“Let’s get moving. We’ll be on comms. Keep an eye on the long-range scanners and the destroyers. I don’t think they’re going anywhere, but let me know if anything changes.”
“Absolutely,” Cassia answered, following Dani and Cruz to the docking bay. “Good luck, you two.”
Dani couldn’t help but notice Cassia and Cruz sharing a lingering gaze. She had long suspected there might be something brewing between the two, but she hadn’t asked about it at all. It was strictly against GC rules to fraternize with crewmembers, since it statistically resulted in diminished judgement in difficult situations. But Dani knew that if something were to develop then she wouldn’t stand in the way.
Being a member of a GC crew could be a lonely experience, one she often wished she didn’t have to face alone. Many GC enlisted didn’t have families of their own because they were sometimes gone for years at a time. Dani didn’t envy those who did. She knew how difficult it was growing up with only glimpses of her father over the years. When she was younger, she promised that she would never do that to her family. Then, as she got older, the stars called to her. She chose the GC over romantic entanglements and a family of her own. Though, there were times where she longed for the intimacy of a relationship. After her mother passed and then her father, there was little reason to remain on the ground, so she heeded the stars’ call. Now, her crew was her family, and she couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“I need to run systems checks on the cruiser. Cruz, grab some weapons for us,” Dani announced as she stepped inside, giving Cruz and Cassia a few moments of privacy. She sat down in the pilot’s chair and ran through systems checks, making sure everything was good.
As soon as she had a green light on everything, she kicked back and waited. It didn’t take long for Cruz to start hauling weapons on board—quite a few, actually. He secured them in the cargo hold and took the co-pilot’s seat next to Dani.
“Doing okay?” Dani asked as they left the protection of Osirion.
Cruz’s gaze was drawn to her. He wasn’t one for sharing his feelings, and the expression on his face emphasized the fact.
“Stoic as always,” she kidded with a smile. Though, she thought she detected the slightest hint of smirk at her comment.
They approached the destroyer that held Sylvine. It was dark and even more menacing with the lights out. Talon’s personal transport ship was docking in an open bay, and Dani guided the cruiser to the one next to it. Normally she would have chosen another bay to provide them with more than one escape point. But not knowing what was on board meant there would be safety in numbers.
“Transmitting an estimated layout of the destroyer to your port-con,” Zadria said through the comm. “There are life signs in about half of the ship. I’m thinking the other half lost atmosphere with the explosions. I created a rough estimate of where the border is between the two sections.”
“Thanks, Z. Good work.” Dani meant it.
As soon as Dani locked into the docking bay, she and Cruz leapt into action. They quickly donned their armored suits, then proceeded to strap weapons and ammunition to themselves. Once they were ready, Dani opened the hatch to reveal Talon, Geneva, and three more of his crew, armed to the teeth.
“That’s it? Just the two of you? I thought this was a rescue mission.” Talon peered past them into the cruiser.
Cruz stepped up to Talon, peering down his nose at him. Cruz was not a small guy. He was extremely well built, and depending on how he had his prosthetics adjusted, he stood between 6’5” and 6’7”. Talon’s 5’10” frame seemed to shrink below him.
“Are you guys ready, or what?” Geneva asked, seemingly bored with the situation.
“Let’s move,” Dani agreed, noting that Geneva seemed to have even more tattoos than the last time she’d seen her. She almost felt bad that the pirate crew lacked the armor that she and Cruz wore. While the armor didn’t completely protect them from injury, it certainly helped. The plates worked to stop projectiles and absorb and disperse energy shots. But they didn’t offer full protection, and carefully aimed shots could still penetrate easily enough.
“Any idea where your friend might be?” Talon asked as he armed his weapon.
“Probably wherever they keep the prisoners,” Dani said as she armed her weapon and checked the port-con, offering a glimpse to Talon. “The areas with no life signs likely have no atmosphere.”
“Well, you’re in luck.” Talon smirked. “Prisoners are usually kept a few levels down, in this area here. Looks like there are still plenty of life signs.”
“You know, I bet the GC would love to get their hands on your intimate knowledge of the inside of Vaerian ships.”
Geneva sighed audibly and rolled her eyes.
“I’m sure they would,” Talon responded. “There are GC assets I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on, either.”
Dani tried to resist the oncoming blush that flushed her cheeks as Talon took a long, slow look at her, his eyes running up and down the length of her body. She had staved off the advances of a number of men with equally awful pick-up lines, but there was something about Talon, perhaps his likeness to Jag, that caused his words to resonate a little more than the others.
Trying to clear her mind, Dani turned her attention to Cruz. She was surprised to find him staring at her, shaking his head slowly from side to side with a look of disapproval. She quickly decided to do what she had to do to get them back on track. “Okay, this way then.”
Dani started down the hall to the left, with Cruz close behind and the pirate unit following him. She and Cruz worked well to ensure the way was clear. Most of the power was out in the ship, except for emergency lighting, artificial gravity, and life support.
“I think we should split up,” Talon spoke out from behind them. “You two seem to have this under control. If we’re going to see any action, then we’re going to need to get away from you.”
After a brief hesitation, Dani nodded, giving Talon the okay to branch off on his own.
“I swear, if they accidently fire on us, then I’m firing back,” Cruz signed before he and Dani continued down the hall.
Dani stifled a giggle at the comment and peeked around a corner, down a stairwell. A Vaerian grunt was sitting on the steps, inspecting his weapon.
“Stun,” Dani signed as she dropped the energy level on her weapon to the lowest setting. She had no problem firing on someone who was trying to kill her, but she never could bring herself to murder someone minding their own business, even if they were the enemy.
Cruz dropped the setting on his weapon as well and fired on the grunt. A non-lethal burst of energy hit him, and his body stiffened as he slumped against the wall. Dani then led the way down the stairwell to the lower level. Another glance around the corner to the main hall revealed a group of Vaerians. They seemed to be having some kind of meeting, but Dani wasn’t well versed enough to understand what they were saying, and her translation chip was off.
Dani and Cruz held their position until the group split into two and headed down opposite directions of the hall. A group of three came toward them, and Dani and Cruz quickly stunned them, but not before the third called out for the others.
The other three Vaerians turned and ran, firing down the hall toward Dani and Cruz. Dani heard one of them shouting something, probably calling for backup. It wouldn’t be long until their backs would be exposed to any Vaerians coming down the stairwell. The pair wedged themselves in a corner, Cruz watching the stairs and Dani watching the entrance to the hall. Together, they waited.
Weapons fire from the hall caused Dani to tense up. Talon and his crew must have found an alternate way to the lower level, and they might need their help. Dani tapped Cruz and gestured to the hall. The two peered around the corner, weapons drawn. The firefight was happening around the next bend, as illustrated by the flashes of energy shots against the silhouettes along the wall.
Cruz led the way, carefully sweeping adjacent corridors as th
ey went. He and Dani quickly stunned any Vaerians they saw until they caught up to the weapons fire.
A group of five Vaerians were gathered around an offshoot of the main hallway. They were taking turns laying down fire into the area, where Dani could only assume Talon and his men were. Weapons blasts came from the hall, hitting one of the Vaerians, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious.
Dani went low around the corner, with Cruz overhead, and they fired on the Vaerians simultaneously, making quick work of the small group. Once they were all on the floor in a pile, Dani and Cruz hurried toward the adjacent hall. As Dani rounded the corner, she was surprised to find herself nose to nose with Sylvine.
“Whoa!” Dani called, holding up her hands as Sylvine’s weapon pointed at her face.
The surprise quickly faded from Sylvine’s face as she recognized Dani and lowered her weapon.
“This way,” Dani said and gestured back the way they came.
Cruz took point back down the hall to the stairwell, where a group of Vaerians was rushing down the steps two by two. Dani dropped to one knee and fired up at them as Cruz and Sylvine fired over her head. The first few unsuspecting soldiers fell and tumbled down the stairs. The last ones stopped and crouched at the top of the stairs and returned fire.
Dani turned and peered back out into the hall, where a second group was quickly approaching. “We’re surrounded,” she alerted Cruz and Sylvine, hoping they could hear and understand her over the energy blasts.
Suddenly, the Vaerians at the top of the stairs were hit from behind and slid down the steps to rest alongside their comrades. Talon’s grinning face peeked down through the rail.
“There you guys are. Having all the fun without us, I see.”
Dani led the charge up the steps with Sylvine next in line and Cruz bringing up the rear, watching the entrance to the hall. Geneva hurried down next to Cruz, and along with Talon’s other crewmembers, they fired at the doorway as the Vaerian squad came around the corner.
“Is this your friend?” Talon asked, eyeing Sylvine. “Striking.”
“She doesn’t speak Common.” Dani tried to push aside the twinge of jealousy, not even sure where it came from. “We need to go.”
“Let’s head back,” Talon called to his crew as the last Vaerian from the hall fell.
Cruz turned and followed Dani and Sylvine up the stairs and back to the cruiser, with Talon and his men close behind. Sylvine jumped in the cruiser, while Cruz kept an eye on the hall behind them. Geneva and the rest of the pirates hurried into their transport. But before Dani could climb into the cruiser, Talon grabbed her by the arm and spun her toward him.
“We have a base out here in the Dead Zone.” His breath was warm on her skin as he leaned close. “Bring Jag there. We’ll make sure that he and your ship get patched up.”
Dani nodded in agreement, and he released her, offering a wink as he climbed into his transport. Dani quickly glanced at Cruz, who was backing up toward the cruiser, and she jumped inside. As soon as Cruz was in, he closed the hatch and Dani began to disengage from the Vaerian ship.
As she started on their journey back to Osirion, Dani couldn’t help but notice the pirate transport was in much more of a hurry than they were. “What do you suppose Talon and his crew were doing after we split up?”
“Nothing good, I’m sure,” Cruz signed.
Dani accelerated the cruiser toward Osirion. Her fears were realized as she watched the Vaerian ship experience another set of internal explosions while she began to engage docking procedures. The shockwave of the explosion and debris hit just before the cruiser was fully engaged beneath Osirion, jerking the small ship violently, and causing it to slam into Osirion’s underbelly, metal crunching on metal.
“Shit,” Dani grumbled as she couldn’t get the docking system to fully engage.
“Everything okay down there?” Zadria asked over the comm.
“Stand by.” Dani attempted to disengage the cruiser, but it wouldn’t disconnect. She hit the yoke with the palm of her hand.
Cruz jumped up and craned his neck to peer out the window of the hatch before slinking back to his seat with a flop. “The connection point is damaged.”
Dani rubbed her palm across her forehead with a loud sigh. “Talon, do you read?”
“Loud and clear. Are you ready to go?”
“Hardly. Maybe next time you could clue us in on your little plan before you wreck our ship.”
“Well, we can fix that at our station too,” he said dismissively.
“Z, Howard, can we fly like this?”
“Howard’s down in the cruiser bay checking on things,” Zadria answered. “But possibly.”
“Possibly,” Dani muttered under her breath to Cruz.
“Hey, Dani,” Howard’s voice called out in her ear. “I don’t think we can fix this out here.”
“Can we fly like this?”
“It’d be risky.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Cassia’s quiet voice joined theirs on the comm, “but long-range scans picked up three Vaerian destroyers. They’ll be here in about half an hour.”
Dani pressed her lips together to contain her frustration.
“Seems like we don’t have a choice,” Cruz signed.
“Sylvine, we’re in for a bumpy ride.” Dani set her auto translator to translate into Vaerian.
Sylvine nodded in understanding and tightened her harness.
“Talon, please transmit the coordinates of your base to Osirion.”
A moment later, he replied, “Done, now we’re heading out. Sensors have picked up—”
“I know.” Dani sighed again. “Z, I need you to fly Osirion to those coordinates.”
“Me?” She sounded slightly frantic.
“Time to put on your big girl pants, Z. I can’t fly the ship from here and I need Howard down in the cruiser bay to make sure we don’t fall off along the way.”
“O-okay.”
“Howard,” Dani started.
“I’ve got eyes on you. Let’s get out of here before we have more company.”
“Sounds good. Punch it, Z.”
They could feel the vibrations of the engines firing from within the cruiser as Osirion began its journey to the coordinates Talon provided. However, rather than subsiding as they got going, the vibrations only got worse until the cruiser was shaking in place.
Dani bit her lip and contemplated having Zadria slow down, but traveling at slower speeds increased the likelihood that they’d be found by the other Vaerian ships. Their only saving grace was that their long-range scanners were better than their enemy’s, or it’d already be too late. But they needed to get out of the area, because they could be detected at any point, so speed was of the essence.
She peered around the cruiser. Sylvine was clutching her harness and closing her eyes. Even Cruz had a firm grip on the armrests of his seat. The rattling of the cruiser’s contents matched the rattling of the cruiser itself as they continued on. Dani tried relaxing in hopes that it might ease some of the strain on her body, but it wasn’t long before she found every muscle tensed again.
They continued barreling through the dead of space with no local stars or planets to be seen. It really was as desolate as she had heard, but despite the pure emptiness of the stretch of space, it was an area of much controversy. Many believed that the Galactic Conglomerate shouldn’t have ceded the space to Vaerian forces. They felt that instead, the GC should have held the territory and used it as a minefield as a last-ditch effort to protect GC systems. However, the GC instead opted to establish additional mining colonies. The disagreement was one of the major factors in the divide which resulted in the Rebel Faction.
Dani was among those who were skeptical of the Rebel idea. The number of mines required to create an effective buffer would be astronomical. And, even then, there were ways around such defenses. Still, she was thankful at this point that the minefield hadn’t come to pass, as they had enough to deal wi
th in the moment.
The shaking continued as the first glimpse of the pirate base came into view. The distant space station gradually grew closer, and the closer they got, the worse it looked. The space station looked like it was pieced together using a collection of space garbage, and it probably was. Mismatched panels were haphazardly slapped together to form a patchwork look. About a third of the space station seemed to be without power, or simply lacking the lighting seen on the rest. Another section seemed to have detached completely and was slowly drifting away. On yet another side, a group of pirates gently bobbed along on the exterior in space suits.
“You’re kidding, right?” Cruz signed as Osirion approached one of the docking bays.
“Afraid not.” Dani sighed. “But we’re out of options. Are you going to be able to park this thing, Z?”
“Yeah, I believe I remember my training.”
Cruz and Dani exchanged a worried look.
“Talon has instructed us where to go,” Zadria continued. “He’s really nice.”
There was that pang of jealousy again. What is wrong with me? Dani asked herself as she slowly shook her head.
“Well,” Dani said after muting the comm, “here’s hoping Z doesn’t kill us all.”
Osirion made its way toward the largest docking bay, which gave Dani a sense of relief. She didn’t want to see if Zadria had the skills to pull off a narrower fit. This bay offered lots of forgiveness should her aim be slightly off.
Dani couldn’t help but hold her breath as Osirion’s nose dipped through the atmospheric shield and entered the hangar. She didn’t exhale again until Zadria had safely guided it fully into place. However, Dani’s reprieve was short lived. As Osirion lowered onto the floor of the hangar, a horrid grinding noise came from the area that had halfway locked the cruiser into place.
“Z, stop!” Dani called through the speakers, Zadria complying almost immediately.
Space station staff hurried out from the wings with a number of interesting-looking jacks. They positioned them at regular intervals beneath Osirion with no two looking the same. Quick maneuvering from the staff got the supports in place, and Osirion finally came to rest.
The Complete First Season - Episodes 1-5 Page 31