STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R F O R T Y-T W O

FERN'S POV

Stealing the spice was the easy part. There were six crates in all, probably containing sixty pounds of spice in each. Wrecker and Hunter pulled the heavy crates one by one to the secret hold in the back compartment's floor, Tech and Echo lowered them down the ladder, and Cid and I loaded them onto the carts. Within twenty minutes, we were cramming in the last crate when Cid got the signal that Roland was on his way. After Echo sealed the front door, we all filed onto the carts and made our way back to the other end.

But alas, that would've been too easy...

Roland's men discovered the secret tunnel, caught us escaping, and pursued us using the same motor system to gain on us quickly. Then, they started shooting at us. The laser bolts repeatedly nicked the iron walls, arm supports, and clamps attached to the railing. When we fired back, Cid objected, "I said, no blaster fire!"

"Tell that to them!" Wrecker yelled, taking out a guard. Hunter pulled a stunt by slamming on the brakes, causing the guards to crash into them and knocking a few of them off from the inertia. The sergeant then leapt onto the enemy's cart, started up their engine in reverse, and hopped back onto his cart before the two carts driven by guards collided. There was still one more cart pursuing us.

"If those laser brains woke the hive, we're all dead." The Trandoshan grumbled as she pumped the lever with as much haste she could muster. We had returned to the massive chasm of thick, clotted webs, where the screeching and rumbling had grown more ominous. "Cid, I don't like this." I gritted my teeth together as I shined my torch below. It seemed our weaponized altercation had disturbed the hive to the brink...that my light was the last straw: it burst at its seams into a upward surge of flying, nasty bugs. The fluttering of thousands of wings and high-pitch screeching clogged my hearing and ignited a endless, shuddering ripple of goosebumps all over my body.

"Power up the engines!"

The terrifying, disgusting creatures assisted in taking out the rest of Roland's men, but they were after us, too. The boys and I fired in all directions. Tech used his light to aim, to which we discovered the bugs cowered from its brightness. "They're avoiding the light. Use your torches!" Unfortunately, the buzzing dissonance continued its torturous crawling all over me, wilting me to my knees and my hand aimlessly firing above my head and over the cart's wall. 

We eventually reached the end of the chasm, and Wrecker managed to force the doors shut just in time. However, after raising my head, I found we had lost all six crates to the hive. Personally, I was on the verge of puking my guts out from the sickening ordeal I had just endured. I could still hear those insectoid monsters on the other side of the sealed doors. As I keeled over the edge, fighting to take in deep breaths and avoid spewing everywhere when I exhaled, Tech came by and rubbed my back attentively.

"That...was horrendous..." I panted. "Didn't realize I had a phobia until now."

"A reasonable one." he stated, as if to make me feel better.

"Fern, are you okay?" Hunter hopped onto the cart and approached me. "How are you feeling?"

"Like there are a million tiny legs crawling on my skin and under my clothes." I shuddered. "I'm fine. It's over. And hey, at least we got rid of the spice."

All seven of us piled onto the remaining mining cart and, at last, arrived back to the surface. Cid got the signal that the Pykes had come for Roland, so the parlor should be cleared. In theory. The fresh air eased my mind. I began to feel less nauseous as we all descended into the entrance, where the sick feeling jumped back up my throat like a rocket. We came face-to-face with the Pykes and the captured Devaronian in the main lounge...