Taryn forced a laugh. “Sure, great. Let me just take a fucking seat and wait for you to fix it, then.”
Jeline opened her mouth, no doubt to argue, but Taryn beat her to it. “But,” she said, “In the off-chance that you’re just a normal fucking person doing the best she can, how about you follow my orders and set an example?” At that, she made an obvious glance at Sherre. The girl was becoming more nervous and panicked by the second. Jeline nodded after a moment, the meaning clear.
“Sherre,” she said, grabbing the younger girl’s arm on the unsteady ground. “We can do more research from the computers in the pods.” Pulling her along, the two started for the back of the room. Willovitch, growling under her breath, followed after them.
Taryn watched them go, while she herself retook her seat and punched in a code on the right armrest. A blue shield seemed to spring up before her, acting like a translucent tray across her lap. She typed a few more digits, and a flash of white across it read, “Autopilot Offline.”
“You aren’t coming?” Lyra asked from behind her.
Taryn merely shook her head. “Protocol. Someone has to stay behind.”
“Don’t give me that crap,” she hissed, but Taryn was already waving her hands over the holographic control panel, the ship responding in kind with her gentle movements. “There are six pods, and if you don’t want to leave a record that you took one, you can just squeeze into someone else’s. They fit two,” she insisted. “Get in mine, and—”
“Lyra,” Taryn said quietly, her eyes on her hands. “You remember the first time we served together?”
“Hm,” Lyra hummed, remembering. “You mean when you managed to steer the ship between two gates and miss a jump completely?” Taryn grinned, so Lyra continued. “Captain was furious. That was years ago, but you’re still just as bone-headed now,” she sighed, the sound lost to the rumbling of the ship.
“I was just a pilot back then,” Taryn agreed. “I became a captain after three years, and no offense Lyra, but I’m not going to survive this just to get demoted for breaking practice. Not on my last tour.”
Lyra gave her a look. “If I go in there,” she pointed over her shoulder. “And I go into torpor hibernation, then I’m useless to you. We all are.”
“Yes,” Taryn agreed. “And it’s where I’ll let you all out again once we’ve reached a relatively safe place, and then you can be useful again.”
Lyra scowled. “You really—”
“Lyra,” Taryn stopped her, never even turning to meet her eyes. “As your captain, please, enter the silent safety of your pod and let me concentrate.”
It took a moment, but soon the retreating scuffs of Lyra’s boots mixed with the groans of the ship, and before Taryn could say another word Lyra was through the doors to the emergency pods.
“Well, that was easy,” she grumbled to herself. Removing her right hand slowly so as not to confuse the ship, she typed another series of numbers into the keypad on her armrest, relieved when a voice sounded over the speakers.
“State your purpose,” the robotic female voice prompted.
“Search for a nearby planet,” Taryn called out to it. “One with oxygen, if you don’t mind.”
“Scanning… Scanning…”
“C’mon,” Taryn muttered.
“Planet found. Analysis—”
“Doesn’t matter,” she rolled her eyes. Then, louder, “Coordinates!” The voice coldly recited, and she typed it into her keyboard. Immediately, a spot of red appeared on the control panel. Taryn smiled – she might not have any eyes on the outside, but blindly steering with the panel would put them in the right direction. She waved a hand, and sent them towards it.
Kanthi
Kanthi B’Halli was, for the first time in his life, exactly where he needed to be. Hard to believe that he’d had to travel into enemy territory just to get there.
As a door opened, Kanthi withdrew into the shadows. He was hiding in the rafters, just out of view and safely out of range of the creatures beneath him. As they stepped into the room, lights snapped on, illuminating the room laid out under his feet.
Thagzars, half-lizard men he’d only ever seen before in his nightmares, circled below. They walked on two legs, their green scales glinting in the artificial light while their yellow eyes glowed. From what Kanthi’s people knew of them, Thagzars were mainly descended from two types of creatures, resulting in a very basic (but exaggerated) differentiation in the snout. Depending on their ancestry, they either had an elongated