Star Runners (29 page)

The words echoed in his mind as he strolled the hallways. The lingering doubt in his abilities faded. He was a pilot. No, he was actually a good pilot, one of the best. Regardless of the nagging voice inside his head berating him into believing he couldn't do it, his Rockshot time proved otherwise. He had the ability. He needed to set aside his doubts and let himself go.

Let himself go.

How he wished his father could see him now.

He caught a glimpse of his reflection. The trim frame wrapped inside his Tizona blues stared back. Even though he had the reflection for confirmation, he couldn't believe it. He was a pilot.

He continued into the mess hall where the celebration had roared a few hours before. The floor glowed. The chairs stacked on the tables leaving no trace of the songs and reveling. Placing his hands on a railing at the wall-sized view port, he gazed at the colors of the nebulae amid the backdrop of the blackness of space. The peaceful scene hid the dangers of space beyond, the wild space, the space with pirates like Dax Rodon looking to leech off the powerful. This was the reason for the Legion, and soon he would be an officer. He took in a long, slow breath. 

Two alert fighters moved overhead in a wide arch, their landing lights blinking as they moved like confident sentries over Tarton's Junction, his home. A comfort washed over him like a warm blanket. He still had so much to learn, yet, he felt at home for the first time in quite a while.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Austin did not turn. "It is, man."

Josh stepped next to him and leaned on the railing. "When I first got here, I called that nebulae the 'dark cloud.' I was depressed, lonely, and missed home. I put all of those feelings into that cloud. Sometimes I could beat it, sometimes I couldn't. But what could I do but press on, I had already come so far. Quitting was never an option."

Austin looked at his friend. With his hair freshly shaved down to his skull and a data tablet tucked under his arm, Josh had the small twinkle of newly placed silver wings on his chest. He folded his arms across his chest and turned to face Austin.

"I guess this is it."

Austin nodded. "I know. Sorry," he said and offered a mock salute, "I know
lieutenant
."

"Right," he said and gazed out of the view port.

Josh's freighter, the
Saber
, bound for Earth would be leaving within the hour.

"You were amazing today," Josh said, staring down at the floor. "No new trainee has ever done so well in Rockshot."

"I got lucky."

"I don't think it was luck, but whatever you have to tell yourself."

Austin looked back to the nebulae. "What's next for you?"

Josh pulled out his tablet and glanced at the screen. "I'm heading home on the
Saber
in forty-five minutes and will arrive in Atlantis at night. I've checked the calendar. I'll be home in time for July Fourth weekend and the Braves are in town. Might take Mom and Dad." He snorted and gazed unfocused for a moment. "In three days, I'll be going to a Braves game."

Austin thought of baseball, of going to movies on hot Georgia summer days, of working at the fruit stand selling tomatoes and swatting insects off the exposed fruit, of meeting at the coffee shop after school. The memories flashed through his mind like hazy, blurred photographs.

"It seems like a dream, doesn't it?"

Josh nodded slowly. "It really does."

"I haven't really thought of it before, you know, going home."

"I know."

Austin swallowed, pushed away thoughts of Mom and his own warm bed. "I imagine this will be a burden."

Josh blinked. "What's that?"

"Knowing about all of this." Austin gestured with his hands at the mess hall and the nebulae beyond. "We're in on the biggest secret in Earth's history, working right along side the 'dark cloud' as you call it, and we can never tell anyone. We have to act like we've been at school on a mission trip, like our lives are just like everyone else's. That's a hard pill to swallow. Kind of like none of it really happened."

"But it did." Josh pointed at his flight wings on his chest.

Austin shook his head. "You're a lieutenant now. It's hard to believe."

"With your performance in the Rockshot, you're not too far behind now. You're ahead of where I was at the same pace. What do you have now, sixty points?"

"Sixty-three, yeah."

"Awesome."

Austin looked at him, Josh's features appearing older, wiser than the face he spoke to during Christmas nearly two years before. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

Josh reached out and squeezed Austin's hand hard, his eyes glassy. "I'm sorry we didn't get to hang out more up here. Maybe back home, eh?"

Austin thought of the possibility of spending time with Josh at home, playing board games and staying up late. He knew somehow those days were gone and would never fully come back. He could have said all that, but instead offered, "That sounds great, buddy. Safe travels."

Josh turned to leave, but hesitated, offering a cocky tooth-filled grin. "Once I leave, you'll be the best pilot on the station. Make us proud."

Austin smiled and held his gaze a moment longer before Josh left the empty mess hall, his footsteps echoing in the silence. He watched Josh until he turned the corner. Josh was now on his way to Earth, to home and family. Austin imagined what he must be feeling, the strange notion of being completely out of place with everyone and everything you ever knew. 

Austin pulled a chair from atop a nearby table and sat it down in front of the view port. He propped his feet up on the railing, leaned back, and stared into the darkness.

Less than an hour later, Austin watched the freighter
Saber
depart Tarton's Junction, its massive steel bulk lumbering away from the station. Austin watched the empty space, remembering the Tyral Pirate attack from his first day and the resulting burning wrecks. As if responding to his thoughts, the alert fighters hovered above the freighter. For some reason he couldn't explain, Austin held his breath as he looked at the freighter's windows, searching for his friend.

The space in front of the freighter wavered followed by flashes of light like a lightning storm as the
Saber
opened its curve. Austin searched space for any sign of pirate attack, but there was nothing out there but the alert fighters. The freighter carrying his friend and hundreds of Legion crew, staff and officers, disappeared into the curve in space. The wavering space shimmered and closed, leaving nothing but black.

Austin lingered in the mess hall long after the freighter disappeared.

*****

The sound of rubber pounding a treadmill's surface repeated down the hall. Austin strolled toward the work out facility, wondering who would be working out so late. When he turned the corner, he lingered at the doorway to the gym and saw his old friend, glistening with sweat in her Tizona shorts and sports bra.

"Hey you," he said, walking toward Skylar as she ran in place.

"Austin! What are you doing here?”

She reached to slow the machine, but Austin stopped her by placing his hand over hers.

"I was seeing Josh off. Why don't I join you?"

Placing down his tablet and bag, Austin slipped out of his uniform and stepped on the treadmill in his undershirt and shorts. Skylar grinned at him for a long moment before focusing on the run. Austin began slow, but increased his speed until he matched hers. They ran together for twenty minutes, the only sound in the room their feet and the whine of the exercise equipment.

Running with Skylar felt like returning home. They had not kept up their routine since they arrived on Tarton's Junction, and he didn't have a good reason for why it stopped. He could have run a marathon, but stopped at ten miles when Skylar did.

He tossed her a towel from the locker on the wall. "You're like a machine."

She caught the towel and wiped her face. "I was going to say the same about you."

He stepped closer to her as he wiped his face. She gazed at him, her head tilted forward at a slight angle.

"We should have done this sooner," he said, his mouth in the towel.

"What's that?"

He put the towel down. "We should have done this sooner."

"I heard what you said the first time. I wanted to hear you say it again."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?"

She turned to her bag and grabbed her sweat pants. "Cause I've been wondering about you for a while, wondering why it felt like we drifted. I missed you, but I didn't want you to feel weird, so I left it alone."

Austin stared at her. "You couldn't make me feel weird. Not ever."

"Then why'd we stop running or studying or doing anything at all?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

"If it was about the night in your pod, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

His eyes widened. "Don't be sorry about that. I should have said-"

The lights went out.

For a moment, Austin heard only Skylar breathing. The returning lights bled crimson.

"RED ALERT. ALL PILOTS TO THEIR STATIONS. ALL PILOTS TO THEIR STATIONS."

Austin winced at the loud voice echoing through the halls. He grabbed Skylar's hand and ran into the hallway. Staff and pilots, some looking groggy with sleep, hurried into the halls.

"We need to go back to our pods!" she yelled.

"I need to check something!"

They sprinted toward the mess hall. If the station was being attacked, they would be able to see it there. A sickening feeling twisted his stomach. Skylar gripped his hand as they weaved through the hallways now crowded with staff.

They reached the mess hall alone. He released her hand and ran to the view port. Condensation formed on the glass.

"Why did we do that? Haven't you run enough today?" When he didn't respond, her voice lowered. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have a good feeling."

Light flashed from deep space to the right of the nebulae. The alert fighters shot toward the area from their current position on the far side of the station. The wavering space in the distance stabilized as a freighter appeared, its hull sparkling with fresh fires and breeched decks. Gases and debris poured like geysers out of three holes. Two fighters and a larger transport craft hovered around the freighter like flies on a rotting corpse.

"Not again," Skylar breathed.

It was too far to be sure, but it had to be Tyral Pirates again. Laser fire pounded the freighter's engines. A moment later, one engine burst into flames and the freighter pitched forward. The alert fighters closed in.

"Why haven't they fired missiles?"

Austin clinched his teeth. "Pirates must be jamming their signal and they don't want to hit the freighter by mistake."

The pirate transport attached to the top of the freighter. If they stuck with their normal operations, the pirates would seize the freighter and everyone on it before the alert fighters were in range. Once the transport pirate craft attached, the two enemy fighters launched toward the incoming Legion fighters in an effort to buy time. Within two seconds, the four fighters entangled.

As the fight drifted away from the station, the endangered freighter drifted into their line of sight. Flashes of light shot from the visible view ports, laser fire blasting onboard as the horde of pirates boarded. The battle for control of the freighter had begun.

Austin balled his hands into fists and pounded the view port. "Come on guys, hang on."

His stomach dropped as the freighter's markings came into view.

"Can you read that?" he asked.

"It's some ship called the
Saber
."

Austin swallowed. "That can't be. Josh's on board."

Skylar glanced at him before staring at the battle, her jaw dropping open. "Maybe it's a different ..."

Her voice trailed off.

It didn't make sense. The
Saber
was bound for Earth. It had already passed through the curve and the next way point in the journey was the dark side of the moon. How did the Tyral Pirates get to them? How is that possible?

"Where are our other fighters?" he asked, his voice echoing.

"Their launching, I'm sure. Don't get-"

"Don't tell me how to feel!"

Austin stood transfixed on the flickers of light coming from inside the freighter. Josh was on board, probably fighting for his life, and there was nothing Austin could do about it. The freighter's running lights flickered and the ship changed directions, screaming hard for deep space away from the station.

"No!"

Austin pressed against the view port as he watched a curve open in space. The freighter passed through and disappeared. The alert fighters obliterated the pirate fighters and soared through the space once occupied by the
Saber
.

He collapsed against the view port, his legs like water beneath him.