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“Whose tail’s the longest?!” he barked in triumph.

Elena giggled and clapped her hands.

Without wasting any time, he hailed the main ship. They held their breath as they waited, listening to the static.

“Payim, is that you?!” Thorac abruptly shouted, nearly deafening them.

“Aye!” he replied, excitement threading his voice.

“We were certain we lost you,” Faktil chimed in, elated and relieved.

Their voices were like music to his ears.

“Almost. The cruiser crashed but I’m well and I have a friend here, Elena, to thank for that.” Payim gestured to Elena.

“Hey, guys. Nice to meet you,” Elena spoke close to the comm.

“You found a survivor?!” Thorac sounded surprised and impressed.

“Not one, many, although all but Elena are still in stasis pods,” he informed his comrades.

“Truly?”

“Yes. And thereisa Jurou Biljana outpost down here,” Payim quickly warned them.

“We are aware and have already hailed reinforcements. Scala went in after you and he reported seeing the outpost before his cruiser also went down,” Thorac related.

“Son of ametcor,” Payim growled.

He shook his head. Scala shouldn’t have attempted a rescue, as much as he appreciated it.

“He claimed he’s fine. His comm system remained functional. But you know that male, he insisted on doing reconnaissance of the reptile outpost. He swore he was uninjured, but I think he cracked his shell,” Thorac grumbled, clearly aggravated with Scala.

Scala must have a death wish to do reconnaissance alone. Then again, he probably would’ve done the same if roles were reversed. That was, after all, why they were here.

“Then he has to be on the other side of the chasm,” Elena commented.

“We won’t easily be able to reach him. He’s on the other side of a very large string of canyons,” Payim explained, worried for his friend.

“We think we’ve devised a way to come get you. We spotted a vast body of water close to where you both went down. We’ll make a controlled landing there then come ashore,” Faktil relayed.

“You mean crash land in the ocean.” Payim cocked his head as he considered the plan. “It could work.”

It had to work. There was no other way to land safely, considering the turbulent atmosphere could take down large vessels as easily as small ones.

“Aye. We know your general vector, but we still need a landmark to locate you,” Thorac inquired.

Payim glanced at Elena.

“Oh. Okay.” Her brow furrowed as she thought for a moment. “All right, so, when you surface in the ocean, navigate toward the giant smoking volcano. It’s the easternmost and biggest in a string of four. As you near land you should see a large break along the shore where the canyon meets the ocean. We should be able to spot you from the top of the cliffs.”

“Thank you.” Payim nodded to her.

“Great. We will plan to be there when the sun reaches its zenith tomorrow.” Thorac sounded pleased.

“We’ll be cloaked, so the Jurou Biljana don’t spot us, but we’ll devise some signal you’ll recognize,” Faktil added.

“And what of Scala?” Payim asked.