Exiled (The Emberling Book 1) by Daniel Young

Author:Daniel Young
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2023-01-27T13:00:00+00:00

10

Taggart pushed open the Legion’s cockpit cover and sunshine streamed in. He sat down in the seat and started working on the controls.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” Merrel called from outside.

“Give me a sec,” Taggart yelled back.

He went through a few diagnostic readings and then brought up the fuel system. “I’m ready!” he called down.

Something thumped inside the ship’s hull, and Taggart attacked the controls. “Okay! It’s building up pressure now!”

“Everything is holding down here!” Merrel replied.

“Pressure’s holding!” Taggart countered.

Merrel whooped from outside. “Fantastic!”

“How are the impeller welds doing?”

“Perfect!” Merrel replied. “You’re the man!”

Taggart laughed and started powering down the system. He headed back to the hatch, and froze again when he found Yannik, Qiao, and Wollett all standing in the rear compartment.

“The ship is ready to fly now,” Yannik began. “You can fly us off this planet, Taggart.”

“If you think I’m going to help you mess with Merrel, you’ve got another thing coming.”

He started to push past Wollett to get to the hatch ladder, but Merrel dropped down it before Taggart got there.

Merrel slammed down with both feet on the floor. He cast one casual glance at the other four gathered around. “Back at it, I see. Are you ready, Yannik? Did you decide five hundred thousand is too much?”

“I didn’t decide anything. I offered you five hundred thousand—”

“Actually, you told me to name my price. Every time I find you fools whispering in corridors, the price goes up. It’s a million now.”

This time, both Taggart and Wollett gasped, but Yannik didn’t even blink. “I’ll make you a deal, Merrel.”

“I thought you already did.”

“I’ll give you a million to split between the three of you.” She indicated Wollett, Taggart, and Merrel.

“Why should I take a cut in pay to share it with them when I could take it all myself?”

“We’re going to need gunners to get the crystal to my client. We’ll all need to work together to make sure we get our payoff.”

The men exchanged glances. So now the truth came out.

“What is this crystal?” Taggart asked. “Why is it so valuable?”

“Who cares?” Wollett interrupted.

“Someone paid you, me, and Merrel to find this crystal, and now we find out a fourth client paid Yannik to get it. If I’m going to risk my ass shooting our way to wherever the crystal is going, I want to know what it is.” Taggart looked back and forth between Wollett and Merrel. “Does either of you know who hired you to find it?”

The two men glanced at each other and looked away. “No,” Wollett growled.

“Does it matter?” Merrel asked. “I get plenty of anonymous jobs. I don’t ask questions.”

“I know who hired me.”

All eyes turned to Yannik. “Who is it?” Taggart asked. “And what is it?”

She didn’t answer right away, and now Merrel added his objections to Taggart’s. “It must be someone dangerous if she wants us to shoot our way through. Is it the Sleepwalkers? Did they hire you? If they did, you can forget it. No amount of money is worth that.

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