The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3)

by Katherine Bogle

  She glanced out the front window again at the approaching speeders. They’d be nothing under the guns of the cruiser. What was Rikkard so worried about?

  Red continued to flare across the yard, and a charred spot appeared on the hull of the cruiser. Her heartbeat quickened and her fingers froze atop the holokeys. It wasn’t a bad hit, nothing vital, but she still didn’t like it. There wasn’t enough room for Rikkard to maneuver inside the hangar. It was the worst place he could be right now.

  Selene bit back a growl, forcing herself to peel her eyes away from the cruiser and back to her work. The screens in front of her scrolled with commands, flashing through systems menus until she got the go ahead that engines were up and running.

  “Finally,” she said. The ship trembled slightly as Selene took control of navigation, lifting the giant cargo ship off the concrete floor. She slowed her movements until the ship hovered.

  Judging from the size of the gap the hangar doors had created, she should be able to squeeze through, just barely.

  “We’re good to go,” she told Rikkard. “I think I can make it.”

  Rikkard growled in her ear. “Give it another thirty seconds.”

  The speeders skidded to a stop in the sand, and the dark shape of a cruiser materialized behind them, exiting stealth mode.

  Selene’s eyes widened, and a gasp passed her lips.

  “Shit,” Rikkard breathed in her ear.

  “They’re the escort,” Selene said.

  “Get out of here, now!” Rikkard shouted.

  Selene ground her teeth and thrust forward on the gauges, pushing the cargo ship across the hangar just as red lights swelled in the cannons atop the enemy cruiser.

  “Rik!” she hissed. “Get out of here!”

  Rikkard’s cruiser banked for the center of the hangar doors to block the shot the Dominion was about to let loose.

  Selene cursed and pushed forward at full speed, forcing the thrusters to expend all their momentum until the cargo ship hit the back of the cruiser, forcing them both outside the doors. A loud grinding filled her ears as the sides of the cargo ship met the metal of the doors. Still, she gritted her teeth and pushed through, forcing Rikkard away from the laser cannon.

  The cargo ship shook with the shock of impact, and red alert signs flared across her screens.

  “Selene!” Rikkard roared angrily in her ear.

  “This ship can take a hit like that! That cruiser would have been blown to smithereens you idiot!” Selene yelled into her comset. Her fingers shook with rage as she continued to push them out of the hangar until they were hovering over the yard. Once they were free, she turned skyward and they shot up into the air, pushing Rikkard’s cruiser with them.

  Rikkard grumbled something she couldn’t quite make out, and his cruiser spun away from her viewport and out of sight.

  Selene flicked up a radar of the immediately area, and watched as Rikkard’s cruiser banked around the cargo ship and flew in to dock at the back.

  She exhaled loudly, relief relaxing her tensed shoulders. She was done with the heroics. Done with theatrics. They were all getting off this damn planet in one piece, or she’d kill every Darri left standing.

  Burning with anger, Selene pushed them high into the sky, and far away from the laser fire that followed their ship. She closed the cargo doors, and kept up their full throttle pace until the red lights died behind them and the sun brushed the horizon.

  Her heart squeezed. They were nearly out of time.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Selene snapped the second the control room door whooshed open. She turned her glare on Rikkard, who at least had the class to look guilty. “You could have died.”

  Rikkard had frozen in the doorway, but now he stepped over the threshold, and shook his head. “I would have been fine.”

  “No, you wouldn’t have, and you knew that.” Selene thrust away from her control panel. “I’m done with heroics. No more of it. From anyone. I’ll inform the others when we’re all back together.” Selene crossed her arms like a petulant teen. “We’re all getting off this damn planet in one piece. No one is getting killed, or left behind.”

  Rikkard’s face softened and he sighed. “Fine.”

  Selene’s eyebrows shot up and her heart stuttered. “What? You’re just going to agree?”

  Rikkard’s lips twitched. “Isn’t that what you want?”

  She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Yes, but you’re not usually so… agreeable.”

  He shrugged, and didn’t say anything more about it as he crossed the higher level of the room to his captain’s chair. He paused beside it, running his fingers over the arm for a moment before taking his seat. His gaze roamed the room, and Selene had a feeling he was remembering all the times they’d been inside the control room as a team.

  Only their team was short not one, but two now. Only four of them remained, even if they had added to their little family.

  Selene twisted back in her seat, and gave over controls to Rikkard before she leaned back. The cargo ship continued on autopilot over the desert, while Selene stared at the flashing lights in front of her.

  With the bright light of the sun slowly fading, so was their time. More than ever she wanted to save the people of Earth. She wanted to save the human race, and the good Zahkx people who didn’t deserve to die a horrible death on this curse of a planet. But what more could she do? She’d already impersonated Zelena Stein to warn the world. She could only hope her message had gotten out there and someone had listened.

  Shaking her head, she slid down in her seat. A thought occurred to her suddenly, making her bolt upright. She might not be able to save everyone, but there were still people she could warn—people who’d helped them in the past, people who deserved to be warned.

  Selene flicked up a holoscreen, and fished out her phone from her pocket. She unlocked it and planted it on the control panel, flicking through the options menu on her holoscreen. She linked her phone to the ship’s system and quickly scrolled through her contacts until she found Aida’s number, the woman who ran the old animal reserve in the desert. It had been so long since she’d last seen Aida, and she hoped the woman was still doing all right.

  She had no way of knowing if Aida had seen her message on TV, so she quickly typed out a warning: Earth is under attack. Get as many as you can off world before dark. When the moon rises we’re all fucked.

  She reread her message before hitting send. Aida trusted her and would heed her words. With her warning sent, she went through the rest of her contacts, some of their old cohorts from Bakura, a few weapons dealers and other unsavory sorts. She even had the number to Zhao’s bar in her phone. She had looked it up on one of their long trips and added it to her phone just in case she decided to take up his daughter Ambriss up on her offer for a drink.

  Selene typed out the same message for a few contacts she was sure would listen, then added a few lines to a couple of others who she wasn’t so sure about. After nearly ten minutes she’d sent a message to almost everyone in her phone’s roster. Once her messages of warning were sent, she unlinked her phone and returned it to her pocket.

  The control room went silent aside from the quiet conversation of Ivy and Steven at the edge of the room. Their weapons’ systems were down now. She assumed Rikkard had turned them off, knowing they wouldn’t need them anymore.

  By the time the sun had dipped halfway over the horizon, they’d returned to the Outskirts, and Rikkard lowered the cargo ship at the edge of the small town. They’d meet up with the others there, and hopefully Rem and Flik would return sooner rather than later. Even if she was sure it’d be one hell of a process getting a warp core uninstalled, they didn’t have all the time in the world to wait around. She’d rather they went to space without it than risk the fallout from the moon.

  Rikkard lowered the cargo door, which was evident from a small tremor in the ship. She glanced out the front window to see a few speeders pull up with crates strapped to t
he back, or following along on hover plates.

  “We should help them load up,” Rikkard said.

  Selene looked over her shoulder and nodded before unstrapping herself from her chair and following the others out of the control room.

  It took about half an hour to get all the crates on board, full of rations, weapons, parts, and a few bottles of liquor.

  Selene tried not to smile too widely as Jared held up a finger to his lips. She winked. His secret was safe with her.

  Jared disappeared into the ship while some of the Icarus left back to town to gather a few more things they hadn’t been able to carry.

  With the crates all stacked on one side, four speeders in the middle, and a cruiser taking up the entire right side of the cargo bay, Selene wasn’t sure how they planned to fit the warp core inside. Maybe they could stow it in the cruiser if its hold was big enough.

  Just as Selene began contemplating checking out the size of the space, sand kicked up outside the lowered doors, and an unfamiliar cruiser landed with its cargo doors facing them.

  Selene’s heart thrummed with uncertainty, and she ducked behind a pile of crates on instinct, pulling her rifle from her back, to her shoulder.

  The propellers of the cruiser slowed, and shut down before the cargo door lowered to the sand.

  Rem walked out onto the desert like he hadn’t just scared the crap out of her. Selene narrowed her eyes, and straightened, pushing her rifle back over her shoulder where it rested against her spine, the strap pressing firmly against her chest.

  “What took you so long?” Rikkard barked.

  Rem’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. He was still at least twenty feet away when he yelled back. “Took us so long?! We moved at breakneck speed the entire time! We literally couldn’t have gotten back any faster!” He stomped up the cargo bay door, the metal clanging loudly beneath his exaggerated steps.

  Selene grinned. “He’s just being an ass. Glad to have you back.”

  Rem flashed a smile, then glowered at Rikkard before he looked around the cargo bay. His eyes bugged and his smile grew as he assessed the hangar. “It’s good to be back.” He sighed wistfully. She knew the feeling.

  Flik emerged from the cruiser next, crossing his arms and tapping his foot as he glared at Rem’s back—clearly not happy that the little tech whizz had left the rest of them to bring the warp core on board.

  Selene looked inside the cargo hold of the smaller ship. A large shadowed piece of tech occupied most of the hold, barely skating inches from the ceiling. The base was a slab of metal twisted with wires, buttons, and switches. The side facing her had a large control panel on the side, the screen dark, but the rest was encased in what looked like glass. There was nothing inside, which made her tilt her head in confusion.

  Though she’d only seen a warp core once before, she was surprised it looked like… well… nothing.

  “Rem!” Flik shouted. “Get your ass back here! How are we going to get this thing onto the cargo ship?”

  Rem looked back with wide eyes, like a parent had just scolded him and he knew he was in trouble. “Uhhh…”

  Selene covered her mouth, trying and failing to hold back her laughter. They really hadn’t thought this through had they?

  “How did you get that thing out in the first place?” Rikkard asked.

  “We found an elevator.” Rem shrugged.

  Selene groaned. “Seriously?” All those stairs. All those stairs for nothing.

  “Yep. A really big one too.” Rem grinned. “We used a string of carts to move it from the Saegon to the elevator, and then the tractor beam on the ship to lift it into the cargo hold.”

  “Can’t you just use the tractor beam to carry it in here?” Steven inquired.

  Rem shook his head. “Tractor beams only pull stuff in, they can’t push it out.”

  “Then how do you plan on moving it from point A to point B?” Rikkard asked, his eyebrow quirking up in irritation.

  “Well we were hoping to use the carts…” Rem trailed off as he eyed the sand between both ships. “But I don’t think that’s going to work.”

  “Could we carry it?” Selene asked.

  Rem blanched. “Not in a hundred years.”

  “Rem!” Darius barked. He stood in the doorway of the cruiser, tapping his foot next to Flik. Sav appeared next and they all did a good job of looking like three pissed off dads.

  “Well if you used a tractor beam to get it on, why don’t we just use the one on that cruiser to move it over?” Selene pointed at the cruiser Rikkard had nearly killed himself in just to spare the cargo ship a hit. She rolled her eyes at the memory. She’d be yelling at him for that again later.

  Rem’s eyes widened, and several sets of eyes swung to land on Selene.

  “What?” She blinked in confusion. Why were they all looking at her?

  “That’s a great idea,” Rem said like he was shocked.

  Selene scoffed. “I have tons of great ideas!”

  “Not ones that don’t generally involve death-defying stunts,” Rikkard grumbled.

  Selene punched him in the arm, earning herself an amused twitch of his lips. “You’re one to talk.” She narrowed her eyes, and his smile disappeared.

  “Okay, let’s do that then! Would someone go explain the plan to them?” Rem hooked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate his pissed off dads.

  “Sure.” Steven chuckled and shook his head before descending the ramp to the sand.

  Rem skirted the speeders in the middle of the floor, a few crates, and disappeared up the ramp of their borrowed cruiser. Fifteen minutes later they had the warp core on board the cruiser, leaving them enough space to maneuver around the messy cargo bay.

  As the smugglers, former Alliance members, Icarus, and Kong stood around the cargo bay wondering what to do next, Selene looked out over the darkened sand, finally realizing that dusk was over and stars twinkled down from the heaven’s.

  The moon hovered in the sky, a chunk of the left side removed like someone had taken a scoop out of an ice cream. Chunks of the moon scattered in either direction, mimicking the stars, though they were far too large for comfort.

  Selene’s stomach twisted. Though it was probably one of the coolest things she’d ever seen, and the most beautiful, it only served to remind her that their time was up, and they had to go now.

  “Shit,” Rikkard hissed under his breath. He must have followed her gaze, and soon the rest of their new crew was muttering curses or gasping.

  “We’re out of time,” Flik murmured.

  “Yep,” Selene agreed on a quivering exhale. “Let’s get off this rock.”

  The ship quivered as they ascended from the desert sand into the sky. Selene couldn’t help leaning up in her seat to peer over the dashboard down at the land below. With a sinking heart she realized this was the last time she was ever going to see Earth. The planet she knew would be gone in the next few hours, wiped clean by aftershocks and storms.

  Her face twisted in dismay and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She never realized how much the planet meant to her until now. Earth was home. Earth might not have ever been safe for her, but it was all she’d ever known. Heading up into the unknown that was space, anything could happen. They could be dead in moments, shot down by the Darri, or suffocated if there was even a nick in the outside of the ship. No matter how many times Rem assured them it was fine, the ship would sustain the journey through the atmosphere, and be perfect for space, Selene had no way of knowing if that was true.

  Suddenly, an entire universe of unknown possibilities was opening up in front of her, and though she wanted to be excited about it, she was terrified.

  The shake of the ship made her wince, and pulled her from her thoughts. Her pulse quickened as she looked out the control room window.

  Debris from the moon hailed down around them, asteroids with fiery trails and incredible destructive power.

  Rikkard commanded the ship from his captain’s ch
air, twisting the ship with plenty of time for the debris to brush passed them. At the speed they were going, she had a feeling the rocks would rip right through the hull if they so much as made contact.

  Selene took a deep, steadying breath. Every nerve in her body was on fire, desperate for action. She so badly wanted to get up and pace, but with the control room so full, and the shake of the ship disorienting her, she doubted she’d be able to stay standing long. Plus, she didn’t want to freak anyone out.

  When an hour had passed and they were almost clear of Earth’s atmosphere, Selene had had enough. She unstrapped her seatbelts quickly and stood, fleeing from the room before anyone could utter a word.

  Her boots clanged along the grated floor of the hall, and she raced as fast as she could through the ship, twisting and turning carelessly through halls until the tremor of the ship took her off guard, and she lost her footing.

  Tripping over her own boots, she sailed right into the wall, barely having enough time to stop herself from face planting.

  Sucking in a breath, Selene tried to steady her pounding heart. She stood and took stock of her location. Across the corridor were the dining hall doors. Without thinking too much about it, she pushed through and into the familiar space with circular metal tables, and eight chairs around each, all bolted to the floor for safety. She walked to the left end of the room towards a large empty wall.

  Her fingers trailed along the metal until she reached a tiny control panel at the end. Dust covered the top of it—it had been that long since anyone had used it. She pushed in on the release button and the metal wall cleared to reveal the rounded edge of Earth. The atmosphere glowed, taking her breath away.

  From the planet’s surface, dozens upon dozens of ships rose out of the glow, making Selene’s heart swell.

  They listened.

  Selene fought back tears as she inspected the ships. She didn’t recognize a single one, but some were clearly civilian, others were Dominion owned, and some she could only compare to the salvage ship Captain Erock called a home.