Empress Fallen (Through Darkness Book I)

Chapter Fifteen: Time and Fate: Part 2

ii. Turris

Someone suddenly shoved past her from behind, and she was knocked to the ground, the pistol flying from her hands.

It was Areth.

'You can still make it, Aliya,' he yelled over his shoulder as he raced towards the Colonel, firing erratically.

'No,' she cried, searching for the pistol. But he didn't stop, barrelling straight into the man and clubbing him on the head, before letting off two shots at the nearest Imperial soldiers. Then he surged to his feet and began sprinting to the back wall of the hangar, heading back into the port, all the while firing at the soldiers and yelling.

'Save my family, Aliya,' he roared, 'SAVE THEM.'

For a split second, she remained motionless, tears blurring her eyes. How could she go? But the Colonel was staggering to her feet. She turned, and ran.

The hatch was barely half a metre open when she launched herself through it, her boots clanging along the metal of the gangway. It slammed shut behind her.

'Major,' she yelled. There was another doorway at the other end, but it slid open as she reached it, and standing on the other side, face white with panic, was Jagan. For a moment he just stared at her in shock, and then he was hauling her inside, wrapping his arms around her. She was panting, her side aching, emotions in turmoil. He quickly let her go as Sandyx's voice came yelling back to them.

'Secure the hatch, Nayar, do we have Sergeant Lucis?'

Aliya stared up at his wet eyes, unable to speak. He turned, rubbing a hand roughly over his face and hauling the hatch shut. She shook her head slightly, hurrying down a short corridor into a long compartment full of rows of seats. There had to be almost one hundred empty black seats in groups of four, an overhead harness of some kind over each one. She ran to the very front of the ship, pushing through a revolving door. Sandyx was sitting in the cockpit, Magnar in the seat next to her. Cassian was hauling two bodies away from the controls, one an elderly man with long white hair, the other, a young woman, her white-gold hair twisted into an intricate plait.

'They're just unconscious,' Cassian grunted.

'Where are all the passengers?' Aliya murmured absently, Areth's pleading shouts still reverberating around her mind... save my family.

'Aliya?' Sandyx said suddenly, 'Sergeant Lucis?'

'He – he stayed behind.'

Sandyx stared at her for a moment, a flicker of pain passing over her face, but then she nodded, turning back to the controls.

'The incoming passengers leave through a different access way, into the arrival rooms below the hangar... Releasing docking clamps,' her voice shook slightly. Aliya gripped the wall behind her as the shuttle shuddered, and they began to accelerate towards the surface. Caelum consumed the viewport.

'Can they disable the ship from the port?' Jagan asked urgently, coming in behind her. The doorway to the passenger compartment slid shut.

'Not now that we've departed. Their only chance was to lock the clamps – but we're not free yet.' The words had barely left her mouth, when the vessel shrieked around them, something ripping into the hull.

'Electrolasers,' Magnar cried. 'There are three patrol shuttles right behind us, they just dropped from the port.'

'Can this thing go any faster?' Cassian cried, leaning forward over the basic display.

'Maximising velocity.' Sandyx's hands flashed over the screen.

'There aren't any weapon systems,' Magnar exclaimed in panic, looking wildly around at the panels on the walls. The floor shook once more and they were thrown to the left as yet more laser fire tore at the ship. One of the patrol shuttles appeared on their right just as the viewport began to burn orange.