“I’m coming with you,” Kellan declares as he steps out from behind me just as I approach the ramp.
I turn to face him, a sense of purpose fueling my strides. “You have little to no flight experience,” I remind him, letting my frustration creep into my voice.
I don’t have time to debate with him. If she’s on Sgya, if they’re on Sgya, the very thought brings another wave of anxiety. Call it intuition, or something even deeper binding us together, but I won’t leave her there, no matter the cost.
“I can handle it,” Kellan says. “I flew enough in Specialists. Plus, you’ll need help. You can’t go in there alone.”
With his mind made up, he pushes past me, reaching the ramp before I do. Unfortunately, he’s right. There are four of them, and if even one is hurt, it could take too long.
I inhale sharply, checking my anger before gritting out, “Fine. You’re in charge of comms. I’ll handle navigation and take the controls. Once we’re airborne, get the med packs ready. We need to be prepared for anything.” I run through preflight procedures in my head, systematically ticking off tasks as I flip switches. The transport hums to life beneath me. “How many weapons are you assigned to carry?”
“A single short sword,” he replies, taking a seat next to me and slipping on a headset.
I mutter a curse under my breath at today’s turn of events. I’m not even in a proper flight suit, just barely dressed, and the exhaustion from lack of sleep hangs heavy on me, while this godsforsaken headache just keeps growing.
“Tower, we are ready for launch,” Kellan announces as I snap together the last part of my harness.
“Drithm Transport, you are cleared for—” I cut Paulson off, slapping the emergency launch button without waiting to hear the rest of the clearance.
Every second matters, and I can’t afford to delay. It might be reckless not to alert their parents, but my priority is getting Raea and Trysten, as well as the others, home. I know only one person who has managed to survive Sgya, and that’s my father. According to the vaguenotes he left on his desk, he’s been there before. How he managed to get in and out undetected is beyond me.
Once we clear the atmosphere and are free from Baedyn’s gravity, I initiate a hyperjump toward Sgya. I override the error messages that attempts to stall us from plotting a course there. The ship’s console throws a barrage of error codes at me, but thankfully, I know how to break through them, charting us a path. Sgya lies at the center of our solar system, surrounded by our seven suns and kingdoms that encircle it like spokes on a wheel.
As we jump, I move to the back of the transport. I draw my Hallo, checking the battery levels, and holster it on my thigh before going through the cabinets and taking stock of our supplies. The academy transport is significantly larger than the student models, featuring an impressive layout that can rival smaller planet transports.
On one side, seven bunks are neatly arranged along the wall with an office just beyond. Behind me, a glass-partitioned medical bay is fully stocked, with a larger medical bed at its center. Upstairs, I know there’s plenty of seating, allowing this particular transport to haul up to fifty students.
“Do you know how to use one of these?” I hold up an additional Hallo, scrutinizing him for competence.
He shakes his head, and frustration grips me.
Breathing heavily, I swallow the tide of my anger. “How the hell are you supposed to protect Raea?” My voice comes out like ice, and I watch as Kellan subtly takes on a defensive stance. “Fine,” I grunt, shoving the extra Hallo into a holster at my hip. “You take the sword.” I secure daggers around a tactical vest for additional weapons.
“Where are we going?” Kellan asks, his eyes widening as they take in my weapons.
“Don’t ask questions I can’t answer right now.” I clip on the last dagger. “Just know that for every minute she’s there, she’s in danger.” I head back to the console, focusing on the tasks at hand. “Fill canisters with water for them. They’ll likely be dehydrated when we arrive.”
What little we know of Sgya is that the planet was not designed forhuman life to exist. The gods created the planet for themselves and kept Einvald, one of their moons, nearby.
The sheer size of the planet is intimidating. I don’t even know where to begin looking for them. Hopefully, their trackers will pick up on the ping and alert me once we draw near—that is, unless some unseen force blocks them. I watch our location near Sgya airspace when the transport icon on the display glitches and flickers.
We know very little about Sgya’s other moons, Evello and Pripeon, as both are off-limits—even to the imperial and royal families. What we do know is that both moons have breathable atmospheres, but as far as we know, nobody has ever returned—except for my father. That is not public knowledge, though. All three moons and Sgya, even the entire airspace between the seven suns, are restricted.
According to the notes I found on my father’s desk, Pripeon has a dense atmosphere and isn’t suitable for long-term habitation. His notes claimed he was on the moon for a total of five minutes before he was so exhausted he could barely move. His other notes, however, showed that he was studying Sgya and Evello, flying and testing the limits—until he didn’t return. I know it’s a risk, but I must try. I know she’s alive, and that’s the only thing propelling me at this point.
My head is pounding, and nausea slams into me. I’ve been awake too long and haven’t slept enough—that’s all this is. We flew for sixteen hours yesterday, and after we landed, we heard about Cresnigan. It didn’t make sense. Someone was there when we landed. Sure, the guy was acting weird, muttering to himself, and his eyes looked completely black and glazed over, but he handed over the token just fine. Raea’s transport called it in.
Dammit. Nothing makes sense.
I swipe a hand down my face and run it back through my hair.
I stand up, grab a coffee, and down it in two gulps.I need to focus.
Kellan is silently filling bags with water and food behind me. As the thrusters slow, the identifying white planet with five golden equidistant rings of Einvald—which wrap around like protective bands—come into view, and beside it, Pripeon’s surface of swirling clouds in shades of slate, with a thick band of teal wrapping around the centerand deep red at the poles. Finally, Evello’s orange surface comes into view. They would be beautiful if they weren’t deadly.
“Where the hell are we?” Kellan asks, sitting beside me. He knows; he just hasn’t come to terms with it yet.
A minute later, the strange planet fills our view. Despite its beauty, there’s something otherworldly about it, like there’s an invisible warning telling us to stay away. From space, Sgya’s atmosphere appears almost translucent, revealing two distinct spheres, the outer layer thinner than the inner, and, at the center, a thick ring of land encircling an expansive, turquoise ocean. Smaller islands are scattered throughout the water, and what appears to be a mountain range nearly bisects the sea.
