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He reached out and brushed a finger along the gem. “Kissa.”

She grinned. “Cute.”

His hand moved to her chin and lifted it, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Fasar,” he demanded again.

She frowned. “I…” She was about to say that she couldn’t. But then a thought shot into her brain, making her clasp the metal plant in her hand.

There was a garden here, still full of life. There were living things here. The fungi could grow which meant other things could too. It could be re-grown, re-terraformed.

Rebuilt.

The words hit her like a smack in the face. That was the whole point of Nexacor. She could talk to the heads, request to establish a base here.

It could work. She could help him. She could stay.

“Kryxis, I—”

A shot rang out, and in that split second, she felt something whoosh passed her ear, and blood splattered against her face, bluish-black blood.

Kryxis let out a roar and something knocked against her chest, sending her flying onto her back. As she tried to move and wipe the blood away, she heard shouts and more shots firing.

No.

“Stop!” she cried, scrambling back to her feet. She turned and saw the man on the building with his long gun aimed down at her. “Don’t fire!” She waved her hands trying to block his aim. He lifted his gun, and she turned back toward Kryxis, but he was gone. Only a trail of blue-black blood remained.

A squad came rushing down the alleyway to surround her, but all she could do was stare at the blood.

“What have you done?”

She refused to let them lead her back. Instead, she marched right up to Saul and Tristan and got in their face.

“Why wasn’t I informed you had men stationed on the rooftops!” she shouted.

“They were there to keep watch over the ships from above,” Saul said calmly.

“Well, your man wasn’t watching the ships, he was watching me, and he—”

“He was protecting you because you decided to break from the safety of the group and put yourself in danger. I ordered them to watch over the team, so he was merely doing his job.”

Dani bit her lip as it trembled. “If he had watched closer, he would have seen I wasn’t in danger!”

“I’m sorry if you think—”

“Oh, don’t fucking say another word!”

“If you don’t calm down, Ms. Alverez, we will be forced to put you on the ship with a guard to watch you until we leave.”

She practically growled at him before turning away, a roaring in her ears as her heart hammered. They shot him. Those bastards.

She marched back to the ship, passing by Tom and Lex as she did.

“Dani, what’s going on?” Tom asked.

“I-I have to go back out,” she said, entering the ship and heading for the supply room.

“What? You can’t. We are going to leave soon.”