“Get me navigation,” she snapped into her comm.
“What is it, Varga?” Captain Tadao’s voice was taut. “It’s not really a good time. I’ve got a compromised transport to deal with. They’re going to try and make it back to theMarcia.”
“No!” Arin shouted. “If they go across with a Xargek onboard, everyone will die. You have to open the airlock. Tell them to come back into the dock.”
“So you want us to die instead?”
“We can’t afford to allow the Xargek to cross over. Bring it back in and the Kordolians will take care of the threat.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah.” Actually, Arin wasn’t sure of anything. She was just acting on a hunch. Ifshewere running the Kordolian outfit, she’d have placed one or two super-powered soldiers up in the rafters to watch the humans and make sure they didn’t do anything stupid. “Anyway, what choice do we have, Captain? We can let the people on the transport die in space, we can risk the Xargek reaching theMarciaand destroying the only escape route we have, or we can let them back in and take a chance, the only chance we really have.”
Hesitation.
“That’s all I see in front of us. There’s no time to think about it, Captain.”
Vicious cursing.
Then the airlock lights flashed, indicating that it was about to open.
“Bring them back into the fold, Captain. They won’t argue. They’re probably losing oxygen as we speak.”
“You’d better be right about this, Varga.”
“I know, Captain.” She cut off the comm and stared up into the dark, cavernous ceiling of the docking bay. Although she couldn’t see them, she knew a network of metal walkways existed up there, beyond the reach of the bright lights of the dock.
“Kordolian!” she yelled, as humans rushed past her, spurred into action by the threat of more terrifying pulse-fire. “If you’re up there, we could use your help right about now. We’ve got Xargek incoming.”
People stared at her as if she’d gone mad.
Arin looked up into the darkness beyond the reassuring lights, searching for a myth that could prove to be either their savior or their downfall.
If they were up there, they would have heard her. She’d observed Rykal enough times to know that Kordolians had preternatural hearing.
The doors of the airlock groaned, and a great shudder tore through the dock. An alarm sounded, warning bystanders to clear the area.
The doors were about to open.
No black-armored warriors had dropped from the ceiling yet, and they were about to encounter an adult Xargek. Arin drew the plasma gun Rykal had given her, although she knew it wouldn’t be of much use.
“What are you babbling about, human?” A dark voice made her whirl, and Arin found herself face-to-face with a towering nightmare of a Kordolian.
He was all black. Even his face was hidden behind a black helm, his visor glinting in the harsh light.
He was big, this one, bigger than Rykal and most of the others. Twin swords were crossed at his back, and his body bristled with random weapons, some of which Arin didn’t even recognize.
Thank the fucking stars.
“The transport’s coming back into the airlock,” she said. “I believe there’s an adult Xargek attacking it.”
The nameless, faceless, rather scary Kordolian replied with a sharp nod. “Tell your people to close the airlock once the transport has arrived, once I’m inside,” he said ominously. “I’ll deal with it.”
“Thanks,” Arin said, and even though he was the enemy, she meant it. “Is Rykal okay?” she stupidly blurted out, before she even knew what she was saying.
The warrior stared at her through his impenetrable visor, inclining his head. “It takes a lot to kill one of us,” was all he said, before he disappeared in a blur of black armor and weapons.
The dock was almost clear now, but the peacekeepers were having a hard time directing the remaining people towards the exits. She couldn’t drag any of them away from their responsibilities to accompany her to the cargo hold. She would have to go it alone and hope she didn’t run into any bad luck along the way. More importantly, she hoped her men were still alive. Arin activated her comm, relayed some specific instructions to Tadao, then ran.
