“Wipe your eyes. We need to contact Khalzin before he sends out a search party for us. That last communication probably shook him up. We need to respond before he inadvertently makes our situation more perilous.”
Adryel took a deep breath, and wiped the tears away. “Alright. Let’s do it.”
He stroked her cheek. “Good, my Little Dots.”
Normally, Adryel would have said something, but seriously, this had been an astoundingly intense day. Right now, she literally just needed some rest.
Stron had crossed to a wall panel, where he keyed in something, and waited for Khalzin.
“We were just talking about you,” Khalzin greeted him, the image projecting from the wall panel, a small hologram. He sounded much better than he had been when they’d left him earlier.
“What do you want?” Stron asked, his voice low. He glanced over his shoulder toward Adryel, and then back. “I’m working on something.”
Janae stepped next to Khalzin. “Adryel. We want Adryel.”
“She’s fine. Annoying, but fine,” Stron said.
“Hey,” Adryel snapped at him. So this is how we’re playing it, huh? Fine. She could be annoying.
He glanced at her, and waved her over, below the view of the hologram. “She is here if you wish to speak to her.”
“Be nice. We have a few hours,” Adryel said to Stron, and she glanced into the hologram at her friend. “Hey there Janae.”
Relief washed over Janae’s face. “Where have you been? You disappeared after we went to Terra North. I was worried.”
Adryel waved her hand. “I went with him to see what we could find out about what happened,” Adryel said and had a thought about when she’d sent out the communication from earlier. “Sorry about before. We were in a delicate situation.”
Janae raised her eyebrow. “Delicate?”
“We were—” she started to say.
“I was pursuing an informant. She was tagging along,” Stron said.
Adryel turned to Stron. “Oh please. You act like you would have gotten there without me.”
Stron faced her. “I would have found a way.”
“Okay, sure,” Adryel said. She faced Janae. “We’re fine.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Janae said.
Khalzin put his arm around her and whispered in her ear. They were having another moment, and Stron rolled his eyes before he cleared his throat.
“What did you learn?” Khalzin asked, pulling away from Janae.
Stron shook his head. “I would rather wait until?—”
Khalzin’s hologram froze for a moment, a sign that he was patching someone in. A moment later, the hologram split, showing Dhomhes as well as Khalzin. “Dhomhes. Good timing.”
“I do have wickedly good instincts.”
Stron rolled his eyes. “Regarding what?”
“When I know, I share it.”
“You do not,” Stron replied.
“You both have been reaching out to resources about this situation. What have you learned so far regarding the attacks against the Galactic Alliance visitors?” Khalzin asked.
