“L’iza, wait,” Dani screamed.
“Tell him to run faster,” the scout yelled. “We can’t let that wave hit us.”
A cloud rose high in the air, rushing towards them, sweeping away the foliage of the trees in a whooshing roar. Whatever it touched would be forever changed—
Landing on his feet in a sprint, K’vyn rushed forward, tracking next to the entryway as L’iza moved over the ground.
“Hurry!” Leaning out of the doorway, Dani stretched out her hand.
The Korthan had only one shot. She knew it. He knew it—
K’vyn crouched in his sprinting run, leaping high into the air, arm reaching out. The ship suddenly dipped as L’iza spun sharply into him, door lowering enough for him to grab the edge, his other hand coming around to grasp at Dani’s outstretched arm.
With the tilt of the ship, Dani slipped, falling out the window just as K’vyn was about to grab her hand—
Jerking to a halt in midair, front of her body hanging out of the entry, something held fast to her legs as the Korthan held onto her arm in his right hand, left hand firmly gripped to the bottom edge of the opening.
Body moving backwards as the ground rushed below, Dani turned to see D’alla and C’hase had hold of each of her feet, pulling her back into the ship.
Two more mogha joined in, grabbing her midsection and then shoulders as she was hauled back in, K’vyn’s hand slipping to hers. Gripping tight, she held onto him, gazes locked in intense determination.
Three more mogha reached over the edge, grabbing his forearm and elbow just beyond her grip and pulled backwards until she found herself on her back, heavy breathing Korthan laying over her.
Hatch snapping shut, L’iza tilted the ship straight up, launching towards the blackness of space.
Pulling her into an embrace, K’vyn kissed her neck, whispering against her ear. “That was close.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
Moment of triumph short-lived, a chorus of wails and howling erupted from the mogha. Climbing to their feet, she and K’vyn watched in horror as a wave swept over the world, green becoming brown in its wake.
C’hase whimpered, incredible loss and sorrow pouring from the young hound. Hand pressed against his chest, K’vyn was no doubt effected by the bond with his mogha as well.
Limbs so heavy he could barely lift them, heart battered, K’vyn made his way to the cockpit.
It was always a rescue mission, he told himself over and over, but every Korthan would feel crushing defeat over the loss of Mogha.
You saved countless mogha lives, D’alla said, but the words felt hollow, even when the sentiment behind them was genuine.
Now what?
He could hear Dani saying this to herself, thinking along the same lines as he was.
When they got to the Galaxy, he would speak with L’Den and Captain K’ursick. The mogha may accept Dani, but after this day? They’d be hard pressed to find a Korthan community that would, even one full of folks raised through the exchange program like he was.
Asylum on the Galaxy Ship was probably their only option—
Once in the cockpit, he stopped short, stomach churning. A swarm of a hundred Invader ships or more buzzed in the space between L’iza and the Galaxy Ship. They were never going to get through that without an escort.
“There are a hundred mogha onboard,” L’iza was saying. “We must land.”
“We can’t get to you,” L’den’s voice filled the air through the comm. “They are attacking the Galaxy.”
The hologram slammed her fist on the console.
“We must retreat,” L’den said. “Take them to Paradise.”
“And subject them to another world that will be targeted for terraforming?” L’iza’s voice was bitter. “No. I will not do that.”
Observing the ships, entering several calculations, K’vyn pulled up the probability of them making it to the Galaxy Ship without an escort—
Two point three percent.
“We are on our own,” he whispered, staring at the holograms in front of him, each giving doomed trajectories to the Galaxy.
L’iza hung in space, concentration set in her features. Five Invader ships took notice, breaking their attack, racing in her direction.
K’vyn felt a resolve solidify in their limited bond.
“I will take them to Sanctuary,” she said, voice soft with an edge, a promise.
“That is not permitted,” Captain K’ursick said, shock in his tone matching the tingling in K’vyn’s chest.
Even the Korthans didn’t know where the sentient ship planet was—
“I take responsibility,” L’iza said. “Refugees are permitted.”
There was a pause on the radio, Dani stepping up beside him as A’ryk’s voice spoke. “They will never be allowed to leave.”
Dani grasped his hand in a warm squeeze, and he brushed her soft skin with his thumb. Gazing down at her, brown eyes inviting, understanding, promising, his only desire was a life with her.
Looking down the hallway towards the cargo hold, both D’alla and C’hase stood watching him.
Eyes tracking to L’iza, he said, “We’re okay with that.”
11
Dani never imagined that she would gain a lifelong bond with a sentient four-legged companion and find her husband while rescuing the creature from a fate worse than death. She also never imagined she’d be stuck on a ship crammed full of antennae-laden, mischievous mogha for a couple weeks.
Truth be told, she enjoyed their soft fur brushing her body everywhere she turned. But the close quarters didn’t lend itself to any alone time with K’vyn, which he made up for by whispering sweet nothings in her mind, complete with images of what he would do with her once they were finally alone—
And once it was explained the chickens weren’t for eating, the occupants of the ship subsisted on eggs. Colony 739 was never going to get that delivery, but if the mogha ate the chickens, there’d be no more eggs. There was a store of rations K’vyn had onboard, but it wouldn’t have been enough without the eggs.
She patted Molly’s head as L’iza held the chook up to Hedge’s cage. Apparently satisfied, the molk threw himself on his hoard of shiny objects with a happy squeak. L’iza even placed several chicken feathers in the enclosure.
Unable to help it, she grinned at the hologram.
“What?” L’iza’s electronic lilt sounded scandalized. “I am just making sure he doesn’t get loose.”
Of course. That’s what was going on.
The mogha were afraid of the molk at first, but once K’vyn explained to D’alla that the glass would hold him, he became a curiosity.
When can he ride on my head again? C’hase had a hard time understanding why he couldn’t let Hedge out. Not even for a little while?
“Frozen planet on the port side,” K’vyn announced.
Watching the world covered in white and gray ice, she shivered. Stars, she really hoped that wasn’t Sanctuary. What a miserable existence—
“It’s uninhabitable,” K’vyn said.
“Full of bear beasts,” L’iza said.