Page 19 of Star Cruise Captain's Story

“And my husband,” Dr. Shane added. “Injecting Adrenephix now”

“Double dose,” Daveed said. “We still have to fight our way out of here. I can handle it.”

Jayna handed him a blaster. “Nice to meet you, brother. Yeah, we can use all the firepower we can get once we get out of this creepy temple.”

“All right, listen up, people,” Jake said in a loud voice, command ringing through his words. He was addressing the hostages, all of whom were pressed to the bars of their cages, watching the by play intently. “We’re getting the fuck out of here and you’re all coming with us. Any of you have previous military experience or weapons training?” A few hands went up, including one of the women, to Gil’s surprise. “Good, we brought along a few spare weapons which we’ll hand out in a minute. Here’s the drill. Dr. Shane here is gonna check you out, top level only. She’ll give you a battle stim if your heart can take it because we gotta get out of this damn temple through a rat’s maze of scary corridors and then we’ve got a two klick hike through gnarly jungle to reach our extraction point. We’ve got a shuttle coming in hot for us on my signal. We’ll get you home and we won’t leave anyone behind.”

He opened the first cage and directed the three women to where Dr. Shane and Maeve waited.

Gil helped Daveed to his feet and they moved aside. Jake joined them while Jayna dealt with freeing the prisoners in the other two cages. “Red is watching our six in the corridor and Owen is waiting at the outer wall. We need to make this quick so I’m sending them out in groups. I want the two of you to go in the first group.” He raised a hand to forestall protest from the brothers. “This whole mission was about getting the two of you to safety. We’ll be close on your heels, trust me.”

Remembering Jake was in charge here, Gil swallowed his objections to going first. “Whatever you want is fine with me. You’re calling the shots.” As soon as Emily had cleared the three women and the first three men, two of whom were now armed as was the youngest woman, Jake slapped Gil on the shoulder and sent them on their way. Red was indeed waiting inside the narrow passageway which led to freedom and he nodded as Gil passed, moving in single file. “You’ll need your lights—it gets pretty dark ahead but there’s no way to get lost. Keep moving forward and you’ll come out okay.”

Activating the light on his blaster, Gil put Daveed in the lead and he took the rear. Maeve had remained behind, assisting Dr. Shane and there’d only been time for a quick kiss before Gil led his group out. The hostages moved fast, juiced up on the battle stim. There were more quakes, which seemed to Gil to be growing in intensity, but which served as inspiration for the escapees to break into a jog.

After an interminable few minutes in the fetid tunnel, he came to a partially open door, through which fresh air flowed. Owen stood there, facing the jungle, blaster at the ready and Midorri at his feet.

“Glad to see you in one piece, captain,” he said to Gil. “You must be the brother?” Daveed and Owen introduced themselvesand shook hands. “Midorri’s going to lead you to the extraction point,” Owen informed Gil. Hearing murmurs from the hostages at this news, the Cargo Master raised his voice and added, “She’s a smart little thing and she knows where she’s going.”

“I trust her,” Gil said, leaning over to give Midorri a chin scratch.

“Take point, captain,” Owen said. “You’re the best person to interact with Midorri.”

“Are we expecting trouble?”

“I’ve had to kill a few nosy guards,” Owen said, gesturing at the corner of the temple a few hundred yards away. “It’s clear right now. Possibly the quakes, the explosions and the absence of Baxtir will create enough confusion for you to have an easy escape.”

“Speed is the essence.” Gil had no quarrel with anything Owen had done for them. “Got it. Jake and the others should be along soon. Emily was processing the hostages pretty fast.”

“Time to go, sir.” Owen plainly didn’t want to engage in any further conversation. He pointed at Midorri and then at the nearby jungle and the pet took off in her gamboling run, tail flying.

“Follow me,” Gil said to the group. “Daveed, take rear guard.”

His brother tapped one of the armed ex-prisoners on the shoulder. “You’re with me.”

Crossing the open ground to reach the edge of the jungle was nerve wracking to Gil, even with Owen providing cover and the knowledge Maeve’s drones were on overwatch. Despite the battle stim injects, the hostages were slow and clumsy in the rough terrain. Midorri waited for them, pacing back and forth restlessly until Gil was within a few feet of her, at which point she spun and darted into the trees. Obviously she had no desire to linger either. He kept her in sight with difficulty becausethere was no real trail. He had to cut away branches and knife-edged foliage to make a path for the people behind him. Midorri kept circling through the undergrowth to check with him.

“I know, girl, we’re not too nimble here,” he said on one of her trips, stroking her head as she rose on her hind feet to lean on his leg, ‘talking’ to him in annoyed bursts of sound. “You’re doing great.”

She chirruped, dropped to all four feet and trotted off again, zigzagging a bit from her original heading.

Gil followed her without question. He checked on the group as best he could while staying in motion and maintaining contact with Midorri. The youngest woman was helping the oldest, her borrowed weapon slung on her shoulder. She met Gil’s eyes and managed a wavering smile. “We’ll make it.”

“I’m not dying here,” Bernice said, although her color was alarming and her breathing was coming in gasps.

Gil pointed at the unarmed hostage. “You, make yourself useful, come support her.”

Reluctantly the man moved up to take most of the elderly woman’s weight.

Midorri tugged at Gil’s pant leg and he realized they’d come to a halt. “Not too much farther,” he said, hoping he wasn’t lying. “Once we get to our ship in orbit there’ll be food and water and more medical care.”

No one looked too convinced but when he turned to move out again, the ex-hostages followed without protest. After another twenty minutes of hard progress, Gil broke out of the tree line into a small clearing. There was no sign of the flyer but Midorri made it clear she was done and this was their destination. She sat in the shade and began an intense bath, starting with her toes. “All right, rest for a bit,” Gil said to the hostages. “You all did a good job.”

“Where’s the damn ship?” asked the man who’d been detailed to assist Bernice. He did a sweep of the sky from side to side and then lowered his gaze to meet Gil’s. Agitated, he spoke again. “Some rescue this is. Dragging us out into the jungle, following a weird animal, no flyer waiting. I don’t know who the hell you are buddy or what organization you’re from but this is incompetence of the highest order?—”

The other ex-prisoners tried to shout him down and Gil moved to physically restrain the man but Daveed got there first, knocking the complainer to the ground with a roundhouse punch to the jaw. “He’s my brother, the others are his friends and you’re damn lucky they cared enough to risk themselves for me. You’re just along for the ride,buddy, so I strongly suggest you shut up and thank the Lords of Space you were in a cage next to mine. We could leave your ass behind. Understand?”

Rubbing his jaw, the man scrabbled away until he reached a rock jutting from the greenery and put his back against the uneven surface. “I didn’t mean anything—I was merely trying to ask when the shuttle is coming.”

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