Nevada can’t possibly hear us across the clearing, but she glances over at us with a scowl, as if she knows exactly what we’re talking about. Alexis gives her a finger wave, and Nevada glowers at her even as her mouth twitches.
Ellie is further along in her pregnancy, but the way Nevada is carrying makes her seem like she could have her baby any day. She looks healthy and strong, although she’s rubbing her lower back as she surveys everyone in the clearing.
“Okay,” Nevada says. “I misplaced my microphone, so y’all need to be quiet and wait for question time.”
A few women chuckle at that.
She waits for the last few women to file in and then gets straight to the point.
“We need to take care of our little Dokhall problem. Rakiz and Dexar are currently meeting to figure out a plan. We had thought it was just the Dokhalls we needed to worry about, but there have been reports they may be allying with the Zintas.”
A small blonde woman raises her hand, and Nevada nods at her.
“The Zintas?”
“Furry bastards from across the water. They come over here to trade occasionally, and they have no problem with buying slaves. They bit off more than they could chew when they took Ivy, and our honey-bunnies made them see the error of their ways. The problem is there are so many of them, and we also don’t know how many Dokhalls escaped.”
She frowns, staring off into space for a moment, and then seems to shake herself. “Based on how many you guys said were on the ship, there could still be hundreds of them out there. Combine that with the Zintas and we could be in trouble.”
A voice speaks up from within the crowd. “They’re not taking our fucking ship.”
“Yeah,” someone agrees. “Finders keepers.”
Nevada nods. “They’re not. You guys want off this planet, and we’ll help you. As agreed. But you’re going to have to buckle in for what could be a long ride. The ship is damaged, the Dokhalls are out for revenge, and the Zintas are a threat.”
“Sure,” someone else mutters, and I crane my head to see a woman with long dark hair braided back from her face. “But we have a motherfucking dragon.”
Nevada grins at that. “We do. As far as weapons go, we can’t get much better. The problem is the Zintas know how Dragix operates, and they’re used to hiding their scent from him. If they’re teaching our new purple friends the same tactics, Dragix may not be all that effective until he can actually see them.”
The clearing goes quiet, and it’s Beth who speaks, her cheeks coloring as heads turn toward her. I didn’t notice her arrival, but she and Zarix must have traveled here with Alexis and Dexar.
“We need to set some kind of trap for them. Something that allows us to take them all out at once.”
Nevada nods, and Kate gets to her feet, turning to Alexis.
“What can you tell us about the ship?” All eyes are on Kate, and I wonder if she realizes how much pressure she’s going to be under if we can eventually get this ship off the ground. She was once a fighter pilot, and before the Arcav invaded, was working for a company attempting to send planes into space.
She seems cool and composed and exactly like the type of woman we’ll need piloting our ship if we can get it working.
Alexis grins at Kate and moves toward the front of the group. I only knew Alexis for a few hours before I was kidnapped with Ivy and Beth, but her time on Agron has been good to her. She looks every inch the tribe queen, dressed in a long, gauzy purple dress with gold thread, her hair braided back off her face.
A breeze sweeps through the clearing, bringing the scent of meat cooking from the food kradi. My stomach rumbles.
“Okay,” Alexis says. “I want to be clear with everyone before we get started. I’m an astronautical engineer. On Earth. So yes, that means I’m probably a better choice for attempting to fix this ship than say…Nevada.” She grins, and Nevada snorts. “But attempting to understand how an alien ship works is like handing a Tesla to someone who has only ever worked on classic cars. It may have four wheels, but the technology is massively different. I’m working in the dark here. So I know you’re pinning all your hopes on me figuring this out, and I get it. But you need to accept that even if I can fix this ship, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to find the materials to do that on this planet.”
My heart sinks. “So our chances of actually using this ship aren’t high.”
“I’ve been traveling amongst this ship, the one we crash-landed here in, and the one that crashed here forty years ago. This has allowed me to compare some of the technology and try to understand what we’re working with. The ship was set on fire in the last battle, and the fuselage is slightly cracked, but the damage is mostly cosmetic. So far, I know for sure one of the thrusters is broken.”
Ellie raises her hand. “What is a thruster, and what does it do?”
“Thrusters help propel the ship into space. I don’t know if the ship can operate properly without all the thrusters working, but I wouldn’t risk it. The ship seems to run on artificial intelligence, which also isn’t working. I’m 95 percent sure the AI system relies on a control chip. A chip that’s currently missing.” She sighs. “I think whichever Dokhall was responsible for landing that ship took the chip with him as insurance.”
Silence.
Pale faces. And a few of the women have tears in their eyes. One of the women gets to her feet, the movement weary. “I’ve already decided to stay here,” she announces. “But so many of us want to leave. We want the Grivath to pay
