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“I did not take any risks,” I said simply.

Levant’s expression told me he knew that, I never took any risks.

That’s why I preferred my quiet, isolated mountain home and why I let my patients come to me, rather than that I went to them, usually.

I had made exceptions of course, but I also needed to be available to three different Clans.

I was plenty busy. Levant had only ever served Serqethos before he came here.

But I was willing to take any risk—whatever it took—now.

When our eyes clashed, both golden, he saw that too.

“I have an EM pulse device,” I said, pulling it from the supplies I’d managed to salvage.

“Lost my laser pistol, though, but this will disrupt their weapons. If I can get close enough to the ship, I can even disrupt some of its systems. That should keep them grounded and distracted. Then I’ll sneak in and rescue Nala. ”

Levant’s immediate and resounding “no” was loud, but I simply kept talking, outlining more of my plan.

I’d had plenty of time earlier to think it over, and I was determined to see it through.

My friend shook his head throughout and eventually even suggested that we call the council after all.

This time, I was the one to vehemently deny it.

“No. They will not allow us to take action. They will want to study the situation, and they’ll fear how powerful the Krektar weapons are.

No, we will ask forgiveness rather than permission. ”

To my surprise, that shut him up, a grin stretching across his face.

“I really, really want my own mate,” he said.

“There are at least forty women. My chances are good, are they not?” he added.

I did not tell him that Nala had speculated there were several thousand stasis pods aboard that ship; his odds could indeed be good.

But the image of my friend going past each human to touch them and check was too much.

He was onboard, though, and that was all I needed to hear.

For the next few hours, we stuck our heads together to lay out my plan in greater detail, aided by the intel Levant had gathered and the information we could spy when we crawled to the edge of a hill overlooking the crashed ship.

The humans were not outside yet, but Krektar parties were just setting out.

They weren’t just hunting Vakarsa for food, but also scavenging the wrecks that dotted our landscape, far and wide, for parts to fix their ship.

I hoped that, as in the footage, I’d see them lead the women and men outside and set them to work. I hoped fervently that I’d be able to catch a glimpse of Nala and assure myself that she had made it through the night. But we were not that lucky.

“You are waiting the agreed-upon hours,” Levant hissed as he began strapping on leather armor lined with many pockets for gear, shortly after our recon mission.

I was impressed by how battle-ready he looked when he was done, and how convenient the many pockets were—spots for his weapons, but also his medical supplies and several handy gadgets.

I almost wished I’d taken the time to make something like that for myself.

My blue sash was a little stained and worn by now, but the belt beneath it still served to hold the pouches.

For now, all I needed were the EM disruptor, my knives, and my healing supplies.

I needed to be all about stealth, not combat, but Levant would provide the splash that would distract them.

Brushing the sharp edge of my stone knife along a finger, I tested its sharpness against a scale, satisfied when it drew a thin scratch along the white surface.

“I will wait as long as I need to,” I told my friend.

He grinned, but the look in his eyes was weary and concerned.

I slapped his shoulder. “Let’s go. You’ve got a ways to travel, and some convincing to do.

I’m counting on you to be here by tomorrow morning. ”

We slipped from the hidden tent silently and parted ways with little more than a slap to the shoulder and a nod.

Levant seemed to disappear into the trees as he ducked low to the ground and began to hurry toward Sun Fang’s main camp.

His horned head blended with the tall grass and low shrubs, while his dark scales, spotted with gold and green, camouflaged him against the gray and dark brown earth and moss.

He might have demanded the job of investigating the crash, but he was very well suited for it.

As he turned left, I turned right, back to the hillside where I’d had a good view of the wreck not long ago.

My white scales were far more obvious out here, drawing the eye, but I was still a hunter of some skill.

I’d never gone home empty-handed, and I wasn’t about to now, even if I’d never hunted for a human before.

There was more activity outside the ship now, and I took a moment to study it.

It was a big shape crouching below the hill —a Long Hauler, as Nala had called it—a ship meant to travel long distances with huge amounts of cargo.

It was mostly intact, but a jagged crack had broken one of the oblong-shaped holds.

Another hold was mostly whole, but from my angle, I could see that the hangar doors had come off.

The piece of wreckage which had landed near Thunder Rock, possibly the hold Nala had fallen out of.

Human males were being herded out of the palisade-enclosed exit closer to the ship’s bridge, then directed into the forest to cut down trees or toward the exposed hold to work on more primitive walls to shield it.

These Krektar were ugly and mean, but they knew tactics, protecting what was vulnerable about the ship, digging in.

They had only woken the labor they needed from stasis, so as not to tax their hunting parties, too.

I leaned a little closer when the ship doors at the front opened again.

Krektar were leading another group outside, still protected by the first palisade they had built around the exit.

I held my breath as I took in the smaller, slender shapes of the human females.

Searching desperately for any sign of Nala, I became more and more concerned when I did not see her.

All these women wore what Nala had worn when I found her: gray.

Many of them had torn their clothing, and they moved together in a protective formation.

Two women seemed to be in charge, as they were set to work slaughtering and cooking the night’s successful catch: a pale blonde, and one with a shocking pink stripe in her black hair.

But still, no sign of Nala. The longer I waited, the more concerned I became.

I knew it was only minutes, but that felt too long.

I was supposed to wait until Levant had reached Sun Fang, but I couldn’t—not when I saw one of the Krektar roughly backhand a woman who was moving too slowly.

That was awful; I couldn’t sit by idly while that was happening right in front of me.

Sliding from my hilltop perch, I began to circle the ship. I had to find a good spot to set off my pulse, then breach that vessel and find Nala, if she was even here. I could do this.