Raven Tide

15: Alpha🔥(Raven Tide)

I found Chyani safe and sound, locked inside Venom Heart's Alpha quarters.

"How did you do that?" I tapped the keypad to reset the U'la'ke stasis capsule after confirming the two cats and the Liege nymph were safe.

"I saw a bird sitting on nothing when we were up in that tree," Chyani explained as we returned to the bridge. "At first, I thought it was just a trick of the light since we were way up high, but I kept thinking about it. I knew it had to be your ship. Then I got a bad feeling when that nut job started flinging grenades."

Venom Heart's corridors and med bay were filthier than before, but the custodial and repair drones were hot on the task.

"The ship was cloaked but the cargo hold door was left ripped open," Chyani continued. "Guessing he broke it intentionally to delay us in case we tried to escape, but none of that mattered if he took off your head. So I decided to send you back up."

"That was reckless," I reclaimed the Alpha's chair with an irksome sigh. The set to the task of running a series of systems diagnostics.

"He wasn't playing fair," Chyani leaned on the armrest with a little harrumph. "And it wasn't like I was standing out in the open. Waking your friends from stasis wasn't instantaneous. There was a timer. I couldn't read it but I made sure to leave a trail of Gar'mol's used bandages left over in med bay to lead them out the back door before hitting the initiation button and barricading myself in the bedroom. When I heard the scratching, I relied on the translator and told them you needed their help."

"They did not understand," I glared at her. "They only followed the smell of Gar'mol's blood."

"I couldn't just sit there and do nothing," Chyani steered her chin away.

"I know," I softened my voice and eventually she let me hold her hand. "It is done now. Let's focus on our next dilemma."

Chyani squeezed my fingers and nodded. "Can we jump to your home planet now?"

"When repairs are complete, yes," I paused for a moment to pull open several new vital view screens.

"But?" Chyani frowned.

"It appears Gar'mol tinkered with several key systems," I pointed to the menus. "He sabotaged long-range communications and there's something onboard transmitting our location to that large incoming object on the map."

"The Graven," Chyani intoned.

"Yes," I zoomed in on the blinking red dot. "It gets worse. It's less than an hour away and picking up speed. The repairs are far enough along that I can get us into orbit, but we won't make it to a jump point fast enough."

"Can you remove the tracker?"

I shook my head and began cycling through the launch protocols. "The security sensors aren't picking up any anomalies on board. I can start searching manually but considering the source, it might not be anything composed of traditional hardware."

Chyani stopped my hand. "What if we return to Storm Hound?"

"And...?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Can you program Venom Heart to fly off on her own in a different direction?" She moved my index finger over the star map. "Not wildly off, rather a believable course that we might run. Then we make a break for that razkur mine and send a message to your people. Or, if there's a jump-capable ship available, we arrange rendezvous coordinates or fly to a better defended planet. Though, I'm not sure what to do about your cargo if the Graven catches up to Venom Heart."

"I could purge and cloak the capsule into orbit with a secure beacon," my brain started catching up with her plan. "The U'la'ke would be unharmed, and it'd be simple enough to collect them later."