"That was too easy," Tassan muttered as they ran through the corridors, escorted by the two guards who had been with Asnefer.
"You call that easy?" Sabrina panted. "I was sweating."
They reached the shuttle and threw themselves into their seats. Darice powered the engines up all at once in a rough, jarring roar as the docking clamps released.
"Over there," Varsanyi said, murmuring a string of coordinates. Sabrina followed Darice's quick glance to port. The Reissians were just becoming visible, pinpoints of light streaking toward them.
"My God," Sabrina said. "There must be hundreds."
"We're going into atmosphere at top speed," Darice announced. "Everybody strap in and hang on tight. It's the only way we're going to get there before they get a target lock on us."
"Darice, can you get me a channel to Control?" Sabrina said. "We'd better tell them the Homeworld ships are on our side."
"Our atmospheric burn won't permit communications, so talk quickly," Darice said. "Okay, you're on."
Sabrina glanced out the viewport; the planet was growing huge with breathtaking rapidity. "Praxatillus Control, this is Sabrina Devon. The agreement has been reached. The Homeworld ships are our allies in this battle. Repeat, the Homeworld ships are our allies."
"Control acknowledges," came the reply.
Darice glanced at her panel and said, "Varsanyi, take it for a minute. Control wants confirmation and codes." Her fingers flew over the communications panel while Varsanyi struggled with the shuttle's controls as it entered the upper atmosphere.
"We're heating up," Varsanyi said.
"I hope they got enough of that to convince them," Darice said, taking the helm again.
The shuttle bucked and heaved; the viewport glowed yellow, then red. "We're under fire," Darice announced. "But the heat around our shields'll make us hard to target accurately. Everybody hang on."
Tassan said, "Look! The Sentinel is firing. Ah ha, that must be the Reissian who fired at us."
Sabrina followed his gaze to where the space battle was erupting. "How far to the surface, Darice?"
"Not long now. I'm starting to slow us down."
"It's getting hot in here," Mireth said.
"It's going to get worse," Darice warned.
"Look!" Varsanyi exclaimed, pointing to a readout on the control panel. "They got the shield up!"
Sabrina felt hope leap in her, but Darice said, "So they did, but it's only extending a few millimeters above ground level. Well, at least it'll protect Giandrah and Control if nothing else. But it means we can't land inside the palace. I'm going to try for the perimeter landing pad."
"Incoming!" Varsanyi yelped.
A blaze of energy blinded them all momentarily; then there was a huge explosion at the rear of the shuttle. The engine roar escalated to a shriek, then cycled out of Sabrina's range of hearing. One of the forward consoles threw off sparks.
"Direct hit, rear starboard quarter!" Varsanyi coughed. "The engines are offline!"
"Forward thrusters, full reverse!" Darice shouted. "Somebody get that fire out back there!"
Mireth was already unfastening her safety webbing. Tassan began to do the same, but another blast, this one a near miss, sent him rocking back into his seat. Sabrina twisted around and saw Mireth sprawled on the floor near the approaching flames. She tried to unfasten her webbing, but her shaking fingers couldn't deal with the stiff catches. Tassan tore free of his and dived for the back of the shuttle. Sabrina felt a hot breeze and realized that part of the shuttle's aft fuselage was missing.
Mireth had staggered to her feet and was helping Tassan with the fire extinguishers. Varsanyi was calling out numbers at intervals; in shock, Sabrina recognized that he was measuring their rapidly declining altitude.
"This isn't going to be a smooth landing," Darice called over her shoulder. "I'm going to forget the landing pad and try to ditch it in the water."
"We'll sink if you do!" Tassan shouted back.
Darice wrenched the shuttle around in a long, sweeping curve, trying to bleed off some speed. Sabrina realized in shock that they were far enough down for Dansestari to fill the viewport ahead.
Another energy bolt hit them, this time on the shuttle's starboard mid-section, sending them hurtling sideways. Sabrina heard a horrible, shrieking sound as more of the fuselage ripped away. Tassan gave a shout of horror, and she turned in her seat to see him clinging to what remained of the rear seat. He was trying to reach Mireth, who was clawing at the floor as she slid toward the hole in the rear.
Darice turned the shuttle on its port side, and they all slid to the left, away from the gaping holes. Sabrina managed to get her webbing undone and crawled over the seat to reach Mireth's hand. Then the shuttle smacked the water's surface and bounced upward, like a skipping stone. The impact jarred Mireth loose from Sabrina's grip, and she went hurtling out the rear of the shuttle with a shriek.
"Can you swim?" Tassan shouted at Sabrina.
"Yes, but—"
Another impact on the water cut her off. She looked forward to see the cliffs of Dansestari looming ahead. Darice shouted, "After the next one we'll be slow enough to jump. Bail out!"
After the third skip, Tassan and Sabrina picked themselves up and staggered toward the hole. The next impact shot them out into the icy, dark water. Sabrina struggled toward the surface, hampered by her wet, heavy skirts. She kicked off her shoes as she surfaced, blinking and looking around.
The shuttle was sinking rapidly a few hundred feet away. Sabrina looked desperately to see if Darice and Varsanyi had made it out; then she looked behind her. She thought she saw Mireth's head was bobbing up and down with the waves. "Mireth!" she shouted.
Mireth waved in reply. Sabrina shouted, "Tassan?"
A moment later, he surfaced. "Come on, it's too cold to stay out here."
"Mireth's okay, she's behind us."
"Good. Come on. Let's see if we can catch up to Darice and Varsanyi."
"Help me first," Sabrina said, treading water. "I can't get this skirt off. Help me tear it."
Tassan swam over to her and began ripping at the wet fabric. Between the two of them, they managed to get the overskirt almost completely off, and one or two layers of petticoat.
"Thanks, that's better," Sabrina said.
He grinned. "Under normal circumstances, I'd be arrested for that."
"You can tell your grandchildren," Sabrina retorted. "Come on."
They struck out for the shuttle, hearing Mireth splashing behind them. It was quiet otherwise, except for the flashes of light in the sky and the occasional blast that struck buildings or sizzled off the shield on the ground in Palace Royal. Sabrina couldn't see the shuttle anymore; it had sunk completely by now. She thought she heard splashing ahead of them as well as behind, but it was hard to tell. She glanced at the cliffs; they were so tall it was difficult to estimate the distance to them.
At last, she made out a form in the water ahead, in the light of an explosion on Dansestari. "Darice!" she called.
"Up here! I've got Varsanyi," Darice shouted back.
They caught up to her a few minutes later. Sabrina was beginning to tire and was glad to tread water while Tassan convinced Darice to give him the unconscious Varsanyi.
"You two go ahead. They'll be frantic about you," he said. "I've got Varsanyi, and Mireth's coming up behind, so she can take him if I get tired. Go on."
"Now who's the martyr?" Sabrina demanded, but Darice said, "He's right, my lady. Come on."
"How are we going to get up those cliffs?" Sabrina wondered as they struck out again.
"I don't know," Darice said, breathing hard. "I had to take my boots off. Damn, I'd just broken them in, too."
"It's a long way, isn't it?" Sabrina panted.
They glanced up involuntarily as a single ship shot out from Dansestari, sweeping over the water. It circled over them, then streaked out of sight as a bolt of energy sizzled past it toward the ocean. Sabrina closed her eyes, anticipating the rush of heat and roiling water; but when she opened them, she was dripping all over the floor of Defense Control.
"Sabrina!" Rayland exclaimed in relief. "My dear, I feared the worst."
Sabrina coughed. "Was that Mara?"
"Yes. She went up to see about disrupting the space around the Reissian fleet." Rayland helped her up and extended a hand to Darice. A moment later, Tassan, Varsanyi, and Mireth joined them. Rayland signed for a technician to take Varsanyi down to the infirmary and said, "The rest of you must get into some dry clothes. See what you can find, Darice."
"Yes, sir," Darice said, saluting crisply despite her sodden condition. She padded barefoot out the door, leaving wet footprints, and Sabrina smiled a little as she, Tassan, and Mireth followed.