Kellee
“Kellee, I’m picking up a ton of blips on this screen, and I don’t think they’re friendly.” Hulia poked her head outside the shuttle ramp door. “Did yah wanna take a look?”
I nodded but watched the opening into Arcon, expecting to see movement inside. Talen and Eledan had been gone for half an hour. I’d felt every excruciating minute pass like each one cut. I trusted Talen, but I also knew Eledan.
“Kellee?” Sota asked, bristling to my right like a pillar of nervous energy and plucking on my already frayed nerves. He hadn’t left my side once.
“See to it,” I told him, keeping my gaze on Arcon.
He lingered, like he wanted to say more, then retreated up the ramp.
“You’ll wanna see this,” Sota said moments later. “They’re in orbit. Looks like a whole lot of Sol ships just arrived.”
Earthens. Given my recent and past history with them, any discussions between us wouldn’t go well. If they were here, that meant they hadn’t yet switched on their shiny new defense net.
“Contact Sirius.” I ducked into the shuttle and joined Hulia at the flight console.
“Hailing…” She tapped the controls. “He’s not picking up.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know how,” Sota suggested, leaning over my shoulder and peering at the raised semitransparent screens.
“He’s fae, not an idiot.”
“You don’t need to get salty, Marshal.”
“Hulia.” Sirius’s rumbling voice filled the cabin. “Pierce says we have company. She’s asking to hail her people.”
“No, don’t let her near any comms. We can’t trust her.”
We needed Talen back. Sirius alone would be enough to stop Pierce, but not if the fleet wanted to board the Excalibur. The displays showed the ships converging above our location. They’d soon try to make contact, and after that, Calicto would be crawling with Earthens. If they found Eledan or Talen, we’d have a fight on our hands.
Blinking lights lit up the screen. Outside, I’d bet the ships were darkening the sky. “That’s got to be almost forty ships.”
I could hail them to buy us some time, but my reputation would not win us any favors. Recognizing the tek-warship as their missing Excalibur, they’d be looking for a fight. Without Talen, we had no way of controlling the crew or fighting back.
“This is bad, isn’t it?” Sota asked, staring intently at my face, reading his answer there.
“It doesn’t have to be, if we can all just get along.”
“Your suggestion?” Sirius asked over the comms.
As far as I knew, since Oberon’s demise, the fae had withdrawn from Halow back to Faerie, leaving the system ripe for the Earthens to return. Only now, they’d find it changed, less human and more Faerie. They were as likely to destroy this planet as the fae had. If Calicto was anything like Faerie, though, it would have grown its own defenses.
Pressing the comms button, I told Sirius, “Bring the ship in over Arcon, as low as it will idle.”
“The human is protesting.”
“She’s one unarmed Earthen, Sirius. Use your considerable fae talents to make her not protest.”
“Kesh would not approve of my using glamor.”
Hulia gave me a look of “is he for real?” Admittedly, it felt good to hear how Kesh had him under her thumb too.
“You know as well as I do that Kesh will go to any lengths to protect her own. Just do it.”
Sota leaned forward to get a look at Arcon outside the shuttle’s window. “If we bring the Excalibur in that low, Arcon’s magic output will interfere with the ship’s systems.”
“That’s the plan.”
The mass of leviathan warship drifted across the screen, planting itself above our location. Afraid of what the magic would do to their ships, the smaller Sol Alliance fleet hung back, forming a halo around the Excalibur. It wouldn’t last, but it would buy us some time.
“Now what?” Hulia asked.
“Now we go inside Arcon, find out what’s going on down there, and get Kesh back and the fae who can control humans.” Leaving the co-pilot’s chair, I headed for the door. “Sota, with me. Hulia, if those ships start to descend, contact Sota. Hopefully, the magic won’t block the signal once we’re inside Arcon.”
Sota descended the ramp behind me. “I’m er… I’m sorry for shooting you earlier. Again.”
“Forget it. I’m getting used to it.” I looked up, and sure enough, Sol ships dotted the sky. That high up, they looked like hovering bugs. Each of those bugs could kill us.
“Technically, I can’t ever forget it.” Sota followed my gaze and then jogged after me. “You were going to kill him. The others couldn’t see it like I could, and Kesh said we need him. I am sorry, Kellee.”
“I know you are, Sparky.”
“We’re still friends?”
I paused at Arcon’s steps. He looked at me with all the apologies in his eyes. “Never doubt it.”
Magic slammed into my back, but instead of knocking me down, it caught hold and squeezed. Its taste poured down my throat and swam into my eyes, blinding and choking me. Just as I realized I couldn’t move or breathe, it let go, dropping me to the ground.
“Did you feel that!” Sota gripped my arm. “Look!”
Claws sprung from my fingers, teeth plunged from my gums, and the vakaru in me tore free, unleashed by the powerful rush. Sota dragged me to my feet, but among the sensory overload, I almost didn’t claw my way back to being in control.
“Look,” he repeated.
A liquid green torrent of light shot skyward, like a reverse waterfall, and at its center, the Excalibur throbbed and warped. Vine-like Faerie tendrils exploded from Arcon’s tip and thrust into the Excalibur’s hull, wrapping the vessel in vegetation and turning it into a pulsing mesh of roots. The ship groaned in protest and descended, pulled toward Arcon.