Page 77 of Sol Survivor

She laughed.“Sure.”

“Stand still.”He held a device over her eye.Blinded by the light and the image of a multi-colored hot air balloon, she waited.Something tickled the bottom eyelashes and pinched her eye.She jerked back.“Done.”He pocketed the device and tapped his arm, swiping across a small screen to the right of the console.What she was seeing flickered into existence.“What you see, I’ll record.”

She blinked to clear her teary-eyed vision.

“Don’t worry.By the time you land, you’ll be fine.”He winced.“It’s just going to hurt in a few days when you pee out those bots.”

She punched Grant on the arm.

He yelped and leaped away.“Sorry, should have led with that.”Stumbling down the ramp, he waved and disappeared up a ladder.

“All aboard?”Caah claimed the pilot seat.

“Yes,” Dez responded, his fingers twitching where he gripped a blaster.

“Initiating start up,” Caah called as he typed on the console, his fingers blurring.“We are good for pre-flight.Final checks completed.Ready to launch.”

“Okay, Caah, take us down.”Vic faced the worried faces.

“Brace for detachment.Arm uncoupled.”Caah chortled.“This is going to be fun.”

The shuttle jerked, and with a high-pitched scream, its ass swung outward, filling the screen with the back end of the hauler and the retracting arm.

“Descending, reducing speed by a hundred knots.Temperatures are a balmy negative one-six-zero degrees Celsius.The atmosphere is a thin layer of oxygen.No marking to use as a point of entry, other than the red cruiser on a landing pad.”

“Carne.”Vic rubbed her hands together.“HailVesalius, this theBurro Lentorequesting permission to land.”

“Burro Lento, we’ve been expecting you.What’s the delay?”

“Shuttle malfunction,Vesalius.Tends to happen with these rust buckets.”Vic grimaced.

The man paused before he cleared his throat.Not a good sign.“Where’s Nikko?”

“Had an emergency.Had to journey home.”She grinned and whispered, “to hell.”Raising her head, she said, “Left everything in my control.”

“And Themba?”Doubt warbled the man’s voice.

“Just found out his son died.Give me a break here.Leah has laryngitis, Dieter’s busy with engine repair, which leaves me, the newbie, delivering the cargo.Man, it stinks too.Fargen lot of them need sol-baths stat.”

Silence followed her outburst.She met Drafe’s calm gaze.Knowing him, he would storm the place if sneaking in didn’t work.

“No can do,Burro Lento.Permi—” The man paused.“Wait, my boss would like a word.Patching vidcon through.”

The screen flickered to a face Vic hated more than her pa’s.

“Ah, Victoria Harper, what a small galaxy.You'll be delighted to know your precious Ande lost his match.Of course, his death came as a surprise, and Devlin will be dealt with most severely.Alas, I digress.I thought Nikko disposed of you.”

It took all her strength not to wince with the memories of her solo-flight still fresh.“Sebastian, I didn’t know it was my birthday.I can’t resist saying how happy I am to see you off-world.”

She grinned, the need for revenge twitching her fingers.Slitting his throat came to mind and with Drafe’s dagger in her boot, her plan would be realized.

The universe had blessed her.She would captureVesaliusand take her revenge at the same time.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Year: 2219

Moonside on Europa.

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