Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)(38)

I stand up with an easy smile, dimples on high beam.

“No problem, LT,” I say.

And I bury my elbow right into her throat.

Her tac armor absorbs most of the impact, but it’s enough to send her off balance. I kick her in the knee and she hits the ground, disruptor flying from her grip.

The room explodes into motion, the three TDF troopers aiming their weapons at my chest. Kal rises up behind one and stabs with outstretched fingers behind her ear, and the trooper drops like she’s been hit with a dose of Leirium rocksmoke. Cat tackles the third, wrestling for control of his rifle, and Scar hurls the empty water cooler bottle at the fourth’s head, sending him back into Finian, whose exosuit whines as he grabs him like a vise.

I snatch up the fallen lieutenant’s disruptor rifle, bring the butt down into her face, her helmet skewing crooked as the blow lands. We fall to wrestling, the LT knocking the rifle aside. She lands a knee in my crotch and the whole world burns white with the pain. Flipping me onto my back, she manages to draw her sidearm from her belt, raising it to my head.

A hand takes hold of her jaw and three fingers stab the side of her neck. With a sigh, the LT topples off me, eyes rolling back in her head. Above me stands Kal, violet eyes narrowed. Not a single silver hair is out of place on his head. He’s not even out of breath. Wincing at the ache in my groin, I look around the cell. The other three TDF troopers are scattered like broken toys.

They’re all out cold, I realize. Battered and bloodied, bones broken. Scar, Cat, and Finian are looking at our Tank, half-awed, half-terrified, all silent.

“I don’t want you to think this means I like you, Kal,” Cat finally says. “But okay. I’m officially impressed.”

“Did it just get hot in here, or is it me?” Scarlett asks.

“It’s not just you,” Finian mutters, fanning himself.

The Syldrathi offers his hand to me.

“We need to move, sir.”

I realize this is the first time Kal has offered to touch me since he slugged me back at the academy. And knowing it’s a big deal for a Syldrathi to allow themselves to be touched at all outside of combat, I figure I should accept the offer. I take his grip, and he hauls me to my feet. I’m trying not to look at the bleeding soldiers around me. The bleeding human soldiers. My mind is racing, looking for a way out of this.

We’re outnumbered a hundred to one. The GIA have Auri in custody. They have our Longbow locked down. But I’ve studied Terran space vessels since I was six—I know the layout of a destroyer backward. And though this pack of losers and discipline cases and sociopaths might’ve been the last picks on anyone’s mind during the Draft, turns out none of them are bad at their jobs. If I can hold this together, get us working as a team, we might even make it out of this alive. …

An alarm starts blaring, an announcement spilling over the PA.

“Security to detention cell 12a. Security to 12a immediately.”

“That’s for us,” Cat warns.

“Okay, listen up,” I say. “I’ve got a plan.”

?????

“Fire alarm, level 12. Emergency crew to level 12 immediately.”

We’re marching toward the elevators with the alarms blaring when the first TDF squad finds us. They round the corner, disruptor rifles raised, laser sights cutting through the sprinkler system’s downpour. We’re still Folding, so the colorscape is still monochrome, the water spray is silver, the squad’s sergeant’s eyes are almost black.

“Don’t move!” he barks.

Scarlett steps forward, her lieutenant’s insignia gleaming on her collar, her fiery hair dulled to gray. My boots are too big, and I’m not bragging or anything, but the crotch in this tac armor just isn’t sitting right. Still, considering we stole these uniforms off four unconscious TDF troopers, we’re mostly pulling it off. Cat and Zila are skulking at the back, and Kal and Finian stand between us, mag-restraints around their wrists, looking appropriately cowed. Scarlett has more than enough swagger to fill in the gaps.

“We got two of ’em,” she barks. “The other four made it to the air vents. Get your squad up to thirteen, we’re taking these two to the brig!”

The squad’s sergeant frowns behind his visor. “The vents? We got t—”

“You get dropped on your head as baby, soldier?” Scarlett snaps. “I just gave you an order! Move your asses before I flush ’em into the Fold!”

Say what you will about the military, but Maker bless, they don’t teach you to think. They teach you to follow orders. No matter what uniform they’re wearing, Legion, TDF, whatever, when a lieutenant starts yelling at the average sergeant to jump, their only question is gonna be “How high?”

Fortunately for us, this sergeant seems kinda average.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” he barks, turning to his squad. “Level thirteen, move!”

The squad rushes past us. Scarlett starts yelling into her collar mic, demanding to know where the fire crews are at. We reach the turbolift, and I stab at the controls as the silver rain falls all around us, the lights flashing gray.

“Okay, Finian, how long before they get their cams back online?” I ask.

He glances down to his uniglass, shakes his head. “It was a pretty basic hack I threw in there. We’ve got about another minute, maybe two.”