“Not as close, but we aren’t close enough to any other planet yet.”
I held my breath, as if willing the Vandar to hear our hail and come flying in and rescue us. When a horde of warbirdsdidn’t materialize in front of us, I cursed myself for being a thawsoft fool. Then I remembered one option we hadn’t tried.
“Maybe we need to give them a reason to stop chasing us.”
He frowned at me. “What would do that?”
I jerked my head toward the back of the ship. “I have a feeling the old guy we tied up is someone important. I doubt they’d want us to actually dump him into space.”
Kolt blinked at me. “You are fiercer than I imagined.”
“I’m not saying we do it, but they don’t know we won’t.” I smiled. “You are a Vandar brute, after all.”
He matched my smile. “If they expect a brute, I can give them a brute.”
Chapter
Forty-Five
Kolt
Istomped to the back of the transport where I’d stashed the two Zagrath, barely slowing my pace to wrench open the door to the storage area. I glowered at the older Zagrath, as the pilot flinched from the sudden burst of light.
“You’re coming with me,” I growled, yanking the overly stretched Imperial officer from the closet and slamming the door shut on the pilot again.
“Having trouble with your escape?” His voice was even and calm, as if he hadn’t been cowering in the dark with his hands bound.
I didn’t deign to answer. Instead, I gave him a rough push, part of me hoping he’d trip and fall. But he remained steady, despite his scrawny limbs.
When we reached the cockpit, Skye gaped at me. “What are you doing?”
We hadn’t discussed her pretending to be shocked by my erratic and sudden decision, but it played right into my plan.
“He seems to know a lot about you and me, but I don’t know enough about our esteemed guest.” I pivoted to face him and crossed my arms. “And I feel safe in saying he is esteemed. By the Empire, at least. Why else would he get a transport all to himself?”
The Zagrath’s mouth quivered almost imperceptibly, but just enough for me to catch it.
Skye nodded slowly. “Good point. Not just anyone gets a private pilot when they want to leave.”
“What was his role in the prison?” I asked Skye, purposefully leaving the Zagrath out of the conversation.
“Interrogator, I’d say.” She put a hand to her face and tapped her cheek with one finger. “At least that’s what he was doing with me, but I doubt that’s his position within the Empire.” She allowed her gaze to travel over his uniform. “I’d guess he’s a commander at the very least.”
Another twitch of his mouth, this one slightly disdainful.
“No. He’s a higher rank than that.” I narrowed my eyes as I took in his painfully preserved face and the lines scoring his hands. “I would guess no less than a general or admiral.”
His lips thinned into a white line. I’d hit close enough.
“A general or admiral would be quite the prize.” Skye smiled at him. “I’ll bet your people wouldn’t want to see you hurt.”
It was remarkable how good Skye was at this. Maybe her experience within her rebel group had been good practice. But I wondered how far she’d be willing to go, or how far she’d let me go.
“You know who would consider him a bigger prize?” I asked, rocking back on my heels and not waiting for her to guess. “The Qeth’rex.”
“Your boss?” Skye’s brow wrinkled as she shot me a questioning look. “You want to take him to the horde?”
Talk of Raas Wrexxon and the Vandar horde brought back a rush of memories, most of them in fragments. I gripped the back of the co-pilot’s seat as I suddenly remembered being on the command deck with my fellow Vandar, being in my oblek with an array of weapons affixed to the wall and holding my axe blade as we ran into battle. The glimpses were muddled and in no order, but they were there.
