He groans. That’s all I need to know he’s going to make it.
Tessi runs to him as I fold him over my shoulder. She speaks with him as I carry him up the stairs, to the main deck where the team will be working to take control of the ship.
Kren has us on an intercept course with the other Neb ship. I lay Zorin down on the floor and pull out my medical pouch.
“Stop.” Tessi straddles him and slips her hands up under his shirt and closes her eyes. “They were mapping him, his skill. Oh, no.”
Tessi pushes up his shirt exposing bruises and shock baton burns.
He wheezes, rolls onto his side, and spits blood. “I’m…fine.” Zorin looks up at me. “Thank you brother, for going after her.”
I squat beside him. “A calm in the storm, brother. We must get you on your feet.” I show him the syringe.
Zorin hates Isonian medicine, but it will heal him. “Not that stuff.”
“Yes,this stuff.” I pop the cap and jab it into his neck before he has a chance to pull away.
Zorin cries out in agony as the medicine lights up his veins with pale white light.
“What is that?” Tessi asks.
“It only heals us, not the others, though not completely.”
Davarok, Kren, Carnas, and Corzin watch us with concern.
Zorin’s punctures seal, and he stops bleeding. He hums in misery as he writhes on the floor. “Why does it have to burn?”
“Are you good, brother?” I ask, offering him my hand.
Zorin reluctantly lets me haul him upright and then wraps his arms around Tessi. She kisses him and hugs him close.
It pains me to watch. Not that I’m not happy for them. I am. But it is still a reminder of an emptiness I will always carry.
Jezza deserved better. And I don’t ever want Zorin to know this wretched feeling.
Radar limps up beside Zorin with a bloodied paw, and Tessi turns her attention to him.
“Kren. Are we within suit range?” I ask.
Zorin looks over at me. “What? No.”
“Yes, sir.”
I point to Zorin. “Get her on her ship. She knows where it’s docked. Kren and Davarok, use some of these damned guns on the Nebs when my brother is safely off of this vessel.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Azrim…” Zorin calls after me.
“We’re coming with,” Carnas says as he and Corzin start to follow me.
I glare back at them, and they stop. “Please, keep my brother and his mate safe. Let me go. It’s my turn toclean house.”
I take the closest airlock, seal up my armored suit, lean out into the cold emptiness of space, and rocket across the void. Landing on the hull of the other ship, I’m greeted by blasts that dice up the void. But I have been here many times before. I stay low, hide among the smoke clouds of their shield, slink to the nearest maintenance hatch of the propulsion system, and drop inside.
Many bodies are scattered through the passages. Lights blink. Blood smears the walls.
I clear the port and starboard sides, the central command deck, take out a few half-dead Nebs. And then I find Esrynne. She’s slumped against a wall, holding a hand to her stomach. She’s pale, barely breathing, and has lost a lot of blood.
