Page 10 of Rebel
Tide opened the shuttle and ushered us inside. The shuttle was one large space with six seats, a control bay and window to the stars up front.
“Buckle in,” Xavier instructed.
Vex and Lore appeared a moment later, and once everyone was aboard, Xavier sealed the doors. Vex slid into the seat beside me and clipped in. His gaze flicked to Xavier, but the Athion was busy at the flight panel with Tide.
And then the huge hangar bay doors to the main ship were opening outward, and we were rising into the blackness of space.
There was tense silence as we flew away from the ship. It floated below us, lights winking out one by one until it was merely a dead husk floating in space.
Tide’s movements were jerky as he flipped switches. Xavier sat tensely in his seat. There was a definite tension in the air, and it was like a live wire threatening to shock us.
I looked to Lore seated on the other side of me clutching a case of what were probably samples of my blood. “What happened?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“We’ll reach the satellite planet in five hours,” Xavier said softly. “Get some sleep.”
With so much tension in the room? Unlikely.
Vex reached round and nudged my head onto his shoulder so I could use it as a pillow.
“I’m fine.” But my eyes were already closing. “Damn, I was tired.”
* * *
“—did you do, exactly?” Tide’s voice was low and lethal.
“I thought we were done with this?” Xavier snapped.
“Well you thought wrong,” Tide said.
I sat up and opened my eyes. “What the fuck is going on?”
Vex was stiff as a board beside me.
“Xavier was on night duty,” Lore said. “Tide is just trying to find out what happened.”
Xavier kept his gaze ahead. “For the hundredth time, I didn’t do anything. I fell asleep, okay. I must have dozed off, and when I opened my eyes the controls were going crazy.”
“Bullshit!” Tide said.
“Why?” Vex asked. “Why would it be bullshit? Do you think he’d deliberately sabotage the ship?”
The shuttle filled with silence.
What the heck was the subtext there. “Tide? That’s ridiculous, what possible motive could he have?”
“Yes, Tide, what motive could I have?” Xavier sneered.
Tide’s shoulders heaved. “Fasten up, we’re approaching Limira X.” A bright orange planet came into view dotted with spots of green and blue.
“Is the air breathable?” Vex asked.
“It’s a satellite planet,” Lore said. “It was selected by the Athion government because it’s viable. We have a station on there for emergency stops. We just need to make sure we land in the right spot.”
Convenient that it was close by when the ship gave up the ghost. My gaze tracked Xavier as he flipped switches in preparation to land. There was no reason for him to have sabotaged the ship. We had a plan; him, me, and Vex.
Tide was being Tide.
