I turn to him and catch a grenade. “Be ready to run, Kelta.”
“Run, with all this gear?”
Holo takes her backpack and duffel. “I’m sure Thruster would take it but he’s still glowing hot.”
She giggles. “Heishot.”
Holo gives me a funny look. When he’s loaded up and running down the tunnel with Kelta behind him, I twist the grenade and toss it. It blinks blue in the distance as I turn and run.
A flash of blue-white light sends a rock-shattering rumble through the tunnel. Bits of gravel and dust rush by me. I ignite my engines and catch up to the wave, pass it, then land behind Kelta and shield her.
She stops running and hunkers in the shield of my body. As the wind rips by, her braids dancing in it, I realize she chose to trust me, to accept my help despite how I’ve hurt her.
When the air calms, we hustle up to where Holo enters a steaming cavern of hot springs. The perforated ceiling lets in beams of sunlight through the fingers of ferns. Kelta stares at the place in awe.
Holo grumbles and limps to an area of flat rock, where he sits with a groan and begins spreading out his parts. "Don't get in the red pools. Those are corrosive. It's why we're safe down here. Green and blue pools are okay. Lots of minerals mixing through this region."
Kelta mumbles as she paces the edge of the water.
I set up camp by clearing sandy patches of rocks and sticks, then scavenging edible plants from the cavern while Kelta tests the water in a blue pool.
Holo>>Thruster: So are you two together, or what?
Thruster>>Holo: Not sure. We fight well together. But I think she’s just a flirtatious female.
His multicolored eyes flash for a second like he’s replaying something. Holo faces a wall in the cavern and uses it as a projector screen. He plays back the visual he took from his ship of me saving Kelta from the Skysprinter near the cave.
Holo>>Thruster: Can’t even see your body. You pulled a Fury move. Full Torch. You took on SkySprinter engines.
I don’t remember my light being so bright.
Thruster>>Holo: I was just thinking about protecting her.
Holo>>Thruster: That's what the others said when they found their mates. I'm certain she's the one you want. Does she want you?
Thruster>>Holo: At least part of me. But I’m certain she could get that from any Brother.
Kelta laughs as she gets into a distant pool in just her undergarments.
"Go be with her," Holo quietly says. "I've got to fix my leg, anyway. But I'll stay on guard. Don't think the Welvirs like the sulfur scent down here. They were in the tunnels, but there are no tracks in here. I think we're safe for now."
I look back at Kelta, who's washing the sand from her braids. I want desperately to be with her. "I shouldn't. I'm too dangerous."
“For fuck’s sake, Thruster. Fury has a mate. Fury literally catches on fire.”
It’s unusual to hear Holo swear. “Are you okay? Do you want help with the repair?”
“I’m in pain. Functioning, but…” Holo grimaces. “Go be with her. Let me focus on this. I don’t want to steal this moment from you two. I fear many days of fighting lie ahead.”
His comment makes me pause. “You’ve heard something?”
Holo slumps against the wall as his hands work through a tangled mess of charred wiring. “When I was in our stolen ship, I listened in on the Solcrue frequencies. They know we’re hiding in a valley. They’re not sure which one. But they said they’ve sent a new asset to pick us off. I relayed the messageto Commander Savage, Amp, and everyone in the area. They gave no information on what the asset is. But it sounds extra dangerous.”
Holo bends his leg, peels open a bent thigh panel, and then sets it aside. "Go be with her while you can."
I reluctantly turn away from my injured Brother, getting the sense he wants to be left alone.
Kelta floats in the pool, lying on her back, her eyes closed, weightless like I assume she was used to in space. Her dark braids drift around her head. Part of me doesn’t want to disrupt her. She looks at peace. Calm moments are few and far between during war. I don’t want to take it from her.
