Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Elaine

I pushed the Rogue harder than was safe, maneuvering out of the dock and around Harry’s Moon. Maybe part of me hoped for an equipment failure, something to stop us. We were on our way to rescue the woman who’d started this whole mess, after all.

Admittedly, if she hadn’t, I’d have never met Karkonar. I glanced over my shoulder to see him talking with the kids in low tones. Keeping them in sight while not letting them distract me. I smiled, admiring this side of him as well as that badass warrior who’d dragged me out of the mess I’d made of rescuing him.

I looked closer, biting back a laugh when I realized what he was doing. Yep. He’s showing the girl how to use her knife better. Of course he is. I shook my head, turning back to look at the warren from the outside.

“What a mess.” It was a wonder anyone could find their way around in that mass of ramshackle wrecks fused into one with no plan or logic.

“Okay, everyone, here’s the plan. Karkonar, we’re going to patch that pressure suit. It only needs to hold for a minute. Then I’ll drop you on the broken airlock, you seal monofilament wire onto the hatch, and I pull it clean off.”

“And kill everyone inside.” Karkonar raised an eyebrow.

“It’ll put out the fire. That’s our top priority. Then, you shove any survivors into rescue bags.”

Perhaps it was the pirate outfit, perhaps the adrenaline rush, or perhaps I’m just insane — whatever the reason, this sounded like fun.

“Next problem. How do we know where Arkari’s base is?” Karkonar asked.

“Onyx Helps! Treat? Treat for Onyx?”

I laughed. “Yes, Onyx, you can have a treat for your help.”

“His collar,” Karkonar said. “It has a tracking function?”

“This was my plan to rescue you, only that went differently than I expected. The whole point of taking Onyx with me was to map the way.”

“Onyx Helpful. Treat?”

I flicked him a Meatish Treat and, while he was busy with it, plugged a cable into his collar. “There!”

Rather than point it out, I maneuvered to get the ships aligned. The Akedian boy, Trur, grabbed the thermal blade from the older girl’s hands, and to everyone’s surprise, used it to stick the torn pressure suit closed with Karkonar still in it.

“Won’t hold long,” he said. “Don’t scrape it on anything. Don’t flex too much, neither.”

My mate snapped a salute off at him before grabbing a spool of monofilament and diving into the forward airlock. As the pressure cycled, a sense of dread settled over me. Was I really gambling his life on this dumbass plan?

On a poorly patched suit, held together by hope more than repairs?

The temptation to call him back almost overwhelmed me. I might have given in, only I doubted he’d listen to me.

“I love you, Elaine Jessop,” his voice crackled over the radio. “Just in case.”

“Fuck you, Karkonar Arisran.” I replied, catching a wobble in my voice. “I’ll tell you I love you when you get back here safe.”

He chuckled and then, as the doors opened, he leaped across the gulf toward the airlock I’d pointed him at.

His aim was true, and he spooled out the monofilament as he dove onto the surface of the warren. Heart pounding, I watched him force open the airlock’s outer doors and bond the invisibly thin line to the inner assembly. Static filled the channel, and while I thought he said something, I couldn’t make it out.

Doesn’t matter. He’s out and clear. Time to hit it. The Dashing Rogue’s engines roared as I opened the throttle.

I expected the airlock to pop neatly out of the hull, but I hadn’t taken the poor construction and maintenance into account. Instead, the hull tore open as the Rogue pulled, and I killed the engines as fast as I could. A blast of smoke and ash and fire ripped through the new opening, and inside, it looked like hell.

Oxygen lines tore open, fuel lines too, and as the artificial gravity died, chunks of debris flew everywhere. Crates, tables, bodies — it was hard to track anything in there, and the fire didn’t help. Fuel mixing with oxygen burned bright and hot, and while it wouldn’t last long, while it burned it was blinding.

“Get back to the ship, Karkonar,” I shouted into the radio, horrified at how badly my plan had gone. Even if he heard me, he didn’t listen. Instead, he pulled himself into the inferno, my demon lover returning to hell.

“Fucking fuck, why did I have to come up with this?” I stared at the chaos. That the alternative had been for him to crawl back into the flames didn’t comfort me much. “There must have been a better way. FUCK.”

A steadying paw on my shoulder, Onyx yeowled something. With his collar still plugged into the Rogue’s navigation, whatever insight he had went untranslated. It still helped to calm me down, though, and that was what I needed.

Deep breath. Think through your options and make a list. Dad’s advice echoed in my ears. One: Karkonar is dead and there’s nothing I can do. My heart froze at the idea. Nope. Nothing down that track was acceptable.

Two: he’s alive, and he’ll be out soon. All I have to do is wait.

Three: he’s alive, and he needs help. Okay, so how do I help?

Three was the only option worth thinking about. Fine. Where could he be? Arkari didn’t have a pressure suit, so by now she was either trapped in a pocket of air or she was dead. My prince was probably with her. Where could they… oh!

I wasn’t sure about my answer, but it was something I could act on. Hitting the cargo tracker, I grinned.

“Kids, keep an eye on the screens. Let me know if you see Karkonar.” With that, I pushed the throttle slightly, drifting forward, nudging debris aside. Collision alarms sounded, Bex muttered something too quiet to hear, and the damage control board lit up amber with touches of red. This was not what the Rogue was designed for.

I didn’t care. I’d wreck the ship if need be. My prince wouldn’t abandon his sister, and I wouldn’t abandon him.

Explosions rocked the warren as the spreading fire reached oxygen tanks and pockets of flammables. Behind us, other ships had arrived, not for rescue missions, but to cut the whole warren free and save the habitat. Smart, reasonable, and in principle I approved. In practice, I swore a long litany of curses at them as they worked, risking my mate’s life.

The teenagers stared at the screens — my backup plan, they might spot Karkonar if I was wrong. I nudged my way through fire and debris, impacts scraping the hull and damaging the sensors until I was almost flying blind. I was down to the last couple of cameras when, at last, I saw what I was looking for.

Open to the vacuum, wood charred and walls shattered, the crate I’d delivered spun through the hellscape outside. And inside, a fully operational stasis pod. I lined up the forward airlock and caught the pod, then punched the accelerator, leaving the disintegrating and exploding warren behind.