Selene’s shoulders fell and her claw-like grip on the armrests relaxed. Their ship sailed clear over the surface of the ocean, not a piece of land, or falling bit of debris in sight. Finally. She was beginning to think they’d never clear it.
“How much damage did we sustain?” Rikkard asked.
Rem flipped around the ship’s systems, bringing up half a dozen screens he scanned with ease. “Shit.”
Uh oh.
“The engine room has sustained critical damage. The coolant system is broken. We might just make it to land before the reactors explode,” Rem said.
Selene’s eyes widened. “Might?”
Rem shrugged, flashing her a sheepish smile.
“We need a better estimate,” Rikkard insisted.
Rem’s smile dropped and he nodded. “You got it, boss.”
“Flik, find out if they have any engineers on board,” Rikkard ordered.
Flik paused, probably not liking being ordered around. After a minute of hesitation he nodded and slipped from his seat over to the prisoners. He went to the captain first, leaning against the control board next to him. “Engineers?” he asked simply.
The captain glanced back and forth, stalling for time until Flik kicked his chair. The man winced. “Yes, we have a few. They’re probably already trying to fix the problem.”
Selene narrowed her eyes. She knew a lie when she heard it. Flik must too, because he slapped the back of the man’s head.
“Where are they really?” Flik insisted.
The captain’s gaze flicked to the crewmen left. It was barely a glance, but Selene caught it. She undid her belts and stood. “Them.” She nodded at a woman and a man sitting beside each other. Their eyes widened. “He looked at those two.”
Flik turned and went over to the redheaded human woman, maybe a few years older than Selene, and an alien man with greying black hair. “Are you engineers?”
The two exchanged a look, and said nothing.
“So you want to blow up on our way back to land? Is that really what you want?” Flik snapped.
The redhead winced, but the alien’s gaze turned steely.
“We’re not helping criminals,” the man grumbled.
Selene rolled her eyes. Because after these guys killed a bunch of their own people in the bunker and kidnapped the group of smugglers before allowing Pate to torture her, that made them the criminals. Right.
“So you’re ready to die then?” Flik pressed.
Selene saw the redhead’s hesitation, and Flik must have too, because he took her arm and pulled her gently to her feet.
“We only need one of you to help,” he said. “Do you think you can get this ship to fly long enough we can all get out of here alive?”
The woman blinked at him with wide eyes. She didn’t say anything for a long time, but finally she nodded. “I-I think so.”
Flik smiled. “Excellent.”
He turned to face Selene, and then his gaze flickered over to Darius and Sav. “You two, can you guys take her?”
Sav was the first to stand. “Of course.”
“Think you can handle it?” Flik raised the skin of his forehead on one side as if he was cocking an eyebrow.
Sav scoffed. “Shut up, Flik.”
They exchanged grins before Flik passed Sav their prisoner. Darius and Sav ushered the woman out the main door after Rem did a quick security camera check. After Selene had given out the order for everyone to return to their quarters, the soldiers had been surprisingly compliant. She had a feeling that was partly to do with the fact they’d most likely seen a string of bodies through the ship. It also helped that Rem had locked all of their doors once they were inside. Couldn’t be too careful.
“All right, so that’s hopefully going to be taken care of,” Flik mumbled to himself. “When we arrive, we should meet back up with the pirates and plan our escape.”
Selene nodded. “Hopefully their ship is airtight and has oxygen regulators.”
Flik raised the skin of his forehead. “I hadn’t even thought of that yet.”
“Don’t you worry, I’m creating a mental list of things we’ll need before we try braving space,” Rem piped up. His fingers continued to do their magic on the holokeys in front of him. Though he was still paying attention to what they were doing, and whatever he was doing on the computer, he was also figuring out a plan to save their asses.
Bless his genius little head.
After a harrowing escape from the hellfire raining down upon Earth, the smugglers just barely made it to land. They ditched the Dominion cruiser, leaving the remaining occupants unharmed and called in an airlift from the pirates. Though Erock didn’t seem too happy they’d lost his ship, he did send his lieutenant Michelle right away.
A couple of hours after the moon had gotten a quarter ripped out of it, they arrived back at the pirate ship.
Selene leapt from the cruiser. “It’s time for a meeting. Michelle, would you grab Erock and meet us in his office?”
The woman raised a scarred eyebrow, but nodded in agreement. She climbed out of the cruiser more slowly before disappearing out of the cargo bay.
The smugglers, Icarus, and former Alliance members joined her in her march through the pirate ship. They squeezed by a few pirates on their way, but with a blood-smeared Selene leading the way, no one paused to get in her way.
They arrived at Erock’s office to find the door already open. The pirate captain sat at the head of the table, watching a holoscreen against the far wall. His eyes were wide as the two newscasters she loathed recited a statement given to them by government officials.
“Martial Law has been put into place after Earth’s moon was shot by an unidentified space ship. We can’t speculate about the damage this might cause to Earth’s surface at this time, but we encourage civilians to return to their homes, and stay indoors until further instructions can be provided,” Jace Fenton said, his blood-shot gaze glued to the camera. His co-host looked about ready to puke all over her white top, and she didn’t so much as glance up at the camera as Jace continued to repeat the same message.
“Martial law?” Selene said.
Erock looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened at the sight of her. “What have you gotten yourself into this time, pretty?”
Selene looked down at the blood covering the front of her. Luckily the Dominion ship had been well stocked with medical supplies and the cuts sustained from Pate’s torture had mostly healed. Still, her blood soaked skin and tear down the front of her suit was an unpleasant reminder of her time with the former president.
Suppressing a shiver, Selene shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.” She looked back at the holoscreen, thinking she’d see some images on the news of the flaming rocks flying toward Earth, but it was still just the same news anchor. “What we need to worry about is that.” She pointed at the holoscreen.
The others filtered into the room and took their seats, but adrenaline was still racing through her veins, and she couldn’t force herself into a chair again just yet. It had been hard enough staying still on the ride back to the ship.
“What the hell is going on?” Erock assessed them all with suspicious eyes. His fingers drummed the tabletop, the only sign he might be freaking out as much as her.
“They blew up part of the damn moon, that’s what,” Selene said as she paced the room. Her boots clanged softly on the metal surface, the only sound other than their collective breathing.
“Who blew up the moon?” Erock hissed between his teeth. His eyes widened, and his fists shook.
Selene stopped a few paces from him. “The Darri.”
Erock snapped to his feet, his fists slamming against the table. “For fuck’s sake!” he roared. “You told me we had time!”
Selene bit the inside of her cheek. If she explained their plan had gone wrong and Kayl had sent out a message directly received by the Darri, then Erock might not help them. And they needed his help, now more than ever. There was still so mu
ch to do, and very little time to do it.
“We thought we did,” Rikkard said when Selene didn’t answer.
She nodded, and shot him a grateful glance. “We thought we had more time, like the documents said, but apparently not.”
“I thought they wanted to inhabit this planet.” Michelle stepped forward from the back of the room, making Selene jump in surprise. It was the first time Michelle had spoken up in any of their meetings.
“That’s what we thought too,” Flik interjected. “And maybe they still do. The Darri can survive conditions far worse than any human or Zahkx. They’re practically impervious to radiation and don’t need to consume a lot to survive. Their hardened shells and skeletal system might actually be able to take the violent storms they just created.”
Selene’s eyes widened. She still didn’t know much about the Darri, but this was new. Flik had told them once that the Darri were like a mix of a lizard and an insect, but what kind of creature would be able to survive on a planet without water or crops?
“That’s just fucking great,” Erock growled. “So what is about to happen to Earth? Will we be able to survive it? Wait out the damage?”
Rem’s face twisted with doubt. “No. It’d take years before the storms and destruction pass enough that someone could live on the surface of the planet. Even then… there might not be any oceans left, let alone fresh water.”
Erock punched the table again. “So we’re meant to just abandon this planet then? Take off into the stars? Where do we go?”
His thoughts echoed her own worries. Selene couldn’t imagine just picking up their lives and jetting off into space. They didn’t have the hyperspeed travel they needed to go long distances, let alone the resources to keep the dozens of them alive. Could they steal a ship and some sort of water recycler, and food synthesizer? The technology was real. It existed. But could they get it in the ten or so hours they had left?
No one spoke, but the panic seemed to rise as Erock joined her in pacing. Several of her friends drummed their fingers on the table, while Jared stared with unseeing wide eyes at the surface like he couldn’t believe he’d survived the Dominion only for this to happen.
Selene halted midstep. She couldn’t let them go down like this. Not without a fight. They had to warn Earth, and get as many people free as they could before they left themselves. Selene closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.
When she opened her eyes again, she turned to Flik. “Flik, what can we do?” she asked. “You know more about interstellar travel than us. Can we get a ship ready in time?”
Flik’s forehead wrinkled as he thought. “The problem isn’t if we can get ready in time. Most cruisers and speeders are airtight and have some sort of oxygen regulator… The problem is finding a ship. There are only so many on Earth with a warp core. We could install one on a new ship like this, but it’d take far too long, and we don’t have the time. Plus the ship would need to have shields, and a bunch of other little things so it wouldn’t be ripped apart in hyperspace.”
Selene’s heart sank. “But there are ships on Earth with the technology?”
He nodded.
“We can steal one,” Sav said. “Flik and I may not be smugglers, but we’ve worked with you long enough to know we can be of use. We just need to find the perfect ship to take.”
“That could work,” Darius agreed. Rem nodded like an excited puppy to express his agreement as well.
Flik shook his head. “The only ships with warp cores are like Saegon and Targen. They won’t be easily accessible, and I have a feeling the ones that are here are already headed up to space.”
Selene’s chest squeezed. “So you’re saying we’re screwed.”
Flik sighed. “It’s not just the moon we have to worry about. The Darri will wipe every last one of us out if we don’t get away soon.”
Her heart raced, nearly driving her to pace again. “But you just said it yourself. Ships like Saegon and Targen could work. Why not take the Saegon?”
The entire room froze at her words. Even Erock stopped pacing. They all seemed to mull this over, but the more Selene thought about it, the more of a good idea she thought it was. The Saegon might be damaged, but it could still be repaired. If they spent a few hours getting it space ready, they could gather as many people as they could fit in the ship and take off before their timer ran out and the hellfire arrived.
“It… could work,” Flik said slowly. “I don’t know how damaged the ship is, but it didn’t look to be in too bad of shape.”
An adrenaline laced grin pulled at her lips. “We should go back and find out now. Then we can gather as many people as we can find and get them on board.”
Flik glanced at Sav and then Rikkard. “We’ll have to see about that.”
Selene narrowed her eyes.
“This only might work, right?” Erock interrupted.
“Right,” Flik agreed.
“Then what’s plan B?”
Flik shrugged. “We can go into space in a ship like this, but we won’t get far.”
Erock grumbled something she couldn’t hear and then nodded. “Fine.”
“So that’s the plan?” Rikkard said, his voice back to his usual monotone. “We go back to the Saegon, try to fix it, gather some supplies and take off?”
“Seems simple enough,” Rem said.
“I hope it works,” Rikkard mumbled.
Selene frowned. She really hoped so too.
No one was going to help the people of Earth.
It took her awhile after the meeting to realize it, but once she finally came to that conclusion, the signs were obvious. Even once they’d concluded and separated to prepare to take off, no one wanted to talk about what to do about civilians, or how to warn Earth about the bloody death that awaited them.
Selene ground her teeth as she stormed through the halls of the pirate ship. It wasn’t right. There were still two billion people on Earth that could survive, even if it was only for a few years in space while they came up with another plan. Maybe in a few years’ time they’d be able to return to Earth? Or maybe the Zahkx would show up to save them all.
Shaking her head, she froze in the middle of the barren metal hallway. Her clean hair fell in slight curls around her face. She’d taken the quickest shower of her life after the meeting, and slipped on a new suit. Half the planet could already be dead for all she knew. It was three hundred years ago all over again. Each minute that passed was another minute of the Earth’s rotation, another minute of debris raining fire from the sky. If a big enough piece hit, the shockwave could wipe them all out in hours, even before the East Coast of the United Americas reached the same rotation of the moon.
Her fists tightened. If no one was going to do something to help Earth, than she had to. She couldn’t just sit back and watch hundreds of thousands—no, billions—of people die.
But she needed a plan.
Her first thought was some sort of broadcasted message like the one the news anchors were running. They were glued to their seats in the studio, even as the hours passed. She’d already checked the holoscreen again, and still they remained, not just on their usual network, but on every channel this side of the globe.
The Dominion was keeping the people in the dark; whether it was to stop widespread panic, or not, that remained to be seen. But the people deserved to know. They deserved to live. So Selene would do the only thing she could do—warn them and make sure they knew all hope wasn’t lost.
A light flickered on inside her, spurring her back to movement. She raced down the hall toward the cargo bay. While the others were off preparing to leave for the Saegon, she’d slip away and do what she had to. She could meet up with the rest of them later.
Glancing over her shoulder, Selene made sure no one followed before she entered the hangar, and took the first speeder she saw. It was a two-seater with a curved transparent top, and steering she understood how to control.
Selene clicked the top open
. A puff of air released from inside before the door rose outward. She slipped in, and turned on all systems. Blue lines zipped through the interior and the transparent top darkened. The front panel glowed with the same blue as the power core, casting cool light over her cheeks.
Her heart raced as she set her destination to New Manhattan, and quietly eased the speeder off the hangar floor, and out the cargo bay doors still left open from their earlier arrival.
She couldn’t help looking over her shoulder every few minutes, sure someone was going to realize she was gone and follow, but after ten minutes in the sky, and no shadows in the distance, she let her shoulders relax. Selene pushed the speeder harder, forcing the handles as far forward as they’d go. Sand flew away beneath her as she tore across the open desert towards the glowing monstrosity in the distance.
New Manhattan appeared like a beacon atop the dark sand, metal structures sticking out of the earth, signs of every color lighting up the night.
She took a deep breath, and slowed when she reached the first street. Only a few cruisers and speeders remained outside, and not a single pedestrian walked the pavement below.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected the dark windows of the apartments she passed. Curtains were drawn in almost every window, shadowing the civilians from the horror that was on its way.
Shaking her head, Selene pushed on until she was in midtown. She eased out of the sky down to street level, slowing until she parked right in front of the local news station.
A black cruiser was parked out back, but other than that the lot was empty. Selene had a feeling a few Dominion soldiers remained inside to keep the anchors talking.
The hum of her speeder died as she cut the power. The door lifted with a sound like a soft exhale, and she leapt out. Still carrying her gear, Selene was more than prepared for a little scuffle. If she had to take down another team of Dominion guards to get her message out and save millions, she damn well would.
Selene crept around the side of the building, straining her ears for any signs of soldiers, security, or guards she might come into contact with, but New Manhattan had gone quiet. Only the soft thrum of technology met her ears.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 20