Jake started assigning teams,ending with “Toemeka and I will be on the lead ship. Suit up andmeet in Docking Bay 6.”
The team members rose and startedtalking to each other in excited voices as they filed out. Toemekafollowed them, uneasy about flying with Jake. He’d been respectfuland business-like for the most part, but strong feelings lingeredbetween them and she didn’t need the added tension on this mission.Still she wouldn’t ask for a different partner because she and Jakeworked well together under pressure. Besides, she wanted to be on thelead ship.
As she changed into her flightuniform, it occurred to her that the mission carried risk,potentially endangering her baby’s life. The baby was even moreprecious to her now that she knew the Soul who would inhabit thebaby’s body was someone she loved. Even now she was continuallyaware of the baby’s Spirit close by. Perhaps this was the time totell Admiral Quintary she was pregnant so she’d be removed from themission. But was that the right decision? She knew the schematics ofthe Raptor starship’s supercomputer. If there was a problem, shewas the best qualified to work around it.
Moreover, if the mission didn’tsucceed, Jaipar would be conquered, and Michio and Erling wouldlikely be killed in battle trying to save it. She couldn’t let thathappen. This is what she’d trained for all these years. She leanedagainst the wall, shaking as an image flashed into her mind of herbrother and father being killed by Raptor soldiers.
She left her room, moredetermined than ever to stop Raptor starships from destroying Jaipar.
Two hours later, Jake and Toemekasat in the cockpit of their fighter on Belga. Five other ships fromtheir team were spread across the moon’s large crater. The sky wasdark and Toemeka gazed out of the glass canopy top at the blue andwhite sphere that was planet Borko. She longed to be back on Jaipar,reunited with Michio, but first she had a job to do.
If the plan worked, Jaipar wouldonly have Zanton and his allies’ air fleets to defeat. The Raptorfleet would be dispersed across the galaxy, incapacitated. Shewondered if Michio was still in charge of organizing the planet’sdefense or if Erling had returned from Kumba and taken overleadership.
She wanted Michio and Erling toknow the Coalition plans, but radio silence was still in effect. Anymessage ran the risk of being picked up and decoded by the Raptors,destroying the needed element of surprise. She thought of contactingMichio inwardly, but felt Samrat Condor’s dark power and was afraidhe’d attack her inwardly if she left her physical body.
She wanted to share heruneasiness about Condor with Jake, but he wouldn’t understand. Hewasn’t interested in the esoteric side of life. It was part of thereason she’d broken up with him. She’d wanted a relationship witha man she could connect with inwardly and outwardly.
All the ships were camouflagedwith an elaborate mirror system, yet she still felt uneasy.Goosebumps rose on her arms as she realized what was bothering her. Asorcerer as powerful as Condor could detect their presence.
Baymond’s inner voice whisperedin her mind, “Putup a bubble of protection around your ship.” Toemekashivered at the unexpected warning. She focused within and imagined astrong energy bubble over their fighter.
Jake was unusually quiet besideher. On the flight there, he’d asked her to stay with him ratherthan returning to Michio. His proposal took her by surprise as hehadn’t brought up their relationship since the first day. Perhapshe realized this was his last opportunity to convince her to give himanother chance. He said he still loved her and she believed him, buther feelings for him had changed. He was a friend and nothing more.Her heart belonged completely to Michio.
She studied the computer monitor,waiting for the Raptor ships as the eclipse began and the moon,planet Borko, and sun began lining up. Her shoulders were tense andshe took a deep breath, consciously relaxing them.
Her thoughts drifted to herfirst-time encounter with Michio when he’d saved her from beinginterrogated. Even though she didn’t fully trust him, she sensedsomething special about him. She hadn’t wanted to get involved withanother man so soon after breaking up with Jake, but she was drawn toMichio like a moth to a flame.
The computer beeped. A Raptorstarship flew over the crater close to the ground. She instinctivelystrengthened the energy shield surrounding their fighter as shestared at the enormous ship slowly flying by, daunted by its size.
“This is it,” she said. Shesent off a fake communication, then tapped into the jump drive andchanged the coordinates. She held her breath. Comeon, work. Disappear.
Instead the Raptor starshipopened fire. Toemeka’s heart stopped as all five Coalition fightersexploded into flames. “They’re all dead. Our team is dead,” shegasped in horror.
“Why didn’t the fakecommunication work?” Jake stammered, his face drained of color.
“I don’t know!” Shefrantically typed in a new communication to the starship docking deckand hit the second button. Moments later the ship shimmered as itwent into a jump, then disappeared.
“What did you do?”
“For some reason they didn’topen the first communication we sent, so the virus didn’t have achance to activate. I sent a new communication to a docking bay sinceit’s designed to open all messages automatically.”
Jake stared at her with troubledeyes. “How did they detect our ships?”
“I suspect a sorcerer wasonboard and detected our fighters even though they were camouflaged.”
“Why didn’t they detect anddestroy our fighter?”
“I put an energy bubble overour ship, so it would be hard for a sorcerer to sense.”
“Why didn’t you protect allthe ships?”
Her vision blurred as her eyesfilled with tears. “I’m not powerful enough. I didn’t even knowif it would work for our ship.” A flash of light made her look up.
“Jake, look! Four more Raptorstarships coming in. You take the two on the right and I’ll takethe two on the left,” she said, typing in another message. Thefirst two ships began to shimmer, then vanished from view, but theother two escaped and shot away toward Jaipar.
“Two got away,” she groaned.
“We can’t get them all. Stayfocused. More are coming.”
On the bridge of the commandship, Erling watched the aerial battle with increasing concern. FewerRaptor starships appeared than reported and Jaipar’s allies
