Page 37 of The Alien Warrior's Vow

She gulped in air, but it felt like the collar was getting tighter and tighter.

“Sara, we have to do something,” Simone hissed.

“I’m thinking,” Sara snapped. “Just give me a minute.”

Footsteps echoed in the distance.

It sounded like a hundred boots clomping in their direction.

“Guys,” Kia’s voice trembled, “I don’t think we have a minute.”

Emma bent over, the weight of the world on her shoulders. “You guys should go without me.”

“What?” Sara shook her head. “We’re not going to do that, Emma.”

“You have to! The others are waiting on you. All those Plutonians are waiting. They need that energy shield to go down.”

Kia planted her hand on her hips. “Do you think we’d run away from you just because you told us to?” She grabbed Emma’s exoskeleton by the shoulders. “We are in thistogether.No one gets left behind.”

Simone jutted her chin down in agreement.

Emma’s heart filled with warmth. She shushed out her mother’s words from her head and thought of Lans instead. She pictured his violet eyes narrowing on her as he commanded, ‘again’. She thought of the roughness of his hand as it scraped gently over her cheek. The cadence of his words as he spoke firmly to her. The way his lips inched up just a smidge at the corners when he approved.

“You are connected to the zapten. It can see what you see and it will do what you want it to do. You can’t be afraid of it. The connection is yours. Embrace it and let it embrace you.”

Her eyes burst open. “Sara! Laser!”

“Laser? Where?” She glanced around, her exoskeleton clanking loudly.

The Heronas guards were coming closer.

Emma spoke as fast as she could. “You need to cut the collar off me.”

“How? I can’t… we didn’t train for that,” Sara shrieked. “What if I hurt you?”

“They’re rounding the bend!” Simone pointed. A line of Heronas guards holding laser guns hurried in their direction.

They’d be on top of them soon.

Everyone was in cloak mode, but the collar was visible to the Heronas. The moment they saw it, they’d know for sure that the wall had been infiltrated.

“I’ll do it,” Kia said, stepping in front of her. “I tried this once before when the raiders had Pin trapped in orange bubbles.”

Before she could ask what that meant, Kia’s exoskeleton stopped in front of her. Behind the slits of the armor, Emma glimpsed her friend’s face.

Dark brows pinched in concentration, Kia exhaled loudly. Sweat beaded on her temple and dripped down her chin. Long, dark hair spilled over her shoulders, shaking slightly as she moved her head back and forth.

A moment later, a laser beam emitted from the zapten’s finger.

“Careful, careful,” Sara said.

The red beam slid over her collar.

A moment later, it thumped to the ground.

The Heronas troops shouted.

They’d seen the collar fall in mid-air.