I felt the pressure press on the top of my head.
“We’re getting out of here,” Ras said. “Nobody can stop us now.”
I grinned but it faltered.
The blood drained from my face.
“What?” Ras said.
“It’s Sar,” I said. “He’s heading toward us… Fast… I think he’s on his own ship and heading directly for us!”
The moment the elevator stopped, Ras was a man of action.
“Computer, take us off this planet and hit warp speed! Plot a course for the Rift!”
“Order confirmed.”
The ship turned and headed directly up.
Ras placed me at a computer terminal fully loaded with blinking lights and 3D holographic images.
“Uh…” I said, with no idea what I was looking at. “I hope you don’t expect me to actually do anything.”
“Just take a seat and relax. I’ll get us out of here.”
Suddenly, dark green blasts of plasma shot past us and across the front monitor.
“He’s firing at us?” I said, surprised at my shock. “I thought I was supposed to be important to him?”
“You are. But losing you to me is worse than you dying. To him, at least.”
Ras turned to the main monitor.
“Computer, divert all power to rear shields.”
“Diverting now,” Computer said.
“Load all torpedoes and fire at the ship attacking us.”
“There are multiple ships on our tail. Do you wish to attack them both?”
I could see the disappointment on Ras’s face.
Multiple ships.
He could defeat one Shadow ship, but two?
“Yes,” he said. “Open fire on them all. Target their engines. Maybe we can’t destroy them, but we can slow them down.”
The ship shuddered violently as we took incoming fire.
“Power at sixty-five percent,” Computer said.
“We just need to reach outer space,” Ras said. “If we can reach it, we can punch warp speed and we’ll get to the M’rora empire. We’ll be safe there.”
My fingers turned white they were gripping the armrests so tightly.
The monitor showed the atmosphere of the Shadow homeworld and the dark depth of space beyond.
The darkness turned lighter as we worked through each layer of the atmosphere.
“Why don’t we hit warp speed now?” I screamed.
“The gravity of the planet’s pull interferes with the technology. We have to get a safe distance away before we can hit it!”
Each second that passed, we peeled another layer of the atmosphere off until we were greeted with liquid black space and the only source of light came from distant twinkling stars.
Ras’s hand perched over a big red button that I assumed would launch us into hyperspace.
His fist quivered, desperate to punch it and speed away from our enemies.
The front screen turned almost completely black and I waited, desperate for Ras to hit that button too.
“Finally!” Ras said.
He brought his fist down on the button and…
The ship shuddered hard.
The lights flickered and the distant whine of the engines faded.
“The Core has been corrupted,” Computer said. “Warp speed is suspended.”
Ras slammed his hand on the button again and again.
But it was no good.
The final tendrils of hope slipped through his fingers and my own as we fell into the hands of his mortal enemy, the Shadow.
Ras
I had failed her.
My one mission in life was to keep her safe from harm and I had done the opposite.
The Shadow would board the ship and take her away.
They would take her back to the Citadel and the hellish experience she would be forced to endure would now be far worse.
They would make an example of her.
She would be passed to the very worst Shadows in the empire, the diseased crazies, and the empire would watch, enrapt, as would the other breeders, who were the real audience, to see what happened when someone tried to escape them.
Meanwhile, I would be tortured for days, possibly even weeks, if they thought my crimes were heinous enough.
I’d begun to hope we had done enough to escape this hell…
And instead, I had doomed us to an even worse fate.
I hung my head and awaited the arrival of the Shadow.
“Incoming message,” Computer said.
It would be my Shadow, come to gloat over his victory.
There was no greater shame.
“Onscreen,” I said.
Sar appeared on the monitor.
Psychologically, he was as different from me as black was to white, but when it came to our appearance, we really could have been twins.
“Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded, M’rora,” he spat.
Death was the best we could hope for now.
But it didn’t have to be slow and drawn-out, maybe it could be quick…
Did I have it in me to end our lives now, knowing what we would face?
One glance at Isabella told me I could never harm her.
I reached for the controls to lower the shields.
Isabella took my hand in hers and held me back from doing so.
“Turn the monitor off,” she said.
I did as she asked and it turned black.
“How long would it take for them to hack into the sysem and shut it down?” she said.
“I don’t know. Half an hour. An hour, maximum. Why?”
She took a seat in my lap.
“Because they’re our final few moments together.”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine.
She didn’t linger and drew back.
She worked her way down my neck and began to unbutton my shirt.
“I failed you,” I said, shutting my eyes and enjoying the sensation. “You’re doomed to a—”
She pressed a finger to my lips.
“Quiet. You’re spoiling the mood.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Computer, defend your systems to the best of your ability. Buy us as much time as possible.”
“Order confirmed.”
I scooped Isabella up in my arms.
“If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.”
I carried her across the bridge and into the captain’s quarters.
I headed directly for the bedroom.
“The bathroom,” she said. “I want us to be clean… before we get dirty.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It was small but functional and smelled brand-new from its recent refurbishment.
I put Isabella down, who turned the water on until she found the perfect temperature.
I tugged at my shirt to remove it but she took my hands in hers.
“Let me.”
She unbuttoned my shirt and kept her eyes firmly on mine.
Then she shoved it from my shoulders and reached for my pants.
Soon, they were on the floor too.
The briefs
