I don’t hesitate.
Evo looks down as my bullet shreds the device and sends the pieces falling to the floor. His attention darts to me in surprise, then back to Hazareth with fury. His face contorts as his body shimmers, and his armor begins to do the same.
Commander Hazareth strains and cries out like I’ve never seen a Solcrue do. They do not cry or beg. They are far too proud.
Hazareth’s body fractures with light, and then he puffs into a cloud of light and falls like green and black dust.
Fear of his capabilities makes me hunker away from him.
Evo staggers back a step and looks down at his hands like he doesn’t understand what happened.
Watching Evo turn a Solcrue to dust makes me uncertain if I want to touch him again. The confusion on Evo’s face tells me that wasn’t what he expected either.
While Evo leans against the commander’s desk, I give him some space and rummage through the officer’s quarters. He has tons of stashed away uniforms, weapons, ammo, food, water, and more. Then I slide open a closet door and see a pair of eyes looking up at me.
“Shit. Evo!” I squat before the woman curled up in the back of a closet. “Hey.”
The woman shudders and tucks herself deeper into the closet.
I open my helmet and show her my face. “I’m Aera. I’m an Omega Force soldier. Would you like to be among humans again? My colony isn’t far. ”
She cries as she crawls out of the closet. The woman wears the gray shift of a Solcruean officer’s anaja, and bears the infinity serpent mark of a practice mate on her wrist. I sling my rifle over my back and help her get to her feet.
“Let me carry her,” Evo says, walking up to us.
The woman scrambles away from him, like he’s terrified of Evo.
“Don’t touch her.” I glare at him as I pull one of her arms across my shoulders and wrap my arm around her waist. “She just saw you turn into a Solcrue, then turn Hazareth to dust. So how about you make sure we don’t join him while we get her a ride off of this beast?”
Evo’s expression fades into apathy. He readies his guns in front of him, checking the hallway before leading us through the passages and to the hangars in the top of the ship.
Evo>>Local: Self-destruct offline. Drive removed and crushed. Transports safe to dock.
We stop just inside the hangar. Sealscreens ignite, and a dark Titan flies through the air, moving from hangar door to hangar door, manually opening us to space. Rebel ships hover inside and dock as Titans and Rebels pool supplies.
Reidar’s ship is the last to set down and lower its ramp.
“What’s your name?” I ask her.
She hangs heavily from me like she’s struggling to stay upright. “Daphne.”
I walk around Evo and help Daphne up the ramp. “Reidar?”
He flings the belts off of him and hops up from his seat. “I didn’t think they had civilians on warships.”
“Looks like commanders still do. Can you help her get belted in? I want to assist with cargo.”
“Definitely.” Reidar is quickly under her other side, walking her up to a seat behind his copilot. She is thin, but I’m relieved to be free of her weight. I’m still not fully recuperated myself. An hour nap in two days on limited food and water is not ideal.
As I hike back down the ramp, Rebels and Titans cart supplies up from the main hangar. Sixteen ships load up quickly. I carry what I can and strap crates and boxes to Reidar’s walkways.
The speakers boom overhead. “Rogue Fleet, this is your new captain, Navi. We have incoming forces. ETA six minutes. Their shields are up.”
Savage climbs up a pillar and calls out to the crews, “Last items, now. Leave the rest. Secure and eject! Portal out as fast as you’re able.”
Evo passes me to set a crate of water on the floor of Reidar’s ship, then turns to leave.
“Where are you going?” I call after him.
