Page 67 of Rebels Rising

‘Yes, Captain.’

I looked around, wondering where Xander was and what was taking him so long to return. Surely, Foryk wasn’t that difficult to find. I needed my second.

No, it was more than that. I needed the security of an experienced captain to act as a safety net in case I fucked everything up. I had never been responsible for so many people before, and I was actively pushing down the anxiety that was shoving at my mental walls with increased intensity.

‘Adara,’ I called. ‘Have you heard from Xander?’

‘No, Captain.’

‘I need you to find him and bring him back. He should be done informing Foryk by now. I need him here.’

‘Yes, Captain.’

She turned on her heel and exited the room without further prompting, her shoulders tense and steps hurried. Surprisingly, before the door could shut completely, another person stepped through that I wasn’t expecting.

‘Katira,’ I greeted impatiently, though I tried to keep my tone gentle out of respect for her traumas. ‘Now’s not a good time.’

‘That’s actually why I’m here, Captain,’ she said, and though she was clearly fighting the impulse to avert her eyes and hunch her shoulders, she held herself aloft with a confidence I didn’t think she was capable of after her abuse.

‘What is it?’ I asked, suddenly on alert. If she had information I wondered why she hadn’t come to me with it sooner. Perhaps she felt like she couldn’t.

‘The ship’s logs state that we’re headed towards an asteroid field. Is this correct?’

I scowled, unsure where she was going with this but confirmed, nonetheless.

‘The only asteroid field I know of close to Nova Station’s current coordinates is a trap,’ she said.

‘A trap? How?’

‘Pirates, Captain. Pirates aligned with The Program.’

My breath left my lungs on awhoosh. The blows just kept coming.

‘How do you know this?’ I asked her, weariness like a weight now dragging me down.

‘I overheard my father speaking with the scientists. They’ve been using the pirates as their primary method of transporting their… newly acquired subjects to the different facilities.’

I cursed, a single word one of anger and frustration that swirled into a mass of pure, unadulterated rage. The implications of what she had just informed me not only caused us trouble in the present but was apparently a long-standing issue I was previously unaware of. How I had let something like that slip through the gaps in my knowledge…

But that was it, wasn’t it? They were using pirates under the table to avoid leaving a paper trail of their actions. It was a way for them to skirt accountability if they were ever discovered, the pirates the ones who would take the fall for trafficking all those people. All thosechildren. It was smart, I would give them that.

The biggest problem now, however, was that if we managed to successfully evade the incoming enemy ship and then successfully manoeuvre through the asteroid field, we were going to face another enemy as soon as we came out the other side. An enemy that would keep us locked in place while The Program and their army took their time going the longer, safer way around. They were going to catch us no matter what.

We were trapped.

‘Why didn’t you come to me with this sooner?’ I asked her, my helplessness latching onto her and morphing into fury.

‘I… I-I didn’t kn-know. I o-only just s-saw our c-course, C-Captain,’ she stammered, her false bravado fleeing under the force of my anger.

‘Why were you even looking?’

‘Y-you said…’ she paused to take a deep breath, the action steadying her enough to speak with a little more confidence again. She was standing up for herself. Interesting. ‘You said my brother and I were free to go once we landed. We were researching our options, and when we discovered the ship’s course, we knew we were headed for more trouble. I came to you as soon as I had the information to give, Captain.’

I forced myself to back down, caging my raging emotions. It would do no one any good if I lost it now.

‘I see. Thank you, Katira, for coming to me with this.’ I turned to Eloria. ‘Can you run a quick scan to confirm the information, GC?’

‘Of course, Captain,’ she said, already pulling up the holo-screen and tapping away.

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