Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (34 page)

“Not to ruin this love fest, but should we not let them know we are here?” Jos asked. Blue sobered up fast and the euphoria left at the reminder of why they were here.

“Is the stealth system still active?” Jayden asked Idris.

“Yes, everything checks out. Neither the Ragillians or Shillidon know we are here. Or if they do no one is saying anything.”

“Leave the stealth on but let them know we are coming in,” Jayden ordered.

Something did not feel right about this whole situation to him. He was proven right when the first of several bursts of laser fire peppered the space around them. Blue gave a snort and said to Idris, “You thought they would be happy to see us. Looks like you were wrong.”

Idris shook his head, “Something is wrong!”

“You think?” Blue said sarcastically.

Getting no response to his hails at the main space port Idris tried the secured channel he had used to send the original message to his parents. No answer there either. He sat back in disgust. “I have no idea what is going on down there but it can not be good.”

Jayden said one name, “Balik?”

Idris looked at him, “You think the little worm is behind this?”

“No, I think whoever is pulling the little worm’s strings is behind this and whoever they are, they obviously have people in control of both weapons and communications. If not the whole space port.”

“It is the wrong time to try and pull off a coup. We are in the center of a war that just started and about to be fired on by more than a hundred ships.” Idris shot back. Not wanting to think any of his people could be so stupid.

“Maybe not,” Blue said.

Both Jayden and Idris looked at her.

“I know you guys are more familiar than I am about how things run down there but maybe that is why the Ragillians haven’t fired yet. What if they know what is going on and are waiting to see what happens?”

“No one from Shillidon would betray us to the Ragillians,” Idris was outraged at even the suggestion.

“Why not? You think all Shillidonians are honest, upstanding people? If that’s the case what happened to Balik and his father?”

She turned to Jayden, “How easy would it be to smuggle clones in and place them in key positions?”

Jayden rubbed his finger up and down his nose. Indicating he was thinking deeply. “Not that hard frankly. Think about it Idris. It could be done. Someone could collect DNA from certain people and when the clones were ready they could switch them with the original.”

Idris nodded his head in reluctance, “It would take years to plan and execute but yes, it could be done.”

“Without a full medical scan there is no way to tell if someone is a clone,”
Dro said.
“Especially if it is a first generation clone.”

“You are saying you guys think the space port has been taken over by Ragillians and no one knows?” Sparks asked incredulously.

“If that is the case why is the shield still up?” Vihan wondered.

“Because thanks to the disagreeable Commander Azael we know that they have not gotten that far yet. If they had control of the shields they would be down,” Jayden said.

“True,” Idris said. Maybe the arrogant commander had done them a favor in not lowering the shields. That was not going to stop him from tearing a strip off his hide for insubordination though.

“If we land here we can work our way onto the port. Idris will be able to get us in and from there we will make our way to the main control tower,” Jayden said pointing to a landing zone a few miles from the port.

“How are we suppose to tell the real thing from the clones?” Jos asked.

Jayden looked at Blue and replied, “Blue says they have no emotions. She can tell when she comes across one because they are a blank spot to her. She will let us know.”

“Don’t forget Dro is also empathic so he should be able to tell too,” Blue said.

Dro protested,
“But my empathic senses are nowhere near as strong as yours. There are a lot of people I cannot read.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Blue insisted. “If you can feel anything coming from them at all they probably aren’t clones. If you are not sure incapacitate instead of killing them.” Blue shrugged ready to get this over with.

She wasn’t bloodthirsty but enough was enough and she had developed a powerful hate for Ragillians. It wasn’t the clones. It was the Doctor who had started all this with his megalomaniac need to rule everyone and the atrocities he performed in reaching that goal. If the clones could be saved that would be a bonus but she wasn’t going to cry over them. The sooner she could get this done and if she survived, the sooner she could go looking for him.

Chyrstal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

Chapter 32

Blue took in the lush brilliant green vegetation and colorful trees. Shillidon was filled with all the colors of the rainbow and some colors she had never seen before. Everything was perfect.

Too perfect she thought as Sparks flew over the land. It was pretty as a postcard with its well tended winding paths and flowing water fountains. But it was the three tall spiraling towers of solid chrystal that dotted the landscape that caught and held Blue’s attention.

They called to her on a deeply personal level she couldn’t explain or brush away. She wanted to, no needed to touch them. To embrace them with her whole being. Which was a stupid thing to think. Idris came to stand next to her.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“It’s pretty,” she said when she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She could hardly insult him and tell him that the perfection bothered her.

He gave her arm a friendly bump and said, “Do not worry. The other side of the planet is not so tame.”

“Oh thank goodness because the perfect paths kind of give me the creeps,” she said in relief.

He laughed, “Most of our people choose to live here or in the cities but some of us choose not to. You, we actually grew up on an estate which our parents left mostly in its natural state. But I will warn you there are pretty paths there too.”

“That’s okay. I am sure I will get used to it. It’s just everything looks so clean. On Earth this would be destroyed in a matter of days with graffiti and trash.”

“Then they do not care so much for their planet?” he asked puzzled at the thought.

“No, not so much. Some do but most don’t really care.”

“That is too bad,” Idris was baffled at the thought of people not caring for the planet that sustained them.

“Yeah, it is,” she said sadly.

Sparks landed the ship smoothly just a few miles from the port in an out of the way spot Idris directed him to. Once they had gotten through the shield surrounding the planet there was very little security to detect and prevent unauthorized landings. Blue thought that was stupid and told Idris.

He sputtered with indignation and told her that they did not need more security because once a ship was allowed past the shield they were tracked until they landed then were escorted to the port.

“Ha,” she said “And you call yourself an expert in security. Anyone can sneak through if they are determined enough. If anyone should know that it should be you, given what you guys do for a living.”

“We have security,” he reiterated. “No one can sneak in.”

“What do you call what we just did?” Blue shot back at him.

Idris threw up his hands in exasperation, “No one can do what you did.”

He told Jayden, “You tell her.”

“Do not try to pull me in the middle of it. She is your sister. Besides I think she is right. You do rely on the shield too much. That is the problem with all of the Alliance worlds that have the chrystal shield. You act like it is all you need.”

“Haldairia has a chrystal shield,” Idris pointed out.

“Yes but we also have secondary security measures in place,” Jayden said thinking of the dragons that patrolled the planet’s skies.

“Just what would you suggest?” Idris asked Blue.

They spent the next while discussing her ideas with all of the guys putting in their own suggestions as they hiked to the port. At one point when Blue had just finished explaining her idea for a laser grid encircling the planet they all stopped and just stared at her. Vihan said with awe in his voice, “You are one scary, paranoid woman. Are you sure you will not consider leaving Jayden and come be my love?”

Not entirely sure he was joking since all of them were a little bit in love with her, Jayden cuffed him on the back of his head.

“No trying to steal my girl.”

“Hey just letting her know she has options,” Vihan retorted moving quickly out of Jayden’s reach to avoid another blow.

The byplay made the hike go by fast and before she knew it they were nearing the perimeter of the port. Like all ports a large city had sprung up around it. Tourist shops, restaurants and hotels were the businesses of choice. Not any different than the airports of Earth. Only instead of planes this was an airport for space ships.

Idris stopped in front of a large decorative boulder and pressed his hands into several spots in a precise order before stepping back.

The boulder soundlessly moved two feet back revealing a tunnel entrance. “There is about a ten foot drop once you get past the ladder so be careful when you land.”

One by one they silently disappeared into the opening. Idris was the last one to drop in and when he did the boulder slid back into place, hiding the opening to the tunnel.

Soft lights automatically came on as they made their way through the tunnel. It took thirty minutes to reach a small door made out of the same metal used for space ship hulls.It was impervious to any type of weapons fire that would fit in the cramped quarters. Everyone preformed one last weapons check even though it was not necessary.

Jayden wished that Blue had stayed with the ship. There was no way of knowing what they were facing on the other side of the door but if they were right and clones had infiltrated the port they needed her to identify them. Well that and she would have handed him his head if he had suggested she stay behind.

He knew she could take care of herself. She proved that on the planet she called the Mudball and again when she had taken out a Ragillian ship by herself. That did not change the fact that he would have preferred her to stay safe and sound on the ship with Leo.

Leo had been left behind only because he would draw too much attention walking through the port. He had let his displeasure at being left behind known to them all and Blue.

Blue was putting her extra gun back into its holster on her thigh when she felt Jayden’s sudden amusement and looked up in time to have him pull her up off her feet into his arms for a hard kiss. When he set her back down she said in a furious whisper, “You have to stop doing that.”

“Why?”

“Because you just can’t kiss me whenever you feel like it when there are others around.” She stamped her foot for emphasis. Wincing inwardly, she really had to stop doing that.

Jayden did not even try to stop the grin from forming. “You asked me to rock the ship with you in front of all of them,” he said with amusement.

“That was different. I was under the influence and can’t be held responsible for my actions,” she replied a little primly, completely embarrassed by the memory.

“They do not mind if I kiss you in front of them,” he assured her.

“Nope, we do not mind at all,” Sparks agreed.

She looked to see all of them, even Dro nodding in agreement. “You are my big brother, you are supposed to mind,” she said pointing at Idris.

“Tried that remember? You took exception to my interference. If I recall right you kicked me in the stomach for it.” He rubbed the spot where her kick had landed and laughed. Then patted her on the head.

No
, she thought, he did not just pat me on her head like a dog.
Yes. He. Did. He was so going to be toast when she had time.
“Remind me to kick your ass when this is over,” she said. He just continued to smile at her like the rest of the idiots. “If you idiots are ready shouldn’t we get going? You know save the planet and all that,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Idris put his hand on the computer screen for identification then gave a series of both verbal and manual codes. When a needle appeared out of the door he pricked his finger on it, giving a blood sample. Blue was impressed.

“I guess you do have some security around here after all.”

“When this is over I am sure the parents will let you do whatever you want. Maybe you can overhaul our security for us,” he joked.

She nodded solemnly, “I will be sure and do just that.” Maybe one day she would be good at this brother sister thing. It might be fun having a big brother around to tease.

All joking died away as the door slid quietly into the wall revealing a fully equipped weapons locker.

“It was designed this way in case we were caught without weapons,” Idris said into the quiet.

“How long has it been here?” Blue asked.

“Since the port was built over a thousand years ago. It is upgraded every year with the newest technologies,” Idris said as he walked across the room to activate a set of monitors that covered the whole wall.

He brought up the central control room where everything looked as normal as it could with a hundred enemy ships circling the planet. That would change the minute the Ragillians realized they knew there were clones here and that they could identify them.

Next Idris pulled up a detailed map of the port. They were all pretty familiar with the main areas of the place since they spent quite a bit of their down time here or on Haldairia, but the map showed places they had never been. Once they could get to the control room and secure it everything else should go smoothly.

They walked out of the room into the corridor and strode with grim purpose towards their goal. Many of the port staff recognized Idris and moved out of their way. Some bowing, most just nodded their heads. Blue was given some curious looks but no one tried to stop them until they got close to the security offices.