“Excellent,” Heydar said. “All we must do now is wait.”
It was early afternoon when the shuttle descended from its orbiting platform. It landed without issue, the ersatz guards at the far ends of the landing zone casually standing in position as usual. This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, this was just another boring supply run.
The large hatch opened, and the sweating male workers began loading their heavy cargo, accompanied by a pair of armed guards. The Dohrags manning the ship waved them in, almost bored with the routine.
They didn’t know what hit them.
The guards quickly took down the crewmen and rushed deeper into the shuttle while the workers pulled weapons hidden in their crates then charged in behind them. It was fast, and it was surprisingly bloodless. The flight crew were not built of the same stuff as the usual guards. Faced with sudden death, they surrendered without a struggle.
“The ship is ours,” Kuxx declared as he strode out of the landing bay.
Heydar, Darla, and several others emerged from cover where they had been watching and waiting to provide additional forces if needed and strode across the landing site to meet him. “Good work. Scour the craft for weapons and any intel that might be of use.”
“Your men are already on it.”
“They are not my men, Kuxx. But the intelligence they retrieve will be of use to us all. We need details on what exactly is in orbit. If they have additional craft they can send down. Their numbers and weapons systems aboard. It will only be a matter of time before their superiors begin to wonder where their supply craft is.”
“The shuttle has been known to stay on the ground for some time, on occasion. To be safe, I will have a man fluent in Dohrag transmit that there was a technical issue with the engines requiring an overnight stay. His accent and speech pattern should fool them. All we need are any challenge phrases.”
“Excellent. That will buy us some time.”
“And I am confident we will extract that information without any difficulty. The crew was merely a low-level transport group, and they do not seem nearly as stout as the ground team.”
“As is often the way. In the meantime, we should make plans to utilize the vessel as best we can.”
Darla raised her hand.
“You do not need to raise your hand, dearest.”
“Right. Sorry. Listen, I was talking with the others earlier and something dawned on me. A lot of these people are from this planet. Different races, some of whom don’t get along with each other normally, but here they’ve all coalesced to fight a common enemy.”
Kuxx cocked his head slightly. “I fail to see how—”
“Aah,” Heydar interrupted. “Of course. A wise suggestion.”
“What suggestion?” Kuxx asked.
Heydar glanced at Darla, and she immediately took the reins. “We can ferry all of these people back home to their people using the shuttle. If we free them, helping them get home, then a lot of damaged relations between these people can maybe be healed. Or, at least they might step down their interpersonal problems for the moment.”
A little grin creased Kuxx’s lips. “A very clever idea, indeed.”
“Thanks,” she said, turning to Heydar. “And we can multitask in the process. With a shuttle already making runs in every direction, we can also have them scout out any wreckage of the Raxxian ship in the process.”
“Did you say Raxxians?” Kuxx blurted, concern clear in his eyes.
“Uh, yeah. That’s how we got here,” she said. “Heydar?”
“She speaks the truth,” he confirmed. “More will be returning soon, and our hope is to rescue the other survivors of the crash before they arrive.”
Kuxx pondered this new information for a moment. Heydar had been quiet about his origins, but now things were starting to fall into place. “We heard a crash many days ago. That must have been the ship you were held on. But it was a large impact. Do you truly think others survived?”
“I know they did,” Darla said. “In fact, one of them was in my work group. And if she made it out in one piece, I’m sure others did. We just need to find them.”
Heydar nodded his agreement. “We must endeavor to rescue all that we can. To do otherwise would be cowardly. However, for now we must also protect these freed prisoners already in our company. We will have the shuttle return them to their people. Whether this brings some peace among them will remain to be seen. But our duty is clear.”
Shalia stepped forward. “That’s great for the locals, but what about the rest of us? What about me?”
Darla looked at Heydar. He nodded, all but reading her mind. “Come with us if you want. We’ll be heading back to the Oraku, at least for the time being. It’s not an advanced culture, but at least they’re a kind people. And I for one would welcome the company of another person from back home. Us Earth gals have got to stick together, right?”
The look of concern on Shalia’s face began to fade, replaced with one of hope.
“I think I’d like that,” she said. “I think I’d like that a lot.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
As Kuxx had predicted, the Dohrag shuttle crew were very forthcoming with any and all details their captors might want of them. Unlike their combat hardened comrades, these were soft men, by Dohrag standards, and the slightest hint of torture led to very loose lips.
The supply platform in orbit had been informed the shuttle was experiencing a technical problem and their overnight stay was approved without issue, giving the escapees a bit of breathing room, at least for the moment.
More than that, they had learned that while there was one additional shuttlecraft still aboard the station, it was currently inoperable and awaiting replacement parts from the next Dohrag ship to visit it. Their only other transport had been lost just the other day, possibly in a conflict with Raxxians or some other race. In any case, no other ships would be coming.
Safe for the moment, the newly freed prisoners reveled in their victory, bathing thoroughly then dressing themselves in the first truly clean attire they had worn in ages. They then prepared food as usual, but for themselves, the task becoming a joy rather than a labor.
In no time they were sitting together in a large, cheerful group, bonding as they ate and drank as liberated men and women from an unlikely and broad spectrum of races. The differences of their people made no difference at all in this place, and all of their spirits soared high as the sun lowered in the sky.
Shalia and Darla spent a bit of time bonding over their memories of Earth. Shalia, it seemed, had been snatched up just like Darla had, but her home was far, far across the globe. She had been taken, her ear marked for translation, then left as a potential breeding vessel to grow more livestock for the Raxxians.
She had been aboard the ship a fair amount of time when Darla had arrived and had given up on allowing herself to grow remotely close to anyone. She’d seen what the Raxxians could do, so she made herself small and quiet and hoped for better winds to fill her sails.
And now, in the most unlikely of ways, her wish had been granted.
“I’m beat,” she told Darla. “It was a long day. A good one, but long.”
“I hear ya. Go get some shut-eye. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
With that Shalia took her leave and headed off to sweet slumberland.
Darla glanced over at Heydar across the crowd. He was smiling as the men who had charged the ship regaled him with their tales of adventure. It was a beautiful thing, seeing him actually smiling without any of his usual reluctant demeanor. His gold-ringed eyes darted across the tables and locked with hers, a spark of something viscerally intense flashing for a moment, making her insides feel all sorts of wonderful.