Was she ok?
“I honestly don’t know,” Aletta said, and Lara tugged her close.
“Tell me about it.”
What a mess. She looked across the room. It was dark, which she had learned was to accommodate Jarden’s sensitivity to light, and the screens glowed with a soft backlight.
And there were screens everywhere. What she’d thought of as the front of the ship had a giant reinforced glass window that could turn into a viewscreen. When she’d asked on her first time up here, Vox had told her that most ships had them, though some of the larger battleships didn’t even have glass, just screens.
It seemed kind of weird to fly a craft that was bigger than ten city blocks put together without being able to see where you were going with your own eyes, but she’d just shrugged and accepted it.
Each seat was permanently affixed in front of a console of sorts. Jarden was in front of a large screen that flicked between different three-dimensional maps with a twist of his wrist. Aletta shook her head and quickly looked away, her head spinning. No wonder he liked the low light. It was enough to make her dizzy as it was.
“Put the call on the main screen.”
Aletta’s attention jerked back to Gark at the sound of his voice. She was so attuned to him that it was a little embarrassing. From where she was sitting, she could see his profile. The strong nose and jaw, lips pulled down in a slight frown.
A Taurean appeared on the large viewscreen. His close-cropped hair showed silver, but Aletta wasn’t sure if it was due to age or just the way it was. His expression was serious, and her heart raced.
Please let Dylan be ok. Please.
She crossed her fingers in her lap.
“Oren. You have news?” Gark addressed the man on the screen.
“The criminals you captured finally talked.” His lips pressed into a thin line. “The women are being taken to an auction house in the Garvelli system.”
Auction?
Gark’s frown deepened. “Garvelli? Are you sure?”
Oren nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”
That was enough being in the background for Aletta. She was out of her chair and standing behind Gark’s in a flash. “What aren’t you saying?”
Gark looked up at her, his expression unreadable. “Garvelli is an outer system with one habitable planet. There are some bases on nearby moons, like this auction house.”
She moved her hand in a rolling motion. “Go on.”
“Garvelli V is a penal colony.”
Aletta frowned. “I don’t understand. These women aren’t criminals.”
Gark ran a hand over his face. “It’s a privately owned penal colony. The worst of the worst get sent there, and they don’t leave.”
She looked from Gark to Vox, who avoided her gaze, and back to the viewscreen.
“I still don’t get it.”
Gark sighed. “It sounds like women are being sent there against their will.”
Lara spoke up. “As slaves.”
Gark nodded. “There’s a chance she’s already been sold and is on the planet.”
Aletta paled, swaying as she gripped the back of the chair in white fingers. “Then we go get her.” She looked around the bridge at the faces of the crew. “We have to get Dylan!”
“Nobody leaves Garvelli V, Aletta. There’s a strong magnetic field around the planet that prevents ships from leaving. That’s why it was chosen as a penal colony in the first place. Resources are sent down in one-way disposable pods.”
