“We haven’t seen any ship but yours Ryann Wade,” muttered the big man. “There are no aliens left here, they have moved on with the fighting — we would be of no concern to them.”
“They were right here!” shouted Ryann furiously. He tried to pull against the guards, but he was too weak. “Who the hell do you think took out your pilot in that Patroller, and then torched my ship dammit?”
Jean-Baptiste walked slowly over to where Ryann strained to break free from the guards’ grip.
“I cannot tell you who killed my pilot, I was not there,” began Grande, towering over Ryann. “But I have no reason to trust your words. If we were not in debt to your father then I would not be so hospitable to you Ryann Wade. But my patience has limits, and I would advise you not to test them.”
He nodded curtly to the guards and they dragged Ryann away, still protesting vehemently.
By the time they reached Grande’s quarters, Ryann felt beaten. His last remaining energy had left him now and he slumped down on a chair in a bleak silence.
As Grande had ordered, he and Angelique were treated well enough, and after a while one of the crew came to attend to their minor injuries and put a fresh dressing upon Angelique’s forehead.
Eventually, after placing some rations and water in front of them on the table, he left, leaving just the two guards in the corridor outside the open door.
“I’m so sorry about the Raven,” said Angelique at last in a forlorn whisper. Ryann could tell from the tone of her voice that their ship, home for the last two years, meant just as much to her as it did to him.
“It doesn’t matter,” murmured Ryann, his eyes downcast. “That Luminal warship will be upon us any time soon. What a bunch of fools. I can’t understand how Grande thinks we won’t be spotted.”
“He doesn’t believe they’re even looking for us,” muttered Angelique, idly picking up a ration pack and studying its contents before tossing it back upon the tabletop. “He thinks we’re making it all up, and that we took out that Patroller on our own.”
“Do you think we’ll make it back to New Eden?” asked Ryann wearily. Angelique shrugged, putting her feet up on the chair opposite and closing her eyes.
“One thing’s for certain,” she sighed as she settled down to sleep. “If that Luminal does take us out, then you and I won’t know a damn thing about it.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
A SECRET TREASURE
Ryann awoke to the sounds of footsteps from outside in the corridor.
“Come with me.”
The crewman that Ryann recognised as Roache entered the room. Angelique sat up in her chair rubbing her eyes wearily.
“The Lumina haven’t found us yet then?” she muttered, pulling herself to her feet. Roache stared angrily back at her but didn’t reply.
“Where are we going?” asked Ryann as the two of them were marched through the gloomy corridors of the Ibis. Every muscle in his body ached and he struggled to keep up.
They came eventually to the main airlock, and for a moment Ryann felt a spark of hope as he waited for the inner doors to slide open.
But his heart sank when he saw that the docked ship wasn’t the Raven, but some sort of transporter by the looks of it. Ryann guessed that it was the Serena that Jean-Baptiste had mentioned.
They were ushered into a cramped cargo bay, stacked with various piles of containers, and Ryann could see Grande sitting at the far end, staring out through a row of narrow windows.
He turned to them with a nod as they approached, and motioned for them to sit down beside him. Roache and the guards went forwards into the cockpit, leaving them alone with the big man.
As they seated themselves nervously beside him, they heard the boom of the docking clamps echo throughout the ship and the Serena’s engines started up with a low throb.
“It feels good to have our ship returned to us,” muttered Jean-Baptiste, half to himself. He stared out through the window as the little transporter shuddered, and Ryann made out the dark mass of the Ibis’ hull-plates begin to recede into the distance. The Serena picked up speed, and soon they could see the Ibis in its entirety, a great mass of steel silhouetted against the luminescent green clouds of the Halion Belt.
“The Ibis has been home to generations of my people,” said Grande, with a tone of heartfelt pride. He turned to Ryann and Angelique. “My crew will finish the repairs to our jump drives and then we will be on our way.”
As they watched through the windows, the green clouds of the Halion Belt slowly enveloped them and the Ibis disappeared from view.
“Where are we going now then?” asked Angelique mistrustfully; Jean-Baptiste gave her a grin.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said, his face cast in the green glow from the windows. “We are returning to New Eden to gather the rest of our people. You will be our guests there until we are ready to leave.”
“But, what about the Ibis?” asked Ryann. “You’re not intending to leave her there outside the Halion Belt are you?”
“She will be safe on the edge of the ice-field,” murmured Grande. “Before your father helped us, we were travelling with other ships of my people. When our drives failed they went on. We need to find out where they went so that we can catch up with them.”
“You don’t mean that you’re trying to contact them?” cut in Angelique in horror. “Surely you’re not that stupid?”
A brief look of anger flashed across Jean-Baptiste’s heavy features.
“Do not take my people for fools young girl,” he growled. “We have our own ways of doing things that you Inlanders no nothing about. You think
