Chapter Text
Looking out the glass observatory window of her ship, the Beatrice, was something Emma Nolan would never grow tired of. Seeing all the stars scattered above her, far off galaxies, solar systems she might be lucky enough to explore one day. It made her feel so small and insignificant, but at the same time she saw just how the universe was truly full of infinite possibilities. Emma always made sure to be the first one ready for a mission so she would have a chance to sit in the common area, gaze out at the stars through the glass, and take a moment to decompress before everything went wrong, as usual.
Emma took a deep, calming breath, and as she exhaled, all the interior lights of the ship shut off with a powerful spark and a yelp from down below. She frowned.
Well, that didn’t last long.
“Greg, what was that?” she called out to her first mate.
Greg Nolan was Emma’s cousin, best friend, and most trusted ally. He was the obvious choice for her first mate. Also their grandmother had technically given the ship to both of them, so she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He ran through the common area toward the hallway. “Uhh, let me check!” Emma stood from where she sat on the sofa and followed him out. She watched as he shouted down the hatch that led to the engine room, trying to be heard over a drilling sound that was only slightly concerning. “KLEIN! What the hell was that?!”
The drilling suddenly stopped and there was a loud clatter as something metal fell to the floor. After a moment, the voice of their brilliant engineer, Kaylee piped up. “I was trying to modify the thrusters by bypassing the acceleration module, but I accidentally rewired—”
“I don’t care, just fix it!”
Emma frowned at him. “Be nice,” she muttered, then raised her voice. “Kaylee, you know I love your… improvements,” she called out. “Just try to save the risky stuff for when we’re not about to go steal something. Can you get the lights back on please?”
“Anything for you, Cap!”
The drilling resumed and for a moment, Emma hoped that everything would be fine. Then she heard the angry shouting coming from the cockpit.
“I never get a fucking break,” Emma groaned and trudged to the head of the ship, where she found Shelby and Kevin in a heated argument.
“I’m telling you, Shelb, we should enter the atmosphere at quadrant six point two! I did these calculations myself!”
“And I’m telling you, Kev, I’m the fucking pilot and we’re entering at quadrant seven!”
“Six point two is a faster point of entry and—”
“Children!” Emma interrupted, vastly annoyed. Kevin immediately shut his mouth, and two heads snapped in Emma’s direction, innocent looks on their guilty faces.
“There’s no problem, Em, Kevin was just trying to mansplain my job to me.”
“I was not mansplain—”
“Kevin, do I pay you to fly this ship?” Emma asked. Kevin shook his head. “Who do I pay to fly this ship?”
Kevin murmured something quiet that was barely audible.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“Shelby.”
“Okay. Please let her do her job.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Shelby stuck her tongue out at Kevin. He looked like a kicked puppy and Emma almost felt bad for scolding him. He was a smart guy, after all. She pulled him aside. “You may have figured out the fastest entry, but this is a stealth mission, Kev. Quadrant seven will cause the least disturbance in the atmosphere. If we need a quick exit we’ll use six point two. Okay?”
Kevin’s face lit up like a child who had just been presented with a candy bar. “Okay,” he said, grinning as he ran off out of the cockpit
“Let’s hope we don’t need it!” Emma called out after him, shaking her head. She sighed. “You lot,” she muttered. “You’re worse than children. You’re like corralling goats.”
“You love us,” Shelby quipped.
“Yeah, yeah,” Emma dismissed quickly, but Shelby was right. As much as everyone was a pain in her ass and as much as she complained about them, Emma wouldn’t trade her crew for anything in the universe.
“Cap, we’re about to enter Carmuun’s atmosphere.”
“Perfect. As soon as you touch down, meeting in the—”
“Meeting in the cargo hold, yeah, I know the drill.”
The Beatrice lurched as it impacted with the atmosphere. Emma braced herself on the walls as she made her way out of the cockpit, through the still dark hallway, and climbed down the ladder and the stairs that led to the cargo hold. Kevin and Greg were already there, sitting on wooden crates and bracing the walls to keep themselves from sliding across the floor as the ship rocked violently.
Suddenly, the lights flickered once, twice, until they stayed on.
“Thank you, Kaylee!” Emma called out. Finally, something good.
Kaylee appeared from the engine room and climbed down the stairs into the cargo hold. She wore a grease stained white tank top and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She coughed a few times, pulling the dirty gloves off of her hands. “Sorry, again,” Kaylee said as she hopped down, skipping the last few steps. “Bright side, I now know which wires control the interior lighting.”
The ship rumbled as it slowed on its descent, and the whole crew grabbed a wall, a rail, a box, or something they could hold onto as it touched down on the ground and slowly screeched to a halt. Shelby was a phenomenal pilot but was infamous amongst the crew for her rough landings. The ship stilled and everyone waited in silence for a moment.
Finally, Shelby dropped down from the latch and climbed down the stairs into the cargo hold to join everyone else. She rubbed her hands together, a bright grin on her face. “Smooth landing, huh?”
Everyone made some sort of vague, noncommittal noise, hoping she wouldn’t question them any further about just how smooth her landings were.
“Okay,” Emma started. “Now that we’re all here, we can go over the plan one last…” She scanned the faces. Someone was missing. “God damn it, where the hell is Nick?!” Everyone shrugged. Emma stormed over to the ship’s comm system that she didn’t like to use, but sometimes with Nick Boomer, it was a necessity. “BOOMER, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!” Emma’s voice echoed through the ship.
There was a moment of silence. Then, the sound of distant footsteps grew closer and closer until finally the last member of their crew dropped into the cargo hold, hastily pulling on a t-shirt as he walked down the stairs.
“What’s up, Cap?” he yawned.
“We have a mission. Were you asleep?!”
“No?” Nick was a bad liar.
Emma suppressed the frustrated groan she wanted to let out and instead took a deep, calming breath. “Okay. Now that everyone’s here, we can go over the plan one last time. Just in case anyone had forgotten,” she sent a pointed look in Nick’s direction, “we’re hitting the Greene Estate on Carmuun today. Veronica Greene is the ambassador of Carmuun and she is a piece of work. She taxes relentlessly just to line her own pockets and everyone works to the bone just to pay them. The place is full of riots and a lot of unhappy citizens. If we take her money, she’s just going to tax them even more, so we’re going after something a little more valuable. What would that be, Nick?”
Nick blinked in confusion. “Um… her pride?”
Emma’s hand itched to facepalm, but she clenched her fists and held it back. “No,” she sighed. “Not her pride.” Kevin raised his hand. “Yes, Kevin?”
“Her diamonds.”
“That is correct,” Emma said. “Carmuun’s main export is coal. We can’t touch that otherwise it would affect the livelihood of everyone who lives there. But Greene has a private diamond mine on her own property, and the workers don’t get to see a lick of profit from it. We’re stealing all the diamonds she currently has and destroying the mine. Because it’s her personal property, she’ll have to pay for it herself if she wants it fixed. Team one, what is our mission?”
Greg stood up. “Emma and I are breaking into the safe in the Greene Estate with the help of Kev’s EMP and cleaning it out of all her diamonds.”
Emma nodded. “Perfect. Kevin would you please explain the EMP you designed?”
“Yes ma’am,” Kevin stood up and saluted. Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled. “This baby will take out everything within its radius. It starts a reboot but keeps anything electronic stalled as it powers up, so it seems like devices are still on to anyone checking in. Perfect for taking out security cameras and alarm systems.”
“Thank you, Kevin. Team two?”
“Or as I like to call it the BOOM SQUAD!” Nick exclaimed.
“I regret ever calling it that,” Emma said with a frown.
“Yeah, that was pretty dumb,” Shelby said.
“In my defense, I was drunk and didn’t realize Boomer would run with it.”
“Again, pretty dumb.”
“Shelby…” Emma threatened. Shelby threw her hands up in innocence. “Nick, please continue.”
“Kaylee’s got some sick demolition gear she’ll set up down at the diamond mine and we’re gonna make that shit blow,” Nick sang.
“Please, for the love of god, make sure nobody is inside before you blow it up this time,” Emma said, almost exasperated. “I really shouldn’t have to say that. Please. Do not blow anyone up. We don’t want a repeat of what happened on Dullhan.”
“You idiots are lucky no one died,” Shelby muttered absently.
“Shelb, please let me do the lecturing.”
“Aye aye, Cap.”
“Don’t say that.” Emma shook her head and glared at Shelby. “Whatever. Boom squad. Team two. Wait until all of us are clear of the estate and then blow the mines. Do not blow them early. Got it?”
Kaylee nodded, but Nick had to go and open his mouth. “That only happened because Kaylee distracted me—“
“Nick!” Kaylee cut him off with a sharp hiss. Shelby burst into laughter. Emma was just thankful every day that Kaylee and Nick had broken up two months ago and were no longer in a relationship.
Emma rubbed her temple and sighed, “Team three?”
Shelby and Kevin replied in unison monotone, “Stay on the ship.”
“Well that’s not exactly how I’d—”
“Yes it is.”
Emma sighed. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you right now. Kevin, you’re our eyes and ears in there. And Shelby, please just keep Betsy ready if we need to get out quick.”
“We usually need to get out quick,” Shelby said.
“Only like… half the time. Just be ready to do your job, Gonzales.” Emma let out a long sigh. God, sometimes they were worse than goats. What’s worse than corralling goats? Monkeys, maybe. Working with her crew was like corralling monkeys. “Any other questions?” She looked around at the crew. “No? Good. Let’s move out.”
Greg pressed the button that opened the door to the cargo hold. The large door shifted and loudly fell open. One by one, they stepped out onto the new planet, surrounded by the cover of night. Emma had never actually been to Carmuun before, but it was beautiful, covered in trees and mountains, and it had two moons. Shelby had only knocked into a few trees with her landing, so the rest of the tall trunks towered over them.
Shelby landed them in a large clearing between the trees, not too far from the Greene Estate.The Beatrice was a moderately sized ship, so the trees provided an excellent cover so they didn’t have to waste energy keeping their cloaking on the whole time. They could even see the lights of the city in the distance.
Kaylee, still on the ship, flipped a switch next to the button to open the cargo door. There was a mechanical whirring, and where the ship’s name on the outside read The Beatrice in beautiful cursive, the panel popped out and flipped over to read The Benedick. It was a little disguise she had fashioned that they used when they were doing some of their less than savory work to not draw attention to themselves.
Emma turned back to Kevin and Shelby. “Take care of her for me?” She nodded toward the ship.
“We always do,” Kevin said. With a firm nod, Emma turned around and headed for the trees.
Getting onto the Greene Estate was easy enough. Their property expanded for acres and acres, and though they had security, it was hard for them to keep track of the whole grounds at once. There were no security cameras along the gate except for at the entrance, so once the patrol had passed, the group easily scaled over some of the side walls, wearing gloves to avoid the sharp wire at the top.
Once they had all landed on the other side of the fence, Emma turned to team two. “You remember the plan?”
“Of course we remember the plan,” Nick exclaimed, all bravado but no substance. Emma frowned and turned to Kaylee, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Kaylee reassured her.
“I’m counting on you, Klein.”
Nick pouted, but once Emma was confident they would be fine, they parted ways; she and Greg made their way up toward the estate while Kaylee and Nick went behind, toward the mine.
Emma was, once again, extremely thankful to have Kevin on her crew; he had hacked into the architect’s drive last week to find the blueprints of the house, and once they reached the outskirts of the house, Kevin was ready to provide instructions in their ear over commas.
Security at the house was thick, but Kevin had also hacked into the security feeds, so he was able to help them avoid any unwanted encounters.
“Back around that corner,” Kevin said. Emma followed his instruction, hiding behind the garden wall, and stood still. Greg was right behind her, holding his breath. “Hold. Just a few more seconds… and go!”
Emma peered around the corner to see a pair of guards with their backs to them, walking away from them. Emma and Greg set off in the opposite direction, towards the building.
“Remember, wait until you’re inside to activate the EMP. You’ll just have to avoid the outdoor cameras.”
“What’s our way in?” Emma asked.
“Dog door.”
“Dog— are you fucking serious, Kevin?” Emma and Greg rounded to the back corner of the house where they saw a sliding glass door that probably had a million cameras trained on it. About twenty feet further down, though, was a large dog door. They headed toward it.
“With the dimensions of the door I think it’s a bigger dog so you should be able to fit, and he’s got a chip on his collar that unlocks it when he goes in and out, so they don’t have a camera on that entrance. Lucky for you, I hacked into that as well and it should be unlocked… now.”
Emma rolled her eyes, but without fail, she heard a soft click coming from the dog door. She approached it and pushed in cautiously. The door slid open for her. “You’re the best, Kev,” she said, then got to her hands and knees and crawled inside. Greg followed close behind her.
Once they were inside, they made sure to hug the wall to avoid any eyes that may have been looking for intruders. Greg held up the device in his hand. “Setting off the EMP in three, two…” And when he pushed the button, there was a quiet whizzing noise. Emma kept her eyes on the security camera in the corner. The red power light blinked, then shut off for a couple seconds before turning back on.
“Did it work?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Kevin said. “Security feeds are down until you push that little button again or until someone catches on. I’m blind up here now, so you’re on your own.”
“It’s fine, we’ve done this before,” Emma said with a confident shrug. “How are we getting to the basement study?”
“There should be a small door to your left.” Emma located the ‘small door’ he was talking about that was more like some sort of maintenance hatch, a little bigger than the dog door, and opened it, only for a mephitic odor to waft into her face. “Oh, god, what is this?”
“Garbage chute.”
“This isn’t Star Wars, Kev,” Emma frowned.
“That’s your only way down! Everywhere else is blocked off with security!” Kevin defended. “Don’t worry, I turned off the incinerator.”
“I’m sorry, the what now?”
“Just get in! We don’t have all day.”
Emma grumbled, but held the door open for Greg. “After you.”
He glared at her. “Just because you’re the captain doesn’t mean you can make me do everything first when you don’t want to.”
“That’s exactly what it means.”
“I’m telling Gran.”
“Just get in the damn chute, Greg.”
Reluctantly, Greg made a show of plugging his nose and holding his breath as he climbed inside and slowly slid down the narrow passage. Emma was right behind him, holding her breath as even the slightest whiff of trash made her gag. They edged their way down and landed in a half charred pile of garbage. It was pitch black in there. Emma blinked, her eyes slow to adjust to the light, and could barely make out Greg in the room next to her.
“There should be a hatch to get out along the wall,” Kevin said in her ear.
Emma motioned to Greg and the two made their way along the wall, feeling for the hatch.
“Over here!” Greg called out after a moment, and as he opened it with a creak, a light began to pool inside through the small opening. “This is tiny.”
“We fit through the dog door, we can fit through this.” Emma pushed him out of the way and squeezed her way out of there, coughing. “Fuck, I’m gonna need a shower after this.”
“Okay, the door in front of you should take you out to the rest of the basement. Her office is in the northeast corner. I think that’s all I can do for you now, but let me know when you’ve got the goods and are heading out.”
“Thanks, Kev.”
With no more help from Kevin as their eyes and ears, Emma and Greg crept out of the maintenance room and through the door. The basement was quiet and empty as they stalked down the halls. Everything down here appeared very industrial and secure. Emma was certain that there would be countless cameras and alarms down here, so she was very grateful for the EMP clearing them a path. All they had to do was make sure they didn’t step too loudly or draw any attention and break into the safe.
Finally, they found the door to Veronica Greene’s study. Emma picked the lock with ease. She opened the door for Greg and slipped inside after him, closing the door behind them.
The room was ovular, with shelves lining all the walls. Emma and Greg inspected every inch of the room for her safe to no avail. “I thought you said it was in here, Kevin.”
“It should be!”
“Well we’re not seeing anything.” She leaned against the wood of the desk while Greg got on his hands and knees, climbing underneath to inspect further. Suddenly there was a click and Greg let out a soft whoop.
“Found it,” he said. Emma leapt to the other side of the desk and peered underneath to see Greg removing a square section of wood floorboards, revealing a safe sitting underneath. “False floor under her desk. Just give me a few minutes to crack and we’re set.”
“Please, take all the time you need,” Emma said, sarcastic.
“Hey,” Greg frowned. “Safe cracking is a delicate art form and I would appreciate some understanding.”
“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up before we…” The sound of the study door closing again caught Emma’s attention. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed her pistol from her side and spun around, aiming it at the intruder. “Shit.”
The woman had dark, curly hair that fell down her shoulders. Her eyes had a picaresque glint that caught Emma’s curiosity. Despite the amused smirk on her lips, she immediately held her hands up when Emma pointed a gun at her.
“You folks lost?” she asked.
“Don’t move,” Emma threatened.
“I wasn’t moving.”
“Your mouth is moving.” The woman rolled her eyes. “Give me one good reason to not put a bullet in your head right now.”
“I thought you just told me to stop talking.” Emma cocked her gun with a glare. The woman sighed and studied Emma for a moment, pursing her lips. Eventually, she smiled. “You wouldn’t kill me.”
Well, shit.
The girl was right, but Emma didn’t want her to know that. And to be fair, this was the first time anyone had ever caught them face to face in the middle of a robbery. She had no clue what to do. Emma gripped her gun in both hands and took a minacious step forward. “Don’t test me.” She called over her shoulder, “Greg, how’s it coming?”
“One more number.”
Emma addressed the woman again. “What are you doing here?”
She just shrugged. “I live here. I can’t wander my own home?”
“It’s open!” Greg called out.
“Clean her out.” Emma took another step toward the woman. “How did you know we were here? Why didn’t you call the guards?”
“That’s a lot of questions that I’m not sure I have the time to answer.”
“Em,” Greg called from beneath the desk. “I’m almost done, figure something out.”
“We can’t let her go, she’s just going to sound the alarm and we’ll be tailed halfway across the Ogma Cluster!”
The woman cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “You know what might also be worth a hefty sum? Not as much as diamonds, of course, but still a pretty penny.”
Emma raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”
“Ransom for, say, the daughter of Veronica Greene.”
Emma balked at her. What the hell was this girl doing? “You’re her daughter?” she scoffed.
“Alyssa Greene, nice to meet you,” she brought a hand down to offer a handshake, but Emma did not relent with her gun, so she quickly resumed her hands up position.
Finally, Greg stood up, bags full of diamonds. He looked at Emma, who was lost in thought. “You can’t possibly be considering this.”
“What other choice do we have? She knows our faces!”
“This is a terrible idea!”
Emma groaned. Fuck, she hated making decisions. Why did she think being the captain was a good idea? “Fuck it,” she said, finally. “Greg, do you have any zip ties?”
“Are you crazy?! We can’t kidnap someone!”
“Shut up and get her wrists tied!”
Greg glared at her and rummaged through his bag. Emma kept her gun trained on Alyssa, who was surprisingly blase about the whole situation. It was… curious.
As Greg tied up her wrists, he grumbled, “This is by far the worst idea you’ve ever—”
His thought was cut off when the sound of a distant explosion shook the room. “Fucking Boomer,” Emma muttered under her breath.
Alyssa looked around. “What was that?”
“That was our sign to get the fuck out of here.” Emma spoke into her comms again. “Kev, the explosion went off early. Expect some trouble.”
“Roger that, cap.”
Once Greg had Alyssa’s wrists bound together, he eased the door open and peeked outside. “Okay, coast is clear,” he whispered, throwing the door open. “Now that they know something’s up should we just take the stairs?”
“No, we shouldn’t take the fucking stairs,” Emma hissed. “As far as they know, no one is in the house. We are going back the way we came.”
Greg nodded and stepped outside. Emma walked further, but Alyssa was standing still, unmoving. She pointed her gun out the door. “After you, Greene.”
“What a gentleman,” Alyssa quipped, then followed Greg out the door.
As they returned to the maintenance hall and opened the hatch to the trash chute, Alyssa raised an eyebrow. “This is how you got in? Seriously?”
“Just get in,” Emma sighed. All she wanted was for this mission to be over.
“Bad news,” Kevin’s voice buzzed in her ear. “They’ve rebooted their systems and are trying to drive me out. I won’t be able to support you much longer.”
“Fuck,” Emma said as she climbed into the garbage heap. “Greg, we gotta move.”
“I heard.”
“Who are you talking to?” Alyssa asked.
“Wow, I am really regretting bringing you along already.”
“Technically you kidnapped me.”
“Just climb, please.”
The slope of the garbage chute wasn’t too steep, so it was easy enough to retrace their steps and climb back up to the first floor landing. Greg took the lead, and Emma followed behind the rear with their… hostage sandwiched between them.
As they climbed up, Kevin’s voice buzzed in her ear again. “Shit.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“They kicked me out. Dog door’s locked, cameras are almost back up and running.”
“Any chance you can move a little faster up there?” Emma called out to Greg.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“How long until the interior cameras are back up?”
“Thirty seconds, tops.
Finally, their ascent slowed as Greg climbed out of the garbage chute, then Alyssa, followed by Emma. “Okay. Dog door is locked. We can’t go to the back door because the exterior cams are still up. Think, think…”
As Emma paced back and forth, she didn’t notice as Alyssa brought her fingers up to her mouth and whistled sharply. Immediately, Emma lunged for her and pulled her arms down.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Emma spat with a steely glare.
“Getting you out of here,” Alyssa shrugged. A moment later, a large, menacing looking rottweiler with a chain collar trotted into the room, wagging its stubby tail at Alyssa. “Hey Levi,” she said softly, patting the dog on the head and scratching behind his ears. “Do you want to go outside?”
Levi licked her hand, then ran past and through the dog door. As he went through the door, Greg quickly caught it with his foot and held it open. “Nice one,” he muttered, and crawled through.
“Levi? Is he supposed to be your guard dog?” Emma asked, looking curiously at Alyssa as she struggled to shimmy through the dog door with her front hands still tied.
“It’s short for Leviticus,” she said with a disdainful sigh. “That was my mom’s original intention when she bought him, but he’s just a softie. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Emma crawled outside after her and Leviticus was nowhere in sight, already run off to play somewhere. She furrowed her brow at the woman in front of her. Alyssa Greene had found people breaking into her house and thus far she had offered herself as a hostage and helped them to escape. But why? Emma studied her curiously, but couldn’t get a read on the woman or her intentions. As Greg headed toward the gardens and Alyssa turned to follow him, Emma caught her by the arm. “Why are you helping us?” she asked.
Alyssa’s mouth quivered into a slight frown, and as she opened her mouth to reply, a distant voice called out, “OVER THERE! BY THE GARDEN!”
Emma spun around and saw two guards that had spotted them. “Shit.”
“THEY’VE GOT THE DAUGHTER!”
Emma pushed Alyssa forward and the two began running to catch up with Greg and make their way out of there.
It was easy enough to lose the guards under the cover of the garden, through the bushes and hedges, but their heavy footsteps and shouting could still be heard not too far behind. They had to keep moving.
Once they could see the exterior fence in the distance, Emma also spotted two familiar figures at the base of it. Nick’s skin was stained dark and some of his clothes were a little charred; he must have gotten caught in a bit of the explosion. He boosted Kaylee up over the fence just as they arrived.
“Boomer, what the hell was that?!” Emma scolded him.
“Can we do this later?” Greg said. “We’ve still got company.”
As if on cue, the guards appeared behind them. “Fuck. Let’s move.” Greg went next, followed by Alyssa, and then Nick. Once Emma made sure her crew (and their hostage) were safely over, she scrambled up herself.
That was when the guards started shooting at her.
It wasn’t normal bullets they shot, Emma noticed out of the corner of her eye, and they didn’t sound the same either. It looked like blasts of laser energy as far as she could tell. She ducked her head out of the way and some of her hair singed off. As she climbed and gripped the top of the fence, one of the blasts hit her hand. Her glove took most of the impact, but it burned through the fabric until it reached her knuckles, causing her grip to falter. Her hand slipped and she dangled off the top of the gate for a moment.
“Emma!” Greg called.
“I’m fine,” Emma groaned, as she hoisted herself over the fence with one arm, pushing off with her feet, then dropped to the ground next to them.
Nick stared at the party of three, confused. “I swear there was one less of you earlier.”
“Emma decided to take a hostage,” Greg offered freely.
Alyssa waved awkwardly with her zip tied hands. “Hi.”
“I’m sorry, you did what?!”
The quiet fire of laser blasts shooting past them kicked Emma into action again.
“We will talk about it on the damn ship!” she grumbled, pushing everyone to take off running again. “Let’s move, people!” Everyone sprinted away just as the guards were beginning to climb over the fence. “Shelby, are you there?” Emma said into her comms.
“What’s up?”
“Fire her up, we’ve got company.”
“Aye aye, captain.”
“Gonzales—”
“I know, I know, never say that again.”
“I don’t know why I ask when you never fucking listen.”
They tore through the treeline, heading for the clearing. At the back of her mind, Emma wondered why Alyssa didn’t try to slip away in the midst of all the chaos.
Finally, she caught sight of her beautiful ship again. She could already hear the engines humming. “There she is! Everybody on!” Laser blasts fired at them again, and Emma ran diagonally out of the way.
The door to the cargo hold still sat open, and Nick being the fastest, reached it first. He climbed onto the platform and held out a hand to help Kaylee up, then Alyssa. Greg clambered up himself. The moment Emma stepped onto the ship, she called out to Shelby again. “GET US OUT OF HERE! SIX POINT TWO!”
“Already on it!”
Emma hit the button to close the door just as the ship rumbled and began to lift off the ground. As the door creaked upwards, closing slowly, Emma ducked out of the way of a few more blasts from the guards. They were persistent, she’d give them that credit. “Come on,” she muttered, pushing the button again as if that might make the doors close a little faster.
Then, one last laser blast shot through the opening and nailed Emma in the side. She cried out in pain, but watched in satisfaction as the door finally sealed behind her. She quickly flipped the switch to lock it and then collapsed to her knees.
“You okay, cap?” Greg asked, crouching down next to her to help her up.
“I’m fucking dandy.” Emma clenched her teeth as she stood, looking around at her crew plus one.
The ship rumbled beneath their feet, a little unsteady, and then all of a sudden the shaking subsided and the ride was smooth.
Shelby’s voice sounded again, but instead of in her ears it was over the ship’s intercom. “We just crossed the atmosphere and are officially out of Carmuun. And don’t worry, cap, no one’s following us.”
Though Emma was relieved, she let out a frustrated groan. Why couldn’t they ever have just one easy mission?