Lost Among the Stars (Sky Riders) (16 page)

“Ummm… excuse me. Can we get out of here?” Kelly chimed in.

Vulmar tore his attention away Hunter. “Yes, yes! I’m sorry. Come! Guards, secure the prisoner.”

The women rushed out of the shuttle. “It feels wonderful to get out of that tiny box!” Maggie said. “Vulmar, have you heard from Etor?” She rubbed her hands together nervously.

“I’m afraid Etor’s ship has been badly damaged. There hasn’t been any communications from him in over an hour.”

Maggie’s ears rang and her vision blurred. “Is he…is he..,” she couldn’t get the words out.

“Is he dead?” Vulmar filled in. “I don’t know, but are going to find out.”

Chapter 18

The Arabis shook like nothing he had ever felt her do before. Her shields were about to fail and it wouldn’t take long after that for the rest of her to be blown apart. Part of the ceiling had fallen in on the bridge, but the viewing screen still held. He and Thallan were
able to continue their own onslaught of blows as Ruehar fired on them continuously.

“Commander! The shields have failed!”

The next shot the ship took caused everything inside to go pitch black. They were blind now. Another hit made the ship tilt at an awkward angle sending Etor and the rest of the men on the bridge sliding across the collapsing room. Etor desperately tried to grab onto anything he could. Suddenly he was flung in the opposite direction as the ship took another direct hit. It would only be a matter of time before they blew up, he thought as he landed hard on his side hitting his head on something he couldn’t see.

Images of Maggie flashed before his eyes as he felt darkness trying to consume him. He didn’t want to leave her without saying goodbye. He wanted to hear her voice one last time before he went to his death.

“Maggie…” he whispered out at the exact moment everything went silent and he slipped into unconsciousness.

******

“Is that Etor’s ship?” Maggie stare in horror as pulsar after pulsar hit the crippled ship. She held Kelly’s hand tightly as they watched the viewing screen play out the battle in front of them.

Small pieces of debris and metal floated by the warship they were in or carelessly bounced off the ship’s shield. As the ship drew closer to the battle, it was like nothing she had ever seen before.

Fighters from both sides darted in every direction firing on each other. The warship of the Lephusans was firing on the warship of the Qeterans at a rapid pace. She had yet to see a pulsar strike the ship directly but her thoughts ended all too soon. A series of three pulsars jetted of the enemy’s ship and struck Etor’s. The first two ignited on the shield as they impacted. The third one, though, found its mark. She screamed when she saw the explosion rock the ship. The Arabis returned fire several times before she went still. More pulsars found their mark on the unprotected ship.

“Fire the holo-pulse!” Vulmar shouted above the noise on his bridge.

  A bright green beam shot from the ship. It met its target within a fraction of a second. The shield of the enemy’s ship lit up and glowed as the beam stayed concentrated on it. It didn’t take long for the shield to fail and for the beam to reach metal. The shock wave of the explosion vibrated their ship. Maggie had to hold on to the railing as the wave passed or she would have fallen to the floor.

“What happened?” she asked looking back at Vulmar.

“The holo-pulse hit the target! Do it again,” he ordered then waited.

The action was repeated but this time it was a much more dramatic effect. The entire Lephusan ship exploded into a billion pieces. The shock wave this time knocked her and most of the others t
o the floor. She hit her head on the railing as she went down with Hunter on top of her.

Cheers went up as everyone realized what had happened.

“Oh God, Maggie. I’m so sorry!” Hunter rolled off her and tried to stand up.

Vulmar was next
to them in a flash. He lifted Hunter off the floor and sat her in a chair a soldier pushed to him. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. See to Maggie,” Hunter said.

Maggie was trying to sit up when she felt a strong hand push her back down. “Stay down. You have a really big bump growing on your head.”

“Maggie!” Lexie called out. “Maggie, are you hurt?” She dropped to her knees next to her friend.

“I just banged my head, that’s all,” Maggie replied. “What about Etor’s ship?” She needed to know if he was ok.

Vulmar got up to shout to someone, “Try contacting the Arabis!” He moved over to the soldier trying to make the contact.

Minutes went by. “Nothing, Sir.”

“Keep trying. Get us over there now!” he shouted to the soldier directing his ship.

Before she knew it there was a medic kneeling by her and examining her head. He gently pushed on the area surrounding the bump. Then he wave a silver metal stick over her head. “Nothing’s fractured, but you are going to have one hell of lump.” He smiled down at her. “Let’s get you up and see how you feel.”

The medic helped her up and held on to her until she was steady on her feet. “I’m ok.”

“If you start to feel ill or experience any pain in your head, send for me immediately.”

She couldn’t help but give the young medic a smile. “I will. Thanks.”

She took up her position in front of the viewing screen and saw the ship was basically on top on the Arabis now. She gasped in horror as she frantically searched the dangled and twisted ball of metal. Her heart sank with an oppressive feeling that Etor was dead.

“Oh God, please no.” she uttered. Behind her
, Vulmar was giving out orders to prepare to board what was left of the Arabis.

“I want to go with you!” she cried out to Vulmar.

“I cannot allow that, mate of my brother.”

She gripped his wrist and pleaded with him. “But, you have to let me. I need to go search for him.”

Vulmar did the only thing he knew would calm the female. “I promise I will send word to you as soon as we find my brother, but you must stay here,” he told her as he hugged her to him. He released her quickly then left the bridge. He looked back one last time to see the female clinging to her friend, Hunter.

******

The Arabis was dark and silent as Vulmar and the rescue party moved into the destroyed ship. Beams and wiring hung from the ceiling every which way making the corridors extremely difficult to pass through.

The only good thing about the Arabis at the current time was that it had not been fully staffed before Etor took her out. She only had about a quarter of her normal crew on board when the battle started.

“Break up into teams of three and search every room. Contact me when you have found any survivors. I’m headed up to the bridge.”

Each team of three men spilt off and began their search. Vulmar slowly and carefully made his way to the bridge which was two stories up from
where he was. As the group progressed they checked every room they came across. They had come in through the supply doors so the area they were in was void of any individuals. The ship had not yet been restocked before Etor decided to go on a short scouting mission that was to last only a day or two.

His ship had received Etor’s call for help as his ship
was returning to Qetera. Luckily, he ship wasn’t too far out but still wasn’t able to get to the Arabis before it was too late. He just needed to be grateful he got there when he did.

“We’ll have to go up the stairs. Once we get on the bridge we can try to hook up the backup lights and life support system.”

Without the life support system, they would only have a matter of hours before the ship would be depleted of its oxygen, so they needed to work quickly. As the group entered the stairwell, it was the same scenario as in the corridors. Wires hung down trying to latch onto any part of their body. A small metal beam had fallen and struck the stairs causing them to jar loose from the wall. They had to go up one at a time so they didn’t put too much weight on the fragile structure.

The stairwell opened up some as they reached the bridge’s floor. Thankfully, this door would open up directly onto the bridge providing it wasn’t blocked on the other side.

Vulmar took a deep breath then tried to open the door. It pushed open without any trouble into the awaiting darkness. He could hear moans as he walked into the room shining his hand light throughout the room. Several bodies lay sprawled on the floor at odd angles and lay motion less.

“Etor!” he called out. “Etor!”

More moans came from a corner on the opposite side of bridge. He stepped over chairs, computers, and debris as he moved in the direction of the sound. There was a large piece of the ceiling lying partially on the floor and on the chair in which Etor sat when on the bridge. He was about to cross the fallen ceiling when suddenly a hand shot out from underneath to grab his ankle.

“Don’t even think about stepping on top of me, little brother,” Kharis choked out.

“Kharis!” he shouted and lifted the mess up off his brother.

Kharis lay on his stomach with his head turned facing Vulmar. There was a large gash on his head that ran from his hairline down to his chin. Blood oozed out the wound to cover his brother’s face.

He carefully turned his brother over. “How bad are you hurt?” he asked.

“Just the head as far as I can tell. Got a dinger of a headache,” Kharis joked to lighten the mood.
“Where’s Etor?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t found him yet,” Vulmar said. He really needed to find his eldest brother especially since Etor wasn’t answering when he called out his name.

“Try over that way. The ship tilted on its ship when we were hit. Everything went flying that way.” Kharis pointed to the area behind him.

Vulmar patted his brother on the back. “I’ll be right back.” He carefully stepped over his brother and made his way over to the area that was filled with everything that hadn’t been secured when the ship tilted. He moved away chairs and equipment carefully so that nothing would come crashing down on him.

“Etor!” he called out again. He stopped moving to listen for any response. There it was, a very faint call from beneath the debris. He picked up the pace and started to carelessly throw things from the pile.

After what seemed like a lifetime of digging, he uncovered a black boot that twitched when the chair was removed off it. A few more items and he uncovered Etor. “Brother!” he shouted as he kneeled at the injured man’s side. “Can you move?”

A quick check showed Etor had a gash on the back of his head and his left arm lay at an odd angle. He bent all the way down until he could see his brother’s face. Etor’s face was scrunched up in pain as he attempted to get up.

“No! Stay down
.” He hit his comlink on his shirt, “I need a medics on the bridge right now!”

“Thallan is under here too,” Etor whispered.

“Right,” he said and stood up to remove more of the items. He found the unconscious man underneath part of the control panel that had come free from the explosions the ship sustained. He gingerly pulled the man out and placed him next to Etor. Footsteps and bright lights filled the room. He glanced over his shoulder to find Jonik racing to their side.

“Commander,” Jonik said. “Where are you hurt?” He opened the medical kit he brought with him and immediately began to
put pressure on the wound on Etor’s head.

“L
ooks like his arm is broken too.” Vulmar pointed to the arm in question.

“Okay, Commander, We are going to turn you over and get you on a gurney.” Jonik waved over the waiting medics who had the gurney. “This might hurt a bit.”

Four men lifted the huge Qeteran and placed him on the floating gurney. The big Commander tried to show he wasn’t feeling any pain, but failed. He groaned when Jonik moved his left arm in order to secure it to the side of the gurney.

“Ok, bring the Commander to the medic unit directly. I need two more people to help with Thallan.” The ship’s doctor spoke as he backed up to attend Thallan.

The process was repeated with the troop commander, but this time the man was unconscious. As they were leaving the bridge more medics and personnel moved in to help the rest of the survivors. There was going to be death toll and Vulmar prayed to the Giver of Life that it wouldn’t be too bad.

******

“Has he been found?” Maggie asked. She was pacing back and forth in the medic unit as she waited for any news about her mate. It was amazing to her how quickly she had come to love the Qeteran. She would have never thought it was possible. What she had with Mark was not love, rather a dependency. There was no denying the feeling she felt for Etor since the first time she laid eyes on him even though she tried to ignore them. Would it be too late now to tell him how much she loved him? To tell him about their baby growing in her belly?

She did her best to hide the tears running down her cheeks. Just as quickly as they fell she would brush them away. She was angry, but angry with who? Etor? Herself? Maybe a bit of both? She was furious with the thought of living without Etor and furious that he might never know he was going to be a father.

“Honey, you need to sit down and chill,” Kelly said. She too was waiting to hear of news from the disabled ship. When she had seen the Arabis take that last hit and then tilt on her side, her heart broke at the thought of Kharis dying. Of course she didn’t have feelings for the second in command, she just didn’t want to see the gorgeous man die at the hands of a madman.

“I’m ok. I’m ok,” Maggie chanted.
“I can’t sit until I know he’s okay.”

The door
s to the medical unit slid open. A gurney came floating in followed by two medics. Maggie rushed over to see who was on the thing and cried out when she saw it was Etor!