with extra ammo clipped to the belt. A stun pistol went on my left hip. A long blaster with a beam that could be adjusted from shotgun to rifle strapped across the backpack with a quick-release buckle.
“And now, for the pièce de résistance,” Rhys murmured. He pulled a silver disk the size of a hockey puck from a locking storage box.
“Is that what I think it is?” I said.
“It depends. Do you think this is the very latest prototype of von Hasenberg shielding technology?”
“How?” I whispered in awe. Realizing what I’d asked, I held up a hand. “Wait, I want to remain friends, so don’t tell me.” This prototype was so new I’d never seen one exactly like it. It was like the tech built into my cuff, only much more powerful. The last time I’d seen one, they were the size of a dinner plate, but the shape and markings were unmistakable.
“I’ve been told this will stop up to a dozen close-range blaster shots,” Rhys said. “When it starts beeping and the light flashes red you know it’s about to fail. You activate it by clicking the button in the middle. A long press deactivates it. It uses power while active even if it’s not deflecting shots, so use it wisely.” He attached it to the front of my belt.
The one-minute warning sounded. A storm of bees took flight throughout my system as adrenaline began flowing. “Thank you, Rhys. Take good care of my ship.”
He nodded and pulled me into a hug. “Come back safe, Lady Ada,” he murmured against my temple.
I moved to Loch. “I’m sorry we’re not parting on better terms,” I said. I drank him in with my eyes, aware that this could be the last time I’d ever see him. I let him see the regret and sadness, the longing and desire that I would never be brave enough to admit to aloud. “Look after everyone, okay?”
He could’ve been carved from ice and I would’ve received more acknowledgment. Okay, then.
I snapped on my helmet and my suit powered up. “Testing coms,” I said.
Rhys already had his helmet on. “I hear you,” he said.
“With the ship in stealth, you won’t be able to communicate with me, but you should receive my signals. You don’t need to respond unless I specifically ask for transmission confirmation. I’ll leave my com open for as long as I can so you can monitor my progress.”
Eventually Rockhurst troops on the ground would realize the outgoing transmission wasn’t one of theirs and start listening in. When that happened, I’d have to shut it down or risk broadcasting my location and plans. I couldn’t risk an active tracker or video feed for the same reason.
I waved to Rhys then sealed myself inside the docking bay airlock built into the side of Polaris’s cargo bay. This ship wasn’t big enough to bother with an atmospheric containment field over the cargo bay door, so I couldn’t open the cargo bay directly without admitting the foreign atmosphere.
The airlock hissed then the outer door opened. A short, steep ramp led down to the ground and I realized Rhys must’ve extended it. As soon as I was clear, the ship lifted into the sky and disappeared.
Loneliness tweaked my heart, but I shook it off and headed for the low bunker at the edge of the spaceport.
I had a job to do.
Chapter 20
The bunker was larger than it appeared from a distance. The opening was nearly eight meters tall by ten meters wide. It was curtained from the outside air with the faint shimmer of an atmospheric field. Hopefully that meant the air inside the building was breathable and I wouldn’t have to make my way through an airlock.
If anyone occupied this base, they likely knew I was here by now, since landing a ship was hard to miss, but the inside of the bunker was empty. Railings surrounded a wide, circular platform set into the floor with a control panel on the far side. If they had an industrial lift, they definitely transported large quantities of something.
A square room occupied the far back corner of the bunker. Solid concrete and concealed by a heavy, sealed door with a control pad on the wall, it probably contained the stairwell and elevator.
Time to see if Rhys’s codebreaker was any good.
I attached the com-sized device to the door’s control panel and hit the override button. While not as rare as the prototype shield on my belt, codebreakers still were not easy