Selene bit her lip. “Still. Thank you.”
They nodded, accepting her thanks even though they thought it was unneeded. Selene was just glad they were all together, and no one else they knew had died. Even if they had lost some Icarus, and she was sorry about that, she was sure they’d have rather lost their lives than be stuck in that place. Her crew on the other hand… they had long lives left ahead of them. They deserved freedom. They deserved a future. She was glad her reckless need to save the Icarus hadn’t taken that away.
The hover propellers slowed and then died as Rikkard docked the cruiser inside the pirate’s cargo bay. Selene was the first to stand, stretching after a long flight. Her shoulders and back popped pleasantly as she stretched out the knots before lowering her arms back to her sides.
“Is it weird I just thought of this as ‘home sweet home’?” Rem asked.
Selene laughed. “Just a little bit.”
Rem flashed her a grin as Darius and Flik chuckled. The crew got out of their seats and made their way through the hall to the cargo hold where the Icarus were staring at the open cargo door.
Selene smiled at their hesitation. “Well? What are you waiting for?”
Ivy looked over her shoulder. She stood beside Steven, close to the door, looking concerned over where they’d just landed.
On the way back, Selene had explained a lot about their situation, from where they were living with the pirates, to how the world might be about to end if they didn’t stop it. Ivy had taken it a lot better than the rest of them did. It spoke volumes, and made her realize how hopeless all the Icarus had become over their situation.
Ivy flashed a guilty grin. “Just checking things out first…”
Selene forced a small smile; surprised Ivy was still taking this all so well, especially after the loss of some of the Icarus. She walked down the cargo door and out into the pirate bay. Erock, Andreas, and the female lieutenant she’d never been formerly introduced to, stood by the exit.
The crease between Erock’s eyebrows told her he wasn’t happy with the amount of people she’d just brought back to his ship. Despite the dire circumstances, his look of displeasure made a laugh bubble up into her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to squash it, but her smile wouldn’t be held back.
Erock narrowed his eyes at her approach. By the time she reached him, the Icarus and the smugglers had all unloaded and hovered around the cruiser as if unsure where to go from there.
“I see you found your… friends.” The captain chose his words carefully.
Selene shrugged. “Yep.”
Erock sighed and shook his head before turning back to the Icarus. “Welcome to my ship,” he said. “My name is Captain Erock. My lieutenants Andreas and Michelle will find you places to stay while you’re here.” He glanced at his lieutenants who stepped forward. “Anyone who’s injured will be taken to our doctor.”
Michelle stepped forward. “You there.” She pointed at Jared, who stood in the back supporting a smaller man. “Come with me to see Doc.” She spun back to the exit, her fiery red hair bouncing around her shoulders as she quickly left.
Jared glanced at Selene, his green eyes burning with uncertainty.
Selene nodded. “It’s okay. You can trust them.” Kind of. But she kept that thought to herself.
Jared nodded and left with the man he carried. Another few followed; a woman limping, a man carrying a woman, and a few others. Once they were gone, Andreas took the rest, grunting and motioning for them to follow him.
Ivy gave her a look as she passed, but didn’t say anything as the Icarus and the smugglers emptied out of the now silent hangar.
Selene went to follow when Erock’s fingers closed around her bicep, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She glanced down at his hand, irritation flashing through her before she looked up at his eyes.
“You’re all welcome to stay for a few days,” he began, his voice pitched low. “But you need to start working out a long term housing plan.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
Selene pursed her lips and nodded brusquely before pulling her arm from his grasp. She didn’t appreciate the threat. “We’ll be out of your hair as soon as we deal with the Dominion,” she said.
Erock held her gaze for several long moments. He twisted his jaw, obviously annoyed with her, but thinking better of arguing with her in the middle of the cargo bay. After allowing them to stay for so long, the pirates seemed used to them, but they weren’t all happy to have the extra allies around. It seemed Erock’s patience in that regard was running out as well.
“Fine,” he said.
The pirate captain gave her one last long look before turning to walk back into the ship, his coat snapping around his knees as he disappeared around the corner.
Selene couldn’t help rolling her eyes once he was out of sight. Soon, they’d be out of the pirate’s ship. But first, they needed a plan—a long term one. Especially with alien invaders on the way.
Shouting in the hall wrenched Selene from nightmares of cold gel slipping across her skin and pouring down her throat. She gasped in a breath of air, holding her hand to her chest. Her legs were tangled between the sheets, and Rikkard’s legs, a fact that she’d normally be okay with, but right now made her feel trapped, especially with memories of vats burning through her mind.
Selene yanked her legs free, taking deep breaths as she swung them over the side of the bed. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the sheets, trying to calm her racing heart before going to see whatever the pirates were arguing about.
“What time is it?” Rikkard’s voice made her jump.
She looked back over her shoulder, and then at the digital clock on the wall with glowing red numbers. “Three AM.”
Rikkard groaned and turned over, burying his face in his pillow.
Selene smiled. He was cute when he was still half asleep. “Don’t worry, I’ll see what’s going on.” She’d slept maybe a few hours before the rude awakening, and though she appreciated the reprieve from her dreams, she was still exhausted.
Rikkard didn’t say anything as she slipped out of bed, pulling on her boots and utility belt before heading to the door.
“Be careful,” Rikkard grumbled into the pillow.
Selene chuckled and shook her head as she opened the door, and stepped into the brightly lit hall. She blinked quickly, white sparks dancing across her vision.
“What the fuck is your problem?” a man shouted.
Selene froze and looked to her left. At the end of the hall, Jared growled at three pirates in his path. Two Icarus flanked him, a woman with jet-black hair, and a man with a scar through his thick eyebrows. She didn’t know any of the pirates, but she’d seen them around.
“We’re sick of all the trash filling our ship,” the head pirate snapped.
Jared’s nostrils flared. “Trash?”
Uh oh. Selene raced down the hall, her heart hammering against her ribs. Pirates and Icarus getting into fights helped no one, and would only convince Erock to kick them out sooner.
“Hey!” Selene shouted. She stepped between the warring groups, holding her hands out to stop them as they stepped toward each other. “That’s enough.”
Jared froze, seeming uncertain, while the pirate pushed his chest against her hand.
“Oh look, another troublemaker.” The pirate assessed her from head to toe, but didn’t try to push any closer. The pirates knew her crew were protected by Erock, especially her, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
“This troublemaker has had about enough of shouting outside her bedroom,” Selene snapped. She narrowed her eyes at the pirate.
“Is that right?” the pirate growled.
She took a breath. Her sassy attitude wasn’t going to get her anywhere with the pirates, and it took everything she had to rein her attitude back in.
“That’s right.” Selene lowered her hands. “I know being stuck with a bunch of people you don’t know or trust sucks, but we won’t be her
e for much longer. Try to take comfort in that.”
The pirate glared, his dark eyes seething with anger. “I’d take a lot more comfort in throwing you all out to the desert myself.”
Clearly speaking to his calmer nature wasn’t going to get through to this man. She’d have to settle for attitude again instead. “Fine. If you have such a big issue with it, take it up with your captain.”
The man blanched.
“That’s what I thought.” Selene smirked. “Your captain has allowed us to stay for a reason. Maybe you shouldn’t be questioning your leader’s orders.”
The pirate glanced back at his friends, who looked uncertain. When he turned his dark eyes back on her, he wasn’t pleased, but the fight had left his stance. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But stay the hell out of my way.” He pointed over her shoulder at Jared, who puffed out his chest.
The pirates turned and walked away. Once they were gone, Selene let out a sigh. She turned back to Jared and his two friends.
“We could have handled them,” Jared said through clenched teeth.
Selene assessed his balled fists and wide frame. He was muscular just like all the other Icarus, and tall to boot. “I have no doubt you could handle them, but that’s the problem.” He raised an eyebrow in question. “You’re all a lot stronger than they are, and you could easily kill them.”
Jared’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it.
“I know you wouldn’t mean to, but we need to stay on the pirates’ good sides until we figure this all out.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You won’t have to deal with them for much longer. Just give us a few days to work out a plan, and then you’ll never have to see them again.”
Jared twisted his jaw. “I guess we can deal with that.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “Now play nice, and go get some rest while you can.”
The three Icarus nodded, and they all said goodnight before taking off in separate directions. Selene watched them go before heading back to her room and crawling back in bed.
Rikkard didn’t even move as she slid back beneath the covers. He must be as tired as she felt. Selene smiled as she curled up at his side, wrapping an arm around his waist as she sunk into bed, and drifted right back into sleep.
The next day at breakfast, the smugglers, Ivy, Jared, and Steven sat around a large circular metal table in the dining hall; trays full of food, and conversation surprisingly light. It seemed the Icarus wanted to move on fast from the devastation of the previous day. She understood. In a world where friends seemed to fall every other day, they had to move on quickly if they wanted to keep their sanity.
Selene dished breakfast onto her tray, her stomach growling with hunger as the delicious hearty scents filled her nose. Saliva filled her mouth, and she had to clamp her lips shut to keep from drooling.
Clones might not eat a lot, but she hadn’t eaten anything since receiving her new body. She still had to take care of herself, even if her body wasn’t permanent.
Once her plate was full, Selene crossed the dining hall to what was clearly the ‘outsiders’ table, where the others had left a seat for her between Rikkard and Ivy.
“Good morning,” Selene said as she took a seat.
Rikkard raised an eyebrow at her tray, nearly full to the brim, but he didn’t say a thing. The Icarus’ plates were even fuller than hers, if that was possible. They scarfed down food like they hadn’t eaten in weeks, and from the looks of their slightly sunken cheeks, Selene thought they might not have.
“Morning,” Ivy said around a mouthful of eggs. She swallowed; probably realizing she was being rude talking with her mouth full, and winced, not having chewed enough.
“Hungry?” Selene asked.
Ivy’s gaze darted from Selene to her plate. “Lil’ bit.” She grinned sheepishly.
Selene didn’t press, not wanting to bring up Pate, or their imprisonment so early in the day. “Sleep well?”
While Ivy chewed, Selene took a moment to shovel scrambled eggs seasoned with parmesan into her mouth. Flavor burst on her tongue, and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head as she suppressed a moan of delight. Whoever the pirate’s chef was, he was a genius. Erock had to watch out, or she might just pilfer the chef from him.
“Not bad,” Ivy said, though from the dark circles under her eyes, Selene doubted it.
“That’s good.” Selene didn’t need to say anything more. Nightmares had to be common with them all, especially when they spent so much time in hell.
“I heard there was a scuffle last night,” Rikkard mumbled on her other side. He glanced between Selene and the Icarus, his face wiped clear of emotion.
Selene nodded. “A little one.” She slid a look at Jared, but didn’t elaborate.
“So how are the rest of the Icarus?” Sav asked. He sat across the table, most of his food gone. He looked a lot more alert than the rest of them. At least someone was sleeping well around there.
Ivy, Jared, and Steven froze at the same time. Both men stared at their plates as if they’d lost their appetites. Ivy laid her fork down, and looked around at the smugglers.
Though Selene spied some of the Icarus at a nearby table, definitely not all of them were around.
“We lost Amy in the night,” Ivy said, her tone hushed, reverent.
Selene’s heart squeezed. “I’m so sorry.”
Ivy smiled grimly. “It couldn’t be helped. Doc did all he could.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Sav said. He looked guilty, probably regretting having asked.
“Was she the one who got hit by the turret?” Flik asked. Ivy nodded. “Damn.”
Selene’s eyebrows furrowed. “Someone got hit and still made it back?”
Flik nodded. “In our escape.” So the other half of their team had seen the turrets too. They hadn’t had much time to exchange notes on their escape, other than Sav and Flik’s team hadn’t had to deal with the laser beam wall. They’d come up the other side of the hallway, the clear one. Apparently the laser wall hadn’t been there then.
“It’s probably for the best,” Ivy sighed. “Her legs were torn to shreds. She’d never have been able to walk again.”
Selene bit back her reply. It wouldn’t help to tell them that she could have been cloned like Selene. That wouldn’t matter to them now, and knowing Doc, he probably offered and the Icarus might have refused. She understood wanting to keep one’s own body. Her heart tightened at the memory of shooting her own. She glanced at Rikkard. Director Tine hadn’t given her a choice. She would have killed Rikkard if Selene hadn’t put her out of her misery.
Silence descended on the group, resting uncomfortably around them until they resumed eating. Selene ate mechanically, not really tasting anything anymore.
“So Ivy tells me we’re not exactly safe yet,” Steven said.
Selene looked up. She’d told Ivy about the impending invasion, and a few of the steps they had to take to get more information to find the Saegon. If their plan worked, they could send a message to the Zahkx Alliance and hopefully get some backup. If not… Well, Selene didn’t want to consider that an option.
“Not quite,” Selene agreed.
“What’s the plan?”
Selene set her fork down and took a deep breath. That’s one thing she wanted to discuss over breakfast, but she’d nearly forgotten about it with the revelation one of the people they’d saved was now dead.
“Well,” Rem said, surprising her. “We worked on that a bit last night.”
Flik nodded, and Selene motioned for them to continue. They’d be catching her up to speed as much as the Icarus.
“We’ve gone over the Targen specs—”
Selene cut Rem off. “Targen?”
“The name of the Dominion ship over the ocean,” Flik explained.
Selene nodded for them to continue.
“We went over the Targen specs looking for any way past security, but security is tight.” Rem raise
d his eyebrows to emphasize his statement. “Even for me, this will be a challenge.”
“But?” Rikkard inquired.
Rem smiled. “But, I think I’ve found a way in.”
“Security at the base of the ship is a bit more lax,” Flik said. “Near the bottom is mostly docking ports, maintenance shafts—that kind of thing.”
“Whereas up top there aren’t many gates at all, only a few, probably to keep people like us out,” Rem continued. “I think I’ve found the perfect way in near the loading bay. There’s a maintenance shaft attached to some hallways that are pretty out of the way. I don’t think a lot of people would be down there since it’s so close to the engine room.”
“Engine rooms pretty much run themselves.” Flik shrugged.
Though that wasn’t the case on most Earth vessels, Selene took their word for it.
“So, what’s the problem?” Darius asked. There was always a catch.
Rem and Flik exchanged a look.
“Well, I can’t remotely hack this kind of door, so we’d basically have to fly right up to the ship, dock on the maintenance port, and hope they don’t notice us.” Rem wrung his hands together nervously and avoided their gazes.
“How are we supposed to fly directly up to their ship unnoticed?” Rikkard huffed. “Even if the pirates cause a distraction, they’ll see us coming.”
Rem frowned. “I can block their sensors, but there’s nothing that can be done about them physically seeing us approach.”
Selene slumped back against her seat. “That’s it then. There’s nothing we can do.”
Rikkard shot her a confused look. He wasn’t used to her give up so easily. Frankly, neither was she, but after weeks of failed plans, it was starting to weigh on her, and after their last few ended in unexpected deaths, she didn’t want to risk more death, even if it was to save the planet.
“The ship has to have some kind of blind spot.” Ivy raised an eyebrow, giving Selene a similar look to Rikkard.
Rem’s eyebrows shot into his thick bangs, and Selene sat a little straighter. “What did you just think of?” she asked.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 8