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Sevanti moved his battered form between Dawn and the other Vassi. “What do you think you’re going to do, Yon?!”
Instead of answering, Yon laughed and two men dressed in black leather carrying weapons burst in and reached for Dawn. Instinct kicked in and she slid into the knubtu stance. This was the moment, the only one she and Sevanti would get.
Punch, spin, strike.
She ducked the blow aimed for her head and rolled into Tang Soo Do. Each kick and hit landed, dislodging the weapons from the guards. Sevanti snatched one of the lasers from the air, powered it, and fired.
The first guard jerked and dropped to the floor from the direct shot to his midsection. Yon roared and charged into the melee. Using a mix of styles she’d created, Dawn flipped into a hand stand, kicked him in the chest with both feet and bounced back up. She swiped out to the side and spun around to slam a palm into the temple of the second guard joining the fray.
“Dawn!”
Sevanti’s call pulled her away from following the downed guard. He waved frantically from the door, holding the laser aloft in his other hand. As she turned to flee with him, fingers locked about her booted foot.
“No!”
Glancing down, she found Yon clutching at her ankle. Dawn raised her other foot and stomped. Yon jerked to the side, avoiding her boot then tightened his hold around her ankle and twisted, pulling her to the floor.
“Dawn!” Sevanti shouted. She could hear fighting taking place but her attention was on her own battle for survival.
Yon clawed at her legs, punching wildly. Dawn took a blow in her side and back. Pain burst down her spine. Gasping, she twisted around for leverage and drove her fingers in his eyes. Yon roared and let her go.
Jumping to her feet even as her heart raced, Dawn looked around the cell. Both guards were down and unconscious.
“Good job,” she praised Sevanti in some shock.
He grabbed her arm. “We need to go.”
Limping, Dawn ran out. Sevanti shut the door behind him and hitting the lock. “That won’t hold them long if someone hears them or they have a key code but at least we know their comms won’t work to call for help from inside.”
Yon screamed, “It doesn’t matter what you do! You’ll die, soft skin.”
Dawn paused outside the door. Her brows drew together in a frown but Sevanti tugged at her. “Don’t listen to anything he says.”
Evil chuckles penetrated the thin barrier of the door. “You’ll never get away and if you do, there are more like me. Vassi who disagree with your perverse nature.”
More snarls and growls. A knot settled in the pit of Dawn’s stomach. Each word Yon spoke struck at the vulnerable wound created by a life time of not fitting in.
Sevanti pulled her away from the door. “We all don’t think like him. We have to try and get out of here.”
Yon only wanted to delay them in hopes they got caught. She moved away from the door.
“How many are on this ship?” Dawn asked. Would they have to fight them all?
Sevanti’s black eyes scanned the corridor as he rushed her along. “Don’t know. Something like this old freighter generally can get by with a dozen crew members or less.”
Yon and two guards were in their cell. Pilan was in another. That was four, leaving a potential eight more to confront.
“Contact Venik. I’m going to get us to the pilot’s cockpit and see if I can turn this heap around and meet the Black Star,” Sevanti said, dragging her down halls at a speed that had her trotting to keep up.
With one hand pressed to her aching side, Dawn reached into her pocket only to come up empty handed. She tore at her pants but there was nothing inside. “Oh, no!”
“What’s wrong?” Sevanti slowed their flight down the hall, turned them left and then smashed an elbow into the glass covering the lock for the door. He hit the switch and the entrance swished open to what looked like an electronic command center with two chairs in front of a panel of instruments.
She shook with nerves. “I think my wrist comm fell out while I was fighting.”
“Dut! No matter.” He let her go to study the panel.
It did matter. She’d promised Venik to keep it with her. His impassioned plea struck a chord and Dawn knew he struggled with losing his brother in such a cold fashion. Now she had no way to let him know she was alright.
Sevanti fiddled with something, then said, “Dut! The controls are locked and protected. Come on. They have an emergency shuttle we can take.”
Trust went a long way and because of Venik’s relationship with Sevanti, Dawn followed him blindly, hoping he knew what he was doing. They left the command center room and a guard yelled out at them from halfway down the hall.
Sevanti clasped Dawn’s hand and they took off running. Footsteps thundered behind them. Dawn hunched over at the first shot that whizzed over her head. Sevanti spun, shot and kept going.
“Here.” Sevanti turned and pushed Dawn toward a beat up looking vessel.
He ripped the door open and they stepped inside. The interior looked as cheap and worn as the exterior. “Is this safe?”
He snorted without answering and dropped into one of the two seats with rips in the leather upholstery. “Sit and hold on.”
“You know how to fly this?” she asked while doing as he said.
He spared a glance in her direction and smirked. “You do realize I fly a battleship for the Vassi military. I can surely pilot this.”
“Um...well, I thought others did the actual flying and you just told them what to do.”
Sevanti threw back his head and chuckled. She couldn’t recall hearing him make such a light hearted sound before. The Vassi definitely wouldn’t win any awards for comedy.
“Like Venik, I rose through the ranks. I was once a War Bird pilot.”
Dawn nodded and hoped he still remembered how a shuttle worked. He messed with switches and nodules until a holo screen appeared before them. Muttering under his breath, he raised his hands and tapped at icons and symbols.
Alarms sounded outside.
“Hold tight.” Sevanti pulled a U-shaped yoke toward him and the shuttle rumbled to life and slowly turned toward a closed door. The only door out.
The thought of slamming at full force into the obstruction did not give her the warm fuzzies. Throat tight, she muttered, “Are we hoping it opens by magic?”
“I set a timer to open them right about...now.”
True to his words, a section of the wall rose smoothly revealing the pitch black of space. The shuttle gained speed and launched through the opening.
With a satisfied sigh, Sevanti said, “We’re heading toward Regin IV. If the Black Star is traveling this way, we should meet in the middle. Less than an hora if they’re traveling at top speed.”
“Should we try and contact Venik?” The lethargy from the sedative Pilan shot her with was kicking in and she could no longer feel her fingertips. The numbness sent prickles through her skin.
“I already tried. Yon has a radius wide blocker set up, preventing any outgoing messages and unfortunately my skill isn’t in hacking or technology to get through it.”
***
They were closing in on the Renegade. In another hora, the ship would be in sight. Anticipation kept Venik in a state of readiness. It reminded him of his senims prepping for an upcoming battle. Only instead of a dedicated enemy like the Bantoks, it was Yon and his purist leaning friends.
All the while, Venik prayed to Ghizu for Dawn’s safe return. He didn’t want to arrive too late as he had with Dima. There would be nowhere for Yon to hide when Venik got done with him. He planned to beat the other Vassi within an inch of his life for whatever trauma he’d put Dawn through.
His wrist comm buzzed and a thrill shot through Venik when he recognized Dawn’s ID code.
“Indira? Are you okay?” he asked.
“Indira?” Yon spat. “You dare call her that.”
Venik froze at the unexpected voice on the other end. His hands clenched on the armrest of the High Commander’s chair in which he sat. “Where is Dawn Reavers?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? The question isn’t so much where is she but what I’m going to do with her.”
Terror clogged his throat. “The Protectorate is involved now, Yon. If you harm one from the newly appointed world, there will be nowhere for you to run or hide.”
“Do you think I care?” Anger dripped from Yon’s voice. “I won’t go to prison.”
Could Yon be that foolish? A prison colony was too good for him but it was the least he deserved for everything he’d done. “How do you think to get out of what you’ve done? You abducted a high ranked military officer.”
“And your in-dir-a.” Yon’s deliberate slurring on the endearment had Venik reflexively releasing his claws. “Let’s not forget her.”
“I haven’t forgotten that you’ve taken the human female.” It plagued him.
Yon laughed bitterly. “I may not get away but you won’t have peace either. I refuse to go out without finishing what I started.”
Blood rushed through Venik’s veins. His forced himself to keep his breathing steady. “What are you going to do, Yon? Exactly what are you planning?”
“I’m going to kill your precious indira. I’ve set the Renegade to self-destruct. I know you’re tracking us and are probably close but you won’t be close enough, Commander Avar. Just like you weren’t in time for your dear brother Dima.”
“Don’t speak his name,” Venik snapped on a broken snarl.
Cruelty lined Yon’s face and his fore ridges dipped low as his growling voice deepened. “Even if she doesn’t die on this ship, she’ll never be the same. I may have been a bit enthusiastic in my efforts to subdue her and she suffered some damage to her frail brain.”
Venik’s breathing grew ragged, the fabric of the chair ripping under his tight hold.
“It’s why she can’t understand anything but her stupid, backward language,” Yon continued, every word shredding Venik like a dull blade into flesh. “Then there was Pilan. He was very excited to see what else was wrong inside her. You wouldn’t have wanted her back anyway, Commander. We broke her.”
Maniacal laughter followed that devastating pronouncement and Venik gritted his teeth. He wanted to roar a denial, blast Yon. Yet he sat immobile, held in place by the pain of what Yon told him. Lie or truth, he couldn’t discern but panic clawed at his chest.
Fear that Yon was telling the truth and he’d rigged the Renegade to explode. Fear that Dawn was truly hurt and he had no way to get to her in time.
“If Dawn—”
Yon smiled. “I have to go, Commander. I hope all remember me for what I stopped this day.”
Yon cut the comm before Venik could finish voicing the threat. Venik lunged to his feet and drove his fingers through his hair. He growled and barked out, “Stavos, how much longer?”
“Soon, Commander.”
The Senior Comms Officer avoided Venik’s gaze when he looked in his direction.
“Do you have something to say?” Venik asked.
“No...just, I hope the lom is okay. She was kind to my tuare, Towa. He’s expressed an interest in working with the Earth liaisons when they go to the Academy.”
Towa. The youth Dawn had been seated next to with Corin. Venik vaguely recalled Towa’s excitement about the wrist comm he’d given Dawn.
“I need to know if there’s a remote way to contain or shut down an explosive Yon has set on their ship.”
The SCO brightened. “I’ll ask Towa. He’s in technology with Niah.”
Venik nodded. Ghizu, he prayed again, watch over her.
Because Venik couldn’t face a life without Dawn Reavers.