"About how we're going to get out of this alive."
It wasn't a lie. Just not the whole truth.
He studied my face for a moment longer, then nodded. "We will. Together, remember?"
"Together," I echoed, and felt that strange pull in my chest again.
We climbed higher.
The research station was supposed to be another two hours ahead, nestled in a valley between two peaks. From there, we'd be able to send a distress signal, contact the Alliance, and get the hell off this planet before Riuondo found us. It was a solid plan. Our only plan.
But as we crested the final ridge and looked down into the valley, my heart—that traitorous, confusing heart—sank like a stone.
The research station was gone.
Not abandoned. Not empty.
Destroyed.
I stood frozen at the ridge's edge, staring down at what should have been our salvation. The station had been reduced to rubble—twisted metal and shattered stone scattered across the valley floor like the bones of some massive creature. Smoke still rose from the wreckage in thin, gray columns, curling up toward the cloudless sky. The acrid smell of burning electronics and melted plasteel reached us even from this distance.
"No," I breathed. "No, no, no—"
Cullen's hand found mine, squeezing tight. "Serna—"
"He did this." My voice came out flat, emotionless, even as rage and despair warred inside me. "Riuondo. He knew we'd come here. He destroyed it to cut off our escape route."
"We don't know that for certain—"
"Look at it!" I gestured violently at the smoldering ruins. "That wasn't an accident. That wasn't age or neglect. Someone deliberately destroyed that station, and recently. The fire is still burning."
Cullen was silent for a long moment, his jaw tight. Then: "How would he know we'd come here?"
"Because he's not stupid." I forced myself to think, to push past the panic clawing at my throat. "He knows I'd look for a way to contact the Alliance. And if he did his research on Msituni—which he clearly did, since he knew to come here in the first place—he'd know about the research station. It's the only structure on the entire planet capable of long-range communication."
"So he took it out before we could reach it."
"Yes."
The word hung between us, heavy with implications.
We were trapped. Truly trapped. No ship. No communication equipment. No way to call for help. And somewhere below us, Riuondo and his crew were hunting us through the jungle, closing in with every passing hour.
I felt Cullen's hand tighten on mine. "Then we go to plan B."
"There is no plan B."
"There's always a plan B." His voice was steady, calm, the voice of a soldier who'd faced impossible odds before and survived. "We backtrack. We sneak down to the shuttle. And we either hijack it or find a way to send a message from there."
I turned to stare at him. "That's insane. The shuttle will be guarded. Riuondo's crew will be there. We'd be walking straight into—"
"Into the only option we have left," he finished. "Unless you've got a better idea?"
I didn't. And we both knew it.
I looked back down at the destroyed research station, at the smoke rising from our shattered hopes, and felt something harden inside me. The despair crystallized into determination. The fear transmuted into cold, focused rage.
Riuondo wanted to trap me here. Wanted to hunt me down like an animal. Wanted to force me to hand him everything I'd fought for, everything I'd sacrificed for.
