Fire & Soul by Siobhan Crosslin Read Free Book Online

jumps into zerospace.
    Cakewalk , we think, and turn our attention away from the dizzying black of zerospace to Jye. His consciousness is sleeping, as it should be, and we curl around his mind, protecting him from the buffeting adjustments the computer makes to our path.
    The rest of the entourage are nothing more than shadowy figures in the black, until the silence that envelopes us is abruptly filled with shouts and screams over the comms.
    Our sudden drop out of zerospace pulls our stomach into our throat and we barely manage to adjust before something slams into our left flank.
    "It's the Cabal!" Aiya and Keito shout, and we draw the sword that lies along our spine. Everything is chaos, adjuncts darting about, trying to protect the leisure vessels from the two pirate ships that have somehow managed to divide the entourage in half and are firing relentlessly.
    It's all so quiet, except for the directions being yelled down the comms. Our heart shoots up into our throat when Aiya and Keito get hit, and we shoot forward to cover them, taking a hit that sears through us when a third ship shows up, flanking us.
    "Jump!" Aiya and Keito yell. "Get into zerospace now!"
    All around us, the leisure vessels disappear, followed closely by the adjuncts.
    Our comm link clicks over to a private channel as we initialize the jump sequence. "Aiya? Keito?"
    There's a breath of silence and then, "We're sorry, boys. Remember that we love you."
    "What—"
    And they reach out and rip the zerospace generator out of our spine before disappearing.
    Red lights flash and sirens blare into our ears, even as we desperately try to regain our equilibrium. But we're spinning and tilting through space with no anchor before we see the curve of a planet and aim for it, compensating for the shift in gravity and pulling through more power from Jye, enough to shield us as we burn through the planet's atmosphere.
    An alarm shines on our HUD as the landing sequence fails and we scan the planet's surface only to come up blank for any sign of habitation.
    We aim for land, tuck into a ball and pray, watching the HUD as it counts down to impact.
    5
    Why would they do this?
    4
    Protect Jye
    3
    Mikscn—
    2
    Temsha—
    1
    Jye!
    *~*~*
    I open my eyes, blinking rapidly as my head aches and throbs. I try to turn my head and groan, nausea slamming through my gut. I swallow hard and close my eyes.
    *~*~*
    I drift back to consciousness and stay awake through sheer force of will. I feel Mikscn swimming in my mind and shut our link down hard before he can drag me under again. I shift around and realize I'm still in my cradle. A low red emergency beam fills the cockpit with dim light, and I scramble for the hatch release, panic stifling my breathing. It opens without a problem, though, and I make myself breath calmly and slowly.
    "Mikscn." I cough and reach for my cradle release. "Mikscn!" I yelp when my relays disconnect with a shock and I slam onto my side. Mikscn lets out a low groan and I drag myself up to the edge of the cockpit so I can reach down for the release for Jye's cockpit. "Mikscn, wake up!"
    Jye's hatch whines, but opens smoothly before it gets stuck on a fucking tree. I look up belatedly and realize we're in a forest. "Jye?" I call down as Mikscn starts making noise behind me. I can only see a couple inches inside Jye's cockpit and Mikscn lets out a string of curses. "Jye?" I yell again, and feel my heart jump in my chest when there's no response.
    "Temsha," Mikscn grunts. "What the fuck happened?"
    I ignore him in favor of easing myself out of the cockpit. I brace myself on the tree blocking Jye's cockpit and squeeze through the opening. Jye's still cocooned in his cradle, relays attached, and I realize the computer must've kept him from waking up during the crash.
    I jam my wrist into the manual release and interface with the adjunct long enough to confirm my identity so it'll release Jye. He comes awake with a gasp and I shift forward so I can catch him when