Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Daemon stopped a little over a hundred yards from the nearest ship. He could feel the presence of a nest of creatures in the ship. They weren’t aggressive at the moment so he assumed they were either sleeping or dormant. He had encountered this situation before and as long as they didn’t get close the creatures would stay in the ship. Daemon motioned for the girls to follow him as he started walking around the ship. It was a small troop transport so the part they needed wouldn’t be on it anyway.

  Sara scanned the area, looking at the ships: There were almost a dozen sitting here, looking like they were ready for lift off. She could only imagine how much some of them were worth. The military ships would easily be worth a few hundred million credits. She thought she could pilot a few of the smaller yachts, but the chances of them actually being able to fly after sitting for so long were very slim. Then she spotted a marine assault ship that was about the right size for the equipment she needed; it had crashed, but the engineering section didn’t look too damaged. She called to Daemon and pointed it out.

  Daemon turned and headed toward it, but stopped about fifty yards away.

  Angelica stopped, also and started shaking, beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

  Daemon hugged her close and whispered reassurances to her. To Sara and Mystique, he said, “Back away calmly; everything is okay. We need to avoid that ship.” He didn’t want to panic Sara but he needed her to get away. Angelica was almost overcome by the waves of hatred and the desire to destroy coming from the creature on board the ship. Daemon held Angelica by the shoulders and guided her away from the ship. She started to calm down as they got farther away. Daemon really hoped they didn’t have to go into that ship for the needed part.

  They reached one of the maintenance hangers Daemon and Faust had searched during a previous visit. Daemon had no idea what the power coupling looked like so he didn’t know if it would be in here or not, but he did know the building was full of spare parts. He could feel the presence of a few small creatures but they backed away when he turned to look in their direction. He had his ax in hand, ready to fight at the first sign of an attack. Mystique held two knives ready, and Sara and Angelica had their rifles slung across their backs. Daemon knew from experience that they would never have time to unsling their guns if they were attacked.

  The hanger was a huge building over three hundred feet long and close to two hundred feet wide. There were racks of parts on the left with tools and machinery on the right. The center was wide open, leaving room for a five-hundred-ton ship to be towed in and worked on. He led them over to the racks.

  “All right, you three look for the coupling while I watch for an attack. Move slow and don’t get far from the group. We aren’t alone in here,” Daemon said, not sure it was a good idea to tell them about the creatures watching them.

  “What?” Sara blurted out as she spun around, looking for whatever else was in the hanger.

  “Calm down, they’re keeping away. There are four in here—over there.” He pointed out where the creatures where hiding.

  A couple had taken notice of the fear Sara felt when she’d reacted to their presence.

  Angelica was doing her best to keep herself and Sara calm so they wouldn’t attract any attention. Daemon had his fighting beast ready to attack, so she also had to try to block him out, too. Mystique had faded even farther away, making it impossible for Angelica to make any connection with her. Angelica hoped the monsters were having an equally hard time sensing the girl.

  They slowly worked their way through the hanger storage racks, checking every box large enough to hold the coupling.