Armageddon Theft: An Arek Lancer Novella by Troy Osgood

Author:Troy Osgood [Osgood, Troy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barking Fire Publishing
Published: 2018-09-02T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

If stares could kill, I would have been dead.

Dresla was not happy, which told me that I had guessed right.

She stared up at me, angry and embarrassed. I ignored her, pushing past and into the galley. I was up the steps quickly, hearing her following behind me.

As soon as my head crested the floor I saw Kaylia standing in the opening to the bridge. She was frantic, hands moving too fast for me to keep up. I had no idea what she was saying. Normally she was good about doing her sign language slow for me to follow, but not when she was overly excited, nervous or scared. She was all three. A couple quick steps and I was standing before her. I took her hands in mine, lighting holding them.

“It’s okay kiddo,” I told her. “You did good.”

And she had. That jerky maneuver had been just enough to get us clear of the escape pod. Torsi was stupid. We were in the process of landing, the pod shot out directly in our path. Of course Torsi had no way of knowing that but Kaylia had managed to get us just enough out of the way. The turbulence would have buffeted the escape pod heavily. No way was it a smooth ride.

The kid removed her hands and signed more slowly.

There’s a transmission from Ground Control.

I nodded, and with hand on her shoulder, lightly directed her back into the bridge. She moved to her co-pilot’s seat and pulled her legs up, arms around them, head resting on her knees. A clear sign she wasn’t fully recovered.

Sitting at my station, I pulled the headset on and immediately heard the Tuis Ground Control.

“Unidentified ship, please acknowledge receipt of landing authorization.”

I glanced at the comms and saw the incoming coordinates and clearance from the Tuis. As well as an indication that a message had been sent. Where had that come from? Kaylia or I hadn’t sent a message recently.

“Ground Control this is Nomad’s Wind, Terran registration SE6890. Landing authorization acknowledged.”

It sounded innocent enough but I knew that if I hadn’t acknowledged and given the ship’s registry, we would have been shot out of the sky.

“Purpose of landing on Tui?”

“Refueling,” I replied.

“Length of time on planet?”

I thought about how to answer that one. Buying and loading fuel would take an hour at the most, not even that. But Torsi had taken my escape pod. That would be expensive to replace. I knew Dresla would want to go after the thief. Could I make her stay on the ship somehow? I could leave her behind. Refuel and go. If she wasn’t back, she’d be stuck here. That would be on her, her decision.

Dammit.

“A couple hours, maybe a day,” I told Ground Control. “I have a shipload of refugees from Storw and they’ve been stuck in the ship for days. Could use some air and space.”

I could feel Dresla’s expression of surprise without even looking.

There was a long pause before Ground Control answered. Probably trying to decide how much they could overcharge me.

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