Turns out there were way more people on the ship that aligned with the Unity and Rakis than Ohem had expected. I don’t know if they were just scared to go up against the bulk of a larger army, or if they were truly loyal to their nation. Either way, it hurt my mate. He didn’t show it outwardly, his Izi glowing a steady neutral, but I could tell in the stiff way he held himself, tentacles and tails still behind him. We stood in the largest hangar in the ship watching the progression of thousands board shuttles that would make the jump out of the system. I slid my hand into Ohem’s and gave it a hard squeeze.
The last shuttle was lifted by the claw and placed in the launch tube. Ohem looked at me and nodded before doing the same to the officer’s that had gathered to oversee the exodus.
Aga was there, his eyes hard and his mouth twisted with disgust for the people fleeing back to the Unity. He met my eyes, showing me his sharp teeth in a silent snarl. I shrugged my shoulders and mouthed, “Pussies.”
Aga’s face relaxed, and he smiled. I like Ohem’s torturer. Aga was the equivalent of the director of the CIA, only a lot meaner and greener.
I’d been informed of all this during our conversation after Aga’s interrogation of the ringleader spy. It meant King’s guard or something like that. Basically, Aga was a badass and my new coach on all things violent and bloody. We were two peas in a pod and it was making poor Ohem nervous.
We’d been grinning at each other like gleeful idiots since he’d told us what he’d learned during his interrogation. Rakis’s ships were in the star system to take back the Solus and either arrest or kill Ohem. It was only a matter of time before all out war started. Ohem had many more allies on the independent planets that would welcome our help against Rakis’s campaign to conquer a large part of the universe. We’d gathered more intel on Rakis’s involvement with Vero.
We knew where Vero was going next, how many soldiers he had, and where he planned to strike first. The unlucky planet Korsal was going to be the first battleground, and it had made Aga a very, very happy crocodile. He’d told me the aliens on Korsal were a fierce warrior race and it was a horrible mistake for Vero to choose them first.
It was an underestimation of the planet’s more primitive species and Aga had rounded up the remaining enemy plants on board with an extra pep in his step and probably killed them with a little more joy than normal after the news, but I hadn’t had time to ask as we’d spent our night in meetings with Ohem’s officers. I’d made a valiant effort not to fall asleep and failed after the sixth hour of endless military talks. I’d been woken by Ohem a few hours later in our bed. He must have carried me there after the briefs and was rudely waking me up for the shuttle departure I’d asked to be a part of.
I’d wanted to be there for moral support and it was a good thing I hadn’t missed it.
Ohem’s heavy hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed. “We must make our way to the bridge. We have a jump to make.”
I nodded and waved to the officers, who saluted Ohem as we passed by them on our way to the portal door with Aga bringing up our rear.
“Don’t let this weigh on your mind, Ohem. More stayed than left. Only three of your officers are among thefleeing,” Aga said with a sneer.
I snorted, bumping my shoulder into the big green alien’s arm and he smiled at me.
Ohem chuffed and shook his head. “I know. It is for the best that those who don’t have the will for what is coming to leave. We must now focus on finding out what my brother and Vero have discovered on Detritus.”
It sounded like he was talking more to himself than to us. Aga nodded his head in agreement and led the way out of the portal when the doors opened.
I followed and then stopped for a moment to stare in shock. I’d been expecting a command deck with desks and special chairs for the commander, like in the shark’s ship or in a Star Trek movie, but what greeted me was so far off from what I expected. There were no desks or chairs to be found on the bridge, only an immense window that took up the forward part of the room. I’d been told that the windows weren’t actually windows, but display monitors that had a constant feed from external cameras to give the illusion of a view into space. It still didn’t make me feel any better about them.
This one was the largest window I’d seen so far on the ship and it cast an eerie glow onto the creepy pods that formed semi circles three rows deep across the room. The pods were the same shiny black glass that made up the walls and floors of the ship. It was utterly silent on the bridge, adding to the creepy feel. Ohem strode into the center of the room and the window lit up with a display of numbers off to the side of a map of the stars, with the Solas being a glowing yellow mini ship on the map.
Ohem stared at the map for a few seconds and then turned to the pod that was nearest to him. “Sound the alarm for transition,” he said to it and a soft warbling alarm sounded in the room.
I approached one of the large pods and cupped my hands against the surface to look inside. I couldn’t see anything and I took a step back to frown at it in confusion when it cracked. I yelped and leaped back to practically climb up Ohem’s side when I bumped into him walking up behind me. The pod folded into itself and inside was a smiling alien I recognized. Izari, the pretty blue bird lady I’d seen in the club the other night.
“Nin At’ens, a pleasure to meet you at last. My husband has only nice things to say. You have a friend for life in Ket’ak.” She rose gracefully from her lava chair inside the pod and I almost swooned at her feet. She was even more beautiful up close. She smiled at me and her large blue eyes literally twinkled. I was about to embarrass myself in front of her by saying something cringe worthy about her level of hotness, but the whirring vibrations coming from the floor pulled my attention to my feet. The entire ship felt like it took a deep breath before Izari’s pleasant voice sounded from in front of me and from my wrist link.
“All crew prepare for a transitional jump.”
Three slow pings sounded out over the ship and Ohem’s powerful arms wrapped around me to turn me to look out the window to watch. The ship let out its breath and a purple light shot out in front of the Solus like a sword, and pierced the blackness of space.
“You can’t really see the light. It is being displayed on the screen for you,” Ohem whispered.
A black hole erupted into existence in front of the ship.
“Prepare yourself,” Ohem whispered again.
He held me tightly, and the ship shot forward so fast that time seemed to be bending around us. My stomach roiled in protest as we passed into the void. It was a hellscape where nothing made sense, and my body was both upside down and spread out everywhere at once. There was no sound, just a pressure like I was being crushed by a planet. If it wasn’t for the steady, firm presence of Ohem at my back, I’d have started screaming. It only lasted a few seconds before we passed through to the other side, but it was more seconds than I ever wanted to experience again. I’d finally found something about this ship that I hated more than the windows.
I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. “That sucked.”
Ohem chuffed above me. “Yes. New crew members always find the transition to be unsettling. You will get used to it with time.”
The hell I would. I was going to make the good doctor Ghix knock me out next time, and then I remembered my poor friends. Shit.
“What about Patty and the others? They must have freaked out!” I said, and pulled away from Ohem to look for them, but he held me still.
