Page 6 of Lashe

Okay.Breathe, Anna. “What does that mean, Lashe?”

“It means we’re not getting to the Destran planet anytime soon.”

“Can you be more specific?” My fingernails were digging into the padded armrests. “I mean, are we going to die?”

“No. I will have to find a place to land. I’m scanning the area.”

I closed my eyes, dragged in a deep breath and reminded myself that Lashe was a thoroughly competent shuttle operator. He would find a way out of this. And the only thing I could do to help was be quiet and let him do his job.

“I trust you,” I said. “Do whatever you have to do. Please don’t let us die out here.”

He turned, glancing back at me. His face was streaked violet and red. His eyes were sharp and hot. “I won’t, Anna.”

CHAPTER 4

Lashe

Iwouldn’t let her die.

It was the worst possible material we could’ve run into. Undetectable by sensors until you were right in the middle of it, the small, irradiated particles were absolutely lethal to the shuttle’s propulsion system. It reduced our speed tremendously and damaged several systems. Another big burn would do nothing but cause more destruction.

The only way to repair this was to find a good space station and have the entire power core and exhaust ducts flushed, cleaned, and possibly rebuilt.

There were absolutely no stations in this sector. It was considered adeep stretch, meaning that ships in distress out here were typically in distress for quite some time. It was not a common route. But thedarkspacechannel I was heading for, which would take us directly to the remote Destran planet, could only be reached through this sector.

So here we were. I winced at the amount of debris I saw around us. I was able to maneuver around larger pieces, butsmaller chunks struck the shuttle. The hull was strong and thick enough to withstand it, but the much smaller irradiated dust had sickened my ship as effectively as a virus would a human.

I still had navigation and eight percent of thrusters, but they would not hold for long. Weneededto land. I sighed and shook my head. “Stelis, your assistance, please.”

The smooth female voice immediately replied. “How can I help you, Lashe?”

“I know you’ve tapped into my ship systems. Can you boost the scanner signal to detect a landmass we can land on?”

“Yes, just a moment.”

Stelis went quiet and the scanner increased enough for me to get a good look at the area.

“Thank you. I see a large asteroid that might work for us.”

“I diverted power from the stabilizers and replicator,” said Stelis. “Are your coordinates locked? If so, I will return the power to those systems.”

“Yes, thank you.” I turned in my seat, even though Anna could hear everything I was saying to Stelis. “I found a place to land us. It’s little more than a rock, but it will give me a chance to do some repairs. I hope they’ll get us into a region of settled space and allow me to get the long-range communication systems up.”

She looked pale and small and terrified. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Try not to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Not sure you have control over that, out here in the vacuum of space,” she said.

“Look.” I pointed through the viewport. “We’re landing on that asteroid, where I can do some repairs to get us out of here.”

Her eyes lit up as she saw the rock formation we were headed for. “That’s pretty big.”

“I suggest you stay strapped in the seat because there will be turbulence the whole way.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Neither am I. My job is to keep you safe. That is what I’ll do.”

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