Her cheeks ached with the size of her smile. She could only hope if some of the people of Earth had listened, that Aida and her nats had too. Maybe they’d even brought along some animals. Were there others among them? Had the people of Bakura escaped?
A million questions raced through her mind as she excitedly inspected each ship within range. The distant dots of others told her even more were beyond her line of sight.
The violent shake of the ship had Selene gasp in surprise as she fell back onto her ass.
“Ow!” she hissed. Pushing her hair behind her ear, she waited a moment to make sure the ship wasn’t about to shake again. When it stayed still, she gripped the ledge of the viewport and heaved herself back to her feet. “Damn it, what’s going on now?”
Selene took one last look at the inspiring sight of Earth, then turned and raced from the dining hall and back to the control room, just as another violent shake nearly sent her to her knees.
She yelped as she grabbed the wall just outside the control room. The shake stopped and she slowly stood straight, flashing her hand across the panel imbedded next to the door.
The door whooshed open and she stepped inside. “What’s going on?” she asked before she’d even crossed the threshold.
Rikkard glanced at her from his captain’s chair before looking back out the front window at more debris than she’d ever seen sailing toward them. At least without the help of gravity the pieces wouldn’t damage the ship so badly, but still—they were flying through a giant asteroid belt.
“Sit down,” Rikkard commanded without looking up again. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he steered around a particularly gigantic piece of rock three times the size of their ship.
Selene obeyed, quickly taking up the seat she’d vacated next to Rem, who shot her a worried look.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “And so are the people of Earth… or at least some of them.” Rem raised an eyebrow in question. “I saw them ascending from the atmosphere.”
His eyes widened as understanding dawned on him. “Your message worked.”
Selene flashed an adrenaline heavy grin. “Of course it did.”
“Selene, I need you on weapons,” Rikkard snapped.
Her heart lurched, and she nodded, squeezing in beside Rem in his little tech cubby in the center of the lower floor. He grumbled something, but didn’t say anything more as he returned to his screens.
Selene flicked up the systems menu, and moved over to front facing cannons, charging them up just in case. A set of handles folded out from under the dashboard, and a large holoscreen hovered over the control panel, giving her a front facing view from the nose of her weapon. Again, she felt like she was thrown into a first person video game.
Her heart raced as debris flew by her gun. Though they were smaller rocks, one wrong move and they would take the cannon right off the bottom of the ship.
“Careful of the cannons,” Selene reminded Rikkard, who only grunted in response. “Flik, you want turrets?”
Flik straightened in his chair, the one Sarah used to occupy. Sav sat beside him, a grave look on his face. “Definitely.”
Selene keyed in a few commands and the same set of handlebars unfolded in front of Flik, and another in front of Sav. Two screens came up in front of them, both of two separate turrets atop the cargo ship’s hull.
“Me too?” Sav raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Yep. The more the merrier.”
“Sweet.” Sav grinned as he locked his chair in place and faced his screen, taking hold of the turret controls and twisting them in either direction, probably to get a handle on their sensitivity.
Selene smiled as she turned back to her own screen. “How much longer until we’re clear?”
Rem’s fingers typed furiously before he answered. “A few minutes, maybe longer depending on what we can avoid,” he said slowly. “There’s another big one coming up ahead, boss.”
“Got it,” Rikkard said.
“I can’t see beyond that one.” Rem cursed under his breath. “It’s blocking my short range sensors.”
“We’ll have to fix that when we’re out of here,” Selene said. She twisted the handles of her cannon, looking around at the darkness of the universe mingled with the glow of Earth and the debris flashing by at amazing speeds.
“Shit,” Rikkard cursed.
Selene tensed and faced her camera forward to see what the problem was. From her vantage point, she only saw the giant stone Rem had mentioned. “What is it?”
Rikkard moved the ship to one side, and then the other, dodging a few smaller but still sizeable asteroids. Once they were clear, he continued straight at the rock. “There’s no way around.”
That couldn’t be right. Selene twisted her cannon in either direction. A cloud of debris occupied either side of them—and either side of the asteroid in front of them. That wasn’t good.
“Shit,” she mumbled.
“We have to shoot through it,” Rikkard said.
Selene jerked back to look at him. “Are you crazy?”
His intense blue gaze met hers. “Maybe a little, but that’s our only way through.”
“This is not the time to develop a sense of humor, Rik!” she fumed.
“No, he’s right,” Rem said. “If you hit it dead on, the debris from the explosion should go outward, knocking away the smaller rocks, and making a big enough hole to fit the ship through.”
Selene groaned. “You’re both insane.”
Rikkard chuckled darkly. “Come on, when have you ever balked at a chance to blow shit up?”
Selene twisted her lip between her teeth as the asteroid grew closer and closer. “Fine.” She trained her cannon on the center of the asteroid, and hesitated with her thumbs over the dual triggers. “Just tell me when.”
“Count us down, Rem,” Rikkard said.
“Aye, aye!” Rem flashed a grin, and then settled back down in front of his screens, his eyes alight as he inspected each of them.
Selene turned to focus on her own screen. “Any time now, boys.”
“The closer we are, the more likely it is we’ll avoid the smaller rocks from the explosion,” Rem explained.
“That doesn’t sound accurate at all,” Selene complained.
“Just trying to reassure you,” Rem said.
Well that wasn’t helping.
Selene huffed a sigh and waited, sweat dripping down her forehead, and hands clammy around her handles. The asteroid was so big it blocked out the distant moon, casting a shadow over their ship.
“Now!” Rem shouted.
Selene nearly leapt at the sudden noise, but she was already locked in, and slammed her thumbs down on the triggers. A sleek silver cannon, shaped more like a small missile, shot from the base of the ship and careened through space toward the massive rock.
She bit down hard on her lip as she watched it go. Time seemed to slow as it approached, and Selene sent a silent prayer up to whatever mystic being might exist that they didn’t die after all the shit they’d just been through.
The cannon hit and a hail of rocks exploded from the center, tiny pebbles pelting the window as the steroids split in two, shuddering outward in either direction, creating a crevice large enough for them to sail through.
Selene held her breath as they sped up, the ship twisting diagonally to fit through the crack. Her heart pounded wildly as they zipped through the field of rock and shot out the other side, pushing aside the tinier bits of debris.
Her breath trembled from her throat and her shoulders relaxed as nearly clear space expanded around them. Through there were still some bits of debris left, it seemed they’d gotten past the worst of it.
“Thank Aldar,” Steven muttered from the left side of the control room.
Selene smiled to herself and glanced back at Rikkard. No, they wouldn’t be thanking Aldar anymore for all the shit they’d put their planet through. Instead, she silently thanked Rikkard for his awesome piloting sk
ills, Rem for the tech that told them the rock was coming, and the rest of the team for believing they could make it out of this nightmare in one piece.
They really were an incredible team.
“What the hell is that?” Ivy snapped.
Selene’s eyebrows furrowed, and she sat up straighter, having relaxed back in her seat post-victory.
Rikkard must have slowed their course and turned the ship slightly, as their view shifted from half the moon, half space, to a gigantic ship surrounded by smaller ships, red lasers flaring from the dozens of cannons atop its expansive surface. Selene had thought Targen was enormous, but this ship, it was something else.
Four, maybe five times the size, the Darri ship they’d seen on the warning monitor on Saegon was mid battle with Dominion and human ships alike. And it was definitely winning.
Crumpled, broken cruisers drifted by, metal twisted and warped from the heat of the lasers. Black-clad bodies of Dominion soldiers drifted inside, and around each of the passing ships. Selene was thankful she couldn’t see their faces.
Her eyebrows furrowed, and her lips parted in a silent gasp as lasers continued to burn red across the dark background of space. The guns took out another Dominion cruiser, flames engulfing the inside for a single moment before the remaining oxygen died, and so did the fire. Fire couldn’t survive in the vacuum of space.
The ships rising from Earth’s surface hesitated on the other side of the asteroid belt. Smart bastards had gone around it, or at least the worst of it.
A civilian ship shot out in an attempt to fly off into space and get clear of the Darri ship, but the blast of a laser took it down too, and this time Selene couldn’t hold back her gasp.
“They’re targeting everyone,” Flik said, breathless. “Everyone.”
Selene heart pounded harder as the civilian ship crumpled and joining the rest of the debris floating through space. That ship could have belonged to anyone. It could have been Aida’s, or someone from Bakura, or just a bunch of Earth inhabitants who joined together in the wake of the apocalypse to escape.
And they were dead.
Needlessly, ruthlessly killed for no damn reason.
Selene’s fists shook, and her teeth clenched painfully. The Darri would pay for this. And they’d pay with their lives.
Selene rocketed to her feet almost before she could undo her safety belts. Rikkard cursed, and she heard his belts being undone too as she twisted around her seat and up toward the slope to the door.
“Selene,” Rikkard warned.
She didn’t stop to consider him, and instead flashed her hand over the control panel beside the door.
Rikkard cursed. “Rem, take over!”
Rem didn’t even get out an ‘aye aye, captain’ before the door closed behind them both, and they were racing down the hall.
“Selene!” Rikkard tried again.
“They’re shooting civilians, Rik!” She shot him a withering look over her shoulder, but he didn’t even flinch.
“I saw,” Rikkard huffed. He was on her heels. She wasn’t fast enough to escape him, but instead of grabbing her arm to stop her, he followed all the way to the cargo bay. “I’m coming with you.”
Selene’s eyebrows furrowed as she finally slowed to a stop. “What do you mean? You don’t even know what I’m doing.”
Rikkard rolled his eyes. “I know you, Selene. You’re going out there to protect civilian ships.”
Selene’s eyes widened. That’s exactly what she was doing.
“And I’m going too.” Rikkard shrugged a shoulder and stormed across the cargo bay to the line of speeders. He stopped, and looked at the cruiser. It’d do well in space, and had a lot more firepower, but it also had the warp core inside, and he wouldn’t risk losing it.
“You are?” Selene finally asked, shaking her head in an attempt to remove her bewilderment.
“Yep.” Rikkard went back to the speeders, tied two of them down, one hoodless and useless in space, and the other a small, quicker model with hardly any firepower. Once he checked to make sure the crates were secured, and the cruiser was locked in place, he returned to the last two speeders, both identical covered models five times the size of a cloning pod.
They were both two-seaters, but could be used easily enough by one. They also had the laser power of a cruiser and were fast as hell.
“Okay,” Selene agreed. She went to the speeder on the left and popped the hood.
“They’re fully charged, but if you use the guns too much, you’ll run out quicker,” Rikkard said, like she didn’t know how a speeder worked.
“I know,” she growled. Selene slipped inside the cockpit, and shifted to get comfortable against the leather-like material. She knew it wasn’t leather, it was too soft, but she couldn’t quite remember what it was called. Something alien, she was sure.
“You’ll have to come back here to recharge.” Rikkard indicated the charge port on the wall a few feet away.
“I know,” Selene snapped. She buckled in, and booted up all systems. Blue lines zipped through the interior.
Rikkard came over to the side of her speeder and leaned inside, grabbing her chin and turning her to face him. “Do not do anything stupid. No matter how much it goes against your nature.”
Selene opened her mouth to bite back a retort, but Rikkard snatched it away with his mouth, giving her a quick kiss, and a tilted smile before he hit the button to close the hood of her speeder.
A smile ghosted her lips and her shoulders relaxed just a little. She shook her head and faced her controls, pulling up the steering so it was comfortably level with her elbows. Then she keyed in the commands for the oxygen recycler, turned on all weapons, energy sensors for incoming attacks, and anything else she could think of that might help.
“You ready?” Rikkard buzzed in her ear.
Selene looked over to find Rikkard in the cockpit of his own speeder. He raised an eyebrow at her, his fingers held to his ear to activate coms.
She flashed him a grin and pressed the talk button on her earpiece. “Born ready.”
Rikkard chuckled. “Rem, make sure the airlock is closed on the cargo bay. We’re going out.”
“You’re doing what?” Rem screeched in her ear.
Selene winced.
“You’re going out there?” Flik was the next to question. “You know we don’t have time for this, right?”
Selene rolled her eyes. “If you hadn’t noticed, the Darri are shooting any ships that try to get away. If we can weaken them, or take out their guns, or at least help a few people get free while the Dominion takes out their weapons, then we will be able to get away.” It sounded reasonable enough to her.
“You’re both lunatics,” Darius said.
“Nothing wrong with a little crazy.” Selene grinned at Rikkard, and he shook his head.
“Airlock is secure,” Rem said.
“Roger,” Rikkard said.
Selene turned her speeder to face the cargo doors, her heart thrumming faster as she waited for them to open. Though she was terrified beyond belief, she was also excited. She was in space. How crazy was that?
The door lurched off the hinges, and her speeder was urged forward in a rush of wind. Selene jerked back on the controls to keep herself immobile until all the air had rushed from the room, and she was staring down the vast darkness of space.
Her breath caught, and her pulse sped. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Ready?” Rikkard buzzed.
Selene shut her mouth and glanced at him, making sure he saw her nod.
Rikkard eased forward first, his thrusters glowing blue from the back of the curved pod.
Selene was quick to follow, her fingers clammy around her handles, and adventure burning in her veins. She pushed outside into the void, and Selene wasn’t at all surprised to lose total track of direction. There was no up and down outside her pod, only black with soft twinkles in the distance.
She engaged thrusters, pulling ahea
d of Rikkard as she turned to get a look at the chaos unfolding on the other side of the cargo ship. Her heart stopped as she witnessed another Dominion cruiser blown into nothing but shrapnel.
Though she held no love for the Dominion, she was reminded how easy it might be for the Darri to destroy not only her little speeder, but their entire cargo ship too. She couldn’t let that happen. Not today. They’d worked too hard to make it off Earth alive, and they were damn well going to survive this nightmare.
Selene gripped her handles harder and pushed forward, weaving through debris toward the civilian ships that had paused by the edge of the asteroid belt. They saw what had happened to the last ship to try and flee. She had a feeling a lot of arguing was going on inside the half a dozen in her line of sight.
Twisting her handles, she shot through the blackness, and came out in front of the line of ships. She met the startled gaze of a woman with gray hair in the control room of one. Selene flashed a grin and gave a small wave before turning to face the Darri ship. Though a cruiser could probably do a lot better protecting than her little speeder, cruisers weren’t nearly as fast. As long as her sensors didn’t die, she’d be able to dodge the Darri’s laser shots with plenty of time to spare. If she could lead their attention away, maybe that’d give the humans enough time to flee.
Selene shot out toward the Darri ship, her pulse racing as the enormous behemoth grew closer and closer. Red light flared through the black, the soft glow illuminating the dark gunmetal tip of her speeder. She leaned forward, and rushed ahead of Rikkard to get a better look at the Dominion resistance.
They had two ships above orbit about the size of Targen, dozens of cruisers, and even a few speeders diving at the massive Darri monstrosity. It was obvious they were trying to take out the laser guns killing their comrades, and from the twist of metal and flash of sparks in some of the circular crannies on the smooth ship’s surface, the Dominion had managed to take out a few.
A shot of silver flashed by a cluster of Dominion speeders, and four explosions were sucked away by space.
Selene’s eyes widened as she attempted to track what had just blown them up. A silver pod shot away from the carnage, the ship no larger than hers, but it was alien, curved and twisted on the end until it became a spiral. A burning light blue light that had to be its thrusters shot from within the spiral. The silver ship flew from the scene, and disappeared faster than it had come.
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 25