Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)(88)

“But it looks like it already has!” Aurora says, pointing to the screen.

“We should definitely report this to the authorities,” Scarlett says.

I nod to the GIA corpses up on screen. “These people are your authorities.”

“Well, whatever we do,” Cat says, “we can’t just charge off to bloody Octavia. The penalties for breaching Interdiction are scary bad.”

“She means they kill you,” the device offers. “Like, really painfully.”

“Yes, thank you, Magellan,” Aurora sighs.

“Hey, no problem,” it replies. “I only mention it because you’re sometimes not the brightest spark in th—”

“Silent mode,” she says.

Aurora hangs her head, staring at the Trigger in her hands. I can see the struggle in her. She wants to know the truth about what became of her loved ones. The colony that supposedly never existed. But at the same time, she knows what this squad has already risked for her. The danger she’s brought among us. And it seems she’s unwilling to ask us to risk our lives for her again.

“Auri, do you remember the fight outside Bianchi’s office?” Tyler asks. “What you did to the ultrasaur?”

“No,” she whispers.

I feel the fear in her swell. I do not wish to accuse her of lying, but I suspect what she says is untrue. That perhaps part of her does remember. It’s just that the rest of her does not wish to.

“Maybe this … power you have has something to do with the Trigger?” Tyler offers. “Can you try to—”

A soft alert sounds through the bridge, a series of warning lights flashing on the displays. Cat turns to her controls, and Tyler jumps behind his own station, his fingers flowing swiftly over the console.

“Something just pinged us with LADAR,” Cat reports. “Got a reading. … Behind us, heading seven sixty A-12 gamma four.”

“Main display,” Tyler says.

Cat complies, pulling up visual of the craft that has tripped our proximity alarms. I feel the mood drop around the bridge as the image flickers to life.

I have lived among Terrans for two years now, but I still have difficulty processing how singularly ugly their ships are. Syldrathi vessels are moments of beauty, frozen briefly in titanium and time. They are our songs to the Void they sail inside—graceful patterns and gentle curves and smooth, shimmering skin.

The destroyer chasing us is crude by comparison, with a flat snout and all the blunt elegance of an object made purely for function. The Terran Defense Force logo is emblazoned on its dark hull. Its name painted in white.

“Bellerophon,” Tyler says.

“We knew they were en route to the World Ship.” Cat shrugs. “Looks like they finally caught up.” Her voice is casual, her bluff as good as ever, but she knows what we all know. Princeps is aboard. The first among equals who pursues Aurora with such perfect single-mindedness.

“Hey, at least we can report to the authorities now … ,” Fin says.

Our Alpha’s voice is tense as he speaks.

“Cat, can we outrun them?”

Our Ace shakes her head. “They’ll catch us over a long enough distance. A Longbow is slower than a destroyer, and they’ve got a lot more fuel. And not to harp on it, but we don’t actually have a bloody heading. I’m just flying in a straight line here and trying to make it look fancy.”

Scarlett nods, folding her arms. “And if we stay here in the Fold too long without cryo, we’re all going to start losing it.”

“We need a course,” Cat agrees.

All eyes turn to Aurora. She’s looking at the Trigger in her hands, turning it this way and that, like a puzzle.

“I …” She shakes her head. “I don’t know—”

BAMF!

The flash from a disruptor lights the bridge up white. Aurora is slapped backward by the blast, the Trigger rolling from her fingers onto the deck. In the space of a heartbeat, I am on my feet, overcome with sudden and impossible fury. Zila is standing in front of Aurora, weapon in hand, peering at the girl with unreadable eyes.

“Yeah, she really likes that thing,” Fin says.

“Zila, are you insane?” Scarlett demands.

“I am testing a—”

Zila gets no further. I lash out with an Aen strike to her shoulder, numbing her arm and sending her weapon clattering to the floor.

Stop it.

But the Enemy Within is loose now. The sight of Aurora unconscious on the floor finally lets the beast free from his cage, howling in dark delight. The killing song fills my veins as I reach toward the fallen pistol. My pulse is screaming. My vision razor sharp. My finger closing on the trigger as I raise the weapon to Zila’s head.

Stop. It.

Something hits me from behind, knocking the disruptor loose. I roll to my feet, lashing out at my enemy, feeling my knuckles hit bone. I hear my father in my head, then. Urging me on. I feel his hand on my shoulder, guiding my strike into Tyler’s throat. I sense him laughing as my Alpha grunts, as his blood sprays and he staggers back, breathless. Cat hits me from my flank, but I twist free, blood on my knuckles, hands rising, heart hammering.

Stop.

The Enemy is all I am at that moment. The Pull setting him free. Even here in the Fold, my vision is red. I cannot breathe. Cannot think except to know that Aurora is hurt, she is unsafe, she who is my all, my everything, my— “KAL, STOP IT!” Scarlett cries.