CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: INVADER (5/5)

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Kas and Worm helped Captain Mack load the three unconscious soldiers into the courier ship before enabling its auto-pilot and suiting up. Mack then depressurised the Pegasus and opened the rear doors, releasing the courier ship gently into space like a boat being pushed away from the shore. The three of them watched as it slowly turned around before its thrusters kicked in, and the little ship sped off back the way it had come.

'How long will they be out for?' Kas asked.

'Between six and ten hours,' Mack replied. 'Maybe a little longer. I gave them a strong dose.'

'I sure hope we don't regret this.'

'Me too.'

The fifth and final day of the journey was a tense one for all of them.

With only a few hours left to go until they reached the IRIS, Astrid was still locked up inside the F-88 working on her virus. Captain Mack and Worm distracted themselves with a game of fire-swarm in the lounge room while Kas remained self-imprisoned in the cockpit, waiting for the sign that she both yearned for yet dreaded. Unable to sit still, she'd taken to pacing around the room while she chewed away the whites of her fingernails. She was getting bored and was about to head upstairs to the lounge to join the others when the alarm sounded.

Kas turned and ran to the ship's controls. A line of text had appeared in the data-screen:

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS INCOMING

Here we go...

She silenced the alarm just as Captain Mack burst in, followed by Worm in her X1 suit.

'Are they here?' the captain asked.

'I don't know, but something sure is,' Kas replied. She strapped herself into her seat, prompting Mack to do the same. Seconds later, the data-screen was flooded by a swarm of red dots, too many to count. Looking out of the viewport, the red dots revealed themselves to be Wraiths. Kas ran her left hand through her mohawk just as the tannoy crackled and submitted to an unpleasant, sharp voice.

'What do we have here? A freighter ship?'

Kas saw that one of the ships - bigger than the rest - was soaring straight towards them. It looked like a Wraith, except it was five times the size.

'But who is piloting it, I wonder...?'

The giant Wraith drifted closer and closer to the Pegasus until they were almost nose to nose. Kas didn't need to magnify the view to make out Governor Swanne seated in the cockpit.

'Captain Mack and Miss Balera,' Swanne said. 'How nice to see the two of you again.'

'I didn't think the Queen was supposed to leave the nest,' Mack replied.

'I made an exception for you. You've both caused me a lot of trouble.'

Kas leaned forwards in her seat. 'So you came back for more?'

'Still being belligerent, Miss Balera? What a delight you are.'

'What do you want?' Mack spat.

'I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer. Shall we just get on with it?'

A loud series of thunks thrummed around the ship. Kas knew without looking that they'd been harpooned by several dozen Wraiths. The Pegasus was trapped in the centre of a spider's web.

Swanne's ship swerved away from the viewport and disappeared from sight. Moments later, the sound of a ship docking with the Pegasus made the hold groan.

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