Waymakers (Champions of the Crystal Book 9)

Chapter 26: Hope

Scotty paced Khediva's control deck, surprised that she didn't comment. Tirqwin had gone back to the room he and Mara shared, and Scotty hoped he was resting. As for himself, he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he wore himself out. Maybe not even then, if he couldn't get his mind unstuck from the loop of bad scenarios it kept generating.

"Khediva?"

"Yes, Scotty?"

"What's Qadr's status?"

"Currently stable. Heshtar was able to take him in tow. Why do you ask?"

"Is there something I could do with Malvarak's body? I mean, if we're stuck here, maybe we could at least get him ready."

Khediva sighed. "There is nothing you need do. He and Qadr will make their final journey into our star when the current emergency has passed."

"Any repairs I can do for you?"

"No. Why do you not begin your report, Scotty? You may as well set down the events of the battle while they are fresh in your mind."

He grimaced. "I can say what I think happened, but damned if I can say why or how."

Khediva did not reply.

"Khediva? You okay?"

"I am...thinking through an idea."

"Oh good. Let me know if I can help."

"I believe you can. How badly was Qadr's interior damaged?"

"Not too bad. Why?"

"I am wondering about the status of his matrix."

Scotty frowned. "Wouldn't it be damaged by all the disruption in the Way they came through?"

"Possibly, but not definitely. It depends on whether they managed to stay ahead of it while the matrix was active."

"I can go look. How would I tell?"

"You could not tell. I would need to examine it." She sighed. "I do not like the thought of taking it. It is perilously close to a desecration. But if it is usable, it is our fastest way back to  Praxatillus."

"Want me to take yours and swap them? That way it wouldn't really be taking something. Just trading." Scotty ignored the fact that he had no idea how to remove or install a crystal matrix.

"It is true my matrix will never again be useful for travel," Khediva said. "It would not be a loss."

"Tell me what to do, and I'll go do it," Scotty said eagerly. "Or do you want Tirqwin to remove yours?"

"I do not wish to disturb him. Maratobia is still unconscious, and Malvarak's death has distressed him. Removal is not that complex. I will need his expertise to install the other matrix here, but you can perform the rest of the process."

Scotty wondered what Tirqwin would think of this plan, but he wasn't going to argue. He was desperate for action, and this was his best chance. "Great. Tell me what to do."

"First, we must get you aboard Qadr without arousing suspicion. I will ask Heshtar to surrender Qadr to me, as our Tirqwins are kin. Then if someone senses you aboard, I will say you are tending to some repairs for his final journey."

Scotty nodded. "I doubt anybody's really paying attention right now. They've all got their own problems."

"True, but I prefer to be cautious. While I take Qadr in tow, gather the tools you will need. They are stored in a compartment near my brain core; I will send specifics to your suit readout."

"Great. Let's do this." He clapped his hands together and headed off the control deck.

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It was nearly an hour later when Khediva felt she could safely and secretly put Scotty back aboard Qadr, and by that time she had given him so many cautions that he just wanted to get it over with before he lost his nerve. He was loaded down with tools and a headlamp, since she was insistent he not try to power up anything aboard Qadr. He would have to do everything manually, and at the same time he must be quick so no one would notice a life sign on the dead Wayship. All while lugging her own useless matrix with him, without an antigravity lift.

He had never known Khediva so unnerved, and it was freaking him out. As if he weren't already, he thought wryly. Mara still wasn't awake, and Khediva didn't seem to expect her to be anytime soon. Tirqwin seemed helpless to act with his wife and Wayship both disabled.

Scotty couldn't do anything about the larger picture, but he could help Khediva with her shady plan to get back to Praxatillus. Though they'd have to face the music eventually, right now all that mattered was finding out what had happened to their family. Scotty would personally disassemble every Wayship in Homeworld orbit if that's what it took to get back to Aurora and his kids.

He focused on that thought as he found himself on the dark control deck. It helped him ignore how eerie the silent Wayship was in the shadows his headlamp cast and his awareness of the body in the infirmary. Malvarak had been presumed dead and yet reappeared more than once, so it wouldn't have completely shocked Scotty to encounter him standing in the corridor. The way things were going, he thought sourly, a zombie would be just another thing on his task list.

Since all the doors between the control deck and the brain core had to be opened manually, he was exhausted when he got there. The darkness was downright tomb-like here, the brain globe completely inert, already frosted over as the ship lost its heat.

He laid a gloved hand on it and murmured, "Rest at the end of your journey, Qadr."

Then he resolutely turned his back on it and set to prying open the chamber containing the matrix cradle.