A flare of power showed up on her sensors, like a blazing ball of white fire. The warship disintegrated before her eyes.
The second Zi’i warship, floating right above it, fired its thrusters and reared back like a stallion. But it also shot its weapons. Two beams of energy slammed into the unshielded, damaged Star Striker. Had Arkyn run to some escape pod as soon as he fired that torpedo? Would he get out in time?
Pinpoint energy beams struck the back of the Star Striker, not quick bursts but steady streams that poured into the engine section.
“Do we fire at that ship, Zakota?” Katie whispered.
They were flying away from the warships, heading toward the cube while Arkyn bought them time, but maybe they were still in weapons range.
Before Zakota could reply, the Star Striker blew. The hull exploded, sending shrapnel in a million directions.
The remains of the ship hung limply in space, lifeless.
“Arkyn,” Zakota barked over the comm. “Arkyn, did you make it out?”
Katie watched his shuttle on her sensors, thinking he might turn back. If there was some escape pod to pick up, would he go for it now? Or wait until they’d accomplished their mission?
“Arkyn!”
As far as Katie could tell, the lieutenant did not respond, and dread settled in her gut. It had been her idea for Arkyn to stay behind.
“There wasn’t time,” Orion said quietly from her side. “He couldn’t have fired that torpedo and made it back to the escape pods. And the sensors didn’t show one being launched.” He sighed, pointing to the display. “He bought us time with his life.”
Katie barely knew the man, but tears formed in her eyes.
“But did he buy us enough time?” Zakota asked.
One of the warships harrying them had been destroyed, but the second turned, its fang-like nose pointing toward them. Its multiple thrusters fired, and it gave chase.
Katie looked bleakly at the controls in front of her, as if she might suddenly figure out some way to increase their speed, but she already had them at maximum power. And it wasn’t enough.
The warship was gaining on them.
13
Zakota ran velocity equations through his head as he flew the shuttle toward the weapons platform. The giant cube, its hull bristling with rockets pointed at Dethocoles, loomed much larger ahead of them now, but it would still take them five minutes to reach it. And it would only take the warship behind them three minutes to catch up. In less than one minute, it would be within firing range.
The shuttle’s sturdy hull might have been enough against the Heloran inquisitors, but he had no delusions that it could withstand even one blow from a Zi’i warship.
“You doing all right, Katie?” Zakota asked, realizing the odds were against both of them making it. But maybe one of them could.
He thought of Arkyn's sacrifice and grimaced. He didn’t want his life to end the same way, and he was frustrated that his colleague had chosen to buy the combat teams time with his life, but it was their duty to ensure the mission was carried out. Would he have made a different choice?
A part of him loathed Sagitta for giving them this mission, but he couldn’t shirk from it. He’d taken the Star Guardian oath, and he would fight to defend humanity every bit as hard as space fleet officers would.
“Fine so far,” she said, her voice remarkably calm. She had to see that warship bearing down on them too.
“Guess we’re getting that race we talked about.”
“This isn’t exactly how I imagined it.”
“Me neither.” He checked the sensors—less than thirty seconds until the warship came into firing range. No time for banter. “I’m going to fly back and try to make a nuisance of myself. I want you to keep going. Have you located the shaft opening?”
“What do you mean a nuisance?” Katie demanded, speaking at the same time as Orion.
He said, “I’ve located the shaft on the sensors. A forcefield is still covering it.”
“You’ll have to chat with your brother about that,” Zakota said. “He hasn’t sent the code yet.”
“He probably wants to dramatically deliver it in the nick of time,” Orion grumbled.
“Zakota,” Katie said, irritation seeping into her voice. She was clearly not a woman who liked being ignored. “Don’t fly back and do anything stupid.”
“I was envisioning it as heroic.” Zakota reversed thrusters to take his shuttle back toward the warship. He zigzagged its path and flew downward, hoping to make their enemy shift course in order to aim more effectively at him.
“It’s stupid. Get your dumb ass back here.”
“I love you too,” he said dryly.
“Damn it.”
“Yes, that’s a pretty typical response to me sharing my affections with women.”
One of the men on his combat team snorted. Hammer, probably. Zakota was too busy piloting to look back and check.
A shadow fell over the shuttle, another ship blotting out the sun from above, and an alarm flashed on the sensor panel. Shit, he hadn’t been paying attention to the other vessels battling out here. He’d been too focused on the warship.
The warship that was now firing at him.
He spun the shuttle, jerking and jumping in the sky like wind chimes in a hurricane. The first round of fire streaked past, missing them by inches. The second ship—
He checked the sensors as it flew over them. It could have fired almost point blank and obliterated them.
But it had a winged shape. A Star Guardian ship.
As it skimmed past, he read the name on the hull. The Falcon 8.
He laughed as it fired at the warship, and then clenched his fist. It wasn’t simply en-bolts. One of Hierax’s modified torpedoes launched from its tubes.
The Zi’i had to be wary of those torpedoes by now. Indeed, the ship switched direction so quickly, it jerked noticeably, and one of its thrusters extinguished.
It wouldn’t have mattered. As close as the Falcon 8 was, the warship did not have time to escape. The torpedo forced its shield down, lodged in its hull, and destroyed the ship with some power only Hierax knew and understood. And maybe even he didn’t know it fully.
The comm flashed on.
“You’re going in the wrong direction, Zakota,” Sagitta said.
“Shit, sir. I knew I got turned around somewhere.”
Zakota amended the situation, changing direction and speeding off after Katie’s shuttle. They were two minutes from the cube, even less for her.
The fire falcon came around to follow him, flying protectively behind the shuttle. The winged ship’s shields were up—his sensors told him that much—but char marks painted the side where the Falcon had clearly been hit. Shards of the hull had been melted away, and a portion of it lay open, exposed to space. The shields must have been down at one point. Hierax and his assistants had to be working triple-time over there.
“That was our last special torpedo,” Sagitta said quietly. “Get in and out as quickly as you can.”
“Yes, sir. Do you have—”
“Transmitting it now. To both of you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Zakota accelerated as much as he could in the shuttle, wanting to catch up to Katie’s craft. But she had the lead in this race. He was tempted to tell her to back off, to let him by so he could go in first, but they might need that extra thirty seconds. The battle still raged around the cube, Zi’i warships trading fire with Confederation space fleet vessels.
“Less than a minute,” he announced.
Men shuffled behind him, checking their weapons for the fifth time. They were more than ready to open the hatch and storm into the cube to disable it.
Zakota glanced back and spotted Renshu with the case that held Hierax’s warhead. Zakota and Katie had the last two of those weapons. If they didn’t succeed, he didn’t see how the weapons platform could be disabled.
As he closed on the cube, a fleet warship streak
ed in and strafed it with fire. Absolutely nothing happened to the sturdy metal hull.
But something happened elsewhere on the giant cube. One of the rocket-like devices that had stuck out earlier, presumably arming itself, launched.
Zakota jumped, startled by the abruptness, the lack of warning. Though he wasn’t sure why. Why would the Zi’i warn them of an attack?
The rocket sped toward Dethocoles, toward one of the major cities. The capital?
Several warships fired at the rocket as it flew past them. But it was shielded, as if it were a ship itself.
One of the fleet ships closer to the planet altered its path and dove into the path of the rocket. The vessel must have had shields, but it didn’t matter. The rocket slammed into the ship and exploded with enough power to level half a planet. Brilliant white filled the black sky, dwarfing the brightness of the distant sun. When the light faded, the ship was gone.
“Fuck,” Zakota whispered, knowing the crew hadn’t had time to get to escape pods.
“We’ve reached the shaft,” Katie said. “Forcefield is up. We’re trying the transmission.”
Zakota tore his gaze from the remains of the fleet ship, an entire ship that had sacrificed itself for the lives of those on the planet. The damn weapons platform had a dozen other rockets sticking out, ready to deploy. What if it fired them all at once?
He had to get his team in and destroy it first.
14
The side of the cube filled the holographic display, the blue-black metal hull seeming to swallow the light of the sun and the stars instead of reflecting it back. A few trenches and panels marked the otherwise flat surface, and Katie followed one of those trenches now, reminded of the scene in Star Wars where Luke had to hit a bull’s-eye. Too bad she couldn’t just shoot at a target and destroy this thing.
Ahead of her, the trench transitioned into a shaft, diving into the interior of the cube. According to the sensors, a forcefield covered the entrance. That entrance looked more like an airlock than the vent or duct cover she had expected, like something ships were actually meant to use. She decided to find that promising, so long as they didn’t crash into a Zi’i shuttle on its way out.
“Transmitting Dr. Tala’s song,” Orion said.
Katie kept going, knowing she could pull up at the last moment if needed.
She watched the area nearby as she closed, half expecting TIE fighters to streak out of hiding with some furry Darth Vader in command of the squadron. But so far, neither the weapons platform nor its crew had done anything to impede her approach. Maybe whoever was inside thought a shuttle was too small to waste a rocket on.
“Nothing’s happening,” Katie said, ready to twitch her fingers in the gel, to swing them out of the trench if need be. “The forcefield is still up.”
“If it doesn’t work, there’s nothing else we can do,” Orion said.
“Dropping the warhead out the door won’t work, huh?”
“Doubtful,” Orion said. “I think we’re going to need to plant it somewhere sensitive.”
“How about up some Zi’i commander’s ass?”
“If the case will fit, I’m game.”
“Try transmitting again,” Katie said, starting to pull up. “Or is there another opening we can try?”
A beep came from the sensor display.
“Wait, it’s down,” Orion blurted.
Katie made a quick adjustment. They dipped back down and sailed through the opening.
The shaft was unlit inside, but their running lights shined on more blue-black metal, revealing a continuation of the trench, now fully enclosed. Covered conduits ran along the sides. Maybe that was Zi’i plumbing, carrying their waste out to dump into space.
“We’re in too,” Zakota said over the comm, the words probably for his captain rather than her.
Katie could see his shuttle following them, his lights bright on her rear display.
“There are hatches on the sides of the shaft,” Orion said, pointing as one whizzed past.
Katie slowed their speed. “Are we supposed to stop at one or keep going to the end?”
Orion shrugged, his armored shoulders lifting. “As far as I’ve heard, intel doesn’t have any schematics on the inside. We’re just hoping that our team can find a good spot to place bombs.”
“No Bothan spies in this galaxy, eh?”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
They passed another dark hatch. The sensors were having trouble taking readings in the shaft, and Katie had no idea if a more promising landing spot was coming up.
“These shuttles don’t have airlocks, do they?” Katie asked, thinking of the single hatch on the side.
“No, but we can shoot out in our armor and cut our way in. We brought tools for that.”
“What happens to me when you open the hatch, and I’m inside? Without armor?”
Orion pressed a button on a side panel, a buzz sounded, and a pulse of light came from behind Katie. He reached back and touched a transparent field—an internal forcefield?
“This will hold atmosphere in the cockpit area here,” he said.
“How come you knew about that and I didn’t?” Katie squinted as the lights played over something ahead. A bulkhead? A dead end in the shaft?
“Hierax told me about that feature. I asked earlier if Zakota could pilot us without going back for his armor.”
“But not about me?”
“At the time, I didn’t know you were flying. Or coming along. Zakota ended up having his armor brought over, but I guess nobody thought about you.”
Yeah, because nobody on the Falcon knew she was here. She couldn’t blame anybody except herself for that.
The shaft ended, and Katie slowed them further. “We’re going to have to back track to one of those hatches, I guess. Wait, there’s something to the sides.”
She dropped the shuttle to a hover at the end. Wide alcoves opened to either side. The conduits turned into them, and pipes, tanks, and strange machinery occupied much of the space. There was enough room for a shuttle to land. For two shuttles to land.
“I’m parking here, Zakota,” Katie said as soon as she checked the sensors to make sure there weren’t more forcefields blocking the way.
“Right behind you.”
She settled them onto the deck, the shuttle’s nose touching something that looked like a giant power generator.
“Any chance we can dump the warhead out here?” she asked.
Or maybe they could cut through some of those conduits. How effective could a weapons platform crew be with raw sewage flowing all over the place?
“Our teams will take a closer look when they go out,” Zakota said. “It sure would be nice if the machinery out there was critical to operations, and our mission could be that easily accomplished.”
Judging by his tone, he didn’t think that would be the case.
Katie wondered if anyone on the combat team had expertise with machinery and infrastructure. Were they all just fighters? If so, how would they know enough to choose a good target? Maybe Hierax had given them some instructions before sending them off.
Orion patted her on the shoulder, pressed the button to lower the interior barrier, stepped out, and waved for her to bring it up again. He fastened his helmet as he joined the other men at the hatch. The ensigns were also fully suited up, and one carried the warhead case under his arm.
Katie raised the interior barrier again.
“Wish us luck,” Orion said, and tapped the hatch controls.
“Good luck,” Katie murmured, trying not to think of Lieutenant Arkyn and the horrifying way the warship had blown up. So much for Sagitta’s battle prize.
“Magnetize your boots, boys,” Mikolos said, stepping forward to lead the way out.
The hatch opened, and fear rushed into Katie’s heart as she heard the air whooshing out. She gripped the console, imagining her legs flying up as she was sucked out into space. But the forcefield protected he
r, and not so much as a console alarm went on.
The men strode out in their armor, their magnetized boots keeping them from floating out of the shuttle. Since Katie could see walls and a floor out there, it was strange to think that there was no gravity or atmosphere, but that was presumably the case. She couldn’t read the sensor display to know for certain. If she stayed out here in space instead of going back to Earth, she would have to learn Dethocolean. Or Zi’i. Thanks to the Star Guardian device jury-rigged into the console, both languages displayed. Zi’i looked like chicken scratches, though, so even a Hooked on Phonics course probably wouldn’t teach her to read it.
The last man—Bystrom—walked out. None of them had bothered to tell her when they would be back or what she was supposed to do if they didn’t come back. She figured they were chattering to each other on their helmet comms, and maybe they’d filled Zakota in on their plans, but she couldn’t help but feel ostracized. It would have been nice if one of them had acknowledged that her flying had been fine on the way over here, despite their reservations.
Katie sighed to herself. “This isn’t the time to be self-absorbed, girl.”
At least Orion had given her a pat before leaving.
“Are you talking to yourself over there, Katie?” came Zakota’s drawl over the comm.
She smiled. At least she wasn’t completely alone.
“I have to. Nobody else will.”
“Oh? Was your combat team not suitably charming and conversational?”
“No on both accounts. How was your team?”
“They were too busy talking about how they were going to blow things up to bother me. And I was too busy worrying about everything else.” For his next words, his voice grew lower, the drawl disappearing, along with all his humor. “Arkyn didn’t make it.”
“I saw. I’m sorry. I wish—I shouldn’t have suggested he stay on the ship.”
Zakota: Star Guardians, Book 5 Page 17