Not only was there a danger of crashing from completely losing control of the ship, but there was also a danger of running out of fuel. The Starburst ran on a combination of solar power and plasma fuel. Since Zocrone’s sun hadn’t made an appearance in months, the solar power hadn’t been replenished in a long time. And the plasma fuel was quickly burning off in Evie’s attempts to get above this storm.
We’re not going to make it. Evie was starting to accept this reality more with every passing second. She had flown through some awful storms and deadly situations before, but she’d never had her ship be as unresponsive as it was right now. She glanced over at Toryx once more, and she thought her heart might break.
She didn’t want to die now. Not when she had only just realized that there was something between Toryx and her. She’d never considered him as a potential romantic partner. He was too loud and brash. Too proud and sure of himself. Not her type at all. She couldn’t stand it when men were overconfident about everything, and thought they knew better than everyone else how things should be done.
But she couldn’t deny that she’d felt some sort of chemistry when Toryx had reached over and grabbed her hand before they left the City Dome. And she couldn’t ignore the way her own heart had started pounding with desire when their eyes met just before they left the airlock and headed out into Zocrone’s open, stormy atmosphere.
Something had changed between them. Apparently, there was something about facing a life-or-death situation with someone that opened your eyes to how you truly felt about them. All Evie knew was that she was feeling things for Toryx that she’d never felt before, and she wanted a chance to explore those feelings. She didn’t want to die not knowing whether there was a chance for a romance with the big blue alien sitting across from her.
He was obnoxious and proud, but he was also a good man. After all, he’d been willing to risk everything for his people. Maybe that was a little crazy, but Evie couldn’t fault him for being crazy. Not when she had also agreed to this crazy plan to escape into the storm and attempt to bring water back to Zocrone.
Besides, in addition to being the type of person willing to give his all for his people, Toryx was damn good-looking. Even before Evie had allowed herself to consider the possibility of something more than friendship with him, she’d thought he was handsome. How could she not with his soulful eyes, dark blue skin, and those edgy scars that showed he was a warrior?
I am not going to die today. Evie gritted her teeth together and glanced over at the altimeter. Their altitude had barely changed in the last few minutes, and Evie knew their progress was too slow. If they didn’t break through the atmosphere in the next few minutes, they would run out of fuel, which would send them hurtling toward the planet’s surface below. A death sentence for sure.
Evie had to do something, and quick. But she was already doing everything she could. The Starburst was just too heavy. Its Zekkardite shields kept the storm debris from breaking through, but they also weighed the ship down more than Evie was used to. The extra weight wouldn’t have mattered in most flying situations, but in this fight against the storm of the millennium, every ounce mattered.
Evie made her decision, and started unstrapping herself from the safety harness in her captain’s chair.
“We have to abandon ship,” she said calmly as she looked over at Toryx. He looked back at her like she’d completely lost her marbles. And maybe she had, but this was their last chance to survive.
“What?!?” Toryx didn’t move to start unfastening his safety straps.
“We’re burning too much fuel trying to get out of the atmosphere. The ship is too heavy. Our only option is to get in the tiny dropship on board and hope for the best.”
Toryx still did not move. “But the dropship doesn’t have anything in the way of shields, does it? We’ll be dead in a matter of minutes.”
Evie shrugged. “Not if we’re lucky and we get out of the atmosphere, and this storm, before we’re hit the wrong way with a piece of debris.”
“We’d have to get awfully damn lucky.” Toryx still looked doubtful.
“Look, we’re dead for sure if we stay with this ship. This is our only shot, and I’m going to take it. Are you coming with me or not?”
Toryx let out a long sigh, but began unfastening his safety harness. Evie had known he would. He wasn’t stupid, and he could see their fate as well as she could if they stayed with the big ship.
With sirens blaring all around her, Evie grabbed the altimeter and tore it off its spot on the instrument panel, then began running in the direction of the dropship with Toryx hot on her heels.
She hadn’t used this dropship in forever. It had been invaluable when crew members were shuttling around on planets trying to arrange pickups for smuggling jobs, but on Zocrone there hadn’t been much use for it. Evie had even been thinking about turning it into scrap metal, but she had been postponing the job out of feelings of nostalgia for the old dropship.
She had never been happier that she’d procrastinated on something, because right now the dropship was her only chance of survival.
When she got to the dropship’s small docking station, she began a hurried preflight checklist on the small vessel. Thankfully the ship was in good condition and already filled to the max with fuel.
“Alright, Tor. Let’s go.” Evie’s voice sounded strange, even to herself. She felt like her words were hollow and coming from far away. Like she had already accepted her fate, and knew that she was going to die.
No, no, no! I’m not going to die. We can do this.
She and Toryx hopped into the dropship and strapped themselves in. Evie took one last deep breath and began the sequence for the Starburst’s giant cargo doors to open and let the dropship out. As she waited, she felt a warm, comforting pressure suddenly covering her right hand. When she looked down, she saw one of Toryx’s big blue hands covering her own. She looked up at him, and when their eyes met she saw such deep care and concern in them that she felt like she might melt. They had to make it through this somehow. She wanted to know how deep his feelings ran, and whether her feelings for him ran just as deep.
But for the moment, there was no time to do anything except give him a brave smile.
He smiled back at her. “You’ve got this,” he said in a low, husky voice that warmed Evie down to her soul.
And then, they were off. The Starburst’s doors were open, and Evie was flying into the storm once again, her heart threatening to pound right out of her chest from the mixture of excitement, adrenaline, and fear.
Thankfully, she didn’t have much time to even think about how worried she was. From the moment the dropship entered the open air, Evie was busy doing her best to dodge debris. She swerved the ship to the left, then the right, back and forth over and over. Several times, she was sure she wasn’t going to be able to avoid the fragments of rocks, asteroids, and other random shit that the storm was hurling through the air. But as long as the dropship was still flying and still in one piece, she was going to try.
On the positive side, she could immediately see that the dropship was gaining altitude much faster than the big ship had been able to. The altimeter’s needle was showing a steady climb, and Evie started to feel hopeful once again. She swerved and prayed, swerved and prayed. She wasn’t a religious person, but facing down death always made her figure there was no harm in trying to reach one of the Seven Galaxies’ many gods, just in case they actually existed.
She didn’t dare look over at Toryx. She didn’t have time to take her eye off of her work for even a split second. The wind and debris demanded all of her attention, and she was going to do everything she could to get through this—the ultimate test of her piloting skills.
Sweat dripped down her forehead, and she was biting her lower lip so hard that it was turning bloody. The noise outside was deafening, and her heart’s pounding felt like it might break her ribcage. But still, she persisted.
And then, she saw up ahead two g
iant rocks flying toward her so quickly and so closely together that she didn’t think she was possibly going to be able to miss them. Beside her, she heard Toryx scream out her name, and she knew he had seen them too.
“Evie! Watch out!”
She didn’t answer him. She gritted her teeth together harder and banked the dropship’s nose up as sharply as she possibly could. She didn’t worry about what rocks or debris might be above these two rocks. All she could do for the moment was try to avoid the certain death these rocks would bring.
She saw the rocks getting closer and closer, and she knew they weren’t going to make it. The ship was banking upward as much as possible, but the rocks were too close, and the wind was moving them too quickly.
Evie squeezed her eyes shut and waited to die.
And then, suddenly, everything was quiet. She didn’t feel any pain, and the sudden wild jerking from the wind had stopped. The only noise was a soft beeping from the dropship’s dashboard console.
Evie opened her eyes, and saw to her astonishment that they were out in open space. They had broken free, and left the swirling, stormy mess of Zocrone below them.
“Holy shit,” Toryx said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. And then, he was yelling out joyfully. “Holy shit! Evie! Evie you did it!”
Evie looked around in disbelief. It seemed impossible, and yet here they were. Out in open space, away from the storm. With shaking hands, she ran her fingers across the dropship’s computer screens, swiping through status reports to see whether all of the major systems were still running.
“We have some significant damage to the hull on the starboard side, but it’s not enough to make us lose pressure or to cause an oxygen leak. If I can find somewhere safe for us to land, even just an asteroid, I can go out in a survival suit and probably patch it up quite nicely. And we still have plenty of fuel. Now that we’re in open space, we won’t need much at all since there’s no resistance.”
Evie looked over at Toryx and saw that he was just staring at her, shaking his head with wide eyes.
“What?” she asked, confused as to what the expression on his face meant.
“Evie, slow down a moment,” he said, then took her face in his strong blue hands. “Stop with the sludging diagnostics for just a moment, and take a second to appreciate the fact that you just did the impossible.”
Evie blushed and tried to pull away from his hands, looking away from Toryx. But Toryx was having none of that.
“Look at me.”
Reluctantly, she met his gaze.
“You did it, Evie! You turned what should have been a suicide mission into a successful victory.”
“The mission’s not over yet. We still have to get to a planet that has supplies and then get them back in through the storm.”
Toryx’s face softened. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. This was a huge first step. We’ll figure out the rest. I’m really sludging proud of you.”
Then he leaned forward and planted a kiss on Evie’s lips.
She closed her eyes and let the warmth of that kiss wash over her. Perhaps she should have fought it more. Part of her knew she should guard her heart, and be careful not to let her emotions run away with her in the middle of the biggest task of her life.
But another part of her knew that she deserved this moment of happiness, however brief it might be. She had just cheated death, and Toryx had been a big part of her motivation to do whatever it took to survive.
They had survived, at least for the moment. Who knew where things would go from here, but at least they had made it this far. Evie closed her eyes and let the warmth of Toryx’s kiss take over her. For the moment, at least, Evie’s heart was filled with hope.
Chapter Five
The giant city of Crantine spread out below Toryx like a dream. Crantine was the capital of Mognerth, known informally throughout the Seven Galaxies as the “water planet.” And with good reason. Toryx wasn’t sure of the exact percentages, but the planet must have been about ninety percent water. Its warm temperatures and plentiful water supply meant the portions of the planet that did have dry land were tropical rainforests. Real tropical rainforests that were naturally occurring—not an artificially made tropical rainforest like the one inside of Zocrone’s City Dome.
For a man who had spent the last year worried about dying of thirst, the sight of so much water seemed surreal. In the city of Crantine, wide blue rivers crisscrossed against emerald green treetops. The trees were so tall and thick that you almost couldn’t tell there was an actual city below. The only hint of the bustling metropolis beneath the trees was the occasional rooftop that managed to be taller than the trees and peeked through to the sky.
Toryx had been here before, though, and he knew that once they descended below those treetops he would be greeted with a busy city full of modern buildings. Crantine was a major intergalactic trading hub, and there would be aliens here from all over the Seven Galaxies.
Evie had been granted permission to land by the Crantine authorities, and a few minutes later Toryx was exiting the cramped dropship to stretch his legs and breathe in the oxygen-rich Mognerthian air.
Evie stiffly left the dropship’s cockpit as well, wincing as she took a few steps. It had been a long journey in a very cramped cabin.
“I hope you have a lot of credits in your e-accounts,” Evie said as she glanced ruefully at the small, badly battered dropship. “We’re going to need to buy a new ship if we’re going to be able to carry any supplies back to Zocrone.”
Toryx frowned. “I don’t think I have enough to buy a ship and a bunch of portable water. But we’ll find a way to figure out something. Zocrone has been a major trading partner with Mognerth for decades. Surely they’ll extend us some sort of credit.”
Evie frowned. “I hope so. Otherwise this was all for nothing, because there’s no way that dropship is going to make it back to Zocrone through those storms, no matter how well we repair it. And even if the ship could make it, it has no space for cargo.”
“We’ll find a way,” Toryx said, even though he secretly wasn’t as confident as he sounded. He wasn’t here on official orders, so he couldn’t exactly promise things in Daxar’s name. And worse, he didn’t know when the storms would let up and allow Zekkardite to be shipped out of Zocrone again. Zekkardite was pretty much the only valuable thing that Zocrone had to offer.
But they had to find a way. The lives of everyone on Zocrone depended on it.
“Come on,” Toryx said. “Let’s head into the city and see what we can do.”
Toryx led the way and Evie followed him without comment. He knew that Evie had been to Mognerth before, but she seemed happy to let him lead the way. He sensed that she needed him to lead the way right now. The adrenaline from their flight over was starting to fade, and he thought he saw her hands shaking a little bit. She wasn’t in a good state of mind to lead the way right now. She needed a break.
Toryx would give her that break. He was more than ready to step up and do something. He hadn’t liked sitting on the sidelines, so to speak, while Evie singlehandedly rescued them from Zocrone’s storms. He was impressed with her abilities, but he had felt helpless to do anything useful, and he hadn’t liked that feeling. He was used to being an alpha male, and to being the one who saved the day.
Perhaps now would be his turn.
He strode confidently out of the Docking Station and right into the hustle and bustle of the city, stopping every few moments to make sure that Evie was still following him. He headed confidently toward the city trade offices, a place he must have been hundreds of times before. In his younger days, he had often done trade runs to Mognerth on behalf of Zocrone. Even though he hadn’t been for a while, he felt confident that there would still be Mognerthian trade officers there who recognized him.
He was right. As soon as he walked into the trade office, a tall Mognerthian looked up, and his three eyes widened in surprise.
“Toryx Keizer, is that you? We w
eren’t sure if there were any Zocronians left in the Seven Galaxies.”
Toryx smiled. “Hi, Xeywyn. There are quite a few of us left, actually. But there might not be for long. I’m assuming you’ve heard that Zocrone has been completely covered with severe storms for the last year.”
Xeywyn nodded gravely. The Mognerthian had put on weight since Toryx last saw him, but other than that he looked the same. He didn’t look like he’d aged a bit, which was one of the benefits of being Mognerthian. Their species lived a long time, and it took decades for them to age as much as most other species aged in a single year.
Xeywyn had the deep green skin that was characteristic of Mognerthians. His three eyes, arranged in a triangle on the center of his forehead, all moved in unison when he looked back and forth. He was tall, with a bald, rounded head like every male of his species.
Most Mognerthians were reserved by nature, acting formal and stiff around strangers. But Toryx had known Xeywyn for so long that the Mognerthian man treated Toryx like an old friend. Toryx hoped that that friendliness would extend to helping Evie and him.
“I need a big favor, Xeywyn. This here is Evie.” Toryx gestured toward Evie, who nodded at Xeywyn. Xeywyn nodded back politely, and then Toryx continued. “Evie and I escaped out of the stormy Zocronian atmosphere, but barely. Our main ship crashed and we barely made it out in the main ship’s emergency dropship.”
“So you need a new ship,” Xeywyn said.
Toryx smiled. “Yes. You catch on quickly. The only problem is that we don’t have money for a ship. We’ll have to buy it on credit.”
Xeywyn frowned. “But all you have to offer as collateral is Zekkardite. And everyone in the Seven Galaxies says Zocrone is done for. No one can get in or out, so certainly no Zekkardite is getting in or out.”
The Alphas of the Seven Galaxies Page 47