Riptide (Crosscurrent, 2) by Paul S. Kemp

Author:Paul S. Kemp [Kemp, Paul S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345522467
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2011-10-25T07:00:00+00:00

WE MUST HURRY,” SEER SAID TO SOLDIER, HER VOICE far away, her distant gaze on the infinite black outside the ship. “Mother wants us home.”

Soldier looked at her and saw the slight pulsing beneath her skin. He glanced behind him to Hunter, sitting in one of the crew seats. She gazed back at him, her green eyes still slightly dazed. He wondered if she recognized him, if she remembered what she had said to him when they had left the moon. He doubted it.

He took Seer by the arm. She hissed at his touch, and he felt the movement under her skin.

“You need meds,” he said. He should have brought more to the cockpit from the cargo bay. He hadn’t thought they would need more so soon.

“I need to go home,” she said, and grinned.

Soldier saw madness in the expression.

“I’m finalizing the course inputs,” he said cautiously, and released her arm. “We are going home, Seer. But you have to have meds. All right?”

She said nothing, and he chose to interpret her silence as agreement.

He steered Seer to the copilot’s seat, sat her down, and turned to Hunter.

“I need you to go back to the cargo bay and bring back the meds.”

Hunter’s eyes focused on him, more alert than he’d seen them in days. “Where are they?”

“Forward in the cargo bay. I left the container open. Bring as much as you can carry. Hypos, too. I can mix it here.”

Hunter nodded, stood.

He looked around the cockpit for Grace, under the seats, didn’t see her.

“Where’s Grace?” he asked.

Hunter shrugged and started to head off.

“Find her,” he said. “She shouldn’t be wandering the ship. And tell Runner to get back here, too.”

Soldier would need a copilot. Seer was of no use to him.

Khedryn sat on the floor, head and heart pounding. He pulled against the restraints on his wrist. He winced as they cut into his flesh, as a seep of warm blood made his hand sticky and ran down his forearm.

He tried to make sense of what was happening.

Who was the Umbaran? How had he killed Runner so easily, even deactivating his lightsaber? If he did not work for the Jedi, whom did he work for? And why had he left Khedryn alive?

Khedryn glanced around the dark corridor, looking for anything he could use to free himself. He saw nothing. He struggled again, but the pain put a stop to things almost right away. He cursed with frustration.

A sound to his right gave him a start.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

The little girl from the cockpit crept out of the darkness, as skittish as a fawn. She stared at Khedryn, and at the flexcuffs, her eyes as wide as plates.

“Where is Runner?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Khedryn said softly. “What’s your name?”

“I’m glad he didn’t hurt you,” she said, and started to back away.

“Wait, don’t go,” he said. “I need your help.”

He did not know if she heard him. She turned and ran back down the corridor without a second look, her movement almost as furtive and silent as that of the Umbaran.

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