SHADOW EMPIRE (THE ALORIAN WARS Book 4) by Drew Avera

Author:Drew Avera [Avera, Drew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-24T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

Ilium

Ilium’s footsteps echoed down the long passageway as Stavis struggled to keep up. His sense of urgency rivaled any similar sensation he experienced previously. Even under mutiny on his previous ship, he felt he still had control. There was something about how Quino obtained orders to the King Slayer that made chills run down his spine.

“I still don’t know what you expect to find, sir,” Stavis said as they rounded another corner, descending to the next level.

“I want his belongings scanned for communication devices, for one,” he said without looking back. His agitation with the looming situation took its toll on his demeanor. He hated to admit it, but genuine fear drove his decision-making in his current situation.

“Everyone on this ship has a comm device, sir. I’m not sure that constitutes espionage.” The skepticism in her voice gnawed at him, but she was right.

“Just humor me,” he replied, a weak argument, but one he hoped his most trusted officer would relent on. The fact she didn’t arrest him on the spot following his confession gave him hope, but he wondered how much of that hope was her giving him enough rope to hang himself.

They arrived at the hangar where Commander Quino’s personal gear sat in a tri-wall container, banded with heavy, metal straps. The fact no one opened it after the new XO came on board puzzled Ilium, but not enough to dwell on it.

Ilium grabbed a pair of cutters from a work bench near the bulkhead and clipped the banding. The sound of metal springing apart and striking the deck reminded Ilium of the tiny bells he wore on his wrists during the Solstice celebrations in his youth. “Do you have the scanner?”

Stavis pulled a device from her pocket, handing it to him.

“You do it,” Ilium said.

She shrugged. “All right.” Without skipping a beat, she opened the top of the tri-wall and ran the device over the top. As the sensor moved silently along the side of the container, Ilium felt his stomach churn. “Nothing,” she said.

Ilium sighed, grabbing one bag and hauling it out of the tri-wall, placing it on the deck next to them. “What about now?”

Stavis scanned the next layer, but nothing alarmed the scanner. She shook her head as she moved it slowly from one side to the next.

“Goddammit,” Ilium seethed, feeling himself losing his argument for investigating Quino fading with each breath. He yanked the next piece of gear from the tri-wall, but paused when he saw what sat beneath it. “What the hell is that?”

Stavis peered into the tri-wall, looking down with her eyes wide. “It looks like an electromagnetic pulsar.”

“What is that?”

“It’s used to temporarily disable electrical devices without permanently damaging any equipment. Imagine everything within a certain distance suddenly stops working while this device is operational, but once the device is turned off, all systems fully restore.”

“If everything shuts down on this ship, then everyone would die. Without power, the life support systems go. There’s not enough air in the ship to last the crew more than a few hours,” Ilium said.

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