They encountered more troops. But every time, Ava’s superior speed and strength gave them the upper hand and the two of them emerged victorious.
Jak’ri breathed a sigh of relief when they finally found what they sought. These are the pods.
Ava guarded his back as he chose the closest access panel and waved a hand across it to activate it. Ziv’riiiiii! she shouted telepathically.
Jak’ri swallowed hard, straining to hear any answer.
Ziv’ri, answer me! Please! We’re free! We’re escaping! Tell us where you are so you can come with us!
The entrance to the escape pod’s dock opened.
Jak’ri grabbed Ava’s arm and tried to pull her inside, but she resisted.
Ziv’riiiiii! she called desperately, tears sparkling in her luminous amber eyes. Pleeeeeeese!
Jak’ri’s eyes burned as he faced the truth. Swallowing the lump of grief that rose in his throat, he forced her to look at him. “Ava. He’s gone,” he told her hoarsely. “Ziv’ri’s gone.” Just speaking those words nearly drove him to his knees.
Breath catching on a sob, she bit her lip.
Jak’ri didn’t want to believe it either, but if they lingered they would likely die, too, so he forced himself to enter the small, cramped bay and tugged her in after him. After sealing the door, he guided her into the escape pod’s open hatch.
Ava stood quietly inside while he entered and closed the hatch behind them.
The pod resembled the ones frequently found on Akseli ships but was larger to allow Gathendiens room to maneuver their thick tails and could accommodate up to four passengers.
Jak’ri studied it carefully. All men and women in the western province of Purvel were required to serve in the military for a minimum of three years. Though a single elected sovereign presided over their intergalactic affairs, his planet was not bereft of war and conflict the way Lasara was. Though he wished it were otherwise, his people did battle among themselves on occasion. And the province in which he lived wanted to be prepared for anything.
Jak’ri now thanked that military training for including the study of Akseli mercenary ships—how to fly them, how to destroy them, and how to escape them—because this pod was very similar in design. Setting the medic bag and rifles down, he sat in the pilot seat and ran his gaze over the control panel.
There. Triumph filled him. The name of an Akseli manufacturer was etched into one corner. Those Akseli grunarks would sell anything to anyone for the right price and didn’t care who might suffer the consequences. But today that worked in his favor. He might not be able to read Gathendien, but when he activated the control panel, everything lit up in the same pattern as the Akseli pod he’d studied.
Ava moved to stand behind him and placed a shaking hand on his shoulder. “Can you read that?”
“No. But it’s an Akseli design, and my military training required me to learn how to navigate both an Akseli fighter craft and an Akseli escape pod.” He tapped the unfamiliar symbols in the sequence he remembered.
“Are the Akselis your enemies?”
“They were friends and allies for many generations. Then their planet swung hard toward tyranny, and their ruler’s only concern became increasing his own wealth and power at the expense of others. Under his rule, the Akseli now lend their aid to whoever pays the most in wars and have even aided some races in attempted genocide. When the province I was raised in went to war with another on Purvel that thought to steal our water rights, the other province enlisted the help of Akseli mercenaries and escalated the conflict. As a result, Purvel’s sovereign banned Akselis from visiting Purvel and added anti-Akseli warfare to our military training to prevent the grunarks from successfully interfering in our conflicts again.”
The engine hummed as it came online. He patted the seat beside him. “Sit here.”
As soon as she did, Jak’ri helped fasten and adjust her harness, then fastened his own.
Blaster fire erupted in the tiny pod bay beyond the hatch.
Jak’ri swore and entered what he hoped was the correct command.
“Launch sequence initiated,” a male voice announced in Gathendien.
The pod began to rotate, turning them until the small unbreakable crystal window the pod boasted showed a short passageway in the shape of a tube.
“Here we go,” he told Ava.
She took his hand and held it tight.
“Launching,” the computer said, “in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”
Ava held her breath as the pod shot down the launch tube, pressing her deeper into her seat. She didn’t see space at the end of the tunnel and hoped like hell—
A door at the end of the tube slid up at the last minute to allow them passage. Then the darkness of space surrounded them.
Her heart pounded in her chest. “Did we make it? Are we off the ship?”
“Yes.”
“Are they following us?”
Jak’ri studied the control panel. “Not yet. But they will. Computer, enable voice commands.”
Silence fell.
“Is it working?” she asked. Reaction began to kick in, driving her hands to shake.
His brow furrowed. “No. But I was speaking Purveli. Perhaps the initial command has to be rendered in Gathendien.”
“Do you speak Gathendien?”
“No. Purveli translator chips only enable us to understand spoken languages. They don’t render us capable of speaking or reading them. But Akselis designed and built this pod, so perhaps the computer will accept the command in their language.”
“You speak Akseli?”
He grimaced. “Not well.” He stared at the console. “Mathematician can voice commands.”
Ava bit her lip. “I don’t think you got that right. According to my translator, you said mathematician can voice commands.” She didn’t know the Alliance Common word for mathematician, so she just used English for that one and hoped he’d get the gist of it.
He swore. “Calculate, enable voice commands.”
“Close. That was calculate enable voice commands.’”
He tried again. “Computer, enable voice commands.”
“Voice commands enabled,” the computer said in its masculine voice.
Ava smiled and would’ve high-fived Jak’ri if he were familiar with the gesture.
Relief blanketed his features. “Accept and respond to all voice commands and inquiries issued in Purveli and Alliance Common.” He glanced at her. “I want you to be able to communicate with the computer, should it become necessary.”
The only reason she would need to communicate with the computer would be if something happened to him.
“All such commands and inquiries will be accepted,” the computer responded.
“Map our current trajectory,” Jak’ri ordered.
“Mapping trajectory.”
Ava looked up at him. “Why would a Gathendien escape pod built by Akselis be able to understand Purveli?”
“Most ship computers are equipped with an understanding of all recorded languages so the commanders or pilots can communicate with anyone they encounter.”
“Oh.”
A map appeared on one side of the control panel.
Ava willed her body to stop shaking and tried to ignore the throbbing in her arm, thigh, and foot that fear and adrenaline had briefly kept on the back burner.