The Defiant
Chapter Fifty

The klaxonlike alarm shrieked in my ears as I watched the door swing shut, wrenched from Seven’s grip. Through the rapidly shrinking gap, I saw Five and Eight lunge forward, too slowly. They weren’t going to make it.

In slow motion, I saw Eight make the same realization I had. Her eyes took in the quickly shrinking view of the courtyard, and she reached out, shoving Five forward through a gap barely large enough to fit him. He squeezed through before it shut with a definitive bang.

Five tripped forward into the courtyard. I watched his expression switch from joy to anguish as he realized that Eight hadn’t made it through. He whirled around and banged on the door, screaming for it to open, but I barely heard him over the alarm.

“Five! She’s stuck! We have to go now!” Four yelled at him, but it was Six who took action, stepping forward and prying Five away from the door and dragging him along with us as we ran down the alley toward the river.

We stopped short at a barbed-wire fence at the river bank. Four took the lead, leading us left as she ran, scarlet hair streaming behind her like her head was on fire. Five writhed in Six’s grip, yelling Eight’s name.

As we ran down a grassy alley between the back of a tall Aerzhu building and the barbed-wire fence, I heard the metallic thud of a door crashing open, and shouts. The Aerzhu had realized we’d escaped, and they were coming.

I told the others what I’d heard as we ran, then shut up to save my breath. We ran up a small rise, coming upon a huge concrete lot surrounded by a ten-foot fence. It was full of ships, ranging from a two-person Traverser to a Juggernaut capable of holding a military complement of two hundred. Each had an electronic lock keeping it from being stolen.

“Find the Defiant’s shuttle!” I yelled to the others as we approached the lot. Seven broke apart from the group and ran to the gate, scanning the key. The other six of us stood at the fence, searching for our shuttle.

“There! On the end!” Two called as Seven yelled over from the gate,

“The key! It’s not working!”

“Keep trying!” I called back to her, already surveying the fence. Maybe if we could climb it…

“We have to climb it,” said Four, echoing my thoughts, grabbing the wire grating and shaking the fence.

Six released Five and clambered up the fence, surprisingly agile despite his size. He carefully climbed over the top, avoiding the coils of barbed wire, and dropped to the ground on the other side. He spoke to Three.

“He says climb over, he’ll catch us.”

“Four, you first,” I said. She scrambled up the fence. I sent Three up next, and they both dropped into Six’s arms.

Behind us, a wave of Aerzhu guards roared up onto the hill, fifty yards behind us.

“Five, One, go up! I’ll get Seven and we’ll be right behind you!” Two told me, shoving me toward the fence.

“But there’s no time!”

“We’ll be right behind you!” he repeated, and against my better judgement, I started up the fence, Five right beside me. Below us, I saw Two run to Seven.

I reached the top of the fence and swung my legs over, sliding off the top and dropping down to Six on the other side. I heard a ripping sound as my shirt tore. Five followed right after me.

On the other side of the fence, the guards reached the edge of the lot. We watched in horror as they seized Seven and Two from halfway up the fence, dragging them backward. Seven raised her arm and threw something at me as a few guards leapt at the fence and began to climb. The object soared over the fence and landed in Five’s outstretched hand. He threw it to me. The key.

“One, we have to go!” Four yelled at me as one of the guards reached the top of the fence. I was paralyzed, horror-struck, as two of my crew were lost to me.

Six and Three seized my arms and dragged me from the fence. We ran through the lot toward our shuttle as the first guard hit the ground. The gate flew open, and more poured in, filling the aisles between ships with wave after wave of black-suited mercenaries.

Four sprinted ahead to unlock the ship lock. By the time the rest of us reached the ship, the entrance ramp was down. We raced up it, the Aerzhu army right behind us.

The shuttle lifted off while I was still on the entrance ramp. I tried to run to the body of the shuttle, but something seized my ankle and dragged me backward off the ramp. I seized onto the edge of the ramp, my arms and shoulders on fire, holding the weight of myself and the guard below me. Looking down, I kicked at his face with my free foot, but couldn’t quite reach. My fingers began to slip from the edge of the ramp.

Suddenly, what looked like a boot flew past me and struck the guard in the face. Startled, he released my ankle, falling back to earth with a scream and a thump. Hands from above seized my hands and hauled me back onto the ramp, which closed behind us as the ship rose up toward the clouds.

I sat in Seven’s room. All the quarters had been unlocked when the Aerzhu seized the ship so they could check for passengers. The prison cell below was empty, as I had known it would be.

I listened to the comforting thrum of the D17s and tried to ignore my bleeding conscience. Once again, I had been responsible for the loss of crewmates. And this time, they couldn’t get back to us on their own. Even if they could escape the Aerzhu without inside help, they couldn’t reach our ship, which was already a day from Earth at top speed.

But we would rescue them. We would get Two and Seven back, and Eight if we could. And we would make the Aerzhu pay.

I watched the holographic flower in my hand blossom and grow, then wilt and shrink before growing to a bloom again, a desire for revenge burning in my heart. And one other thing. A word tumbling through my mind. A mystery that my memories had unlocked.

Ieaheia.

My beloved.