Chapter 10 #2
Just outside the shuttle, Kaedren and his team moved forward, each in charge of a different section of the landing zone. One by one, each team member confirmed that their area was clear of threats. Kaedren stopped and turned back to the shuttle.
"There is no one here to save. The building doors are open, and I'm not detecting any life signs from the dormitories," he said.
I shook off Lyrin's arm and walked off the shuttle, studying the buildings as I made my way to Kaedren.
I looked up near the roofs of the buildings to see if any windows had lights on.
Nothing. Completely dark. Then a small flash from the top of the building caught my eye. I blinked, and it was gone.
"Shots fired!" Kaedren screamed through the comms. "Man down, medics!"
I looked to my right and saw one of Kaedren's team members crumpled on the ground, smoke rising from where his head had been. Lyrin lunged for me, but I shook him off. I sprinted toward Kaedren.
Blaster fire rained down on us. I dropped to the ground and covered my head. I felt a tug on my boot, and I looked back. Lyrin was lying behind me, pointing to the shuttle. I nodded and started low crawling back to it.
The rear guard on the shuttle returned fire, Torvyn standing in front of them, leading the counter-attack. They pressed forward, forming a protective barrier for us, the medics, and the remaining security team to get back on board.
"Additional corporate security forces are coming from the buildings," Kaedren said, his voice calm. "Engaging."
"Negative," Torvyn said. "We need to get out of here, now."
"Covering fire on my mark," Kaedren said. "Lyrin, get Kira to the shuttle. I'll bracket the retreat."
"Understood," Lyrin said, grabbing my arm.
I didn't argue. This was their expertise, not mine.
The members of Kaedren's team that were still alive straggled aboard the shuttle. I counted three missing. Three who wouldn't be coming back. Kaedren bracketed the retreat, all four of his hands holding blasters, picking off corporate soldiers as he backtracked to the ramp.
"Kaedren, get on the shuttle, now!" I said, standing at the entrance with my hand on the shuttle door button.
He turned and sprinted up the ramp. I looked up, and my eyes went wide.
A corporate guard had made it within twenty feet of the shuttle and was pulling something off his belt.
He cocked his arm back and threw it. It bounced up the ramp and landed at my feet.
My brain refused to name what I was looking at.
"Get away!" Kaedren yelled as he dropped the guns and used all four arms to shove me into the shuttle's storage bay.
My breath was knocked out of me as I flew backwards, bouncing on the ground, finally slamming into Lyrin.
I looked up, confused and dizzy. Kaedren had thrown himself on top of the device and curled into the fetal position.
I blinked. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.
I reached a hand up and opened my mouth to yell for Kaedren to move.
Kaedren's body jumped as a small whoomph filled my ears.
Lyrin scrambled to his feet and slammed his hand against the button that controlled the ramp.
It slid shut. He dropped to his knees and turned Kaedren over.
A wave of unregulated pain slammed into me through the Tether, and I vomited in my helmet.
My chest was on fire, and I couldn't move.
A moment later, the pain disappeared, and I felt my connection to Kaedren lessen, as if it had been muted.
I pulled my helmet off, wiped my mouth, and sprinted to Kaedren's body.
Lyrin had already applied three of his medpacks.
My breath caught as I looked at the damage the grenade had caused.
Kaedren's eyes had rolled back into his head, and purple blood covered his chest. I could see the bones of the lower arms through shredded skin and muscle. I froze.
"Kira, I need your medpacks," Lyrin said.
I blinked, then nodded as I dropped to my knees. I pulled two medpacks from my belt and gently pressed them against the injuries that hadn't been covered yet. I grabbed a portable vitals monitor from a pocket and placed it above Kaedren's heart. His pulse was weak, and he was losing blood.
"Torvyn, we need to get back to the Starbreaker, now!" I said.
"Working on it."
"Shuttle crews, be advised. There are four corporate frigates on an intercept course with the Starbreaker. There is one additional frigate that has placed itself between your egress path and our ship."
"We don't have time for a fight, Kaedren is dying!" I said.
"I am aware," Torvyn replied. "But getting past a corporate frigate is not an easy task. They have a lot of firepower, and we do not."
I paused. Power. Something tickled the back of my mind. Something about power.
"Think, god damnit," I muttered.
A power source. Too much power. An overload.
"Vaelix, the artifact we took from Voss," I said. "The one generating power for the colonies. Could we weaponize it somehow? Overload their systems?"
A pause. I heard rapid keystrokes through the comm.
"An ion beam," Vaelix said, his voice sharpening with interest. "If I route the artifact through the central weapons processor and reverse the polarity of the energy array, their frigates don't have ionic shielding. It would disable their power systems completely."
"How long?"
"Thirty seconds," he said. "I'm already on it."
"Torvyn, you need to keep the shuttles in the atmosphere until Vaelix gives you the all clear," I said.
"What is happening?" he asked.
"Vaelix is creating an ionic charge that will disable the frigates' power systems. They don't have the right kind of shielding, so they'll turn into sitting ducks. That will allow us to get to the Starbreaker unimpeded."
"Brilliant," he said. "Standing by for your confirmation, Vaelix."
The shuttle broke through the planet's final cloud layer. I looked through the front viewport and gasped. Above us, just outside the planet's atmosphere, a massive corporate frigate was waiting.
"Incoming transmission," Torvyn said.
"Hello again, Doctor Vale," a voice said.
Voss. He was here. He must have planned this whole thing.
"This is your opportunity for an unconditional surrender.
I promise no harm will come to you. In fact, we have big plans for all of us!
I didn't realize how good you were at public speaking.
We have a brand new indentured servitude contract for you to sign.
Granted, the terms aren't the greatest, but since you don't hold any actual leverage—"
His voice cut off. The lights on the frigate flickered out, one by one, until the large ship went completely dark. It listed to the side, caught in the planet's gravity well.
"Ionic beam terminated," Vaelix said. "Time to bring everyone home, Torvyn."
The shuttle shot past the powerless frigates as the Starbreaker came into view. The ship rotated as the shuttle bay doors opened.
"Prepare for emergency landing and immediate slipspace jump," Torvyn said.
I braced myself across Kaedren, and Lyrin braced himself across me. We crunched into the floor as the shuttle skidded across the bay's landing pad, a loud metallic groan filling our ears. Then, the shuttle stopped moving, and the aft ramp slammed open.
"You are going to be okay," I whispered in Kaedren's ear. "You are strong, you will survive!"
Before I could say anything else, I was gently lifted off Kaedren as a team of medics loaded him onto a stretcher. It took eight of them to do it, but they pulled him off the shuttle and hustled him to the medical bay. Lyrin wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight.
"Kaedren's in good hands," he said.
I pushed him away. "I know, because I will be there with him."
I ran down the shuttle's ramp, Kaedren's purple blood still warm on my hands, following his stretcher into the ship.