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Her skin prickled. She recognized it as an Infiltrator-class frigate. One of the newest and stealthiest on the market. She was going to enjoy getting to know her new home.
Dallas smiled at her. “That’s the Athena. She’ll get you where you need to go and then some. Be nice to Finn and I can promise you, you’ll get there unharmed.”
“I planned on it. Anyone who captains a beauty like this deserves my best behavior.” Or at least his pilot did.
Inside the ship, the familiar hum of the engines and the smell of recycled air greeted her like an old friend, but Dallas was moving too fast for her to get much more than an impression of the main deck. The crew was already sitting at their stations to man the ship controls. It might be a new frigate, but the ship couldn’t fly itself.
She followed him to the command center, a circular space looking forward over the ship. Captain Finn paced back and forth, barking orders as they prepped for takeoff. Keva sat at a terminal beside him, her fingers flying across a holoscreen.
Major Dallas turned and clasped her hand in his. “Good luck to you, Renna. We’re all counting on you.” Then he strode over to Captain Finn. The two men spoke in hushed tones, glancing at her once before Dallas spoke into the ship’s comm unit. His mellow voice filled the empty space around them. “The success of this mission depends on you. Be swift, silent, and deadly. And may the gods be with you all.” He saluted before stepping down from the command center. Without a look back, he strode from the ship.
As the hatch closed behind him, Renna heard footfalls as someone sprinted toward her. She spun just in time for Myka to throw himself at her.
“I thought they were going to leave without you!” he said, hugging her around her waist.
She patted his back. “Can’t get rid of me that easily, kid. They been treating you okay?”
He stepped back and nodded, scuffing one of his shiny shoes against the deck. “New clothes, a shower, some food and water. I’m much better now.”
“Good. They really don’t want to see me get angry.” She winked at him, then nodded toward the bridge. “Come on, I have a feeling this is going to be a bumpy ride. Let’s find somewhere safe.” Renna waited for a pause in the action before calling up to Finn. “Captain, where do you want us?”
He glanced at her in surprise, as if he’d forgotten their presence. Her smile slipped. Was she that forgettable?
“Private Adams,” Finn said, “Take these two to the observation deck and strap them in. Then get your ass back here.”
One of the young men scurrying around paused when he heard his name and saluted the captain. “Sir. Yes, sir.” He turned to Renna and Myka. “Follow me.” He led them past the comm station, through a large meeting room, and into the port observation deck.
“Can you take care of him? I need to get back.” Adams jerked his head toward the command center.
“We’re fine. Go.” So Finn still ran a tight ship. At least that hadn’t changed. She swallowed away the memories. “Okay, kid. Have a seat.” She strapped Myka into one of the chairs, then took a seat by the window.
“I want to see, too.” Myka struggled against the harness.
“Stay where you are,” she said with a frown. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”
“But you’re by the window.” His voice rose to a whine.
“And I’m an adult.”
The boy opened his mouth, but a look from Renna silenced him. She gripped the steady-handle beside the window and rested her forehead against the thick glass, letting her eyes drift shut for a moment. Who would want to destroy a planet just to find a little boy? It didn’t make sense. She shivered. Would she ever see Hesperia again?
Luckily, most of her liquid assets were stored in off-world banks and other locations. She’d learned long ago that diversification was the best bet for someone like her. Having to go into hiding on a moment’s notice meant always being prepared. Her free hand drifted to her throat where she carried her most prized possession, the Seralline Star Sapphire. She’d taken the job as a challenge, as a way to prove she was the best thief in the galaxy. Now she wished she’d never heard of the damn thing. It had caused her nothing but trouble.
Case in point: being blackmailed into helping on a suicide mission.
Unfortunately, the Star was worth more than the gross domestic product of all the Outer Rim worlds put together. It was her security blanket, her ticket to freedom. As long as she had it, she had an escape plan. And she always liked to have an escape plan.
Even that last day with Blur’s gang, when the cops had arrived. She’d mapped a route out of the warehouse sometime during that first year with them, never thinking she’d have to use it. Three years later, slipping out the ventilation shaft had saved her from a life of hard labor on a prison planet. She’d worked alone after that. Getting involved was too dangerous. She could only depend on herself.
What would her life have been like if Hunter—if Finn—hadn’t betrayed them? Would she still be working for Blur? Still tied to the gang by death and lies and violence? Renna let out a sigh. No sense in going down that road now. All of that had been a long time ago.
Beneath her feet, the engines rumbled to life, the ship’s blood starting to pump and churn as they readied for takeoff. Sunlight streamed into the hangar as the doors above opened to the Hesperian summer sky.
Right. It was still daylight out here in the real world. Soon, they’d be in space, where time didn’t matter, where the velvety darkness was a constant presence, wrapping her in its soft cocoon.
Captain Finn’s voice came over the comm. “Stand by for takeoff.”
Renna’s stomach fluttered as the ship moved. And then they were out into the bright summer air, shooting upward so fast she gasped and clutched the grip as they went vertical, her ears screaming with the pressure of rising so quickly.
They cleared the MYTH building, then the other skyscrapers. Below them, the city of Veth was laid out in a grid. A smoking, crater-filled grid. She bit back a gasp, the image burned forever into her mind. The Warehouse District was gone, nothing but rubble. She craned her neck toward her apartment building, but there was nothing left. Even the less inhabited part of the city off to the east was now pocked with craters and smoking debris.
Strange destroyers churned through the city, obliterating everything in their path. They were unlike anything she’d ever seen: three stories tall, with double wings on each side and a long narrow tail.
