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“You didn’t ask.”
Wrin certainly didn’t miss a beat upon hearing that. “Where are the ‘bad solids’ from?”
“Not there.”She sparkled more brightly for a moment.“I’ll tell you when I feel them.”
The drone dropped into fluffy white clouds, the view hazing. When it burst free, the huge blocks of color resolved into a more chaotic pattern, with greens, blues, and oranges mixed into the purple below. The drone flew over this patchwork quilt of color a little too quickly to tell much other than that it all seemed to be made up of different types of plants.
“It’s a rainbow planet!” Cara looked down at Space Kitty. “It’s beautiful!”
He remained silent, transfixed by the view on the screen.
Max, on the other hand, trotted forward to press his nose to the glass surface.“No smells.”His tone held disappointment.
“Sorry, it’s just a picture,”I sent. I was about to promise we’d visit, but I didn’t, not sure I’d be able to follow through. If the Grug won…
My hand tightened around the hilt of the dagger Wrin had given me. No. I wouldn’t let that happen. I’d do everything I could to win our victory.
The view cut off in the middle of the drone flying over a river, headed toward more jungle on the other side.
“That’s as much as we’d received as of ten minutes ago,” Wrin said. “Since we’re flying away from the drone, its signal is taking longer and longer to reach us, but we should have more to see in a few hours.”
As everyone filtered back over to their seats, I remained for a moment with Wrin. “Thanks for doing that. It means a lot to Max and the others.”
The kreecats huddled together, talking to one another now that Lila had come back down to join them. Excitement came from Max, along with a feeling of home and family.
Wrin’s eyes flicked over to them. The big softy. He acted like he didn’t like the pets, but his actions spoke volumes. He could have watched this video on the bridge or sent a small version to everyone’s phone. But I’d told him about Max missing his home, and so Wrin had brought the big screen in here so the animals could see as well.
Cara’s phone chimed. “Perfect timing!” She headed into the galley and returned a moment later with a fresh platter of cookies. The sweet, nutty smell filled the air as we all gathered around.
A smile tugged at my lips as each of the males took one, even Wrin. All that “humans have a sweet tooth” stuff was a bunch of bull. They shoveled in those cookies like they hadn’t eaten in days.
I shared a look with Cara, and she beamed at me, her eyes dancing with joy. We chatted and ate, and the same feeling Max had sent earlier became mine as well. These people were already family, one I didn’t want to leave even though I also wanted a planet desperately for my crew.
Wrin’s tail snaked around my waist, holding me close, and I leaned into him. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and for once in my life I wanted to focus on the now and enjoy this magical bubble of contentment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Wrin
Too many people all around us overwhelmed my rulaa as I tried to fall asleep that night. Only the special tingling that meant my mate was near made it through.
Vivv stirred at my side, as restless as I felt. She whispered, “What is it?”
“This trip has been easy—too easy.” Frustration slipped through my tone. “Where are the frekking Grug?”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering where all their ships are.” She rolled onto her side and blew out a soft breath. “Do they really have no other defensive systems in place than the telepathy field?”
I rolled over as well to face her, the lowered lights doing little to hide her features from my night sight. “Up until a month ago, they haven’t needed any. Historically, the field protected the Abyss from all other species by scrambling their brains the minute their ship crossed the border. When we went in forARK 1, we were the first.”
She set her palm on my chest to lean closer. “Okay, sure. But we’re destroying their emitters, and we have been for a week. Theyhaveto know they’re vulnerable now, so why weren’t they doing anything about us entering the Abyss?”
“I don’t know,” I grit out, hating that I didn’t have a better answer for her.
TheDaredevilflew in formation with seven other ships. The Sjisji, Tula, and Zaarn from my home world had each provided two ships, and theMarauderhad joined as the other representative of the Zaarn sent to Roam.
These were the most formidable warships available among our new alliance, but they were still only eight. It was a compromise between what we could get the politicians to agree to, which had originally been only three ships, butting up against the number of ships we could equip with protective rooms like the mess hall we were in now.
A fleet of other warships followed, but they’d need to stop soon. They could only penetrate as far as we’d made safe by destroying all of the telepathy-filed emitters near Breyva. The plan was for them to come in as backup as soon as we took out the telepathy field at its central source.
