Lewis’ people used several flying vehicles to get close to the ship, then approached the rest of the way on foot. After observing their stealthy progress, I have to admit that they’re capable professionals. Unfortunately, without better equipment, I still don’t think they stand a chance against Garresh and his people.
“Delta 1, begin the assault,” Lewis orders. The room falls silent, the only noise being occasional order confirmations coming from the radio. Lewis is tense, and even though I agree with Fin that she’s an insufferable bitch, I empathize, knowing she’s worried about the men and women she just potentially sent to their deaths.
“Any movement?”
“Delta 3, negative.”
“Alpha 1, negative.”
“Alpha 2, no movement, but there’s a suspicious sound.”
Lewis’ frown deepens. “Hostiles?”
“No, ma’am, it sounds mechanical, like a jet engine.”
“Fuck,” I curse. “They’re taking off.”
Lewis slams her fist down on the table. “All units, attack, now. Concentrate efforts on disabling the ship. Target the engines. Do not let it escape!”
Gunfire erupts from the speakers, obnoxiously loud compared to the usual soft whizzing of laser fire I’m used to. The projectiles are as inefficient as expected—the humming intensifies as the ship leaves the ground, sinuously turning away from the cliff. A rocket flies toward it, hitting one of the main engines. We hold our breaths as the ship wobbles but continues gaining altitude. Another rocket explodes against the side of the ship. That’s when Garresh returns fire.
Pulling Fin against my chest, I cover her ears as the assault team members start dying, precise laser shots from the ship’s cannons taking them out one by one, all while the Eclipse Raider rises higher into the bright blue sky. When the ship moves out of range and all we hear over the radio are frantic calls for medic and evac organization, I scoop Fin into my arms and carry her outside. I should have never brought her along, but it’s just been so difficult to keep my distance. Which is exactly what I should be doing. I should be letting her go back to her life.
No matter how this situation with Garresh resolves, I’m under no illusion that the military is letting me go. Like Imani said, I’m never leaving this base alive, but I’ll do my best to ensure that Fin and her friends are allowed to return to their former lives, lives they had before I crashed into them like a fucking meteorite.
Lewis follows me out of the room, the lines on her face drawn tight. “Fuck,” she yells through gritted teeth.
“Yeah.” What else is there to say?
“Dr. Rhodes mentioned you’ve been trying to contact galactic authorities? Someone with the power to stop this ship from leaving Earth and even return the kidnapped humans?”
“Yes, but Garresh has ally. All messages are blocked.”
Lewis runs a hand down her face. “Even if you used our satellites? We have much greater resources at our disposal than Doctor Rhodes. Would a message routed directly through several satellites at once work better than something smuggled alongside scientific data?”
Fin stirs in my arms and I set her down. Wiping the tears from her face, she shakes her head. “I’m no scientist, but if I were a mole in that blockade around our planet and wanted my friends to go through unmolested, I’d make sure that absolutely no messages reached the higher-ups. I don’t think there’s anything we can do, save from flying up there and yelling at them in person.”
Something flashes through Lewis’ eyes. “Would that work?” she asks me. “Flying out to the blockade ships and telling them in person?”
“Yes,” I reply without needing to think about it. An approaching space vessel would be picked up by too many systems and would have too many eyes on it for the traitor to make it disappear. “But human technology is slow. Your vessel would take days to fly to blockade. Garresh will leave in hours.”
“Hours? Why hasn’t he left yet?”
“He has to wait for sensors be…aligned? Aligned so that ally can block scans. It’s… Fuck.” I curse, frustrated with my inability to form a coherent sentence.
Lewis nods. “Let’s just say he’s waiting for a window of opportunity. Technical specs don’t matter. So, we still have afew hours? If I can get someone up there, close enough to those invisible ships, they can talk to whoever is in charge and rescue our people?”
“Yes,” I confirm, though I have little to no faith in her plan. There is no way any human-built spaceship would get someone there fast enough.
“Fuck.” Sighing, Lewis takes off through a corridor, gesturing for us to follow her. “You know how I mentioned we’re supposed to pull out every stop to find the general’s… To find that particular person of interest? Well, there’s one stop that’s exempt from that order. One that’s exempt from all orders. Ironically, it’s the only one that will help us now.”
I exchange confused glances with Fin, but she just shakes her head. Clearly, I’m not the only one who has no idea what the colonel is talking about.
We follow Lewis through several locked doors with increasing levels of security. Guards stationed there frown at our approach, but no one dares to oppose Lewis as they let us pass by. At the last door, after letting the machine scan her eyeball, Lewis turns to us. “This is the best guarded secret in the entire country. Possibly in the entire world. Only a handful of select people are allowed in here, and most of them live their entire lives on this base, never leaving it.” She levels a serious look at Fin. “This is not something you blab about if you want to continue breathing.”
Fin, to her credit, is unperturbed by the threat. Or perhaps she’s just good at hiding her fear. “Just show us.”
“Alright.” Lewis swipes her hand over the device and we hear heavy locks disengage. The door slides open like a vault, revealing a surprisingly large space behind it. As the lights slowly come on in the room and I realize what we’re looking at, my breath escapes me in a whoosh.
