Don, Sareen, and Melody sat in the back passenger part of the ship. Chris Chase sat up front, flying the craft itself. The silence that fell over the cabin was deafening, and Don picked at his tweed jacket absently. Melody was staring at her lap, apparently smarting after Sareen's insult of saying it would be as if she didn't exist. She would occasionally glance up and smile at Don, but he was too anxious to respond to it.
What could the slavers be doing to Xander and the others? He shuddered, hoping nothing was happening to them. Sareen was scrolling through a tablet on her lap, paying little attention to anything. Her brow was furrowed in concentration. Don looked down at his feet, a little embarrassed from staring at her. Nervously, he continued pulling at a thread on his jacket.
The door to the cockpit opened and Chris looked in on them. "So, plan," she said. "Anyone got one?"
Sareen met the eyes of the captain with a small smile. "I have one. You and I land the ship while Don and Melody hide. There's no way that the slavers won't know that we're landing there, so we have to be the bait."
"Why us?" Chris questioned, a concerned frown coming over her face.
"We're obviously Federation. If Don shows up, they'll question it and know I was involved. Melody isn't even technically a member of the Federation yet, which means they'll suspect that you're involved. We're the two obvious choices," Sareen explained in a voice that was like speaking to a child.
Chris narrowed her eyes at Sareen but said nothing. It was Don who protested. "This is insanity! I don't know how to fight!"
"I'm a doctor," Melody added. "I've got no experience fighting either. How do you expect the two of us to fight our way to free the slaves?"
"I don't expect you to fight," Sareen snapped. "Do you not know the meaning of the word 'stealth'? Both of you need to remain calm and use your heads. You're supposed to be doctors. Use those brains inside and think of a plan to free us. Otherwise, we're all being slaves and there won't be any saving us."
Chris still didn't look happy, but Don assumed she'd look even less thrilled if it were Melody who was risking her life. Don himself wasn't pleased with the turn of events, but he had to admit that Sareen had a point. In order to not look suspicious, they had to sacrifice their two greatest assets. Chris tossed her red curls. "We're landing in ten minutes," she said. "Do I have permission to shoot if they fire on us?" Her voice was heavy with sarcasm.
"Permission granted," Sareen said, either not noticing Chris's sarcasm or choosing to ignore it. "We don't want to make it too easy on them, and there's a slim chance that we'll outshoot them."
"Slim," Chris muttered. "Where are we going to hide the others?"
Sareen pried open the steel floor, revealing a hidden compartment. "All the Federation ships have them in different areas," she explained. "Don, Melody, in."
Although Don wasn't overly fond of enclosed spaces, he crawled inside. It was an unfortunately tiny space, resulting in Melody's elbow digging into his abdomen when she squeezed in with him. He grimaced, particularly when Sareen threw some kind of old rug over them. Where she'd found it, he didn't know.
Once the rug was over them, Sareen lowered the lid of the compartment, sealing them both in. Melody squirmed uncomfortably, which dug her elbow further in to his stomach. "I don't like this," she whispered.
"Me neither," he answered in the same tone. His glasses were crooked on his face, knocked askew by the rug. "But we've got to deal with it."
The doctor nodded, and in the darkness, he couldn't see her face.
. . . . . . . . . .
Once Sareen had hidden their two companions, Chris returned to the cockpit with her commander and they sat at the controls. "Rulon's ship is on our radar," Chris reported, flipping switches. She pressed a button, activating the stealth shield over their ship. "This won't confuse him for long. We don't want it to be too easy, though."
"Agreed," Sareen said, keeping an eye on the scanner. "Five minutes out. If they find your sister and Don, we're doomed. We're going to have to make this a good fight, but try not to die, hm?"
"I'm honored," Chris said sarcastically. "Has anyone ever told you that you're an awe-inspiring leader?"
Sareen snorted derisively. "I wouldn't even be bothering if it weren't for the Atonian being Rulon's prisoner. The Wenis are expendable and I'd shake the slavers' hands for taking Veerna off our hands."
Chris said nothing for a moment as she locked on to the slavers' ship. Then she said quietly, "You are undeniably cruel, Sareen Vold. Nobody deserves a life of slavery."
Sareen frowned at the captain. Technically, she outranked Chris, but the young woman was flying the ship, and she didn't want to antagonize her. However, she did make one thing absolutely clear. "If anyone deserves it, it's Veerna," she said. "You have no idea what that woman has done."
Chris glanced at her but held her peace. She tapped out commands on the keyboard and stood up, buckling her gun to her belt. "We're nearly there," she reported. "Their scanners have picked us up and they're turning around."
"They've caught us in a tractor beam," Sareen noted, also standing and pulling a rifle from her shoulder. The ship shuddered as they were pulled along. Chris bent over the controls and started pressing buttons rapidly, pulling levers and twisting others. "What are you doing?"
"Making an attempt to escape the beam," she answered, not really paying attention. "They'd get suspicious if I didn't, particularly when they find out who I am."
It wasn't any sort of conceit that led Chris to say that. It was a simple statement of the facts, and Sareen knew it. There was no better pilot in the galaxy, and if Chris Chase didn't try to escape from a tractor beam, they'd know it was a trap. Thankfully, she'd thought of it. "Good thinking," Sareen complimented her.
Chris's eyes flicked up to her briefly before she turned back to the controls. "Thanks." She slammed her palms into the panel. "It's useless! I don't know what kind of beam this is, but it's impossible."
"We're not supposed to be escaping it," Sareen reminded her.
Chris scowled at her. "I understand that. But I still wanted to," she admitted. "Let's get to the door." She hurried out of the cockpit, her caramel curls bouncing. Sareen followed along behind Chris, and the two women stood on either side of the door leading out. Chris had the window view and she reported, "We're being pulled in. Not much longer now ..."
Sareen held her rifle at the ready. Chris took up a more relaxed stance, her pistol hanging loosely from her fingers. Neither spoke, though Sareen glanced once at the compartment she'd hidden Melody and Don in. If they were found, it would be all over.
The ship landed in the landing bay with a thud. Both young women caught themselves by grabbing on to the doorframe, and Sareen narrowed her eyes, waiting. The inevitable voice rang out from beyond the frame of the ship. "Come out with your hands up or we're coming in to get you!"
Chris shouted back, "Come on in, losers!"
Sareen sighed at the captain. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she said.
"I have no idea what you mean," Chris answered innocently.
The door was battered down a moment later, narrowly missing their toes. Sareen prepared her gun and Chris raised her pistol as the first slaver came in, his eyes moving further into the ship. "Take this!" Chris shouted, firing. Sareen fired as well, and both shots hit the man point-blank. He fell without a sound.
Sareen risked a glance outside as the man's body blocked the door. Slavers were surrounding the ship, and a shot narrowly missed her nose. She pulled back in hastily, raising her rifle. "Ready?" she asked Chris.
Chris nodded grimly. "As I'll ever be." Without warning, the captain leaned out and fired three times. Three shouts of pain accompanied the shots as Chris pulled back in to cover.
Sareen waited until Chris was firing again to make her move. She stepped completely out of cover and started blasting into the thirty-odd slavers shooting at them. Each shot met its mark and she moved back after about six bullets. "They're getting reinforcements," she told Chris as the captain pulled back as well.
"Let them get reinforcements!" Chris snapped, the heat of battle turning her face as red as her hair. "I'm going to take these monsters down."
Before Sareen could stop her, Chris had lunged from cover again, shooting. Disaster struck; Chris's gun clicked and steam started expounding out of it. The captain was forced to throw it aside and dive back for cover, just a moment too late. She cried out in pain as a shot nicked her side.
"Stay down!" Sareen ordered her. She stayed under cover. The entirety of the slavers were now directing their shots at her. Leaving cover would be like asking for a bullet between the eyes.
"We're pinned down," Chris panted, blood staining the hand she held over her side.
Sareen nodded slowly. "Giving up isn't an option at this point. Not until they ask for surrender." She pulled a pistol off her belt and tossed it to Chris. The swift movement was lost on the slavers, still intent on killing Sareen. "Can you stand?"
Chris pulled herself up by using the wall for leverage. "Well enough," she said through gritted teeth. Without warning, she leaned out and fired multiple times. However, this time, she toppled and hit the floor, groaning.
Sareen cursed—Chris was exposed to enemy fire, and she gave no indication of standing up. The bullet that hit her must have been a stun shot; Chris wouldn't be able to move at that point. She wanted to pull the captain out but knew she'd expose herself in the process.
"Don't fire at her!" someone yelled. Rulon, Sareen guessed. "Leave her be! Get the other one out."
Sareen gave a small sigh of relief but kept pressing her back to the wall behind her. She couldn't just throw down her gun and hope for the best. That was a horrible strategy that would just end up with her dead. "Rulon!" she shouted. "I know you're out there, you child-snatching coward!"
"Do my ears deceive me?" Rulon replied. "Is that Commander Sareen hiding in there? I thought we killed you on Barank, Sareen!"
Sareen smirked without humor. "I'm like a bad penny, Rulon. I just keep coming back. Besides, you killed my psychologist."
"Oh, he was your boyfriend, wasn't he?" Rulon sounded amused. "Sorry, Commander. He was just so small, we had to throw him back. Any physical labor would've snapped his skinny back, and who would pay for a slave who's all brains and no brawn? Aside from the Weni girl, of course, but she's special."
Sareen clutched the rifle in her hands. Rulon's words were vile and despicable, even to her. In a way, Chris was right—nobody, not even Veerna herself, deserved the horrors and evil of slavery. She stayed where she was, watching Chris, seeing the blood oozing from her wound. If nobody moved soon, she might bleed out.
Rulon called to her again. "I'm going to have a bit of fun with you, Commander!" Something flew through the air and slammed into the floor—right over the trapdoor that Don and Melody were beneath. Sareen inhaled sharply when she saw the small, metal object. "Grenades are such fun, aren't they? Throw out your gun in five seconds or your whole ship goes boom."
Sareen swallowed past a lump in her throat, never one to show weakness. Although this had all been part of her plan, she still felt ill throwing her rifle from the ship. Rulon chortled triumphantly. "Step out with your hands up, and kick the pistol the other girl was using away from you."
Still reluctant, Sareen nevertheless did as she was told and kicked Chris's gun away. Her hands were raised above her shoulders in a gesture of surrender. She silently submitted to having her arms grabbed and yanked behind her back. The steel of handcuffs were slapped against her wrists, digging in painfully. They gave the same treatment to the semi-conscious Chris, and Rulon eyed her. "Who in the name of the stars are you?" he asked her.
Chris raised her defiant face to him. "I'm Captain Chris Chase of the U.S.S. United," she snapped.
Rulon put his hand on her chin and forced it up, looking her over jokingly. "Well, well," he said. "You're a good deal more feminine than I expected." His men chuckled at his jibe.
Chris responded by taking her heavy boot and kicking Rulon in the shin. The slaver doubled over with a gasp of pain and Chris pivoted, tearing her arms from the grasps of her captors. She brought her foot crashing into the side of Rulon's face, breaking his nose and sending him staggering. "How's that for feminine?" she snarled, her face pale, blood staining the side of her Federation uniform. How she was even conscious after both her wound and the stun bullet, Sareen wasn't sure. She watched dispassionately as Rulon regained his balance, his men once more holding the fiery captain back.
"Little girl, playing in a man's world," he sneered. "I'd break your nose like you did mine if it wouldn't damage my cargo." Chris bit down on her lip hard. "However, damaging slaves, particularly one as pretty as you, would only ruin my payment. I have an even better idea, though ..." Wiping the blood from his upper lip, he gave Chris a sarcastic smile and produced a remote. "I imagine your little doctor sister is on board."
"NO!" Chris screamed just a moment too late. Rulon hit the plunger on the remote and there was a moment's silence.
Then the ship behind them exploded ...
With Don and Melody still in it.