It's a two chapters in one day, kinda day.

Nikka POV

"Well, life support is back up, so at least we won't freeze or suffocate to death." I said, pulling myself out of an access hatch on my ship.

"We're damn lucky to be alive at all, Cap." Risha said, emerging from the engine room. "The Gravestone could have blown us to spacedust. You pulled out of its direct line of fire just in time. What in the hell happened?"

"The distress call." I said, replacing the panel over the hatch and turning to my crewmate. "It was a trap. I didn't sense it until it was too late to warn Koth. If they had contacted us directly, I probably would have, but since we only piggybacked on the signal...I'm just not that powerful."

Risha put a supportive hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault. You were able to save us, at least. No point dwelling on it now."

The internal comm clicked on and was followed by Bowdaar's growl. "Communications are still down. We won't be able to contact anyone, anytime soon. I might be able to rig up a transmitter for short range communications, but it will take time."

"Yeah, do it. Something is better than nothing." I replied over the comm. "Damn. No way to warn Odessen. How are the engines?" I asked Risha.

"We're limping, but mobile. It's going to take a couple of months at this speed to get back to Odessen. I'm trying to patch together something to allow us one good hyperjump, but I have to wait until the damn motivator cools for my idea to have any chance of working. It'll be a couple of hours at least and even then, it won't be enough to get us all the way home."

I sighed, leaning against the wall. "So what you're saying is that we're almost dead in the water. Well, I guess that's better than being dead. I only hope someone on the Gravestone was able to send out a message home before being taken over. That ship in Vaylin's hands would spell the destruction of the Alliance and possibly the galaxy."

"I hope we jumped far enough away from the Gravestone that they won't realize we survived. I'd hate for them to turn around to finish the job." Risha added.

I nodded. "That would be good, too."

Rio POV

Koth's holo to Odessen ended suddenly and it took only a heartbeat for us to spring into action. We had to get to the Gravestone before Vaylin's hijacking succeeded fully. Koth had locked things down, but Scorpio was onboard, so the lockout wouldn't last long. We could not let the most powerful ship in the galaxy remain in her hands.

We all headed towards the hanger bay, but Theron grabbed my arm and held me back.

"Commander…"

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. You tried to contact her?" I asked.

Nikka had been out with The Blade's Edge, flying alongside the gravestone, along with three other smaller vessels, for support. Koth said the gravestone had fired on the smaller ships, but hadn't said anything about their fate.

"I can't raise any of the ships with the gravestone." Theron replied.

"We need to get to the gravestone or everything could be lost. I'm choosing to believe that Nikka's ship was damaged and her communications are down. We can't worry about her now." I said, though it pained me. I could tell the truth pained Theron as well.

Theron nodded. "I know. I'll keep trying. Maybe when we get closer to where the gravestone was first taken, I'll be able to pick up something."

"Let me know if you get anything." I said, as we both hurried along to catch up with the others at the hanger bay. I put my worries about Nikka to the side as best I could and I knew Theron was doing the same. We both knew what was at stake if we failed to get the gravestone back.

To Be Continued...