Lewis smirks. “Well, I’m guessing your alien boyfriend said no, since I just heard he had you removed from the hangar. Find a damned relationship counselor. I’m trying to get this mission authorized before it’s too late, preferably without being court-martialedandexecuted for handing over our most important asset to a random alien.”
Setting aside my dislike for Lewis because she’s obviously dealing with a lot of pressure while still trying to do the right thing, I dial back on the attitude. “Look, there’s a strong chance those UGC people won’t listen to Omni or that he will be intercepted before he even gets there. They’re more likely to listen to me.”
“What do you mean? He said he was a space cop!”
“Um.” It makes sense that Omni didn’t tell Lewis the whole complicated story of his crew’s fallout with the authorities.
“‘Um?’ Are you fucking kidding me?” Lewis rubs her temples. “Fine. Whatever. You wanna leave Earth, fucking leave. It’s probably for the best, since I’m battling a very strong urge to throttle you right now.”
Well, damn. Now I actually feel bad for her. Maybe. “Thanks. Can you smuggle me on board without Omni knowing? He’s a little obsessed with my safety. And…can I call my parents?”
“Absolutely!. Why the fuck not? I mean, it’s not like this is a top secret operation that even the president himself barely knows about. Go ahead. Tell your folks you’re leaving Earth with an alien.”
I know she’s being sarcastic, but I’ll take it as a yes. “Thank you. For what it’s worth, my parents have been spewing nonsense about aliens since before I was born, so it’s not like anyone would believe them.”
Lewis’ radio crackles. “Colonel Lewis? The, uh, the alien claims the ship is ready, and he needs to leave now.”
Sizing me up, Lewis seems to reach a decision. “Fine. Take him to the ready room for a final briefing and begin opening the hangar bay doors.”
“But ma’am, the Special Programs Directorate didn’t authorize—”
“I’mauthorizing this. I’m in fucking charge here.” Grimacing, she mutters, “For now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Thrusting a cellphone at me, Lewis takes off down the hallway. “Make your goodbyes now, Ms. Young. We’re out of time.”
Chapter 28
Omni
Humanslovetheirbureaucracyalmost as much as the United Galactic Congress. In that regard, they would fit right in. In fact, they’d fit in well in many regards. The only condition they’re missing right now is independent interstellar travel. With the information they got from this ancient shuttle, they might be closer to achieving it than most of the universe thinks.
After one last briefing that held exactly zero informational value, they finally let me back into the shuttle and opened the doors above, letting sunlight filter into the room. The shuttle door closes, the human cobbled together display informing methat the vacuum seal is holding. For now, anyway. With how messed up this ship is, it will be a miracle if it gets me into orbit without falling apart.
I’m feeling very alone and after recently spending so much time in other people’s presence, in Fin’s presence, the silence is unsettling. She probably hates me for having her removed from the hangar, but I was at the end of my resolve back there. I was seconds away from making the worst decision of my life and letting her come along. I can’t. She has a life here. I can’t yank her out of it for my own selfish reasons, especially if the best-case scenario for this stunt is me getting arrested. It’s almost funny how little I care about my own fate at this point.
“Hangar door open,” sounds from the speakers outside. I recognize Colonel Lewis’ terse voice. “You are cleared for takeoff. Good luck.”
Luck. I’m going to need it in spades.
I’m not the most experienced pilot, even under the best of circumstances with a plethora of modern gadgets installed in every ship manufactured these days, so it takes me by surprise when I actually manage to maneuver the barely responsive ship out of the hangar without hitting anything. Only one out of the two engines is operational, though, and “operational” is still open for debate. The ship is running on a volatile mix of alien and Earth technology that has about the same chance of exploding as it has of making the ship fly.
The winds must be on my side, though, because while the ship trembles violently and lists to one side, it does actually gain altitude. I move the ship into the best vector to exit the atmosphere, human aircrafts following me as far as they can before peeling away after reaching their maximum altitude limit. The ancient ship bravely climbs up, its artificial gravity generator ready to give out at any moment as it struggles to escape the planet’s atmosphere, the roar of the engine almostdeafening. Scanning the surprisingly few warnings popping up on the screen, I conclude that the humans did a pretty good job of repairing this relic. It might not enter hyperspace in this condition, but it’s going to hold together well enough to reach the blockade.
Unlike Earth sensors, this ship can actually detect the UGC ships hovering on the dark side of the planet’s singular moon. They’re here, just like I knew they would be. With a bit of luck, so is the Eclipse Raider. If nothing else, at least I will be able to expose the traitor amongst the UGC officers.
Aiming for the lead battleship of the blockade, I push the little shuttle to its limits. Heat coming from the reactor section is suspicious, hinting that whatever human scientists did to patch it is not working as well as it should, but the ship isn’t melting around me. Yet. The internal atmosphere is holding well and I can’t detect any significant structural damage to the hull. So far, so good.
As if jinxed by my thoughts, there’s a loud metallic rattling suddenly coming from the aft of the ship. Cursing, I lock in the ship’s course using the rudimentary autopilot and rush over to fix whatever is causing that noise before the damage becomes catastrophic. The sound is coming from a supply nook. I thought this area was empty but it’s clearly not as something thuds against the door from inside again and again. What the fuck?
Yanking the door open, I jump back as something tumbles straight out at me. Something soft and warm and with a head of hair that smells of chocolate. “Fin?!”
She sucks in a wheezing gasp. “Couldn’t…breathe…”
Horror consumes me as I realize she’s been inside that small nook since takeoff, behind the door that, while the ship was landed, could be freely opened from both sides, but hermetically seals itself off after takeoff. Blasted winds! She could have suffocated in there! “Are you insane?!”
“Glad to see you too,” she wheezes, then coughs. “I didn’t know the stupid door would lock me inside. I thought I’d come out once we were far enough away from Earth that you wouldn’t make me return.”
