“What coordinates?” Leo asked.

  “I don’t care. Anywhere out of here.”

  “Aye aye.”

  A massive barrage of missiles launched from two of the warships, projectiles screaming toward us too fast to do much more than keep firing the ion cannons forward and hope for the best. I had decided our best chance was with speed rather than maneuverability, and we were going to live or die by that choice.

  “Coordinates set,” Leo announced. “We can’t create a field until we clear this mess.”

  “Almost there,” I replied, watching four of the missiles vaporize beneath our guns. My eyes continued flicking from screen to hologram and back, tracking the rockets as they converged on us, set to hit us right in the teeth. With only a few seconds between launch and impact, our odds of survival diminished.

  I tapped the stick as gently as I could while pushing more power to gravitational control. Head Case skipped suddenly, the chin bouncing as if it had hit a trampoline. The sudden change planted me so hard in my seat I thought I might go through it.

  Of nearly twenty remaining missiles, fourteen shot beneath us, missing by a relative hair’s breadth. The other six hit our forward shields, Head Case shuddering once more as the missiles detonated in a cascade of fire, energy, and light. I held my breath, waiting for the shields to fail and the ship to dissolve around me.

  It didn’t happen.

  The shields held. The ship remained intact. And our survival seemed to catch the enemy off-guard. Their follow-up volley never came, and we closed the gap between us and them. Before they had a chance to recover, we streaked beneath the hulls of the warships.

  “Tee, rebalance the shields. Don’t let those starfighters shoot our ass off!”.”

  “Aye aye!” he replied energetically. “Done.”

  The starfighters remained tight on our tail, firing weaker plasma and energy at us as we blasted out into open space. The biggest threat to us had passed. Of course, the cruisers fired more missiles the moment we re-entered their minimum viable range, but I didn’t plan on sticking around long enough for them to impact us.

  “Leo, do it!” I yelled, keeping the throttle pegged to max, watching the incoming missiles. Immediately, the expansion field spread from the hyperdrive at Head Case’s heart, enveloping us within seconds. The projectiles closed in, not too little, but definitely too late.

  I hit the switch to confirm the jump. Head Case leaped forward as if kicked in the ass, the warships and Cacitrum vanishing in a blur of compressing starlight. Leo slumped back in his seat, sweat beading his brow, his features slack with relief. Tyler whooped and pumped both fists.

  I could hardly believe we had pulled it off.

  CHAPTER 30

  “Nice flying, Noah,” Leo said, his soft voice and praise helping calm me.

  Drawing a steadying breath, I relaxed my white-knuckle grip on the controls. The immediate threat had passed. We were safe, at least for the moment.

  Safe, but still so far from home, and no closer to returning than before we traveled to Cacitrum. Dismay floored me anew. Without Nyree, our hopes of locating Levain's hidden space station and the crippled Wardenship were shattered.

  "What now?" Tyler broke the silence, voicing the question plaguing us both. "We're back to square one, aren't we?"

  I grimaced bitterly. “It sure looks that way. But we still have our copy of Levain’s messages. Maybe we can find a silver lining somewhere in there.”

  “Yeah, I hope so,” he replied. His prior exuberance had vanished, shoulders slumped in defeat. I couldn't blame him. I felt the same way. But as the closest thing to a captain on the flight deck right now, I refused to let him or Leo see the anger and frustration churning within me. "I'll go check on the others," he added, relinquishing the engineering station and heading for the exit.

  “Meg, do you copy?” I asked, activating ship-wide comms.

  “Noah?” She replied, confused that I had contacted her rather than Matt reaching out. “I’m here.”

  “What’s the damage report?”

  “Surprisingly little,” she answered. “We got lucky for once. Or Matt did an extra amazing job of getting us out of a bad situation. Either way, damage is minimal. We have a few shield nodes that need replacement, but it’s no biggie. Not compared to what we just escaped.”

  “That’s great to hear,” I replied.

  “Oh, come on, Noah,” Leo said. “He’s being humble, sis. It wasn’t Matt flying. Noah steered us through that hellstorm.”

  “Seriously?” Meg said. “You were incredible!”

  My face burned in response to her recognition. “It wasn’t anything special,” I replied. “I’m sure Matt would have done it better and more smoothly.”

  “You did great.”

  “How’s Ben?” I asked, diverting attention away from me.

  “As tired as you would expect. He’s on his way to sickbay.”

  “Matt and Ally are already there,” I said. “They were injured in the escape.”

  “Nothing serious, I hope?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Noah, why don’t you go get some rest?” Leo said. “There’s not much to do on the flight deck in hyperspace, and if you feel half as exhausted as you look, you must be ready to drop. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. Leo nodded.

  “Thank you.” I dragged myself from the co-pilot station, body leaden with exhaustion. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and shut out the galaxy for a while.

  It wasn’t even an option while my friends were all in sickbay. I shuffled to the elevator, each step an effort on rubbery legs, my plasma burn noticeable again now that the adrenaline from our tense escape had worn off. With Tee already gone by the time I reached it, and Ben on his way down too, I knew the internal scaler would be out of power, and I had to wait to tend to the burn and then get some sleep.

  That was when I remembered the napkin I had taken from Nyree's grasp. It felt like a lifetime ago that I had snatched it, though only an hour or so had passed. I dug it from my pocket. Grimacing at the blood stains, I carefully unfolded the cloth, wondering what Nyree had considered important enough to hold onto it when facing her death.

  At first, I couldn’t read the writing. She had scrawled her message in Hemid, the same alphabet the code I had seen was written in. After blinking several times, the Warden’s pill translated it for me, forcing my eyes to see it in English. As I read the bittersweet missive, my mind’s eye flashed to an image of Nyree’s pretty face.

  Noah - I don’t know why I trust you, but I do. Maybe because we’re both orphans now. I might not escape Zariv, but I don’t want my father’s secret to die with me. I’m sorry we never got to know one another better. - Nyree:

  “I’m sorry we never got to know one another, too. Thank you, Nyree,” I said softly before my thoughts turned from disappointment in a romance that would never be to the spatial coordinates that followed her message. Ten in total, I couldn’t begin to fathom why there was more than one. Maybe in case Zariv found the napkin before I did? But he must have more than ten ships to explore the locations. There had to be something more to it.

  Thankfully, I didn’t need to figure it all out alone. New energy breathed new life into me, my exhaustion forgotten momentarily. We hadn’t left Cacitrum empty-handed. We’d risked our lives and had lost two of our own for something after all!

  My foot tapped impatiently, leaving me struggling to wait a few more minutes for the scaler to recharge. When I had just reached the point where I couldn’t take it anymore, the elevator sounded and the doors opened. I hurried inside and directed the cab to Deck Two.

  I wasn’t sure the scaler would work until the doors opened, and I was at the right size. I nearly bowled Tyler over as I exited the lift, my excitement palpable. His brow creased in confusion as he reached out and grabbed my arm.

  “What's going on, Noah-san?”

  "Look. Nyree left us something after all! I showed him the coordinates, grinning fiercely. "I think she gave us a way to Levain's secret station.”

  “Are you feeling okay, man? There are ten numbers on that napkin. Unless Levain has ten stations.”

  “I think she hid the real coordinates within this list of fake coordinates in case someone else found it in her hand before I did,” I replied. “That’s my theory, anyway.”

  “Damn, I hope so,” he answered, becoming more animated. “I was just going to clean up and get something to eat, but that can wait.”

  “Damn right, it can.” Tee on my heels, I took off down the passageway toward sickbay, scarcely able to believe our luck. After endless setbacks, the faintest light glimmered at the end of the tunnel.

  In sickbay, we stopped in the alcove outside the treatment and exam rooms. All three doors were open. The autodoc was currently scanning Ally’s hand. Matt had his shoulder and upper arm in bandages, and by his semi-glassy stare at the bulkhead, I figured he was pain-free as well. Ben picked up his head, his face pale. He looked worse than when we had first disembarked. It was a discomforting sight.

  “Noah, what are you two all worked up about?” Ben asked, his voice weak and thready.

  I held up the napkin. “Nyree didn’t leave us high and dry. She gave me the coordinates to the Wardenship.”

  Ally turned her head toward Noah. “Why would she do that? She had no reason to help us.”

  I paraphrased her message, keeping the personal parts to myself. “That’s the gist of it, anyway. She must’ve thought that us finding the Wardenship would be a good thing.”

  “She obviously had the hots for you,” Tyler said. “Too bad she didn’t make it.”

  “I don’t know that she was attracted to me,” I answered, cheeks heating up again. “I think she saw me as a kindred spirit.”

  “Nah, she had the hots for you,” Tee insisted. “Why wouldn’t she? You’re sort of good-looking in an awkward, disproportionate kind of way. Like a flamingo.”

  “Thanks, Tee,” I replied, shaking my head while the others chuckled.

  “Let me see that napkin.” Ben held out his hand, and I stepped through the door to give it to him. “Ten sets?” he questioned, but astute as ever despite his evident weariness, I saw the light go on in his expression before I could answer him. “To throw anyone else off the trail who might have gotten to the napkin before you,” he said, answering his question.

  “That’s what I was thinking, too.”

  “It makes sense. I don’t want to hold you back, Noah. But you’re probably pretty tired right now, and we need some time to get patched up and rested. If you want to work on deciphering the riddle, be my guest. I think we should set it aside for now, though. Rest up, regroup, and work it out after we’ve all gotten some sleep.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. How are you feeling?”

  He shrugged. “About as bad as I probably look. Considering we made it out of Dodge mostly in one piece, I’ll make that trade every time.”

  I exited Ben’s exam room and peeked in on Matt. ”What about your shoulder, Matt?”

  “The plasma bolt damaged the tendon,” he replied, a slight slur to some of his words. “The autodoc repaired it, but it’s gonna take a couple weeks to heal. Then I’ll need some physical therapy to build my strength back up.”

  “You sound like you’ve been shot before,” Tyler said.

  “A couple of times. You did great getting us away from Cacitrum, Noah. Remember that, the next time you think you aren’t contributing.” He pronounced his last word wrong and then corrected himself before yawning broadly.

  “Thanks, Matt,” I answered. “I will. Get some rest.” He nodded, and I slipped out of his room to look at Ally. ”Hey, how’s your hand?”

  “Autodoc says my trigger finger is broken,” she said. “It’s going to fuse the break. I should be out of here in an hour or so.”

  “Wow, that fast?”

  “Matt said the autodoc is great at fixing stress injuries, but it can’t fix…everything,” she said sadly.

  I knew she was talking about Ben. My eyes went to him, picking up his brief flash of sadness before he turned his head away. I couldn’t help but wonder once again if he was sacrificing his health for the rest of us. He might be willing to make that trade, but I wasn’t about to let him if I had anything to say about it.

  “Come on, man,” Tyler said, draping an arm over my shoulders and turning me back toward the door. “We both need a shower and some grub, and these folks need to rest. Lantz and Hzzt could use an orientation, too. Did you see the way Hzzt reacted when he saw Ixy? I think the dude might have wet himself.”

  I didn’t argue, grabbing three small packets—an antiseptic wipe, burn ointment and a bandage—from a caddy on the counter before letting Tee lead me out of sickbay. It still amazed me that he could have an appetite after everything that had just happened. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me, though. Tee could eat his weight in just about anything he could shove in his mouth.

  “You know,” he said as we boarded the elevator. “After everything that’s happened, I’m starting to think we have a real shot at getting home.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, squeezing Nyree’s napkin. “I think maybe we do.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Six hours later—fed, cleaned up, and rested—Tyler and I made the short trip from our shared quarters to the lounge. As tired as I was when we escaped Cacitrum, I’d found sleep hard to come by. My thoughts kept returning to Nyree's note and the possibility that it might lead us to the hidden Wardenship. Afraid it could turn to dust and blow away, dashing our hopes again, I patted the napkin in my pocket to ensure it was still there.

  The lounge was a flurry of activity when we arrived. Matt and Ally had already been released from sickbay, though Ally now sported a stiff brace around her trigger finger. Lantz sagged on one of the couches, Meg and Leo sitting beside him. Ixy and Hzzt occupied opposite sides of the area near the viewports. The spindly alien was still giving her a wide berth. His large eyes were locked on Ben, where our captain occupied an armchair, Shaq perched on his shoulder. Seeing everyone gathered together, determination bolstered my flagging energy. We would figure this out. We had to.

  Ben's pale features lit with a wan smile at our entrance.

  "Welcome, gentlemen. Please have a seat." He waved us toward a couple of chairs moved in from the galley. The side conversations and comments went silent as he rose to his feet. "First things first. Lantz, I'm truly sorry about Tarvik. We wouldn’t be here if not for his efforts.”

  Solemn murmurs of agreement circled the lounge. Lantz offered a sincere smile. He didn’t seem all that upset about the situation. Then again, who was I to criticize how someone grieved after what I had done with mine?

  "Thanks, all of you. I know he'd say it served those bastards right.” His voice thickened, and he roughly cleared his throat. “He would also say that I should inherit the quark you paid him for the job, but alas his paystick is still on his corpse.” He and Hzzt laughed while we stared at him in confused shock. “Uh, I guess I should explain, it’s a Hemid custom to make light of death. Both to quell our own fears about mortality and to speak in fond remembrance of the dead.”

  “I like that custom,” Tyler replied.

  “At least he went out fighting,” Lantz added. “Of course, that’s probably why he’s a smear on the shipyard asphalt. He never was very good at it.” He laughed again. I tried to force a chuckle, but it didn’t come easily.

  “Right,” Ben said, eager to change the subject. “Hzzt, I’d like to welcome you aboard as well. I understand Tyler gave you a tour of the ship.”

  “Yes, indeed,” Hzzt replied. “A very enlightening experience. I’ve been in shipbuilding for years now. I’ve never seen another vessel like Head Case.”

  “I’m sure you mean that in a good way,” Matt said with a slight grin.

  “I’m not as certain,” Hzzt replied. “So much of your technology is really crude, yet other aspects are more advanced than those of many other races in Warexia. It truly is an experience to bear witness to them.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” Ben said. “Before we dive in, are there any critical ship issues to address?" He glanced around expectantly, but no one spoke up. "Excellent. In that case, let's talk about our next steps. As most of you know, we came to Cacitrum at the Warden’s request, in order to deliver a message to Levain. That message turned out to be the Warden’s way of bringing Noah and Jaffie, the man who killed his parents, into the same room. From the Warden’s own mouth, his reason for doing so was because it entertained him. He found it amusing.” Ben said it with obvious disgust in his tone. “As it turns out, maybe the Warden didn’t think things all the way through. Thanks to our encounter with Levain, and subsequently his chief rival Zariv, we learned a few things. Matt, what do we know?”

  “First and foremost, we know that both Levain and Zariv are dead.” He glanced at Ally, who looked at the rug in response to the statement. There hadn’t been a chance to talk to her about what happened yet. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Sure, she had killed someone, but Zariv was only about ten seconds from killing us all. She had done it to save us. Surely, she knew that, at least somewhere in her mind. Once the recency faded, that would help her move on.

  I hoped.

  “Second, we know that Levain somehow came across a derelict Wardenship, and he has it docked at a space station he built in secret with the hope of keeping it from the Warden’s attention, and probably Zariv’s attention as well. Third, we know that Levain’s daughter, Nyree, was the messenger who shuttled hand-written notes between Levain and the station.”

  “Or so she claimed,” Ally said, questioning Nyree’s motives.

  “Or so she claimed,” Matt agreed. We both understood there was no point arguing her position without proof otherwise. “Fourth, we know Nyree left Noah a message written on a napkin that she wrote while Zariv held her prisoner. It⁠—“