Dira, several paces behind him, screamed. She was pinned to the rear flight deck bulkhead. Before her stood a scaly-skinned, lizard-like creature—easily as big as a man. Jason pulled for his sidearm and aimed for the creature, but he had to move sideways to avoid hitting Dira by mistake.
“Dad!”
Jason kept his energy weapon trained on the creature and stole a quick glance toward Mollie.
“Don’t shoot it. It’s friendly.”
Jason took another look at the creature, now sniffing at Dira’s feet; its long tongue licked at her boots.
“Could use a little help here,” Brian said, emerging from the shuttle. Nan’s limp body lay unconscious in his outstretched arms.
Jason hesitated as he took in the sight of his older brother. Dressed in strange clothes, Brian had a crude bloody bandage encircling the top of his head, covering one eye.
Jason ran forward and took Nan’s body from him. Her forehead was bandaged and her face was white, almost blue, and lifeless. Mollie was at his side, hugging his legs, and looking up at him.
“Don’t let her die, Dad.”
Jason, with Nan in his arms, turned and headed out of the flight deck. He reached The Lilly’s nearest DeckPort in three strides and they emerged on Deck 4. Moments later he placed Nan’s body into an open MediPod. Dira, out of breath, joined him at his side. She checked Nan’s pulse, then moved to the MediPod’s small control panel.
The top of the MediPod started to close as Mollie ran into Medical. Tears brimming, she looked up at Jason, and then at Dira.
“Will she be okay?”
Jason looked to Dira for an answer, not knowing what to tell his daughter.
“I think so,” she said.
A virtual representation of Nan’s body was now displayed above the MediPod. They kept their eyes riveted on her chest area, where her heart would register a beat.
Jason reflected that it wasn’t so long ago he had watched Mollie as she lay in the same MediPod: stone cold dead from a plasma shot to the heart. She’d survived. Now he stared at Nan’s slowly turning virtual representation, willing for her heart to start beating.
“Come on, Nan!” Jason yelled, startling both Mollie and Dira.
Soon they were all yelling for Nan to come back to them.
“Come on, Nan!”
“Don’t give up—come back to us, Mom!”
Jason noticed his brother was leaning against the entrance to Medical. If what Mollie had said was true, he had saved her life. Perhaps there was hope for him after all. Some woman, unfamiliar to Jason, stood at his brother’s side.
“I saw it beat!” Mollie screamed.
Jason looked back to the display. Nothing.
“I saw it, Dad. I did.”
He gave Mollie a reassuring smile, but wondered if she had only hoped she’d seen something.
“I saw it, too,” Brian said, now standing at Jason’s side.
Then Jason also saw it. Nan’s heart was beating. Mollie screamed, then Dira screamed. Brian casually lifted a hand up in the air and Jason high-fived his brother. Jason held his arms wide open. Mollie, still jumping and screaming, leapt into her father’s arms.
Jason was hailed. He ignored it for several seconds, then acknowledged the XO.
“Go for Captain.”
“We have a new contact, Captain.”
* * *
Jason entered The Lilly’s bridge and made his way to the command chair. “Put it up on the display. Zoom to full screen.”
McBride let out a long whoooo. “Thing’s as big as a dreadnought.”
“Captain, we’ve seen that ship before,” Perkins said.
“Yes, we have. It’s Caldurian—the Minian.”
Again, Jason was struck by the vessel’s similarity to The Lilly. The same sleek, elegant lines, but it was a much larger-scaled ship.
“Captain, the Minian is charging weapons. She’s firing on us.”
Jason barely had enough time to sit down before teeth-rattling jolts rocked The Lilly.
“Shields are gone, Captain. Damage reported on all decks.”
“Phase-shift us into the Independence. Now!”
To be continued…
Thank you for reading Space Vengeance. If you enjoyed this book and would like to see the series continue, please leave a review on Amazon.com – it really helps! To be notified of the soon-to-be released next Scrapyard Ship book, Realms of Time, contact [email protected], Subject Line: Realms of Time List. I truly love hearing from the readers of my books—again, thank you…
Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance Page 27