periodically.
“We did not need to confirm that we can shift.” Tarion backed out of the hole. “Calm yourself.”
“Part of our power lies in the threat that any Drakon an enemy is facing could morph into a dragon in seconds,” I said.
Not all Drakon could call their inner dragon into physical form. It was common for those who could shift to only do so out of necessity in order to keep those who could not safe.
“That is the way of the verse,” I said. “There is nothing we can do about it at this time.”
“It would take about ten micron for two more guards to appear and accelerate whatever elaborate plan they have to end us,” Tarion said.
“There was no other reason to keep us alive for any length of time than to make some public spectacle to gain dominance and respect,” I said.
“The plan we have now is better than that.” But too slow. If Lara perished… No, I had to believe she was alive. I should have sent her with Carissa and Matilda. Being a Hielsrane, I had not tasted defeat on this level for too long and my cockiness had put her life in danger.
“Lehar is right. We have been in similar situations. Not in recent rotations, but it is a reminder that we are not inviolate,” Tarion said.
I had barely been hurt during the crash, but Lara was not a Drakon. She did not have skin that could withstand what would end most others. Was she hurt? Bones popped as my dragon struggled for control and I quelled the roar, with an eye on the guard. The temperature even in the cold cave was elevating faster than my body could acclimate with three full-grown Drakon warming the air.
“I will take the next turn,” I said.
“Let your nephew. He needs to expend some of his frustrations on muscles other than the ones supporting his mandible.”
I laughed in spite of feeling no mirth whatsoever. Tarion switched places with me. Dashel flopped on the ground and slid into the hole. I walked slowly back and forth, spreading the dirt with my caudal, counting my steps and straining to hear what the Drakon in the other cell were saying.
“A little more discretion,” Tarion hissed at the dirt storm building behind him. Dashel grunted his frustration but kept the kickback to just below Tarion’s shoulders.
“Where do you think they’re holding the others?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re not far from the landing fields,” Tarion said.
The Moset guard stopped and a Coovoo guard in front of the cave’s entrance glanced inside, his head swinging left and right before he returned to his duty.
The Moset guard glared into the cave. “The influence of the Hielsrane is over. We got buyers for every one of the ships and their contents.”
