Cylo scowled.“Not good.”
Blinding sunlight highlighted every corner within the compartment.There’d been a buzz about Yithia harvesting their three suns and selling the sunlight to planets in need, but that had fallen through.Not many wanted to do business with the Yithians when there were far more hospitable planets out there.
Olin rubbed his nose then gripped the support strap when the kuta shuddered.“They would have to hide their heat signatures as well as visuals.An intriguing challenge: becoming invisible in its entirety.”
Cylo remained silent at Olin’s awe.This development marked a change in the power dynamics.Etterian led the way with their sheer numbers and combative approach to life.Yet they could not penetrate the seas to reach Yithian’s underwater cities.So, Maloid introducing stealth when Etterian relied on honest dealings with their allies… Worse, if Maloid chose to share this technology with anyone other than Etteria, it could tilt the balance.But all this was unconfirmed.Unless he ‘saw’ it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t worry about it.
King Xeus had prepared for a war, nonetheless, bringing the Gika into the fold.Now, that had been a change in centuries of tactics.Etteria had once used the Gika battlefields as a rite of passage.Making them allies meant Etteria’s aging males could no longer find their deaths at the hands of eight-legged creatures.
Cylo rubbed his chest in remembrance.Images flashed in his mind of red mandibles and razor-sharp pincers.He’d used his great sword to dismember them while dodging their acidic saliva.It had been a long time since he’d last visited Gikaet.Perhaps, once the females were safe…
Even imagined battles fired his blood.
When Fyca steered the kuta into a ravine, darkness consumed the compartment.No one panicked at the loss of light, not when Etterians had excellent vision, even in shadow.The temperatures dipped, too.
Cylo grimaced when the kuta skimmed the side of the chasm, a screeching scrape that deafened him.“May I remind you that this is our only kuta.”
“It is made of Maloidian steel,” Fyca called, dropping the shuttle.“Should be wider from here on out.”
Tension tightened Cylo’s shoulders.Something…a sense, had him on high alert like they were flying into a trap.He studied his males.Only Qaff was on board theKevol, and he wasn’t enough to storm the facility.No, they had to survive this mission, no matter what awaited them.
Fyca navigated the zig-zagging chasm with ease.Dark green plants clung to the black rock.And despite his excellent hearing, Cylo couldn’t pick up anything past the engines.
Which meant, if any Yithian was listening, they would hear them approach.
And yet, his males’ heartbeats were steady.He glanced at Unher whose stomach gurgled.
Fyca punched the console and yanked on the lever.The kuta careened to a halt—its backside rising before settling.“Sensors.”
Cylo peered through the forevid at two discs mounted to the chasm walls.Almost as black as the rock, they would have missed them if not for a telltale shimmer.
“Koddo, shoot the left on my command.”Cylo opened the door to a flood of heat, smelling of organic material and water.“I will climb over the roof to reach the other.”
Without waiting for a response, he gripped the top edge of the doorframe and swung himself up and over in a single move, his arms bearing his weight without issue.Sprawled on the roof, he scanned the wall on the right.A strip of sunlight above almost blinded him, forcing him to adjust his eyesight.He shouldn’t have looked up, because when he focused on the shadows, it took him longer to find the device.
“Do not destroy them,” Olin said, peering over the edge at Cylo.“Stun them.Yithians may believe the devices have malfunctioned.”
“Agreed,” Cylo said.He leapt to his feet, spreading them wide for balance, and unholstered his blaster.A smack of the yellow button on the side set it to stun.He drew in a breath then exhaled.“Now, Koddo.”
The shots almost deafened him.The shimmer ceased.He strapped the blaster to his thigh and swung into the compartment.
Olin sealed the door behind him.
Fyca launched the shuttle forward.
“Let that be the only obstacle,” Olin said.
“You are troubled, too?”Cylo met his gaze.
“It seems too easy.Why the extraction when we can fly in and collect him without a fight?”Olin peered through the forevid.
“I agree,” Durok said.“Stealing a Durn should garner more resistance than this.Unless…”
Cylo scowled.“If he is a spy, then we shall deliver him to thePhoenix.I will not endanger the females any further.”He pinched his brow where a dull ache pinged.“I would prefer this task to be a disaster than the rescue of the females.”
“We are nearing the meet point,” Fyca called.“Five minutes.”
“Any movement on the rock face?”Olin asked Fyca when the male glided the shuttle to a stop.
