Page 46 of Meteor Storm

He was steady. Unshakable. He carried me as if I weighed nothing at all, and something in me loosened at the realization that I wasn’t a burden to him. That he was simply carrying me out of that place.

I didn’t care where we were going. I just needed it all gone.

Finally, I managed to hook an arm around his neck, gritting my teeth as he moved us through the commotion. He wasn’t running, but he was moving fast enough that the world blurred past in broken fragments.

There was no gentleness left in the moment. No space for questions. No room to understand anything except the simple fact that I was alive, and he was carrying me out.

16: Thilar

I rushed through the hangar with Penny in my arms, the metallic scent of her blood filling my nose. Two of the Kal Haiek warriors from the Qohaan marched in from one of the many passages leading to the docking bay and spotted me. But aside from that, they noticed my suit. The deep, metallic red netting was not like their green.

“From the Haak?” one said.

I nodded. “Thilar Tuross.”

They both inclined their heads, tapping their chests once with the flat of their palm and then moving their hand outward into a fist in a traditional monrian display of respect.

“Are you the only survivor?” the other one asked.

“That I know of.” I glanced down at Penny, whose eyes were growing heavy. “I will explain all that I know for the scribe logs, but she needs a med bay.”

They nodded, no questions, and turned, leading us to their ship. By then, the entire station was under siege. The monrian forces had broken through Mekah Prime’s defenses and now the captives had flooded out to finish what they’d started, rebelling against the gangs and traders.

“Thilar!” a voice called out.

From behind a large stack of storage containers appeared Sunhai, a rifle in her arms. Both monrian soldiers turned on her, their weapons aimed, but she didn’t put up a fight. She dropped her gun without hesitation and raised her hands.

“She comes with me,” I said to the men and they nodded, continuing toward their vessel.

“Is she well?” Sunhai asked, glancing at Penny.

“She is losing a lot of blood.”

Penny whimpered, her body starting to quiver in my arms. “It’s cold.”

“I will warm you,” was all I could say.

We finally came to a docking tunnel where the monrian ship was anchored to the hangar and sped through the narrow passage. One of the soldiers gave a command into a commlink on the wall while the other waved me onward.

The ship was small. A recon vessel most likely. It could hold a crew of thirty. Plenty to take on a floating station like Mekah Prime full of degenerates and criminals. One pureblood monrian could best ten fighters of any species, most said—a rumor based partly on facts.

“Who holds your contract?” I said as we walked to an upper level.

The ship’s engines purred beneath my feet as we began to separate from the station.

“The Tallian Empire,” the soldier answered over his shoulder. “I am Yuros Vaaren. I assume it was your khof kaar’s beacon we tracked.”

“Yes.”

“The Tallian prince has been wanting to dismantle Pek-Tol’s operations for some time, but there was no way to track the location of the asteroid until you activated your khof kaar. The colonies thought the Haak and all its crew was lost after Ursa.”

“It was. I died. Pek-Tol scavenged the destruction after the battle and managed to revive me for his games.”

“I assume that is why you did not activate your khof kaar sooner. It has been a long time since Ursa. You have been captive all this time?”

I nodded once when he glimpsed me over his shoulder. Then he veered left through a sliding door that led to an extensive med bay. Monrians had some of the best medical tech in the galaxy in order to keep soldiers strong and fit for a fight. I laid Penny down on one of the tables to see the extent of her injury.

“What is it?” Yuros asked, placing his gun on a magnetic holster on his back.