This was by far the most impressive installation of Xakul technology he had ever seen. It had to be destroyed.
“Is there a way to disable it?” He mused, his hands on the controls drifting the shuttle this way and that slowly, trying to see the box from all angles. “Can you think of anything?”
Krystal shook her head slowly. “I’ve never seen anything like it. If I studied it to see how it works, sure. Then I could work something out. But I have no idea this thing works.”
They spent the next few minutes drifting around the entire network on the jammer. It turned out to be a 3D installation, spreading out over a vast area. The little stealth ship could duck and weave between the connections with ease, T’arq and Krystal collecting as much information about it as possible.
But even with all the scans the stealth ship could run, they couldn’t disable it.
Well, there was only one thing to do then.
“We have to get rid of it,” he said, shifting his hands on the controls to move their ship away from the signal jammer. When he was satisfied at the distance, he aimed for the central control box and loosed a plasma bomb. The sticky projectile latched onto its target, wrapping dark tendrils around the box.
Krystal gasped. “T’arq! What are you doing?”
He didn’t look at her as his hands moved on the controls. “We can’t just leave it here like this. It needs to be destroyed.”
“But—”
He cut her off. “It’s the only thing that makes sense, Krystal.” He pointed at the control box, the plasms bomb’s tendrils now entirely obscuring it from view. “It’s the safest way to destroy it. We’ll move well away, detonate the plasma bomb remotely.”
“It just seems a little reckless,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “They’re bound to come and investigate.”
T’arq knew she was right, but he had no choice. He moved the ship away to a safe distance and then a little further. He didn’t like the idea of taking risks with Krystal’s life. His own? Well, he had been a warrior for so long. What was one more risk to his life? But he wouldn’t risk hers.
Reckless? That was the last thing he was.
“Detonation in three… two… one.” With a simple swipe on the screen, the plasma bomb detonated, spreading debris flying away from where the signal jammer had been. A brief flash was all that signified an explosion had occurred, there not being enough oxygen to fuel a fire for any considerable length of time.
“That was underwhelming.”
T’arq laughed, rubbing a hand over his face, and shared a smile with Krystal. He knew she was an incredibly intelligent and capable woman. That wasn’t in question. But he also knew that fear could take hold of your thoughts and crowd your head until there was nothing left. He couldn’t let that happen to Krystal. Not again.
“Should we try the Zataras?”
“Yes, although—”
A loud wailing filled the cockpit. The alarm quickly shut off by T’arq, who swore under his breath.
“What was that?” The terror in Krystal’s voice was palpable.
T’arq’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“Can you check the cloak?”
Krystal’s breathing was rapid as she rushed to complete the task. Her fingers shaking so badly that T’arq reached across to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
“Um… it’s fine. But what was that noise?”
T’arq swallowed. He knew she wouldn’t like this, but there was no way around it. She’d find out soon enough whether or not he told her.
“The Xakul are approaching.”
This was exactly what he had hoped wouldn’t happen. T’arq had promised Krystal he would keep her safe, that this was a routine mission. How could she trust him now? He had to get her back to the Zataras as soon as possible. But first he had to check in with the Zataras. The crew on the starship had no idea where they were or what they were up against. If anything happened… he swallowed, trying to avoid thinking about that.
He began moving the ship back into the asteroid field, aiming toward a rock barely larger than the stealth ship itself. He opened the comm, hoping that the destruction of the jammer meant they could speak with the starship once more. “Zataras, this is Qu’Ress Alpha.”
“Good to hear your voice, Qu’Ress. We lost you for a while there.”
