by Darcy Town
Rake took her hand. “You can do it. I know you can. And training? Who really needs that?”
“I do!”
“Then consider this on-the-job training.”
“I could teleport us into a sun!”
Rake leaned into her chair and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You won’t, that would be stupid.” He looked at the screen. “Besides, they’re going to kill us right? So what are our options?”
Ravil pressed her hands into the clear panels before her. The material gave way and she sank her arms into her elbows. “Darq, go get rigged.”
The Rexos blinked out of his stupor. “But you’re not all well.”
“Doesn’t matter.” She eyed Rake. “Where to?”
Rake was at a loss. “I…”
She set her jaw. “Yes, on-the-job training day one: Rake and Ravil die together because the pilot can’t make decisions and his Navigator can’t actually jump!”
Rake glared. The tankers shot missiles at them. He hugged her, unconsciously trying to shield her from the weapons heading their way. He was at a loss. “Fuck, uhm.” All he could think of was Star Wars. “I don’t know!”
“Say something!”
He pressed his lips into her hair. “Yoda.”
“What?”
“I don’t know, Yoda? You just asked me to say something!”
Marx looked over. “Did he say Sodas?”
Tasanee smirked. “A soda sounds delicious.”
Darq shook his head. “No. I hate Sodas.”
“I said Yoda!” Rake spat back. “As in that short green guy from Star Wars!”
Lincoln nodded. “Sodas. Good choice. Seed Planet Fifteen, it is abandoned and highly hazardous to all life forms.”
“But I said—”
“Sodas.” Ravil shrugged. “Why the fuck not, Seed Fifteen it is.” She clawed at the clear material. It responded and the ship became an extension of her body. She reached out with her senses and found a thread into the in-between, she wrapped her fingers around it. She gazed into the blue and pushed. The ship and its occupants disappeared in a lurch.
The Empire tanker missiles passed through newly emptied space and hit the abandoned US Liberty space station. The missiles detonated, sending the burning wreckage of the space station careening towards the planet below.
Rake laughed in the blue space between. He stared into it wide-eyed, his arms locked around Ravil’s shoulders. She turned to him and stuck out her tongue. He kissed her on the cheek.
Lacking allies, understanding, and common sense, they jumped halfway across the galaxy into territory unknown and dangers innumerable.
THE END
The story continues in Wastes Away