9. Ryklin

This rescue was ill advised.And ill fated. I dragged Noelle clear of the burning craft and watched as flames engulfed it. If there'd been anything useful in the pod, there wasn't any more.

Noelle took off, and I had to run to keep up. "Where are you going?" I asked, though my voice came out louder than intended. The knock to my head had some sort of effect on me, making me feel strangely unsteady, even though my body was functional.

Her destination was clear after a moment. She arrowed straight for the door of her own escape pod, but I sped up, closing the distance between us in two strides and wrapping my arm around her waist to keep her from entering.

She struggled, but I forced myself to hold on tight. "The fire could jump that distance in a blink, and your pod will go up. Is there anything in there you'd risk your life for?"

Noelle stilled, and I let go. "That would be one hell of a jump for the fire to make," she said.

"Are you willing to risk it?" I'd seen the state of my own pod, picked over for scraps until it was barely functional. I wondered how many on the station were in just as bad condition. The escape pods would be death traps if anything catastrophic ever happened.

Her shoulders sagged. "No. There's nothing in there."

That wasn't exactly true. We could have scavenged fabric from the chairs and possibly created sacks to carry any supplies we found. There may have been other useful parts, but I refused to let Noelle risk her life when fire raged on.

"We need to move," I said. Once we were clear of both escape pods, there was little chance of the fire spreading. There was no more fuel for it. We appeared to be in some desolate depression on the planet, perhaps a dry lakebed or salt flat. Emptiness spread out in every direction, and the sun was bright overhead.

We needed shelter from that, and our only option was likely to burn up.

"We need a plan," Noelle countered. She shaded her eyes with her hand and surveyed the area around us. "Maybe there was some sort of alarm when our escape pods launched. That's the best-case scenario." I didn't need emotions to hear the doubt in her voice. "And we both have friends that will be looking for us. Someone will realize we're not on the station. Eventually. Maybe they'll find us down here."

"Your friends will be looking for you," I had to correct her before any assumptions went too far. "No one will be looking for me."

She whipped around, eyes scrunched together, and lips pressed tight. "What? Why?"

By now, Thalor must have found my note. He would have probably informed the others. "I planned to leave the station for good this morning. I resigned my position and left a note for my roommate. He will have no reason to look for me."

She blinked a few times and then shook her head. Then she tilted it to the side. Expressions flashed across her face, but I couldn't read them. "You just planned to leave?" she stuttered out the last words, voice going high. "No goodbyes or anything?"

"I left a note," I corrected. "And I came to say goodbye to you." Clearly. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be standing here.

Her mouth opened and then closed. Then she did it again, as if she was trying to speak but couldn't find the words. "How long have you been planning this?"

Why did she care? It didn't matter, but I wanted to know how she thought, why she thought. The growing fixation in me clung to these scraps as if they were precious jewels. "I made the decision this morning, though I've been considering it for some time." I didn't mention the other option. She wouldn't understand why death might have been the kinder choice for everyone.

"So, you were just going to go and none of your friends will care?" She breathed deep, blowing out a long breath. "Never mind, that doesn't matter now. Okay, we can't depend on your friends, but Pippa will definitely realize I'm gone. And you know Pippa, she'll be looking. She'll try to find me. Us."

I did know Pippa. And if it was just me down here, there was no way she'd send anyone looking. She had a particular dislike of me, one I'd earned. But Noelle was her best friend, and Pippa was loyal. Perhaps too loyal.

"What is your plan?" I asked. This rescue mission was suboptimal. I had acted without thinking and now was reaping the consequences. If I had taken the time to contact a rescue crew, Noelle would likely be on her way back to the ship by now, and I would be gone.

Now we were both stuck here. And she was glaring at me.

"When did you think I came up with that?" she demanded, voice harsh. "Sometime between tending to your wounds and running out of a fiery escape pod? My plan was to contact Nebula Outpost, but since some assholes stripped our pods of every bit of value, I can't do that. Can your comm reach the station?"

"No." A more complex comm hadn't been necessary. There was no one outside of Nebula Outpost for me to contact. Everyone in the Detyen Legion thought I was dead, and if they found out otherwise, I'd be executed on the spot.

"Do you have any ideas, then?" She took a step towards me, finger pointing as if she meant to poke me, but she stopped a few steps away and dropped her hand.

"We need to get in contact with Nebula Outpost. Somehow." The fires wouldn't be big enough for anyone to see from space, not unless we could make them much smokier. The black smoke threatened to choke my lungs, but it only rose a few meters in the air before it dispersed. Even if someone was looking for us, they wouldn't see that.

"Thank you for that amazing insight." She glared again and stalked a few steps north. "Between us, we have a bit of water in my canteen, your empty canteen, and three meal bars, is that right? If you were leaving, shouldn't you have a bag?"

"I dropped it when I fought the drug dealers." They had likely stolen my clothes and credit sticks as soon as they recovered from the beating I'd given them.

"You fought … Right, okay, moving on. I?—"

There was a loud whoosh behind us, and we both whipped around to see Noelle's escape pod catch fire, eliminating our only option for shelter in the unrelenting brightness of the landscape around us.

Noelle put her head in her hands and groaned. I thought I heard her cursing, but her voice was muffled. I hadn"t heard cursing like that since I was in the Legion.

"We need to move," I said. There was nothing for us here, not if we couldn"t contact the station. "If we sit here and wait for a rescue, we"ll die of exposure."

"I know, okay?" she snapped. "I know that. I"m trying to come up with a plan. Give me a second. Or feel free to help."

"There"s probably comms equipment at the old mine." It was the only settlement on Nebula, though it had been abandoned for a decade. If we had any shot of finding equipment, it was there.

"That place is supposed to be a toxic wasteland." She took a second, holding her hand up to give her a second to think. "But it"s the only option. Damn it. Okay, let"s go."

It was going to be a long walk.