Chapter Three
Talyani had experienced turbulence before. You couldn’t travel in space as much as she did and not. But that was like comparing the gentle waves on a beach to a series of tidal waves. Five, to be exact. One for each ship that exploded. Each wave tossed and rolled the escape pod. At one point, she was sure none of them would survive. Her head slammed back against the hull during one particularly violent roll, and darkness descended. She welcomed it.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Why are you sending us there?”
Ranvir released his seat restraint and then checked to make sure Talyani still had a pulse before looking at the cyborg who questioned him. The sleeve of their uniforms revealed that two were lieutenants and the other was a private, but nothing else.
“Names. Specialties,” Ranvir ordered, and they instantly responded to his authority.
“Pike. Weapons specialist.” The brown-haired lieutenant immediately replied.
“Tane,” the private spoke next. “Navigator.”
“Ganesha.” A deep well of a voice came from the larger lieutenant. “Pilot.”
They didn’t give him their first names, but Ranvir hadn’t expected it, as first names were only used within a pod.
“I’m Somerled. The coordinates I entered are beyond the empire’s normal flight paths. It gives us time to decide where we want to go.”
“There’s a tracker,” Pike informed him.
“Which I disabled before we launched. They’ll have to do in-depth scans to locate us now, which won’t be possible until the debris fields dissipate. That’s going to take a long time with five destroyed ships. By then, we should be long gone.”
“We’re not returning to Kirs?” Tane asked.
“No,” Ranvir told him, realizing that Tane was relatively young for a cyborg. “The Rebellion is lost, Private. At least for now.”
“Then where are we going?” Tane pressed. “Escape pods have a limited range.”
“Bionus,” Pike suggested.
“The planet Shui’s about to invade?” Ranvir looked at him in disbelief.
“We’ll assist them,” Pike argued.
“Four cyborgs against the entire Kirs military?” Ranvir just shook his head. How the hell had these two ever been selected for the Elite program?
“Tuater,” Ganesha said.
Finally, an intelligent suggestion. Tuater was a small planet on the outer edge of the Leonis Star System. It would be an excellent choice if they were in an actual ship, not an escape pod. “We’ll never make it in this.”
“Go to Tyurma,” Talyani murmured, lifting a hand to the back of her head.
“And do what?” Tane sneered. “Turn ourselves in? How stupid are you?”
Talyani glared unflinchingly into the cyborg’s mocking gaze. “Stupid enough to sneak onto a ship bound for Tyurma. Stupid enough to obtain the codes that set you free.” Talyani’s words grew louder as she released her harness and stood, bringing her closer to the cyborg. “Do you think I planned all that and didn’t have a way for Nas to escape?”
Silence reigned in the pod as Talyani continued to stare Tane down.
“You always planned on going to Tyurma?” Ranvir’s question pulled her blue gaze to him.
“Not to the moon itself, but to the waystation on its dark side where the prison supply ships dock. My private ship has been there for ‘repairs’ the last two weeks.” Her fingers made air quotes. “I’d already bribed the guards to take Nas and his pod to the station. Once they were on board, we were going to fly to Bionus. The flight plan was approved weeks ago, so it wouldn’t raise any suspicions. Once I was on Bionus, they’d take off for parts unknown, and I’d report my ship stolen.”
“You actually believed that would work?” Pike snorted.
“Yes.” Ranvir could tell she believed that. “And it would have if Shui hadn’t decided to be judge, jury, and executioner.”