Her heart lodged in her throat as she saw Ka’Cit abandon his position. In one smooth jump, he launched himself from the lift.
But it was still far too high. Surely he would break his leg.
A laser blast came from above as the Hedgeruds shot at him and Nia felt a surge of anger that hadn’t been there before.
With her own roar, she gripped her blaster, aimed and fired.
The Hedgeruds didn’t expect it, maybe they hadn’t seen her or they didn’t prepare for her accuracy, for she got one of them by the time they realized where the bullet was coming from.
Once, twice, three times she fired before her gaze landed on Ka’Cit.
Miraculously, he’d landed on his feet and was running toward her with something clutched to his chest.
She focused on him for only a second before she ducked under one of the ship’s huge engines and unloaded her gun at the elevator.
The Hedgeruds ducked too but there wasn’t anywhere to run on the elevator.
Nia kept firing and only stopped when an arm grasped hers and pulled her back into the ship.
“We have to go!”
Ka’Cit lifted her, securing a strong arm around her waist as he lifted her backward toward him, not breaking his gait as he headed into the ship.
The doors closed behind them and the secondary doors opened.
He was setting her down and strapping her in within seconds.
Nia’s breath heaved in her chest, her eyes wide as she watched more of the Hedgeruds appear at the top of the lift.
Just how many of them were there?
They were battering the ship with bullets now and she glanced at Ka’Cit.
“Think we will make it?”
He was settled in his seat now and punching the controls.
“They’re too far away to penetrate the hull but in the next few seconds…”
“They’ll fill us up with holes.”
Ka’Cit nodded.
“Let’s go.”
He didn’t need to hear twice.
The ship surged forward and up, slipping through into the airlock even as she felt it begin to shudder.
She glanced at Ka’Cit.
Would they make it?
But his eyes were sure.
“I’m taking you home. Safe. I wouldn’t settle for less, ta’ii.”
Nia slipped out of the seat restraints and leaned forward, staring out of the view screen.
Her heart was still thumping in her throat even though it had been a few minutes since they’d shot out from the service satellite.
“We’re not being followed.” She couldn’t believe it.
Ka’Cit grunted. “They might have trouble following us or anyone else for at least a full cycle.”
Shock made her turn to look at him. “What did you do?”
Ka’Cit shrugged. “Just thought their engine needed a…downgrade.”
He held up something in his hand and she realized it was the same thing he’d been clutching when he’d been running toward her.
“What is that?”
“A propulsion converter.” He glanced at it. “And look at that. It’s encased in talix metal. Might come in handy to a few humans we know.”
Ka’Cit’s eyes twinkled a little and she knew he probably smiled underneath that mask of his.
Nia grinned and threw her arms around his neck.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe we did it…thank you.”
He stiffened a little before relaxing into her embrace.
“You’ve been putting yourself in danger a lot for me.”
“I haven’t.” His whisper was low and she eased off him enough to look into his eyes.
Nia huffed out a soft laugh. “You’re telling me you do this sort of thing on the regular. Do you have a death wish?”
“Maybe.”
Nia sobered a little.
He was fighting demons and she could feel her heart reaching out to him.
Releasing his restraints, he lifted the thing in his hand. “Just this thing alone holds enough metal to buy half of the Exchange. Did you know that?”
Nia’s brows shot up at that and her gaze fell back on the device.
It was no bigger than a bottle of Coke.
“Really?”
Ka’Cit nodded.
“Funny how money is, even on this side of the universe. Even here the wealth isn’t distributed evenly. If I had some of that I’d have paid for my own legal status a long time ago and then none of this would have happened.”
Ka’Cit’s gaze darted to hers suddenly and he grabbed her wrist, spun it over, and froze.
“Of course…” he said after a while. “I’m such a fool.”
Nia squirmed a little on her feet.
Again, she was vulnerable before him.
She wasn’t legal and that meant she had no right.
It was hard to determine what he thought about that, but when his gaze met hers again, he said nothing more.
Silence would have enveloped them if not for the band on his wrist beeping.
Ka’Cit activated the device and without greeting the person on the other end of the line, he got straight to the point.
“I got it,” he said.
There was a pause. “Good. I’m sending you the coordinates. Meet me there.”
The comm clicked off and Ka’Cit’s gaze returned to her.
“I should take you home…”
Nia shook her head. “No, we should finish this.”
Ka’Cit studied her for a moment before jerking his head in a nod.
He punched something into the controls and the ship began changing directions just as Nia took a seat once more.
When she glanced back at him, his eyes were on her again.
She was used to his stares by now, but this time, it wasn’t his usual look of interest.
There were things that passed through his eyes while he was looking at her, things that were quickly masked.
Happiness…hope… resolution…fear.
The last one puzzled her.
What did he have to be afraid about?
As the ship slowed down, Nia turned her gaze back to the view screen.
Space was dark—at least, this section of it was.
It was like staring into…nothing.
To think that Earth was out there somewhere…it was hard to imagine even though she knew it was true.
As she stared through the view screen, something appeared out of the dark void.
One minute, she was looking at nothing, and the next, a ship was in front of her.
Nia jumped back and bumped into Ka’Cit.
She hadn’t realized he’d been standing behind her.
“Don’t worry. It’s him.”
Him.
She had no idea who “him” was but if he was helping other humans somewhere in
