Chapter 18
Eighteen
Kira
It turned out it wasn’t far. Just a few miles as the crow flies.
The hills and ravines forced them to detour a few times, but within a couple hours they stood on the bank of a picturesque, slow moving river.
Tall trees shaded moss covered boulders.
Breaks in the forest canopy allowed the sun’s weak rays to pierce the shadows, bathing the ship in warm light that only served to cast its imperfections into stark relief.
“That’s their ship? Can it even fly?” Bez demanded.
Kira considered the bucket of rust that had brought the pirates to this planet, debating that question herself. “Jin?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” Jin admitted with a noticeable lack of confidence.
He looked just as dismayed as the rest of them. The pirate’s ship appeared like it was being held together by duct tape and a prayer.
Not the good kind of duct tape either.
“Maybe we can dig out one of the enclave’s ships,” Arly suggested in a faint voice.
The Tuann looked like she was envisioning his future death via giant fireball and wishing she could revisit some of the decisions that had brought her to this point in time.
Kira was too.
In any reputable port of the Consortium, the ship before them would have been considered unfit to fly. There were enough halfheartedly repaired pockmarks and tiny fissures to give a mechanic heart palpitations.
Even if they managed to get it off the ground, the trip promised to be an uncomfortable one. It was small. Close quarters for the duration.
Kira seriously questioned how the pirates thought a ship this size would be enough to ferry them home.
The air scrubbers would have been strained to the max. They would have had to live right on top of each other. It would have been a miracle if they made it to their destination without them tearing each other apart.
Maybe that was the point.
Az eyed the ship. “No one told me humans were insane.”
“Maybe you just weren’t paying attention,” Raider quipped.
He had taken the ship’s state of disrepair in stride. Then again, he was no stranger to sketchy vessels and desperate circumstances.
“I’ll check it out,” Jin offered, holding his arms out to Dylan in expectation. “If nothing else, I’m sure I can dig out records of their flight path. It should also give us a better idea of where we are.”
“Do it,” Kira ordered.
Even if she was willing to abandon the hunt, it would take months to return to Ta Sa’Riel in a ship as slow as this piece of junk.
If it managed to hold up in the first place.
(And that was a pretty big if.) Either way, Pye wouldn’t survive in his current state.
Their best option was to make for the nearest outpost of civilization and hope whoever they found had medical supplies and access to the satellite network that allowed communication across solar systems.
Chances were they’d need to call for a ride. If they also stumbled across whoever took Caius in the process—and that party just happened to be responsible for the attack on Kashori and Asanth—who could blame her for acting in Roake’s best interests?
Jin impatiently jiggled his arms at Dylan when the oshota continued to stare. “I need you to carry me across. I don’t know how deep that water is or what’s in it. I don’t want to risk getting swept away or eaten.”
Raider sent Jin an incredulous look. “The current is barely moving.”
“How am I supposed to know if it’s safe or not? This body is fragile and I’m pretty sure it can’t swim.”
Kira held in her laugh. Barely. She suspected Jin’s concerns stemmed more from the prospect of getting wet than anything else.
“You mean you’re fragile and you can’t swim,” Raider argued.
“I said what I said,” Jin returned, a pompous look on his face as Dylan hoisted him onto one shoulder. Jin didn’t break eye contact with Raider, staring the human down the entire time Dylan waded through the water.
“He is ridiculous,” Raider complained under his breath.
Dylan reached the far bank, setting Jin on its mossy shore before climbing up after him.
“Come on,” Kira said, following.
Raider’s curse was muffled before she heard splashing a second later. She looked back to find him and Finn behind her.
Roderick kept watch as Arly and Bez took the makeshift litter they’d created earlier and used it to carry Pye across the river. Az followed behind with a faint wince as she stepped down into the water.
Jin was already crawling under the belly of the ship by the time Kira and Raider reached the other side.
Up close, Kira was stricken anew by how poorly maintained the ship was.
For goodness’ sake, there was rust forming at the edges of some of the exterior panels.
Whoever was responsible for maintenance should be drawn and quartered.
If they’d been under her command and she found a ship in this state, they would have rued the day they were born.
“How are we looking?” Raider asked.
Jin’s muffled voice issued from beneath the ship. “Good news—it’ll fly.”
Tapping came from inside one of the boosters on the wings. A second later, Jin’s mini-me crawled out. This one looked kind of like a scorpion with jewels embedded in its tail. Diamonds had been used for the pinchers.
“Yay,” Raider exclaimed in a dead pan voice.
“How long until we’re in the air?” Kira asked.
Jin wiggled out from under the belly of the ship. “A few hours. Give or take.”
Raider and Kira followed him around to the hatch of the ship.
“Can you crack it?” Raider asked as Jin fiddled with the control panel on the side.
“What kind of question is that? Of course, I can crack it.”
“I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to give the rest a status update,” Kira explained. She looked at Raider. “You’ll stay with him?”
He nodded. “I’ve got him.”
A banging came from the direction of the control panel.
“I have an oshota of my own, you know,” Jin called.
Kira glanced at Dylan standing off to the side. “Trust me—I’m painfully aware of that fact.”
She disliked strangers at the best of times. Having someone she didn’t know all up in her business, unable to shake them off. It wasn’t her idea of fun. Particularly when they made her feel like she was being spied on.
Raider wasn’t there to protect Jin though. He was there to make sure Jin didn’t overestimate his own capabilities and accidentally destroy their only ride off this planet.
The sound of their good natured sniping followed her as she walked back to the others. She found Roderick and Bez facing off. Maksym squatted next to the river, rinsing his hands as he watched from the sidelines. Interested, but more inclined to let Kira handle the situation than intervene himself.
“What’s going on?” Kira asked.
“There seems to be some debate on whether the group should split up to see if the ships in the enclave can be salvaged,” Maksym announced when it seemed like no one would answer.
“It’s hubris to split up at this juncture,” Roderick exclaimed through gritted teeth.
Bez stabbed a finger at the pirate ship. “That thing is a death trap.”
“Jin says not,” Kira said.
Bez threw up his hands. “By all means, let’s stake our lives on a child’s assumptions.”
“He’s not a child. He’s passed the adva ka,” Kira said in as reasonable a voice as she could manage. “And I’d trust that ‘child’ over any adult in this group any day.”
They didn’t know Jin, Kira told herself. If they did, they’d never question his capabilities.
Bez’s expression turned as close to pleading as the proud Tuann was likely to get. “At least let me return to the enclave on my own to see if any of their ships can be recovered. It’s better than entrusting our lives to that.”
They all glanced at the ship in question.
Honestly, Kira was tempted. The idea of escaping the planet’s gravity in that thing was terrifying.
Any ship in the enclave’s possession was likely to be well cared for.
The problem was that they’d have to dig out and then repair any ship they found, wasting precious time for something that wasn’t a guarantee.
“Separating would be unwise,” Roderick said in a stiff voice.
“He’s right,” Kira admitted reluctantly. “We don’t know who else is out there.”
All the pirates they’d come across were dead, but there could still be others.
Bez blew a raspberry. “Humans. Easily dealt with.”
He wasn’t saying that earlier when a sniper had them pinned and their only option was a risky plan that resulted in a landslide.
“Everyone sticks together. No one goes off alone,” Kira said with a note of finality.
“Why are you being so stubborn?”
Kira turned Bez’s question around on him. “Why are you being so insistent?”
She didn’t hide her suspicions, letting him see every ounce of the doubt and paranoia that had kept her alive for so long.
Bez stalked off with an angry curse.
“Forgive him,” Az said in a strained voice. “This situation has him on edge.”
“Everyone’s upset.”
“The pressure of knowing that Caius is relying on us is making him rash. We are oshota. Maybe not in name but in spirit. I’m sure you can relate,” Az said pointedly.
“Yeah. Whatever.”
Az’s humble act could only buy so much goodwill. One more upset and Kira was leaving her and her team, with the exception of Pye, on this planet. She’d have Harlow send someone for them once things were settled.
She had half a mind to do that anyway.
Kira summoned Maksym with a tilt of her head.
He shook his hands, flinging water everywhere before following her back toward the ship.
“Bold, little heir,” he said.
“Do you think I’m wrong?”
“What was that saying you used during training last time? A rock in the hand is worth two in the bush?”
“It’s a bird in the bush. Why would you have a rock?”
“What would you want with a bird?” Maksym asked in confusion.
“To eat it.” Actually, Kira wasn’t certain about that. “Never mind. It’s not important.” She was too tired to explain the intricacies of human sayings. “Can you make sure none of them wander off on their own?”