XANDER BRINDLE
When the Verne finally limped back to Earth after escaping from Ulio Station, Xander guided the battered ship into orbit, then carefully headed down to Kett Shipping Headquarters.
Having been born after the end of the Elemental War, Xander had never experienced the appalling destruction caused by the hydrogues and the faeros. But seeing what the Shana Rei and the black robots had done at Ulio Station made him understand what those horrific days must have been like.
As they wobbled down through Earth’s atmosphere, Terry had to bypass several control systems that failed. The Verne shuddered, barely holding itself together, and Xander knew the ship was going to be in the hangar for months of repairs. They had not wanted to stop anywhere en route, convinced that they had to inform his parents and Rlinda Kett what had happened. Ulio Station was one of Kett Shipping’s important distribution points, and Xander was certain that several company traders had been killed in the black robot attack.
When they came to a rough landing in the main repair hangar, a dozen astonished maintenance techs came forward to stare at the burn scars, the misaligned hull plates.
One man whistled loudly. “Can’t believe you all survived that.”
While OK helped Terry, Xander stepped down the ramp, put his hands on his hips, and turned with just a hint of cockiness. “It was a close thing, but we’re skilled pilots.” Then, for the first time, he actually looked at the dramatic damage to the Verne, and he felt dizzy. Fingernails of ice ran down his spine. It had been a very close thing indeed.
Rlinda Kett strolled into the hangar and stopped to stare at the Verne. “What did you do to my ship?”
“I thought it was our ship,” Terry said.
“Under license. And you can pay for—” Then she started blubbering. Tears poured down her face, and she lurched forward to sweep both Terry and Xander up in one of her enormous hugs. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I was absolutely terrified for you as soon as we learned what happened to Ulio.”
“We came straight here,” Xander said. “You already know Ulio Station was overrun by the Shana Rei and black robot ships?”
Rlinda sniffed, wiped her eyes, and nodded heavily. “A green priest on the station sent out reports while it was under attack. Then the green priest—let’s just say there were no more updates.”
OK said, “We have our ship’s log showing the last moments of Ulio and how we escaped. Would you like to see them?”
Rlinda looked around the hangar. “Yes, we can use the wallscreens. Everybody needs to know. Let’s project it here.”
Xander looked around. “Are my parents here? They need to know, too.”
Rlinda shook her head. “They haven’t come back yet from trying to track down Elisa Enturi.”
The compy rigged the ship’s log so it could be played on the wallscreens. Xander watched with a sense of dread. He had lived through the events, but he’d been adrenaline-blinded at the time and wasn’t sure he remembered many details.
Rlinda stood with a hand resting gently on Xander’s shoulder and another on Terry’s. The images showed the Verne breaking away from the main station, heading out among all the other evacuating ships. The Verne shot away as the black robot attackers continued to harass the station, blowing up docked ships, habitation quarters, hunting down and destroying helpless vessels, then swooping after another target.
In the hangar, the shocked techs let out gasps, moans, and curses in a range of dialects, but no one seemed to have appropriate words. They all just stared.
Finally, Rlinda said, “This is appalling.”
Xander watched as if the events had happened to someone else. The Verne raced away from Ulio, dodging, diving. Terry and Xander were at the controls, pilot and copilot. They had both been so attuned, so tense, they seemed to have one mind. OK had linked up to the Verne’s defenses, his polymer fingers flying over controls as he readjusted their shields and diverted power as the robots chased after them. Much of the backbone of Ulio Station was in flames venting atmosphere and bodies.
Two black robot ships were close on the Verne’s tail. Terry accelerated, sweating, while Xander dodged. Then, over the general comm, came a loud and heart-wrenching distress call. “—one hundred innocent women and children with me here. We’re helpless. Please don’t let the black robots come after us.”
Sensing more satisfying prey, the black robots veered off to murder an easier target, converging on the distress signal.
“Those bastards,” Rlinda said.
Xander remembered hearing that transmission, but they had been punching the stardrive, barely evading attack, and could do nothing to help all those desperate refugees. But now that he listened again, he thought the voice sounded familiar. It was a male voice with a native Theron accent. Xander blinked. “That’s the green priest—the one who brought Orli a message when we were having lunch at Ulio Station.”
Terry concentrated. “I think you’re right.”
Xander flashed a grim grin at the audience. “The robot ships converged at the coordinates of the distress signal—but it was actually Ulio’s ekti-X stockpile. There weren’t any stranded women and children there—just a lot of explosive stardrive fuel, and when the robots fired on it…” The Verne’s log images showed only part of the explosion, because OK had activated the stardrive and the ship flashed away to safety. “By the Guiding Star, it was a setup!”
“So much for your fabulous fortune, Terry,” Xander said. “What Maria Ulio kept at the station was priceless. But I guess we’re back to square one.”
“We didn’t lose everything,” Terry said. “We still have our lives.”
Rlinda said, “That’ll do.”