Waymakers (Champions of the Crystal Book 9)

Chapter 18: Luxet

The Way to Homeworld's system was several hours long, but Malvarak and Qadr did not offer them quarters, so they sat in the galley and made conversation for a while until Sabrina fell asleep on Ford's shoulder. When she woke, Ford was ready with a tray from the provender, and their three companions were napping on the floor and opposite bench, already in combat suits but not wearing helmets.

"How long?" she asked quietly as she ate.

"Less than an hour to go, I think," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Nervous," she admitted. "Rosie's moving a lot. I think she's nervous too."

Ford laid a hand on the baby bump. "Relax, both of you. This is all going to be over soon. This isn't a mission so much as a skit."

Sabrina sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Nice try, but I can feel your nerves, you know."

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Just trying to keep my own terror at bay." After a minute, he got up and made himself a steaming cup of cocoa. "I hate waiting as much as you do."

"More, in fact," she smiled. Then she sighed again. "I can't wait for this to be over. But the next thing is even worse, isn't it?"

"One terrifying thing at a time," he said, sliding next to her on the padded bench again and sipping at his cocoa. "Anyway, this is our last mission until Rose is born. I don't like the risk, and I don't like leaving Lily without either of us."

"Me either," she said. She yawned, feeling sleepy again after her meal.

"You might as well go back to sleep. There's nothing else to do."

"Except keep you company."

"That's not worth losing sleep over."

She kissed his cheek. "Yes, it is." She slid an arm around his shoulders. "If we can make it safe to travel again, where would you like to go?"

"Hm." Ford smiled a little, pleased by the idea. "So many places. We could take Lily to Earth. Though maybe we should start with Lthos. What about you?"

"I'd like to see Fiersai, now that they've rooted out their governmental corruption. Check in on Meskath."

"Revisit some of your diplomatic posts? We could do that," Ford said.

Sabrina felt a pang of sadness. "I wish we could visit Marna'amat."

Ford sighed, thinking of all the people they'd known on the destroyed planet, both embassy staff and diplomats from other planets. "Me too." At least, he thought, his brother had been home for Imari's funeral when it happened.

There was an odd jolt, and Qadr announced, "Unscheduled emergence. Hostile ships identified!"

"Out of phase?" Ford exclaimed as Terel, Marvan, and Sastarn jumped to their feet.

"Helmets," Sabrina ordered, hastily constructing the image of Miah around herself and putting the Corweign disguise around Ford.

It's a trap, Ford thought in alarm. The Kyan must have guessed we'd try approaching out of phase.

How did they knock us out of the Way? Sabrina wondered.

They've obviously gotten better at it since they did it to the Adventure, Ford thought as he headed for the control deck.

Sabrina hurried after him, not able to keep up since pregnancy had altered her gait. Terel hung back with her as Marvan and Sastarn passed them.

She got to the control deck in time to hear Malvarak snap, "I do not have time to speak to you. Keep quiet and out of my way if you don't want to be responsible for getting us all killed!"

Ford kept his temper, barely, and turned to the secondary console. Sabrina joined him, and they put together their own situation report.

Two Kyan ships were rapidly approaching, almost within weapons range. Gravitational distortion, a result of the weapon used to pull Qadr out of the Way, made the Wayship's readings unreliable, but Ford estimated they had only seconds of safety left. And if the Kyan knocked them back into phase with the rest of the enemy fleet, they had little chance of surviving.

The rest of the Wayships? Sabrina thought urgently.

I don't see them, Ford responded. Hopefully they're still in their Ways. Worry about us.

I am! Sabrina closed her eyes and reached for the Crystal. It was harder when she was out of phase, but Rose's own connection helped, and Ford jumped in as he realized what she was doing.

With their help, Sabrina expanded her awareness to the two Kyan ships in their phase. An idea came to her, and she weighed one of the ships in her mind, then transported it straight into the heart of Homeworld's sun.

The other ship paused.

Sabrina gasped for air, having held her breath while straining to move the bulk of the Kyan ship. She opened her eyes and realized she'd let Ford's disguise drop, as well as her own.

Again! Ford thought. He sent her a new wave of Crystal energy, and she carefully pulled from Rose as well, watching to make sure she took only energy the baby didn't need.

But before she could act, the ship began retreating, and she couldn't get a fix on it in all the distortion. I can't catch it!

She kept trying, while Ford cast around for another tactic. But before they could do anything else, the ship vanished.

Out of our phase, Ford thought. Rest a minute.

They opened their eyes to find Malvarak staring at them, arms folded. "What just happened?"

"We eliminated an enemy ship," Ford said, "and the other is retreating. It's gone out of phase with us, possibly to warn the ones in our original phase."

"What do we do, then?" Malvarak demanded.

Sabrina swallowed, wishing for a glass of water. "Follow the plan. Go back into phase. I'll pull the Wayshipyard to this phase for the other Ships to tow, and then we grab a Kyan."

Sastarn left the control deck and returned with a cup of water, which he handed to her. She drank gratefully, then handed the remainder to Ford to finish.

Malvarak said, "And what is your plan for surviving this? Our only advantage was surprise, and that is gone. I will not risk Qadr by following this course of action."

Ford said, "We can go in behind Luxet's moon, on the dark side. That will give us the minute we need to move the Wayshipyard. Then we grab a Kyan and go back out of phase."

Malvarak still looked skeptical. "Can you do all that in succession? Disposing of one ship seems to have exhausted you."

"You will do the first shift," Sabrina pointed out. "In fact, I could pull the Wayshipyard into this phase beforehand."

"They knew we were coming," Malvarak said. "What if they've set a trap aboard Tietjen?"

Ford rubbed at his forehead to dispel the headache forming there. "We'll scan it before the others take it in tow."

Malvarak scowled but stopped arguing, and Sabrina wondered if Qadr was reminding him how important the Wayshipyard was. "Very well. We will navigate to the dark side of Luxet's moon and go back into phase. As you know, we require several minutes to recalibrate before we can phase shift again. Be ready to defend us."

"We will," Ford said. "Can you communicate with the other Wayships?"

Malvarak shook his head. "I believe we were the only ones pulled out of the Way. I'm hopeful the Kyan were preoccupied with our Way, since we were ahead of the others. Our fellow Wayfarers will follow their instructions and wait in this phase for the Wayshipyard to appear. There's no need to draw attention to them by communicating."

I think I liked him better when he was trying to kill us, Ford thought, annoyed.

Nobody who's been through what he has is going to be a barrel of laughs, Sabrina thought, though she was also disappointed to find no trace of the friend she remembered in this new Malvarak. Aloud, she said, "We'll get out of your way, then. Please let us know when we're at Luxet."

"Of course," Malvarak said, turning back to the main console.