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Chapter Twenty Seven
Adreax
It had been too long since we visited our ship. When the Patrol first landed, they scoured the area and took everything of value, but I doubted they had any interest in my beat-up old cruiser. Compared to what they were flying, she was a heap of junk. So, Herod and I decided it was time to take her back and get out of this hellhole.
From our observations, it seemed that the Patrol was preoccupied with something other than finding the two of us these days. That was good news and gave us an idea of how we could get back to our ship unnoticed. As long as the Patrol had left no guards posted around our crash site, we would be free to come and go.
It took longer than I hoped to find a safe path around the Patrol. They might not have been seeking us out anymore, but it still didn’t seem like a good idea to make our movements obvious. I knew they would take us down if we gave them the chance, and I was almost positive they had already received permission to shoot on sight. No reason to test our luck.
We set out in the dark, moving away from the shuttle, in the opposite direction of the Patrol to loop around in a wide arc to our ship. If we were careful, we might get there just before the sun came up, giving us the cover of darkness all the way.
It was a slow journey at first. We didn’t have any lights to guide us, and we were too afraid to speak, worried it might alert a hidden guard somewhere in the darkness. So we trudged in silence, keeping our heads low, and listening for the sound of anyone approaching. Frequently I forced us to freeze in place, listening to identify the source of unfamiliar noises, but eventually we made it.
Our ship was in much the same condition we’d left it in. She was still the same beat-up old She-Devil we knew and loved. Seeing the early morning sunlight strike her narrow body and reflect back to me, I could have sung with joy. My ship, my one and only.
Herod spared no time going inside. After a cursory look around the outside, I followed him in and secured the door behind me. There were no recent signs of the Patrol sniffing around here. They had removed the remaining crates of guns at some point, confiscated by the men in the guard’s uniforms. I groaned, wishing it wasn’t so, but there was nothing I could do about it now. The best I could hope for was a bit of leniency from our bosses or getting a new identity and disappearing before they could have me killed.
“Those bastards,” Herod grumbled, opening cabinets and taking stock of everything that was now missing.
“It’ll be okay, Herod. Just help me get her started so we can see what we’re working with. We need to do a scan before we can figure anything else out.”
He grumbled some more but pushed past me to reach for the control desk. I could still hear him cursing under his breath as he flipped each switch and waited for the telltale buzz of power coming online. Right, we’d only gotten about half our systems up and running before our detour at Tayla’s camp. That left us a lot of work still to do before we could be out of here, which also meant that we might have to go back to her camp for a few more nights.
The thought of crawling back to her and begging for a bed to sleep in clawed at me. When I marched out of that airlock the night before, I was intent on being done with her for good. I was so angry; I had given no thought to what we would do after we got here. Facing her now would only make things worse. That left only one option: coming and going long after she was asleep. No chance encounters for us.
“Well, at least those Patrol goons didn’t break anything else while they were here. I’ll count that as a win,” I said with a sigh, already feeling hopeless as red and orange lights blinked at us from every direction.
“You sure we can’t just steal that woman’s ship?” Herod was only half-joking.
I bristled at the suggestion. We would do nothing of the sort on my watch.
“You know her ship can’t outrun the Patrol either. Our best bet is still to get our ship running and make a break for it while they’re distracted. We will not get another chance like this if we hang around. We might even take a few shots at the Patrol ships on our way out. Give them something to remember us by.”
I couldn’t help the wry smile that turned my lips up at the corners, accentuating my fangs. The thought of raining hell upon the enemy was like a soothing balm upon my soul, prompting me to find the energy to get working.
“Come on, comrade. We have work to do,” I told Herod, letting myself fantasize about Patrol ships burning to the ground.
We worked through the early morning hours as the sun rose over the horizon, taking a quick break when the Patrol guards were especially active. Perched inside our ship, we stayed quiet and watched, waiting for them to resume their normal routine. Only then did we go back to work, using only the resources we had readily at hand to troubleshoot. We had no food, so we just kept working, our stomachs rumbling side-by-side as we pressed on. There was no point in stopping. Not until the sun went back down and we could make a safe retreat to Tayla’s camp.
When that hour came, we were exhausted and dirty, but we pulled the Greedy She-Devil’s bay door closed and started the long walk around the Patrol camp. We made it to Tayla’s camp by moonlight. I stood outside, surveying her ship and wondering if she was awake in there, worrying about me or wondering where I’d gone, but I didn’t have time to get lost in those thoughts because Herod was already opening the airlock and pushing his way to the back of the ship. I noted how loud he was in the night's silence and hoped Tayla wasn’t woken by our return. The last thing I needed was a showdown with her in the hallway after such a grueling day. Plus, we had to be up before dawn to get back out there, so I had little time to waste if I wanted any rest.
