“Get off my ship!” Allele barks as she closes us in. “Crew, sit down where you are,” she says. “Launching now.”
I clutch Jovie to me and rest on the ramp.
Allele’s windows paint with blue-green missile explosions, sending thumps through the hull.
“Shit!” Eluni charges out of the medical bay. “Stay there, Tal! Jorusk, hold him!”
She slams herself into a gunner’s seat as Blaize and Fieri crawl themselves to the front with her. Blaize takes the other gun and sends out rapid fire with Eluni, fending off the green missiles that chase us from Ermaea.
Fieri and Allele coordinate the escape. We rocket forward. Green light surrounds us. And we are in another galaxy.
“One more. Just to be sure we’re not followed.” Allele jumps us one more time and finally slows.
Talros staggers out of the medical bay, his arm in a sling. “What the hell was that? I saw the light from the window.”
“King Eschelor turned his defense system on us.” Eluni adjusts his brace and jerks it back when their fingers brush.
I see the spark even as I hold Jovie against me in the back of the ship.
“Sorry. My fault,” Eluni shakes out her hand. “I’m just pissed.”
Talros looks down at his fingers as she keeps working.
“Did you see that?” I whisper to Jovie.
She draws my mouth to hers. “All I see is you.”
Fieri walks back to us with a tablet in hand. “Sir, I think we should return to ABR.”
“What for? They’ve already taken me once. I don’t want her to have the same trouble.”
“They have decent security, and the cameras should keep you safe, for now, as long as you don’t take on any missions on the side.” The condescending way Fieri says it is a reminder that I got myself into the situation.
“They do have a lot of security and other ships in orbit, many of which are known allies of you, Aura. Not just Amphir. You have fought alongside a lot of them. They will stand by us if we need them.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to take our problems to Earth.”
“We’re like a stalled ship out here, way too vulnerable,” Eluni says. “Allele is a one-of-a-kind, not something we should risk.”
Jorusk leaves the medical bay, holding a bandage over a wingtip. “If we’re doing a vote, I say we go back so they can finish their race. But it will keep up appearances for intergalactic relations.”
“Allele?” I trust her advice more than anyone when it comes to threats of any kind.
“If we let certain Amphirans control us, it proves their power. We must act as if all they have done to us is easily overcome, even if it wasn’t. We cannot be deterred, or they win.”
I collect Jovie in my arms and get to my feet. “Thank you, all of you, for what you risked and endured to break me out.”
“We had a little inside help,” Eluni mutters. “Could not have done it without them.”
After a long inhale to freshen my memory of Jovie’s sweet, musky scent, I kiss her temple. “I will have to thank all of them somehow, somewhere.”
“Prince Aurelius, you need some rest.” Allele opens the door to my quarters.
“Allele,” I complain. “What did I tell you about calling me that?”
“The Genesis colony needs a leader. You are the one they already turn to.”
Everyone on the ship looks at me like I’m something I’m not.
