The Chains of Freedom (Starhawke Rising Book 2)

by Audrey Sharpe

  Mya smiled. “I’d love that.” She glanced at Aurora. “You coming?”

  Aurora avoided looking at either of them as she shook her head. “You two go ahead. I need to check on Kelly’s progress with the landing platform.”

  She was down the stairs and out of sight before he or Mya could respond.

  “Can’t stay still for two minutes at a time,” Mya murmured, her gaze on the spot where Aurora had disappeared. She sighed. “But I’d still love that tour.” She rested her hand on his upper arm, her eyes filled with understanding.

  He took comfort from her touch. “Then follow me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “MIND IF I JOIN YOU?”

  Justin looked up from his quiet contemplation of the campfire. Bella stood over him, a plate of food in one hand and a mug in the other.

  He gestured to the empty space on the rock next to him. “Be my guest.” He returned his gaze to the fire.

  “Nice night.” Bella sat down and settled her plate on her lap. “I’m glad the winds stopped,” she added as she lifted her mug to her lips.

  He gave a non-committal grunt.

  She set the mug down with a thunk. “Okay Byrnsie, what’s up with you?”

  He glanced at her in surprise.

  “You’ve been pensive and withdrawn ever since you came back last night.”

  Apparently she’d been watching him. “I’ve just been thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “The teens.”

  “What about them?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, where steel rods had taken up permanent residence. “Last night, as I was watching Raaveen and Sparw healing Paaw’s ankle, my brain was spinning. I kept thinking of all the implications, all that we’d learned about them over the past couple months. The enormity of what was happening in front of me.” He paused, trying to put his feelings into words.

  “Go on,” she prompted gently.

  He sighed. “I pictured their future. Then I pictured my future. And I realized how completely different those two realities will be.” He stared at his boots as the tension rods extended from his neck down to his back. He met Bella’s gaze. “After the new settlement is finished, we’ll never see them again.”

  Bella’s blue eyes filled with compassion. “And you hate that idea.”

  “Yes. No.” He returned his attention to the fire. “I don’t know.”

  “You’ve been spending a lot of time with them. It’s understandable that you’d miss seeing them when they’re gone.”

  “I know. But it’s more than that. Working with them, first with the stealth pods and then gathering the plants, I’ve seen so much potential. They can do anything they set their minds to.”

  “And you want to see those abilities develop.”

  He rested his elbows on his knees. “Yeah. I guess I do.” But he’d never have that opportunity. In fact, they probably only had a few weeks before the Starhawke crew would arrive, and that would be the end of that. The teens would vanish from his life like a puff of smoke.

  “Because you care about them.”

  Immediately his brain spit out a denial. “No, that’s not it. I mean yeah, they’re great kids, but I’m not emotionally invested or anything. I just hate the idea that I’ll never know how they turn out.”

  “Hate?” Bella peered at him. “That’s a pretty strong word considering you’re not emotionally invested.”

  The tension in his gut told him she was right, but he resisted. “Are you saying it doesn’t bother you?”

  “Of course it does. Some of them are becoming tech wizards. I’ve never had such attentive students. They want to know everything, and they follow instructions really well. I’d love to watch those talents come to fruition.” She set her plate aside. “But that’s not up to us.”

  “I know.” He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “It doesn’t matter. They’ll be so happy in their new home they won’t even realize we’re gone.” And he needed to start thinking in the same way.

  Bella laid her hand on his shoulder. “Justin, don’t do that.”

  He glanced at her. “Do what?”

  “Cut yourself off from those kids.”

  “I’m not. It’s the situation, not me.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not talking about the day they leave. I’m talking about right now. I can see the change happening already. You’re shutting down, closing them out in order to save yourself from the pain of saying goodbye. That’s selfish.”

  He frowned. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

  She sighed. “Byrnsie, you know I love you, but you’re so wrong. I’ve never seen you get emotionally invested in anyone except maybe Cade, and I think that’s only because you expect to work with him until the day you die.”

  She was right about Cade. But she was wrong that Cade was the only one he was emotionally invested in. He couldn’t imagine his life without her in it, either.

  The corners of her mouth pinched. “Trust me on this. Please.” Her hand gripped his forearm. “Don’t shut them out. They love being around you and learning from you. It means a lot to them. They need you right now. And I think you need them, too.”

  Point. Set. Match. She was right and he was wrong. Might as well be honest. “I’m going to miss them.”

  “Me, too.” Her focus shifting to a spot over his shoulder. “You have a visitor.”

  He glanced to his left. Paaw was approaching, her steps tentative, like she didn’t want to interrupt them.

  “Hey, Paaw.” He cleared his empty plate off the rock to make room for her. “Have you eaten? I could go get you something.”

  The teen shook her head as she perched next to him. “I eat earlier.”

  “How’s your ankle?” Bella asked.

  Paaw shrugged. “It is good.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  Paaw shook her head. “More healing with mother and Maanee.” She gestured to where her younger sister sat with a group of children across the way. “No damage now.”

  Bella smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

  Paaw lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

  “Do you need something?” Justin asked.

  Paaw folded her hands in her lap. “The plants. On the hill. We did not get.”

  It took him a moment to figure out what she was referring to. “You mean the shrubs you’d wanted to bring back for your mother?”

  “Yes. We go get now?”

  He should have anticipated this. Paaw had been a little agitated the night before after they’d unpacked the stealth pods and the plants, but he’d assumed it was about her ankle. He’d forgotten that the reason she’d started climbing the hill in the first place was to obtain a gift for her mother.

  He frowned. “You want to make a special trip just to get the shrubs?”

  She nodded, her pale blue eyes full of hope. “Yes. Go tonight.”

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a simple request. He seriously doubted Cade would agree to lead the team on a two hour round trip just to pick up a couple plants. Their main job was protecting the Suulh, and that meant keeping the team on site as much as possible. Gathering large quantities of plants for the greenhouse benefitted everyone and balanced out the risk factors of having three team members away from camp for several hours. But this situation didn’t. “I don’t know, Paaw. We don’t really need to go on another run.”

  Paaw’s disappointment showed in every line of her body, but she didn’t argue. Her gaze shifted to the ground as she started to rise.

  She looked so dejected that he reached out on impulse and grabbed her forearm. “Wait a minute. I have an idea.” He wasn’t certain Cade would go for his alternative, but he could probably talk him into it. After all, Cade had a soft spot for the teens, too. “If Cade will allow it, maybe you and I could take one pod and fetch the plants so we wouldn’t have to pull the rest of the team off their regular work rotation.”

  Paaw’s face lit up and she gave him an
impulsive hug. His chest constricted as he hugged her back. He also said a silent prayer that Cade wouldn’t shoot him down.

  He found Cade on the bridge and explained his plan.

  “I don’t want to disappoint that kid, either,” Cade said. “I feel bad that she got injured on our watch, even if she was able to heal the damage.” He leaned back in his chair. “But if you’re going to do this, you need to take two pods, not one. That way you can still use the harness rather than trying to balance the plants while you’re driving.”

  “In that case, would you have any objection to my bringing Raaveen and Sparw rather than someone from our team?” Justin asked. “Raaveen’s a damn good driver, and if she’s in charge of the other pod, I can focus on the scanners. We’d also get the plants out of the ground and our tracks covered a lot quicker with the three of them working together.”

  Cade folded his arms across his chest. “I guess that’s okay. The quicker you can get out and back the better. Just be careful.”

  “Always.”

  Raaveen and Sparw were thrilled with the opportunity. Within minutes they were retracing their path from the previous night. Raaveen flashed him a wide grin. She also drove the pod like she’d been born to it.

  They made excellent time. As they drew close to their destination, he kept his focus on the scanners. The herd of cow-like herbivores had returned to graze on the plateau above the ravine, but otherwise everything looked clear. They took the pods up the hill rather than leaving them in the grove so they could minimize footprints and load the shrubs directly into the harness.

  Paaw and Sparw worked on one plant while he and Raaveen teamed up to dig out a second one. The ground in this area was drier than in the grove, so it required more effort to free the root systems. Justin supported the branches of the shrub while Raaveen working to coax the plant out of the ground.

  A sudden burst of pain like a solar flare cut into his right shoulder and his fingers clenched, snapping one of the branches in half.

  He sucked in a breath as a second flash bloomed in the back of his left thigh. In his peripheral vision, he caught a glimpse of a crude arrow sticking out from his leg. But that didn’t hold his attention for long. His focus shifted over his shoulder as a dense pack of quadrupeds stampeded down the hillside toward them.

  Several of the creatures rose onto their hind legs and took aim. Definitely not herbivores. The furred bodies underneath revealed the truth. The attackers were Meer wrapped in the skins of the cow-like hooved animals.

  Raaveen bolted to her feet, raising her trowel like a dagger and snarling at the approaching figures as she placed herself in front of Justin.

  But this wasn’t the first time he’d been injured in a surprise attack. He was far from helpless. Ignoring the agony in his leg, he hauled himself upright and palmed his pistol in his left hand so he could cradle his right arm against his abdomen to keep his shoulder immobile.

  Paaw and Sparw had also risen, although they seemed confused by the sudden turn of events. “Get behind the pods!” he shouted as he fired several shots at the Meer. He aimed for their legs rather than their chests in the hope it would halt their charge. It didn’t. The ones he’d struck stumbled, but those behind sent a volley of arrows his way.

  And they were definitely aiming at him. The teens followed his orders, crouching behind the pods. He lurched toward them but the two arrows embedded in his skin slowed his movements. A third nailed his left bicep. He lost feeling in his hand and the pistol slipped out of his grasp as he staggered.

  That’s when the teens took over. Raaveen and Sparw leapt on the pods while Paaw snatched the pistol he’d dropped and fired at the Meer. Sparw reached out a hand to help Justin up. The kid had surprising strength for his age. Justin managed to sling his leg over the back of the pod, but a screech of pain and anger halted his movements.

  Raaveen was clutching her left forearm with her right hand, an arrow protruding from her left wrist. Paaw made an attempt to reach the pod’s controls around Raaveen’s body, but four of the Meer intercepted the teens first, hauling them off the pod and pressing sharp claws against their throats.

  They barked at Sparw and flashed their pointed teeth. Sparw raised his hands away from the pod controls.

  The Meer moved in, one of them grabbing onto the arrow that poked out of Justin’s shoulder. The resulting river of agony brought his upper body parallel to the ground. He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and then everything went black.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “HOW LONG HAVE they been gone?” Cade stopped pacing as he waited for Reynolds to reply.

  “Three hours, thirty-seven minutes.”

  Too long. Too damn long. And no communication from Justin.

  He turned to Gonzo at the bridge’s tactical station. “What about on the perimeter scanners?”

  Gonzo was all business, devoid of his usual mirth. “Nothing. Wherever they are, they’re not in range of the sensors.”

  “Drew, any sign of ships in orbit?” If their mysterious enemy had tracked them to Burrow, this could be the first move to reclaim the Suulh.

  “Not that we can see,” she said, “but we have a limited field of vision. If a ship approached from the other side of the planet, we’d never know.”

  Cade stared at the floor. Why had he agreed to let Justin take the kids out alone? It had seemed like a reasonable request at the time, but that was before his number one had failed to return. Now Cade had some hard decisions to make. “I need recommendations.”

  Gonzo rested his elbows on his knees. “We have one pod left, which could take two of us. Other than that, the only transports are the ship itself and your jetbike.” Gonzo grimaced. “And that thing can raise the dead.”

  Very true. It was incredibly fast and could carry three passengers in a pinch, which was why he had it. But in this case, he might as well set off a cannon to announce their presence.

  Williams crossed his arms as he leaned against the bulkhead. “Any chance they encountered the Meer and had to take an alternate route?”

  Cade had thought of that, too. “Possibly, but Justin would have reported in if that was the case.”

  Gonzo nodded. “If they had a problem with one of the pods, they would have contacted us or sent the other one back for help. And the kids could handle any injury situation, just as they did last night.”

  “They’re late and silent,” Cade said. “We have to assume someone’s detained them. No other explanation makes sense.”

  “Justin would have to be incapacitated before he’d break off communication.” Reynolds’s voice matched the flatness in her eyes. “They may be dead.”

  Cade refused to even consider that possibility. Justin was his closest friend, and he didn’t want to believe that a generous impulse had led to his demise. “I don’t want speculation. I want answers. We have one pod left. We need to make it count.” He motioned to Reynolds and Williams. “I’m sending you two out first. Keep a channel open and report in at five-minute intervals. No exceptions.”

  “Got it.” Reynolds rose from her chair and checked the weapons in her utility belt.

  Cade placed a restraining hand on her arm. “No matter what you find, do not engage. Reconnaissance only. Understood?”

  Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  As Williams and Reynolds left the bridge, he turned to Gonzo. “I want a physical perimeter check of our position. Look for any weak points we may have missed. If someone’s figured out we’re here, we need to be prepared.”

  “On it.” Gonzo headed out the door.

  That left Drew. “Gather everyone in the med bay. Let them know the situation and make sure they’re ready for a quick departure on my command.”

  “They won’t like the idea of leaving Justin and the kids behind.” Her blue eyes reflected the same worry he felt. She was close to Justin, too.

  “That’s not my plan, but we can’t allow the Suulh to fall into enemy
hands, either. See if you can boost the ship’s scanners to locate Justin’s comband or the pods. Alert me immediately if you pick up any signals.”

  Less than an hour later, Williams and Reynolds checked in from the grove where Justin had taken the teens.

  “No sign of them here,” Williams said, “but there’s a mess of footprints coming down the hill that don’t belong to Justin or the kids. And Reynolds found blood on the ground.”

  Cade’s jaw tightened. He’d been expecting something like this, but having it confirmed didn’t help. “Setarips?”

  “Definitely not. That’s the good news. The shape and size looks like Meer.”

  At least they weren’t dealing with an enemy from above. But why would the Meer attack Justin and the teens? “What about the pods? Are they there?”

  Reynolds replied. “No. We can see Meer tracks heading off to the east but no boot prints. It looks like they took Justin and the kids on the pods.”

  “Are you picking anything up on scanners?”

  “Not yet, but these tracks should be easy to follow,” Reynolds said. “And that opening that Paaw stepped into last night? I examined it more closely. It’s actually a spyhole. I’ve located half a dozen just like it along this hill. They’re connected to a series of narrow tunnels that lead to the plateau above.”

  So the Meer could have been watching them last night, and then planned an attack for tonight. But why? “Stay alert. They obviously managed to sneak up on Justin. Don’t underestimate them.”

  “Understood.”

  Cade glanced at Drew. “Any luck tracking the pods or Justin’s comband?”

  She shook her head, frustration evident in the lines of tension around her eyes and mouth. “I’ve boosted the range as best I can, but our location limits our ability to get a clear signal. If we were airborne, it would be a different story.”

  “Then we’ll keep that as a last resort.” No telling how violently the Meer might react to the appearance of the freighter in the sky.