with the interference from the bombardment and the signal blockers that were standard procedure for the Tsavitee when they launched an attack.
“You did say we could go sightseeing,” Elena finally offered.
Elena knew this wasn’t what she’d intended. Trust her niece to take a mile when she’d been offered an inch.
It was a trait she’d inherited from Jin and Kira, both of whom were known to twist the meaning of words to find a loophole when it suited them.
“Not on Almaluk.” Kira pinched the bridge of her nose.
"She's here?" Raider asked. "Let me talk to her."
“Why not? You know how hard it is to find this place at any other time,” Elena argued. “Besides, Wren and Devon were interested in seeing the Wanderer.”
Kira bet they were.
She twisted away as Raider tried to reach for her ear.
"Stop that. You know my comms are embedded in my ear canal," Kira snapped.
"Are you with the sperm donor?" Elena asked, brightening. "Hi, sperm donor."
Kira rolled her eyes but passed on the message.
"Why is Uncle Jin being so quiet?" Elena asked.
Kira caught her breath against the unexpected stab of pain.
"Auntie?"
Kira stared unseeing down the corridor as the words to explain clogged her throat.
"Auntie, what aren't you telling me?"
Kira knew she needed to say something. Continued silence would only exacerbate Elena's fears.
Her niece was surprisingly sensitive. Hiding things rarely worked with her.
"If you're not explaining, that means something happened," Elena said slowly. "You're in a secure section of the facility. One of the perpetrators was caught yesterday."
"How do you know that?"
Elena ignored Kira's question, intent on following the logic. "You'd only be interested if that person was someone important to you. My mother. Judging by the fact you haven't mentioned her and Uncle is now missing, I can only assume Mother did something and took Uncle Jin."
Kira wanted to bang her head against the wall. Damn Jin for teaching Elena that trick.
"Auntie?"
Kira rubbed her head. "Yes."
Elena was quiet for several seconds. "Is it really my mother?"
"I don't know."
There was a moment of silence where Kira thought she’d lost the connection.
"It doesn't matter either way," Elena said finally. "If you have a choice between Mother and Uncle Jin, you need to save Uncle Jin."
Kira glanced at Raider before ducking her head, not wanting him to see her expression.
"Elena—"
"You and Uncle Jin are my family,” Elena said loudly, drowning her out. “I won’t trade either of you—even for Mother.”
Despite Elena's firm words, Kira could sense the turbulent emotions her niece choked down.
"If it's really Mother, she's lost to us anyway," Elena said, her voice breaking.
The hardest thing Kira had ever learned—and something she had never mastered—was knowing when to call it quits.
It seemed her niece was a little more advanced than her in that respect.
Kira leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. "You're a good kid, do you know that?"
"I know," Elena said.
Kira took a deep breath and straightened. "Raider, if you had staged an attack and stolen something, what would be your next move?"
"I'd find a way off this station," he said.
Kira glanced at Finn to see him nodding in agreement.
Her lips tilted up in a half smile. "Me too."
Finn accessed the interface on his forearm. "They'll want to take the quickest path to the docks. Let me see if I can find a map."
"Auntie, I want to help," Elena said. "I love Uncle Jin too."
Kira quelled her instinctive rejection.
As much as she wanted to wrap Elena in a bubble, she could already tell it’d be futile. Kira knew what it felt like to feel powerless while the people close to her were in jeopardy. It was the worst feeling in the world.
She didn’t want that for Elena. At the same time, she had no intention of placing her niece at risk.
"Before you say no, you should know I'm not alone," Elena said.
A chime sounded in Kira's comms accompanied by a notification in the upper right corner of her optics. Kira clicked on it, and a holo video of her niece appeared.
Elena swung the camera to capture Wren’s serious expression, his oshota, Auralyn, next to him.
They weren’t the only ones either. Devon, Joule, and Ziva stood to the side.
"Are you kidding me?" Kira asked. What was this? A fieldtrip?
There was some comfort in Wren and Auralyn’s presence, but not much. To attack Almaluk like this, the Tsavitee would have a lot of tricks up their sleeve.
Even warriors as accomplished as that group could be overwhelmed eventually.
Before Elena could answer, Kira's gaze locked on the silver