Star Alliance (26 page)

“Understood,” Etanu said.

Zack heard his breath push against the fabric. “Wait, Etanu,” Zack said. “If something goes wrong, don’t try any heroics. Get yourself on the Athena.”

Etanu was quiet for a moment. “I will get you onto your ship. Remember to exhale at the end of the countdown.”

Zack nodded and unbuckled himself from the seat, hearing Etanu do the same. He felt the Nershal climb in front of him, so his back must have been to the canopy. Etanu grabbed both of Zack’s arms.

“Three.”

Zack sucked in a deep breath and blew it back out.

“Two.”

Zack sucked in another breath and forced every bit of air from his lungs. He squeezed his eyes shut and his body went tight with anticipation.

“One.”

There was a loud snap-hiss as the canopy blew open. Zack’s body was thrust forward into a wall of cold that slapped his skin. The spongy fabric went rigid, and Zack fought the urge to suck in a breath. He couldn’t hear anything, and for a few moments they were sailing through space. His lungs burned, and every instinct inside him demanded that he take a breath. He slammed into something hard, and the last thing he felt was the intense burning on his face and neck before passing out.

*****

Kaylan’s eyes were locked onto the video feed from the airlock. Two dark shapes burst into the airlock and slammed against the interior door. The breath caught in her throat as she waited for the airlock doors to shut. Seconds dripped past and Kaylan’s heart pounded in her ears. The indicator lights around the door changed to red and the vents opened, flooding the room with air. One of the dark figures began to move. That must be Etanu. Zack lay motionless on the airlock floor. He had something wrapped around his head. The interior door opened, and Brenda and Hicks ran inside.

“Did they make it?” Katie asked from the Beagle.

“They’re aboard,” Kaylan replied.

“Is Zack okay?” Katie said.

“Brenda is checking him. Katie, dock the Beagle. I’ll give you an update as soon as Brenda tells me something,” Kaylan said.

Kaylan fought the tremendous urge to run to the medical bay. More than anything she wanted to make sure Zack was okay, but the Xiiginn warship closing in changed things.

She needed to wait for Katie to dock the Beagle before they could attempt to get away. She tried to raise Kladomaor, but the Boxan didn’t reply.
 

“He’s coming,” Gaarokk said. “He won’t risk an open comms channel now.”

Kaylan had a course ready to execute the moment Katie docked her ship. She glanced at Gaarokk, and his flaxen eyes were focused on the holodisplay. The Boxan hardly blinked. Ezerah was there as well. For as much time as the two aliens had been aboard the Athena, it still wasn’t a sight Kaylan was used to.
 

Efren sent an update that the engines were ready.

“I’m docked,” Katie said over comms.
 

“Execute course alpha,” Kaylan said.

The Athena’s engines flared to life, and they started to move away from the warship. Gaarokk had advised her to use the planet to their advantage—both to try and keep the planet between the Athena and the Xiiginns, and to use the gravity from the planet to assist in their acceleration. The Xiiginn warship changed course to pursue, and another ship signal appeared behind it.

“It’s the second battle cruiser,” Ezerah said.

Kaylan’s heart pounded as she glanced at the Nershal. She’d been told the cruiser would be no match against the warship. Flashes of light could be seen from the Athena’s windows. Kaylan had no idea what the Xiiginns were using for weaponry, but she knew the Athena wasn’t designed for that type of punishment. It was a science vessel designed for exploring Earth’s solar system. Their only defense was to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the battle.

The sensors showed the Xiiginn warship gaining on them.

The door to the bridge opened and Hicks came in, walking to Kaylan. “Brenda is still working on him,” he said, and glanced at the holodisplay.
 

“They’re going to try to capture this ship,” Gaarokk said.

“How?” Kaylan said.

“The same way we did before with the use of a gravity tether. The tether will hold the ship in place,” Gaarokk said.

“Yeah, but we were able to break free of that, thanks to you,” Hicks said.

“You don’t understand. Kladomaor let us go. The damage to the Athena would be too great if we were to repeat what we did before,” Gaarokk said.

An alert chimed on the holodisplay, and three more ship signatures appeared in their direct path, albeit a good distance from them. After a moment the AI identified them as Xiiginn warships.

Kaylan’s mouth went dry. “Four of them,” she said.

The display put the approaching Xiiginn warships’ velocity in orders of magnitude above anything they could do. They would be on them in minutes. She glanced at Hicks and saw the same resignation on his face. They weren’t going to get away. Kladomaor had repeatedly said their stealth ship couldn’t take on a single Xiiginn warship, let alone four of them. Her heart sank to her stomach. She had done this because she had refused to leave Zack behind. Now he was on the ship, and she wasn’t even sure if he was alive. The price they paid for her foolishness would be the ultimate price.

“I’m sorry,” Kaylan whispered.

Another ship detection alert chimed on the holodisplay, cutting off Hicks’s reply. It was almost on top of the Athena and matched her velocity. Kaylan glanced at Hicks, and the comms station on the Athena lit up.

*****

The stealth field surrounding the Boxan ship dissipated, allowing them to bring their weapons system to full power.

“Send detonation signals,” Kladomaor ordered.
 

“Signal sent, Commander,” Triflan confirmed.

Multiple readouts updated as their electronic warfare suite utilized a full sensor sweep of the surrounding ships.
 

“The Nershal battle cruisers exacted a toll on the closest warship. Target the hull breaches with our missile package,” Kladomaor said.

Multiple missile tubes opened on the Boxan stealth ship, and within moments a mixed armament group spewed forth. The distance between the ships was short. The first wave of missiles carried a destructive payload capable of breaching the Xiiginn warship’s defense capabilities; however, the Boxan stealth ship could only carry so much ammunition, and that amount was insufficient to take out a warship. The second wave contained ion missile warheads. Kladomaor only sought to blind them enough that they could get away.

“Confirm detonations on all three warships. Two of them are decelerating,” Triflan said.

Kladomaor kept his gaze locked on the closest warship. Mar Arden was aboard that ship, and he yearned to destroy it, taking his former captor with it, but he couldn’t. He glanced at Ma’jasalax, and the Mardoxian priestess gave him a single nod.

“Ready the gravity tether and lock it onto the Athena,” Kladomaor said.

After a few moments, Triflan said, “Tether locked.”

Alarms blared across the bridge.

“They’re returning fire, Commander!”

“Deploy countermeasures and engage the Cherubian drive,” Kladomaor said.

*****

Kaylan reduced the acceleration of the Athena’s engines and watched as the Boxan stealth ship shielded them.
 

“Gravity tether is locked onto us,” Gaarokk said.

A comms channel opened from the sensor array at the top observatory. “Commander,” Redford said. “Detecting gravity anomaly dead ahead of us. A wormhole is opening.”

Just then a comms channel opened up, but Kaylan couldn’t tell where it came from. A loud screeching noise sounded through the Athena’s speakers. Kaylan winced and covered her ears, using her implants to cut the signal. The Athena increased its velocity, closing in on the wormhole. Kaylan glanced out the window at the Boxan ship. Bright flashes made her wince and turn away.
 

Their view of the stars folded away from them as if they were riding a huge wave. Lines of starlight rippled past the windows. The last time the Athena had gone through a wormhole, the ship had felt as if it were going to fly apart, but not this time. The gravity tether must be protecting them somehow. The two ships barreled through the wormhole, leaving the Nershal star system behind. Kaylan gripped the table and held on. The edges of the wormhole rippled and pulled away from them. There was a loud metallic clang and the Boxan stealth ship dove ahead of them in a slow spin. The ship turned over, revealing several gaping holes venting gases into space.
 

The streaming stars returned to normal, and proximity alarms blared on the bridge. They were going to crash into the Boxan ship. Kaylan dashed toward the pilot’s seat and tried to steer clear, engaging the bottom thrusters to pull them away from the other ship.
 

“Grab onto something!” Kaylan screamed.

Those on the bridge scrambled for a handhold.

The side thrusters engaged, but the edge of the Boxan ship clipped one of the lower decks. Those decks were immediately sealed. Thankfully, no one was near the damaged sections. Kaylan engaged the breaking thrusters, and the Athena began to slow down.
 

Farther away, the Boxan stealth ship leveled off and came to a halt. Kaylan was gasping as she glanced around the bridge. The others appeared to be fine.

“What happened?” Hicks asked.

Gaarokk was catching his breath. “I think the wormhole became unstable. That can only happen if the Cherubian drive fails. We were lucky both ships weren’t torn apart.”

“Athena,” Kaylan said. “Can you reach the other ship?”

“No reply, Commander,” the AI said.

Kaylan walked over to the holodisplay and glanced out the window, but there was nothing nearby—no planets, no stars, nothing. She opened the comms throughout the ship, asking for everyone’s status and a damage report. The reports came in, and the crew ran preliminary diagnostics. They hadn’t heard from Redford, and she sent Nikolai to go check on him.

“Go on,” Hicks said to her. “Go to the med bay. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

Kaylan hesitated. This was her ship.

“The ship isn’t in immediate danger. You can take a few minutes to go check on Zack. I’ll monitor from here,” Hicks said.

Kaylan swallowed hard and nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

She slowly walked from the bridge, but the farther she went, the quicker her pace became until she was found that she was running. Before long she stood outside the medical bay doors. She took in a deep breath and opened them.
 

“We can’t risk unwrapping his head until the heat lamps have had a chance to work; otherwise, we could risk damaging his skin,” Brenda Goodwin was saying to the others as Kaylan walked in.

Zack lay on one of the beds. Above him, heat lamps were blasting their warmth. She couldn’t see his face. It looked as if his head were in some sort of green cocoon. She glanced at his chest and saw the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

“Has he awakened yet?” Kaylan asked.

“He started to, but I sedated him,” Brenda said.

Katie Garcia was at his side. “He’s going to be alright,” she said with a tired smile.

Kaylan slowly approached the bedside. Zack wore one of the battle mesh suits she’d seen the Nershal soldiers wearing. She turned and saw Etanu standing off to the side. The Nershal didn’t immediately meet her gaze, and Kaylan didn’t know what to say to him, but he had helped save Zack’s life.

“Welcome aboard the Athena,” Kaylan said.

“It is an honor to be here, Commander,” Etanu said.

“Now, what exactly is it that you had Zack wrap around his face?” Brenda asked.

“It was part of the healing kit we had on the slip fighter. It’s meant for wounds. I had Zack use it to provide some protection around his face,” Etanu said.

“Is there a problem?” Kaylan asked.

Brenda shook her head. “No, I think Etanu did the right thing, but we can’t know for sure until he warms up a bit. The rest of Zack’s body appears to be fine.”

“Where are we?” Katie asked.

“I’m not sure. Something happened that pulled us from the wormhole. We haven’t been able to contact Kladomaor yet,” Kaylan said.

She glanced at Zack and wanted to stay, but she knew she was needed elsewhere.
 

The doors to the med bay opened and Nikolai and Vitomir carried in Redford’s unconscious body. They laid the astrophysicist on one of the other beds.

“We found him unconscious in the observatory where he likes to work,” Nikolai said.

Brenda leaned over and started to examine him.

Hicks reached out to Kaylan over comms, saying she was needed on the bridge, and she told him she would be right there. She took one last look at Zack, as if needing to convince herself he was really there. She wanted to see his face, but Brenda was right to be cautious. Katie said she would stay and help Brenda. Kaylan nodded and left for the bridge with Nikolai and Vitomir following.

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