Page 189 of Star Bringer
Fuck yeah! That sounds promising.
I glance around at the bridge. Beckett is in the pilot’s seat grinning like she’s just been on the most kick-ass ride of her life. Rain, Merrick, and Max are all looking a little green despite being seated and buckled in, while Gage and Kali are still picking themselves up off the floor. I give Gage a cursory once-over and Kali a more thorough inspection, but neither seem damaged.
Maybe they’ll be quicker to follow my advice in the future.
On the plus side, once they’re up, they both lunge for their seats and buckle in. Just as well, as another message comes up on my HUD.
Laser attack. Evasive action imminent.
Fuck me. This ship is determined to kill us all in her efforts to keep us alive.
Except I can see the lasers now, coming one after the other. Beams of yellow light blasting up from the planet’s surface, strong enough to follow us out of the atmosphere, which I think we’re just about to pass through. I grip the arms of my seat, prepared for the worst. But all that happens is some sort of shield comes up that covers the outside of the ship. The screens at the nose end of the ship reflect what’s going on, and I brace myself as the laser blasts come straight for us, filling the whole screen with white light.
A faint shudder runs through the ship as they hit, followed by a couple of bigger shudders that have Rain gasping and Max swearing.
But we’re still here at the end of them, so whatever damage the attack caused I’ll still call a win.
Targets acquired.
“Oh shit.” Beckett slams her hand down on the control panel, pressing button after button in an effort to stop what’s about to happen. “Stop, stop, stop!”
“Let her go,” I tell her.
“What do you mean, let her go?” Beckett demands. “She’s about to destroy the Empress’s palace. I’m pretty sure that’s an act of war.”
“Like killing dozens of her guards and stealing off into the night isn’t?” I ask, brows raised. “Besides, better to know what theStarlight’s going to do now instead of later, when she might get us in a whole heaping pile of drokaray shit.”
I’m in the mood to live dangerously. Not to mention completely fucking pissed off that the Empress is apparently okay with firing on a craft she knows her daughter is on. That’s some cold-blooded shit if I’ve ever heard it.
Especially when I glance back at Kali’s face and realize she’s figured it out, too. The guards aren’t firing on us on their own. They obviously had permission to do so, considering the Empire’s crown princess is on board.
My HUD shows theStarlight’s acceleration out of the Askkandian atmosphere has slowed. We’re centered over the Imperial Palace.
Targets locked.
A bright white light that looks a lot like what she fired at Kali’s and my attackers on Glacea shoots out from the front of theStarlight, straight at the bank of anti-spacecraft weaponry that’s been shooting at us since we took off.
I see flashes as she hits something—what, I have no clue. At least not until…
Enemy weapons eliminatedflashes across my HUD.
The shields lift, and through the viewing screens I can make out the rooftop of the palace. There’s a lot more smoke, now, and guards are scrambling—for safety or weapons, I don’t know.
Individual targets acquired.
“Get us out of here, Beckett!” I order. The last thing I need Kali to see is theStarlightopening fire on her mother’s entire battalion of guards in zoomed-in high-def.
“I’m trying!” she shoots back as she messes with the control panel.
Individual targets locked.
“Now, Beckett!” I growl.
“I’m—” She puts her hand on the velocity control for what has to be the tenth time. But this time it actually works, and theStarlightshoots backward and up, up, up. Ninety seconds later, we’re leaving Askkandia’s atmosphere and soaring straight into space.
“Set a course for the Wilds,” I tell Beckett as I lean back in my chair.
Because now that our crew is back together, time is running out, and nothing is going to keep me from getting to Milla before it’s too late.
