Chapter One
Rain felt her hands trembling as they drew closer to the shape of the planet in the distance. It had been so long since the first time that they had traveled from the desolate planet of Penthos to Uoria, but the feeling was far different this time. When the Nyx 23 mission was first overtaken, their ship sabotaged so that they had no control over its navigation or communication, they were traveling from one unknown planet to another. The existence of the planet that would come to be known as Penthos had been only just identified and they knew nothing about it. The planet that she now knew as Uoria hadn’t even been identified. The very concept that it existed wasn’t debated, there was simply no knowledge that the planet even existed.
In the moments that they were falling toward Uoria during their first journey, Rain hadn’t had the opportunity to watch as the ground came closer and closer beneath the ship. Instead she had been frantically trying to get to the control room, wanting to try to fulfill her responsibility to reclaim control of the ship. It was Etan, though, that had taken her focus away from the controls. She knew now that there was nothing that she could have done, even if she had stepped over Etan and grasped the controls. The ship had been taken out of their power and no matter what she had done or tried to do, there would have been no way that she would have been able to reclaim the ability to pilot the ship. The weapons that the Valdicians had used to disable the StarCity were impenetrable and any efforts that she had tried to put forth to override what they had done would have been completely futile.
Just as much as there was nothing that she could have done about the sabotage of the Valdicians, there was nothing that she could have done to help Etan. He was beyond anyone’s help by the time that she had found him, destroying himself before he had to watch as the rest of the crew that he was supposed to lead, guide, and protect suffered the catastrophic crash. In those moments, it had felt nearly hopeless. Rain had never been one to allow herself to completely give up any hope that she might have, no matter what the situation. She had always been determined and almost aggressive in her pursuit of what she wanted. As a child, she had been told that she wouldn’t be able to fulfill the dream that she had for herself to be a part of the elite research and paramilitary department that she dreamed of joining. She had been told that she wouldn’t be able to handle the education or the training that it would require just to earn a place in the program, much less be a part of any of the missions. There were times when it was only her hope, her dedication to herself, that kept her going. Too many times she had felt alone and like she had no one who cared if she managed to accomplish anything that she had set her mind to doing. In those times, she could only rely on her own mind to push her through.
It had been hard to hold to that hope when they were hurtling toward the unknown, seemingly empty planet below. She didn’t know if they were even going to survive the crash. What they might find if they did barely even crossed her mind. She could only hope for her next breath, one right after the other, hoping that she would be able to take in another breath, hoping that when the ship finally did crash that she would either survive it or die quickly, hoping that if she did survive she would know what she should do next. Though it had been a struggle, it had been her hope, the same determination that she had always had, that had brought her from breath to breath and kept her going as they went through the rest of the fall, crashed into the planet, and began the new life that waited ahead of them on their new planet.
Now the hope inside Rain was stronger and she felt more confident as they approached Uoria. The power of the ship beneath her hands almost felt like a vindication, redemption for that horrific day. She could control the descent of the ship now. She knew what waited below them and what she would do when they finally rested on the ground again. It restored her faith in herself and invigorated her against the battle that they had left and the war that lay ahead.
When the surface of Uoria was close enough, she set the signal for those aboard to secure themselves in their passenger pods. She knew that not everyone would be able to follow that instruction. Those still in the infirmary would have to simply lock their beds into place, secure belts across their bodies, and hope that they remained in place. Rain took one hand away from the controls to secure her own hardness so that it held her tightly to the pilot chair. As the belts clicked into place, cuffs emerged from the base of the chair and locked around her legs. Another secured around her chest. The pressure was reassuring in that she knew they would protect her as they landed. At the same time it was frightening, reminding her that she couldn’t move, that she was stuck in place until the ship was fully landed and the built-in restraint system released. The thought that she was completely unable to move, to get away from the chair even if she wanted to, made anxiety rise in her stomach and squeeze in her chest. If something was to happen and the sabotage by the Valdicians came back into effect, there would be no way for her to save herself or anyone else in the ship.
Rain took a breath and tightened her grip on the controls. She didn’t know if everyone had made it into the passenger pods, but she couldn’t wait any longer. They were too close to the surface of Uoria to continue moving forward. She needed to start the descent. She felt the slight sinking feeling as the ship started to move down. It would only be a matter of seconds, but it felt like an eternity as she willed the massive machine to bring itself down. She hoped that she was close to where she had intended them to come down. Though it would have seemed appropriate for them to land in close to the same spot as the original crash, this would have been too far from the Mikana kingdom or the human settlement. Instead, she had planned for them to come down in between the two, close enough that they would be able to get to the kingdom quickly and be only a brief trip to the human settlement as long as the Denynso had done as they asked and brought the small vehicles Athan had revealed to them back to the kingdom from the orchard in the compound.
She wished that Lynx was with her. She would be more comfortable with him beside her, reassuring her with just his presence. But she took comfort in knowing that at least this time everyone in their pods would be protected. Many of the deaths that occurred when the StarCity crashed were among those who were working in the ship, moving around the various rooms and systems rather than securing themselves before landing. Of course, the pods had been different then. They were nowhere near as strong and effective as the ones in the ships now. Rain’s mind was still filled with horrifying images of exploring the far-flung wreckage and finding bodies tangled in the remnants of destroyed pods, some killed by the shattered shells of the very pods that were meant to protect them.
The planet was coming closer. It was just ahead. She braced herself and continued to guide the ship down. There was no landing platform to support the ship, meaning that they would have to land straight onto the ground, which would be a far less comfortable landing. Finally, the bottom of the ship touched down and Rain felt the rumble of the impact go through her. She held her breath, waiting for the ship to settle and tell her that the journey was over. Seconds later the ship fell still and the breath streamed from her lungs. The restraints released, enabling her to remove the harness that she had locked into place and stand from the chair. She had done it. They were back on Uoria.