Gamma Stellaris

Chapter 13

        "Dude, calm down and tell us what happened."

        Brian ignored Jared's question, continuing to pace the classroom. 

          The moment Leanne made eye contact with him stayed stuck in his memory. She was right there and he had been too afraid to help her. She might die because he was too afraid to help.

         "How did they know about us?" Brian whispered, shaking his head.

          Stefanie shrugged. "Beats me."

           Jared stared at a corner for a moment before sighing. "You're right. They probably found your corpse when we left it in the hallway."

         "Shit." Brian muttered.

         Of course on top of him being a coward, Leanne was gone because he told Jared to leave Kassidy's corpse behind. That was one way to add salt to the wound.

           "What can we do to find her?" Stefanie asked softly.

         "It's not just Leanne. Charity got in trouble because of us too." Jared answered. "We need to find both of them."

        "What the hell did you kids do?!" Lonnie hissed, slamming the door shut behind him.

         Stefanie quirked an eyebrow. "Which thing?"

        "Charity is being put up for execution!"

         Brian stiffened, studying Lonnie in disbelief. "Execution? Just because we were staying here? Is that really so bad?"

          "Xkmotg doesn't take kindly to humans on her ship."

          "I can't even imagine what Leanne's going through right now if that's what's happening to Charity." Stefanie whispered.

         Lonnie's shoulders slightly relaxed. "One of your friends were taken too?"

         Brian slowly nodded. "I saw her get taken. I was too afraid to help do anything."

         "Wait, you guys still seem down a person. Where's that other girl?"

        "Dead." Jared whispered.

         "Oh god, I'm so sorry."

         "How do we get them back?" Brian asked. 

          "Well, I have someone who I think could help us out with that."

         Stefanie tilted her head to the side. "Why do you sound so hesitant about it?"

           "Okay, so the story I'm about to tell you three is slightly embarrassing. Seventeen years ago, Charity and I had a kid. And when Xkmotg found out about her, she gave us an ultimatum. Either she got to raise our child, or she would kill her. And of course we couldn't let her die so we gave her to Xkmotg.

        "But she wasn't an idiot, so she figured out pretty quickly that Xkmotg wasn't her birth mother. Then she managed to track us down, cause again she's not an idiot. But she learns a lot of inside information, she may be able to figure out a way for us to stop the execution and figure out if your friend is okay." Lonnie finished, pushing hair away from his forehead.

          "That sounds horrible." Brian whispered. "Having to give up your own kid to them alive."

          "Yeah. If we hadn't been stupid enough to sneak on this ship we could've had a happy life together."

         "But she can help?" Stefanie asked.

          "Hopefully."