Way of No Return (Champions of the Crystal Book 8)

Chapter 18: Last Stand

Scotty stopped briefly to rest, tucking Mara's limp form into a small cave as gently as he could. He was tempted to choose one of the many openings as an escape from the pursuing Kyan, but without a map of the caves he had no way to know whether he would run into a dead end—literally in this case, he thought wryly. He was running low on ammunition, and his helmet had taken a bad hit, the displays flickering and dimming. Soon he would have to take it off even to be able to see and hear, and he would be easy to kill after that.

He took a moment to look around, frowning at the big Kyan ships descending to hover over the mountaintops around him. It was a bad idea to have the Guardian and the Inheritor in the same area, and he wished he had some transportation to move Mara somewhere else and at least divide the search parties. He'd seen a few Praxatillian troop transports nearby, but they had all left his field of vision in search of somewhere they could land. None had looked as though it would come close enough to help him.

At least the ore deposits seemed to be confusing the enemy; they did not seem to be able to track him when he was not in line of sight. He took care to stay off the obvious paths, and he tried to make choices that were random rather than calculated.

Without much hope, he set his suit to scanning the cave they were hiding in. If he could only find his way into an old ore mine, he thought they would be shielded from the Kyan and assured there was another way out if the enemy did stumble across them. But his suit's sensors were giving him erratic readings, verging on the nonsensical, and he finally admitted he was not going to be able to trust anything they told him.

Scotty removed his helmet and took a swig of water from his canteen; he was pretty sure the suit wasn't keeping him hydrated any more, either. He tried to get Mara to drink, encouraged when she swallowed normally on his second attempt.

"We'll just sit here a minute," he told her. "Just so I can catch my breath. Then we'll get going again." Although since he didn't know where they were, he had no particular destination in mind. It appeared the Kyan had vantage points on all the high ground now, so it wasn't like he could realistically expect to escape the valley. At least he was doing his job, distracting the Kyan from looking for Seuréa, he reassured himself. And every minute he kept Mara safe was allowing her to stabilize Praxatillus' atmosphere, buying time for more people to escape—his family among them, he hoped.

"So it all comes down to this," he sighed, looking at Mara's ashen face. "Figures. I never really did get promoted out of my original job, looking after you, did I? Sabrina went on to be Princess of Bathir and Ambassador to Homeworld, but I'm right back where I started. Although," he added, just realizing it, "Sabrina's still protecting the Inheritor, isn't she? Guess she never really got promoted out of that job either. Who knew when we promised your dad that it was gonna be a lifetime job? Though I guess there were times we figured we'd die doin' it." He was silent for a moment. "I don't expect you to get us out of this, Mara. Just hold the planet together long enough for Aurora and the kids to get somewhere safe, that's all I'm asking."

She did not respond, but that was okay. He knew she would do her duty. She always had.

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"Look!" Lyrabeth cried, pointing out the side window.

"Those are ours!" Stecklan said, his expression lightening. Then he frowned. "I don't think they see us."

"I'm pretty sure they don't," Sastarn said. "We're small and slow, and their sensors probably aren't working. But they might be all the distraction we need." He glanced over his shoulder. "Sir, you back with us?"

Ford let out a long breath. "Yes. What?"

"Our fighters are incoming. Do you still want to attempt the attack, or should we take advantage of the distraction to slip by?" Sastarn asked.

"We'll go ahead," Ford said. "I can't take the risk we might be followed. We have to leave them in no shape to do so. Besides, I'm not sure our fighters can inflict much damage on these ships."

His companions grimaced, unsurprised. Stecklan said, "Then I think we've found our entry point. Look."

Ford stared in astonishment at the partially open hatch. "That seems shockingly careless."

"Or a trap," Stecklan said.

Sastarn wrestled the flyer into position below the hatch. They could clearly see an access ladder inside the tube beyond. Ford blinked, his mind leaping ahead to more ambitious plans. "What if the jammer really is working? They might all be frozen in there. I could sneak in and set the engines to overload. Or even shoot down some of the other ships!"

"And what if it's a trap?" Stecklan demanded. "We could all get killed to no purpose."

"Well, they're not going to send us a signal to tell us which," Ford retorted. "I'm going. You all stay here—"

Three nearly identical snorts cut him off. Lyrabeth said, "I've got this, guys. Andar, you're the only one who can keep this thing in the air, and there's no way Stecklan can climb that ladder with one arm. I'll go first. If I draw fire, the prince can still escape."

Sastarn was trying for a bland expression, but his eyes pleaded with her to change her mind. Stecklan sighed heavily, then said, "Shoot first, at anything that moves. If you lay down enough fire to confuse their scanners, you may have a chance."

Ford said, "If we're ambushed, I'll set off the explosives. That will give us a few moments to run."

Sastarn said desperately, "Maybe we can figure out some way to attach ourselves. There are protrusions all over this thing. Then I could come with you."

"No time," Ford said, popping open the side hatch. "Lyrabeth, come on if you're coming."

"I'm up first, sir," she reminded him, pushing past and hesitating in the hatchway, looking around for an exterior handhold. She spotted it and pulled herself up, her feet vanishing as she gained the flyer's roof. Sastarn choked back a curse and turned his attention back to the flyer's controls, trying to hold it steady. Stecklan looked up through the transparent canopy and saw Lyrabeth gracefully make the leap up into the access tube and begin climbing, followed quickly by Ford.

"Try not to worry," Stecklan advised Sastarn. "He's used to having civilians along."

"Yeah," Sastarn said, "but he got his last bodyguard killed. And Lien was a hell of a lot more cautious than Lyrabeth."

Stecklan couldn't think of an encouraging response to that, so he said nothing, looking up again just in time to see Ford vanish through a hatchway at the end of the tube. He closed it behind him, and then there was nothing to do but wait.