Sacred Planet: Book One of the Dominion Series Read Online Free Page A

asked, growing more worried by the second.
    “Listen to your pilot,” Sierra said. “She’s right. Carinian citizens don’t own gunships, much less three of them. These are Abramists—extremists. I didn’t think they would go this far, but . . . they did.”
    “And they won’t blow us up as long as they’re not sure if we’ve got her aboard,” Strange added.
    “Alright,” Davin said with finality. “Get us out of here, Strange. Everybody else, find a seat and strap in.”
    Jabron set his jaw tight and leaped out the exit past Sierra, not sparing her a glance, while Jai plunged himself into the co-pilot’s seat. Davin took Sierra’s hand and pulled her along behind him, into the spacious living chamber that held their kitchenette, a few built-in couches, and the custom entertainment hub—Davin’s pride and joy, assembled by his own hands. Davin planted Sierra on a couch and pulled the straps over her chest as Strange’s voice warbled through his nexband.
    “Gonna be accelerating fast! Hang on tight, everybody!”
    Sierra shivered as she gripped her safety straps, whispering something desperately.
    Davin pulled himself into the cushy lazyboy, his captain’s chair, bolted into the floor in front of the massive TV screen. He strapped in and brought up a 3-D map of the space surrounding the Fossa from a control panel in the arm of the chair. The three huge frigates hung in the space around their little clipper and the hunk of floating debris beside it. Less than three kilometers away. Only a master pilot could escape this rat trap.
    Luckily, he had one in the pilot’s seat.
    “Punch it, Strange!”
    The ship lurched.

Chapter Six
    The scavenger ship rocked violently in no apparent pattern. Up, down, left, right, corkscrew. Pressure built up in Sierra’s head and tied her stomach in knots. Styluses, little gadgets, and empty food wrappers swirled around the compartment, falling one direction and then another.
    Sierra craned her head to see past Davin’s well-worn chair to the huge screen. Her vision blurred from the ship’s motion, but slowly she made out the colored shapes that comprised the digital map. Skeletal outlines on the black backdrop showed everything in the surrounding space, contours shifting so fast she could barely make anything out. Her yacht’s distinctive tail fins established a point of view. The scavenger clipper zigzagged through the wreckage, trying to keep the intact part of her yacht’s hull between itself and the frigates. So far, the frigates stayed still. It appeared as if they were letting the scavenger ship escape.
    Then a rod zipped out from one of the frigates and smashed through a tail fin on her yacht, barely whizzing by the clipper. Scattered debris showered the clipper and made a series of thunks against the outer hull.
    “We’re fine!” the lady pilot’s voice peeped from some unknown speakers. “No serious damage.”
    “Just don’t let one of those rods hit us!” Davin shouted into his nexband. “They even graze us and we’re scrap.”
    The ship lurched a few more times, hurling Sierra into her safety straps. She tightened them as far as they would go and strained to see the screen. Her yacht spun and turned over itself from the hit. Those beautiful, iridescent fins . . .
    Another rod lanced from a frigate and blasted through the main body of the yacht, exploding shards of debris like confetti out the other side. In a few seconds, the debris caught up with the scavenger ship and more thunks pounded the hull.
    Sierra closed her eyes and prayed, her last line of defense. She had no more power. Only God could save her—God and these Orionite strangers. She felt utterly powerless, helpless as a child, and afraid. So afraid. Her own death had never seemed so close, so tangible.
    Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy . . .
    Her thoughts strayed with every bounce, every jerk, every pound of pressure smashing her brain against the side of her skull.
    “Watch out for