Starflight (Starflight, #1)(85)
While she ran, she stuffed the ore samples in her suit pocket and fastened her oxygen helmet. If she could reach the ship before Gage, she and the captain might be able to disarm him and free the others. She beat him into the air-lock chamber and shut the interior door, then wasted no time in climbing the ladder to the surface. With a mighty heave, she pushed open the top hatch and stepped outside.
Instantly, she froze in place. The pirates were already there.
At least a dozen mismatched shuttles had landed in a circle surrounding the Banshee, whose lowered cargo ramp showed that she’d been boarded. Solara’s heart jumped, and she darted glances in every direction looking for Cassia and the captain. The fact that he hadn’t warned her through the com-link suggested the pirates had captured him.
Or worse.
But there was no sign of the crew…or of anyone.
Gage caught up with her, but she ignored the pistol pressed against her ribs and pointed at the night sky, where a distant moon illuminated the pirates’ tank of a ship hovering just outside the planet’s gravitational pull. She was about to explain when an iron hand settled on her shoulder, and she whirled around so quickly that she landed on her backside. That same hand smacked the pistol from Gage’s grip and sent it flying.
With pain radiating from her tailbone, Solara craned her neck upward to take in seven solid feet of muscle encased in a thermal space suit. She couldn’t hear Demarkus’s voice, but she watched his lips curve in a familiar smile, equal parts charming and chilling. Those lips moved in a phrase she recognized easily.
“Hello, little bird.”
It took Doran and the crew twenty minutes to remove the lab doors from the hinges with a screwdriver they’d found in a drawer, twice as long as it should’ve taken because the shock of everything Doran had just learned was making his hands clumsy.
He couldn’t think straight. Nothing made sense anymore. The mother he’d missed for half his life cared more about vengeance than her own children. The father he’d idolized since he was old enough to toddle in the man’s footsteps had placed the family business ahead of his actual family. And Gage. The dead had risen. It was all too much to take in.
“Doran!” Kane snapped his fingers an inch from his face. “Wake up!”
Doran blinked, suddenly alert as he followed Renny and Kane into the hallway. He couldn’t afford to let his thoughts distract him, not if he wanted to reach Solara. She was counting on him to keep a clear head, and he wouldn’t let her down.
“The com-link’s dead,” Kane announced, tapping the button on his chest.
“Then someone shut down the system,” Renny said darkly. “And the only way to do that is from the pilothouse.”
That was all Doran needed to hear. He donned his oxygen helmet, and the three of them jogged toward the air-lock chamber. By the time he crawled onto the planet’s surface, he was tensed and ready for a fight.
Fists raised, he spun in a circle…and found nobody.
He lowered his arms, confused as he glanced to and fro. The icy landscape looked exactly the same as when he’d left it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—until he turned his gaze skyward and noticed the pirate ship looming overhead, its hangar door closing behind a convoy of shuttlecraft. Then realization hit, and the fear of losing Solara and Gage caused him to push so quickly to his feet that he expected to rocket to the moon.
With a firm shake, Renny redirected his attention to the Banshee and her shuttle, still docked on the opposite side of the air-lock hatch. Doran’s legs moved to run, but Renny jerked him to a stop and used two fingers to communicate We’ll check it out first.
Once Doran forced himself to calm down, he nodded in agreement. Pirates weren’t likely to leave behind anything useful, like a ship and all her cargo. Some of them were probably still here.
Renny led the way to the boarding ramp. Once they reached the bottom, Doran peered inside and caught a glimpse of movement. He quickly drew back, but not before the two pirates rummaging inside the cargo hold had spotted him. One shouted to the other, and they clomped down the metal ramp to investigate.
Doran’s heart lodged in his throat, and he backed into Kane, who was futilely glancing around for a place to hide. There was nothing to conceal them, not even a boulder.
While they continued backing away, Renny ducked beneath the ramp until the men passed him by. Then he climbed up behind the pair and crept silently toward them. In the time it took Doran to blink, Renny swiped a pistol from one man’s holster. The pirates spun around, and he instantly shot them both in the chest. Before the smoke had even cleared, he used hand signals to announce that he was going inside and disappeared up the ramp.
Doran tried not to notice the steam rising from the bodies. He took the other man’s gun while Kane pilfered himself a pair of knives, and they joined Renny in scouring the Banshee. After searching every crevice of the ship and finding no other scavengers, they met in the bridge to discuss what to do next.
Boots paced the floor, none of them able to stand still.
“We can’t spend any more time here,” Doran said, tapping a nervous finger against the helmet latched to his hip. “We have to go right now. Demarkus could be—”
“Agreed,” Kane cut in. “Let’s get airborne and figure it out as we go.”
Renny tried reasoning with them, lifting a hand. “We’re up against a fully armed battleship, and the only weapon we have is the element of surprise. That’s why I haven’t activated the com-link yet. If we go off half-cocked, we don’t stand a chance. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”