The...man who’d worn this suit before him had murdered innocents. He’d approached Revalia as if it were a war zone, shooting at anyone that moved. Man, woman, child.
“Hurry,” Dex said as he helped haul a shocked Valen across the sand.
In front of them, Andi took point, her pace steady. Not too fast, not too slow. Her Xen Pterran armor was too loose, but she looked the part nonetheless.
Other soldiers sprinted past them, and Dex’s heart leaped into his throat.
They’ll know, he thought. They’ll see right through our stolen masks.
In his mind, he saw a lifetime behind bars, stuck in that horrible darkness they’d just freed Valen from. He readied himself for a fight, body like a coiled spring about to come loose.
But the soldiers only ran past, clicking freshly loaded clips into their rifles as they disappeared into the smoke beyond.
He hoped they, too, burned with the bodies he and the Marauders had left behind.
*
It took everything Andi had not to swing her swords at the soldiers as they ran past. But she held herself in check, continuing up the hillside as they got closer and closer to the desert’s edge.
The line of ships was half a mile ahead, ramps still lowered, dark interiors waiting to swallow them whole.
Each step, each breath, they made it closer.
“Which one?” Andi asked. Beside her, Breck had Lon held over her shoulder, his body limp as if he were already dead. “Lira. You have to tell us which one.”
She couldn’t see her pilot’s face behind the Xen Pterran mask. But she guessed it was blank as Lira ran, robotic and silent.
Andi looked to Dex instead. He knew starships better than she did, could look at them as if he saw their insides turned out. “Which one?”
“There. Middle of the fleet. It’s the smallest, so it’ll be harder to track.”
The ship of choice was outdated. The wings were dented, the hull looked to be made of several different models, and yet...it had made it here in one piece, all the way from Xen Ptera, and unless this attack was planned as a one-way trip, she guessed the ship had enough fuel inside for a flight back to the Olen System.
Andi swallowed, glancing back only once at the distant destruction.
Soldiers were gathering together, knocking over the remains of booths.
They had droids lined up on the sand for questioning. People huddled together on the ground nearby, some screaming and begging for mercy. Others looked stoically out at the desert, as if resigned to the same shock that was swarming through Lira and Valen now.
“We can’t leave them here to die,” Andi said. Adhira had taken them in. Alara had allowed them to stay in Rhymore after they’d crash-landed. She knew the general had a hand in it...but this planet had opened its arms to her and her crew.
Now it was bathed in blood.
A victim to Xen Ptera’s terrors.
Breck hefted Lon farther onto her shoulder. Her muffled voice came from inside the mask. “We don’t have a choice. If we go back down there, we’ll all die, too, Andi.” She angled her head toward Valen. “He is our mission.”
Andi turned away.
She would make this choice now and allow herself to consider the consequences later. More faces, more dead for her to call to a dance.
They continued until the sand beneath their stolen boots turned to metal.
Until they were marching up the ramp of the chosen ship, Dex whispering, “Go, go, go.” Gilly ran inside, swinging her rifle left and right, searching for any remaining soldiers on board.
“Clear,” she mouthed.
It was strangely hollow inside. Enough space to pack a hundred soldiers into the empty cargo bay. Overhead, a single catwalk spread left and right. Darkness waited beyond.
Breck set Lon down on the cold metal floor. Lira nestled beside him, shifting his head gently to rest on her lap. Valen knelt before them, speaking in hushed tones to Lira. His own hands shook, but it seemed he was in better control of himself for now.
Go with Gilly, Andi silently commanded Breck.
The giantess nodded and slipped past Andi to follow Gilly and Dex farther into the ship.
She watched them climb the ladder to the catwalk, no words shared between them as they split up, Breck and Gilly to the left, Dex to the right.
Andi waited, catching her breath and praying to the Godstars that the ship was clear.
Only a few seconds passed before a gunshot exploded above.
The crew.
Leaving the loading door open, Andi turned and sprinted into the heart of the ship.
Chapter Sixty-Two
* * *
DEX
BLOOD POOLED IN DEX’S VISION.
He toppled and fell backward to the floor, his head ringing.
Of all the people to find waiting on the bridge, it had to be a soldier with New Vedan blood, didn’t it? And one easily double the size of Breck.
After he’d entered and found the giant waiting to spring, Dex had only had time to fire off a single shot, useless against the bulletproof man. He’d probably been one of the many visitors stuck on Xen Ptera during his childhood, eyes opened to the neglect of the Unified Systems. Now he was fighting for Queen Nor.
“Tiny little Tenebran fool,” the pilot’s voice boomed as he stalked forward. He ripped Dex’s gun from his grasp as easily as taking a toy from a child.
Then he bent it in half over his massive thigh. The metal squealed as a similar sound slipped from Dex’s throat.
“Easy there, big guy,” Dex said, lifting his hands before him. He tried to stand, but his vision was spotty. His two hands, spread before him, suddenly looked like seven. “We can talk.”
The giant laughed menacingly, advancing toward him.
Then the door to the bridge hissed as it slid open, and Breck and Gilly were standing in the entryway, their eyes wide.
“Oh, for the love of the stars,” Breck said.
Gilly fired off ten rounds. Each one of them slammed against the man’s chest, then dropped to the metal floor.
Ping, ping, ping.
The giant looked up at Gilly. A low grumble rolled from his chest as he took a lurching step forward and swung.
“No!” Breck shouted.
She leaped in front of Gilly. A sickening crack sounded as the man’s fist connected with the side of Breck’s face.
She landed beside Dex in a heap, limbs splayed across the floor.
Gilly screamed just as Andi rushed onto the bridge, her eyes wide, her swords already out and crackling.
Her face, bathed in the electric light, was the last thing Dex saw before darkness pulled him away.
Chapter Sixty-Three
* * *
ANDROMA
THE GIANT SWUNG.
Andi ducked, and his fist whizzed past her head, punching into the metal wall instead.
It dented outward with a screeching whine.
“Come on, you bastard,” Andi growled.
She moved backward, easing out of the bridge, her too-large Xen Pterran suit hampering her movements slightly.
The giant followed. Andi could see Breck’s splayed form behind him, Gilly kneeling over her and Dex on the floor.
“You think you can steal my ship?” the giant growled as he stalked toward Andi.
She shrugged as she stopped in the center of the catwalk. “I’ve done it before.”