Page 90

His gaze shifted to Elena. The combat shell was truly amazing. He recognized the slight alterations to her features, but Elena looked human while still being protected, and that was all that mattered.

“I’ll carry you. Go limp,” he quietly instructed while picking Elena up.

“Won’t you need a free hand?” she worriedly asked, as he cradled her in his arms.

She was right.

“Yes. Sorry. This won’t be comfortable.” He adjusted her so she was draped over his shoulder, leaving one hand free to grab his disrupter.

Please keep her safe, he prayed to the goddess as they returned to the exit.

“I’m starving,” Faktil was casually making small talk with the reptiles. Food seemed to be a safe subject.

“I’ll take the human since you haven’t eaten in a while.” The pale reptile reached for Elena.

There was no way he was letting the scaly bastard take her.

Think!

The offer seemed rather generous, too generous, considering who they were dealing with.

“And let you get all the credit?” Payim reared back.

“Youarenew. You think you are going to get credit for finding this. They’re hardly worth the food they eat,” the pale male laughed.

“You will still have to complete your rotation,” the other hissed in amusement.

“Lead the way and we’ll share this lack of credit,” he goaded the reptiles, banking that there was at least some merit to finding a human.

The pale one huffed, then spun and started across the hangar.

Scala nodded to him, as they followed the pair. They’d made it this far but things could still go horribly wrong.

“You crashed, hmm?” the pale one asked as they neared the hangar exit.

“Yes,” Faktil grunted.

“Found the human sniffing around the crash,” Scala added.

“That’s why you’re so eager to deal with the human first. You don’t want to report in,” the darker reptile snorted.

“And I’m starving,” Faktil agreed.

“Don’t lose your tail, I heard the Vicarius is heading off world,” one reptile informed them as they entered a broad corridor that made up part of the palisade fortification.

Payim’s steps faltered hearing the news. Why was the outpost commander leaving?

“Such a privilege to get off this baked rock on a whim,” Scala grumbled, fishing for information.

“When you are the Vicarius you can make unscheduled voyages,” the darker reptile huffed in agreement. “Kahf said they didn’t even have a full shipment.”

Scala glanced at him and it was clear they were thinking the same thing. The obvious lack of vessels in the hangar and the Vicarius’ unscheduled trip all added up. The Jurou Biljana may not have spotted the Osivoire vessel entering the atmosphere but they’d detected something. That’s why they sent scouts days after his cruiser had already crashed. The timing was too coincidental. And when those scouts didn’t return, the outpost commander decided to gather their incomplete shipment of rift drives and make a run for it.

Son of a metcor,he silently cursed.

Suspiciously, he looked at the pair escorting them. Something about this whole scenario felt off.

Elena