Defender: A Terran Times Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

deliberately.
    “Wonderful. I am going swimming. I will be back in an hour.” He disappeared in the next moment.
    Aldeen smiled at Scotia. “Now, tell me about some of the men you have seen on the worlds you have visited.”
    Scotia smiled and wiped sweaty palms on her skirt. “I will in just a moment. Hold tight to happy thoughts and wish me luck.”
    The image of the control panel was steady in her thoughts. She had read the specs for the station over and over, and she was really hoping that her recall was accurate.
    The warmth in her chest told her that the Heshi was ready.
    She sucked in a breath and transported herself for the first time, from Ikanni to orbit in one rush.
    The control panel was in front of her but alarms sounded in the main halls. They were not installed in the station, so it must have been Raider alarms.
    She rushed to the panel and activated it. “Command override, Alliance protocol Alpha-Beta-Spaghetti-Western. Remove impact shielding, deactivate interior shields. Activate self-destruct. Authorization, demolition specialist Scotia Pickering.”
    The lights on the console blinked, and Scotia listened to the stampede of feet coming her way.
    She would have flapped her hands in frustration as she watched the systems cycle from one to the other, but her situation didn’t call for flapping.
    Scotia needed a distraction, so she fired off one of the bombs on the other side of the station. It rocked violently, and she smiled wryly as it proved that the shields were down.
    As the final light activated, the Raiders reached the panel room. She stood in defence of the computer as the blast shielding covered it to prevent tampering.
    The guns aimed at her fired in unison, and to Scotia’s shock, the blasts passed right through her.
    The Raiders shouted in confusion and fired again.
    Again, the weapons passed through her body.
    Shivering, she put the image of Alder’s house in her mind while she triggered the other twenty-nine bombs. Blasts continued, and she held her breath as she tried to move back to the point at which she had disappeared.
    She was standing in the kitchen, swaying, an instant later.
    “Scotia? Where did you go? Is that blood?” Aldeen was at her side in a moment.
    Looking down, Scotia groaned as she saw the blaster burn running across the left side of her waist. Blood was oozing down, and Scotia knew that she hadn’t quite gotten away with it.
    She hauled Aldeen with her as she ran to the front deck, and up in the sky was a burning, bright ball of energy and destruction. “Sister, I believe I am now out of a job.”
    Scotia thudded to the deck, ass first. The burn on her waist was starting to radiate pain, and it was not a comfortable feeling.
    “Alder!” Aldeen’s shriek carried over the water.
    Naked and dripping wet, Alder appeared at Scotia’s side. “What the hells?” He lifted her in a moment, and the next, they were in a different room, Aldeen arrived a moment later. “Aldeen, get the healer.” Scotia smacked his chest. “Put me down. I am fine.”
    “You blew the station.”
    She smiled proudly. “I did.”
    “How?” He set her down on a table so that she was sitting up facing him. “How did you blow the station?”
    She felt like a naughty school child. “I simply activated the detonators.”
    “That is not the whole truth. How did you use the code you got from Kaia?”
    She winced and clutched her side. “It does hurt a bit.”
    “Answer me.”
    A woman with a medical bag appeared next to Aldeen. “Sir, please stand aside so that I can examine your lady.”
    “Not until she tells me what I want to know.” Scotia scowled at him. “You would deny me healing?”
    “No, merely delay it. Now, how did you blow up the station?”
    Aldeen cleared her throat. “She went somewhere and came back with the hole in her side.”
    Alder raised his hand. “I want to hear it from her.”
    Scotia looked into his ruby red eyes and said, “I transported to the station,