The group set a punishing pace that didn't allow for much talking as they traversed the last mile or so of terrain. They stayed on alert. Tense and expectant, knowing an attack could come at any moment.
To everyone's relief, there were no further confrontations with the Tsavitee. Their passage unobstructed. All the way until they spotted the break in the tree line where a clearing and their destination awaited.
"There it is," Sykes called over her shoulder.
Nearly blending in with the boulders and snow around it, the ship sat quietly. Its engine silent. Its lights off.
Kira slowed. "Something is wrong."
Apparently not listening, Sykes stepped out of the timberline.
"Sykes, wait," Alvarez called. "We have to clear the area."
The human was too eager, already crossing the open area to the ship.
Graydon frowned, scanning the area suspiciously.
Odin stopped as well, sending Kira a questioning look. "What is it?"
Kira shook her head, still trying to figure out what about this scene felt wrong. A second later, she had it. The ice under the ship. It shouldn't be frozen over like that. With an extraction under these conditions, the pilot would have kept the ship running to enable them to take off immediately in case their passengers came in hot.
More importantly—
"Where's the pilot?" Kira asked.
Sykes reached the ship, banging on the side. "Come on! Open up!"
"Get away from it!" Kira screamed as danger shrieked across her senses.
Graydon leapt at Kira, hitting her a split second before a loud boom rocked the area. They crashed to the ground as a percussive force exploded outward, sweeping the branches of the trees backwards.
Graydon pushed onto his elbows from where he'd shielded Kira's body. "You okay?"
She nodded, taking inventory. "Nothing broken."
There was a groan from the side. Odin struggled out of the mound of snow that had fallen as a result of being shaken loose from the tree tops.
She ruffled her short hair, getting rid of the snow clumped on it. "What just happened?"
Kira pushed Graydon off her, freezing at the sight of the charred clearing. There was nothing left of the ship or Sykes. Just a smoking ruin of twisted metal. The blast had even evaporated all of the snow in a fifteen foot radius.
"Oh my god," Kira said.
"Sykes!" Alvarez screamed.
Brie's face showed shock and loss as she stared at the place where her fellow soldier had just been.
Wind buffeted the tree tops as a Tsavitee ship swung into view, its cannons pointed at them.
Alvarez lifted his rifle, firing at the ship as he ran into the clearing. "Over here, you mother fuckers!"
"Alvarez, stop!" Brie called.
Graydon hauled Kira to her feet as Alvarez attempted to draw its fire. He dug a pulse grenade out of his vest, popping the pin with his teeth and rearing back to hurl it at the ship.
"Shit!" Brie snarled, firing at the ship from the cover of the trees as it prepared to fire its cannons. "Move!"
She ducked behind a tree as Graydon threw up a shield to protect him and Kira. Even with it, the percussive force behind the explosion nearly knocked them off their feet.
"J1N!" Kira yelled.
The drone popped up at Kira's side. "Right here, Nixxy."
"What happened to overwatch?"
His sensors should have picked up the Tsavitee ship hiding overhead and warned them "Is that what you should be concerned about right now?" the J1N asked as the cannons twisted to target them again.
Graydon moved in front of Kira, using his larger body to protect her as much as he could. His hands flew as he built a ki shield in front of them. It glimmered like a black diamond, its structure incredibly complex given the short time he had.
Still, it wasn't going to be enough. Not against a weapon powerful enough to pierce twenty buildings in a row and keep on going.
Knowing there wasn't time to run, Kira grabbed Odin and pushed her down to cover the Sye's body with her own.
Odin looked up at Kira in shock. The pupil of her uncovered eye constricting to a pinprick.
"Find them; save them," Kira ordered.
If only one of them survived, she needed it to be Odin. The Sye was the only one with a chance of finding her niece.
Odin's face was solemn as she tilted her chin down in agreement.
A bead of light formed in the cannon's mouth, brightening until its light eclipsed all else.
I'm sorry, Jin.
Kira hunkered over Odin, strengthening her body with ki as much as she could.
The air screamed as the cannon prepared to fire.
An explosion ripped the Tsavitee ship apart, sending its pieces careening into the trees beside it.
Graydon faltered.
Kira lifted off Odin. "Did that really just happen?"
They looked at each other.
"We have incoming," Brie called as the sound of a ship's engine reached them.
A second later the branches in the trees rustled as the backwash from the engines buffeted them.
"Hold your fire," Kira instructed Brie. "I recognize that ship."
A hatch on the ship's side opened and Pallas stuck his head out of it. "Well, look at that. Someone needed my help, after all."
Kira glanced at Brie. "I thought you said he left."
"He did." Brie's face showed confusion as the ship went to land in the only part of the clearing that hadn't received damage from the Tsavitee ship. "At least, we thought he did."
"Don't blame yourself too much. He's good at things like that."
Odin got up off the ground, knocking the snow and dirt loose from her pants. "I, for one, am glad for his timing."
Kira was too. For once.
As Brie and Odin started for the ship, Kira paused next to Graydon.
She couldn't forget how he had placed himself directly in front of the cannon's path to protect her.
Seeing her expression, Graydon's eyes warmed. "Words are unnecessary between us."
"Next time—don't throw yourself in front of certain death."
He would have handled that situation differently if he wasn't so intent on protecting Kira. Rather than adopting a defensive posture, he would have tried to take down the ship.
Kira rose onto her tiptoes, pressing a kiss against Graydon's lips. "Thank you, my love."
She appreciated the gesture even if she would have preferred him to protect himself first in a situation like that.
Graydon's hand slid around her hip as he tugged her into him more fully. Their kiss lasted only a short time before he let her go, nudging her toward the ship as the wail of a Tsavitee tracker came from the trees behind them.
"It's time for us to leave this place, coli," Graydon announced, facing the source of those sounds. "You go first. I'll be right behind you."
Kira didn't argue, knowing time was of the essence.
Brie and Odin had reached Pallas's ship, the latter having already gone inside by the time Kira got there.
"What are you doing?" Kira asked. "Go in."
Brie shook her head. "I can't abandon my unit. I have to go back."
Pallas jerked his head at the tree line as the first wave of the Tsavitee hunting party broke through the forest's edge. "I fear that would be a truly terrible idea."
Graydon stood between the Tsavitee and the ship. The air around him glimmered and sparked, ki manifesting as he pulled heavily on his reserves.