The Lost Star Episode One (25 page)

Though the vents were a utility system,
they still had access to the ship-wide audio, in case engineers
needed to be notified of an urgent message.

Right now the audio crackled and hummed
before a single recognizable voice boomed out. “This is Lieutenant
Commander Shera. I am currently in charge of the Mandalay. If you
don't want the crew to be harmed, you will come to the
bridge.”

She stiffened. So did Hunter. His hand was
still locked on her shoulder, and now he pushed it in a little
harder, his fingers collecting against the fabric as if he was
trying to hold onto her.

He sucked in a hard breath that punched
his chest out and he twisted his head hard to the side.
“Shit.”

“
Ava. You will come to the bridge. Or the
blood of this crew will be on your hands.” With that, Shera's
strident booming voice cut out.

For a second Ava did nothing. She caught
Hunter's terrified gaze and held onto it as if it could somehow
offer her solace. Protection. An escape.

But there was no escape.

She squeezed her eyes closed and squeezed
them tight as Hunter swore again.

“
You can't go to the bridge,” he said in a
shaking voice, “She'll kill you.”

“
Yes,” Ava agreed in a dull tone, “But if I
don't, she'll kill the crew.”

“
I don't want to believe
that....”

“
It's true Hunter. You may not believe
everything I told you about my people, but believe this – if an
Avixan forgets the treaty, if they embrace their true power,
there's nothing they won't do to get what they want.”

He looked away, then looked back at her,
all the while his cheeks palling to the color of crushed bone. With
a stiff breath that echoed through their closed confines, he pushed
back on his haunches, still keeping a hand locked on her shoulder
despite the uncomfortable angle. “... Ava, I can't see you die.
There's got to be something we can do—”

“
Time is ticking, Ava. Either you come, or
we kill.”

An electric jolt of fear shot up Ava's
spine. She jerked back, breaking Hunter's grip, his hand falling
down to the grating and striking it with a dull thud.

“
Ava—”

“
We have to go. No, I have to go. Hunter,
use the opportunity to do something. I’ll... I'll distract them for
a while. Get to the communications system. Make a call. Call the
Coalition. Call the Avixans. Tell them what's
happening.”

“
Ava, no.”

“
Hunter, there's no other way,” she said in
a quiet, almost still voice. It was as if her thoughts had turned
to stone as a cold frozen feeling marched up her back and sank into
the base of her head. “I won't let her kill this crew.”

He looked at her, desperation making his
gaze shift as his mouth jutted open wide.

She took another shuffling step backwards.
“I saw an exit panel back there. I'll take it. I imagine the minute
I reach the corridor, they'll take me to the bridge.”

“
They'll kill you—”

“
No... I think Shera will want that
particular pleasure.”

“
There's got to be another way.”

“
Hunter, there is. You need to use this
distraction to get off a message. Please.”

His face twisted in pain as if she'd just
stabbed something through his heart.

He jerked back, unbalancing as he slammed
a hand out and caught the wall. He was breathing hard, the
spasmodic movements of his chest crumpling the once smooth fabric
of his trim uniform.

She didn't give him another opportunity to
tell her to stay. She turned and headed for the nearest
exit.

“
Ava, please,” he called down the vent, his
voice echoing and booming out.

She squeezed her eyes shut, reached the
vent controls, and pushed herself out.

She exited onto the floor of some random
quarters.

She pulled herself up. Locked the vent,
and headed towards the door.

She'd already discarded her WD in the
vents after Hunter had insisted on destroying them. With the shoddy
internal sensors of the Mandalay, his hope was that Shera wouldn't
be able to track them.

As Ava walked cautiously down the hall,
she confirmed his suspicion. No Avixan came spinning around the
corner – meaning the internal sensors hadn't picked her
up.

As she walked, she curled her hands into
fists.

Her fingers drove so hard into her palms
she felt as if she could push them all the way through to the other
side.

She shifted her head down, staring forward
under her brows and the low cut of her fringe.

She locked her jaw together, grinding her
teeth hard, pushing the tension deep into her neck and chest until
it felt as if every muscle in her body was ready to
snap.

Her steps pounded out, echoing one after
the other like a resounding drum.

There were no crew around. She had no idea
where they'd be, but it was clear Shera had cleared out the halls
and rooms. Perhaps she'd locked them all in the mess hall or cargo
bays.

Shera knew what she was doing.

T
here was no way out of this.

Despite her determined stride, Ava's
thoughts exploded as she walked. Her life flashed before her eyes.
Though she'd only spent five years with the Coalition, and only a
few days on the Mandalay, it was her time aboard that filled her
awareness. She saw flashes of her friends, of Hunter.

She reached the end of the quarters
block.

She reached a lift.

She didn't even hesitate. She jammed a
thumb into the panel and the doors opened with a barely audible
hiss.

She walked inside, shoes slapping against
the echoing metal floor.

Shera could have rigged these lifts to
fall.

But Ava knew Shera wouldn't give up the
pleasure of killing Ava with her own hands.

So Ava's heart didn't even flutter as the
lift shot towards the bridge.

A few seconds later, it
arrived.

It pinged.

She had a single second to stare at the
closed doors.

Then they opened.

She walked out onto the bridge.

Thankfully, some of the crew were still
there. The captain, Commander Hutchins, and most of the other
essential crew necessary to pilot the ship.

They were down on their knees, ankles locked
with mag cuffs, and hands pinned behind their heads with
restraints.

T
hey all watched her as she walked into the room.

Their expressions were terrified, but none
more so than the captain. His eyes were so wide it looked as if
he'd split his face in two. “Ensign—”

Shera didn't let him finish. She walked up
to Ava, a satisfied smile spreading the lieutenant commander's
lips.

Shera tipped her head to the side, her now
loose ice-white hair trailing over her shoulder.

With her head still tipped to the side she
walked all the way up to Ava.

Ava stopped in the center of the room as
Shera circled her.

Ava didn't bother making eye contact.
Instead she tipped her head back and stared first at the captain,
then across at the view screens.

They still showed space
outside.

Freedom. The same freedom that had opened
her heart over these last five years.

She took a shaking breath.

"Shera, whatever you're planning, don't do
it,” the captain snapped, words stringing together in
desperation.

Shera smiled so hard her lips cut hard
against her nose. “I would have thought what I was planning was
obvious. It's time for the Avixan people to obtain their freedom.
Get on your knees,” she mouthed to Ava.

Ava complied. She even brought her hands
around and clamped them on the back of her head.

She settled her gaze on the view screen.

She watched space.

The universe. Just outside. All those
stars, constellations, planets, civilizations.

All waiting to be explored. All that
space, all that freedom. It reached deep into her heart and
beckoned her forward.

But there was no more time.

This was it.

She felt Shera move behind her.

Maybe Ava should have closed her eyes.
Maybe it would make death easier.

She didn't, because it
wouldn't.

The only thing that could drive back her
soul-crushing fear, the only thing that could keep the tears at
bay, was that view.

“
I'm going to cut your arms off one by one,
little priestess,” Shera shifted forward and slotted her face
alongside Ava's. “Hopefully you'll live long enough to feel the
pain.”

Ava didn't respond
. She shifted her head back, lifted her
chin, and she stared at that view, letting it pull her away and out
of her body, ready to claim her soul once she died.

Shera shifted back hard, a burst of air
buffeting against Ava's neck.

This was it.

... But the final blow never
came.

She heard a clang, and something dropped
from above.

Something heavy, something that
screamed.

She jerked to her feet and shifted to the
side just in time to see Hunter spring on top of Shera from an open
vent hatch.

... He'd clearly made it all the way to
the bridge.

Not the communications system.

The bridge.

To save Ava.

Though Shera was surprised, it didn't
last. Meva came from nowhere, rounded her shoulder, and knocked
into Hunter's side.

She had a blade in her hand.

Not a sacred sword made of her own energy
– only a priestess could produce one of those. Meva was holding a
special version of an electrified blade standard in the Coalition
inventory. It was powered with Meva’s own energy,
though.

And it was deadly.

She shifted back for a single
second.

“Kill him,” Shera snapped.

H
unter had a massive gash in his brow, blood spilling down
his face and covering his eyes. But he saw as Meva tipped back,
brought the sword around, and swung it towards his
throat.

Ava's heart stopped.

So did time.

Somehow she pushed past her limitations,
somehow she drew deep inside herself and accessed her true speed.
She threw herself at Hunter.

Just as Meva's blade struck.

Ava twisted her right arm up and around,
protecting Hunter's face.

The blade struck it, a burst of
electricity slamming into her armlet.

“
Kill them both,” Shera snapped.
“Now.”

A
va was thrown backwards into Hunter. He wrapped his arms
around her as they banged hard into the command seat.

Then Meva took a step towards them, her
sword swinging close to her hip as her lips curled into a cruel
smile.

Hunter's fingers stiffened around
Ava.

Ava brought her arm up once more, wincing,
finally closing her eyes. Not against her death, but
Hunter's.

It didn't come.

As Meva took another step forward,
something unclicked and fell against the floor.

Ava opened her eyes just in time to see
her right armlet disengage and drop to the floor by her
feet.

....

Meva and Shera stopped. Dead.

So did Ava.

Her eyes bolted open as she expected a
lethal electric shock to pulse through her body and fry her
brain.

When it didn't happen, she realized one
thing.

She was free.

Meva jerked backwards.

She wasn't fast enough.

Ava sprang towards her, using every ounce
of speed and strength she had.

Power – pure energy surged through her. It
leapt through her body like a dry pyre of wood introduced to its
first flame.

And yet, the energy only touched one side
of her body.

Her left side was virtually immobilized.
It still possessed reduced strength and speed.

It wouldn't matter.

In a pulsing heartbeat, Ava formed a
sacred sword, a burst of bright purple light forming right from her
hand as she twisted it forward.

Meva was terrified. Though Ava moved like
the speed of light, Meva had just enough time for a scream to crack
from her lips.

Ava sliced her sword around. It cut right
through Meva's blade and sent it spinning over the floor until it
struck the far wall and lodged a foot into the pylon.

Meva fell to her side, jerking one hand up
in defense.

“
What's going on?” she heard the captain
scream.