Chapter 34

Zyair felt the warm embrace of his beloved. Even through all the tension and pain and adrenaline, his body relaxed. This was where he wanted to spend every moment of the rest of his life if he could help it.

A blast to the side of the ship quickly reminded him of everything that kept him from doing just that.

He pulled away from Layla in a panic amid shouts from the crew.

"They have ships after us!" called Anda.

"Noncritical hit! But plenty more incoming," called Bacca.

Zyair gave Layla one last look before tearing himself away and jumping onto the pod's small bridge. Within a split second, they were careening away from the horrid planet and pressing the nose of the ship through Jorvla's atmosphere.

Behind him, he could see the crew frantically strapping themselves in, and fear gripped his heart as he thought of Layla. Another thought comforted him, though. If she'd shown him anything, it was that she could hold her own, even in the most terrifying of circumstances.

His attention was brought back to piloting the ship out of there. On the radar, he saw the Jorvlens weren't letting up with their attacks. Blast after blast followed them up into the atmosphere and then into the stratosphere and mesosphere until a trail of enemy ships followed him up into space.

He knew if he got to the Top Asteroid they could make a break for it, but the pod didn't have a hyperdrive like the mothership did. The only thing Zyair could do was fight back.

"Masora, I need you on munitions!" he called as he swung the ship left and right, hoping to avoid the relentless Jorvlen fire.

"Yes, sir!"

Zyair saw her from the corner of his eye rushing toward the bridge and jumping behind the munitions panel. As he maneuvered, he watched a series of blasts emanate from the rear of the pod. It succeeded in getting their assailants to back off slightly, and that was all he needed. Just a little time.

"Keep holding them off!" he yelled, dodging another blast.

A familiar voice came from behind him, and he realized Layla was yelling something.

"Why don't you kill the lights?" she called out, and Zyair was amazed.

He flipped a switch, cloaking the ship in darkness but for the control panels. It wouldn't fool the enemy's instruments, but it might buy them an extra second or two with the old-school Jorvlens, who still piloted by sight.

By the time they reached the Top Asteroid, they had managed to buy just enough time to dock into the mothership, thanks toZyair's piloting, Masora's covering fire, and Layla's quick thinking. The dock closed behind them as the remaining enemy ships approached, guns still blasting.

The Top Asteroid was plenty strong enough to withstand the force, though. At least, for now. But Zyair knew the ships that had followed them were just the beginning. If they didn't get out of there—and fast—they'd have much more to worry about than a handful of fighter ships.

The moment the dock had pressurized, he ran to the bridge, Layla beside him the whole way. Masora stayed behind to look after the injured.

"Astrid!" Zyair called as he ran. "Fire up the engines!"

"Certainly, captain," came the reply, jarringly pleasant and measured in contrast with the tense situation.

Behind him, Zyair heard the fighter ships still blasting at the door of the ship's pod-landing dock, and he'd never run so fast. Despite her injuries and her significantly shorter stature, Layla managed to keep pace with him the whole way. He would have carried her if he had to, but he was pleased that his mate was strong enough to run her ass off not just for one, but for two.

Zyair threw himself into the captain's chair and hunched over the control panel.

"Strap yourself in!" he yelled at Layla and she took the copilot's seat. The stuffed animal he'd bought her on Kona was there and it squashed in beside her as she clicked the buckles on her straps.

With his comm, Zyair touched the blue glowing pad, just as red flashing lights rang out over the ship.

"The hull on Landing Dock B has been thirty percent breached," came Astrid's voice.

Zyair pressed a button on the control panel. "Prepare for hyperdrive!" he called out over the ship-wide comm.

It wasn't much of a warning, but it was something.

A second later, he was hitting the hyperdrive button, and that familiar lurch in his stomach mingled with the red flashing lights and the blur of stars. As they plummeted through space at sensational speeds, he felt something warm on his hand.

He turned to see Layla looking at him. She held his hand through the initial fog of hyperspeed until the ship stabilized, and his head felt less like a balloon about to burst.

"I love you," came the words his heart had been filled with for so long now.

Layla smiled. "I love you, too."

Zyair felt his hand move to his heart, as if to back up his claims with a gesture that would match, but as it landed, he felt something hard there. He grinned, reaching beneath his energy armor and producing the bright red stone that had caused so much trouble. His crew had handed it over the moment he re-entered the Top Asteroid.

Layla grinned back. "So that's it, huh?" she asked.

"That's it." He looked into the scintillating facets of the Desolation Stone, deciding it was far too precious to leave in the hands of a grumpy heiress on Kona. But he figured that was something to deal with later.

"We should check on the others," he told Layla, tucking the stone back into his breastplate.

She nodded, and they made their way hand in hand back to the docking bays.

Most of the injuries had been dealt with on the pod, and those with more severe injuries were quickly fixed up in the sick bay of the Top Asteroid. When everyone had settled, Zyair found he was overcome with gratitude.

"Thank you, all of you," he said to the crew, battered and bruised as they were. "You all risked your lives today in the service of our great planet. Your fellow Lorr, your Lorr brethren, may never know it, but they owe their lives to you."

Some of the crew members wiped their eyes.

Zyair continued, "Lorr has suffered greatly at the hands of Jorvla. Today, through your valor, you kept it from utter destruction. You have seen death and walked straight into it, brandishing the Lorr flag and fighting for justice. You are all heroes!"

A great cry of victory rang out from the crew, and Zyair smiled, filled with pride for his crew and for his people.

"And, Astrid?" came Layla's voice beside him. "A little celebratory feast wouldn't hurt."

Another chorus of cries came up, this one even louder than before.

Zyair had to chuckle. Every day with Layla made him feel like the luckiest man alive. And his crew, it seemed, were lucky to have her too, and knew it. Despite their injuries and the adrenaline rush still settling from the firefight, the ship was filled with revelry that night as they shot through space toward home.

First, though, they needed to make a pitstop.