Page 35 of Across The Stars
“You think they ran out of fuel or something on the way back to the Nexus?”
“Seems odd.”
“Why isn’t the signal being transmitted to the Nexus, then?”
“We’re a lot closer,” I said, getting a bad feeling about the situation. I gave it thought, leaning my hands on the control table with a sigh. “If we’re closer, that means they need help now. Get a clear reading of the area. See if the freighter is still there. Perhaps someone broke off.”
Salukh didn’t hesitate to pull up images from the freighter’s location. We saw heat signatures in odd places. Best case scenario, it was a malfunction in our equipment. Worst case scenario, it was pieces from the freighter because something had happened. We’d barely cleaned up what was left of the Yutan, so the idea of coming cross another destroyed ship gutted me. Even if it was a human ship. I might not have liked humans much, but we had an agreement and part of that agreement was protecting each other.
And Innifer was on that freighter…
I narrowed my eyes at our scanners and stood up straight. “Do a scan for xeron.”
Nodding, Salukh punched in a few commands and there it was. Gek’tal energy signatures right where the freighter was supposed to be after leaving the storage station. It hadn’t even reached the relay tunnel.
“Gek’tal,” I snarled.
“Whatever sent the signal is heading our way, no doubt with some trouble on its tail.”
Salukh swiped through some diagrams on the control screen until I could see the scanner readings in front of him. There wasa dotted line mapping out a path on which the shuttle would likely be traveling, but it could be anywhere if it was mid-jump.
“They’ve been knocked off course,” Salukh said, pointing at the hologram where the signal had been relocated far from the freighter. Then, as fast as the signal appeared, it disappeared.
“Something’s definitely following them,” I said.
“Looks like it.” He took the Irlos out of its jump to double back without waiting for my orders. “Whatever’s on them could have chased them out of line.”
“The signal has been cut off,” I said. “They should be close enough to locate with heat signatures, though. Atom, find the Nexus shuttle that was trying to make contact.”
“Sending the shuttle coordinates,” Atom spoke.
“Got it,” Salukh said, inputting the coordinates manually.
With a few swipes of his fingers over the control panel, the Irlos shot toward the shuttle’s location. My thoughts darted uncontrollably to Innifer again. What if she’d gone down with the freighter? If I was being logical, our readings meant the freighter had been destroyed and my hearts sank. I gripped Salukh’s chair, hovering over him as he honed in on the shuttle, and I could only hope that we’d find someone alive.
16: Innifer
“Shit!” Quinn cursed. “We have to abandon the jump!”
“Why?” I asked.
“It’s too dangerous to keep going with that ship so close.”
The shuttle violently quaked again like it was going to rip apart. I felt my belts tugging painfully on my shoulders, knocking the air out of my lungs.
“Hang on!” Quinn said.
We slowed nearly to a stop. I closed my eyes again and clenched my teeth, trying not to throw up from sheer panic. Sam hadn’t said anything in a while and I suspected she passed out, but I couldn’t look up to check.
“Ho—ly shit,” Quinn said.
I cut my gaze toward the bridge to see a vessel shaped like an arrowhead pop into existence right above us through the digital window pane. It was much larger than the shuttle we were in and much better equipped.
“No chance it’s valerian, huh?” I said.
I already knew the answer.
“Definitely not,” Quinn said. “We were in that jump for a half hour. We’re in the middle of nowhere. We’re so fucked.”
