with a heavy thud.
Her gaze narrowed on him. “Why not?”
“Anyana!” He heard Satal yell. He hoped that
meant careful.
He huffed out a laugh that sent the aching to flame
to life once more in his head. “We can’t take a
Drakon ship to the UIF. We’d be blown out of the
black.”
Moments later, he heard the engines of a ship roar
to life, and he prayed to God that it was Satal at
the helm. The ship shivered and shook, whirling
and churning as it throttled forward and finally lifted into the air. Trave counted the moments, ticking
by slowly for what seemed an eternity before the
lid of the crate finally lifted. He blinked against the
light, her face finally coming into focus as his eyes
adjusted to the bright light of the Drakon cockpit.
“You survived.”
“Apparently,” Trave replied as he dragged himself
from the box. He crossed the small cockpit and
dropped down into one of the two chairs before
the casement. Outside, the vast emptiness of
space stretch out before him. He shook his head,
“I can’t believe that worked.”
Satal sat in the chair next to him, flipping switches
and pushing buttons on the console. “I have my
ways.”
“You have authorization commands, do you not?”
“Well, yes, but I doubt we’d get close enough for
me to relay them.”
Satal withdrew his Charger from her hip and narrowed it expertly on his head. The little green light
pulsed with the active charge.
He blinked, staring at the end of his own weapon.
He shook his head. “Should have known better
than to trust a Drakon.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Oh really?” He huffed out a breath and dragged
his hand through his hair. “What do I think?”
“That I want the coordinates of the UIF station to
relay to the Imperium.”
“You are full of surprises.”
He nodded. That’s exactly what he thought.
“Now, where are we going?”
“I could, but that’s not why we’re here.”
“Milon sector, 24 mark 2.5.”
“Then what do you want?”
Her brow furrowed as her hand hovered over the
controls. “That is the location of Eden Prime.”
“My sister was working at the Trian research facility on Cartilian Five when the last raid hit. I have
not heard from her since. I have made rep