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Instead, she was willing to stay invested in the long haul because she genuinely felt they had a chance to make things work, no matter their challenges. But, first things, first.
Harlow pulled herself together and moved swiftly towards the rear of the lounge, where Sondra and Bassam were helping themselves to sandwiches and a hot drink.
‘Kage just called,’ she said. ‘The comm and network problems are due to an external security breach, and we could still be in danger. So drop everything; we must find everyone in the facility and get them to the terminal as soon as possible.’
Sondra’s eyes widened, and Bassam’s cup almost tumbled over from his hands as the pair caught on to Harlow’s words.
She looked down on her comm tab and quickly assessed the data Kage had sent her. ‘I’m sending you location markers for everyone. Sondra, get to engineering. They’re four techs in there on night duty. Get them to haul ass to the terminal. Bassam, you need to go into the merc bunkers at the rear of the complex and get the six trainees to meet us at the terminal. I’ll do a final sweep of the office block in case we’ve missed anyone. We’ve only about five or ten minutes, so hurry.’
Credit to Sondra and Bassam; they didn’t flap about but immediately moved, fanning off throughout the facility. Harlow nabbed her bag and devices and took off towards the offices, checking every room, making sure no one was left behind.
Seven minutes later, she returned to the lounge and to her relief, both Bassam and Sondra were back, accompanied by all the flustered night duty engineers and a group of sleepy trainees.
The engineers flung questions at her as she approached.
She raised her hands to slow them down. ‘Sorry. I don’t know much except that we’re in imminent danger. I need you to all converge in the terminal per Mr Sable’s request.’
She said the last part sternly, hoping to convey Kage’s authority. It worked. At the sound of his name, the group fell silent and did as they were told, moving quickly across the atrium and into the terminal.
At one point, as she crossed the vast reception area, Harlow looked up and smothered a gasp. Above the atrium’s plex ceiling, she saw a cluster of winking lights and shadows of hovering missiles, just like Kage had said.
She swallowed and pushed forward faster into the terminal. Her trembling inside didn’t ease even after they were enclosed in the ballistic-level glass walls, and she hugged her bags close to her and scanned the sky outside for any sign of Kage or Void’s sleek form.
She almost jumped out of her skin when the gunship materialised above the orbital landing pad. The group with her exclaimed as the corvette set down gently. She also saw a flyer similar to Void X shimmer into sight. The doors butterflied opened and a familiar suited silhouette leapt out of it and loped to the terminal.
Harlow rushed towards the entrance as the newcomer typed commands into the adjacent security panel.
The doors slid open; seconds later, she was in Kage’s arms. She looked up as his helmet retracted, and he bent down, kissing her deeply in front of the incredulous group.
He pulled back eventually, his relief palpable. ‘Sweet Eden, I missed you.’
‘Missed you too baby. I -’
‘Not the time and place. Later,kara,’ he promised, releasing her from his arms.
‘I saw them,’ she whispered to him as she stepped back, glancing above.
He nodded curtly. ‘We know exactly where they are. We’re working on hacking them. Meantime, we need to get you all to safety.
He turned to look at the gathered staff members. ‘First things first,naam, can confirm Harlow and I are together. Second, I need you to quickly move towards the hangar doors of that large corvette and get inside it. Now.’
He stepped aside as the staff members flowed past Harlow and himself.
Sondra gave a wide-eyed glance as she passed, and a teasing smile that Harlow returned faintly.
Then she joined the staff members as they fled across the landing pad towards their rescue craft. Kage jogged behind them, keeping an eye on the perimeter and the sky above.
Once they were all safely standing inside Void’s expansive rear hangar, Kage swiftly addressed the group. ‘This corvette is auto-piloted by The Sable Group’s AI. Mirage is in full control but in the event of anything untoward happening and you need to consult a human, Harlow’s your go-to. Now lift off so I can switch on the Skylab’s magnetic force shields.’
With a jerk of his chin, he stepped back and out of the gunship to let the doors slide to a close.
Inside, Harlow directed the team to their crash couches and chairs. She then sat in the pilot’s seat, watching keenly as Mirage lifted them up and into the air, turned on stealth mode, thrusting upwards into Eden II’s skies.
Far below them, the nav holo showed views of the terminal, and she spotted Kage as he watched them rise into the stars.
She hoped against all hope he’d stay safe and said a little prayer under her breath for the love of her life.
Kage
