I don’t move for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do. If we let these Loric slip through our fingers, who knows when we’ll have the chance to kill them again? This will be yet another failure on my part. And dammit if I don’t want to watch each and every one of those bastards beg for mercy as I torture them.
But Zakos is right. Beloved Leader comes first, always. Though he told me to crush the Loric, I can’t be responsible for prolonging his recovery. And besides, the best way to ensure their demise is to have Setrákus Ra giving orders. He saved our people. He crushed Lorien. Earth is his whenever he decides that he wants it.
If I should be put to death for letting the Loric escape, so be it. So long as Beloved Leader walks among his subjects at full power once more.
I go back to the bridge.
“Update me,” I say.
“We’ll be crossing the United States border in ten minutes,” the navigator says. “We’ve gained on them slightly, but they’ve got a hell of a pilot. We’re having trouble closing the gap, and they’re outside of our weapons’ range.”
I nod.
“Send as many skimmers as we can spare after that ship, but the Anubis is disengaging,” I say. “Plot us a course for the West Virginia base.”
“Would Beloved Leader . . . ,” the navigator says, unsure of how to finish the sentence.
“Now,” I shout.
And then I’m forced to watch as the Loric ship disappears from our radar screen.