Hours later, Kira crouched in the shadow of the fortress, watching the perimeter wall, Jin a dark shape beside her.
Sneaking out without Finn discovering and following hadn’t been easy. Luckily for Kira, her new quarters came with a balcony, handy for escaping undetected from an oshota who had a habit of staking out her front door.
"Wait for it. Wait for it."
Kira tensed.
"Now," Jin said.
She raced forward as Jin lit up the wall with red tracer dots, showing the safest places for her to ascend. She scaled it in seconds, up and over before anyone had a chance to see her.
She landed softly on the other side, wincing as her ankles protested the long fall.
Jin lowered beside her. "Well, that was a little easier than I thought."
Kira glanced at the wall. Maybe a little too easy. "Getting back into the fortress when we’re done with this little escapade will be harder."
The defenses were geared to keep people out, not in, after all.
"We'll worry about that later," Jin decided. "For now, let's get moving."
He led the way, racing over the knee-high grasses with ease as he headed for the forest where Kira typically trained.
An hour later, they were under the trees and nearly to their destination when Kira stopped.
"You can come out now," she said.
Raider stepped from the shadows, his hands in his pockets as he sauntered toward them.
Kira slid a hard glance at Jin. He whistled as he floated into the dark, giving them an illusion of privacy. She didn't have to ask if he'd known Raider was following him. Jin would likely have picked up on the other man's presence as soon as he'd started trailing them.
It seemed this was a discovery Jin thought Raider should know about.
"Following me now?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I did warn you I wouldn't make things easy for you."
He did at that.
"I have a right to know. You weren't the only one who loved her," he said.
He was right. In his place, she would have been just as tenacious.
The instincts that had kept her alive all these years warned that trust was a precious commodity. Once a secret was out, it couldn't be put back in its box.
If she did this, there was no going back.
Could she trust Raider like that?
Kira stepped around him.
"Kira," he protested.
She stopped and tilted her head at where Jin had disappeared. "You coming?"
Shock was replaced by determination as he followed at her heels.
They resumed their trek, Raider silent as he trailed them. Jin was a bobbing shadow in front of them as he scanned the area.
He stopped abruptly, before darting through a pair of trees.
"Found it," floated softly to Kira.
She started after him, stepping into a wide clearing, her steps slowing as the hulking form of the Wanderer greeted her. Half covered with branches and other vegetation to disguise it from surveillance, it sat in the shadow of several boulders.
Kira circled it as Raider stared.
"How the hell did you land a ship on this planet?" he asked.
Kira didn't answer, too busy ensuring the Wanderer wasn't damaged in any way. She was going to kill the person who'd flown it here. Kill them very dead.
The risks they'd taken. The danger they'd put her ship in—not to mention themselves.
It was enough to short circuit Kira's brain.
"Dead. Very, very dead," she muttered, storming toward the landing ramp.
She pressed her palm to the security lock. It beeped before flashing red.
Access denied.
A high-pitched growl escaped Kira. That little—
Kira's motions were jerky as she popped off the panel. "Lock me out of my own ship? We'll see who's laughing soon."
She pulled out a few wires, crossing them and then splicing another set before slamming the panel in place as the circuits rebooted. Kira waited, barely resisting the urge to tap her toe as it came back online.
Kira stabbed the buttons as she inputted her override code.
Raider didn't comment as she worked.
The light flashed green, and the ramp started to lower.
Jin was the first through, slipping into the narrow gap as soon as it was wide enough. Kira and Raider were forced to wait until the ramp was fully extended.
It hadn't even touched the ground before she was striding up it, her footsteps an angry accompaniment to her mood.
Kira headed straight for the room they called the bridge. Consisting of two chairs in front of the ship's controls, it was small and usually unoccupied since Jin mostly ran the ship's functions and didn't need to be on the bridge to do so.
Today, however, one of the chairs was occupied by a slight figure wearing a cloak.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady," Kira snapped.
The figure turned her head, the cloak's hood sliding off. Curly hair the color of gold slipped free as the occupant looked up at Kira with a crooked grin.
"Auntie, took you long enough to find me. I was expecting you an hour after I shot the general."
Kira's eyes narrowed. "I was trying not to draw attention to you—something you should have been careful about yourself."
The waif seemed less than intimidated as her gaze alighted on Raider. Wonder crossed her face as she scrambled upright, her legs hitting the deck. She brushed her hair from her face and adjusted her clothes.
Her gaze darted from Raider to Kira and back again. "Is that him?"
There was yearning and excitement in the girl's eyes, as if Kira had brought the best gift she'd ever received.
Kira exhaled. This was why she hadn't wanted to bring Raider. It was also the reason she couldn't force herself to leave him behind.
It was time—even if it would upset any gains Raider had made toward trusting Kira again.
The girl nearly bounced with excitement. Seeming the same age as Joule, her hair was short, and her eyes were a vivid amber. A bandanna wrapped around her forehead, hiding ears Kira knew were as pointed as her own.
"Yes, it's him," Kira said.
The girl clapped her hands together and raced forward. Kira stepped into her path, leveling a hard stare on the girl. If she thought she was getting out of trouble because of Raider's presence, she was mistaken.
Chastened, the girl backed up, finding her seat again.
"What are you doing here?" Kira asked. "I left you planetside with someone who would look after you for a reason. Does that person know you’re here?"
The waif shrugged, pulling her legs up and crossing them under her. "I got worried when you went radio silent. I hitched a ride on a transport and tracked the Wanderer to O’Riley.”
Kira should have anticipated this. The girl’s caretaker should have as well.
“When I broke into the ship, your friend was here,” the girl explained. “She needed a ride but couldn’t get the ship to work. Since you keyed me into the controls, I decided to tag along."
"Odin," Kira ground out.
When she got her hands on the woman, she was going to strangle her for putting the waif in jeopardy.
"Why are you still here?" Kira asked.
The girl leaned back, studying her fingernails.
Kira closed her eyes. "Because you couldn't get off the planet without alerting the Tuann of your presence."