Star Storm

Chapter Twelve

Cards and Chaos

Kael failed to contain his excitement. Half running, half walking, he made his way to the head of the Rapid, his heavy feet causing a great amount of noise in the otherwise silent ship.

While he hurried, Kael rehearsed what he would say to Amara, silently holding their future conversation in his head. He practiced his words, how he would move his hands to emphasis his cause and the way in which he would announce his presence. With Ry and Cyre busy elsewhere, there was no one to see him struggle to find a pace or hear him whisper to himself.

Why yes, I'm back already and I'm not the only one, he thought, a smile playing on his lips. There's a crew downstairs.

Would it seem childish to let his pride show? Probably, he shook his head. He should keep things simple, relaxed, and straight to the point.

Amara, I have something to tell you.

There's a surprise waiting for you in the lounge.

He came to a halt, his thoughts briefly brushed aside. The head of the ship was empty. Panic caused his heart to skip a beat and he checked the larger seats to see if Amara was simply out of sight.

Standing back to gather his senses, Kael took a deep breath. Amara would never abandon the Rapid. She had to be around somewhere.

As he had previously done in the medical quarters, Kael activated one of the many screens in the room and brought up a map of the ship. He skipped through all the Rapid's floor plans until he found the captain's private quarters. Having plotted his journey to Amara's room, Kael turned to leave.

A sudden realisation came to his mind. Before he had seen a glowing circle on the screen showing Amara's exact whereabouts. He had not seen any of those marks over the captain's quarters.

With haste Kael returned to the screen, hitting his fingers against the glass with a newfound urgency.

The only moving circles he could find were clustered in the lounge where he had left his crew and Cyre. Perhaps Amara had been more open to guests aboard her ship than he had presumed and had gone to greet them without his introduction.

His pace was much slower on his return trip. Kael had not passed Amara in the hallways and he doubted she would have bothered to take a longer route from her station to the lounge. Something was wrong and he was not sure he wanted to find out what the problem was.

Just as he had left them, his crew were sprawled out over the long sofas. Valour was keeping to himself at the far side of the room; Jet and Meri were whispering secrets to Cyre while she polished her gun, and Ry was leaning over the top of her chair, his eyes wide and his ears flushed.

"Erm," Kael coughed, drawing unwanted attention to himself. "It seems Amara is gone. Would anyone care to tell me where I could find her?"

The room was silent. Jet had stopped half-way through her last story and her face was set into a scowl. Annoyed by the interruption, Cyre eventually rose from her seat and walked Kael into the hallway. Behind them the doors slid shut, sparing Kael the pain of seeing his companions laughing at his weak announcement.

"Amara," he said at once.

"Dog's Chin," Cyre snapped.

She pushed past Kael and strutted across the hall. Absentmindedly he followed, discovering the Rapid's kitchen. With one fridge and the rest of the floor occupied by creates and locked chests, it was possibly the worst room of its kind Kael had been in.