Flight From Sanctuary is only one day away from lift off, which means this will be the very last Saturday Snippet from book six of my space fantasy, Star Mage Saga. If you missed the beginning of the series, go here.

In this part, Carina Lin, her family, and the merc band, the Black Dogs, face the return of the insectoid aliens who kidnapped and nearly killed them.

Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Ranks of mercs faced the main portal into the Bathsheba. Carina had Locked the airlock hatch, and it was her fervent hope that the simple Cast would be all it took to deter the Regians from furthering their attack. If only the aliens would burn themselves out on repeated attempts to force the hatch mechanism to open, and simply give up and go home.

It was an unlikely outcome.

The mechanism itself was weak. The Regians had repaired the acid damage from their initial attack, but the repairs had been poorly done—the aliens were not used to working with inanimate starships. It wouldn’t take much to breach the seals again, so a lot hung on the mages’ Locks. But if the aliens melted them away entirely, there would be nothing there to Lock, and the Casts would fail.

Also, though the mages could Cast for a long time, they couldn’t do so indefinitely. Exhaustion would overcome them eventually, and then, when the Regians poured through, they would have no energy left to Split them or Heal wounded soldiers. Deciding exactly when to give up Casting Lock in order to conserve energy would be a hard call to make.

The Regians might also try to enter the ship via other routes. The Bathsheba had the usual additional exit—and entry—points: garbage chutes. If they had no luck at the airlocks, the aliens might try to get in via one or more chutes. Carina had stationed a handful of mercs at each one, making entering the ship that way a suicide mission, but that was no deterrent to the Regians.

And then there was the roof to the twilight dome. The Regians had done a similarly bad job there as they had with the airlock mechanisms. The roof was airtight, but it wasn’t strong, and if the aliens possessed anything like the explosive she’d used to blow it open, they could easily arrive at the same result. She hadn’t stationed many defenders in that part of the ship, bargaining on her impression that the Regians weren’t sufficiently technologically advanced to make bombs.

“One minute,” said Hsiao over Carina’s comm.

She looked over her shoulder to where Darius, Nahla, and Parthenia crouched in a doorway, way back from the engagement zone yet within sight of it. She’d made the difficult decision to bring Nahla along even though the little girl couldn’t do much to help. She’d told her that if the aliens broke in she was to move out of sight of the battle, but she hadn’t wanted to leave her alone in a room somewhere or devote soldiers for her defense. It would only be delaying the inevitable.

The minute had to be nearly up. Carina tensed, waiting for the bump. One or more of the living starships would have to collide with the stationary Bathsheba for the aliens to attempt to board.

As her thought completed, the softest of impacts shifted the floor under her feet. Another two or three bumps followed the first in quick succession.

“This is it,” Carina said over a general comm. “Mages and mercs, prepare for attack.”

A subtle ripple passed through the soldiers as they tightened their hold on their weapons, altered position slightly, or only stiffened.

She fixed her gaze on the portal, while also registering the chrono on her HUD. The Lock Cast would last another five to eight minutes. Before five minutes was up she would Cast again.

Go home. Go away, and find some other hosts elsewhere. Or stick to your own cold, wet, soulless planet and die out.

“Where are the starships?” she asked the pilot. “Are they at both airlocks?”

“They’re everywhere,” came the reply.

“Everywhere? All over the ship?”

That didn’t make any sense. The Regians should have been clustering at one airlock at least.

“Well, not exactly all over the ship,” Hsiao went on. “As they got near to us they spread out, and now they’re distributing themselves along the starboard side. Can’t you feel them hitting us?”

Now that the pilot mentioned it, Carina realized she’d continued to feel minute impacts against the ship.

“Right. So…how many are near the Deep Sleep chamber airlock?”

“None of them are near that.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think I know how to read close-range scanner data, Lin,” the pilot replied tersely.

“But I don’t see why they…” Carina’s words petered out as she tried to figure out what the Regians were up to.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

A minute or so stretched out in suspenseful silence. Carina felt no further impacts.

“What’s happening now?” she asked Hsiao.

“More of the same. They’ve all reached us, and they’re pressed up against the starboard bulkhead.”

“What the—”

“And get this,” the pilot continued, “the friendly one that brought us here has joined them.”

For a few seconds, Carina was speechless. Eventually, she said, “So, she’s decided to side with the Regians? After all they did to her?”

Before Hsiao could answer, a comm request arrived from Bryce.

“Excuse me a moment,” Carina said. Then, to Bryce, “If you were going to ask me what’s happening, I don’t have a clue.”

She explained what the pilot had told her so far.

“I think I can take a guess on what’s happening,” said Bryce.

“You can?”

“The Regians plan on boring us to death.”

Carina rolled her eyes.

“Did you just roll your eyes?” he asked.

“Quit kidding about. This is serious. I can’t organize an effective defense if I don’t have any idea how we might be attacked.”

“Sorry. The only thing I can suggest is they’re waiting for something.”

“Yeah, you could be right. Maybe they’re waiting for reinforcements. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense.”

Great, she thought. Just great. They would be hard pressed to deter the numbers of Regians who had already arrived, let alone even more of them.

“I’d better talk to the other teams,” she told Bryce.

She sent a comm to the team leaders, explaining the situation and telling them to keep everyone on standby until further notice. Then she spoke to Hsiao, asking if there had been any changes.

“Negative. The starwhales haven’t moved.”

“Starwhales?”

“We have to give them a name. It kinda fits, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, whatever. I just wish they would do something.”

“The suspense is killing me, too.”

“Wait. I have an idea,” said Carina. “Maybe the Regians are using their acid to try to burn through the hull, avoiding the airlocks altogether.”

“Hmm,” Hsiao said. “Give me a second.” After a pause, she added, “Nope. Sensors are saying everything’s fine and dandy with the hull.”

“Shit. What the hell’s going on?”

Time dragged by without any movement from the Regians or the starwhales. Carina’s muscles ached with the tension of waiting to be attacked, and she grew more confused and apprehensive.

No more starwhales arrived from the Regian planet. The animals remained in their positions pressed up against the Bathsheba, though Hsiao reported that occasionally one would leave, fly around for a short while, and then return to its spot, as if stretching its wings or going on a short trip just for something to do.

The mercs were starting to fidget, and more than a few had allowed their pulse rifles to droop.

Finally, Carina felt compelled to issue a wide At ease command. The soldiers under her immediate control relaxed.

But as one of Mezban’s men lowered his weapon, the muzzle brushed the leg of one of the Black Dogs. The woman objected, violently pushing him and causing him to stumble into another soldier. The man righted himself and immediately pushed her back.

The Black Dog’s visor snapped open, and she yelled a string of expletives at him. Other Black Dogs began to square up against the new soldiers, who turned to face them.

“Cut it out!” yelled Carina. “Resume your positions!”

The mercs instantly obeyed. The offended woman’s visor lowered and she lifted her rifle. Mezban’s men were slower to react, but two or three beats later they were also in defense-ready mode.

The wait went on.

Thanks for reading the final snippet from Flight From Sanctuary. I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to find out about more of my books, sign up to my reader group here.