Page 4 of Marked for Vengeance
He and his brothers had other ideas. Havoc and several others worked with Bysshe to find a way to break out of the cargo hold they’d been trapped in. They’d battled the droids on board, forced their way through sealed bulkheads, and taken control of the ship. Of course, none of them had any idea how to fly the fucking thing, so they’d ended up crashing onto the surface of the planet.
It was still better than what the verexi intended to happen. The damned scrawnies still wanted them dead and sent mercenaries to the surface periodically to try and exterminate them. They’d killed so many that Vengeance suspected the local wildlife had developed a taste for anything in armor.
It was a good thing none of the fa’rel wore any.
3
It only tooka few seconds for Loris to open the door to her cabin and grab her bag from inside. Years in the military had drilled into her to always be prepared for shit to go sideways, and she hadn’t dropped the habit, despite the fact she’d been a civilian for nearly fifteen years.
By the time she was back in the corridor, Maddison stood waiting, her own pack slung over her shoulders. “We’re going to the bridge. I need to know what happened, and it’s the safest place I can think of.”
She grabbed Maddison’s arm and took off at a jog. The deck lurched, lights flickered, and with every few strides the ship uttered low, tortured groans or sharp creaking noises that made her increase speed.
At least they weren’t in the passenger area. Loris could imagine the chaos that must be unfolding on the lower decks. Scared civilians leaving their cabins, clogging up the corridors, unsure where to go or what to do.
They were still a few steps away from their destination when new alarms rang out. Over the noise, she heard the captain call for all off-duty crew to report to the bridge.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Once they reached the door, Loris watched her friend’s back while she tried to input the passcode. It took her several tries and a long string of curses, but Maddison eventually got it open. They raced inside, the door sliding shut behind them.
Maddison spoke first. “What’s happening?”
Captain Perez shot them both a grim look and pointed to an empty chair. “Sit down, strap in, and shut up. I’ll explain if we live through the next few minutes.”
Maddison glanced at Loris, who nodded.
Once Maddison was secured, Loris took up a position behind her, one hand firmly gripping the back of the seat.
The deck bucked again, and this time the lights flickered and died. The emergency lighting kicked in almost immediately, bathing the bridge in a reddish glow that only added to the sense of foreboding.
Time passed slowly while every member of the bridge crew worked furiously, their eyes locked on their screens and hands flying over the controls. Loris couldn’t make out any details, but she didn’t have to. The ship was in trouble. She kept expecting the door to open and more of the crew to arrive, but it stayed closed. If none of the crew were able to make it here, hull breaches or sealed hatches had to be in their way.
Captain Jodi Perez’s voice broke the silence.
“How many escape pods deployed?”
“Six deployed. But those bastards have shot down three of them,” a crewman named Hooper replied. The woman was ashen, her hands closing into fists as she slammed them down on her console.
“We’re sitting ducks out here! We’re going to die.”
Captain Perez shot her a stern look. “Keep it together, Hooper. We’re not dead yet.”
The pilot called out a moment later. “Ma’am, we have another problem. We’re falling into the gravity well of a planet, and we only have partial power to our normal engines.”
“Fuck!” the captain yelled. It took only a second for her to recover. “Joy, get me everything you can about that planet. Atmosphere, survivability. Can we breathe the air if we go down?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Joy wasn’t part of the bridge crew, and Loris was surprised to see her at a station. Why was the ship’s guest liaison officer here?
The question went unasked. Now wasn’t the time. Not when the ship was coming apart around them. At least, that’s what it felt and sounded like to Loris.
Captain Perez bowed her head in defeat as she opened the ship-wide comms again. “This is the captain. I’m ordering everyone to abandon ship. I repeat. Abandon ship.”
She turned to look at Maddison. “That includes the two of you.”
“I should stay,” Maddison argued.
“No, ma’am. You need to board the command shuttle. Once we’re inside the atmosphere, the autopilot can handle the descent and landing on its own.”
