The world spun as her heart and breath slowed, every object in the room spinning to become Yoma’s face, and then she felt a warm, thick liquid coating her hand. Layela screamed and kicked back, hitting the Kilita hard in the face. She felt his hold release, taking with it the clutches of the vision he was unleashing from her mind.
“Let’s go.” Ardin pulled her back to her feet and half-carried her, his gun trained on the two ether creatures. They were back in the shop, with her beautiful plants destroyed all around them. Josmere shut the heavy door to the back and locked it quickly, giving Ardin a nasty look before kneeling before Layela, pushing hair out of her face to examine her dark blue eyes.
“I’m fine,” Layela said through a thick tongue. She longed for Josmere’s soft touch to show her the vision, let her see what she thought she had felt, but she knew that now was not the time.
“Any other way out of here?” Another volley flew overhead as they crouched by the broken window. With each bullet that shattered one of her displays, Layela could only see money vanishing; with each destroyed plant, she saw her own blood spilling.
“Who’s doing this?” She choked the words out, and Josmere put her gloved hand on her arm, giving her a sad smile.
“Solariers, Solarian soldiers,” Ardin said as he quickly ducked back down. “I guess they figured you would come back here,” he finished, giving her an apologetic smile.
“You didn’t know,” she said, shaking her head. He had come here looking apparently for her and not Josmere; could she trust he was indeed here to help?
“What are they waiting for?” Josmere asked as glass crunched under her antsy crouch. Her answer came seconds later as energy weapons ripped through the shop, the beams melting through the concrete walls.
“Are they insane?” Josmere cried as all three hugged the floor. Layela could feel her skin tighten and burn under the searing heat.
“Layela!” Josmere screamed and nodded towards the path of the beam. Layela looked up, only to see a continued energy blast — a straight purple line, glowing white at the edges, destroying the shop in a slow, horizontal sweep. Petals fell in wisps and streaks of fire, the plants withering as the beam cut straight through them.
It was headed straight for the Pomboms.
“Take cover!” Layela screamed. The explosive plants were hit, the beam ripping them apart and igniting the strong internal gasses. Layela’s breath was knocked out of her lungs as the blast singed her skin further. Ardin was suddenly half covering her, his hair falling by her face. He tried to stay low and keep them both safe.
Then the light came, brilliant and purple with shades of green. The exploding plants screamed like a thousand wailing crickets on a summer night, a shrill and angry shriek that ripped through Layela’s eardrums.
She held her breath and waited for the noise and the pain to stop.
i
“One…oxy…gen…tank…” the merchant stuttered through the computer voice-over, his own covered by the necessary respiratory equipment strapped to him, shielding most of his face. Avienne couldn’t even tell what race he was under all the equipment, but she was willing to bet that he regretted ever leaving home. She leaned closer and realized that while she had assumed his gender to be masculine, she really had no proof.
“Yes, yes,” she said impatiently. “I need one mid-ship compressed oxygen module, and make it really compressed. I don’t want to haul something large around.” The merchant scooted off to the side with a speed she had not anticipated, going to the back to fill the order.
Avienne sighed and leaned against the counter. At least they still had the money for some oxygen. Half the ship — probably more than that — was cut off because they no longer pumped heat or oxygen to it.
She hoped Ardin would have some luck. They could use that money. It could buy them a lot. Air. Warmth. Freedom.
She felt giddy at the thought, but an old familiar ache snared her heart as well. The Destiny was the only home she remembered, with the only family she had ever known. Could she really abandon them? What if Ardin refused to join her, a fear that kept her awake at night and overshadowed all her imagined futures. Could she really abandon him, her brother and best friend?
She shook her head. At least she could find a nicer place than Collar to live. Most places were nicer than Collar, really.
The store was rocked by an explosion and Avienne crouched as she ran for the small window in the door.
“Blood and bones, Ardin,” she swore as she saw troops past the shuttle, wielding dangerous fire power. Smoke, light and a sickening wail came from what remained of Sunrise Flowers.
The merchant came out from the back, apparently able to hear well through the complex contraption. He — or she, or whatever it was — held the oxygen tightly in its agitated grasp.
“Fi…Fire…Ba…Bad…” the computer voice intoned over and over again in its dull baritone. Avienne walked over to the merchant.
“Fire, yes. Bad, yes.”
So few weapons, so many challenges. She had one bullet, and a few knives. Not much of an arsenal for so many soldiers.
Yet…She looked around and turned a charming smile on the merchant, hoping it was a male with some care for human females. “I think I’ve changed my mind on the oxygen. Do you have some Glotch gas, as compressed as you can get it in that tank?” She pointed to a cylindrical canister; it would roll nicely.
“And as many personal oxygen tanks as this will afford,” she continued, putting all of Cailan’s money and her profits on the table. The merchant held up two fingers and was off again, moving even faster this time.
She sighed.
There went the money for her
