The X Pathogen

Chapter Ten

The ship flew to a remote location, far enough away from any planets that a transport tunnel could safely be opened. The journey took about an hour and a half, which was apparently too long for the governor's liking as he complained loudly the entire trip. Ash and Saji silently took the verbal assault, realizing within a few minutes that Governor Turi would ignore any attempt to explain space travel.
Ash stared out the window as the ship opened a tunnel. The distorted lens-like entrance triggered a rush of memories. The last time Ash had got through a tunnel, they'd been on the run. Back then, they'd been cowering behind a crate in the storage hold of a freighter. Ash swallowed hard as they remembered the emotionless, helmet-clad soldiers chasing them through the spaceport. Had they not ducked onboard that freighter, Ash's life would have looked very different. Luckily, they hadn't been caught. The workers onboard the freighter eventually found them, but were more concerned with getting a scared kid to safety than anything else. Although, as hour two neared its end, Ash couldn't help contemplating whether being caught was really worse than listening to Governor Turi rant about how incompetent everyone on board was.
The ship exited the tunnel and the governor gave a sigh of indignant relief, "finally," he grumbled.
Ash glanced at Saji who muttered, "you want to tell him?"
Ash glared at her. Saji's terrified flinch was enough to immediately soften Ash's expression.
"Fine..." Ash sighed, "I'm very sorry governor, but this is just a stop. We have to open another tunnel before we can travel to our destination."
Turi's face turned deep orange, his eyebrows furrowed, "WHAT?! How much longer is this going to take?" he demanded.
The door to the cockpit slid open. Kyo stepped inside with a blank expression on his face. He looked back and forth between his cadets and the governor, clearly trying to figure out what was happening.
"What is the meaning of this? We've been traveling for two hours already and this child is telling me we aren't even there yet?" Governor Turi was boiling with rage.
Kyo let out a sigh that just barely missed being a groan, "that is correct, governor..."
"Wait a minute, if you're here, who is flying this ship?!" the governor screamed, frantically trying to peer into the cockpit.
"The same cadet who's been flying the entire time, governor."
"You put a child in charge of my safety!?"
Kyo gave the governor a glare, "With all due respect," he said with very little respect in his voice, "these so-called children are cadets of the Galactic Security Agency. Regardless of age, their mere presence here is evidence enough of their merit and skill," Kyo walked towards the Governor, his voice capable of turning anyone to stone, "As a governor, you are a representative of your government as a whole. I don't need to remind you that the Y'taar Republic's relationship with the GSA is currently quite... fragile."
Governor Turi's face turned a pale, sickly shade of yellow. He swallowed nervously. "Y- yes, ah, my apologies, cadets," he stammered.
"Um, Agent Kyo, were there any other ships scheduled to be here at this time?" Saji's soft voice said.
"No, there weren't," Kyo quickly walked to the view port, "what the-"
The ship shuddered violently as the unknown vessels opened fire.
"Don't move," Kyo ordered, his eyes hardened. He walked back to the cockpit. When the door opened, Nadil's eyes were focused on the controls, deftly swerving to avoid attacks.
Kyo slid into his seat, strapping himself in. "Get to the back, strap yourself in," he ordered Nadil as he took control of the ship.
"Wha-" Nadil started to protest.
Kyo gave him a stern look and the avritian wordlessly stood up and moved to the back with the others.
Governor Turi was muttering and looking frantically out the windows. The ship jerked violently. "kerk," Nadil cursed under his breath, "why doesn't this thing have any weapons?"
"Because it's a transport," Ash winced as the ship took a hit.
"Transports can have guns," Nadil gave them a long, meaningful look."
Ash rolled their eyes, "maybe if they belong to smugglers," they retorted.
"Gah! Would you two shut up," the governor cried, "honestly, you're insufferable."
Ash grumbled, "we put up with you for two hours."
Before the governor could respond, Kyo's voice came over the intercom, "everyone needs to be braced for emergency landing, NOW."
Ash unclipped their straps, stumbling as the ship shook.
"Weren't you listening? Sit down!" Nadil snapped.
Ash reached over his head and pulled down the emergency over-the-shoulders straps, "I know, but in the event of a crash, we're supposed to be fully strapped in." They quickly showed him how to use the clasps then moved on to the governor.
Governor Turi nervously stammered, "he said emergency landing not crash, we- we're not going to crash right!?"
Ash pulled on the straps, trying to get them to fit around the governor's large body, "not necessarily, but emergency landings aren't usually smooth." The ship shuddered again. Ash lost their footing and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. They gripped the seat closest to them and forced themself back to their feet. They slowly inched over to Saji and pulled down the straps.
Saji's fingers shook violently as she tried to tighten the straps. Ash quickly took over, finishing in a matter of seconds.
Ash sat back down, rushing to put on their own straps. They gave Saji's hand a reassuring squeeze right as the ship's alarms began blaring.
Red lights started flashing as Kyo's voice came over the intercom again, "Brace yourselves, this is not gonna be one of my best landings," his voice sounded rushed, even a little panicked.
Saji's fingers tightened around Ash's hand, her bright blue eyes wide with fear.
Clouds rushed past the windows, quickly giving way to the dark green of treetops. They could hear someone screaming at the top of their lungs as they plummeted down to the surface. At first, Ash thought it was Saji but when they glanced over, her lips were clenched tightly together.
The governor's mouth was wide open, releasing another bloodcurdling scream.
Ash's body jerked against the straps as the ship collided with the tops of the trees. They felt one of the straps snap, then their head slammed back into the seat and their vision went fuzzy. When the ship hit the ground, Ash was sent flying forward, the broken strap useless to stop them. Sharp bursts of pain hit their body as they were flung around the tumbling ship.
After an eternity, the ship finally ground to a stop. Kyo forced the door open with a grunt of effort and stumbled into what was once the passenger area.
He saw Ash's empty seat and immediately connected the dots. Ash's eyes faded in and out of focus as he walked over and knelt beside them.
"Cadet Dantier," his voice was remarkably calm, given the circumstances, "can you hear me?"
Ash forced themself to sit up, "yeah," they groaned.
"Good," he quickly checked them for a concussion or broken bones. "Okay, you're going to feel like grick for a while, but you'll be okay."
Ash nodded, and immediately regretted it as the motion made their head throb.
Kyo stood up and helped the others get out of their seats. He checked the straps on Ash's seat and shook his head disapprovingly, "why weren't you strapped in correctly?" he turned back to Ash.
"They, uh," Nadil muttered, "they helped everyone else get strapped in, sir."
Kyo raised an eyebrow, "and why weren't you all doing that yourselves?"
Nadil fell silent, the governor cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Saji quietly said, "the rest of us didn't know about the emergency straps."
Kyo blinked then rubbed his forehead, "none of you other than Cadet Dantier were aware of basic safety devices?"
Nadil shrugged, "none of the ships I've ever been on had them."
The governor folded his arms, "we wouldn't have needed them if you hadn't crashed the ship."
Ash finally managed to stand up, if they'd been able to, they would have punched the governor in his oversized stomach.
Kyo gave a resigned sigh, "I apologize for our current predicament, governor."
"Care to explain who attacked us?" The governor demanded angrily.
Nadil's shoulders tensed, his yellow eyes narrowed and shot down towards the ground.
Kyo shook his head, "I'm not sure. For now, we need to focus on getting out of here."
Nadil relaxed a little but still seemed on edge.
Ash peeked out the window, "there's some sort of building to the east," they suggested.
Kyo looked over their shoulder, "hm probably the base of whoever just attacked us. Risky but... our communication systems are destroyed and we need to call in some backup."
The governor's eyes widened, "so we're going towards the people that almost killed us?" his voice was shrill.
Nadil nodded, "I hate to agree with the governor, but I don't want to go anywhere near that place."
Ash chuckled dryly, "what, you scared?"
Nadil looked away, "not of what you think I am." Everyone went quiet, staring expectantly at Nadil. "Fine, whatever, let's go to our deaths, what do I care," he snapped.
Kyo's eyes narrowed, "cadet, if you know something about whoever attacked us, you need to share that information."
"I don't know anything about them," Nadil said firmly, then spun around and stormed out of the wrecked ship.