Page 10 of Rebels Rising

‘Captain?’ GC Stanson prompted. ‘I need your orders.’

Xander finally stepped forward then and drew the GC’s attention. ‘Captain Artemis is currently… indisposed. I can speak for her.’ At the pilot’s nod, he continued. ‘Does this ship have weapons?’

‘It does, sir.’

‘Do we have anyone to control those weapons?’

‘Not currently, sir.’

‘Right. I’ll get someone on that ASAP, but you focus your efforts on getting us out of range. Understood?’

‘Understood, sir.’

‘A?’

The second voice startled all of us, and we each jumped and swivelled our heads to find its owner. Another hologram had appeared within the hologram, and the GC was gaping at the woman who had appeared beside her.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded.

The other hologram frowned. ‘Who areyou?Where’s Artemis?’

‘She’s in here,’ Addy shouted, waving her arms to grab both holograms’ attention. ‘You must be Libby,’ she continued. ‘Arty’s fine, I promise. And we have Bal!’

She waved me towards her, and I moved to stand beside her and present the small boy but stumbled when another blow rocked the ship. I managed to put Bal down and before I could fall on him, and he immediately crawled to the large beast resting at Artemis’s feet.

I watched with growing unease as tiny fingers poked, probed, tugged and scratched at the large animal, but the creature wasn’t having it. It rose up to loom over the boy with a deep, rumbling growl that resonated throughout the room and vibrated my bones. And then my unease quickly morphed into morbid horror as the beast opened its red tooth-lined maw and lunged.

With a yell, we all moved at once to get between the boy and the beast. I heard shouting from the holograms as well but paid them no head as I focused all my efforts on scooping up the boy and getting as far away from the incensed animal as possible, all the while the others in the room had formed a barrier with their bodies, stumbling around when the ship was hit again in quick succession.

‘Hold on!’ the GC shouted as she turned her attention back to the ship’s controls. I couldn’t see what she was doing as only her head and shoulders were projected by the hologram, but I could see the way her brows dipped low and her tongue poked out, caught between her teeth. Her shoulders bunched and her head swivelled, and we were all suddenly thrown back as the shiplurched, the magnets creating the artificial gravity fighting to keep up with her erratic manoeuvres as we went momentarily weightless.

I held Bal to me with one arm while the other steadied us as best as I could, but we were being tossed about like salt in a shaker.

Luckily, Bromm was blocked in by the cot’s guard rails, so he wasn’t being tossed around quite like the rest of us, and I considered strapping Bal down with him to keep him secure throughout the worst of it.

But those thoughts were interrupted by suddenly Artemis leaping to her feet. She held onto the guard rail to steady herself as we were once again tossed about. Cadmus jerked from his previously slumped position at the sudden movement and I froze on that action. Why hadn’t he moved when the beast was trying to attack Bal?

‘What the hell is going on here?’ she snapped, taking in the chaos and snapping me out of my thoughts.

‘A?’ the second hologram called out.

Artemis twisted towards her voice. ‘Libby?’

‘Is now not a good time?’

Another hit caused Artemis to almost faceplant before she caught herself on the chair. Fortunately for her, it was bolted to the floor for instances just like this.

‘Are you okay?’ asked the other woman.

‘I’m fine! I’ll call you back in a tick, okay?’ Artemis yelled over the shouts bursting through from the soldiers and babies in the hallway. The hologram dispersed, blocking off the second one of her friend. Artemis reached out to support Dorian as he lost his balance and tilted precariously.

We stayed put as we waited for the hits to finally cease. I was crouched to cover Bal’s body, shielding him with my own in case something fell. The beast was cowering beneath Bromm’s cot who was nice and secure on top. Adara, Urman and Henrik were clinging to the only other chair in the room, and Artemis was practically hugging Dorian in her attempts to keep him upright while Cadmus was wrapped around Artemis, using her as a pillar in a way that seemed like he was also protecting her.

That was a new development, but after what I’d witnessed during their…act of intimacy, I wasn’t completely surprised. Just mostly. Cadmus had never struck me as the type to settle down.

Eventually, the blows stopped coming and the ship levelled out again right as the GC’s voice crackled over the speaker system. ‘That’s the worst of it over, folks. The enemy are no longer on our tail.’

Our sighs of relief came too soon, however, because as soon as the GC’s voice cut out Bal let out an excited squeal and reached with grabby hands in the beast’s direction. The beast that had clearly had enough of the tiny Terran boy because he let out another bone-rattling growl and we all jumped into action.

---