Solara gave her a critical once-over. “I don’t think she’s in any condition to walk, much less pilot a ship. And if you comm anyone to come get her, palace security will hear all of it.”
As if on cue, the comm in my ear beeped. My wrist feed couldn’t identify who it was.
I opened the channel hesitantly. “Um, yes?”
The voice in my ear was loud, worried, and very welcome. “Before you let me know this isn’t safe, I’ve been running phishing attacks all night on the contacts I stole from your wrist feed. I’m all over the comms now, but anyone watching will just think it’s your idiot friends calling you.”
“Telu!” I said, relief flooding me. “You’re exactly who—”
She cut me off. “What the blasted hell is going on? Basra has been gone all night, and now we’ve got soldiers outside the ship, and I just had the weirdest free fall of a thing with Qole that—”
I winced at the volume. “Telu, there’s no time. Are you sure this line is encrypted? All the palace encryption protocols have backdoors.”
“I know, genius, that’s why I made my own.”
“But you can’t use a third-party encryption algorithm on the palace comms…,” I started, confused.
“You can if you keep the signature the same,” Telu snapped. “Look, are you in a hurry or do you want to conference about your crappy security?”
I hesitated, collecting myself. “Right, listen. I can’t explain now, but we need to get Qole off-planet immediately. Everyone will try to stop you, and you can’t let them. Do you hear me? She’s in a bad way. If Arjan can fly the ship, I’ll give you a location where you can meet us. If Basra doesn’t make it back in time, I’ll look out for him. He’ll be fine, but Qole won’t be.”
“Nev, Arjan isn’t on the ship.”
Her words hit me like a kick to the stomach. “What?”
“He hasn’t come back since he left with you and Qole! Should I be worried? I thought he was with you. Basra is the one I don’t—”
“Can you fly the ship?” I cut her off, my tone ruthless, my face going still. It had to be this way. Qole might never forgive me for leaving her brother behind right now, but this was my only chance to get her out of here. Father had evidently lied to Solara about where he was, so I would have to find Arjan after Qole was safe.
Telu’s brusque voice turned hesitant. “Um…damn…yeah, I can fly, probably, with the autopilot system and a little creativity, but only in a pinch.”
“This is a pinch, Telu, the absolute worst.”
“What about Arjan?”
“I can’t carry Qole and look for him at the same time. I’ll have to come back for him later. Just meet us at the Atrium, on the north side of the citadel. You can’t miss it. You’ll have to punch a hole in the roof, but it’s glass and you can set the entire ship down.” I paused, trying wrap my mind around the things I was saying. This was my home, my family, and I was trying to plan a special op against them. What did that make me? A traitor? Never mind that I was trying to uphold the values we supposedly stood for. “And Telu? Don’t take off until I comm you. You’re going to have a small window of opportunity before the Air Guard tries to bring you down.”
“Don’t bother. I can get a fix on your comm every time you click the channel open. Just hit it every once in a while and I’ll see where you are.”
“Understood. Keep an eye out, and we’ll see you soon. Be careful.”
“Just get her out. And then you’d better get Arjan out too.” Telu’s voice was as much encouragement as warning, and the line went dead.
I gathered Qole into my arms. “All right, Qole, listen. I failed you, I know that.” I was failing her even worse by leaving her brother behind for the moment, but I couldn’t think about that, not right now. “And I know you’re hurt and tired. But I’m going to carry you until you can walk. Just promise me you’re not going to let this beat you. You are going to pilot the Kaitan again. You and your crew are going home.”
Her eyes were shut, and she didn’t respond, but her breathing grew steadier. I hadn’t known my own eyes were wet until I looked up at Solara. My sister was watching me with her head cocked, a curious expression on her face, as if she’d never quite seen me before.
I blinked and stood with Qole in my arms. “Keep an eye out for anyone behind us.” I took a deep breath. “Let’s get the captain to her ship.”
—
We wound our way through corridors I had not frequented since childhood, abandoned and dimly lit with an ever-present, wan white light. A palace such as the Dracorte citadel required a vast infrastructure to support life within it, too vast for the security cams to cover at all times. As children, both Solara and I had learned just how to avoid detection. We stuck to maintenance routes and corridors that connected storage areas to kitchens and kitchens to servants’ quarters.
Twice we almost stumbled into patrols searching for Qole, and both times I carefully deposited her with Solara and then went ahead to direct them to different parts of the palace. After the second time, my comm beeped.
“Um, Nev, I’m monitoring the situation, and all the guards have just been ordered to detain you on sight. One of them reported seeing you, and the order came down soon after that. Guess you’re supposedly drunk and out of your mind on drugs or some such.”
“Acknowledged, Telu, thank you. Just be ready to pick Qole up.” If I hadn’t been distracted, I would have been impressed, for the second time that day, by the degree to which Telu had been able to infiltrate the palace network.
“Check…and, uh, Basra just showed up in the cargo hold in a dress. This sounds crazy, but I think he snuck on board without anyone noticing. I’ll get an update and get back to you.” She closed the line.
At least Basra was back, but I’d honestly had bigger things to worry about…and still did.
I glanced at Solara, breathing heavily, my legs unsteady from the strain. Lifting Qole in a dance had been effortless—carrying her nearly limp form across the length of the citadel was another matter entirely. “We don’t have much farther to go.”
Solara had a thoughtful look in her eyes. “No, I suppose not. Let’s hope that no one is waiting for us there.”
Footsteps echoed in the hallways behind us, along with the unmistakable sound of comms stuttering and people barking orders.
I swore breathlessly. “They must be doubling back to try to find me. Come on, we have to run.”
Solara grabbed my arm and gave me a pitying look. “Nev, you’re not going to be able to outrun them while carrying her. I’ll stay and distract them. It will buy you enough time to make it there.”
I shook my head. “Solara, no one knows you’re part of my madness. I can take Father’s wrath, but there’s no need for you to—” I stopped as she put a finger over my lips.
“Shhh, brother mine. A few palace guards are child’s play. I’ll tell them I just saw you—in a different direction—and then I came to get them. Get your poor captain to her ship.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Solara.”
She laughed, an incongruous sound in the moment. “I’ll make you pay, don’t worry.” Then she was gone.