“Cloak engaged, Commander,” Krystal replied, staring intently at her tablet.
“Weapons free.” Zac’s voice was firm.
“Plasma weapons charged and ready.” Domik’s hands moved on his own console, his sure movements reassuring.
I can’t do this. Not again. What if they need me and I fail them, like I did before?
Her chest tightened once more and her vision narrowed, the edges growing dark.
“Be calm, little sun.” Domik’s voice was soft as he captured her hand in one of his own and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The tightness in CJ’s chest eased at his words and she took a steadying, but shaky, breath.
“I’m not worried about me,” she muttered, meeting his gaze. The panic she had felt dissolved, the tension in her body easing as her breathing calmed. Domik’s fingers stroked gently over hers, and she focused on that small touch.
“No?”
“I just don’t want to let anyone down,” she said, adding under her breath, “Again.”
His big fingers gave hers a gentle squeeze before letting go of her hand. “You won’t.”
CJ shook her head, fighting back tears. It was like Mars all over again, but this time she was out in the open with no place to hide. She felt her heart race once more, and she turned to look at Domik. He hadn’t turned away, concerned eyes meeting hers. As long as she was with Domik, she would be OK. She smiled at him shakily, and he nodded in return before facing his station once more.
She turned back to her own console, watching as the Xakul ships gradually approached and then paused. They formed a wall of dark shapes hovering in a menacing way just beyond the range of the Taurean weapons.
“What are they doing?” Krystal asked.
“Testing us out.” T’arq bit out. “We would have just disappeared on their sensors.”
The cloaking technology refined by Krystal, with help from T’arq, had been rolled out across the fleet. Every ship currently in place around Earth would be invisible to the Xakul.
“Won’t they suspect a trap?” CJ asked.
Zac nodded. “Yes, but that’s not a bad thing. With our numbers so diminished, we need to do anything we can to delay their attack.”
“Like shooting fish in a barrel,” she muttered.
Zac’s voice took on an urgent tone. “Incoming! Remember the drills we’ve practiced. The goal is to—”
As one the crew interrupted, saying, “Evade and destroy.”
Zac nodded. “Let’s do this.”
The Xakul ships began moving closer, only to be fired upon as soon as they were in range of the Taurean guns.
The crew fell into their roles, T’arq swearing as he maneuvered them around Xakul and Taurean ships alike, avoiding both with a skill that left CJ in awe. Krystal began shouting navigation directions to him and tapping away frantically on a tablet, probably recording data on the cloak’s performance. Zac and Laila worked together using the secondary guns to shoot at Xakul ships, as well as coordinating their movements with the nearby Taurean ships.
And Domik was in his element, brows drawn together as his hands moved over the controls of the weapons station, blasting Xakul ships one after the other.
CJ felt somewhat superfluous until a Xakul fighter shot the first Taurean ship down. “That’s one of ours!” She watched, horrified, as the cloak disengaged and the ship blinked into existence on the viewscreen. A fireball engulfed the ship as it exploded, sending debris into nearby Taurean vessels. She looked on, horrified, as what could only be a body spun away from the wreckage, lifeless. The contrast of the peaceful beauty of Earth in the background was incongruous to the sudden terror that gripped her. She froze, hands hovering over her face in shock.
“CJ! Get on the comm! See if there are survivors!” Laila’s order had CJ jerking in her seat, hands dropping to the controls.
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry. On it.” She hailed the damaged ship, repeating her call until Domik’s hand touched hers briefly.
“They’re gone,” he said simply.
CJ stared at him, her eyes huge in her pale face, as one thought shot through her with more certainty than anything she had ever felt.
We’re going to die.
