Page 48 of Saving Lauren

“You talk about it, like she is your Zarra.”

O’Rec laughs at my observation. “I wish. Now, when we get into Caudata space it gets tricky, but we have advanced stealth tech so if we do not physically encounter anything, nobody should be able to sense our ship. This beauty can hover in the atmosphere, the perfect opportunity for us to do our scans. From what my research shows, Exparix has 5 moons and 3 of those are sold to very rich prominents. We have to assume Yalix is a very important asshole, he owns and controls everything on his moon.”

I nod. That makes sense. I have learned at a young age that the most terrible of people are mostly the ones that are rich and powerful.

“Do you have specific biometric parameters of Yalix?”

O’Rec shakes his head. “No, that is the flaw in our plan. We have no way of knowing which one of the lifeforms is Yalix. We can specify species based on body temperature, but if there are more Caudata, we have to guess which one is Yalix.”

“So, once we have established a scan of the moon and know where all the people are we know which place to target first, or if we are unlucky, we have to make an educated guess.” O’Rec nods.

“We have to go in silently,” I continue, and O’Rec agrees as a plan starts to take form in my head.

“But we go out with a bang,” I flash O’Rec a feral grin, which he returns.

“Are we blowing up the moon?” he asks and I nod.

“We are blowing up the moon.”

O’Rec and I take turns sleeping over the next few rotations. The bond with my mate is now a humming in the background. The pain of our separation only presents itself if I let it, and I have decided I will not let it hit me, until our way back. I need to stay thoroughly focused on our mission.

The journey is a quick one, O’Rec was right about how amazing this ship is. It glides through space at an astonishing tempo.

As we are approaching Esparix I can see the moons in orbit. O’Rec pulls up the map and points in the direction of Wrixal, our destination.

O’Rec brings us into orbit of Wrixal to perform the first scans, before he slowly sets in the descent. We are hovering in the atmosphere, over where Yalix's main compound is. We are lucky the compound is centered in one location, whereas the rest of the moon is desolate. I check our shields and scan the airspace, while O’Rec is focused on what happens on the ground. I hear him grunt and he pulls up a map of the compound, made from the data we gathered.

“This wing here is where the most activity is. There are three Caudata lifeforms, four Sternotheri and one human.” He then points to a lower level. “I believe here are the cells, you can see lifeforms here and there, and they are all separated at a similar distance. There is one Caudata here and the rest are all a mix of different species.”

This complicates our mission. If there are slaves, we should at least try to rescue them before we blow up the moon. And the human. I think of my mate, enslaved and I know she would want us to bring the other human with us.

“Fuck,” I curse. O’Rec nods.

“Fuck indeed.”

We think of a couple of different scenarios, while we follow the people in the compound for a while. We think we have managed to figure out which one is Yalix, because there is only one Caudata who frequents the lower levels, alone or with the others. The Sternotheri are not an issue, we will slay them all.

O’Rec agrees that L’Ren would want us to bring the human with us to the Ring. While we can fit in one extra, we cannot take all the other slaves with us. Also, they might need long term care and I do not think we should risk our people with these things. Our situation is already tenuous as it is, we cannot tend to refugees like we used to do on our planet.

“We should take the Sternotheri and the Caudata on the upper level out first.” O’Rec says, and I nod agreeingly.

“They pose the more immediate threat. I agree. I also think we should split up and make it as quiet and quick as possible. Though they definitely do not deserve that.” O’Rec nods. We establish entry points for us to infiltrate the compound, making sure we avoid the large water area, we believe is an indoor pool, because that is where the Caudata are strongest.

“We must land close, so I can hack into the security system,” O’Rec says.

“Find a spot,” I growl and look at the scans again. This time, I focus on the tech.

While O’Rec is busy picking a landing spot and guiding the ship there, I suddenly see the solution to our problems.

“Escape pods!” I exclaim and O’Rec echoes without looking at me.

“Escape pods?”

“Yes!” I bump his shoulders. “There are two dozen escape pods on the upper level.” I point them out to O’Rec.

“If we put the slaves into stasis, put them in the pods and direct them to a safe place, we can still save them, and blow up this forsaken moon.”

O’Rec looks at me now. “That is a brilliant idea. I know just the planet”

---