Page 7 of The First Spark
Like she cared. She avoided Mother and Mother avoided her, and that was better for both of them.
Thank the gods Aunt Calida had raised her. Mother had sent her to live at the Dalian court, since she and Father already had a son and daughters never inherited in the Etovian Empire. Aunt Calida hadn’t had any heirs yet, so she’d named her the Duchissa Heredem. For fifteen cycles, she’d been the heiress to the Dalian throne, until Lexie’s birth freed her.
The intercom beeped twice, signaling another drop.
“You know,” Ariah mused, gazing at the painting, “it wouldreallypiss your mother off if you started dating a?—”
A shrill screech cut through Ariah’s words, and Kalie’s heart slammed to a halt.
A thunderous crash boomed over the blaring siren.
Kalie’s eyes widened. Her horror was mirrored on Ariah’s face, bathed in red light from the flashing alarms.
“Oh, gods,” she whispered.
The lights shorted out, plunging the hallway into darkness. Her pulse thundered in her ears. She was frozen, paralyzed to the spot. Then an explosion roared, and she took off running, sprinting downthe corridors to the bridge. Red rays spiraled across the hall. Alarms screamed, and the floor rocked under her feet.
As Kalie burst through the door to the bridge, her heart stopped.
“Holy shit,” Ariah breathed, slamming to a halt beside her.
Kalie stopped thinking, stopped feeling. Shouts rose across the bridge, but the noise faded to a series of dull sounds swirling in her ears, punctuated by her ragged breaths. Her knees buckled. She gripped a railing for support, blinking rapidly.
They’d dropped out of the stargate route, right into the line of fire of three massive battleships. The tar-black cruisers blotted out the gate beyond. Painted on the flank of the enemy’s flagship was a golden sword stabbing through a crown: the logo of the Federation.
Carik’s men had come for her.
Stargate Route C-1009, Sector 5
Decemmensis-7, 817 cycles A.F.C.
Kalie didn’t thinkshe was breathing.
Three of her armored ships shot forward to engage Carik’s fleet, but they were mere frigates against a fleet with a destroyer. Red lasers roared between the two fleets. Orange explosions dotted the dark canvas of space as warplanes burst into flames.
Ariah barked orders at the officers. The sea of shouts and curses drowned her out.
Sweat dripped down Kalie’s face. They were outnumbered and outflanked. The Federation fleet had superior firepower. There was no way out. They were going to die here.
She took a deep breath, but it didn’t go into her lungs. Pain pierced her palms as her nails dug into her skin. She needed a plan. She couldn’t panic. She needed to think, but there was no point. They were going to die, and there was no one to save them?—
Mother.
Kalie whirled on the bridge. “CallEtov for backup!”
Father could send a fleet. Etov was close, and if his fleets mobilized immediately, if they pushed their thrusters to maximum power…
“Dammit, they’ve jammed our outbound signals!”
Kalie choked on a cry. No one was coming.
A flash of light tore through space, blinding her. When her vision cleared, one of her frigates was gone, replaced by a cloud of smoke and flames.
“No!”
She lunged at the viewport, but Ariah caught her shoulder. “We need to go. There’s an escape pod waiting.”
“I’m not… I can’t…” The world spun around her, racing past in flashes of color.
