“Was your family among those taken by the Ulep?” I ask him.
Kes shakes his head.
“I hope once the Ulep are gone from this galaxy, all of those they hold will be free of their influence,” he says.
“Will it work that way?”
“Once the connection is severed, anything they controlled will become obsolete and should release anything they have taken into their control. So, my family should be free,” Kes says with a twinkle in his eye. “What the Sarkarnii are doing is what no other species could do.”
“It is?”
Kes sidles closer to me. “No other species is quite so full of themselves,” he says quietly.
I do my best, but I still snort out a laugh.
“And they’re big and powerful enough to be able to see anything they start through to the end,” Kes adds.
“And they like throwing themselves at trouble,” I finish for him.
Kes bares his teeth. “They do. It is a useful trait.”
My brow furrows at his last comment, but then there’s a crackle and the glowing ball glows brighter, followed by a cheer from the surrounding warriors.
“It works,” Driok says, thumping a number of his warriors on their shoulders.
There are some flames, which makes Kes take a few steps back.
“All we need to do is get it into position and then draw the Ulep away,” I mutter under my breath. “Piece of cake.”
“If you require food, my sweet mate,” Driok rumbles next to me. “Then we should eat now because we don’t have much time before the Ulep detect the signature of the starnet and look to destroy it.”
“You didn’t mention that part.”
“I did not wish to worry you.”
“At this point, Driok, I promise you, very little is going to worry me,” I respond. “We’re going after your mortal enemies who happily take prisoners for what appears to be fun and keeps them deep underground. What could possibly worry me?”
He cocks his head on one side and a fang appears.
“I knew there was a reason fate sent you to me, my spitfire. I hope you still have your pulsar pistol.”
“I’m never giving it up,” I respond, fingering the metal in my pocket. “It’s addictive, a bit like you.”
Driok rumbles in his chest, smoke curling from his nostrils. He barks out instructions to his warriors and then we are heading for the hangar where we find a small flyer readied for us.
“Is this what we’re using to make ourselves bait?” I stare at the decidedly small spacecraft.
“She might look small, but she is mighty,” Driok says. “Rather like someone else I know.” The look he gives me heats me up in all the wrong places at completely the wrong time. “She is equipped with a burst engine, which will provide us with all the power at the right time.”
He seems very pleased with himself, and, it would appear, all males have a desire for speed no matter where you are in the universe.
Although on this occasion, I’ll let him off, as we’re going to have to go into the breach together and, hopefully, come out the other side.
But I know, as long as I’m with Driok, it’s all that matters.
I climb into the seat next to him as he fires up the flyer, and we take off. I feel the same frisson of excitement I got when riding my big bad dragon, mixed with nerves because we really have to do this for the good, not just of Vorostor but of the galaxy as a whole.
Driok is barking orders into his comm as we zip out of the airlock into space and swing around over the main spacecraft, and he punches it. I’m pushed back in my seat as we rapidly approach a planet which can only be one place…Xracak City.
