Read Online Treasure of Light (The Light Trilogy) by Kathleen O’Neal - Free Book Online

specialists—but the others represented excess, armed baggage. Tahn slumped in his chair, body going slack; his head lolled back as he mumbled incoherently. Delusions?
    “Captain?” Macey said, on the verge of tears. “What’s happening?”
    On the screen, dozens of planetary ships surged toward the Hoyer and Neil abruptly understood Jeremiel’s plan. He’d adapted Operation Abba to make room for the refugees fleeing the destruction of Horeb. The scorch attack would have initiated a series of horrifying chain reactions. Soon, the planet would be writhing beneath major climatic upheavals. That would give Jeremiel a ship full of loyal Gamants to do his bidding and they’d methodically search every inch of the Hoyer until they found him!
    “Macey,” Tahn ordered. “Get me Engineering.”
    Neil pushed back against the wall, shielding himself behind a console. The forward screen flared to life. Jeremiel’s hard blue eyes stared out at Tahn. He looked just as he had six months ago, blond hair and beard neatly trimmed. Dannon shivered involuntarily. His best friend for fifteen years….
    “Baruch,” Tahn said. “Let’s talk.”
    “I’m listening.”
    At the sound of Jeremiel’s deep voice, Neil shrank in upon himself, soul withering. Happy, hurtful memories whirled out of the blackness of his liquor-laced mind. He felt like he’d been gutted.
    Tahn shifted in his command chair, voice unsteady. “I should think… telling you we surrender is a Little redundant, but if you need to hear it—”
    “I don’t.”
    Neil got on his stomach and slithered across the floor, taking a path he knew lay below the visual range. He saw Halloway’s cold green eyes leveled on him, brimming with disgust. He headed for the door to the bridge conference room. From there, he could duck into one of the air shafts and when Jeremiel repressurized the ship, he could head for the tangled guts of the Hoyer. No one could easily find him there.
    He heard Tahn ask, “What can I do to … save the lives of the rest of my crew?”
    Jeremiel responded tiredly, “I want your cooperation. The people I’m bringing aboard are able, but not trained. Tell your science division to school my people and I guarantee I’ll put you off alive and well on the nearest Gamant planet.”
    “I’m not sure that’ll be doing us a favor … but we’ll manage.”
    Neil reached up and palmed the entry to the conference room, then scrambled inside and pounded the patch to close the door.
    “Calm down!” He smoothed his black hair away from his eyes with shaking hands. “Jeremiel can’t hold the ship. Even after killing eighty percent of the crew, he’s going to have a hell of a time battling Tahn for control.”
    He fought to force his breathing to return to normal. “All you have to do is hide long enough for Tahn to take his ship back.”
    Locking his helmet down, he got to his feet and ran around the long table. Jerking off the air duct panel, he scrambled inside.
     
    Harper put down the gold circlet of his com headset and watched Jeremiel cut the connection with the bridge. Baruch looked dead tired, drained of every ounce of energy that had kept them alive over the past few days. His blue eyes had gone dull, lifeless. He propped a trembling fist on the white console.
    “Avel,” he said tensely. “I have to go meet the incoming samaels. There are two things I need you to do. First, I’ve set the ship’s scanners on maximum. All you have to do is use this board to search the polar ice cap for life. If you get confused, ask the ship, she’ll help guide you. I want to know if Rachel’s still alive.”
    “I understand,” Harper responded. “If she is, I’ll dispatch a samael immediately to get her.”
    Just before Horeb’s civil war had flared, Baruch had sent Rachel Eloel in, undercover, to kill Horeb’s leader, the Mashiah Adom Kemar Tartarus. The Mashiah had taken Rachel to the polar ice cap just as the first battles began. She’d