Starcrossed - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,73

drew ever nearer to the ground.

“Orders?” Sally asked, as if they were back on their ship again. What Ginny wouldn’t give for a fully armed warship, right about now.

“You three do your best to escape. They want me. Probably not you guys.” She hoped.

“I cannot comply, Highness. I am sworn to protect you to my last breath,” Tolo said, sounding grim. She wasn’t going to argue with him. There just wasn’t time.

“Do what your conscience demands, then,” she said, focusing her energies on the women because she didn’t think she’d have any luck dissuading a Zenai warrior priest from whatever it was he thought he was supposed to do. “Don’t get yourselves killed,” she said to Sally and Krysta, meeting each of their gazes for a heartbeat. “Do your best to break free. If you can’t, do your best to stay alive, whatever that entails. They will be looking for us. Do what you can to help the searchers. Drop clues, if possible.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Sally replied, her tone subdued but resolute.

“We’ve been in tough spots before,” Ginny reminded them. “We’ll get through this. Just keep your wits about you.”

“Roger, that.” Krysta braced as the air car made contact with the road.

It was a bumpy landing, but they made it down in one piece. Krysta popped the hatch but was thrown back into the cabin by some sort of grenade that hit her in the shoulder with great force before popping and releasing a cloud of gas. Ginny tried to hold her breath, but it was useless. She felt the effects of whatever was in the gas putting her to sleep—hopefully, that was all it was doing.

She felt herself being lifted. Someone had her ankles, and someone else had their hands under her shoulders. They weren’t all that gentle, but at least they were taking her someplace rather than killing her on the spot. She was able to open her eyes just enough to see a squad of jit’suku men, some of whom were wearing what passed for medical clothing in their society, along with a few soldiers.

As they loaded her into a waiting vehicle, Ginny bided her time before taking the opportunity to detach the miniature floating camera from her belt. She pressed the tiny button that would order it to remain hidden and to stay on station before releasing it to land on the ground. The little chip inside the floater was smart enough to conceal itself using whatever cover it could find for the next hour.

By that time, she’d probably be long gone, but at least she was leaving behind a recording of exactly what had happened to her. She only hoped it would help Tigh find her. She wished she had some way to tell him just one more time how deeply she felt about him, but at that point, the effects of the gas took her completely under, and she didn’t wake for a very long time.

Tigh was hearing one of the last cases of the day when the court chamber doors burst open, and Xeer came running in. He was followed by an equally hasty troop of palace guards who stationed themselves around the room and the participants in the current trial.

“My apologies,” Tigh said to the parties who were seated at separate tables in front of him. “We will have to resume this later. Please follow the guards’ instructions.” Tigh rose and removed his robes of state, discarding them on his chair as Xeer joined him.

“Sire, there was an attack on the Velkir’s air car. The car went down, and all three women—your lady, Sally and Krysta—were abducted from the scene. Tolo is in critical condition and may not live through the night.” Xeer’s voice was low and urgent as they walked through the private door at the back of the court chamber. More palace guard were present all over the rooms and corridors they walked through.

“When?” Tigh asked, already considering his options. One thing was certain. He wasn’t going to sit around in the palace while his soul mate was out there, somewhere, in danger. He was walking rapidly toward the hangar where his personal vehicles were stored.

“No more than half a standard ago,” Xeer answered promptly. “When the air car did not show up on the next radar station as expected, the alarm was raised. The attendants at the previous radar station were found dead. The enemy planned this operation to the minutest detail.”

“I’m sensing there’s a qualification to your words,”