“And now?”
“Wait. I seeded a small lens into the trees as the drone left. Give it a moment to find a spot with a good angle of the whole clearing.”
She waited, bottom lip caught in her teeth, on her feet in agitation.
“They've hit Dara. I don't know why—the drone was gone, and they don't seem to suspect there's a lens on them.” Sazo sounded astonished.
“They were taking out their fear and anger on her.” Rose's hands fisted.
“I . . . can understand that. I did that, when I got free of the Tecran.” Sazo's voice was thoughtful. “I don't think the soldiers I killed were innocent, like Dara is, but they weren't personally responsible for my situation, and I killed them anyway.”
This was a moment of real self-reflection for him, Rose knew. But there was no time to ponder it now.
“We can talk about that when this is over. Can you see if Dara's all right?”
“She's unconscious,” Sazo said. “Dr. Revil is tending to her, and Kila is standing in front of her, between her and the Krik, now that she's back in the group.” Sazo paused for a moment. “The guards are moving the group into the caves now. Some of Jia's people are carrying Dara and one other person in, and the lens can't pick them up anymore.”
“And the Krik?”
“They've all come out of the cave and they're closing up the spacecraft. Some of them are starting a fire in a fire pit. They look like they're settling in for a while.”
“What could they be waiting for?”
“Me to leave?” Sazo asked.
“Maybe.” She thought about it. “Is there somewhere you can hide?”
“What good would that do? They're bound to be suspicious of it. After all, they saw my drone, and they know we know they have the team.”
“True.” It was too late now to change the game. “I think they took the team initially not as hostages, but to round them up and keep them from interfering in whatever they're doing. You didn't go with the Barrist, and you sent down the drone when the team went missing, so they know it's no use being secretive anymore. Their only hope is to use the team as a bargaining chip. A way to get off-planet.”
“So do we let them do that?” Sazo asked. “There's something familiar in their system code. I think they're using an encryption key Paxe gave them to keep their signals scrambled and to protect their spacecraft. Otherwise, I'd just take control of it and put it into orbit.”
“Paxe?” Rose asked. Things Paxe had done kept coming back to haunt them all, in both good and bad ways. This definitely fell into the bad category. Paxe had used the Krik for his own purposes, and he had obviously given them some gifts in the process.
“It's a relief to work that out. It makes sense that it's Paxe's doing that I can't break in,” Sazo said.
“Well, if you can't infiltrate their systems, I'd let them go in exchange for releasing the team in a heartbeat.” If it would mean the team were safe, she didn't care what the Krik were doing. They could figure out what they'd been up to when they had everyone back. “The best thing to do is whatever will bring everyone home safe and as unharmed as possible.”
“Negotiating with the Krik could take a while, and every moment they're in that cave, Dara and whoever else is injured isn't getting help,” Sazo said.
“I agree.” She didn't want them in the Krik's clutches for a moment longer than necessary.
“Rose.” Sazo's voice sounded a little odd.
“Yes?”
“I have Dav coming through the comms, he's within hailing range.”
She slid down onto the ground. “The Barrist is back?”
“No.” Sazo sounded as shocked as she was. “He had Borji create a distraction at the mining station, and he snuck away in a maintenance pod, which is why it's taken him so long to let us know he's on the way. The Krik have deployed a comms disruptor at the station, and the maintenance pod doesn't have a good range.”
“Can you patch me through?” she asked.
“Rose!” Dav's voice was slightly garbled, but clear enough.
“What's going on?” She didn't understand why he'd leave his ship and risk getting hit by the Krik in the maintenance pod, or being captured.
“I got Sazo's message that you were under attack by the Krik. I left Borji in charge, waiting for fleet backup, because Sazo relayed the situation to Battle Center for us earlier. A battleship will be light jumping to get here by tomorrow sometime.”
“Sazo says you're in a maintenance pod. They could have taken you. Or shot you.” She was shocked at the wobble in her voice.
“I was careful.” His voice gentled. “I wasn't going to risk getting caught, because the whole point was to come to you.”
She tipped her head back to stop tears flowing, and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she whispered. “But I'm fine. It's the team who are in trouble.”
Sazo told me. “He's sending out a drone to tow my pod, so I'll reach him faster. I'll grab some weapons from his store for us, and some supplies, and take the drone down to meet you.”
“I can't promise that,” Rose said. “If the Krik start hurting the team and there's something I can do about it, I will. But otherwise, I'll keep away. Sazo has a lens in the tree outside the cave they're in, so we know what's happening.”
“I promise I'll be as fast as I can. Sazo will find a good place to land the drone, and will tell you where to meet me.”
She suddenly had the sense Dav and Sazo were managing her. “You'll tell me if the Krik start hurting the team again, Sazo.” She didn't make it a question, but she knew it was.
“If there is something you can do about it,” Sazo said.
She could tell a carefully parsed sentence when she heard one. “You two are ganging up on me, aren't you?” She yawned, and felt guilty about it. It was only afternoon and the team were in danger. She had no business wanting to sleep.
“We want to keep you safe. If there is something you can do to help the others, I'm sure Sazo will tell you,” Dav said. There was something almost irritatingly soothing about his tone.
She was too tired to argue about it. If there was nothing she could do right now, she'd better try get some sleep and get up her energy to fight them both later. “Okay.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Rose, are you all right?” Dav's voice went from soothing to sharp.
“Just tired. You try sleeping in amongst tree roots with Krik prowling around you.”
“She's been nauseous, too,” Sazo said, helpfully.
“I'm fine.” She mumbled it.
“I'll be down soon, Rose.” Dav's voice crackled, and broke up, and after a long moment of silence, Rose guessed the connection had been lost.
“How long 'til he gets to you?” she asked Sazo.
“Five hours at the most. I'll put out the weapons and supplies I think he'll need and have them ready for him, so he should be down shortly after that. And I'll look for a good clearing to land the drone in.”