Alliance by Jess Mountifield

Author:Jess Mountifield [Mountifield, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2020-04-17T22:00:00+00:00

14

As the artificial lighting system began to dim to simulate the sunset on Ephren, Dante got up from his desk and wandered out into the workshop.

“Hey, boss. You seen Garrus?” Ike asked, rubbing his hands on a rag as he walked up. “I wanted to work on that project he had for me in some of my spare time, but he’s not about, and no one’s seen him.”

Dante frowned, trying to remember if he’d seen the young second, or the rest of the crew he’d set out with that morning.

“I can give you access to the ship as well, but no, I haven’t seen Garrus, Kayla, Kit, or Sky.”

Not needing more of an explanation, Ike threw the cloth into the corner and pulled a small tool kit out from under a bench, as well as a long dirk.

“Lead the way, Captain.”

“I don’t know where they were headed,” Dante replied, already hurrying for the hangar bay anyway.

“We can check with Nora. She’ll have known what Kayla was doing,” Ike replied. “Those two are as thick as thieves.”

As they hurried over to the main section of the dock where Dante kept Catalpa, they passed many other members of the Aerie. Every time another person noticed them, Dante asked if they’d seen the four missing people.

The response was always the same. No one had seen them.

“Let me know where you need to go, and I’ll get you there ASAP,” Eve said when they asked her. She put down the cargo report she’d been filling in and grabbed her ready gear. A moment later, Ike stopped by one of his own ships, grabbing a small crate.

“More fuel and a basic repair kit,” he explained before Dante could even ask. He nodded, offering to carry it so the engineer wasn’t so burdened.

They were only two docking bays from Catalpa when he spotted Nora.

“Do you know where Kayla went this morning?” he asked.

Nora nodded. “I had just decided to come ask for help tracking her down. She headed with Kit and some others to the farm on Lillian’s moon.”

“The one Jeb runs?” Ike asked.

Once more Nora tipped her head up and down in the affirmative.

“Right, we leave in five minutes. Grab anything else you think might be useful and get aboard the Catalpa.” Dante didn’t look back as he hurried aboard, running through possible reasons why his crewmates could be so late getting back from the moon. It wasn’t that far away.

Ike dropped everything he carried off by the cargo hatch and hurried away, evidently wanting something else. Given that the engineer had already anticipated several scenarios as to why they were late, Dante didn’t try to question him or stop him. They needed to consider as many angles as possible.

Before Dante could do more than get the controls switched on and request an emergency departure time, Eve was sitting in the navigation seat, punching buttons to find the planet Lillian and her moon.

“Take guns, Nora,” Dante said. “You’re a better shot than me. I’ll cover the engine controls, and Ike can keep an eye on any damage or wonky behavior.

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