Yolandi sighed and nodded. “I'll avoid him as long as possible and then send him your way if he persists. Thank you, Dray.”
She gave a small wave and turned off toward the staterooms the main leaders had been given to sleep in, and Dray carried on to the comms station.
There was a faint ping in his earpiece, and he lifted a hand to accept the incoming communication.
“I'm in full agreement.”
Dray was so surprised by the comm he almost missed the second ping indicating the comm had been dropped.
He didn't recognize the voice, but he had a feeling he had just heard from Bane.
He stopped, turned to look out of the clear wall toward the Class 5. A light on the deadly prickle ball winked back at him.
Chapter 4
The sound of two hovers passed by, their powerful engines a hum in the thick fog, their speed almost a crawl.
Lucy curled tighter around herself, pushing back into the cold, damp corner of the garage she had found as a hiding place.
They were hunting her.
Or perhaps covering all their bases, because she still hoped they thought she'd gone into the sea.
The interesting thing was that they were very quiet in their hunting.
They weren't storming doors and striding around.
They were creeping.
They were hiding the fact that they were hunting at all.
That would give her an advantage if they caught her in a public place. They wanted to avoid attention, and she'd take any help she could get.
The sound of the engines faded and she slowly stood up and waited another ten minutes but they didn't return. Finally she shuffled through the garage, looking through the hovers parked there for anything that could help her.
She'd parked Farnn's at the far end of the slightly shabby space. She didn't know what her plans were, but she wanted to keep the hover somewhere she could come back to if she needed it.
In one of the hovers near the door, a much older and more battered model than Farnn's, there was a cloak, a medieval looking garment with a fastening that clipped under her chin. She had noticed a few hanging in the staff lounge in the facility as she'd been marched past the door.
The cloaks were obviously the fashion in Tecra.
She pulled it on, and began shivering even harder as the warmth enveloped her.
The hem hit the tops of her feet, and she became aware that she could barely feel her feet now, the thin slippers she'd been given to wear in the facility useless against the cold, hard floor.
She worked her way through the rest of the hovers, wondering why they were all open, with no roof or way to enclose them like a car.
It must be something to do with the Tecrans' love of open skies.
They were obviously close evolutionary cousins to birds, or at least bird-like creatures, and she guessed they liked to feel the wind on their faces.
She, on the other hand, would be happy to stay out of the wind, find a warm place to curl up in, and sleep.
By the time she'd reached the last hover, she'd found a scarf and a small blanket made of something very soft, but nothing more.
She looked over the garage, aware that her movements were sluggish, that she was swaying on her feet.
There was nowhere to lie down, and the thought of lowering herself back to the icy floor sent a shiver through her.
She shuffled back out the small side door she'd found open, and took a better look at the building attached to it.
There was no sound except for the suck and surge of the waves far below at the foot of the cliff, and the fog wrapped around her, icy and suffocating. She would have to step carefully. She knew the edge of the cliff wasn't far away, but the fog obscured everything.
It also completely shrouded the building to her right, but a few small lights were strong enough to penetrate, their glow diffused by the swirling cloud.
Lucy moved cautiously toward them, and found they were on either side of a set of stairs.
She climbed up them, finding the staircase strangely deep and narrow.
She stumbled a few times, and at the top found a large set of doors, which would not open.
Above the doors was a carving, something that looked art deco in style to her eye, which she couldn't make out well, but seemed to be a hooded hawk, wearing a cloak much like the one she had stolen from the garage.
She had the blanket she'd found clutched to her chest, but she knew she would need to find somewhere to sit and wrap her feet in it before she lost feeling in them altogether.
There was a narrow walkway leading around the building, to the left and the right, with no railing. Lacking any other option, Lucy followed it right, keeping close to the wall to make sure she didn't fall off.
The fog seemed to thicken, and as she made her way around the side of the building the sound of the waves grew louder.
If she did fall, she guessed it would be to the bottom of the cliff.
The walkway ended abruptly in a small door set in a wall that seemed to stretch up forever.
She stared at it, trying to think what to do, and then turned her head as lights seemed to bloom to her right.
She blinked, sure she must be hallucinating, but after a moment, she realized the fog had cleared, giving her a view down the length of the cliffs.
In the distance she saw tall buildings, lights blazing from them as they rose up out of the cliffs. Further along she could see a city of sorts, where the buildings stood two or three rows deep.
Just as suddenly as the fog had parted, it closed in again, leaving her with nothing but a vague glow in the distance.
She shook her head, concentrated on what was in front of her again, and pushed at the door.
It swung open, and in what little ambient light she had, she made out some kind of storage shed.
She was out of options, so she stepped inside, crouching down in the doorway to feel for something to prop the door open with.
The idea of it enclosing her in complete darkness was too much.
Eventually she found something long and thin to keep the door open a little.
She sank down on the floor near the door, leaning up against the wall. Cool, damp air blew over her through the thin crack. It chilled her face, but she wound the scarf up to cover her mouth and nose and the fresh air helped dissipate the smell of dust and mold. She sneezed, pulled the cloak around her, wrapped her feet in the blanket, and closed her eyes.
The Tecran met the Urna with a full envoy a day's journey from Tecra. The five massive Levron battleships coming toward the UC ship were the most powerful the Tecran had in their arsenal now that the Class 5s were no longer theirs.
If it was meant to be intimidating, Dray thought, it was successful.
A hush came over the crew as soon as the envoy was picked up by the Urna's systems, and a fair crowd had gathered in the large communal area of the ship to watch them arrive.
“Do you think this is all the Levrons the Tecran have left after the battles we had with them?” Zutobi leaned closer to Dray, her voice soft.
Dray lifted his shoulders. “Maybe.” Five were not enough to police the massive Tecran space boundaries. “I don't know if I hope it is, or not. They can't keep their people safe with so few.”
“Word is, they poured every resource they had into building the Class 5s. They cut back on Levron production. They don't have any in construction to replace those we destroyed when they attacked us.” Zutobi leaned forward to get a better look. “What flight configuration is that?”