Dylan reached the far bank, setting Jin on its mossy shore before climbing up after him.
“Come on,” Kira said, following.
Raider’s curse was muffled before she heard splashing a second later.She looked back to find him and Finn behind her.
Roderick kept watch as Arly and Bez took the makeshift litter they’d created earlier and used it to carry Pye across the river.Az followed behind with a faint wince as she stepped down into the water.
Jin was already crawling under the belly of the ship by the time Kira and Raider reached the other side.
Up close, Kira was stricken anew by how poorly maintained the ship was.For goodness’ sake, there was rust forming at the edges of some of the exterior panels.Whoever was responsible for maintenance should be drawn and quartered.If they’d been under her command and she found a ship in this state, they would have rued the day they were born.
“How are we looking?”Raider asked.
Jin’s muffled voice issued from beneath the ship.“Good news—it’ll fly.”
Tapping came from inside one of the boosters on the wings.A second later, Jin’s mini-me crawled out.This one looked kind of like a scorpion with jewels embedded in its tail.Diamonds had been used for the pinchers.
“Yay,” Raider exclaimed in a dead pan voice.
“How long until we’re in the air?”Kira asked.
Jin wiggled out from under the belly of the ship.“A few hours.Give or take.”
Raider and Kira followed him around to the hatch of the ship.
“Can you crack it?”Raider asked as Jin fiddled with the control panel on the side.
“What kind of question is that?Of course, I can crack it.”
“I’ll leave you to it.I’m going to give the rest a status update,” Kira explained.She looked at Raider.“You’ll stay with him?”
He nodded.“I’ve got him.”
A banging came from the direction of the control panel.
“I have an oshota of my own, you know,” Jin called.
Kira glanced at Dylan standing off to the side.“Trust me—I’m painfully aware of that fact.”
She disliked strangers at the best of times.Having someone she didn’t know all up in her business, unable to shake them off.It wasn’t her idea of fun.Particularly when they made her feel like she was being spied on.
Raider wasn’t there to protect Jin though.He was there to make sure Jin didn’t overestimate his own capabilities and accidentally destroy their only ride off this planet.
The sound of their good natured sniping followed her as she walked back to the others.She found Roderick and Bez facing off.Maksym squatted next to the river, rinsing his hands as he watched from the sidelines.Interested, but more inclined to let Kira handle the situation than intervene himself.
“What’s going on?”Kira asked.
“There seems to be some debate on whether the group should split up to see if the ships in the enclave can be salvaged,” Maksym announced when it seemed like no one would answer.
“It’s hubris to split up at this juncture,” Roderick exclaimed through gritted teeth.
Bez stabbed a finger at the pirate ship.“That thing is a death trap.”
“Jin says not,” Kira said.
Bez threw up his hands.“By all means, let’s stake our lives on a child’s assumptions.”
“He’s not a child.He’s passed theadva ka,” Kira said in as reasonable a voice as she could manage.“And I’d trust that ‘child’ over any adult in this group any day.”
