“Ryann? Ryann is that you? Son, I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear your voice! I thought I’d lost you!”
“I’m fine dad!” replied Ryann. “For the moment at any rate!”
But they didn’t have time to speak further, and in seconds the Ghost-Runners were streaming down to the aid of the Marianne, mopping up the last of the Luminal drone-ships.
“Ryann! Meet us down on the station, landing deck B!” came his father’s urgent voice, and Ryann looped the Interceptor around, heading back into the heart of the refugee fleet.
He looked on in horror at the devastation all around. There seemed to be burning vessels everywhere, some still anchored to the rest of the fleet, while others had broken loose and were spinning forlornly in space.
He gunned the engines, swooping down to the station and straight into the docking bay, setting the little ship down beside his father’s Conqueror.
“Ryann!”
Grayell embraced his son the moment that he stepped down from his ship.
“Ryann, thank god you’re safe!”
“Are we safe?” asked Ryann with a grim smile, glancing up as another flash of light from the Luminal bombardment lit up the ice-field. “What the hell’s going on dad? Jean-Baptiste told me that you’d attacked the Ibis and brought the Lumina down on us.”
Grayell’s face fell for a moment.
“Those Outlanders brought this on themselves,” he said grimly. “But there’s no time now, we’ve got to be quick! I’ve sent Mellarnne with most of the Ghost-Runners off through the Halion Belt — they’re engaging the Luminal battleship, trying to draw it away from us.”
“But, but that’s suicide!” exclaimed Ryann.
“Not if they stay to the edges of the ice-field,” replied Grayell, looking up as two more Ghost-Runner ships broke through the docking shields and set down beside them. “They don’t know how many refugees we have hidden here, otherwise they’d be straight in. As far as they know there’s only the Ibis and a handful of fighters — they’ll be more interested in chasing down Mellarnne’s group.”
“But they’ll have seen the Defiance.”
“Yes, we were almost back to the Halion Belt, searching for you and the Marianne when that Luminal jumped back into the system.
“So far the disguise seems to have worked, and they think we’re one of there’s. They won’t be able to scan us in the Halion Belt, so we’re just hoping that it will buy us enough time,” said Grayell, waving over to his men as they alighted from their ships.
“Time for what?” asked Ryann with a terrible feeling that he already knew the answer.
“For the evacuation,” said Grayell, his voice leaden. “We have almost a thousand refugees in New Eden — we can’t leave them here to die.” He motioned back out through the docking-bay doors. Sure enough, already a small fleet of tug-boats were issuing from the Defiance’s launch tunnel. They crowded around one of the larger ships, the Aurora, that had escaped the drone-ship attack relatively unscathed. Worker droids were buzzing about the vessel, the arcs of their lasers lighting up the darkness as they cut away the burning ships still anchored to her.
And then, inch by slow inch, the tugs, heaving upon their gravity hawsers, towed the great ship back towards the Defiance.
“But dad, we can’t take everyone aboard the Defiance!” stuttered Ryann in shock. “We don’t have the capabilities to sustain so many!”
“We have no choice!” snapped Grayell running his hand anxiously through his white hair. More ships were coming in through the docking gates now, and Ryann noticed in alarm that refugees were beginning to stream into the landing-bay from within the station. They must have come in to take shelter here after Grande had opened the airlocks that linked the station to the refugee fleet, thought Ryann.
Already, the Ghost-Runner crews were sending the crowds towards the waiting ships as hundreds of frightened civilians poured into the hangar.
“Are they really going to be any safer aboard the Defiance?” asked Ryann in a hushed voice as the refugees streamed past them. “That ship is one giant bomb! One stray shot from a Luminal and everyone will go up in flames!”
“It’s been no different for us so far,” retorted Grayell. “We have no choice! Now Ryann, I want you with me while we’re evacuating — we’ll head back to the Defiance in the Conqueror.”
“I need to see Angelique first,” replied Ryann, glancing around the crowded hangar. “The Marianne took a beating from those drone-ships — I want to make sure she’s okay.”
He caught Grayell’s look of concern.
“Dad? Where’s Angelique?” he asked urgently.
“Anders took the Marianne and a few other fighters to help out Mellarnne against that Luminal battleship.”
Ryann just stood and stared at his father in horror.
“What? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” he spat. He turned back towards the Interceptor.
“Ryann! I need you here with me!” called Grayell.
But Ryann barely heard him. He was already pulling himself back up into the cockpit. In a few moments he heard the deep growl of the drives powering up once again, and then he pushed the Interceptor forwards at full throttle. The little ship blasted out of the docking-bay in a blur, and Ryann urged it on faster towards the glowing clouds of the Halion Belt.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE FLIGHT OF THE IBIS
The Interceptor streaked out through the chaos of the refugee fleet. All about, burning ships drifted as the Ghost-Runners fought to cut them free.
The Aurora was already nearing the open launch tunnel of the Defiance, which waited upon the edge of the fleet dwarfing every other ship.
The vessels were moving painstakingly slowly though, thought Ryann. It would take hours to get the refugees aboard the Defiance.
“Ryann! Ryann, come back! I need you here to help with the evacuation!”
Grayell’s desperate voice cut into Ryann’s earpiece, but he ignored it, searching about the glowing walls of the Halion Belt for any sign of Angelique and the other Ghost-Runners.
Far above him, he saw the clouds lighting up in sporadic
