13 Leap Frog

 

Abby

Ash’s fingers flew over the console, kicking the cruiser into high gear. He was a brilliant pilot, and she’d seen a flyboy or two in action. She was in awe as he darted from satellite to satellite, playing hide and seek with the battleship. Just like they hoped, the giant cruiser didn’t fire on them for fear of hitting the satellites and betraying their presence to the world at large. The game of cat and mouse clearly wasn’t as easy as he made it look. Even in the bony armor she could see how tense his jaw and shoulders were. She kept her mouth shut so she didn’t distract him.

“We can’t do this forever. We need to get to Aculus’ vessel. He’s hiding near this planet beyond the asteroid belt.”

“Jupiter.” She nodded.

“The asteroids should slow a ship of that size down. But I need to time this just right.” Ash grit his jaw, the muscle flexing.

“You’ve got this.” She smiled, reached over and patted his arm.

Ash nodded grimly, circled the satellite acting as their shield one more time, then made a break for the moon. A barely noticeable beam of light was followed by a shockwave.

“Fuck,” Abby cried out then bit her lip. They’re firing at us. We’re leaving already, you bastards!

Ash snarled, his fingers moving faster over the controls. He didn’t travel in a straight line, instead veering about to avoid the laser blasts. The sound he made was positively feral when the one vessel was joined by the other two. They whipped past the moon, putting it between them and the pursuing spaceships, but the assholes just kept following. Her heart beat a million miles a minute as they rocketed toward the distant asteroid belt.

“I’m coming for you,” Aculus suddenly growled, making her jump.

“No! That will just piss them off further,” Ash bit out.

There was another blast and the cruiser shook, setting off a dozen strident alarms.

“Son of a metcor. We’ve been hit,” Ash bellowed.

“I’m coming. If these bastards want a fight,” Aculus barked and cut-off the transmission before Ash could argue.

“Dammit,” Ash growled.

“Is there some way we can try to talk to them and tell them we’re leaving?”

“It can’t hurt. I’m hailing them now.”

She screamed when another blast shook them, and their cruiser veered sharply to the right, throwing her hard against the seat. Abby glanced in concern at her mother, but she was still out cold.

“The propulsion system is compromised. I’m going to try to reach that red planet. Maybe we can hide in one of the storm clouds on the surface.”

The cruiser shook violently from another blast. This wasn’t how she imagined dying. Their ship continued to rattle as Ash attempted to guide it toward Mars. They were hobbling along and still the three battleships pursued, hell bent on making an example out of them. The pulsing light on the bow of one of the enemy ships began to glow brighter. They were gearing up to fire again.

“Talk to me, dammit. I know you answered our hail, so say something,” Ash snarled to whoever was listening in the attacking ships.

“Please,” she begged the unseen enemy. “We’re trying to leave. You don’t need to do this. If you’re good people, don’t do this, please. We’re not a threat.”

Abby held her breath and prayed as she stared at the ominous light on the opposing ship. With the damage they sustained there was no way they’d avoid this shot.

I can’t watch. She squeezed her eyes shut.

No shot came, and she opened her eyes.

“Fuck yeah!” she burst, seeing the three ships had broken off the chase. Maybe their theory about this being the Miran Sona was right after all.

“Hold on!” Ash bellowed as they careened toward the looming red planet.

They were no longer being chased but were hardly out of danger. They hit Mars’ atmosphere and the tremors grew violent. She gripped the armrests tight. Her poor mother rattled about in her seat like a rag doll, despite the armor.

“If systems weren’t compromised this wouldn’t be a problem,” Ash rumbled.

This is it. We’re going to die on Mars, and I haven’t even told him…

“Ash, I…”

“Abby, please, I need to concentrate.” His gaze met hers for a brief intense second before he turned back to the planet.

Stubborn to the very end.

“If we’re about to die in a fiery crash, I refuse to end it with us being at odds. I…”

“Brace!” Ash yelled, cutting her off again.

Her eyes swung to the display screen in horror as they struck the surface of Mars.

 

Ashtoret de Origa

Ashtoret blinked again to clear his head. The settling cloud of dust made it hard to see, but he could just make out the wreckage of the torn hull. He scrambled to his feet and frantically looked around the barren landscape littered with mangled pieces of the cruiser.

“Abby!” he bellowed, his voice coming out deeper than normal because of the thin atmosphere.

He shoved the daunting revelation that they’d crashed on a totally inhospitable planet to the back of his mind and started sprinting toward a large section of wreckage. With every step the low gravity sent him jaunting through the air. Ashtoret tore back a shattered section of the hull and it flew nearly a hectare. He tossed another scrap aside, but Abby wasn’t here. He moved to the next pile in the long crater left by the crash. Ashtoret skidded to a halt when he saw a bony-plated arm sticking out from beneath the carnage. He tugged back the mangled aft to find Abby’s unmoving body. Ashtoret dropped to his knees in the rocky dirt.

“Abby!” He picked up her body and cradled her against his chest. “Abby! Wakeup, beautiful, please,” he begged as he shook her, but she didn’t rouse. “No!” he tipped back his head and screamed, anguish ripping through his soul.

His head dropped forward when his voice finally grew hoarse.

“Abby, I’m so sorry I failed you,” he rasped and nuzzled her cheek. Ashtoret desperately wished the armor wasn’t in the way so he could feel her one last time before all the warmth fled her body.

“Ash.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and swung around.

“Ash, is Mom all right?”

He glanced from the small figure in his arms to the one standing beside him. Cloaked in the bony armor, he couldn’t tell them apart.

“I don’t know,” he choked as he set Carol down and clutched Abby to him. It was a good thing she was wearing the armor because he couldn’t control how tight he held her.

“How are we even alive?” She rubbed his back.

“I think the Osivoire shells saved us. I guess your mother is still unconscious from the tranquilizer. Does anything hurt?” He pulled back and looked for damage to her armor.

“I feel a bit like I just rode on a cracked-out merry-go-round, but I think I’m fine.”

“Thank Kali,” he rasped, unable to repress the emotion in his voice.

“Do you think those bastards will let Aculus come get us?”

He couldn’t say. The foreign vessels barely let them live. They weren’t going to react well to Aculus attempting to approach Earth again. If it was just him, he’d tell the warrior to hold back and not risk the others. But he wasn’t alone stranded on the desolate rock. And he had no clue how long the bony shell would protect them from the harsh environment.

Torment, I don’t even know how the shell is keeping us alive to begin with. The gravity of the situation overwhelmed him as he looked at the barren landscape and hazy sky.

“I’m sorry, Abby. You weren’t supposed to be involved in any of this, let alone crash here on this goddess forsaken wasteland of a planet.”

“You can’t blame yourself. I snuck onto the cruiser.”

“No.” He shook his head in frustration and anger. “This was my duty, not yours. I came here to keep your people from harm, to keep you from harm. I made an oath to my friend, your sister. And not only did I fail you all, I selfishly bound you to me and stole you from your family, which has already suffered enough. You deserve a better male than that.” His shoulders slumped in defeat.

Abby wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight.

“No, Ash, you did not fail me. I’m so sorry about what my people did to Vintor, but you did not cause that. Despite what you think, you’re an honorable and brave man. If anything, you brought my family back together. There’s no way you can be perfect or predict what the future will hold. Hell, Ash, you’re not a freaking god. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t do that to us.”

 

Abby

Abby frowned. She hoped her words reached Ash, but he didn’t seem convinced. A sound captured her attention and she looked over his shoulder.

“It’s them,” she squealed, seeing the vessel landing on the rocky Martian plain.

“Go. I’ve got Carol.” Ash scooped her mother up and they started running toward the giant silver cruiser.

Running on Mars was unreal. She practically flew with every footfall. She’d dwell on how cool it was later, when she wasn’t so freaked out. For now, all she wanted to do was get the hell off Mars. It was awkward coordinating her steps in the lower gravity, but once she got the hang of it, it took no time at all to reach the spaceship. She stopped outside the large hatch that was opening like the gates to heaven.

They stepped into the ship and could see everyone waiting on the other side of the clear barrier. Hope stood clutching Aculus with tears streaming down her face. It took forever for the chamber to pressurize, but once the barrier lifted, Hope was instantly by her side.

“Abby! Mom!” Hope cried as she looked from her to their mother cradled in Ash’s arms.

“It’s me.” Abby hugged her sister, careful to not gouge Hope with the spiky knots on the armor.

“We need to check your mother.” Ash gently set Carol on the hull floor and depressed her wrist.

She didn’t even care her mother was naked as a jaybird as Cartil checked her over.

“She appears fine, just unconscious.”

“I had to tranq her on Earth.”

“That would explain it then.” Cartil nodded.

Abby breathed a giant sigh of relief.

“Let’s get her to a bed where she can rest near her mate.” Aculus kindly covered her mother with a blanket and lifted her up. “You don’t understand how relieved I am to find you all shelled. That was good thinking, Ashtoret.”

“It really was.” She smiled at Ash as they walked toward the clinic.

“I can’t thank the Osivoire enough for this.” Ash pointed to bony armor covering her from head to toe.

“When you crashed after those fucking ships fired on you…” Hope sobbed as she hung onto her arm.

“Believe me, I was shocked as shit to wake up alive on Mars,” Abby barked a tired, incredulous laugh.

“Did the foreign vessels give you any trouble?” Ash asked.

“They started to, but Nadzia’s quite the diplomat.” Aculus cast Hope a sideways glance.

“Really?” Her eyes widened.

“No. Aculus was trying to calmly reason with them so we could come get you, and I started screaming obscenities.”

That sounds about right.

“She has quite a colorful vocabulary. She made my crew blush and that’s not something the Osivoire do. What was it you threatened—something about shoving this cruiser so far up their asses they tasted metal?” Aculus chuckled.

“Well, I thought they killed my family,” Hope huffed.

“I think your lack of fear had quite an effect.” Aculus smiled.

“Place her here.” Cartil pointed to a gurney in the clinic.

“Thank you.” Abby smiled in gratitude as Aculus set her mother down but didn’t know if it reflected since she was still wearing the bony armor.

She glanced at her father and had to look away. Cartil assured he’d be fine. She had to trust that.

“I’ll stay with Mom while you go clean up.” Hope took a seat near their mom.

“It may be a while. I’m a little frazzled.”

“It’s okay.” Hope nodded.

“Are you sure? She’s not going to react well.”

“Peanut, I got this. You guys got her here safely. I can handle this part. Now go.” Hope patted her arm.

“Okay.”

She was turning to leave when Hope grabbed her in another big hug.

“I’m so glad you guys are okay,” Hope choked.

“Me, too, sis,” Abby rasped.