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I think about her, hoping she’s safe. She hasn’t contacted me, so I’ll suppose she’s fine, even though a bad feeling gnaws at me. Does everyone feel that way when they’re separated from their mates? Do they spend every waking minute worrying?
Faelin yanks on my hand, pulling me away just before a laser beam hits the wall behind me. “Careful, friend.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re telling me to be careful? I’m not the one who brought a freaking hammer to a gunfight,” I tease. “Thanks though. I’m a little distracted.”
“No shit,” Lyriana snickers. “How many more enemies are on the ship?”
I shake off my worries about Astra, doing my best to focus on the task at hand. “Four dead in the cellblock, three more on the central levels, and I’ve locked up two techs in a storage closet. According to my information, there were about forty people aboard this ship, all Genixarians.”
“Good,” Faelin grins, weighing his hammer, “they make good targets.”
“Twelve in this hangar,” Lyriana says, “which should leave about twenty of them on the ship. No problem.”
The last Genixarian is flushed out of his cover by Omni shooting from above. Lyriana’s rifle huffs and the alien stumbles down. She hit him without even aiming and is properly smug about it. “Let’s go kill the rest of these fuckers,” she suggests. “I’m bored.”
“All clear!” Omni shouts, flying over the hangar bay to check before landing next to us.
“Everyone alright?” captain Zarkan asks as he approaches. “Faelin? Is the new armor holding?”
After realizing that Faelin wouldn’t change his habits of charging into the fights headfirst, we’ve all pitched in and had a special armor created for him. It’s lightweight, similar to a thicker bodysuit, but can withstand hits from most weapons. It cost a fortune, money Faelin wouldn’t be able to save up even if he served for a decade. Captain paid the majority and the rest of us gave what we could. Seeing the tears in Faelin’s eyes after we’d handed him the armor was worth it.
He’s young, but he’s already been through more than the rest of us. Growing up in the slums, he’s always had to fend for himself, but it didn’t dampen his spirit. He’s the most optimistic person I’ve ever met. It gets so annoying that sometimes I want to take that hammer of his and smash his head in. I hate the fucker. But I also love him like a little brother. We all do. Like Faelin says, we’re a family. A pretty messed up family, but family nonetheless.
As we move deeper into the ship, I ponder over my future. Nova squad is my family. I have a family back on my home planet and I love them, but the bond I have with my squad mates is different. But now, I have Astra. She’s the most important thing in the universe and I want to be with her, but…
Being a Voidstalker is dangerous. I’m often away for weeks at a time. She wouldn’t like that. I can’t have both Astra and this job but I already know I’ll never give up Astra, which means I’ll have to give up being a member of the Nova squad. Give up my family. The thought hurts.
“Pay attention, idiot!” Lyriana yells at me, tackling me just in time to avoid another barrage of laser fire. I’ve walked around a corner without checking for enemies and nearly paid for it with my life.
I let my instincts take over, rolling to my side and shooting at the enemies while the rest of my squad provides cover fire. The Genixarians scatter, leaving the dead and wounded behind and retreating toward the bridge.
Zarkan offers me his scaly hand and helps me up. “Everything alright, Tareq?” he asks, frowning. “If you don’t start paying attention, I’ll order you to stay back in the Dart.”
I flush, dreadfully embarrassed. I’m not a rookie that needs to wait in the ship while the grownups do the work. “I’m sorry, sir,” I apologize. “I’m just—”
“Distracted, yeah,” Lyriana interrupts, punching my shoulder. “You can ponder over the immortality of the Zaphirean crab later. I suggest you pull your head out of your ass if you don’t want to get killed.”
Alarms blare around us and blast doors begin to close.
“Enough chatting,” Zarkan orders. “Let’s move.”
Faelin has shoved a small device into the door before it could properly close. One click of a button causes the device to expand, forcing the blast door wide open. It’s a lovely gadget, very useful when one has to invade spaceships on a regular basis. Which we do.
The door to the bridge is sealed shut. D’Aakh hangs his rifle over his shoulder, pulling out a datapad. It only takes him a few seconds to connect it to a panel on the wall and then his fingers fly over the keys. “Their security protocols are shit,” he says with derision. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll get it open.”
“Good,” the captain replies. “Faelin, Lyriana, Omni, you take up the rear. Make sure no one sneaks up on us from behind. Tareq, you stay here.”
I want to protest, to tell him I don’t need coddling, that my head is on straight, but I keep my mouth shut. Zarkan has been a leader for almost as long as I’ve been alive and he knows what he’s doing. If he doesn’t feel like I should be standing guard right now, then perhaps I shouldn’t be, no matter how embarrassing the thought might be.
“Huh, that’s odd,” D’Aakh mutters to himself. “Some of the security measures have been disabled already.”
Before I can ask, my comm beeps. I immediately answer it, worry surging through me. I told Astra to only contact me if she needed help and I know that my strong and brave Myále wouldn’t call me just to ask how I’m doing.
“Astra?” I call, my voice shaking. “Astra, is everything alright? Are you there?” I ignore the surprised looks of my squad mates. “Astra!”
There’s a wheezing gasp from the other side and a whispered word. “... air …”
It’s definitely Astra’s voice, but she sounds like she’s barely conscious. My insides turn to ice. What happened to her? Has she been hurt? I’m certain there weren’t any Genixarians left in that portion of the ship when I sealed it off. Has one of the other captives hurt her? Knowing Astra, she has released them all by now.
