Just what was he doing?
He had no idea how to comfort a female, much less a distressed one. And he had no idea why she needed comforting. The only thing he knew was that the dark hole terrified her.
His sat-watch beeped, and Ka’Cit tore his gaze away from the female to glance at it.
Phek. They didn’t have much time.
They had only a few minutes left before the lockdown ended.
They had to get inside or risk getting caught.
If he was alone, he’d have done the latter. His blasters hadn’t been used for a while…his knuckles either…they’d have liked some action, but he wasn’t about to put the female in danger.
He’d snuck in here to get her out safely, not to get her killed.
She was still breathing hard, but her eyes were on his sat-watch now.
“It’s an alarm,” he said as explanation. “There isn’t much time left. We have to go.”
Her throat moved and she took a huge gulp of air. She was whispering something underneath her breath, a mantra, and he couldn’t differentiate the words.
There was the sound of metal clanking behind the closed doors and it made her glance toward them.
That seemed to wake her up from whatever she was going through because she swallowed hard and took a step toward the hole.
“Ohkay. Yoo cahn doo dis Nee-ya. Yoo cahn doo dis.”
With a deep breath, she crouched down and looked in.
Her body began heaving even harder.
“Yoo cahn doo dis.”
With trembling hands, she crouched over the hole then sat so her legs were planted firmly on a rung.
With another breath that made her body shudder, she lowered herself onto the ladder.
His sat-watch beeped again.
Phek.
There wasn’t enough time. They had to get inside and they had to get inside now.
He didn’t have time to warn her, he simply worked on instinct.
As soon as her head disappeared into the hole, Ka’Cit slid in behind her, only to realize she hadn’t gone very far.
She’d stopped.
Frozen.
He had no choice but to grip the side of the ladder and lower himself down, essentially lowering himself over her small frame.
It was a tight fit, but he tried not to brace any of his weight on her. It wasn’t his intent to crush her.
She made a sound in her throat but didn’t say anything more, and he was thankful she didn’t try to push him off because he had to slide the cover back in place and close the entryway.
As soon as his feet found a rung below her, he used one hand to steady himself and the other to reseal their hiding spot.
And it was just in time, too.
As soon as the cover slipped into place, he heard the doors of the upper and lower sector opening.
Feet thumped on the ground above their heads, and Ka’Cit gripped the ladder to steady himself. He had no choice but to lean into the human.
“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. “They’re right above us.”
It was dark, but he could see that she jerked her head to let him know she understood.
She had her face pressed against the cool metal of the ladder and she was still shaking.
The sound of feet hitting the floor didn’t stop, and he tilted his head a little, his ears perking.
He could pinpoint that there were at least twenty Niftrill in the corridor.
Just how many of them did that maniac, Herza, hire?
It sounded like she had a whole horde.
“Find it!” It was Herza’s voice.
She was phekking angry.
“Don’t tell me you let it loose in my ship! Qrakking idiots!” It sounded like she hit one of the Niftrills over the head. “If you see it, kill it.”
Ka’Cit tensed.
“But…I thought you wanted to sell it for credits,” one of the Niftrills was brave enough to speak up.
It sounded like Herza scoffed. “I did some searching. It’s a species called yoo-man. Originally smuggled by the High Tasqals. If they catch me with it, I’m as good as dead. That thing is trouble, and I don’t want anything to do with it. Kill it on sight. We’ll dump the body somewhere in the void.”
A growl started in Ka’Cit’s throat and he promptly pushed it down.
He couldn’t afford to give their hiding spot away.
Hard footfalls came down the corridor. They were different from the others, heavier, more confident, and he didn’t have to wonder who they belonged to.
Herza came to a stop just above their heads, and Ka’Cit’s life-organ thumped in his chest.
Had he been wrong? Had he underestimated her?
If she knew about the storage space…
The human must have sensed the danger too because, and he realized this belatedly, even though her whole frame was heaving with each breath, she was fighting to remain quiet.
Herza’s voice was loud and commanding. “Search the lower sector! There’s no way that little thing was smart enough to escape on its own.”
Ka’Cit looked down at the human.
She still had her face pressed into the ladder, but if she’d heard what Herza said, she didn’t give any indication.
They needed to head farther down.
His only fear was that the ladder would creak and give their location away.
If Herza didn’t know about the hiding spot, chances were that it wasn’t maintained.
Still, the human was breathing so hard now that if they didn’t move, Herza might hear them anyway.
“We have to head farther down,” he whispered near the human’s ear. “I’ll go first. Do not worry. I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Between how her body was heaving and trembling, he almost didn’t see her jerk her chin to say she’d heard and understood him.
The drop below wasn’t far, just a few meters, but Ka’Cit descended slowly, giving her time to move down as well.
She was hesitant.
Each step seemed to make her breathe harder and by the time his feet hit solid ground and he looked up, she was shaking so hard it was a wonder she didn’t fall off the ladder.
She wasn’t descending either. She’d only gone down two rungs farther before she’d stopped completely.
It was the strangest thing he’d ever
