Page 33 of Advance and Retreat (Dark Empire #6)
“E veryone on board! Get us out of here!” the Adraf captain shouted to his crew.
He likely didn’t include Piras and his group in the invitation, but they accepted it anyway.
As Lokmi and Kila fired warning shots over the heads of those crowding the concourse, Piras pushed Mereta toward the shuttle hatch while simultaneously shoving the bin ahead.
He was aware of screams, of the swirling chaos as various species battled to get out of the line of fire.
Just within the hatch, Piras turned. In the confusion, the security team’s and Beonids’ progress was halted by the tide of beings eager to get away from the shuttle and the “Alneusians” shooting up the place.
As Piras watched, a couple of security guards suddenly staggered.
A Plasian and a Drusk stopped trying to shove past them.
They grabbed the confused guards’ blasters and returned fire. The Darks had swapped mounts.
“Kila! Lokmi! Come on!” Piras screamed as the hatch began to close. He braced against it, but it continued to slide inexorably shut.
The pair turned and raced to join him. He jumped out of the way. Lokmi shot into the cabin. Kila managed to slip through, but the heel of his boot caught in the rapidly disappearing opening. He wrenched his foot out of it just in time to keep it from being crushed as the hatch sealed shut.
The vessel shuddered, sending the Kalquorians lurching as it took off. The bin in which Hope hid rocked in the sudden turbulence, and it rapped hard on the floor. Piras sprang-fell on it to try to stabilize it before his clanmate was injured.
“Watch out!” the Adraf captain shouted from the cockpit.
“We don’t have clearance. Traffic’s heavy,” the pilot shot back.
“Transport, begin orbit escape velocity. We’re on our way, but we have company.”
“Copy, Captain. Reading show one-man fighters are enroute to our position. I hope we’re getting paid enough for this shit.”
“Like hell we are.” Piras didn’t think the captain broadcasted his last comment.
“Clear of the atmosphere. Fighters coming in.”
Thankfully, the cabin’s gravity stabilizers had kicked in. Kila shot to the cockpit. “I’ll take weapons.”
“Do it.” The captain’s tone was clipped, but he wouldn’t argue with a fleet-trained fighter when his ass was on the line.
Meanwhile, Piras sprang the locks on the bin. Hope all but flew out.
“What the hell is going on?” She looked around wildly at the otherwise empty cabin. Except for the captain and pilot, the other Adrafs had crowded in the cargo portion of the shuttle during the excitement.
“Fight and flight.” Piras steadied her when her cramped legs threatened to give out. He manhandled her to a seat with Mereta’s gentler help. “Lock down, both of you. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“For as long as it lasts.” Lokmi stood near the cockpit door. He watched the action within, his attention grim.
“The transport’s moving too far ahead,” the captain spat.
“I can’t dodge the fighters’ shots and stay on course to catch up,” the pilot returned. His tone sounded desperate.
“I’m taking out as many as I can, but you don’t have a lot of firepower on this thing,” Kila growled.
“I’ll make it a point to outfit it better if we make it out alive. Which we won’t, thanks to you.” The Adraf’s voice was a curious mix of sobbing and fury.
“Give me a drone, Piras.” Hope clawed toward the bin, which was out of her reach. “It’s our only chance to pass on Mereta’s account of the events on Jedver and the All’s plans for conquest.”
He’d opted to crouch next to her seat rather than belt in.
The need to be ready to act, whatever came, made it impossible for him to sit.
He grabbed the crazily tilting bin, noting Mereta had shed his helmet and taken a seat nearby.
The secretary-general cradled the Dark’s containment on his lap, his attention focused on the occupant Piras couldn’t see. He appeared to be whispering to it.
Piras dismissed the bizarre view. He found a space-worthy drone and passed it to Hope. She had her handheld out, prepared to input Mereta’s testimony, recorded for just such a desperate occasion.
In seconds, she handed it to Piras. “Done. The drone’s programmed to head for the empire. It’ll get there in a few weeks. Send it.”
Piras nodded. He raced to a venting tube he’d noticed, a popular feature on smugglers’ ships. They were mandatory for Adraf vessels of any sort. He put the drone in, powered it for flight, and sent it on its journey to Kalquor.
“They got the transport,” the pilot groaned. “Blew it to pieces. They’re coming our way. We’re caught between the two attack wings.”
The Adraf captain unloaded a string of curses. Many were directed at Piras and his group.
Piras returned to Hope and grasped her hands.
Lokmi turned his back on the cockpit and joined them, his hands covering theirs.
They gazed at each other for a second, then bent their foreheads together.
It would have been good to have Kila there in the final moments, but in true Nobek fashion, he’d go down fighting those who’d kill them.
“Marauders and destroyers coming out of phase!”
“It took them long enough!” the Adraf shouted in the wake of Kila’s bellow. “When I told those fuckers I wouldn’t fetch you without backup, I expected better help than this.”
Piras found that extremely interesting.
Lokmi hesitated. “I can’t stand not seeing what’s going on,” he finally said and raced to the cockpit door again.
“What the hell are they doing?” the pilot asked.
“Fluctuating pha—uh, cloaking.” Lokmi laughed. The fluctuating phase was another of his brilliant engineering designs, which the Adrafs definitely didn’t need to know about. “It makes it hard for the GC ships to get a lock on them. Look at them wipe these gurlucks out!”
A new voice abruptly spoke. “This is Captain Zemos of DS-12523 to Adraf shuttle. Prepare to dock in our bay once we’re in position.”
“Affirmative, Captain Zemos. Standing by.” The pilot sounded weak from relief.
“Do you have the shipment you promised?”
“We do.”
“Excellent. It means I don’t have to leave you out here.”
“Assholes. Every last of you misbegotten Kalquorian bastards,” the Adraf captain muttered. “I’m never doing business with your species as long as I live.”
“Or until his accounts run dry,” Piras whispered to Hope. She covered her mouth to stifle a hysterical giggle.
The immediate threat done, Kila wasn’t so amused.
His snarl filled the shuttle. “Hey, Adraf. Your attempted swindle in the spaceport, then running and intending to leave us behind? When we’re pretty much all that stands between you and your people’s extinction?
And my clanmates’ lives hung in the balance?
I suggest you shut your mouth. One more word, and I’ll break your neck and use your fur as toilet paper. Got me?”
Apparently, the Adraf captain did. He didn’t utter another peep. Piras wondered what expression Kila wore to win such silence. Judging by Lokmi’s wide-eyed attention, he decided he was better off not seeing it himself.
Zemos’ voice spoke again. “Welcome aboard, Secretary-General and Admiral Piras’ group. We’re happy to inform you we’re on our way to the empire with a full escort. You’ll be conducted to my ready room as soon as you disembark. The Adrafs will be sent to quarters we hope they’ll find satisfactory.”
The Adraf captain dared not to so much as grumble.
* * * *
K alquor
Cassidy sat in the rocking chair her clanmates had surprised her with after she and the baby had come home. Handmade by a Joshadan craftsman, its wood gleamed reddish in the sunlight from the window vid she sat next to in Jackie’s nursery.
She rocked and hummed to the sleeping infant nestled in her arms. For the moment, all was perfection.
Cassidy had been surprised by the moments of sheer panic when she felt her responsibility to Jackie the keenest. Degorsk told her it was because she wasn’t getting much sleep.
Lidon kept quoting the passages from the Book of Life he thought were relevant to calm her.
Only Tranis admitted he often experienced the same terrifying spells.
No one specifically mentioned their fear of the All and what it meant to Jackie’s future. It lay like a dark cloud on their happiness, however.
Cassidy was enjoying a brief respite during which absolute love for her daughter dispersed the cloud. She gazed at the tiny face and took genuine peace in Jackie’s contented slumber. As Lidon often said, “All we have is now.”
Now was wonderful, and she gripped it with all the determination she could muster.
“The baby is well?”
Cassidy looked up to find herself standing there, watching them. The Other had returned. Her tone was terse as she answered. “Not that you care, but yes.”
“You are still angry with us.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I’ve had a few days to think since your last visit. I’ve formed an opinion, and it isn’t flattering.”
The second Cassidy’s brows lifted. “Interesting. Will you tell us?”
“First, you can answer a couple of questions. You mentioned you’re incorporeal.”
“Yes. We can arrange available atoms and assume solid forms to adequately communicate with material beings, such as this body, which is a copy of yours.” The Other’s head tilted. “Does our identical appearance bother you?”
“Not really. It’s your lack of physical existence that keeps the All from threatening you. Am I accurate in my assumption?”
“You are.”
“You’re in no danger from it, yet you allowed it to destroy the sentients of your home dimension. Why?”
“We evolved beyond physical bodies eons ago, as we’ve explained. The matters concerning corporeal life are no longer of impact to us. Why should we interfere in those affairs?”