Chapter Eleven

"We're no danger to you," Cheryl said, looking at Ydru instead of the blaster muzzle. "Especially the children. The Kalquorians you're hunting for are gone. Just leave us alone."

He ignored her. "We'll begin transporting the females and children to the ship immediately. If any resist, kill them. We'll blame it on the Kalquorians—"

He broke off, his eyes widening as his attention riveted on the back wall of the root cellar. His blaster veered in that direction, and he shot at nothing Cheryl could see.

Then Besral, Admiral Piras, and a host of Kalquorians, both from the spyship and the orphanage, appeared out of thin air. They fired before the GC search team could react. Cheryl dropped to the floor as Ydru's grip on her loosened. He hit the ground an instant after her, his muddy eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

The blasting stopped as fast as it had started. Cheryl stared up from her position at the group who'd hidden in the bunker Besral and his staff had constructed behind the root cellar. They'd used the stelnium walls to shield their presence. Piras and his men…and the young specialist named Hope…holstered their blasters in utility belt pouches while pointing slender metal cylinders at various spots. The air shimmered, showing the locations of the containment traps they'd deployed against the Darks.

"The full dozen have been captured," Hope reported.

Piras pulled his com from his belt. "Piras to Kila. We have them."

"They're sending fighters your way," came the gruff response. "We're coming out of hiding and engaging the enemy."

* * * *

Kila's spyship

Spyships hadn't originally been intended for serious fighting against enemy vessels, particularly prime fighter warships. Kila's vessel was different from the norm, however.

The captain was a master mechanic and engineer, thanks to having been born to parents who comprised a race shuttle team. Kila's Imdiko Lokmi, who was also the ship's chief engineer, called him a "speed junkie" for good reason. Kila not only enjoyed pushing the boundaries of safe velocities, but often simply ignored them.

As good as Kila was when it came to tinkering with his ship's engines, Lokmi was better. It was a fact Kila only admitted to himself. Like the Nobek captain, Lokmi knew every inch of Engineering and could coax results from the engines and weapons many chief engineers only guessed were possible. He'd perfected the phase device responsible for hiding the craft from many opponents until it was too late for them to mount an adequate defense.

His latest upgrade had incorporated aspects of the fluctuating dimensional field granting the ability to trap and contain individual Darks, as Piras and the away team were currently doing. It didn't completely hide the spyship from the Darks in the GC warships…but it did mean the craft flashed in and out of sight of their sensors, making it harder for the enemy to get a weapons lock on them.

Kila had also enhanced his weapons with Lokmi's help, making his vessel a more potent fighter than its sister spyships. It wasn't on the level of a marauder, but it would have easily surpassed the decommissioned raider class fighters that had caused the empire's enemies grief over the years.

Much of the technology used on Kila's spyship hadn't won approval from Kalquor's fleet leader and command council. Fortunately, his last and often best weapon was his clanship to Piras. During wartime, the admiral often allowed Kila and Lokmi the latitude to do as they damned well pleased to the vessel if it meant winning a battle, safety and political protocols be damned.

They were at war now, and Kila had taken full advantage.

"Weapons array, full spread," his weapons commander Nobek Jado shouted to his second. He appeared gleeful as the spyship emerged from the fluctuating phase in the middle of the first wave of single-man fighters, which were erupting from the lead Galactic Council warship. The new array guns, capable of destroying craft from anywhere around the spyship, sent orange pulse torpedoes in every direction. Then Kila's craft resumed fluctuated phase, rendering it invisible to scanners and weapons' locks.

"Activate attack run, Kila-one-one-alpha," Kila ordered the helm. "Ready blasters and pulse cannons on the lead warship."

"Weapons ready." Jado was practically salivating as he waited for his turn to unleash destruction.

The spyship bore on its larger and better armed opponent. "Their weapons are attempting to lock on us," the weapons subcommander called.

"Good luck on that," Kila chortled. "Make sure you keep an eye on the other five ships."

"Prime target is attempting evasive maneuvers," his navigator Kovech said. "The rest appear to be trying to put us in target range as soon as we unphase."

"Keep us out of their sights."

Jado barked, "Coming into position."

"Unphase and fire," Kila ordered.

The spyship appeared mere kilometers beneath its quarry. Jado unloaded a vicious assault from the blasters and pulse cannons.

"Phase on! Evasive!" Kila roared.

His orders were barely out of his mouth when his crew obeyed them. Even so, the spyship shuddered and alarms went off.

"Status of target."

"Enemy ship showing power surges after our attack. They sustained hits from their fellow GC vessels, which attempted to fire on us and missed. They're going critical. Explosion in three seconds. We are beyond range of the blast."

"Excellent. Damage report, all departments."

"Phase is holding. No power loss."

"Weapons remain online."

"Structural integrity loss at the stern, twenty percent."

That was significant.

Lokmi's voice came over the com. "We got a bit singed, Captain. The aft blast doors came down, shutting two of us in the engine room. May I suggest we avoid further damage?"

If the engines went critical and there was time for the systems to respond, they'd be jettisoned from the ship to save the crew. If Kila's Imdiko was trapped in there and the worst happened, he'd be jettisoned too.