Coral

Ihear her before I see her.

"If you don't back off, I will run you through."

Artur gives me a terrified look, and I'm left wondering if Jade did bite him…or someone.

We round a corner, and Jade is holding a single Zio at bay with what resembles a pitchfork.

I am incredibly impressed, not only at what she is doing but the fact she found a pitchfork on an alien planet.

"Jade!" I call out.

Her head swivels, and she does probably the best double take I've ever seen in my life before she throws the pitchfork to one side and runs for me, nearly knocking me over in the biggest hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she sobs.

"Hey, hey," I murmur into her hair, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tight. "If I didn't come for you, the Sarkarnii would have."

Her entire body is trembling, and I can already feel the fabric of my fetching dress soak through with her tears.

"I've got you," I whisper in her ear. "I'm never letting you go again."

"The human needs to come with me to the medi-facility," the Zio says in a soft tone.

"I'm not going anywhere. I already told the space-hell spider," Jade says into my shoulder.

I can't help a little laugh. "These are Zio, not the Bogarok. They fixed me up when I reacted badly to the Bogarok venom. You can trust them."

Jade withdraws from me enough I can see her face. Thank god there is still a fierce spark in her eyes.

"I only trust you, Coral. Only you."

And I also see the terror lurking there. What did the Bogarok do to her?

"I'm here now, and it turns out, Artur here"—I jerk my thumb towards the big Habosu who is attempting to make himself look as small as possible—"isn't a bad guy. In fact, none of these aliens are. They're all allies of the Sarkarnii."

Jade blinks at me a couple of times, as if she's trying to take the information in. Information which has already twisted my reality, so no doubt she's finding it hard to adjust to as well.

"And the Sarkarnii are coming," a familiar voice says.

"Emilie!" I call out as I see the Lepke in the doorway.

Jade looks at me and at the others.

"Not good," she stutters out. "Not good at all." Her trembling body is shaking, her teeth chattering.

"Why?" I ask, confused.

"They're coming too, the Bogarok, the others. They're coming to claim what they think belongs to them."

‘Oh, fuck," I swear out loud. "Look," I say to Jade. "The Habosu want to use us as bait, as leverage with the Sarkarnii. We need to take that choice out of the equation."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

I look over at Emilie and Artur. "The Sarkarnii can protect the females they have amongst them. It's us their enemies want."

Unnervingly, both nod in agreement.

"Then we have to convince them we're no longer available."

"Oh?" Jade queries, then she gets it. "Oh! A bait and switch?"

With something to grab hold of, something tangible, I see the change in her demeanor, the Jade I remember.

"Something like that, only the bait is not going to be us, not this time. It'll give the Sarkarnii the advantage too."

"Enough of an advantage to make sure the Bogarok burn to death as slowly as possible?" Jade asks, excitement filling her voice.

"Um, I don't know about that exact scenario, but I can't imagine they're going to show the Bogarok much mercy," I suggest, more concerned at Jade's attitude than the suggestion the alien spiders should come to harm.

"I'll put in a special request," Jade growls.

Both Artur and Emilie are looking confused and scared in equal measure. I put my arm around Jade's shoulders and turn her away from them.

"I have to ask, have you been biting aliens?"

"It was one time!" Jade grumbles. "Not that they left me alone after. Anyway, what's the plan?"

I turn back to the Habosu and Lepke. "Artur, those holo-stamps, can you make them here?"

"Yes, there is a holographer who plies his trade within the tech market." He nods, big green brow furrowed.

"Exactly how big can those holo-stamps get?"

Emilie starts to show her teeth in what seems to be the Lepke version of a smile. Her antenna twitch wildly. She gets it.

"Whatever size you want, although it's costly," Artur replies.

"Spoken like a true trader-in-chief." Emilie chokes with laughter. "I have credits, I will pay whatever the holographer wants." She beckons to us. "But first, let's get you into something more suitable for such an image."

I look at Jade who is staring at Emilie, biting her bottom lip. I take her hand.

"I've got you. The Sarkarnii are coming, we've got a plan. Let's go get dressed up to really show these aliens they messed with the wrong humans."

Her hand grips mine and she steels her face. "About time we got a bad-ass wardrobe."

"I thought that was your department, O giver of the knickers."

Jade snorts out a laugh and I'm so happy to hear it. "I had to work with what I had. And the Jiaka only ever seemed to have that bloody floaty stuff Opal liked. It's about time this girl got her hands on a decent leather jacket."