Dragon against mechanics. It was a familiar pattern when fighting the Nirzks, and it was a more even match than it might seem—my scales were impervious to their phaser blasts, and unless I was really unintelligent and held onto the fighters, the electric charge only hurt, badly. Our wings were vulnerable, but we knew how to twist and turn to keep them safe. The Nirzks would have to use missiles to make a dent in me, and hitting an agile dragon was not an easy feat.
Nothing could fly like a dragon.
As the incapacitated fighter spiraled to the ground, its brethren moved in on me. I turned on a wingtip and ducked between two of them. They buzzed around me like angry insects. There were far too many. I did not stand a chance. But that was not the plan…
I had managed to maneuver them away from the logging vessel, and behind us, I sensed rather than saw a dark form launch for the clouds. There, and gone.
Fly free, my brother…
One fighter veered away to intercept. I executed a near-perfect backflip that brought me straight into its path.
It slammed into me. All my breath left in a rush of expelled air, and I caught a glimpse of the astonished Nirzk pilot before I slammed my dragon fist right through the plexsteel viewport.
He panicked and slewed the ship around, flinging me off. Still struggling to breathe, my wings faltered, and I began to fall from the sky.
I did not get far. A sticky net engulfed me from my right. I roared and yanked, pulling the fighter sideways…
But another net hit me from the left,and one from above—the fighters strung me tight between them. Although I continued to fight, I knew the altercation was over.
Brentoq had captured a dragon.
Then they sent the pulse of pure electricity through the net, and it lit me up worse than any lightning strike. Every cell screamed as I welcomed the blackness that rose to take me.
20
Jaz
I held my breath as we lowered the ship into the water, expecting at any moment to hear Yani shouting for us to lift it out again.
That we’d managed to get theStardriftermoving at all was a miracle. We limped along on repulsorlifts and engines barely functional on battery only. And we’d only just gotten to the lake when they drained and the engines began to die.
TheStardriftermight be well hidden here, but this could end up being her watery grave.
Murky water rose over the viewscreen as we sank beneath the surface. I gave another boost to the repulsors and moved the ship under the ledge.
“We good?” I asked Yani over the comm.
“I had to seal one little bit,” she answered. “But everything else seems to be holding.”
The silty bottom was relatively level, so I perched the ship upon it, and shut everything down. Just as my body lit up with pain.
As it radiated through me, I went rigid in the pilot’s seat, gasping.
Xandros groaned as he leaned against the entrance, then he staggered over to gather me into his arms.
“Zyair,” he breathed.
Zyair. Something had happened to him. My gut clenched and my heart felt as though it were tearing in two. Xandros’s arms tightened around me.
“Is he—” I couldn’t finish it.
“That was a stun net. Brentoq will want him alive.” The tone of his voice indicated that living under those circumstances may not be preferable. “I did not feel anything from Rhodes.”
I struggled to draw breath. “Do you think he has Rhodes, too?”
“Brentoq is not a he. That despicable manticore is ashe.” His arms tightened. “I do not know if she has Rhodes. Zyair may have lured the Nirzks away. It is what he would do.”
When I stared at him in shock, his eyes gleamed a brilliant blue. “Brentoq is female. The Nirzks are run by a matriarchy. She claims she hates us because we killed most of her harem. I think her true issue is that Zyair spurned her advances. She was not impressed.”
