9. Claire

CHAPTER 9

CLAIRE

P ure chaos surrounds me. Heavy battle-droids roll down the halls, shooting at anything that moves. Thick black smoke fills the halls. Orcs scream and grunt.

And I slip my way through it all and head for the escape pods. I manage to crawl into the first one and pull the red lever, and the shuttle is fired into deep space instantly.

I let out the breath I've been holding for over a minute.

I did it.

I did it!

I don't know how, but I pulled it off. Oh by the stars, that was close. But it's all behind me now. Unless their scanners have picked me up, but…

That orc vessel is a complete mess. I doubt their scanners work. In fact, I'm sure they don't. I'm safe. I have to be!

I look out the small window at the stars passing by, and I let out a little sigh. Where am I headed, anyway? I park my butt behind the controls and take a look. There's not many viable planets nearby. I could send out a ping, but I'll have to wait for the orc vessel to be long gone before I do that.

Hopefully the Federation will pick me up, or I'll be forced to land on an uninhabited planet and make the best of it. That's not such a bad thing, though. I could finally have that little farm I've always dreamed about. Plant some crops, spend some time in nature…

Blip .

My daydreams are interrupted by a little blip on my shuttle's radar. It seems there's an object coming towards me. A missile?! No, it's moving too slow for that. Some type of space debris, perhaps? Possible, but it's adjusting its trajectory to intersect me.

I look out the small round window on the back door, and what I see makes my blood freeze.

Gromnyr.

There's a tall, bearded orc floating towards me.

What in the world?!

I blink to make sure I'm not hallucinating. I'm not. There's really an orc headed towards my shuttle, dressed in leather pants and not much else. I squint and notice he's got some type of breathing apparatus in his mouth, and his big, leather boots seem to be propelled by rockets.

His powerful gaze is fixed on me as he launches himself towards my vessel.

I run towards the controls and grab them, but there's nothing I can do. Escape pods are meant to drift around aimlessly in space. They're not made for high speed chases with hot orcs.

"Come on, you stupid piece of junk. Go faster!"

BOOM!

I nearly jump out of my skin when something hard and heavy makes contact with my pod. I turn around and see Gromnyr's big grin through the small window. He's here.

Fuck.

Okay, he's here, but he's outside. There's no way for him to enter the shuttle, right? It's not like he's going to?—

The valve that keeps the door shut starts moving. That stupid door is the only thing standing between me and the cold emptiness of space . If Gromnyr opens that door, I'll surely die.

And it's moving.

"What are you doing?!" I scream as I head towards the door. I grab the valve, but it keeps turning, and turning, and turning. Every inch it moves makes my stomach tremble.

"Stop it!" I shout, but I'm not sure if Gromnyr can even hear me. He just looks straight at me, his eyes filled with fire and purpose.

The door keeps moving.

"You crazy bastard!" I shout. "You cra?—"

My curses are cut off as Gromnyr opens the door and a giant, unstoppable roar fills the small shuttle. All the air is sucked out in an instant, and me along with it. An unstoppable force yanks me off my feet and catapults me towards the cold emptiness of space.

Two strong, green arms catch me in mid-flight as the contents of the shuttle are flung into space.

Just when I think this is how my life ends, glaring furiously at Gromnyr, he procures a small apparatus from his pocket and slips it into my mouth.

Air fills my lungs instantly.

I start to hyperventilate as I breathe as quickly as possible. Gromnyr raises his hand and gestures for me to slow down.

The orc pulls me towards him and wraps his strong arms around me. He holds me tightly as his leather boots explode with fire — his rocket boots propelling us back to his pirate vessel.