Enemies of the Empire by Hadwin Fuller

Author:Hadwin Fuller [Fuller, Hadwin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2023-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

17

Chapter 17

Ravus had complied with a vicious scowl, and the moment the comm channel had been cut, he had vomited up more vitriol, calling me a traitor, a fool and a few more colourful names most people wouldn’t dare to repeat in the sanctity of their inner mind, let alone in public in front of your subordinates. But the work of securing Aria and me safe passage off the ship had been done. The shuttlecraft had been prepared to ferry us to the ground where we just had to hope that we could sneak onto another ship in the starport and make it off-world before the empire or the FSA - or Val - knew anything about it. All we had to do was make it to the shuttlecraft, and we would be safe.

“This way, Nolan,” Aria’s voicebox amp croaked as we hurried through the corridors of the Merciless. I had shouldered Aria with my arm to support her erratic gait, but I probably wasn’t helping much. She weighed about ten times more than I did, and if I really did bear the brunt of all that weight, it would most likely have crushed my shoulder blade.

“Are you sure?” I asked, my feet throbbing from being pressed into the undersized phantomguard boots. Somehow, the corridor Aria wanted to lead us down felt less likely to lead us to the shuttlecraft bay.

“Do you have a map of the entire ship in your head?”

“No.”

“Then stop slowing us down with all your second guessing.”

“Right.”

We rushed down the corridor Aria had chosen. So far, we had not seen any imperial phantomguards - only a few technicians and engineers. If we had seen any phantomguards, technically they were under strict orders to allow us to pass through the ship to the shuttlecraft bay, but their inquisitive eyes might have alerted them that something was wrong, and we could have been held up momentarily while Ravus was sought out for confirmation of his order. And when they found him tied up with electrical cord, they probably weren’t going to just pat us on the back, escort us to the shuttlecraft bay and wish us well on our way.

“Here it is,” said Aria as we turned another corner. In front of us was an open concourse with several shuttlecrafts parked in a neat row.

“This way, please,” said a voice.

A woman in a yellow jumpsuit with short-cropped black hair emerged from the shadow under the wing of one of the shuttlecrafts. “I’m your pilot,” she said, eying my out-of-breath posture that was the result of hurrying halfway across the ship in a full suit of imperial phantomguard armour. “We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting the ship’s entire contingent of phantomguards to come running around the corner, but there were no surprises - at least, not for the present moment.

“I think we’re ready now,” I said.

I led Aria into the cabin of the shuttlecraft the woman indicated. Once we were inside, she closed the door behind us, and I took off my phantomguard helmet.

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