Escape (Blackout Book 2), page 13
The next minute, the Skeeter from the Blackout catapulted into view, laying down a blanket of shots. The Blackout itself thundered over the city and plunged into the battle with a hundred Keter Legion ships right behind it.
15
The Keter Legion struck so suddenly and so unexpectedly that all those craft drove the Krakzid sideways. The Krakzid force staggered thirty feet onto the avenue before they managed to respond.
They rounded on the Legion, but by then, the opposing forces had left the air space above the square empty. The soldiers scrambled to their feet and bolted to get away in time. They scattered into the city.
Jackson took a second to realize what had just happened. He let the cannon drop, and Woolzi pounced on him. The creature chirped in his ear, but Jackson couldn’t understand him over the constant noise.
Woolzi hauled him to his feet and pulled him away from the battle. The Krakzid recovered and returned the Legion’s fire. They drove the Legion back toward the square. If the friends didn’t move, the battle would be on top of them again in no time.
Jackson spun around to make a break for it when a ship drifted out of the sky. The Skeeter landed in front of him, and the hatch opened. Liri poked her head out. “You going somewhere?”
Jackson almost burst out laughing. “I sure hope so.”
She made room for the friends to climb inside. The Blackout hovered off, waiting for them. A single racer buzzed around its sides, like some over-enthusiastic youngster trying to impress its bigger friend.
The hatch closed with Jackson, Roy, Quort, and Woolzi inside. Liri took the pilot’s station, and the Skeeter rocketed away.
“Where are we going?” Roy asked.
“I don’t know about you,” Liri replied over her shoulder, “but I’m going back to the Blackout and then we’re getting out of this town. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when the Krakzid and the Legion realize they hate each other, and have been hating each other since those scum invaded our planet.”
“If we go back to the Blackout,” Jackson pointed out, “we’ll be back in the same situation we were in before. We can’t leave the planet without running into both the Krakzid and the Legion.”
“We aren’t leaving the planet.”
“Do you have some other plan?” Roy asked. “If we aren’t leaving the planet, where are we going?”
She took her eyes off her instruments to face them. “We’re going back to the New Cooperative.”
Roy gasped. “What? Forget it! Do you realize what we just went through to get away from those crackpots?”
“You didn’t have to get away from them. You went there on Tollin’s orders, and we repaired the Blackout on Tollin’s orders. As far as anyone is concerned, we’re still on the level with him.”
“Now hold it right there,” Jackson cut in. “You and I both know we aren’t on the level with him, or anyone else in the New Cooperative. He tried to kill us twice. He sent us on that strike to get rid of us, and he very nearly succeeded.”
“You and I know that, and he knows it, but he doesn’t dare say so out loud,” Liri said. “He couldn’t just pull a gun and blow your brains out. He has to make it look like an accident, just in case the Zenith Militia ever takes an interest in Keter and comes around asking questions about what happened to you. He gave orders for you and us to do certain jobs, and we did them.”
“Now you just keep your panties on, girl,” Roy interjected. “You aren’t giving him the Blackout. You can’t! That ship is our only way out of here.”
“It isn’t even that,” Quort grumbled from the back. “It’s useless to us if we can’t even fly it anywhere.”
“Tollin wanted the Blackout operational so he could use it against the Community of Hinn,” Liri explained. “Now we have it, and nowhere else on this planet or off it to take refuge. The solution couldn’t be simpler. We hand the Blackout over to him in exchange for temporary safety. We can get the ship back as soon as we come up with a plan to leave without getting shot down by everyone else.”
Jackson’s shoulders slumped. “You might have a point, but I don’t like it. I don’t like it any better than Roy does.”
“Tollin will take special pains to keep the Blackout flightworthy. Trust me on that. His whole mandate as Grand Votek depends on that ship.”
Jackson didn’t answer. Liri maneuvered the Skeeter close to the Blackout, and the discharge ramp opened. Liri steered into position and floated inside. The racer followed and landed behind the Skeeter. The hatch closed, and the chaos and confusion of Jackson’s ordeal disappeared.
The noise of concussions still rang in his ears, and he wasn’t home yet. He wasn’t even heading in the right direction to go home. He was heading back into hostile territory crawling with enemies.
The crew disembarked and made their way to the cockpit. They found Lana at the controls. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder. “Is everyone alive?”
“Alive and well,” Jackson told her. “Let’s go.”
FIND OUT
WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT!
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DISPERSE
(Blackout Book 3)
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DISPERSE
(Blackout Book 3)
Daniel Young, Escape (Blackout Book 2)
