Jodi had decided to stay with Kenneth, something Ted wasn’t all that surprised by. In fact, it was probably for the better. She’d be more comfortable among people she knew, even if they weren’t in the most stable position at the moment. Still, he found himself already missing the human companionship as he and the Koleans made their way back towards the landing site.
Ted and the others got back to the ship as night fell and were utterly shocked by the scene that greeted them. A ship that hadn’t been there when they’d left was sitting next to the one they’d arrived in, and all was deathly silent.
“By the stars, what happened?” Trell breathed.
Alana motioned for everyone to be quiet as she and Juiya drew their guns in a flash of bright silver as they moved seamlessly to either side of the door. The sight of the guns was what really made Ted nervous, because even the threat of another firefight sent fear vibrating through the deepest core of his being. The first one had traumatized him enough and the thought of living through another one was nearly unbearable. Now he was living a life where he could be alive one minute and dead the next. The primal fear that this revelation brought threatened to suffocate Ted without mercy, and he was more than happy to retreat and let the trained soldiers deal with the potentially dangerous situation. Trell seemed to have a similar idea and started backing up down the trail with haste. Ted followed, realizing that if things went south they would need to run. Ted retraced the route in his head, hoping they could make it back to Kenneth if they needed to, assuming he was even still there, and not vanished like a time long forgotten.
Just as the panic and tension reached their zenith, and Ted thought the loud thundering of his heart would give away their position, a voice pierced the thick silence. “It’s clear!” Juiya cried out from inside. The relief Ted felt was one of the sweetest feelings he’d had in years. A breath that had long gone stale was released from his lungs.
Without a word, Ted and Trell scurried inside the ship just in time to see Alana holster her gun. The interior appeared to be exactly the same as they’d left it except for two details that automatically drew Ted’s attention—the four bodies lying sprawled on the floor, and the smell of smoke that still permeated the air. The form of Vandoraa sitting against a wall, curled in on himself, was the next thing Ted noticed. It looked like all hell had broken loose in there.
“Vandoraa! What happened?” Ted whispered, cautiously moving over to the Drevi and kneeling down beside him.
Alana and Juiya immediately began checking the ship for damage, both inside and out, while Trell stood back and observed the aftermath in horror.
“They were on us so quickly...” Vandoraa said softly. “I hid, and there was a shootout. I’ve been waiting for you to get back ever since.” He hoped his acting was convincing, for of course he hadn’t been sitting there the whole time. He’d taken great care to erase any indication of his trip to DC from the computer, and the fuel used hadn’t put a dent in the amount still available, but he was still terrified that he would be found out all the same.
“And you just stayed here?” Alana asked in surprise as Juiya turned his attention to the computers to ensure they hadn’t been accessed and no critical data had been stolen. It was obvious she had expected him to get in the orphaned Drevi ship, or even take the Kolean one, and make a break for it.
“I promised Ted I would help him,” Vandoraa said, holding his head high in pride. “I’m a son of the House of Neryx. I take my oaths seriously.” Ted watched him, wishing he could determine whether or not their captive was lying. But Vandoraa’s facial expressions and vocal inflections seemed genuine, and Ted really didn’t have any evidence to suggest otherwise, leaving him to believe the only other alternative—that their prisoner was telling the truth.
“We’d better get back,” Juiya said as he returned from the back of the ship where he’d taken the bodies of his fallen comrades. “Someone’s going to come looking for those missing soldiers.”
“What... are we going to do with their bodies?” Trell asked, looking to Alana for guidance.
She contemplated for a moment. “We’ll put them back in their ship and leave. Someone will find them sooner or later.” Trell gave her a gentle nod and diligently reached down to grasp one of the Drevi bodies. Alana did the same, and the two of them, side by side, dragged the bodies from the cabin of the ship, leaving behind a trail of blood. Ted, unable to stay on his feet any longer, collapsed into a sitting position on the cold floor, utterly exhausted and staring dully ahead at nothing.
“I hope Kenneth got away okay,” Ted said to himself, his voice no louder than a whisper. If there had been Drevi scout ships in the area, there was a real possibility he’d been captured.
“I’m sure he did,” Juiya said as he read through the scanner logs. “There was only the one ship. Rotten luck that we were here at the same time.” He began working, his fingers frantically flying across the touchscreens.
Alana and Trell came back in, their faces solemn. “This could have gone better,” Alana said, though her tone was not joking. Silence reached up to meet her words.
“Let’s just get out of here,” Trell said, both nervousness and sorrow tainting his normally controlled voice. He looked flustered and his feathers stood on end.
Without another word, Juiya tapped in a few commands, and the ship lifted from the ground and rocketed up into the atmosphere. The silence in the ship’s cabin was deafening for a few moments until Alana began speaking softly to Ted, so Vandoraa couldn’t hear.
Vandoraa, however, managed to strain his ear and pick up what was being said. It sounded like they had struck some kind of deal with a rebel leader, some man named Kenneth Wood. The new goal was to steal the starship they called November from the Drevi and present it to Kenneth as a token of good will.
Some part of Vandoraa scoffed. That one little ship wouldn’t solve all their problems. But another part was feeling something else... respect, might be the proper human word for it. These humans had not rolled over and accepted their fate. Not only had they started up a resistance, but they’d had the gall to secure help from the Koleans, which undoubtedly hadn’t been an easy task.
Vandoraa found himself lost in thought as the little ship climbed higher and higher into the blue sky. What in the name of the Great Mother was he going to do? What in Her name had he been thinking, leaving his brother to come back to these people who at best treated him as a prisoner, at worst, like scum that should be wiped from the face of the galaxy?
He was weary, but now he had no choice. He was there. He would have to cooperate with these people and hope, in the end, that he didn’t die before he could get back home.
His thoughts were interrupted by the ship pitching beneath them.
Ted tensed as he always had on rollercoasters, clenching his hands until bloody crescent-shaped marks appeared on his palms.
“How did they see us?” Trell cried.
Juiya and Alana were the only ones who remained calm. “They only have two hooks,” Juiya said evenly, as if trying to convince himself as well as his passengers. “They missed with the first, if only by a little. If they miss with the second, we can get away before they can line up again.”
Alana reached over to the other computer console in an attempt to assist Juiya in his maneuvering, but just as her fingers were about to brush the keys a sickening crunch echoed down from the ceiling. Ted dared to hope for a moment that they had escaped, but when he could feel the ship start moving backward, a sick feeling welled up in his stomach.
“They’ve got us,” Juiya said, barely keeping the dread out of his voice.
“Try and pull loose,” Alana said, now at the console, typing away furiously. “We might be able to break the line.”
“This ship doesn’t have the engine power,” Trell responded, his voice quaking.
“Whatever you do, don’t panic! Do what Alana and I tell you!” Juiya called to everyone as the unmistakable lurch of a ship latching onto their hatch jolted
through the ship.
The hatch opened with a hissing sound and a booming Drevi voice stated, “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Juiya presented his hands immediately, knowing he had civilians with him and not wanting to see any harm come to them. Alana managed to get in a few more computer commands before she judged she’d pushed it too far and held up her hands.
Ted stood. “Please, we surrender. There’s no need to harm anyone.” He spoke in Drevi.
Three more Drevi came in. Two helped Vandoraa off the floor and ushered him away quickly. The others continued to point their guns at the ship’s passengers.
“Come with us,” a Drevi soldier snapped. Trell didn’t move—either he was rooted to the spot in fear or was being stupidly rebellious, Ted wasn’t sure. Alana and Juiya started forward almost immediately and allowed their hands to be bound by Drevi handcuffs, or at least that’s what Ted had always called them. They weren’t actually handcuffs as a human would recognize, though he had, much to his distaste, seen them used often enough in Dr. Hio’s labs when it came to dealing with his specimens. They looked more like gloves that had been stitched together, and were the color of steel but flexible and stretched across the entire hand so that a prisoner could barely use his or her fingers when bound.
Trell was still immobile when they forced him into the cuffs. They then proceeded to yank him along. He complied without resistance, but only because that was the direction Alana had been taken. It seemed when a Kolean got too frightened his instinct was to hunker down and not move, like a rabbit. It’s a good thing Alana and Juiya are a lot more composed, Ted thought, because he and Trell sure as hell weren’t.
When it came Ted’s turn he surrendered himself without issue. The alien handcuffs were something Ted had only been in once before, when he’d been transported from his home in Baltimore to the labs, and he was loathe for it to happen again, but he didn’t feel like he really had much choice. As they were forced onto his hands, the chill from touching cold metal spread across his skin. He winced a bit at the uncomfortable feeling but it quickly went away as his body temperature warmed the cuffs.
The prisoners were escorted out of the Kolean ship and onto the Drevi one. Ted looked around as he entered and noticed many differences from ships he’d already been on. While the Kolean ship had been made of russet-colored materials and angular designs, the Drevi interior was smooth, with ovular doorways and colored a pallid green.
“Don’t struggle,” Alana hissed to Trell under her breath in Kolean the second she saw him start to fidget. Even though she was sure the Drevi around her could speak Kolean already, a hushed, fast, and whispered foreign tongue would be almost impossible to decipher for a non-fluent speaker.
“No talking,” one of the guards growled back in Drevi, not even bothering to translate his words.
They were led into the cell block, which was mostly empty. Ted saw a few Drevi behind the closed doors, however, and wondered just what they had done to land themselves in there. He didn’t envy them.
As the handcuffs were taken off, Ted and the others were forced into one of the cells. The heavy door shut behind them with a bang.
“Our commander will be in to question you shortly,” the leader of the security team said in Kolean, looking at Alana through the small window on the door. Apparently he’d deduced by the way she carried herself and her actions when they were first captured that she was the one in charge. She might as well be, thought Ted. I’m useless, Trell’s inexperienced, and Juiya’s of lesser rank.
The prison cell they’d been given was larger than some of the other ones Ted had observed on the way in, though he suspected that was to accommodate their large party. There were four uncomfortable-looking beds and a Drevi toilet in the corner that looked vaguely like a sleek trash can. He briefly wondered why they hadn’t been split up into different cells to prevent collaboration before realizing that it really didn’t matter. There was no way they were getting off that ship by force, even if they could escape from the cell. He wondered where Vandoraa had been taken. Probably straight to the commander for a hero’s medal, and to be reunited with his brother. Ted snorted in irritation, even though he knew it wasn’t the young Drevi’s fault. Vandoraa had been true to his word, the cards had just been in his favor.
“What the hell are we going to do?” Trell turned to Alana the second they were alone again, close to panicking.
“Don’t panic, please Trell,” Alana begged, being more diplomatic with her To-Be than she would’ve with someone else. “We’re all in this situation and we’re all going to have to pull our weight to get out of it. I can’t have any of you falling apart on me now.”
“Won’t they know you, Alana?” Juiya said worriedly. “I’m just an officer, but you’re the daughter of the Vice President of the KIS and one of the heads of the entire mission. You’re valuable.”
“I know that. But it means they’ll be more interested in me than in the rest of you. That might be something we can take advantage of.”
Ted didn’t have the heart to mention that, judging by Gavton’s reaction the last time they’d had an encounter, the Drevi were pretty interested in him, too.
Trell looked utterly terrified at what Alana was implying, but said nothing, his anxiety making Ted more nervous than he already was.
“Did you manage to get a signal to our fleet?” Juiya asked Alana in hushed Kolean.
“I hope so,” she replied. “I cut it a little close.”
They quieted immediately as the door to the prison section banged open again. The sound of boots on the floor echoed loudly through the enclosed space, and within seconds, visitors stood outside the door.
There were three of them all together, but two stood with respect behind the first one. One of them Ted recognized as the head of the security team that had captured them, and Ted guessed the other, a stern-looking woman, was the first officer of the ship. The last one, Ted knew all too well.
“Gavton,” Ted said, only a little surprised to see the commander there. Just his luck.
“Theodore Anderson... You prefer to be called Ted, correct?” the imposing Drevi said in shaky English.
Ted nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Gavton made an odd guttural sound from the depths of his throat that sounded like a laugh mixed with a cough. “Of all the Kolean ships I could have caught in my net, I got the one carrying their trump cards. It must be my lucky day.”
“I’m in charge here, Gavton,” Alana said fiercely, stepping in front of Ted. “You’ll question me.”
“I’ll question whomever I choose,” he responded icily. “Remember, you are my prisoners.”
“At least let Trell go,” Ted said, not thinking before he spoke. “He’s of no possible use to you.”
“I will let none of you go, human,” he said. “You kidnapped my brother and forced him to betray his own people to help you. My interest in all of you is personal as well as professional.” He stopped to think for a moment. “But the Kolean woman is right. I think I will question her first.” He turned to his head security officer and nodded. The burly Drevi man, who was at least seven and a half feet tall with a mean-looking scar decorating his scalp, stepped into the cell and placed handcuffs on Alana again. She went with him without complaint, in spite of a pathetic whimpering sound that Trell began producing. That pining sound nearly broke Ted’s heart.
The door shut and they were alone again.
Juiya began prowling around the cell, searching carefully for possible weaknesses. “Damn, nothing. It’s sealed tight.”
“What are we going to do?” Trell asked.
Juiya ruffled his feathers. “I don’t think there’s much we can do except wait, and hope Alana’s signal got through.”
“Would they really risk lives and ships to come rescue us?” Ted asked.
“If we were all soldiers, like me,” said Juiya, “no. But you and Alana are crucial. If I know Commander Hoguh and General Toka, they’ll send
half the fleet after us.”
Ted tried to hide his panic. “But what if the Drevi cripple them while they’re trying to rescue us? The Koleans will never be able to win and it’ll be our fault.”
“Stop being so pessimistic, please, Ted,” Juiya said. “It isn’t helping.”
“Not being prepared for the worst won’t help either,” Ted shot back. “We have to go over every scenario and decide what we’ll do depending on which one occurs.”
“The stars, you’re more together than I am,” Trell said miserably as he slumped in a corner.
Realizing his feet were starting to get sore, Ted sat down. Juiya huddled down last, finally giving up on finding any sort of escape route.
They all sat for seemingly hours, until the sound of footsteps in the hall came again. Juiya and Ted leapt to their feet, while Trell remained crouched down.
The silhouette of a Drevi stood outside their cell door, but instead of Gavton or another one of his cronies, it was Vandoraa.
“Vandoraa,” Ted said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Vandoraa did not respond immediately. Instead, he started looking around the room, as if searching for concealed surveillance equipment. Once he was satisfied there was nothing to record his conversation, he began speaking.
“I’ll tell you the truth,” Vandoraa confessed, his voice heavy and shaking slightly. “Before, when the Drevi scout ship found us, I didn’t stay put.”
“I knew it,” Juiya muttered under his breath.
Vandoraa didn’t seem to have heard him. “I... I flew the ship to Washington D.C., to find my other brother, Tavron. He’s the oldest and a trained diplomat. I went there, never intending to come back to you. But then he... he said something to me. He told me that he’d been fighting the invasion from within the system. He said he didn’t think our way of exploration and learning about new species was right. And deep down, I realized I agreed with him.”
“So you came back.” It was a statement from Ted, not a question.
Vandoraa nodded. “I decided to throw my lot in with you. Because as much as I love my brothers and am loyal to my people... This just isn’t right.” His voice broke at the end and Ted could tell he was doing everything in his power to hold back tears.
“Is this a trick, Ted?” Juiya asked Ted in a whisper so Vandoraa couldn’t hear. “Do you think Gavton sent him in here to put on this act and get information out of us?”
“I... I don’t think so,” Ted whispered back. “Why else would he have willingly come back to us?” Then again, perhaps he was lying about that, too.
Trell spoke up, his tone softening. “Vandoraa, if you’re truly on our side, help Alana, please. I know what kind of... interrogation methods the Drevi military is known to use.”
Vandoraa composed himself, letting out a shaky breath. “I’ll do what I can.”
“Can you help us get off this ship, Vandoraa?” Ted asked, deciding to push forward with the big question.
“I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try,” he said.
“Do you know if we got a signal out before you pulled us in?” Juiya questioned.
“Our operators think so, but they can’t be sure. It was pretty jumbled,” was Vandoraa’s answer. “I think it might be best to operate under the worst case scenario—that we have to get out of this on our own.”
“Well, we’re listening,” Ted said.
“Here’s what I was thinking,” Vandoraa said. “I don’t have the command codes to open this door, and even when I get them from Gavton, which is what I’m planning to do, you’d be swamped by guards in an instant. So I’m planning on creating a false alarm by artificially overloading the iturium processors. That should shut down the engines, and therefore the power to most systems for a half an hour or so. It’s a big weakness of our ships,” he said, revealing something outsiders should never know. “The excess power in our engines goes to power other systems, including artificial gravity and weapons. It’s efficient, but can shut the ship down completely if things go wrong. While they’re scrambling to keep their engines running and the power on, you can get to your ship.”
“Sounds like a reasonable plan,” Juiya said, absorbing this important tactical information. “But what about the clamps holding our ship in place?”
“I’ll have to disconnect those manually before we take off.”
“The penalty for desertion is death, isn’t it?” Juiya said in a heavy tone.
“It is, but I don’t think Gavton will report me,” Vandoraa said. “He’s my brother.”
“Well, I hope you’re right,” Ted said.
“What about Alana?” That was Trell, of course. “How are we going to get her back? We don’t even know which part of the ship she’s in.”
“Let me worry about her,” Vandoraa said. “I’ll get her back for you, Trell. I promise.”
Trell seemed to accept that answer, for now. His breathing got easier and he visibly relaxed.
Vandoraa glanced back at the door. “I have to go. I’ll be back when I can and give you an update. Just sit tight for now, and don’t do anything stupid.”
Vandoraa stepped out of view, leaving the prisoners alone again, but this time with a faint glimmer of hope.
XIII