As expected, they transferred the explosives to a secondary ship, making him concerned they were ready to leave.
A rustling of boots came from down the corridor to the cockpit. Someone was coming. Seth dashed across the cargo hold and grabbed Samantha under her arm. She protested for a moment, but then she heard the footsteps as well.
They raced down the gangway and were on the surface moments later. Seth whipped his gun around, but still, no one was there, only an empty colony—
And then it hit him…this plaza was familiar. Jinx to the ends of the solar system. He was in Orcus again, which meant Chloe had to be with them. He whirled around, trying to ignore the flashes of painful memories the backdrop provided.
There she was—as beautiful as she had ever been. Chloe stood with her back to him. She was several hundred meters from him, the MSA shuttle slightly hiding her. His eyes locked on her. Her brown hair flipped up as the breeze licked it. A lust tugged at his mind, and he wanted to call out to her.
He controlled himself; otherwise, he would undermine the MSA. He had to steady his focus. She would sense him if he didn’t stay controlled.
He gazed over his shoulder. Samantha bounded through the ruins like a deer heading for cover. He pivoted around and followed her.
Chloe whirled her head around, but she saw only the dust blowing across the lit ground around the MSA shuttle. The background remained dark. Another specter of the past had whispered to her. The colony haunted her, crying out and telling her its pain. She turned back toward the group with a grimace.
She forced herself back into the present.
As Eamonn, Atalo, Parker, and Shannon loaded the last of the explosives into the drone ship, she stood off to the side, not wanting to get in their way. There had been a lot of bickering among the group over the last half hour as they made the transfer. Stress squeezed them. Parker and Shannon squabbled about the right way to install the explosives into the smaller hold, while Eamonn and Atalo argued over proper upgrades to the drone ship.
Swoosh! A great gust of wind blew down on her. The whine of multiple engines screamed in her ears, and then lights swept across the ground.
She reeled backward, swiped her hand down to her holster, and drew her pistol. A giant light blinded her. She lifted her hand to her eyes, trying to shield herself from the light.
To her left, Eamonn and Shannon came running down the drone ship’s gangway, and with three long strides, came to a stop on the surface. They paused, keeping their hands away from their weapons. Instead, they waved toward the oncoming ship.
Chloe’s heart raced. She stepped backward again, unsure of what she should do. She could not see anything beyond the spotlight.
The horrific squeal of two other crafts swept across the colony, kicking dust and debris around her.
She recognized them immediately as Asterfighters—Red Dust and Quartz, if she remembered right. As the spotlight trained on Eamonn and Shannon, the silhouette was unmistakably the Protector. She grinned from ear to ear. She saw her starwing attached to the top.
"Jinx, this is my lucky day," Samantha said, crouching behind the tumbled wall on the western edge of Orcus colony. "Chloe Jones, Eamonn Dalton, Shannon Buckley, Parker McCloud, and now the Protector—add Sarah McCloud and this is more brilliant then a Jovian eclipse."
Seth didn’t reply. He stared down the roadway into the southern plaza of his old colony. He watched as Chloe paced back to the stolen ship with the explosives. The Protector’s arrival had startled her, but she quickly regained her composure as the craft settled into a hover over the plaza.
Currently, it was lowering itself to the surface, settling down on the eastern edge of the colony. A billowing cloud of dust enveloped it. The two smaller Asterfighters settled on the northern edge. A building blocked Seth’s view, and he lost track of Parker and Atalo as they moved toward them as well. Chloe and Eamonn headed directly to the Protector, away from his location. Shannon stayed with the transfer ship.
He went to get up, but Samantha stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder. "We must stay hidden."
"I have to make sure Chloe is safe."
"I already called my security force. They’ll lock down this area without any problems or cost of lives. That group is too important for us to kill outright."
"My old crew has continually given you problems. I’ll make sure she is taken no matter what happens."
"We’re here to observe."
"Jinx to that." He stood and dashed away toward the southern part of the colony, hoping to circle around and catch Chloe on the other side.
When he looked behind him, Samantha was nowhere to be found. He didn’t care, though. He didn’t need her.
The clink-clank of metal under her boots sounded as Chloe ran up the access ramp into the Protector. She peered around. The ship hadn’t changed, from the grease stains across the pipes to the muskiness of stale body odor that never filtered completely out. She loved it.
To the front, down the corridor before her, was the cockpit. Behind her led to engineering and the netting deployment. She moved to the access ladder opposite the access ramp.
She hesitated before she touched the ladder. She stood and then craned her neck to look down the ramp. She knew that taking her starwing and leaving her friends would end their friendship. She had no doubt. It was Seth’s fault, though. He had left her with no choice. She loved him, and there had to be something righteous left within him. There had to be in order for Alexandria to be safe and have a parent. She would die soon enough, leaving Alexandria with Seth. Her daughter had to be with her father. No other choice existed, no matter what she told anyone. Radella wasn’t enough.
She moved to the access ladder, climbed up through the hatch, and moved toward the access tubes for the starwings. Eerie pings echoed off the metal hull as the engines cooled and contracted. Chloe tried to ignore them, but they grated against her fragile nerves, leaving her shaken.
Just before the access tubes, she stopped at the flight lockers. She entered the combination of her old locker, and amazingly, it still worked. When she opened the locker, she found someone else’s flight suit inside, which irked her slightly.
She pulled the flight suit out, and it was about her size. Stripping off her tunic and pants, she changed into it.
Just as she grabbed her helmet, a familiar voice sounded from behind her. "What are you doing here?"
She spun around. "Making sure my starwing still flies."
Parker stepped forward. "I think you are about to do something foolish."
She fretted. "I have to go after him. Alexandria has no other hope then her father."
"She is always welcome in my home."
"If she can’t have a mother, she deserves to have a father. She can’t end up like Seth and me."
"Being you isn’t bad."
Chloe was too worried to find the compliment in his words. "I have a lot of problems that go unspoken. The haunted memories of this colony stay with you. Our trials on Mars."
"My parents gave me up, too. They sent me to military school. Mars has been brutal to a lot of us. But it is still our home, and we have to embrace our unfortunate situations, or they will eat us alive. Just look at Seth for an example."
"You don’t have to lecture me on the nuances of why Seth is the way he is. I have known him for far longer than anyone."
Parker stepped closer to her. "Look. It boils down to this. Eamonn will need you when the Alliance attacks the Solarspot."
Chloe tilted her head slightly. "I wasn’t going to be any more than a distraction during the assault…Why are you here? I thought you were speaking with Red Dust and Quartz."
"To stop you," Parker replied quickly and then looked away from her and down to the metal flooring.
"That isn’t what you said to Eamonn when you told him you needed to speak with your pilots. Don’t lie to me. You were planning to run away as well."
Parker didn’t reply.
Chloe placed
her hand on his forearm. "What is going on? They’ll need you during the battle. The Iron Chunk is the heart of your squadron."
"Sarah is in trouble. She hasn’t replied to any of my messages. I’m afraid Terry has done something to her or will do something soon. I have to find the Alliance fleet to free her."
"And how will you find out where the fleet is?"
"I don’t know. Jinx, Chloe," Parker said emphatically, turning quickly toward her. "I have to try."
"So if I leave, you’ll be forced to stay here."
Parker stayed silent. He moved away from her. His shoulders drooped, sagging like a willow tree.
Chloe had never seen him so dejected, and a wave of guilt and sorrow consumed her mind. It came from him. "I’m sorry. I don’t want you to choose between Sarah and your loyalties to the Alliance. Here, take my helmet. Sarah is more important to the Alliance than Seth will ever be."
Parker twisted back toward her. "Are you sure? I don’t want to come ahead of your family."
"No, it is all right. I committed myself fully to the Alliance. I will stick to my word…I don’t want to hurt you either. Besides, I have to settle the mistake from two years ago."
"I told Eamonn I couldn’t trust you anymore. A chance lurks that Seth will turn up and make you do things against the Alliance you wouldn’t do otherwise. I’m sorry I ever said that about you. The crew abandoned one another. Everyone left me, except you."
"You were right to say that about me," she said. "I would have done anything for him. I was going to run away, but seeing you here, I can’t anymore. I must make this planet safe for Alexandria. She has shown me that good must triumph over evil."
"You still love Seth."
"My love for Seth can’t cloud the line between the two sides. I must stay on the side of good and freedom."
"I don’t understand why you still love him after what he has done."
"You know I sense minds, and his mind is intoxicating to me, almost addictive. Seth and I still have a bond, and I know a part of him that wants to have a family and look after Alexandria. I have to know she is safe before I die. And the best way to do that is to try and make him realize that Alexandria is more important than finding a nonexistent cure for me or enforcing the laws of his perfect society with his MSA friends."
Parker fretted. "How can I orphan your daughter by going to save Sarah?"
She smiled at him. "I have time left. If Sarah is in trouble, she’ll need help right away." She paused for a moment. They stared at each other, searching their doubts. "I’ll tell Eamonn you did it to save your family. He will understand. Plus, if I can take down the metalor shipment, maybe I can see Alexandria a little sooner."
"I love you, Chloe," Parker said. "You have been a great friend to me."
"I have always known you did." She brushed her hand against his cheek. "Now, get out of here before Eamonn figures something is wrong."
"Thanks again. I promise I’ll help you find Seth when I get back."
"I can’t put you in that position. Get your wife. Help the Alliance. Get going."
She pushed him toward the access tube of Seth’s starwing. He climbed up, and she sealed the hatch behind him.
She frowned. Darkness shaded the hatchway to the starwing. Faint and far away, the possibility of saving Seth took another step backward.
The rumble of Parker lifting off shook the compartment, and then the boom of the thrusters jetted him away. Grief overcame her, and she wept.
Thinking about the group, she had to figure out how she was going to explain that Parker left to save his wife, and hurry them up. She had no doubt the MSA would find them soon.
She groaned and headed to the access ladder. Everything was about to intertwine into a new level of complexity.
The pinkish-yellow hue of the sunrise over Eamonn’s shoulder was a perfect complement to the redness in his face. Chloe listened while her former captain reacted in much the manner she expected him to. Except he hadn’t said it was wrong.
She let him finish and said calmly, "You can berate me for ten more minutes, or we can get out of here before the MSA fighters come. Parker is gone. Nothing you or I can do about it now."
"He left without saying a word to anyone?"
"Would you have understood his reasons?"
"I left Madelyn on Mars and helped the Alliance get Lunara back. I’m beginning to think that I made the wrong choice. The Alliance consists of miscreants…maybe the MSA has a point."
Chloe set her jaw. "Shannon is here. Atalo is here. Parker’s squadron is here. I’m here, and I need you to help save Alexandria from the MSA. We can still pull this off. We need your leadership."
"Eamonn and I don’t need any of this," Shannon said, stepping toward her.
Chloe turned to face her.
"If you remember, Eamonn said he didn’t want to be a part of it, and I’m happy to continue to follow him. Why should we carry on if Parker believes his wife failed, and we’ll get no support from the Alliance fleet?"
"Because we know this is our final shot at crippling the MSA. Jinx to the Alliance fleet. We can still win. We have Captain Eamonn Dalton," Chloe said, her gaze shifting to Eamonn. "Do you remember him?"
But he didn’t look at her. His gaze shifted to the distant sky. "Oh no," he said. He put an arm across Chloe’s shoulder.
Shannon pressed her binoculars up to her face, zooming toward the specks in the distance. "MSA fleet, coming in. They are about a hundred kilometers away. Five minutes ETA. We have to get out of here."
"Everybody hold," a voice said from behind.
It was Seth. Chloe clenched her teeth and then gnashed them in a circular fashion. She whipped around, drew her gun, and fired at him.
She fired at me!
Seth dove, sprawling across the ground, behind a partially torn-down wall. Had it not been for his abilities, she would have killed him.
Everyone ran away, except Chloe. She aimed toward his head and fired again.
He ducked, bullets kicking up dirt behind him. "You don’t think you can kill me, do you? I can avoid your fire."
"Then why do you hide?"
"I don’t want to hurt you. I want you to come willingly."
"Leave me alone. You should save yourself first. Alexandria will need your guidance when I am gone. Please come back to us."
"I refuse the idea that you will be gone, Chloe. Both of you need to come and live within the MSA in Zephyria. We are Zephyrian."
"Look around; we are from Orcus. Your mother’s memory haunts you from all around."
"Ghosts?"
"I feel my family," she said, with a queer smirk on her face. Was she enjoying the return? "Would she like you to act like this? To abandon her with dishonor?"
"I honor her by holding out hope for you. There is a cure. I know it is true. I followed you here so I could speak with you…to show you the error of your ways."
Chloe scoffed. "Don’t kid yourself. You came to hunt down the rest of the Alliance. More specifically, Parker and Eamonn."
"And they will be caught. You see the MSA fleet coming toward us. They will foil your ill-advised plans," he said, poking his head out from behind the wall.
Chloe fired another shot at him.
He ducked again. "Surrender to me, Chloe."
"If I come with you, I am dead. Gwen wants me dead."
"You lie," Seth said from between his clenched teeth. "She promised your safety to me."
"In exchange for what…going to bed with her. I know about it."
Purposefully, Seth changed the subject. "Where is Alexandria? I don’t want the fleet to hurt her as well."
"She is hidden in a place that you will never find her. An Alliance triumph over your MSA will be the only time she will step into the daylight again. You’ll never get to her as long as you still cling to the MSA."
Seth’s eyes glossed over as three strong emotions flooded his mind. First, anger at the image of his dead mother lying along the road, the same ang
er that had consumed him in the moments after he had found her. Secondly, pure heartbreak as Chloe stood tattered and bloody, wandering the streets of Orcus and yet to realize that her family was never coming back. Finally, having no way of stopping it, surprise and horror as he saw Chloe with Alexandria in her arms, firing her sonic pistol at him.
"No!" he screamed. He popped up, aimed his pistol and—
There was no one. Chloe was a hundred paces ahead of him, only meters from the access ramp of the Protector. She had tricked him. She had entered his mind at a weak moment and distracted him.
"Why are you cowering behind a wall when she is getting away?" Samantha said from beside him.
He lowered his gun. "She did something to me. It won’t happen again."
"The fleet will be here shortly. Don’t worry about it."
"Eamonn will never surrender the Protector, and that will mean Chloe will die as well."
Samantha walked away from him. "She will be dead soon anyway. What does it even matter? The destruction of the last remnants of the Alliance is at hand."
Chapter 20
Chloe staggered as the engines to the Protector activated and shook the ship beneath her feet. She headed for the cockpit to help Eamonn. With Shannon piloting the drone ship, he was alone, and the Protector was a handful without having to worry about the piloting.
Looking back to make sure the gangplank had closed securely, she swept the cuff of her jacket across her eyes, wiping away the tears. She reassured herself that the Alliance and Alexandria were more important than Seth. He started it. She was justified in what she had done to him. Even if he could avoid the bullets she fired at him, she wanted to send a message, and when he dove away, cowering behind the wall, she had his attention. Hopefully, some glimmer of the consequences he inflicted on his family had sunk in.
The indicator light to the gangway changed from red to green, showing that pressurization was complete. She slipped into the cockpit and saw Eamonn alone at the pilot controls.
He turned toward her. "What are you doing here? Get off my ship."
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 83