Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Doren’s heart slammed against his ribs so hard he could feel it in his throat.
Emma and Ari.
Their names pulsed through his mind like a heartbeat, drowning out everything else—the distant voices and the cold press of stone against his back. None of it mattered. Only the two females waiting on the ship while Grorn warriors stood between them.
He forced back the instinct to charge into the docking bay and listened.
Based on the voices there were two at the bay entrance and at least two more inside.
They hadn’t attempted to breach the ship yet, because they were waiting for orders.
That gave him a few precious minutes, and he forced himself to catalog his resources.
A plasma pistol with two charge packs, thirty shots total.
A sonic grenade, nonlethal but enough to disorient the warriors for a few seconds. A knife. A medkit. The data crystal
He quickly decided the sonic grenade was the best option. It caused disorientation and temporary hearing loss and it would be especially effective against the Grorn because of their sensitive hearing. It would disrupt them for fifteen seconds, maybe twenty. Not much time, but maybe enough.
He crept closer, close enough to see the two guards at the entrance to the docking bay—their massive silhouettes against the brighter lights of the bay beyond. Their scaled skin gleamed like wet stone, their solid black eyes reflecting nothing.
He could take both of them down before they had a chance to react, but the noise would alert the other warriors inside the bay, the ones who stood between him and the ship.
Instead he circled around to the maintenance hatch that opened into the bay’s far corner, closer to the ship, the quietly slid the hatch open.
From here he could see two more Grorn standing in front of the ship’s sealed hatch, plasma torches in hand, trying to cut through the reinforced metal.
He deliberately tapped the emergency beacon, to alert Emma that he was coming.
Then he plugged his ears with pieces ripped from his shirt, and pulled the pin.
The grenade sailed through the air in a perfect arc and landed at the Grorn’s feet with a soft clink.
Both warriors looked down, their massive heads tilting in confusion.
Then the world exploded into sound.
Even with his ears blocked, the pulse threatened to knock him off his feet. His vision blurred, his teeth ached, and for one horrible second he couldn’t remember which way was up. But he’d been prepared. The Grorn hadn’t.
Both guards crumpled, their weapons clattering to the floor. One of them clawed at his ears, mouth open in a silent scream. The other had simply collapsed, his massive body twitching.
Now.
He was running before his legs fully agreed to cooperate.
The Grorn by the entrance were further away and not as affected by the grenade and he aimed at them as he ran.
His first shot took one in the shoulder, spinning him around with a spray of dark blood.
The second shot went wide as the other warrior dove for cover.
“Emma, the hatch!” he yelled as he ran, and he heard the hatch hiss open.
Plasma fire scorched the air above her head as she ducked back inside and he threw himself in after her, slamming the hatch shut behind him.
“Strap in!” He was already moving towards the cockpit, ignoring the blood streaming from a gash on his arm. “They’ll have reinforcements coming!”
She raced to the passenger seat, secured Ari in the emergency harness they’d rigged for her, and buckled herself in just as the Vagabond’s engines roared to life.
The ship lurched. Through the viewscreen, he saw the fallen Grorn, and more Grorn pouring into the docking bay, but then they were out into the black. The asteroid’s scarred surface fell away beneath them, shrinking to a grey smudge against the endless dark.
“They’re launching,” he said, his voice tight as he manipulated the controls. “One ship, maybe two. They’ll try to intercept before we can make hyperspace.”
“Can we outrun them?”
“In open space? No.” His lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Good thing we’re not in open space. Hold on,” he warned as the viewscreen filled with tumbling rock.
The asteroid belt stretched around them in every direction—a chaotic maze of spinning debris, some pieces the size of houses, others the size of mountains.
The Vagabond dove into it without hesitation, banking hard around a chunk of iron ore, threading between two smaller fragments that scraped close enough to leave marks on the hull.
The ship rolled. Twisted. Dropped into a gap that looked far too narrow and emerged on the other side with centimeters to spare. Behind them, he caught a glimpse of two sleek black vessels, faster and more maneuverable than the Vagabond.
But he wasn’t trying to evade them. He was leading them.
“There,” he growled. “Come on, you bastards. Follow me.”
Another impossible turn. Another gap that shouldn’t have been a gap.
The Vagabond screamed through the asteroid belt like a creature born to it.
One of the pursuing ships clipped an asteroid, and he saw the flash of the impact and the vessel spinning out of control before vanishing from view.
The second ship pulled back, hesitating at the edge of the densest cluster.
And then they were through.
Clear space opened ahead of them and he immediately threw them into hyperdrive.
The stars stretched into lines. The asteroid belt vanished. And they were free.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Emma sat in her seat, Ari cradled against her chest, and tried to remember how to breathe normally. The baby had already fallen asleep—the steady thrum of the hyperdrive apparently more soothing than terrifying. Her small face was peaceful, her silver skin catching the soft light of the cabin.
Doren hadn’t moved from the pilot’s chair. His hands still rested on the controls, though there was nothing to control now. The Vagabond flew itself in hyperspace, following whatever course he’d programmed before the jump.
She could see his reflection in the darkened viewscreen. The set of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the way his ears lay flat against his skull. He looked... shaken. Genuinely shaken, in a way she’d never seen before.
“Doren.”
He didn’t respond.
“Doren.”
Finally, he turned. His blue eyes met hers, and she saw something in them that made her chest ache. Fear. Not the adrenaline-fueled fear of combat, but something deeper. Something that lingered.
“I almost lost you.” His voice was rough. “Both of you. If I’d been five minutes later—”
“But you weren’t.”
“If the grenade hadn’t worked—”
“But it did.”
He shook his head, pushing up from the chair. The movement was jerky and graceless—so unlike his usual fluid motion that it alarmed her more than anything else.
“I shouldn’t have brought you here.” He paced the small cabin, his tail lashing behind him. “I knew it was dangerous. I knew the Grorn might be searching for the same artifacts. I brought you anyway because I was so goddamn obsessed with finding the Vault that I—”
“Stop. I’m fine. Our daughter is fine.”
She rose from her seat, careful not to wake Ari. She crossed the cabin and put herself directly in his path, forcing him to stop or walk through her.
He stopped.
“You didn’t force me to come,” she said quietly. “I chose to be here. I chose to help you find the Keys. I knew the risks.”
“You didn’t know the Grorn would be here.”
“I knew it was a possibility. I’m not a child, Doren. I understood what I was agreeing to.”
His hands clenched at his sides. “It doesn’t matter. I should never have—”
“What? Let me make my own decisions?” She reached up, her free hand cupping his jaw. His fur was soft beneath her palm, warm with the heat of his body. “You don’t get to take responsibility for my choices. That’s not how this works.”
“How what works?”
“This.” She gestured between them, encompassing the ship, the baby, the life they’d somehow built together in the past few weeks.
“Whatever this is. Partnership, family, I don’t know what to call it.
But it’s not you making decisions for both of us.
It’s not you protecting me from the consequences of choices I make with open eyes. ”
Something shifted in his expression. The fear was still there, but it was joined by something else now.
“You called her our daughter.”
She blinked. “What?”
“You just called her our daughter.” His voice softened. “You meant it.”
Yes. She’d said it. And yes, she’d meant it.
“She is,” she said simply. “Maybe not biologically, maybe not legally, but she’s ours. We found her together, we saved her together, and we’ve been caring for her together. That makes her ours.”
His throat worked. He looked down at Ari, sleeping peacefully in Emma’s arms, and something in his face crumbled.
“I’ve never had a family.” The words came out barely above a whisper. “Not a real one. My mother loved me but she lived by my father’s rules, and my father made it clear I was never wanted. I’ve spent my whole life alone, telling myself I preferred it that way.”
“And now?”
“Now...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Now I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to be what you need, what she needs. I only know how to chase things. Artifacts, treasure, the Vault. I don’t know how to stay.”
She shifted Ari to one arm and reached for him with the other. He let her pull him close, his forehead dropping to rest against hers.
“You’re learning,” she said softly. “We both are.”
They stood like that for a long moment, breathing together in the quiet hum of the ship. Then He pulled back, and some of the tension had eased from his shoulders.
“We should go back to Sherae,” he said. “Regroup. Let Faith analyze the data crystal, and see if there’s anything useful we missed. The Vault can wait.”
“No.”
The word surprised both of them. She frowned, organizing her thoughts.
“I don’t want you to give up,” she said slowly. “The Vault has been your dream for years. It’s part of who you are. If you abandon it now because of what happened today, you’ll regret it. And eventually, you’ll resent me for being the reason.”
“I could never—”
“You might. People do.” She thought of her father, charming and restless, always chasing the next opportunity.
He’d loved her, she was sure of that. But he’d loved his dreams more, and in the end, he’d left her behind.
“I don’t want to be the one that clips your wings, Doren.
I want to be the person who flies with you. ”
He stared at her, something shifting behind his eyes. “What are you suggesting?”
“We regroup, but not at Sherae. Not yet.” She bit her lip, thinking. “You mentioned once that an old scholar first told you about the Vault. Someone who’d spent their life studying the Precursors.”
“Marina T’mal.” Doren nodded slowly. “She’s retired now, living on a small planet in the Outer Reaches. I haven’t spoken to her in several years.”
“Maybe it’s time to reconnect.” She adjusted her grip on Ari, who stirred but didn’t wake.
“She might have insights about the Keys and the Grorn and what we’re really dealing with.
And a quiet planet sounds like exactly what we need right now.
Time to catch our breath and plan our next move, without worrying about Grorn warriors breaking down the door. ”
He was quiet for a long moment. Then, slowly, a smile crept across his face—not his usual cocky grin, but something softer and more genuine.
“You’re remarkable, you know that?”
“I’m a schoolteacher from Ohio. There’s nothing remarkable about me.”
“You’re wrong.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You’re the most remarkable person I’ve ever met.”
Before she could respond, he was moving back towards the pilot’s chair, his fingers already dancing across the controls.
“Tireth,” he said, pulling up a star chart. “That’s where Marina lives. It’s a three-day journey from here, through mostly empty space. No major trade routes, no strategic value. The Grorn won’t think to look for us there.”
“And this Marina—she’ll help us?”
“She’ll probably lecture me for taking so long to visit.” His smile widened, some of his usual humor returning. “But yes, she’ll help. If anyone can make sense of what we’ve found, it’s her.”
He entered the coordinates and engaged the autopilot. The ship hummed around them, adjusting course, then carried them towards an uncertain future.