the royal transport.
Ari’k barreled up it. Barely slowing down, he dropped Lisa into one of the comfortable seats and lunged for the control room in front.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
“Shields at thirty-two percent,” the calm female voice announced.
“Drek!” Taelon skidded to his knees in front of Lisa and hastily tucked the baby back in the sling.
Kuxa ran past and joined Ari’k in the control room. Ari’k took the pilot’s seat, Kuxa the copilot’s seat. Both started readying the transport for departure.
The last two Yona—Yihrus and Sodu—leaped inside.
More booms.
“Shields at twenty percent.”
“Close it! Close it!” Taelon shouted.
Lisa glanced over her shoulder as Taelon hurried to strap her in and watched the ramp slowly begin to rise. Her breath came in gasps. Her whole body shook.
He had to keep Lisa and Abby safe. He had to.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
“Shields at thirteen percent.”
Taelon threw himself into the seat beside her and strapped himself in. “Tell Jamis to provide cover fire now!”
The ramp closed. Taelon glanced out the window.
An instant later, anything that wasn’t locked down flew out of the docking bay as the shield failed.
Ice cut through his veins. That had been close. Too close.
The transport lifted up. Taelon peered through the docking bay’s entrance.
Sleek black fighters exchanged fire with rounder gray crafts. Then the shades dropped down over the windows and the transport shot away, traveling faster than it had when they’d left Earth. When the force of it pushed them back into the seat cushions, Abby began to wail again.
“Hostiles in pursuit,” Ari’k announced.
Taelon leaned over, cupped a big hand behind Abby’s head, and kissed her soft hair.
Abby’s cries lessened to whimpers.
Taelon met Lisa’s gaze. “I have to go help.”
She offered a jerky nod. “I love you.”
Taelon unstrapped his harness. “I love you, too.” Leaping up, he ran to the control room.
“It’s the Gathendiens,” Ari’k announced.
Taelon swore and motioned for Kuxa to vacate the copilot’s seat. As soon as he did, Taelon slipped into it and fastened the safety harness. “How the hell did they even know we were here?”
“Unknown,” Ari’k replied.
“You fly. I’ll fire.” Taelon swiftly attached a weapons visor to his forehead and pulled the clear screen down over his eyes. He glanced ahead of them, noting the presence and projected path of every Lasaran fighter and every Gathendien craft as he slid back the panels on both of the seat’s arms. He rested his hands in the grooves on the armrests, settled his fingers into the small hollows provided for each.
“Incoming,” Ari’k announced calmly.
“I see them.” Taelon focused on the two craft that veered toward them and pressed his fingers.
Energy blasts shot from the ship and hit the first craft. As it exploded, he shifted his gaze to the second ship and again pressed his fingers. Energy blasts took the second craft. The weapons system unerringly followed Taelon’s gaze and fired with 100 percent accuracy each time. But the damn Gathendien craft outnumbered them greatly.
This had been a very well organized attack.
Lisa clutched Abby tighter as the transport swerved from side to side, sometimes flipping upside down and spinning in a damn circle that made her stomach lurch.
One of the two remaining Yona opened a panel in the floor and stoically dropped down into a seat it concealed. The other opened a similar panel a few yards down and did the same. Neither had any difficulty maintaining their balance or maneuvering in the constantly shifting transport, as though they had done this a million times.
She leaned over to peer down at one of them. He looked like he was sitting in a gaming chair that floated in a glass bowl. A strap across his hips held him in place as he pulled a clear visor down over his eyes, rested his arms on those of the chair, and slid his fingers into smooth grooves in the surface.
“Weapons armed,” he stated, touching a control screen before he reached up, drew the floor panel back into place, and hid himself from view.
“Weapons armed,” the second confirmed, doing the same.
Shit. Were they like the ball turret gunners of World War II? If so, they would be totally exposed down there!
The floor vibrated beneath her feet.
Was it the weapons firing? Or were they taking fire?
She couldn’t tell and looked toward the cockpit or whatever the Lasarans called the royal transport’s version of it.
Through the front windshield, made of an impenetrable clear crystal Taelon had told her, a battle waged like something right out of a Star Wars movie. Except this time the black fighters