Malik shook his head, his expression thunderous. “She’ll find a way to escape. That bitch is too damn wily to rot away in prison. She might paint half the planet red with blood to make it happen, but she will escape.”
As if triggered by his words, a flash drew Nikki’s attention to the multi-display surveillance grid. Hastos now stood in the middle of Zerna’s cell.
“Unbelievable!” Malik snarled standing up so fast his chair toppled. He bolted from the room, Salvo on his heels.
“Stay here! Both of you,” Jaron added as he flew from the control room.
“Looks like Malik wins this debate.” Natalie sat on one of the chairs in front of the console and pushed her hands into the holographic controls. Using nothing but the movement of her hands and fingers, she quickly rearranged the displays. She centered the image of Zerna’s cell and replaced several of the others with views of the corridors surrounding her. Finally, she brought up an external view of the building, pulling the image back until she could see as much of the sky as possible.
“What are you looking for?” Nikki stood behind her new friend, awed by the ease with which she manipulated the controls. “When did you learn how to use that?”
“That’s the beauty of Sarronti technology. It’s wonderfully intuitive. I learned how to use the control matrix in our apartment and now I can navigate through almost any system’s options. As long as I stay out of restricted areas, I’m free to explore. Anyway, I’m making damn sure Hastos is alone, don’t want our mates to be blindsided.” The corridors were empty, but a ship slowly entered the limited range of the external camera. The ship seemed to be orbiting the building. “Shit.” Natalie lapsed into silence, no doubt warning Salvo about what she’d discovered.
As more of the ship became visible, a scene surged to the surface of Nikki’s memory. Hastos and Zerna were sitting across from each other sharing a meal and a bottle of wine. Hastos gazed at her with obvious affection, while Zerna looked bored.
“The prototype has been installed in my ship and I’m anxious to begin field testing the device,” he told her.
“And this gadget will allow you to open a portal large enough to fly a ship through?” He nodded and she shrugged. “Our sentinels have been able to do that for centuries.”
“Can your sentinels bring an entire army from one dimension to another?”
He had her attention now. She set her wineglass down and studied his brutish face. “You said the device is a prototype, that it is only installed on one ship.”
“It is,” he admitted impatiently. “But if it works as well as I anticipate, I will have them mass-produced and installed on every ship in the Cretzian fleet.”
The memory subsided, releasing Nikki’s mind. “We have to destroy that ship.”
Natalie turned her head sharply. “Why the urgency?”
“It has some sort of prototype on it that will allow the Cretzians to invade this dimension. We can’t allow it to return.”
“And you know this how?” Natalie sounded confused rather than disbelieving.
“I just had a vision. What should we do?”
Natalie shook her head as if to focus her thinking. “There are plasma cannons on the roof, but I have no idea how to fire them.” Her dark eyes locked with Nikki’s as she asked, “What about the crew? Shouldn’t we give them a chance to abandon the ship before we blow it up?”
“Do you know how to contact them?”
Natalie shook her head.
Nikki swallowed hard, hating what she was about to say. “They’re an imminent threat to this dimension. I don’t know what else to do.”
“I’ll go get Salvo,” Natalie decided.
“I’m coming too.”
They darted down the corridor, their feet sliding as they rounded the final corner. Hastos was still in Zerna’s cell, but his weapons were drawn and his posture was hostile. On the outside of the cell stood Malik, Jaron and Salvo. All three were armed and facing the Cretzian.
“Try it,” Malik dared. “If you fire that weapon it will ricochet all over that cell. Save us the trouble of killing you.”
Natalie motioned to Salvo. Still keeping his eyes on the Cretzian, he moved closer to her. “So what should we do?” Apparently, she’d already explained the situation telepathically.
“Malik, we have a complication,” Salvo told his brother.
Hastos grinned. “Discovered my ship, did you?”
Why was he still in the cell? It didn’t make sense?
He was strong enough to teleport through the dampening field, Jaron told her.