“People, you know your stations, you know your jobs! We have our ship back! Let’s get her up and running again!” called Grande as he strode between the group. As he passed one of them he casually tossed over the Spiner’s control device. “Astor, here!” he grunted. “Get your girl cleaned up and check her over — she did a great job.”
To Ryann’s surprise he realised that Astor was a woman, as rugged-faced and fearsome as the others. Her hair was close-cropped and she bore a deep scar down one side of her head that ran all the way across her cheek.
“Ain’t no Inlander taking our ship while I draw a breath,” muttered the woman in a hoarse and rasping voice. She stared mistrustfully at Ryann and Angelique as they were herded past.
“That’s the truth,” called Jean-Baptiste over his shoulder as he ducked into the elevator. “No-one messes with my Astor — Queen of the Ibis!” He turned, giving Ryann a wide grin as they were pushed into the elevator beside him. “Queen of the Ibis.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RETURN TO NEW EDEN
Ryann and Angelique followed the imposing figure of Jean-Baptiste Grande all the way back up to the bridge, flanked by a small group of his crew. Ryann was almost delirious with fatigue now, and he and Angelique barely had the strength left to drag their legs up the last flights of steps.
By the time they reached the bridge they were utterly exhausted. As they stepped through the hatchway, Ryann stumbled, bumping into a crewman who was coming the other way. To Ryann’s shock he saw that the man was dragging a bodybag.
“What you did to the crew from New Eden was barbaric.”
Angelique’s voice at Ryann’s side was filled with loathing.
Jean-Baptiste stopped, turning around and appraising her with his heavy-lidded eyes; he had such a sense of detachment, it was as though a part of him were absent.
“They got what they deserved for stealing our ship,” he said flatly, then turned back, making his way to the panoramic window that ran the length of the bridge. The rest of the room was busy with his crew as they tried to get the engines back online. “They would have done better to steal the Flyers — but we had them guarded too well. They tried to get all their crew away from New Eden — they had heard stories of my people — they thought that we were going to eat them alive.” He turned and gave Angelique a wide grin, baring his his teeth.
“We don’t care for Inlanders,” he muttered at last, looking back out into space. “But we are not cannibals. We just wanted to fix our jump drives and then we would be on our way.”
“But, surely you must see that disabling your ship was for everyone’s safety?” cut in Ryann. “If the Lumina find you then everyone in New Eden is at risk.”
Jean-Baptiste looked unimpressed.
“The aliens have gone now, they passed us by,” he said. “They won’t be interested in the Ibis. We will head back to New Eden to pick up the rest of our people and fix our jump drives. Then we will leave as we always said we would, and there will have been no need for this killing.”
He turned to one of his crew.
“How is our ship? Can you fix her?” he asked. The woman nodded as she worked.
“Anatoly destroyed the heat-distributers with the Patroller as you instructed. The engines overheated and went into emergency shutdown. We’re bringing them back online now; as long as we don’t push them too hard we’ll be fine.”
“Good, good,” muttered Grande. “Take us back to New Eden.”
“And the Inlander’s ship?” asked the woman, looking mistrustfully towards Ryann and Angelique.
“We don’t need it, it will only strain the Ibis’ engines,” replied Jean-Baptiste, turning back to the window. “Cut it free.”
Ryann felt as though he had been punched in the stomach at the thought of losing the Raven.
“Please, wait!” he exclaimed, taking a step towards the big man. “That’s our ship — it’s all we have!”
“I am sorry Ryann Wade,” replied Jean-Baptiste. “But I cannot risk the extra strain on our drives.”
“But, you don’t understand! You’ve just told us how much your ship means to you, and now you’re taking ours away from us!”
Grande paused a moment, seeming to consider Ryann’s plea. After some time he gave a long sigh.
“We have restored power to one of the ships from New Eden that had been disabled — the Serena — that is how we managed to follow the Ibis this far,” he said. “When we have repaired the Ibis and left New Eden to search for the rest of our people, then you may have the Serena. Take it as a token of our gratitude to your father for rescuing us from the aliens.”
Ryann went to protest, but Jean-Baptiste held up his hand.
“Until then, I am sorry but you must both remain in New Eden — Roache, take them back to my quarters and see that their wounds are treated and they are fed. Keep two guards on them at all times.”
The crewman at Ryann’s shoulder nodded, pushing him towards the hatchway at the far end of the bridge.
Ryann walked in a daze. He couldn’t believe that after everything he and Angelique had been through in the last few hours they would still end up losing their beloved ship.
“They’ve got the drives online.”
Through his sorrow Ryann heard Angelique’s voice filled with urgency. He glanced over to her.
She was right, he could feel the throb of the Ibis’ engines resonating through the ship in a deep, subterranean rumble. A realisation suddenly struck him, and he stopped, turning back to Jean-Baptiste in horror.
“You can’t power the ship with the main drives!” he called out across the bridge. Grande looked up from a conversation with one of his crew.
“The Lumina will see your ship!” he called desperately, shrugging off Roache’s rough
