A New Beginning

Chapter 66

Tessa's POV:

Several seconds went by without an impact, and I peeked one eye open.

"Is it over?"

Soranto moved one arm to tap a few buttons. "The worst of it. Some smaller pieces might still hit us. The shields held, although they are below ten percent."

Another jolt echoed his words, making Soranto hit a lot more buttons. I climbed up to his shoulder pad to let him use both hands.

"The other shuttle also survived."

My eyes widened – one of the Votaks managed to escape.

Soranto pushed a button. "This is Soranto. My shields are low, and I have a Votak in pursuit. Immediate assistance require-" his voice cut off as another jolt threw him against the seat restraints. I nearly lost my grip from the force of the impact.

"Soranto, both shuttles are showing a larger lifeform and a smaller one. Please confirm you are the one in the lead."

My heart dropped further, if the other shuttle held a large and small lifeform, then it was undoubtedly Claas – the ringleader – and Apus chasing us. If they saw the Kymari coming to help, they could flee and continue their madness in another place – possibly exposing the dragonets for what we were as a distraction in the process.

"Confirmed. We are the ones trying to escape."

The star-spangled blackness ahead of our shuttle suddenly shimmered as a small spaceship dropped its stealth cloak and whizzed past us, firing blasts of bright pink energy towards something behind us. Another impact rocked the shuttle, this one much stronger, nearly dislodging me even though I was braced for another strike.

Soranto tapped more buttons and exhaled in relief. "That fighter used his strongest weapons to stop the Votak from attacking us. It looks like the strikes triggered some sort of self-destruct mechanism. They won't be able to recover anything from that wreckage."

The communication device activated once more. "Soranto, you never told me that you moved into this backwater area for this kind of excitement. And here I thought I would see the most fighting when I went to the borders to clash with hostile forces."

Soranto blinked and reached for the transmitter button. "Ravin? Is that you?"

Laughter came over the speakers. "Indeed! It is, cousin! In fact, half of the family is within an hour's flight. Well, an hour if you have decent shuttle. Where did you pick up that piece of garbage?"

"Stowaways don't always get to demand the best vessels. I'm sure someone will enjoy taking this thing apart."

"Alter your heading to match mine. I'll escort you to the nearest battleship. Keep an eye on your scanners. We've had some unfriendly ships trying to take advantage of the unguarded borders."

"The scanners on this thing are almost primitive. You'll have to be the one watching."

"I am, although now that the moon has exploded and I have you within sight, most of the armadas are breaking up into groups to push whatever followed us back to where they came from."

The Kymari ship flew in front of us for some time before another ship came into view. This battleship was massive; it made the one that Soranto had fixed look like a toy. I had never seen any spaceship this large before. As we got closer, I could see dozens of smaller ships coming and going from it.

A different voice spoke to us. "Soranto, the twenty-third bay door on our lower left-hand side is opening for you to dock in."

"Thank you."