Several hunters followed the retreating scourge, and the rest of us turned back to New Franklin. I was ready to shoot down any of the assholes who were stupid enough to get between my crosshairs, even if it meant destroying the stolen Xarc’n shuttles. Technically, the shuttles were cloaked. But I’d spent a lifetime watching and surveying cloaked shuttles and knew how to guess their approximate locations simply by the change in air pressure around them, much like the way flyers could detect us when we got too close.
Except that the strange disturbances in the air reported by my shuttle were different from what I usually saw. And much more obvious. Curious.
Instead of landing in the courtyard between the main buildings, I continued past the settlement, following the odd ripples detected in the air. I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint thelocation of the enemy vessels, but blanketing the area with blaster fire would do the trick.
Since losing the mothership, the spark of my anger caught more easily, and my tolerance for dealing with those who got in the way of killing the scourge had decreased markedly. With my fuse trimmed down to a stub, I didn’t have time to play games.
“Ror’k?” Jask’l’s voice came from the speakers. “Return to base. Do not engage.”
“And risk another attack? When did we become pacifists?”
It was strange to be taking orders and not the other way around. I wasn’t good at it.
“Do not engage,” he repeated. “They have taken hostages.”
Krux!
Frustrated, I slammed my fist down on the edge of the navigational screen. These shuttles were designed to withstand much more than an angry hunter. But I did turn my shuttle back around. By the time I landed, Kaj’k and the others were already there.
I left my shuttle and was immediately greeted by several distraught-looking humans. Jask’l, who had been in the ground mothership building monitoring and coordinating the attack, stepped out with a grim look on his face. Kaj’k, who was usually not one for loud outbursts, stomped away, nearly knocking into me as he did.
“What is this about hostages?” I asked.
“It was a distraction,” Roger said. “I don’t know how they did it, but they called the scourge to lure the hunters away. Then they landed on the opposite side of the settlement. They grabbedseveral of the females, including Kaj’k’s mate. I told him to wait, and we will coordinate a rescue mission.”
We looked over at Kaj’k. He was already getting back into his shuttle, clearly ready to go after his mate.
“Kaj’k!” Jask’l yelled. “Wait for a plan. You can’t go after her alone.”
Kaj’k did not reply as the door to his shuttle slammed shut.
“You will not be able to stop him,” I said. “His mate is in danger, and he will not rest until she is safe. Let him go. Send the others to join him once there is a plan.”
I understood. If it were my mate, no one would be able to stop me until the ones who took her were nothing but a smudge on the ground.
“That’s not all.” It was Roger who spoke. “We caught the boys trying to move the supplies they were hiding out to be picked up. They were working with the NEM. We stopped them. They’re locked up now. And that’s where we went wrong. We were so busy saving our supplies, we didn’t notice them taking the women until it was too late.”
The youngsters I’d been training. Despite knowing that they were our thieves, I’d still enjoyed our training sessions. And had gone back to train them two more times. I was surprised at the disappointment I now felt.
“You said they were here looking for something in particular that they hadn’t found. I want to know what that is.”
“I can question them again,” I suggested.
“You can, but I think you might want to be part of the rescue mission instead,” Roger said. “Unless I’ve been reading the situation wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because Dottie is one of the missing females.”
Chapter 11: Dottie
I cringed at the feel of the sticky fabric against my palms as the shuttle suddenly veered to the left, forcing us to hold on lest we be smashed against the wall. Alice and I were crammed into the sleeping nook of the stolen Xarc’n shuttle, along with several young women. I recognized them from around New Franklin but didn’t know them well, since they were pretty new to the settlement.
Even the Xarc’n warrior’s high-tech microbe and dirt-resistant fabric couldn’t handle the abuse the shuttle had gone through. The rest of the shuttle was no better. It was a dirty, smelly mess. The air in here was stale, and the stench of sweat and gasoline clung to it. I tried to breathe shallowly, but the smell still stuck to my throat.
Alice sat closest to me, her shoulder brushing mine whenever the shuttle dipped. She looked relatively calm considering our precarious situation, but that was probably because she knew that her Xarc’n warrior would come for her. The other women were less calm. One of them stayed quiet, but her jaw was grinding so loud I could hear it from a few feet away. The youngest one was crying in the corner, and the last one was beating on the sleeping nook’s energy shield in a futile attempt to get out and attack our captors.
If I didn’t already know that it was impossible to get through the energy barrier, I would join her.
