Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Marisol focused on the shuttle she approached. It was in clear view now, and she identified it as a personal cruiser class shuttle. It was a popular model for people who lived amongst the stars instead of on planets.
The other two shuttles that she felt certain were pirates were gaining on her. That terrified her. The communications beeped.
“Answer it,” MC-2 demanded.
She didn’t even spare him or the female clone on his lap a glance as she opened the channel.
“Cease running and shut down your engines, or we’ll fire on you,” a man demanded. “Comply or die.”
The signal was coming from one of the two pirate shuttles. Marisol bit her lip, debating on whether she should say anything back. Alarms blared on her console, warning her that someone had a weapons lock on them. Terror coursed through her.
“Let them board us,” MC-2 whispered. “We’ll defend ourselves. They can only dock one shuttle to ours. We’re five against however many they have. I’m sure we’ll overpower them, and then we can take control of their ship.”
“Another shuttle isn’t going to do us any good since I’m the only one who knows how to fly. I’d also not like them to get that close to us. Did you ever consider that they might have illegal weapons? You have no idea how quickly those can kill us.” Marisol didn’t want to frighten them, but they’d been shielded from reality by living on Clone World with their heavy security protocols.
MC-4 whimpered.
Another alarm blasted through the cockpit, and Marisol watched in shock as the shuttle they approached, the one she felt Free might be on, was the one to launch a weapon. A missile flew past them.
“Brace for sharp maneuvers,” she yelled out. Then Marisol pushed the engines for all they had, trying to put more distance between her and the pirates. She didn’t see the missile hit, but it showed on her sensors.
One of the hostile shuttles veered off from pursuit, parts of it breaking apart. The other hostile shuttle fired on them.
Warning alarms blared again, and Marisol responded by changing course. The missile coming at them missed, but it was close. It exploded, though, scattering large chunks of debris. They couldn’t avoid some of it.
Damage reports started scrolling across her screen, red lights flashed inside the cockpit, and engine one died. It sent the shuttle into a spin, causing her to lose control. They were rolling, and the view out of the cockpit window showed other shuttles, but then there was utter blackness.
Marisol quickly compensated by cutting the second engine and using thrusters. The gravity stabilizers went off-line. The sudden weightlessness made her feel queasy. She got the spin under control, so their view wasn’t constantly changing.
“Engine one refuses to restart,” Marisol updated the clones. “It’s too damaged. I’ve got enough thruster control that we’ve straightened out.” Her fingers flew over the console. “The gravity stabilizers are refusing to reboot.”
“Life support is online but flashing a warning,” MC-2 shared, reading the system alerts from the other console where he sat.
“I don’t have time to worry about that,” Marisol admitted. Her gaze went to the two shuttles that had engaged in firing at each other. Her sensors read that the damaged pirate shuttle was floating away, seeming to have lost all power. The important thing was it wasn’t anywhere near them.
“Reboot all the systems,” MC-2 ordered.
“No. I’m using the thrusters to keep us away from the battle. Rebooting would knock out all systems for at least a full minute. We can’t afford to take any more damage.”
Her gaze went to the long-range sensors. The farthest away shuttle, the one Free had to be on, appeared to be undamaged. He had the other pirate ship on the run. The one incoming shuttle that she felt Figures might be on split into two separate vessels as she watched. They flew close together, but one of them broke away to fly faster.
Marisol was stunned since that fifth one hadn’t been on sensors before. “Where the hell did that come from, and who is it?”
“We’re going to die,” MC-4 sniffed.
Marisol glanced toward the couple strapped in the other seat. The female clone was crying. Her male was doing something to the console on that side. It alarmed her. “Do not reboot the systems.”
“Life support went down,” he grimly shared.
“We have enough oxygen to breathe for a bit.” Marisol had to make things clear so he wouldn’t interfere. “Right now, we need to worry about not taking more damage, or we’re dead. That means I need working thrusters in case we need to move.”
Marisol watched as the two battling shuttles fired on each other. The pirate ship suddenly changed course, but instead of heading toward Marisol’s crippled shuttle, it flew toward the second one, aimlessly floating.
Free, or who she thought was him, broke away and changed course toward her. He put his shuttle between her and the two pirate ones. Marisol had maneuvered her shuttle away enough that it would take him a few minutes to reach them. A glance at communications showed it was down. No one could try to talk to them.
The pirate ship seemed to spear the damaged one with a harpoon-like cable and started to haul it back in the direction they’d originally come from. Relief flooded through Marisol. “The pirates are fleeing!”
Her gaze went to the incoming unknown shuttle that had popped up on sensors without warning, hoping it wasn’t someone who meant them harm. It was reading as a Varlius class. Those were top-of-the-line luxury shuttles.
“That other shuttle is slowing. I think it’s planning on docking with us.”
“I see, MC-2.” Marisol wished the comms still worked. She did shut down thrusters. As soon as that happened, all power went out. Everything on the console flickered before it completely died.
“What is happening?” MC-4 loudly sobbed now.
“Calm down,” Marisol ordered. It was terrifying and eerie sitting in a dead cockpit with no power. She couldn’t see anything. The only sounds came from the panicking female clone.
Marisol blindly felt the console, reached under it, and felt for the cap. It was located a little to her left. She slid it open and flipped the switch. It was the emergency backup control to reboot all systems.
Nothing happened for what felt like an entirety, but in reality, it was probably a full minute. Then pale yellow lights blinked on the console. Red flashing lights came on overhead next. More power surged into the console, but a lot of systems remained down. That included long-range sensors and communications.
“Life support is still reading as down,” MC-2 ground out.
“I see that.” It didn’t take Marisol long to figure out they were in deep trouble. Both engines were reading non-operational. The thrusters weren’t responding. Life support was down. The only good news was that they weren’t showing a hull breach. They might be dead in space, but the shuttle wasn’t coming apart.
Marisol reached for her belts, releasing them. “Stay here. The entire system is rebooting.” She didn’t mention that she was sure it wouldn’t do any good.
It was difficult to move without gravity as she floated out of her seat. The cockpit doors were wide open since they never sealed them off. She had to grip the seat she’d just left and use it to push off against, floating toward the back.
More red flashing lighting from the ceiling bathed the living area of the shuttle. MC-1 and MC-3 were strapped onto the couch. Both silently stared at her. They each held one of their med kits on their laps.
“We are probably about to be boarded,” she told them.
MC-1 growled, rage twisting his features. He fumbled with the kit, probably to get a syringe ready.
Marisol shook her head. “I don’t think they are hostile. It might be Free. Don’t you dare attack him.”
“Why is gravity out?”
“We’ve lost most systems. I started a complete reboot, but engine one showed severe damage before we lost power. The gravity stabilizers probably are too damaged to come back online.” Marisol floated by them, lightly bumped against the ceiling, and grabbed hold of one of the strips to pull herself along toward the very back of the shuttle. “Just remain buckled in. I’m going to the cargo hold where I think the other shuttle will dock with us.”
“You think?” MC-1 started to unbuckle. “I’m coming with you.”
“Fucking stay there.” Marisol didn’t trust him not to attack Free or whoever was in that shuttle that had come for them. “I’ve got this.”
Something hit the shuttle. The impact was enough to tear her away from the ceiling and send her weightless body careening into a wall. She hit it with a grunt of pain but grabbed hold of another wall strip to prevent her body from bouncing away from the side.
One thing became increasingly clear to Marisol. It was hard to move about without gravity in the cabin. It was also an experience she hoped never to repeat. She’d spent her entire life living on a planet. The space travel trips she’d taken for business had always been necessary, but then again, she’d never been inside a damaged shuttle before. It was terrible.
An alarm sounded from the back. It was probably a warning that someone had attached to the docking doors. Marisol pulled herself toward the cargo area again. It was slow going since she had no experience dealing with being weightless. She almost made it to the doorway at the back section when it suddenly opened.
The sight that met her gaze had Marisol freeze in place. The lighting was bad since only red flashing lights washed over the face of the man who braced upright in the doorway. It was enough, though, for Marisol to open gawk at a face she had thought she’d never see again. It was Free.
His blond hair was cut short, accenting his masculine bone structure. A black body suit stretched tautly over his muscled arms, wide shoulders, and dense chest. He’d filled out since she’d last seen him. She identified the outfit he wore as a popular space suit. Only he wasn’t wearing the matching helmet.
“Marisol,” he rasped.
He suddenly used his grip on the open doorway to thrust his body forward, coming right at her.
“Free!” Tears blinded Marisol as she released the wall. “It’s really you!”
His much bigger body floated at her, his gloved hands gripping her before they roughly collided, and he yanked her tight against his chest. She felt them turn in the air as Free wrapped his body around hers. They hit something, him taking the brunt of the impact, but his hold on her didn’t loosen.
Marisol clung to him, burying her face against his exposed throat. Emotion muted her as she fought back the urge to sob. It was really Free. He was alive, holding her, and they’d found each other again.
“I was afraid to believe it when Big and Fig told me you were out here.” He held her tighter.
“I died,” she blurted out. “That’s why I wasn’t able to get off Barlish station and meet up with you.”
“What?” He used his hold on her to pull back until their faces were inches apart.
“I died. I just didn’t know it. I’m a clone. My gramps didn’t even tell me what happened or what he’d had done to me. I only found out recently and started immediately plotting our escape from Clone World.”
His shock was clear as his beautiful blue eyes widened.
“I thought you changed your mind about being with me when I didn’t get a message that you were waiting for me to escape my security detail and eject in a pod you could pick up. I died just hours after reaching Barlish, and my body got shipped to Earth for an unblanked body to be grown,” she told him.
He studied her features, staying nothing.
She felt a little fear. “Does it matter to you that I’m a clone now?”
“No. We were there waiting for you to contact us. I thought you’d changed your mind.”
“I would never do that. All I wanted was to be with you. Free…” She burst into tears and lunged, hugging him tight again and burying her face back into the warm skin of his neck. All Marisol wanted to do was cling to him and never let go.
“I have you,” Free whispered in her ear. “We’re together now. No one and nothing will keep us apart.”
“Excuse me,” MC-1 interrupted. “I take it that you’re a clone?”
Free tensed against Marisol.
“They are clones, too,” she muttered against his skin, breathing him in and still not wanting to let go. “My medical team of four was assigned to care for me. Two more are in the cockpit. I had to take them with me, or Gramps probably would have killed them in a fit of rage after he realized I’d escaped.”
Free kept hold of her but shifted his head, probably to get a better look at the two clones strapped to the couch. “Yes. I’m an F Clone, formally known as Freak. You may call me Free. That’s the name I go by now.”
Marisol didn’t bother to look at the clones Free was speaking to. She really didn’t care how they reacted as long as they didn’t attack. They didn’t.
Free squeezed Marisol. “We have to leave right now. The pirates sent out a hail with clicking sounds.”
“What does that mean?” Marisol didn’t understand.
“I think it’s a language or code they use to avoid drawing attention from the authorities in the next system. I saw the damage to your shuttle as I docked with you. We need to abandon it and go on my shuttle now. Time isn’t on our side. More pirates will be coming.”
“You seemed to have kicked their ass. Why would they come back?”
Marisol felt irritated with MC-1. It wasn’t his place to question Free. Yet…he was.
“We’re out of normal shipping lanes, and they will be desperate to steal shuttle parts and cargo from us.” Free patiently explained. “The pirates just underestimated us by only bringing two teams to attack. More will be coming. We need to leave.”
Marisol hated letting him go, but she understood the danger. “We brought plasma.”
“I saw two stasis pods. Are more clones inside them?”
“No.” Marisol pulled back finally, enough to look at Free’s handsome face. She couldn’t get enough of seeing him. “They are just part of a ruse we used to escape Clone World. Do you have a use for them?”
“No. Leave the pods.” Free turned his head, staring at the two clones on the couch. He raised his voice. “Grab what you can and head toward my shuttle. We need to be gone in two minutes.”
“Who are you?”
Marisol twisted her head, seeing MC-2 floating near the open cockpit door. “We don’t have time for explanations. More pirates are inbound. Grab one of the plasma crates from the cargo bay. We’re switching shuttles. This is Free. He’s the clone I told you about.”
MC-2 gave a sharp nod. “What about our food and clothing?”
“Leave them,” Free ordered. “Those things can be easily replaced. I have plenty to share on my shuttle.”