“Don’t you think I want to?” Ziri slammed a fist on her desk, her eyes fierce. “Lucas is like a brother to me, but my hands are tied. What I personally want isn’t relevant. What I’m allowed to do is. I’m the queen, and therefore I have to follow protocol and regulations. I can’t just deploy ships—property of the Cassidi people, not mine—and risk Cassidi lives for one non-Cassidi, just because I feel like it. Even if it is to help someone who is close to me, someone I love. I have to think of the planet’s needs first.”
“And it doesn’t matter that Lucas was taken while he was doing work for a Cassidirian university?” Kat couldn’t believe what her sister was telling them.
“According to his professor, he wasn’t on an assignment for the university,” her sister replied.
Kat blinked, confused. “No, that can’t be right. Lucas wrote that he was looking into something for his work.”
Ziri shook her head. “I was informed about this personally by one of the law enforcers who had investigated his disappearance. His supervisor had no idea why Lucas had gone off-planet. Whatever his reasons might have been, he left of his own accord. I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do.”
“This is an outrage!” Lirid huffed. “We’re talking about Lucas here.”
“Please understand, there is nothing I can do in my position. If I weren’t the queen, I would have sent in every warrior on my payroll, but the fact is I am the queen. Hopefully Earth’s authorities will take measures.”
“But by then it could be too late,” Kat whispered. Maybe it already was. “And maybe they won’t find the disappearance of one human who doesn’t even live on Earth important. Also, because of the past war with the Makaen, the humans don’t have ships strong enough to fight the Zzjitzzeëns even if Lucas was a priority.”
Ziri shook her head. “I’m sorry, Kat. But I have to answer to the people of Cassidiri. What if Cassidi sons or daughters got killed in the attempt to rescue Lucas and I was the one who ordered them there? I couldn’t live with myself, and it would cause an outrage within Cassidirian society. And rightfully so. My priority is the stability and the well-being of this planet. Sometimes, like in this case, I have to shut down my personal feelings and do what is right for the entire planet. Even if it feels bad on a personal level and keeps me awake at night.”
“I can’t believe this. If you won’t do something, we will. We’ll get Lucas back ourselves.” Furious, Lirid stormed out of his sister’s office, closely followed by Kat, who gave her sister a sympathetic smile before she left. Making this decision wasn’t easy for her sister, Kat grasped. Being the queen sucked. Big-time. But she also understood Lirid’s anger and frustration. And waiting for the Earth authorities to do something wasn’t an option. That would take too long. It wasn’t even certain that they would decide to rescue Lucas. To the humans, Lucas wasn’t someone important. But to her and Lirid, he was.
“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Ziri yelled after them.
“What did she say?” Seeing Kat and Lirid rush out of the palace, Mitha closed his datapad and jumped off the stone wall he had been sitting on.
“She isn’t going to help us,” Lirid raged, not slowing his pace. “Can you believe her? She’s the queen, but she refuses to help us, her own family.”
“Ziri wants to help, Lirid, you heard her. But she can’t. This isn’t easy for her.”
Her brother shook his head. “Then we must take this matter into our own hands.”
“How?” Kat wondered.
Lirid stopped abruptly, making Kat almost slam into his back. He pivoted on his toes, facing Kat and Mitha, and closed his eyes for a moment in thought before talking.
“We are going to get Lucas ourselves. We just need a ship and some badass fighters.”
Kat frowned. “Where are we going to find mercenaries on such short notice? We don’t exactly have a mercenary superstore on this planet. And I refuse to go back to Blackway space station,” she added quickly, before her brother could even go there. She wouldn’t set foot on Blackway again.
“We don’t have to go to Blackway,” Mitha put forward. “We know some badasses who are on this planet right now. The M—”
“No! Don’t you say it,” Kat interrupted. Suddenly going to Blackway didn’t seem like such a horrible idea anymore.
“Mitha is right,” her brother said enthusiastically. “The Makaen are natural-born warriors, and they’re mean. If they can beat up green aliens, they can do the same to the Zzjitzzeëns and free Lucas. And they have a ship. It’s perfect.”
Kat’s face turned red. She didn’t want to see Dykan again. He could make her feel things she didn’t want to feel and that confused her. Even now, she wanted him, longed to be with him, even after everything he had said and done to her. He was bad news and it was best if she stayed as far away from him as possible.
“No, it’s not. They’re pirates and can’t be trusted. Plus, they hate us. They almost threw us out of an airlock and they locked you up in the brig, remember? What do you think is going to happen when they find out who we are? They will probably take Lucas hostage and demand millions of credits for his release.”
“I will come with them to rescue Lucas and won’t let that happen,” Lirid replied, straightening his back. “I will watch their every move.”
Kat shook her head. “Then they’ll hold you hostage too.”
Mitha crossed his arms, nodding slightly. “Then we have to get some leverage to make sure they won’t double-cross us. And if Lirid is going, then so will I. We can all go with them to keep an eye on them.”
“No, I don’t want the Makaen involved,” Kat insisted. “Besides, they’ve probably already left orbit.”
“One moment.” Mitha tapped on his datapad. “No, they haven’t,” he said after a while, holding up his datapad. “Their freighter is docked, not scheduled to leave soon and according to the transport shuttle data, they all went down to the planet. They’re here somewhere.”
Kat blew out air. “I doubt they would even want to help us. They don’t like us.”
Mitha glared at her skeptically.
“Yes, Mitha, that includes me. I’m the last person the captain would want to help.”
“Then we will make them help us.” Lirid’s eyes went wide. “Like Mitha said, we need leverage. We’re smart. We can come up with something. You’ve spent time with the Makaen, Kat. Do you know if they have any weaknesses we can exploit?”
Kat shook her head. Knowing the success rate of the average idea her brother came up with she got very worried.
“No, I’m putting my foot down. I don’t want the Makaen involved and I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
Lirid took her hands in his and stared into her eyes. “My sweet baby sister. If you really don’t want us to hire the Makaen, then we won’t. We probably wouldn’t even be able to pull this off without your help. So if you don’t want to take part, then that’s it. We won’t do it.”