Chapter 28

Zyair was frantic. Why would she do such a thing? Hadn't he told her to stay put? And now she was here, on the planet, putting herself and his unborn child in danger. He'd promised himself he wouldn't ever put his lover in peril again, not after the last time—not for anything. Why didn't she understand?

"She must be close to this spot here." Zyair showed Masora the map and the red dot that signified his beautiful woman. "She's on the other side of the base from us. She'll be making for the stone from the other direction."

"We'd do better getting back to the pods and flying closer to her," suggested Masora. "Get in and get out fast."

Zyair knew the pods were hidden in the other direction. He would have to move further away from Layla to get to them. Every instinct told him to smash his way to her in the straightest line possible, but Masora was right. The most heavily fortified section of the base lay between him and his Layla. The only sensible option was to get to the pods and fly there.

"Okay, radio the others. Let them know the plan. I want Fez and Bacca to take the stone back to the Top Asteroid. It's not safe here on this planet."

He felt better knowing that the Desolation Stone at least was safe, even if that only left four of them to find Layla and get her out of there.

He glanced at the seventh red dot on his comm for the hundredth time and froze. Something odd was happening. The dot was moving quickly away from the base. What was she doing?

Then it dawned on him. She must have been captured. The air turned violet with his curses. He smashed into a wall with his horns, bringing dust and debris down from the ceiling.

Masora got through to him. "Sir, please stay calm, for her. You'll be no good to her if we all get captured, too."

She was right, dammit. He wanted to tear the place apart, but that would just bring Jorvlen troops down on them even harder. Better to keep a cool head.

They ran through the abandoned tunnels until they were back at their pod, a steady stream of curses coming from Zyair as they ran.

He didn't know which he felt most: mad, proud, or terrified for her. She had defied him and put herself in danger, risking herself, his crew, and the entire mission. The commander in him was furious.

Still, he had to respect the insane courage and moxie it took for her to come onto a hostile planet and risk her life to help him save his own home planet—a place she had never even been.

She was his woman, his lover, and the mother of his unborn child. The thought of losing either of them sent him into a blind panic.

He threw himself into the pod and fired it up.

As the communication system came up, a transmission came through on a jamming frequency. The face of a Jorvlen general appeared on the comm screen.

"Zyair." The general snarled. "I know you're out there!"

Zyair let out a bellow of rage. It took everything he had not to smash the screen and obliterate the smiling face that had appeared there.

"I have something that belongs to you, I believe," the general taunted. "And I believe you have something that belongs to me."

"No!" screamed Zyair. In his mind, he saw the Desolation Stone, and with it, the only hope of salvation for Layla, disappearing up to the Top Asteroid to join Fez and Bacca. He had to get it back down here planet side so he could trade her for the stone. But the general had sent out a blocking signal, preventing him from communicating with his crew.

"You have two flicks to make contact and arrange a trade. After that, you may find your lady a little, let's say… diminished," the general concluded with a laugh. The screen went blank, leaving the interior of the pod dimmed.

Zyair put his head in his hands. "Masora, what am I going to do? I have to get her back."

"We will, sir. If it comes to it, we can trade her for the stone. They won't hurt her if they think it will cost them the stone. She is the bargaining chip."

Masora was right, but he didn't want to listen.

"If we leave now, we might get to the Top Asteroid and back in two flicks," he said. "We can get the stone and make the trade."

"Permission to speak frankly, sir?"

"Speak, Masora. You know I'm always willing to listen."

"With all due respect, you're not thinking straight. We have other options than simply handing the Desolation Stone to the enemy."

Zyair's first reaction was to bawl Masora out. How dare she speak like that. His partner and child were in danger, not Masora's. But he had given Masora permission to speak, and her advice had always been valuable. Somewhere inside he knew she was right. He was letting his emotions rule his judgment.

He took a deep calming breath, trying to remember his training. He needed to clear his mind so he could think straight. By the third deep breath, he felt his mind starting to clear.

Rule number one was to look for your assets—anything available that could give you the edge over your enemy.

"Okay, so our advantages are that we don't need radio contact to meet up with the rest of the crew because we already have a rendezvous point," said Zyair. "Also, the Jorvlens don't know that we know where Layla is being held. We can hit them with the element of surprise."

He glanced at his comm. The dot had stopped moving, so that was good. She was close by.

"We also have two flicks to rescue her," said Masora. "We can achieve a lot in two flicks. If we can't get her back before then, you'll have to message and stall him."

Stall him from cutting pieces off my woman,thought Zyair bitterly. He would hand himself over in exchange before he allowed harm to come to Layla.

The rendezvous point was an abandoned bunker close to Layla's original signal. Zyair was pleased to see the others were already there waiting.

They studied the area around Layla's new location on the map. It showed what appeared to be a disused tunnel leading in from half a click away.

"That's our point of entry," said Zyair. "We can leave the pods here among this vegetation and then go on foot the rest of the way."

"Is that a lookout post?" Masora pointed.

"Could be. We'll have to approach from the west to avoid that." Zyair felt the pressure of time creeping up on him. There was no room for error. He had to get to Layla before they hurt her. He wished fervently that there was some way to let her know they were coming.