Star Storm

Chapter Seventeen

Lawful Encounters

Kael had not thought it possible, but his crew had become more isolated.

As the Rapid continued to fall apart, its single engine struggling to continue working, Kael couldn't help but feel the same thing was happening to his companions.

After the attack Meri had not left the medical quarters, blaming it on her need to work, and neither she nor Jet had spoken to the rest of the crew. Ry had taken to resting with the excuse he was still recovering from his wounds. Cyre and Amara had locked themselves away in the ship's head.

Each of them had given reasonable excuses to escape one and other's company aside from Valour. The old Celestial Watch officer simply shrugged off anyone who tried to speak with him, shielding himself from further contact with a raised blaster and threat.

Despite their excuses, no matter how good or bad, Kael knew the true answer as to what had driven them apart. It was not that they had been attacked, nor that Amara had performed the impossible space jump, but because they were trapped together inside a reasonably small ship.

Their split had been inevitable from the beginning and Kael had been forever afraid of it happening.

He did not make any moves to break the silence but enjoyed the time to work alone, combing through every book he could find aboard the Rapid. Amara had quite a collection of volumes Kael had never heard of before which worked on calculations needed for space jumping. The books appeared to be logical and sensible, but he could not understand where the author's equations were coming from.

What bothered him more than the random maths was that all the authors of these books' names were strangely similar. Kael wrote them out in a line, varied their order, and failed to find a pattern. He suspected the author was the same person using multiple identities, but he could not grasp at why, how, or who.

The Forelong Stretch neared its end as the Rapid moved towards north, cutting into the First Region. For the first time since several sleeps, the crew gathered around the largest window to watch the Stretch's colours fade from view.

"Rather extortionary," Kael said with a smile.

"What's extortionary is that we've caught sight of the ship your sisters on. We're gaining on her," Amara said.

A sigh of relief was shared among them. Their time aboard the Rapid did not seem wasted now they had closed in on their target.

The moment of relief was short-lived, however, as when they slowly departed from the window the ship groaned, the last final engine giving out. Suddenly the Rapid came to a stop, and all sounds seized.

Kael looked to Amara and she licked her lips, thinking of a wise thing to say.

"Bugger," she said eventually.

It was not at all wise or comforting to hear from their captain and the tone in which she spoke caused Cyre to snort. One at a time, Meri, Jet, and Ry started laughing. Amara's thin lips curved into a smile last.

"The Sorii are getting away," Kael snapped, bringing them back to the problem at hand. "We need to fix that engine – fast. We might not find them again."

"Relax," Jet pipped up, a hand clutching her side. "We could never attack their ship anyway. Look at the size of their vessel compared to ours." She pointed to the black craft which had attacked Uterca drifting in the distance.

"She's right. We're no match for them unless we can get the element of surprise," Cyre added.

"So, what's the plan?" Kael almost dropped to his knees and begged. To be so close to saving Nona but unable to act was painful. "If we wait until they reach the city of Sorium we'll have no chance of finding her."