Cali & Drake (The Alliance Book 1) Read Free Page B

a few hours.”

Chapter Four
    Cali looked at the soldiers standing at attention in front of them. This
was one of the numerous points where their plan could fall apart.
    With Vathral’s help, Cali had arrived here in Thalesti four hours after
jumping out her bedroom window. It had taken Vathral, Vareen, and her, less
than one day to meet, come up with a plan and implement it. If Cali took the
time to think about their cockeyed idea, she would chicken out, so it was a good
thing they didn’t have time.
    Only the three of them were in on what would take place next. Her other
friends they left in the dark, figuring the fewer people who knew what they
were doing the better. At any rate, her mother would hopefully still be clueless
to her disappearance. If she did know Cali was gone, hopefully, Aicen would not suspect she had made it this far yet and
would be looking in Regency City.
    The good luck they were having was astronomical. For starters, after
graduation and during placement, she had used her influence to help her friends
find assignments together. Cali knew all of the officers of The Reliant and most of the crew. Which was a good thing because she was going to hijack it,
not that the crew would suspect they were being pirated. Even though a change
in captain had been announced, she was Aicen Edal’s daughter. Who would suspect her? When she ordered no off ship communication,
saying it was part of the mission, nobody would question her. Since her second in command would be Vareen, and she was a whiz with
technology, nobody would be getting information on to or off of The Reliant that she didn’t want to be sent .
    Second, all of the crew had been ordered to be onboard by this afternoon.
That would mean only a handful of positions would be potentially unfilled.
    Third, The Reliant itself. The
most advanced ship ever built on Cestori. A rounded wing design, with six
levels. On level one, or the command deck was the bridge and officer crew quarters.
Level two, or the medical deck, contained additional crew quarters and the
medical units. On level three, or the security deck, were holding cells and
additional crew quarters. Level four, or the transporting deck, contained the
most crew quarters, the recreational rooms and the transporting equipment.
Level five, or the engineering deck, housed all the equipment for the CD drive,
or caterpillar drive and quarters for the engineering crew. Finally, level six,
or docking level, held the bays for their shuttle craft, and open bays for
docking visiting craft. There were no extra crew quarters on this deck due to
the size of the bays. Each deck had four lifts, located at the bow, stern, port, and starboard. These were accessible by
hallways connecting the different areas of the ship to each other.
    A masterpiece of Cestori engineering, The Reliant ’s food, water and energy
systems could be operated on minimal supplies. It could outrun any vessel they
knew of, be operated by a skeletal crew, and had weaponry for defense. It was
perfect for her escape into space.
    So here she was, walking toward the entrance gate to the space dock. This
phase of the plan called for Cali to follow Vareen through security.
    “Don’t fidget like that,” Vareen muttered.
“You’re going to get us caught.”
    “I look ridiculous,” Cali hissed, then quickly shut her mouth and
continued toward the gate with her friend.
    “You don’t look ridiculous,” Vareen argued. “You look fine.”
    “This hat looks absurd with my hair tucked into it.” Regulations stated
all male placements were to have hair no longer than their ears. All female
placements were to keep their hair in a tight bun or cut to be no longer than
their shoulders. Cali had adamantly refused to cut her hair short, so rolled
and hidden under her cap was the best they could do.
    “Not to mention the uniform Vathral got for me is too big. I look like
I’m swimming in it.” Her friend couldn’t argue with her. The brown