Page 215 of Star Bringer
Currently, theStarlightis situated behind and slightly to the left of the asteroid—which is a huge hulk of gray rock bigger than my home planet—hidden in the lee of another chunk of rock. This place is lethal. There’s a good fucking reason it’s called the Wilds.
Luckily, the buildings we’re aiming for are all on the inner side of the asteroid belt. I don’t think theStarlightwould have survived a journey deeper inside. Even out here, there are chunks of rock flying everywhere that she’s constantly having to evade.
This is the part of the plan when the rebel ship would have attacked and created a distraction—but that’s gone now. It looks like we’re the distractionandthe rescue operation.
Gage has rigged a kind of computerized bomb that theStarlightis supposed to hurl straight at the front of the buildings as we fly on by. It’s got a timer that should set it off about two minutes before we reach our chosen extraction zone. It’s weak—really weak—but it’s all we’ve got.
Fucking rebels. If we make it out of this alive, I’m not going to forget anytime soon just how badly they screwed us.
But fuck it. It’s finally time to move.
My gut tightens, and a zing of excitement sizzles along my nerves. It’s happening at last.
I turn to check where Kali is—something I haven’t been able to stop doing ever since she nearly got herself shot again, ever since Raindidget herself shot—and she’s fine, harnessed in and alert and gorgeous, if a little pale.
“I’m firing the distraction,” Gage says, pressing one of the weaponry buttons. Seconds later, the bomb deploys.
There goes nothing.
“I’m taking her in,” he continues, and I turn my attention back to the HUD on my captain’s chair.
We slip out from behind cover. I stare at Delta V47 as it grows bigger on the screen, holding my breath, waiting for the flash of light that would indicate they’d spotted us and are retaliating. Our intel says they don’t have any defensive weapons on this side of the asteroid because they don’t believe anyone would be reckless enough to venture that far into the Wilds. But then, they haven’t met us yet, and intel purchased from shady mercs I worked with years ago has been known to be wrong.
Luckily, there are no shots in our direction.
“Going dark,” I say, and the ship’s lights go out on approach. Because seeing where we’re going when we land on this rock is amateur hour. Obviously.
Would be cool if we could get theStarlightto go invisible again, but it’s her best-kept secret. Just another perk of captaining a ship with a very stubborn mind of her own.
We descend and hug the surface as we head toward our destination. We’re planning on making landfall as close to the building entrances as we can. Hopefully, the guards will all be too busy trying to figure out where the bomb came from to notice the fact that the landscape on this side of the compound has changed.
We’re cloaked, obviously, but I can’t do anything about the giant orb following us around, so there’s only so much hiding we can do.
Our plan is to slip in as quietly as we can and find Milla and Jarved—if he’s even here, which I have my doubts about. Part of me thinks we should leave him after that clusterfuck an hour ago, but I can’t do that. I can’t just leave someone behind. If I could, I’d take everyone in this place—which is a far cry from the old Ian.
But that’s not feasible right now, so I’m going to do my best to find Jarved. Even though logic says if he was brought here, he’ll be long dead. No one lasts years in the Wilds. No one.
Once we find them, we’ll slip out just as quietly as we came in—hopefully before anyone realizes we’re here.
But we’re ready for a fight. We’re all weaponed up, thanks to the two boxes we managed to grab on our way up the ramp. We each have two pistols, and I have the explosives and grenades I asked for in a bag over my shoulder. Just in case we need to blow any doors down.
I can make out the buildings now—the offices, which are squat and hug the gray landscape, and another, darker building that looks a lot like a lab and a prison. My gut tells me that’s where Milla will be.
I shudder as it hits me that she’s been in this hellhole for three months. Three months.
Gage sets theStarlightdown gently right beside the lab entrance. I can’t see any movement around us, so I’m hoping no one noticed.
He swivels around in the pilot’s chair to stare at me with wary eyes. “You ready to go?”
“I will be.”
I’ve been dragging my feet because I’m terrified Milla won’t be here—that they’ve moved her again, and this time we’ll never find her—but I can’t put it off any longer.
Wiping my clammy palms on the legs of my pants, I take a deep breath and try.
“Milla?”
Nothing. I glance across at Max, who’s trying as well. He shakes his head.
