Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Taron
“Come on,” coaxed Taron. He hated this fighter. Everything about it was outdated. The amount of rerouting and reprogramming he had to do pushed his skills to the limit. If he hadn’t found the set of basic tools in a compartment on the wall, he wouldn’t have gotten this far.
He connected the power source from the vehicle to that of the ship, using the makeshift connectors he parsed together from pieces taken from both the ship, and the vehicle, and also some ripped straight out of the big ship.
It had pained him to rip up part of the floor to find the tubes he needed.
If he and Amelia couldn’t get off this planet, it would not be for lack of trying.
He rapped the connectors with his knuckle.
“Come on,” he said again. “You can work. I know you can.” He rattled the connectors one more time and the ship’s interior lights powered on, glowing dark blue.
Taron felt a lightness in his belly. It took considerable restraint to not let out a whoop and shake Amelia, who appeared to be napping on the floor.
He hopped to the floor and touched her shoulder. “Amelia,” he whispered. “Wake up.”
“What?” She sat up suddenly, eyes sleepy and adorable. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, for once.” He pulled his grimy T-shirt back on. “I got the fighter working.”
She scrambled to her feet. “You did?” She looked to the ship, which hummed happily and still boasted a blue-glowing interior.
“Oh my God, you did!” She threw her arms around his neck and jumped into his arms. He grabbed her and took her weight as her legs wrapped around his hips.
“I knew you could do it,” she squealed into his ear. “I knew it!”
She squirmed out of his arms, unfortunately, and peered into the small ship. “It’ll fly, right?”
He sure hoped so. “Yeah.”
“What do we do now?”
He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “We leave.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah. Just like that.” Were they supposed to perform a departure ritual of some sort? “Get in.”
“Okay.” She didn’t need further prompting. She grabbed their bag and hauled herself up the block that was there as a step and got inside. “Wow, it’s cool in here.”
“Don’t touch anything.” He climbed in, tucking her in front of him, between his legs. “Let’s not crash it before we get anywhere.”
“Speaking of which, how are we going to get out of here?” she asked. “The hangar door is locked and closed.”
“This is a fighter ship,” he said with a grimace.
“We’re blasting out.” He hated doing this.
The very last thing he wanted to do was inflict more damage to this big, beautiful vessel.
If getting Amelia to safety wasn’t the paramount concern, he would stay for a little while and try to figure out what happened to it.
“Okay. I’m ready.” She settled her weight against him.
He loved how her back fit perfectly against his chest. Ah, and her ass tucked just right into his—no.
He cut off those thoughts. He could not fly and fantasize about Amelia.
She said she wasn’t done with him, so they would be continuing their…
thing. Whatever it was, it wasn’t over. He could contain his lust for a little while longer.
“I will have to remove the English chip,” he said. “The controls can be calibrated to a universal language, but I need to understand them to operate this thing.”
She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him with concerned eyes. “If something goes wrong…”
He leaned down and kissed her, putting all his feelings into it. With the kiss, he tried to communicate the one thing he was too inept to say to her: Stay with me forever.
He only let himself sink into the kiss for a few long, light-headed moments, before tearing his mouth away from hers. “We’re going to be fine,” he said, and removed the chip.
His head did the usual smeary, glitchy feeling as his brain readjusted to his normal state.
He knew Virilian, of course, and two of the universal languages.
One of them he knew better than the other, and he knew how to set that as the primary communications in the ship. He set it up and engaged the cockpit.
Amelia gasped as thick bands crossed over them like giant claws.
He couldn’t tell her that this was normal.
It was how they would stay safe and not float around the cockpit.
Instead, he kissed the back of her head and engaged the engines.
The hyperglass covering that protected them from the outside space, slid over their heads and sealed them in.
The air pressurized. He felt the hum of the engines and the gentle warmth in the seat from them.
Being a fighter, it was not complicated to operate. These ships were designed to do one thing, and that was shoot stuff. He aimed the guns at the hangar door and released twin torpedoes.
The door blew off. Brilliant sunlight flooded the hangar.
He heard Amelia let out a cry and cover her eyes.
He was temporarily blinded. If there was a drone out there, that blast would not go unnoticed.
They had to go. He blinked furiously, getting his sight back as his eyes adjusted.
Virilians were not well-suited for bright lights anyway, but they needed to get underway.
He hit the thrusters, and the small ship jerked. Then, with a shocking burst, they shot into the sky.
Amelia’s fingers dug into his thighs. He aimed the ship straight for the sky. He sincerely hoped they wouldn’t face any enemies up here. The fuel cell taken from the ground skimmer powered the ship, but just barely. It didn’t possess the energy that this fighter would normally consume.
They hurtled through the upper atmosphere and into the darkness of space.
Here, he engaged the navigation system to determine their location, but the readings were abnormal.
Like Nitto had said, that star was throwing off strange signals, making it seem like they were in different places every few seconds.
No wonder these downed ships couldn’t be found.
And little mystery why these large vessels crashed here.
Their navigation systems, especially being of older generations, were thrown off by the star’s bizarre signals, and because of their size, the large ships were sucked in by the planet’s gravity.
He felt Amelia’s rapid heartbeat. He wished he could comfort her if that’s what she needed. He wanted to explain what was happening, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the controls.
Getting through the atmosphere and free of the planet’s gravity took a lot of power.
They needed to get as far as they could before this charge on the engine wore off.
Sure enough, the thrusters went quiet, and they were drifting.
Thankfully, they’d gotten far enough away from the planet to not be pulled back into it by its gravitational field.
There was so much open space. Until the power source recharged, all they could do was float and wait.
He reinserted his English chip and wrapped his arms around her. “We made it. I’m a little surprised, honestly.”
“You doubted your mechanical skills? I find that hard to believe.”
“It wasn’t the skills I doubted, it was the plan.”
“Ha.” She angled a raised brow up to him. “The plan was flawless.”
He nuzzled her neck. “As are you.”
“Damn it, Taron.” She tilted her head, giving him better access. “I love it when you say things like that.”
This was his opening. “What do you say we find some tiny, remote post somewhere? We can take some time for just you and me, without being chased by assassins. Hopefully. We need to lie low for a while, anyway.”
Amelia went very still, his first sign that things were about to go badly. “I wish I could, but I just can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know Kimberly is out there, possibly suffering. We have to find her. We have to bring her home.”
Several emotions knocked around in Taron’s head. None of them were ideal to express under the circumstances. “You understand what it means to be held in a base mostly controlled by enemies, yes?”
“I know there must be someone we can ask for help. What about the Baylans? They have those gigantic base ships. What about the Virilians?”
He took a deep breath. There had to be a way to explain to her how impossible it was to retrieve her fellow human.
“This fighter only has short-range communication capabilities. The only ones who would hear our transmission would be those trying to kill us,” he told her.
“And even if we could transmit long range, this is very far from Baylan territory. I know your people are very fond of that species, but there’s no guarantee they’d haul one of their big base ships all the way out here and pillage a perfectly smooth-running space station to rescue one human female. ”
“And the Virilians?” she asked, but her voice was sounding bleak.
“We’re not a big space-faring species. We have a few ships out there, but nothing that could take on the Tulashi regime.”
He could see her jaw moving, chewing on her lip. “Can we go somewhere to make a long-range transmission and see if someone will assist us?”
“Amelia,” he said, knowing his voice sounded firm. “What we need to do right now is lie low. We are not out of danger yet.”
“Taron.” She turned her neck, gazing at him with imploring eyes. “We can’t just abandon her.”
“Why do you even care about some female you barely know?” It came out harsher than intended, and since they were, once again, crammed in a small, drifting space coffin, it also came out louder than it should have.
Amelia went silent again. She turned back around and faced forward.
“I guess that’s where we differ, Taron. But you know what?
You’re right. We don’t need to help her.
I do.” He saw her neck move as she swallowed hard.
“Please take me somewhere with a long-range transmitter. If this isn’t stopped now, they will abduct more Earth women.
Women will unknowingly sign up for the match program, get on transports, and never be seen again.
” Her voice went hard, resolute. “I cannot live with that.”
Well, shit. When she put it that way, it was hard to argue. “I’m not dropping you off at some trading post. You’ll be picked up instantly.”
“It’s okay, Taron,” she said stiffly. “I can take care of myself.”
Maybe on Earth, but not out here. “I hate it when you say that.”
She lifted her chin and said nothing. Her body was stiff and unyielding against his chest.
“Fuck. Fine. We will do this. But listen, if a fucking armada shows up, they’ll just eject Kimberly and deny everything.”
“Does ‘eject’ mean what I think it does?”
“Yes. They’ll shoot her through an air lock into space. Quick death, but not the outcome you’re looking for.”
She blinked, eyes bright with tears he knew she wouldn’t shed. “You have an idea?” she asked cautiously.
“We have a chance—a slim one—of getting to that female, but we’re doing it my way, understand?”
She turned around again, eyes wide. “What way is your way?”
“The Sifter way.”