A Way of Honor (Champions of the Crystal Book 2)

Chapter 16.1

Endless minutes later, Scotty was shifting from one foot to the other as he waited for the airlock to cycle. As the Wayship's hatch began sliding open, he dashed through, scraping his suit on the door and yanking off his flight helmet. "Rina!" he shouted. "Mara! Khediva! Anybody!"

There was a staticky hiss; then he recognized Khediva's voice, faint but intelligible. "Brain core. Hurry."

Scotty threw himself down the hall to the access panel, then raced through the corridor to the brain core. The air was full of smoke and sweat; he tripped over the first body before he saw it. It was Therenden. Scotty ascertained that he was breathing and moved on, his hands reaching for Sabrina's face. She was breathing too. He bowed his head, resisting an impulse to cry with relief. "Mara!" he called.

A low moan answered him. He crawled over to the other side of the room, where Mara was sprawled on the deck, her hands hidden in a partly open access panel.

"Get her out," Khediva's voice whispered. "Quickly!"

"Right," Scotty said, tugging at Mara's arms. They held fast. He looked closely and saw that her fists were clenched around something inside the panel. Even bracing his feet, he wasn't strong enough to overcome her grip. Panting, he sat back and thought for a moment. He needed to relax her muscles somehow. Obviously she had been hanging on for dear life, for some reason so important that even her unconscious mind held on to it.

"Mara. Hey, Mara. Wake up, kiddo," Scotty said, sneezing suddenly as the smoke began to get to him. He shook her shoulders as roughly as he dared. She did not respond.

Scotty sighed, looking around. He spotted a water bottle near Sabrina, grabbed it, and emptied its contents over Mara's face; still no response. "Maybe I gotta be more subtle," he said, considering. Then he grinned, reached over with one hand, and began to tickle her ribs. After a moment, her arm twitched. When he persisted, she moaned in protest, trying to scoot out of his reach. Scotty put his face close to hers and yelled as hard as he could, "Mara!"

She sprang up, using her hands to push her upper body away from the floor, gasping in surprise and alarm. The access panel slid closed, the lights came back up immediately, and the ventilation system started to suck the smoke out. Mara's wide, startled eyes met Scotty's grin, and she grinned involuntarily in response. "Did we make it?" she asked uncertainly.

He began to laugh. "Oh, Mara, did you ever!"

Mara slumped in relief. Then she began to laugh weakly, too.

______________

Down in Giandrah, Mukryilla stared at the Great Crystal in amazement and horror. "But how—"

Beside her, Imari shook her head. "It is not permanent. It is already healing. Look."

Mukryilla's eyes widened as the huge crack splitting the Crystal began sealing itself, working up from the heart of the Crystal toward the new growth jutting out of its top.

The Conservator of the Chamber, still recovering from the shock the Crystal cracking had caused, said, "That is the first new growth in four centuries. Something wondrous has happened."

"I think you're right," Mukryilla said. "And I think I'd better go find out what it was."

_____________

By the time Mukryilla reached Defense Control again, Scotty was waiting to report to her. "Captain, how did you get back so quickly?"

"Mara brought me. She's fine, she just went to change clothes. My sister and Therenden are in the infirmary; they got squashed a little by the g-forces when Khediva slammed out of the Way. Tirqwin's aboard Khediva now, and she's operational again, and the Orbital Platform's defenses will protect her. Shahina isn't responding, and Khediva thinks her crystal matrix cracked when the dissonance between it and the Great Crystal got too great." Scotty was obviously reciting what Mara or Khediva had told him. "Khediva's is okay because Mara was hanging on to it, trying to keep it together so Khediva'd have enough power and control to stop herself when they got into the system. But when the Great Crystal cracked, Mara started to draw off Khediva, and that's what nearly did us all in."

Mukryilla said, "I wonder...that new growth could be from the contact with the Wayship matrix." Then she shook herself; that was hardly her problem at the moment. "Well done, Captain. Now, if you can tell me what I'm supposed to do with a nonfunctional High Wayship hanging in orbit, I'd appreciate it!"

"Best kind," Scotty grinned. "Why don't you call Homeworld and have 'em tow it away?"

Mukryilla sighed. "I suppose I had better recall the Eye of Miah and as many other warships as I can. We should expect Homeworld to come calling at any moment, demanding Shahina's return."

"Well this time it wasn't my fault," Scotty said.

Mukryilla actually grinned at him. "I'm sure they'll be greatly relieved."