Chapter 4
There was no pilot available to fly them back to Demeter, but Ethan Hyt didn’t blink at that.
Which is how Velda ended up sitting beside him in a small runner as he flew them out of Nanganya, headed for the mountains and the coast, toward Aponi’s capital city.
He set the hover on autopilot as soon as they were high enough, and got on his comms unit to find out what was happening.
She was doing the same.
It had been nearly an hour since they’d gotten the emergency news about the attack and Velda found out the main targets had been the ships the military had singled out for Ed and Wren to check for smuggled items.
“Neither battleship could return fire,” Tara, her admin, told her over her comm unit. “There were too many freighters in the way. So they used one battleship to shield the special forces team from getting hit and the other moved to leap over the freighter line to attack.”
“And the ship that initiated the attack, it’s gone now?” Velda asked.
“It seems to be,” Tara said. “They couldn’t tell where it went, though. And get this, the battleship’s captain says it’s just like the ship that destroyed the ruins at Cepi.”
Which meant it was like the ship destroyed after Parn had been attacked, as well as during the Caruson’s attack of Garmen, and a number of other incidences.
And every one pointed to a Cores and Caruso plot.
Shit.
She looked out the window and saw the mountains below them, green and gray in the last light of the day.
Ethan set his comms unit down.
“Are your people all right?” Velda asked.
He nodded. “Ed, Wren and Bailey were checking out the third ship of four that the military found trying to break out of line and head away from Aponi, when they were attacked. But ship number four, which they hadn’t gotten to yet, was destroyed first. Wiped out of existence.”
“So whatever it was we needed to find was probably on ship four,” Velda said.
“It definitely was. They’d already found the contraband in ship three when they were hit. The captain was smuggling weapons to Faldine.” Ethan looked down at the mountains, and checked the console in front of him.
“And the attacking ship used the freighters as cover, I hear.” Velda realized they . . . she . . . hadn’t expected such a violent and aggressive response from their adversaries.
“My people say it vanished when it realized it couldn’t hit ship three because one of the battleships was physically shielding it, and the other battleship was headed to the other side of the freighter line to confront them.”
“So we don’t know what was in ship four, but the silver lining is that whatever was in there is no longer coming in to Aponi.” It was something, Velda thought. Not the best outcome, but at least they had disrupted their enemies’ plans.
Ethan gave a snort. “That’s a nice, positive spin.”
She glanced at him, ready to respond, when light seemed to blossom in front of her, blinding her momentarily.
The hover jerked hard to the left, falling downward with her window facing the ground, so she stared in wonder and horror as the mountains below her came into clear focus.
The hover jerked again, and she was pushed back into her seat, the hover more or less back to level.
She turned to Ethan, found him fighting with the controls. He’d clearly switched to manual mode, and he was half hunched over the console.
Neither of them were wearing their safety harness, and she pushed herself to her feet, grabbed his, and clipped him in from behind so he didn’t need to lift his hands from the controls.
Then she sat and clipped herself in, looking down at her comms unit to see if she could send out a signal, but it was showing no connection.
Whatever had hit the hover had taken out the comms functionality, she guessed.
The hover was buffeted by the winds as they got lower, shuddering and wobbling side to side as they came down too fast and too steep.
“I’m riding the strong thermals rising up from the mountains, but as soon as we get lower, I’ll lose that, and we are going to come down hard.” Ethan glanced at her for a moment, then swung his focus back on the controls. “Hold on tight.”
The ground came up fast.
Velda had an impression of forests, and then a wide, pebble-lined river, and Ethan directed the hover to the middle of it.
They hit the water with a boom of sound and it threw up a massive wave that swamped them. She could feel the hover fighting, moving left and right, and the grating of metal as the bottom of the runner scraped over large rocks.
Finally, they slammed into a large rock on the left side, and Velda felt the harness cut into her shoulders. The hover spun right, turning them completely around, and then finally sank down onto the left bank.
For a moment, they sat in silence, and Velda heard the rush of water entering the hover from a rip in the side.
Right now, she didn’t care. They were alive, and more or less unharmed.
“We need to move. Leave everything.” Ethan stood, but she noticed he needed to steady himself on the console. “I can’t believe they didn’t take a second shot at us while we were coming down. They must have realized they hadn’t destroyed us.”
She hadn’t even thought of that. She gaped at him. “You think they’ll try again now?” She forced herself to her feet.
“We’re not moving now,” he said. “We’re easier to hit. If your bag is to hand, grab it. Otherwise, let’s go.”
She reached behind her seat and pulled out her overnight bag, and he did the same. Then he shoved hard at his door, and managed to get it open.
It was almost completely dark, and the dim emergency light that had come on in the front of the hover felt like a beacon for their enemies.
It motivated her to scramble after him as he disappeared out the door.
When she peered out, he was standing below her, up to his knees in water, arms lifted.
“I’ve got you,” he said.
She nodded, turning and carefully using the built-in ladder on the side to come down as far as she could, and then his hands gripped her waist and he lifted her up, walking through the river with her and setting her down on the rocky beach, feet completely dry.
“Thank you.” She looked up at the sky a few times as they jogged away, but there was nothing to see but stars.
“Maybe they only had time for one shot,” Ethan said when they reached the cover of the treeline, with no second shot.
He was looking up himself. “The battleships we had stationed along the freighter line would have been after them the moment they reappeared. It’s possible they were run off without even realizing that their aim was slightly off. ”
“That would be a good outcome,” she agreed. “But I still don’t feel safe using the hover for shelter.”
“No.” He turned to study the gentle, wooded hill behind them. “Even without a second strike, we need to move. We know the ship that attacked us isn’t acting alone. They have on-planet help, and if they are aware they didn’t blow us up, then they might send someone to finish the job.”
She didn’t want to hear it, but he was right. They needed to get away from here.
She was glad she had a small overnight bag. She hadn’t known how long she’d be in Nanganya, and she’d packed a change of clothes, workout gear, and pajamas.
Ethan put his hands on his hips, studying the wreck, studying the sky. “We’ll need something to make a fire with, and I wouldn’t mind a flare in case we need to attract attention.” He looked up again.
“I can go back into the runner and see if there’s emergency equipment,” Velda said. “You can call out if you see any danger.”
He swung his gaze back to her. “How about we switch that around?”
“Why?” she asked.
“Just keep watch,” he said, moving back to the hover. “I’ll keep the door open for a quick exit and so I can hear you.”
Then he was gone.
She followed after him, going slower so she could keep her gaze up at the sky, feeling a little like her eyes were playing tricks on her as she thought she saw hundreds of falling stars above.
Then she thought about the implications of that, and her chest got very, very tight.
When Ethan reappeared, after what felt like only minutes, holding two packs, one slung over each shoulder, he narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
She pointed up. “Falling stars,” she said.
He tipped back his head. “There are a lot . . .” He suddenly drew in a breath. “They hit the observatory.”
“Either that or one or both of the battleships are destroyed.” She couldn’t believe this could be happening. “Unless they strafed the freighter line. That’s a possibility, too.”
Ethan bent and picked up his personal overnight bag, which had been set beside her feet. “Now we’re definitely going.”
He strode away, and she tore her gaze away from the heavens and followed him into the night.