The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 15.1

"That was too easy," Tassan muttered as they ran through the corridors, escorted by the two guards who had been with Asnefer.

"You call that easy?" Sabrina panted. "I was sweating."

They reached the shuttle and threw themselves into their seats. Darice powered the engines up all at once in a rough, jarring roar as the docking clamps released.

"Over there," Varsanyi said, murmuring a string of coordinates. Sabrina followed Darice's quick glance to port. The Reissians were just becoming visible, pinpoints of light streaking toward them.

"My God," Sabrina said. "There must be hundreds."

"We're going into atmosphere at top speed," Darice announced. "Everybody strap in and hang on tight. It's the only way we're going to get there before they get a target lock on us."

"Darice, can you get me a channel to Control?" Sabrina said. "We'd better tell them the Homeworld ships are on our side."

"Our atmospheric burn won't permit communications, so talk quickly," Darice said. "Okay, you're on."

Sabrina glanced out the viewport; the planet was growing huge with breathtaking rapidity. "Praxatillus Control, this is Sabrina Devon. The agreement has been reached. The Homeworld ships are our allies in this battle. Repeat, the Homeworld ships are our allies."

"Control acknowledges," came the reply.

Darice glanced at her panel and said, "Varsanyi, take it for a minute. Control wants confirmation and codes." Her fingers flew over the communications panel while Varsanyi struggled with the shuttle's controls as it entered the upper atmosphere.

"We're heating up," Varsanyi said.

"I hope they got enough of that to convince them," Darice said, taking the helm again.

The shuttle bucked and heaved; the viewport glowed yellow, then red. "We're under fire," Darice announced. "But the heat around our shields'll make us hard to target accurately. Everybody hang on."

Tassan said, "Look! The Sentinel is firing. Ah ha, that must be the Reissian who fired at us."

Sabrina followed his gaze to where the space battle was erupting. "How far to the surface, Darice?"

"Not long now. I'm starting to slow us down."

"It's getting hot in here," Mireth said.

"It's going to get worse," Darice warned.

"Look!" Varsanyi exclaimed, pointing to a readout on the control panel. "They got the shield up!"

Sabrina felt hope leap in her, but Darice said, "So they did, but it's only extending a few millimeters above ground level. Well, at least it'll protect Giandrah and Control if nothing else. But it means we can't land inside the palace. I'm going to try for the perimeter landing pad."

"Incoming!" Varsanyi yelped.

A blaze of energy blinded them all momentarily; then there was a huge explosion at the rear of the shuttle. The engine roar escalated to a shriek, then cycled out of Sabrina's range of hearing. One of the forward consoles threw off sparks.

"Direct hit, rear starboard quarter!" Varsanyi coughed. "The engines are offline!"

"Forward thrusters, full reverse!" Darice shouted. "Somebody get that fire out back there!"

Mireth was already unfastening her safety webbing. Tassan began to do the same, but another blast, this one a near miss, sent him rocking back into his seat. Sabrina twisted around and saw Mireth sprawled on the floor near the approaching flames. She tried to unfasten her webbing, but her shaking fingers couldn't deal with the stiff catches. Tassan tore free of his and dived for the back of the shuttle. Sabrina felt a hot breeze and realized that part of the shuttle's aft fuselage was missing.