Page 22 of Neverwylde 6
Chapter 10
Allies
“Massapa, check the scanners. See if that warship is on our tail.”
The Seneecian left his seat to read them. “Nothing within range,” he responded.
“More than likely they’re still trying to comprehend what just happened to their shuttle bay,” Cooter remarked.
“We can only hope,” Kyber agreed.
“Wait until they find out what has happened in their lifepod bay,” Massapa quipped. When everyone turned to silently question him, the Seneecian grinned. “I set the automatic timer to begin ejecting the pods in sequence.”
“Can’t they override that command?” Cooter countered.
“Not as long as there is a hull breach,” Kyber told them.
Fullgrath let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, that’s rich! They’ve lost temporary access to their shuttle craft. And now all their lifepods are being squirted out into space like a Malgonese ballox giving birth to a litter of pups!”
The laughter that followed was needed. It also helped to relieve some of their tension and fear. Kyber turned to the navigator. “Jules, how long before we reach that outpost?”
“Umm, hold on. Gotta do the math mentally. At our current speed, a little over two hours.”
“Fuel?”
“Help me out here, Massapa,” Jules asked the Seneecian. Massapa did a quick estimation.
“We have enough for four hours. Maybe a little more.”
“Kelen, can we coax a little more speed—”
“Way ahead of you.”
“Keep an eye on that scanner.”
They continued on in silence. After a while, Sandow voiced the question Kyber knew the others had been needing to ask.
“What happened back there, Kyber?”
He swiveled slightly in his command seat to where he could glance back at them, while at the same time keep an eye on the front of the ship.
“Duruk never intended for us to live long enough to reach Seneecia. That’s why he was having you placed inside those lifepods. Once all of you were podded, you would have been ejected into space and left there to die.”
Fullgrath uttered a blaspheme. “That’s sick. What a fucking sick way to make someone suffer.”
“What about Plat?” Massapa wondered.
“I was told I had wrongfully bested Plat according the Law of Tooth and Nail. Plat claims I drew a weapon on him. That I earned my new ranking illegally.”
“That’s not what happened,” Fullgrath exclaimed. “He drew a weapon onyou.”
“I even testified to that fact,” Jules added.
Kleesod spoke up. “It matters not. Duruk and the others would never accept the word of a Terran.”
“What aboutyourword?” Kelen asked.
“Their word matters not. To the Triumvirate, their word is tainted,” Kyber responded.
