The words sounded so desperate; it broke the heart he didn’t even know he still had.
“We will. I promise.” He turned her in his arms. “But you are useless to Commander Chaos if you’re dead or hurt. So let’s think this through. There has to be a schematic of the station somewhere. The vents must be connected, and we know he’s not at this opening.”
“Yes,” she said, taking a few breaths. “There are other vent openings. He’s somewhere else in the station.”
Maybe. But Ranek knew something Maya didn’t. According to his friend Ckzarr, the vents were also connected to the mines. He just hoped the grates leading out to the tunnels were closed. There was more than just dust and sharp metal in the mines.
After the Dominion had left the mining planet, nature had taken over not just the buildings but the mines themselves. An entire ecosystem had settled in its cave-like interiors. This included at least two large predators that he knew of. His friend Ckzarr had battled one and made friends with the other.
But Ranek wasn’t going to tell Maya that yet. Not when there was a chance that Commander Chaos was still right here in the station and safe and sound. There was no point in worrying her even more. He wanted to protect her from everything, even the stress of worry.
Now that she was calmer, Ranek pressed his forehead against hers and cupped her cheeks. “We will find Commander Chaos. I promise.”
Chapter 9
Maya
They’d managed to pry open a vent in every area of the mining station and place a bowl of reconstituted tepin meat just in reach of each opening in the hopes that Commander Chaos would smell the food and come out for a nibble. The station was a lot bigger than she’d thought; there were two levels, and the vents roamed everywhere.
Maya had also gone to every single vent and called out his name. She cursed the fact that his favorite container of treats, which she usually rattled to get the dragus pup’s attention back home, was still on the delivery ship somewhere.
Ranek had made her promise not to go after the pup on her own without him. He was currently going through the files in the main office to look for schematics of the station. He had assured her that despite the Talleans’ reliance on technology, there were usually physical copies of maps and schematics in places like this on the off chance that the power went out. Since this mining station had been so far away from the inner planets, it meant help was slow to arrive if anything took down the power systems.
Waiting was difficult. A little voice in her head told her to climb in the vents and look for Commander Chaos anyway. But Ranek was right. They didn’t know what was inside or where it went, and she was as blind as a bat in there. Not to mention it was so dusty that she was still coughing occasionally from the dust she’d inhaled diving headfirst in there the first time around.
“Commander Chaos,” she called again by one of the vents, before craning her neck to listen for any movement.
Every so often, there would be some scratching from inside the walls, but it moved around, and she could never pinpoint it or see anything when she held her breath and stuck her head into the vents. There wasn’t a single growl, or snarl, or yip.
She was pacing a trench into the floor when Ranek returned, holding an old-style looking scroll in one hand and a lantern in the other. She frowned until he let it unroll. It was a color-coded blueprint of the station, with the ductwork highlighted in orange. Her heart sank at the intricate network of ducts and vents.
Her eyes landed on several thick red lines. The other thick lines in orange denoted vent openings, but these were even thicker. They caught her attention. She squinted and gasped.
“These openings lead out to the mines!”
“They do.” Ranek pressed his lips into a thin, grim line.
“So the first thing we should do is make sure that those vents are not open,” she said, her mind moving quickly to put together a plan now that she had a map. “Then we should start here.” She pointed to the section of the duct that had only one entrance. “And make sure he’s not in this section before blocking it off. And then…” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Here and here, so he can’t move from floor to floor.”
Ranek grunted in agreement. “This is a start. Then we can narrow it down from there.”
“Okay, let’s get out into the mine and see if those vents are covered.”
She walked over to pull out her still-damp boots, wrinkling her nose as her feet squished into the waterlogged lining. Talleans didn’t wear socks because their clawed toes would rip right through them, and while they sold socks on Reka 5 now for those who did wear them, Maya had gotten used to going without. She didn’t need them when boots and shoes were all lined with soft, plush, anti-bacterial lining.
But instead of heading toward the doors to the mines, Ranek went the other way.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Before we open those doors, I must armor up and grab my weapons. There are dangerous creatures in the mines. Butweare not going, I am. You will stay here.”
She was about to argue when he added, “In case Commander Chaos decides to come out of the vents.”
Alright, that made sense. She followed him back to the infirmary, where his armor and weapons were stacked in a neat pile on one of the cots. She watched him suit up and strap his weapons to his body like he was getting ready for battle.
Had Commander Chaos made his way into the extensive mining system? He didn’t have his adult teeth and jaws yet, and his claws, while still sharp enough to tear fabric apart, weren’t enough to protect him. Maya wanted to believe that the little dragus pup was still somewhere in the station vents, but she had a feeling, call it intuition, that he wasn’t and that Ranek would find one of the vents to the mines open.
She sure hoped she was wrong.
