It’s good to know how much Dr. Veragelen believes she needs me. You never know when you’ll need a bargaining chip. But first, I have to get away from Gage.
I take a deep breath. I can do this. I’ve been trained by the best, after all.
I move as fast as my muscles will let me, jabbing my elbow into Gage’s solar plexus. He gasps and folds over, and I pull my arm forward, punching up. Pain radiates through my hand as I catch him in the jaw. He screams, and I finally jerk my arm free and stumble forward.
Gage reaches for me just as a blast comes from the left of us. It takes him in the chest, and he spins with the impact. His eyes turn sightless, and he’s dead before he crashes to the ground.
I turn slowly. Max stands there, arm outstretched, pistol in his hand.
His face is expressionless as he drops his arm to his side, and with a last glance at Gage, he turns away.
Then Ian is on me, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me close.
“Handcuffs,” he mutters into my hair. “Fucking handcuffs.”
Chapter 98
Ian
I’m pretty sure that was the worst moment of my life.
Fucking Gage. I never should have trusted him.
“You did great,” I tell Kali. Better than I would have expected. She kept her cool and gave us the chance we needed. But I’m still shaking, and I don’t want to let her go.
I take a deep breath and step back. We have to get off this asteroid and get everyone to safety. Because once we’re safe, I want nothing more than to hear her say she loves me. And then I’m taking her to bed and we’re not coming out until the world explodes around us. And maybe not even then.
The prisoners are pouring through the corridor now. I tug Kali to the side as they stream past, dozens of them, heading for the entrance. We told them there’s an army out there—I guess they don’t care, but only a couple of them are armed.
It’s going to be a massacre.
The first of them rushes out into the open. I hear cries and the crash as the body hits the ground. It doesn’t deter the others. They’re flooding out, and the air fills with a cacophony of blasts.
We were supposed to sneak out the back way. That was the plan.
I grit my teeth, then look at Kali. She nods.
I look at Max, who nods as well.
“We’re going out there.” We’re going to help these people, and we’re going to die. I don’t want to die. Not before Kali tells me she loves me.
Fuck. When did I become such a fucking sap?
“Anyone got an objection to that?”
No one does.
Looks like it’s unanimous, then, although Milla is looking a little confused. Altruism hasn’t been a big part of our lives before now. But she draws her weapon with the rest of us. “Let’s do this.”
I turn to the rest of the people who have been kept prisoner here. “Give us five minutes to clear the way. Then go for it. Grab any weapons you can.” I look around at them all, and I feel like I have to say it. “Most of you aren’t going to make it. But some of you might.”
“Which are better odds than we had before,” one of the women says. “No one survives here for very long.”
I nod. But Milla did. Jarved did. “If we do get out of here and back to our ship, we’ll fit as many of you on board as we can. For the rest of you, we’ll call for help and make certain you’re safe.”
There is one thing I have on my side. I reach into my bag and pull out the grenades I brought along. I expected to be blowing up doors, but they should work just as well with people. I have four. I hope it will be enough to give us an edge. I hand one each to Kali and Max and toss another to Merrick.
I take a deep breath and head for the entrance. Kali is beside me, and Milla and Max are right behind me, with Merrick bringing up the rear.
I peer outside. The light is dim, but I take it all in in a second. A troop of Imperial soldiers is marching our way. The Corporation guards have taken cover behind a row of trucks off to the left. “Kali—aim your grenade for the trucks. The rest of us will go for the troops. Then shoot for their knees. It’s the weak point in the mecha armor.”
I step outside with all of them beside me. We have to shift around the dead bodies already littering the entrance. At first, the soldiers don’t shoot; they seem to be waiting for something, though I don’t know what.
Not that it matters, because I’m not waiting. “Now,” I yell.
I pull the pin and toss my grenade before diving to the ground as the roar of explosions fills the air. My ears are ringing from the blasts, and the place has descended into chaos, wounded troops and guards screaming. I hear the people from the cells streaming out behind me as I roll to my feet and come up shooting. Kali is beside me, arm outstretched as I taught her. Her eyes are screwed up, but she’s doing okay.
I take out one of the soldiers who’s still standing. Then another who’s trying to get to his feet. There’s no room for mercy right now when we’re fighting for our lives.
Finally, I’m standing back-to-back with Kali, gun arm outstretched but with no one left to shoot.
We’re still alive. I really hadn’t expected that.
It all goes silent except for the moans of the dying. Then a huge cheer goes up from the prisoners who are left. I do a quick check of my little group—we’re all still standing, though Merrick has taken a shot to the leg. It looks like just a graze, though. He’ll survive.
I turn to face Kali. I expect to see triumph, but she’s staring around at the devastation, her lower lip wobbling for all it’s worth.
“We had to do it,” I say. “It was us or them.”
“I know. But it’s not fair. They were just doing their jobs. They didn’t know why.”
“They should have asked why,” Merrick says.
We can debate later. Right now: “We need to get to the Starlight.”
“We’re going to have to find a way in. Gage sabotaged it.”
“That greedy fucking backstabbing bastard.”
Before I can figure out what to do, the comms unit on my arm crackles, and then we hear a voice.
“This is the battle cruiser Ravenol. We have a four-thousand-kilogram warhead aimed at your position. Surrender your weapons and yourselves or we will completely annihilate the asteroid. You have five minutes.”
And then the comms unit goes dead.
Chapter 99
Kali
I stare up at the sky where the huge ship floats like some bloated slogg. I can see the weapons launcher situated at the front. It’s aimed right at us.
I can’t believe we’ve come so far, done so much, just for it to end like this.
Five minutes.
Less, now.
I don’t want to die.
I look around at all the devastation, then at the Starlight. It can’t end here.
Ian slips his hand into mine. “We can surrender if that’s what you want. They probably won’t harm you—”
“We’re not surrendering,” I snarl. Because they may save my life, but all my friends will die. And I could never live with that.
There has to be a way. I just have to think of it.
My gaze settles on the heptosphere. I did say I was going to test it out here in the Wilds, but that idea required fewer people. Not dozens of innocent people relying on us for their survival. Still, we need something big. Something drastic.