We suited up as fast as we could, the warriors each checking and double checking our suits for us as we slipped into them for this battle.
Dorian handed Angh a bag full of explosives.
“I need one, too. Just in case.”
Behind me, a Prillon warrior handed me a similar bag. I groaned as I lifted the straps over my shoulders. It had to weigh at least sixty pounds. But once we were drifting in space, weight would mean nothing.
“Ready?” Dorian shouted from the pilot’s seat.
“Ready,” I shouted back. Angh and I stepped back into the small decompression area at the rear of the ship. We had to stand close, the space was small. The big warlord’s hand reached for a heavy line about six feet long and pulled it from the wall to hook us together at the waist. We might drift, but we’d do it together.
The door slid into place, separating us from the rest of the shuttle. I reached up and placed my palm flat on the glass in front of us. Dorian lifted his hand to mine on the other side of the panel.
“I love you, Dorian.”
The words were the last I said before the rear of the craft opened and Angh and I were ejected into deep space.
Chapter 13
Seth
* * *
“ReCon 3, come in. This is the Karter.”
I leaned over my pilot’s shoulder as he pressed the communication switch. “ReCon 3. Mills here.”
“Captain, this is the Karter. We are under attack. The battlegroup is trapped between the net and a Hive armada. Your orders are to rescue the I.C. team from shuttle 547 and return to the Karter immediately for battle orders.”
“Fuck me.” Trinity stood to my right. Jack behind her.
“An armada? How many Hive ships is that?” Jack asked.
“Too fucking many. Get that I.C. team back here. Karter out.”
The line went dead and the shock of our situation moved through my team like a ripple over a still pond. These were battle-hardened troops. Experienced, both on Earth and out here in space. We’d never even heard of a Hive attack of this scale.
“Well, let’s go rescue the spooks and get our asses back to the Karter, people.” I leaned down and patted my pilot on the shoulder. “What do we have on the scanners?”
“Two stealth class shuttles. 546 has lost both engines and is drifting.”
“Lost both engines? How the hell did that happen?” I peered at the screen and identified the small ship. Sure enough, the back end of the shuttle looked like it had been the main course at a charcoal bar-b-que.
“That looks like ion cannon fire,” Trinity said.
“Yeah, but from where?” Jack asked.
There was nothing in front of us but empty space, but we’d all heard, in our briefing before takeoff about the invisible net, about the freighter that blew up. So I knew something was out there. I?
?d never felt like space had a personality or presence of its own. It always felt empty to me. Like…nothing. But now, staring out into the darkness, I would swear I felt something more. Menace.
“Get some grappling hooks onto that shuttle and let’s pull her in. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” I lifted my head and tilted my chin to the side so my whole team would hear. “Helmets on, people. Full lock. We could lose pressure at any time.”
I pulled my helmet on my head and made sure the locks were airtight, the hissing sound of the helmet seal reassuring as something caught my attention floating across the screen. I pointed. “What is that?”
The pilot messed with his controls, but the co-pilot answered. “That’s shuttle 539. Stealth model, sir. Her engines are operating at full capacity.”
Chills raced over my flesh as we got closer until suddenly, Dorian’s emotions flooded me, nearly bringing me to my knees. Dorian was on this ship. And he was holding on by a thread. Something was very, very wrong. “Hail that shuttle. Now.”