Tessa’s POV:

  Soranto checked his wrist comm one last time. “Are you ready?”

  “No, but I want to get out of here more than I want to stay.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He opened the door cautiously; the air was overly warm, but not hot. The metal tube still radiated more heat than my heat lamp as we eased past it and approached the door to the narrow corridor.

  After making sure the coast was clear, Soranto jogged down the corridor. We were hoping most of the Votaks were asleep or resting in their rooms. He reached a maintenance shaft and opened the small door. I eyed up the narrow passageway, jumped off Soranto’s shoulder and glided into the tiny passageway that was barely shoulder-high on him.

  “Are you going to fit in here?” I asked, wondering if we had to find another route.

  “I’ll manage.” Ducking down, he squeezed inside.

  I flew ahead to check around corners. An escaped animal was one thing, but if a Votak spotted a Kymari in their hidden base, all hell would break loose. It took us a long time to reach the area Soranto wanted. When he tried the handle, the door was locked.

  “Stand back.”

  I slipped behind him as he awkwardly kicked the door in the cramped space. A second kick broke the latch. The air inside practically hummed from the machinery.

  Soranto stretched now that he had more room and sat against the wall. He removed his wrist comm and pulled tools out of his belt pouch. He removed one shoulder pad, turned it over, and detached various electronics and cords that were meticulously arranged inside.

  Once he put the shoulder pad back on, he asked, “Can I get you to go onto my other shoulder for a moment?”

  Slipping behind his head, I asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m linking the heat capacitors and my wrist comm together.” He gestured to a small keypad on the ground beside him. “I’ll be able to use this as a controller to make them detonate once we’re at a safe distance. My wrist comm is almost at full power; if it explodes in here, it will set off both reactors.”

  “Will it destroy this place?”

  “Depending on how full the reserve tanks are and how deep the cooling vents were drilled, we have a good chance of blowing up part of the moon. Those last two Votak shuttles returned, so they’re all here. Nothing will be left other than our memories.”

  “That will be a huge relief.”

  “One last thing…” Using a small tool, he pried a piece of his armor off. “This camera is going to remain here.”

  “I completely forgot about that…”

  “I can tell them that it must have been knocked off in the explosion on the trade ship.” He got to his feet and wedged his wrist comm, the data storage device, and the wired contraption into a gap in the machines. “Now all that is left is to get out of this place. Just don’t get lost—I can’t track you without my wrist comm.”

  “I’ll try to keep within sight.” I promised as he squeezed back into the deserted maintenance passageways.

  The corridors seemed to stretch on forever. They probably seemed even longer to Soranto, who was hunched over in the narrow space.

  “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

  “Yes. We have three more doors before we turn right. Can you please check how close the Kymari fighters are? And how many are coming?”

  I mindlinked Mom. “Soranto is asking how far away the Kymari fighters are.”

  “Less than half an hour.”

  “How many?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Half of the armadas in four star systems. Soranto and Adeline have better family connections than I realized. Your friends among the Ply-Ball players have also created quite the stir. The Votaks will soon regret trying to sneak into Kymari’s territory.”

  “Half of the armadas are about half an hour away,” I told Soranto.

  “Half of the armadas?”

  “In four star systems,” I clarified.

  He was silent for quite some time before muttering, “What did Adeline do this time…”

  “Huh?”

  “One armada is one fighting group. Like a flock. There are a lot of these armadas in this section of space. It wouldn’t be easy to get so many to come without notice. They must have pulled most of them from our border defenses, so who knows what might be sneaking past the defenses in their absence. We really have to get to safety as soon as we can.”

  “I like that idea.”

  He chuckled as he turned the corner and kept hurrying. “I bet you do. Well, so do I.”

  I sent wordless agreement as I glided ahead.

  Several twists and turns later, we reached the door Soranto had specified. He warily opened it and looked around before jogging down the corridor. He stopped beside an airlock door and peered through the window, eyeing up the six shuttles in this bay.

  “Those cameras are going to be an issue,” he said, flicking a finger at the bulky boxes with lenses.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

  He examined the shuttle bay for a long minute. “Maybe…” He quickly outlined a plan.

  “I can do that,” I said, eager to help. “They won’t even see me.”

  Digging into his belt pouch, he pulled out four feathers and used some thread to bind them together like a bird’s tail. The tickle toys were about to get an entirely new purpose in life

  After a quick explanation, he opened the door just enough for me to slip through, and I flew straight up and along the underside of the ceiling where the cameras couldn’t see me. I landed on top of the problematic one and carefully arranged the “bird tail” to cover a quarter of the camera’s lens, securing it with a bit of medical tape.

  It conveniently hid one shuttle. A bird would be rather out of place here, but it shouldn’t count as an emergency when most people were hopefully asleep and they could still see most of the room.

  With my task done, I dove down to where Soranto was already climbing into the shuttle. The seats were meant for a race two thirds his size, but the safety straps stretched far enough to lock together. I landed on his shoulder pad as he closed the door.

  “They’ll know we’re here as soon as we take off. I’ll have to set off the explosion as soon as we’re outside to prevent any of them from following us. At that range, the rocks and debris will undoubtedly shake us up. When I say jump down, jump into my arms. The seat restraints will hold me, but there isn’t anything in here that could protect you.”

  I bobbed my head quickly. “Okay. I understand.”

  “Then let’s get out of here.”

  He stared at the controls for a few moments as if memorizing them, then began pressing buttons and twisting dials. The controls lit up, and a small hologram with strange lines also appeared.

  The shuttle began to lift into the air as the bay door opened. Red lights around the room began flashing, and the bay door began closing.

  “The alarms have just gone off,” Soranto muttered, pressing a few more buttons.

  The shuttle sped toward the bay doors as Soranto shot energy blasts at the electrical panels on either side of the door. In a shower of sparks, the door grated to a stop, allowing us to escape.

  “Hang on tight.”

  I dug my claws into his shoulder pad as my eyes strained against the blackness, finally seeing stars as we exited the tunnel. The shuttle jolted, and Soranto’s hands flew over the controls, making us fly in a pattern that was similar to some of my aerial evasions.

  “What happened?”

  “They have some sort of turret on the surface. It was a blind strike, but it damaged part of the wing, thruster, and cloaking shield. I have the ship’s shields as high as they’ll go, but we’re going to feel each of those hits.”

  Another jolt emphasized his point as his hands flew over the controls.

  “Where is the Kymari patrol frequency… Ah, found it. This is bond animal handler Soranto Dhaen requesting immediate assistance. I’m in a Votak shuttle escaping one of their hide-outs. Transmitting coordinates.”

  A smaller jolt made Soranto curse under his breath.

  “What is it?” I asked nervously.

  A voice came from the dash before he could reply. “This is the Graer patrol. We have your coordinates and are en route. Additional forces are also on their way.”

  “One of the shuttles has already gotten out and is in pursuit,” Soranto told me. “I have to detonate my wrist comm, but we might not be far enough away for the shields to completely protect the hull in this pitiful excuse of a ship.”

  Another thud made him pull the controller out and press a button.

  “Jump down!”

  My claws dug into the grooves in his armor as I scrambled into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me, with his chin lightly pressing me into the gap above his chest armor, just below his neck.

  I had barely curled up before small rocks began to fly past us. A series of small rattles rapidly grew into impacts that made the entire shuttle shudder. Something slammed into us from behind, throwing the shuttle forward.

  Out the front window, hundreds of boulders bigger than our shuttle shot past us. Another big impact sent us rolling to the side as the autopilot fought to correct our flight and evade the biggest projectiles. Various icons and screens flashed red and orange, and I hoped they weren’t something really important.

  I squeezed my eyes tight and waited for the spinning, shaking, and jolting to stop.