As soon as she was standing, Sweetpea jumped to her shoulder, and Rose gave her tiny, fluffy body a gentle stroke.
She bent to get some water out of her pack, and the same nausea she'd experienced the day before slammed into her again. She put a hand out to balance against the tree and lowered her head, and after a moment it passed.
This planet was doing a number on her.
“So, what can you tell me?” she asked Sazo as she sipped the water and rummaged through her pack for something quick and easy to eat.
“I received a message from Dav, which must have been sent before he received mine, that says the Krik have taken the mining station hostage, and are threatening to kill everyone unless they get some supplies from the Barrist. While they were negotiating, the Krik seeded the airspace around the Barrist with mines, and have shot at every small craft the Barrist has sent out to try and clear them.”
“They're trying to trap them there.” Rose chewed on a nutrient bar.
“They have trapped them there. Dav wants to keep the miners safe, so he'll negotiate with the Krik as long as he believes they are going to keep their word about not harming anyone if they get what they want.” Sazo's tone was neutral.
“You think that's a mistake?” Rose asked.
“I think those miners might already be dead. The Krik get caught up in their violence sometimes. Oris said Paxe showed him visual comms of them getting out of control.”
And Paxe, Sazo's fellow Class 5 brother, would know, Rose thought. He'd used the Krik for his own purposes before he'd self-destructed, and had nearly killed her friend Imogen in the process.
“I'm sure Dav will ask for proof of life.” But what could he do if they refused, other than go ahead on the hope that the miners and their families were still alive?
“I have other news, too.” Sazo sounded grim, now, and Rose felt a chill run through her.
“Bad news, by the sounds of it.”
“Yes.” Sazo had been angry when they'd first met and helped each other escape the Tecran, but she hadn't heard that particular tone from him in a long time. “The Krik have surrounded the explorer shuttle. You couldn't come back to it and get up to me, even if you did want to.”
Rose blew out a breath. She should have anticipated that. Of course the Krik would look for the ship the exploration team had arrived on. It was the obvious thing for them to do. “Good thing I don't want to do that. Although it would be good to have a clear shot at getting back to it after we free everyone and try to leave.”
That was pretty optimistic, even for her. She couldn't even keep her eyes open, let alone work out a way to find the team and rescue them.
“I've obviously instituted the defense protocol, so when they get close enough to the small defense cannons, I shoot them.” There was something darkly satisfied in Sazo's voice. “I got two straight away, which sent them into a frenzy, so then I got three more when they threw themselves at the shuttle. Eventually they worked out the perimeter, and most of them have left now. There are only two left, standing guard.”
“Is that because they don't have enough people to do whatever it is they're doing down here?” Rose wondered. “Maybe they can't spare the people to keep watch on the team, and guard the shuttle.”
“Rose.” Sazo sounded hesitant. “The team might not—”
“Might not what?” She was a little sharper than she meant to be.
“You know what.” Sazo's voice was as gentle as she'd ever heard it.
“The team are alive, Sazo. I can't believe the Krik would kill them all. I'm going to find them now.”
“Please don't. Just stay hidden and wait for Dav to come. Please. Or I can send a drone to an open clearing and give you the directions to it. Then you can fly up.” There was a desperation in Sazo's voice that really sliced her deep, and lit a spark of fear in her, too.
For her, she had no doubt, he would burn worlds to the ground.
She needed to deal with this before she did anything else.
She sat beside her pack, watching Sweetpea grab seriously large ant-type insects as they marched over one of the tree roots and pop them into her mouth like grapes or M&Ms. “Sazo, I don't want to frighten you, or make you worry. All I can do is tell you that I would do the same for you—I have done the same for you, and for Bane—and I will be as careful as I can. I don't want to get caught any more than you do, but I can't just leave the team down here and flee to safety. You can help me by scanning the forest and seeing if there is anything that looks out of place or wrong. Look for trees that have been cleared, any sign of a spacecraft. Also try to decode those signals you were picking up yesterday. Whatever can give us an idea of what's going on.” She needed to give him something to focus on.
He was silent for a moment. “This is because you want them to like you more than they do, isn't it?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. “Maybe a little bit. But even if they didn't like me, and I knew they never would, I would still try to help them, because the Grih are my people now, and I wouldn't just walk away and let them suffer if I could help it.”
“What would Sherlock Holmes do?” he asked.
Wow. They hadn't talked about Sherlock Holmes for months. She'd thought he'd forgotten about it.
“Sherlock would be applying his mind to the reason why the Krik are here. That's the key to understanding what is happening. They wanted the Barrist and you gone. Was that because they were expecting a spaceship to arrive and didn't want it intercepted or caught? Or is the spaceship already hidden in the forest somewhere, and they need to clear the airspace so they can get off the planet with whatever it is they have stolen from it?”
“I listened in to what the Krik who surrounded the shuttle said before they attacked it, and they seemed worried about a collection.” Sazo sounded more like the calmer, friendlier version of himself that he'd become.
“Keep listening to the guards for more information. Maybe even play with them. Didn't you once pretend to be a Tecran over the comms system to bring Dav and Filavantri Dimitara over to your ship so that you could trick them into bringing me my handheld?”
“I did.” Sazo sounded thoughtful. “I'll have to be careful with how I do it, because if they work it out . . .”
“They'll stop talking. But it will also make them nervous about anything they hear over their comms, so either way, you hinder them,” she said.
He hummed in agreement, and Rose put out her hand for Sweetpea to jump onto. She had obviously eaten her fill of ants and was just watching them now.
“I'm going to look for the team. I'll tell you what's happening when I think it's safe, but otherwise, I'll be as quiet as possible.”
“Just be careful, Rose.” Sazo's voice was soft. “I don't know what I'd do if you were hurt or killed.”
“I will be careful.” Because if she wasn't, she really worried about what he'd do.
7
In the end, it wasn't hard to find them.
Rose just had to follow the sound of a spacecraft engine.