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I tucked the device into a pocket. “This will be a game changer in future missions.”
He nodded. “Yes, I can see that, but we’d better leave and finish this mission.”
We hurried to the hall. Crouching under the hole in the ceiling, I pushed off and caught the edge and pulled myself through. Inside the attic space, I reached down to help Garrison who couldn’t leap the way I could by virtue of my half-Copan genetics.
Bright morning light spilled in through the hole in the roof. I squeezed through the opening then climbed down the tree next to the house, Garrison right behind me. We sprinted to the hovercar and piled in.
“I’m glad you came prepared.” I eyed the stunners and blasters on the back seat.
“Straight to the ship, right?” he asked.
“Your hovercar doesn’t have shimmer tech, does it?”
“Of course not.”
“Take us close, but not so near they’ll see us.”
“Roger.” He keyed in coordinates, and the hovercraft took off.
“You got a plan on how we’re going to delay the ship?” he asked.
“Not yet.” I grabbed his handheld and shoved it at him. “Give me access to your contacts. I can’t reach Jovi from your device, but maybe you have a contact who can, or they have contacts who can.”
He handed it back to me, and I scrolled through his very limited list. I found one possibility. A single LOP agent with the same rank as me. I shot off an urgent message. Would he get it in time? I sighed. I had no plan for what to do once we arrived at the ship. We would have to make it up as we went.
“Do you feel any different?” Garrison asked.
“Different how? Why would I feel different?”
“Being president and all.”
“What?” I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t tell? I assumed you knew.”
“Knew what?”
He pulled down a flap tucked against the hovercar roof to reveal a mirror. “Look at yourself.”
Instead of my face, I saw Erika Stadler’s. “Son of a bitch!” I swore in Terran Universal. I thought about what we needed to accomplish and what it would take. I checked my appearance again, and a plan started to take shape.
Pulling it off would take perfect timing and a whole lot of luck.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Imana of Copa
“Why are we still here? Launch the ship, now!” I ordered as I strode onto the bridge.
The first officer and the captain exchanged a glance of confusion.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
“No, problem, Your Highness,” the captain replied and signaled the first officer who accessed the ship’s AI. Seconds later, the vessel launched, rising through the clouds into the sky, the planet shrinking beneath us.
When the ship broke out of the planet’s atmosphere and entered the safety of outer space, I exited the bridge and headed to my quarters. The cries of the humans should have been music to my ears but served as a reminder that there should have been many more of them.
In my stateroom, I flung myself onto an ugly low-cushioned lounger. Every ship had a cabin reserved for me, should I wish to accompany the crew. Out of necessity, the double-sized crew cabin was uncomfortably sparse in accommodations, not even close to befitting a princess. Even the substandard New Terran presidential quarters at Jericho were better.
