"Fifteen, but who's counting?" Jin sniffed.
"These people make me look trusting," she spat. "How do you think they'll feel when they learn I brought a military-grade drone into their home?"
Kira could be overreacting, but she didn't think their response would be nonviolent. She didn't really want a deathmatch right off the bat. She might have preferred to keep herself distant from these people, but they were still hers.
Raider sobered, the extent of the mess they were in registering. "How sure are you that will be their response?"
Kira lifted an eyebrow at Finn.
"Any other would face death. Kira might get a pass, but the humans wouldn't." Finn's expression was serious, his bearing that of one delivering a terminal diagnosis. This situation might as well be.
Kira knew her friend. He wasn't the type to fly under the radar.
"It's likely they would have forbidden him entry even if he'd come through proper channels," Finn continued.
“They did forbid him entry,” Raider confirmed.
"Ha, I was right to smuggle myself onto this planet," Jin crowed.
Kira held up a hand. "Not. Another. Word."
"I'm mad at you," Jin protested. "You don't get to be mad at me too."
The three of them ignored him.
"What do we do?" Raider asked. "Come clean?"
Kira was reluctant to take that option. There were too many unknowns. Too many factors to account for. If Roake decided to kill them, Kira didn't like their chances of fighting their way free. Not when they lacked a proper weapon among them—Blue's smuggled device notwithstanding.
This wasn't like going against the Tsavitee or even humans. These people had the same strengths as Kira, only they were much better trained and weren’t dying.
Escaping in the middle of the night while the Tuann's guard was down was doable. A straight fight that pitted the three of them against the still unknown numbers of Roake's military force, not so much.
"I need to think," Finn said. He moved to the door before pointing at Jin. "He doesn't leave this room."
"Aye, aye, Captain." Jin bobbed in the air as a salute.
Finn scowled, exiting and slamming the door behind him.
Silence descended.
Kira punched Raider in the arm. He jumped and cradled the injured appendage. "Ow. What was that for?"
"I expect this sort of behavior from him, but not from you. What were you thinking?" Kira hissed, feeling the urge to punch him again. "You don't even like each other."
Raider shrugged. "Not much choice. He would have found his way here one way or another. At least this way was less likely to draw attention."
Kira's shoulders slumped as she acknowledged the truth of that statement. Jin was nearly unstoppable when he got an idea in his head.
Raider patted her shoulder sympathetically as he made his way over to the door. "Let's be honest—he was never going to stay behind, no matter how mad at you he was."
With that, Raider took his leave, leaving Jin and Kira alone in the room.
Kira regarded her friend, an individual that had been in her life since she could remember. As dangerous as his latest antic might be to them, she couldn't bring herself to regret his presence.
The knot in her stomach that had developed when he’d left her to face Roake and Luatha on her own, finally relaxed.
"I'm glad you're here," she confided.
