Chapter Thirty-five

"RACHEL?" TAYLOR BLURTED OUT.

"She’s removed the collar!" another voice shouted off to her left. Taylor glanced toward the sound. Bouchard stood in the docking bay as well, sneering at them. He also carried a pistol, and was flanked by two more soldiers, both with rifles. "You were right to come to me, Harris. The ikthian clearly has her."

Rachel made a short gesture with the body of her own rifle. "Sir, let me handle this." Bouchard nodded, though he looked displeased. Rachel turned back to Taylor. "Put the gun down. I don't want to hurt you."

Taylor lowered her pistol. "I’m taking Maia to the rebels, Rachel. You don’t have to get involved."

For a moment, Rachel faltered, but she didn’t lower her rifle. She stared at Taylor with pain-filled eyes, obviously torn. "How could you do this, Taylor?"

Taylor stepped protectively in front of Maia, but that only seemed to make Rachel's frown deepen. "You don't understand what's going on," she said, keeping her own gun lowered. "I’m trying to help. If you'd just give me a chance to explain..."

"The ikthian has twisted her mind, turned her against her own kind," Bouchard interrupted. "She is no longer your friend. Lieutenant Morgan is gone."

"I didn't want to believe it..." Rachel's hand remained steady, but Taylor thought she could see tears of anger in her eyes. "This is my fault. I knew she was changing you, but I didn't want to see. I should have done something sooner."

From behind her, Taylor heard Roberts speak up in a calm voice. "Lieutenant Morgan is right, Harris. Dr. Kalanis has information that could help the rebels bring down the Dominion. Taylor is trying to keep us safe."

"Don't listen to him. Obviously, the ikthian has him under her control as well." Bouchard walked up beside Rachel, speaking directly into her ear. "Why else wouldn't they want to trade her for Earth’s safety? Taylor is willing to let this ikthian go, even if it means leaving us to rot."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Taylor. "Is that true?" she asked, tightening her finger on the trigger.

"We can save more lives this way. We can end the war." For a moment, Taylor saw Rachel hesitate, and continued on, hoping she could get through to her friend. "What about your family? They’re in the colonies right now, aren’t they? If we pull our troops back to Earth and abandon the colonies to the Dominion, they’ll be the ones to suffer. You know I wouldn’t do this unless I knew it was the right thing."

Rachel inhaled shakily, but there was still fire in her eyes. "I want to believe you, Taylor. But you’re making it almost impossible." She glared at Maia, who was barely breathing at all, and hadn’t made a single movement since Rachel’s appearance. Her blue eyes were wide with terror.

"The generals haven’t told us everything," Taylor insisted. "There are ikthians working with the naledai to bring down the Dominion. We can win this!"

"She’s been brainwashed," said Bouchard. "The ikthian is using her."

"Bouchard’s the one brainwashing you, Rachel."

"That’s enough out of you!" Bouchard raised his gun and pointed it directly at her. Its nose wavered, but Taylor could see his finger hovering over the trigger, preparing to fire.

Suddenly, Taylor felt herself being shoved roughly to the side, trapped behind a muscular arm. Roberts pushed past her, standing between her and the gun. "Bouchard, don’t…"

A shot rang out. Roberts lurched. He clutched his hand to his chest as Bouchard stared, wide-eyed, the gun still in his grip. Roberts stumbled forward, nearly collapsing against Maia’s shoulder. When he looked at Taylor, she saw red dripping over his fingers. "Go," he whispered, his balance wavering. He let go of Maia, collapsing to the floor.

Taylor wasn’t the first one to act. She stood there, staring at Roberts in disbelief for a second too long, until the other two soldiers raised their weapons. Something brushed her arm, and she saw Maia staring at her with watery blue eyes. They flicked down toward her webbed hand, and Taylor saw that she was concealing a stun grenade, the same kind Roberts had used. He passed it to her. That stubborn bastard.

Taylor blinked once to tell Maia she was ready, then closed her eyes and covered her ears.

The grenade went off with an ear splitting bang. It felt like knives were ricocheting around inside of Taylor’s skull, but she had been forewarned. When she opened her eyes, she saw the guards and Bouchard reeling. Rachel was hunched over, obviously stunned, but she still managed to stare at Taylor, teeth bared in anger and tears streaming down her cheeks.

Turning away, Taylor knelt beside Roberts, trying to haul his arm around her shoulders. "Maia, help me," she pleaded, not caring when his blood spilled onto her shirt. He was still alive, but only just, and his eyes were unseeing as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Bouchard's shots had been in his chest.

"Taylor," Maia said, pulling at her sleeve, "it is not safe here. We have to run."

"I…I can't leave him," Taylor said, even though she could already feel the life seeping from Roberts' body. "He saved me. He was..." Her throat burned with tears as she realized that she had used the word 'was'. She had no way to save her mentor and friend. All she could do was take the chance he had given her. "I'm so sorry, Michael," she whispered, using his first name as a goodbye as Maia helped her up.

They sprinted to the rear of the docking bay, not daring to look back over their shoulders. Taylor’s breath burned in her chest as she realized she was leaving Rachel behind as well. Blinking back tears, she took Maia's hand, hauling her past several human ships before stopping short. The naledai ship was gone, and in its place was a shuttle.

A swell of light flooded the docking bay as it opened, and Taylor saw Akton’s silhouette emerge. He bounded down to meet them, hackles raised and assault rifle at the ready. "Ship’s already in orbit. Came to pick you up, but I heard an explosion and—is that blood?" he asked, staring Taylor’s fatigues. "Ancestors, what happened?"

"Not mine," Taylor said grimly. "We gotta move." She could already hear the clamor of footsteps approaching. Bouchard’s soldiers were coming after them, or reinforcements had arrived.

"When I told you to contact me if anything changed, I thought you’d at least give me twenty-four hours' notice before making an escape." He looked between Maia and Taylor. "I’m going to lose a rank for this."

"Not if we get out of here alive. We’re leaving—now!" Taylor pushed past him to board the shuttle, but Akton raised his rifle.

"Incoming!" She heard him fire at the approaching soldiers, and Maia shot another round from her pistol as well.

"Morgan!" Taylor turned and saw Bouchard approaching. "If you take the prisoner aboard that shuttle, you will officially be a traitor to the Coalition."

Taylor raised her pistol to fire, but then she saw Rachel run up behind Bouchard, weapon drawn. She realized that she could do it. She could pull the trigger and watch blood spout from Bouchard's head. But then she felt Maia's hand on her arm, silently asking her to lower her weapon. "Taylor, no."

"He murdered Roberts." Her arm shook slightly. "He should be dead."

"If you kill him, your friend will attack you," Maia reminded her in an urgent whisper. "You will never forgive yourself if you are forced to shoot her."

Taylor lowered her arm. Maia was right. She couldn't do this, not in front of Rachel. Her job was to protect Maia, not exact revenge for Roberts' death. He had given her a mission to complete. Still, her rage at the cold-blooded murder that Bouchard had committed made her chest burn. "You killed Roberts," she shouted. "You're the traitor."

Akton hopped into the shuttle, sitting in the driver's seat. Taylor kept her gun at the ready as Maia climbed in behind him.

Bouchard began barking commands at his terrified looking soldiers. "What are you waiting for? Don't let them escape!" The remaining soldiers charged, with Rachel at the front of the pack, but it was too late. Taylor clambered into the shuttle, closing the door behind her just in time to hear shots collide with the metal.

"Get us out of here, Akton," she said, taking her seat as she heard the hum of the plasma engines. The shuttle lurched and lifted into the air, powered from below as Akton drove them up and away.

"What are we going to do now?" Maia asked, reaching out to hold Taylor's hand. "Your people will kill us if we try to return."

"We're not going back," Akton said, flying the shuttle out through the open roof of the hangar. The boosters switched on, and the shuttle began to rattle slightly as it picked up speed. "There's a naledai cruiser in orbit. We should be safe there. They can take us to the rebels." He turned to glance over his shoulder at Taylor. "That is where you want to go, right?"

"Definitely." Taylor took a deep, unsteady breath, focusing on all of the things she needed to do. That would help take her mind off of Roberts, Bouchard, and Rachel. "We need to download Maia's research and give it to the rebels as quickly as possible. I'm sure someone there can spread it to the ikthian home world."

Akton nodded. "We can take care of the download while en route."

Taylor’s stomach dropped as they cleared Earth’s atmosphere. She wondered for a moment if she would ever return. No doubt Bouchard would spin some story about her. Even though she hated the thought of being labeled a traitor by the Coalition after years of faithful service, she knew she had made the right choice. She pulled Maia into her arms, ignoring their unfastened safety harnesses, and rested her forehead against the ikthian's shoulder. Their fingers remained laced together.

"I'm not going to let them hurt you," she whispered beside the folds of Maia's fringe. "I'm never going to let anyone else hurt you ever again."