Page 89 of Fate of Draga

ASHER

Asher ripped the cockpit open and pulled Veri from the destroyed fighter.

She’d landed as best she could, but the terrain had been rough – tearing off the landing gear. It had sent her tumbling end over end – ripping the ship apart with each impact.

“Hey, Veri, open your gorgeous eyes,” Asher pleaded, checking her over as gently as he could.

Her helmet had deactivated at some point and he was frantic. A quick scan told him she was breathing, but unconscious. Another scan indicated a shard of metal in her ribs. “Don’t you dare die,” he snarled.

How had the metal even gotten through the armor? Asher gently laid her down on the sand, eyeing the terrain and his holo of the surrounding area. They were alone. For now.

Apparently her armor malfunctioned when the ship had been hit, shorting the shield when they landed. It had allowed the metal rod to pierce her ribs, and then shear off when she hit the surface of Kepri.

There was so much blood.

Asher’s hands shook as he followed the instructions of the field medic program spouting off the steps from his gauntlet. He leapt to his feet and grabbed the med pack from her ship, tearing it open before he knelt by her side again.

This battle had been nothing like the one in Draga. It had been nothing like anything he’d ever studied before. The strategy had been sound and they’d pulled off more than he would have ever guessed. Asher would never admit to anyone how deep his doubts had gone, but they’d taken three of Khara’s planets back – even if there were still fights on the ground and above.

The tide was finally beginning to turn.

But none of that mattered to Asher if Veri died. If he couldn’t save her…

He cursed again as the scan showed two broken ribs where the metal had practically pried them apart with her rough landing. Asher’s DNA overrode her suit’s commands and the armor widened the hole in the spidersilk around the wound so he could work.

The med-seal would keep her from bleeding out, but he would physically have to pull the metal shard from her ribs. Asher paused as he studied it, shoving down the queasy sensation that rose up.

This was why he’d never pursued the medical field. Asher could barely stomach injuries.

It was a completely different situation to tend them rather than cause them.

He wrapped his hands around the metal shard, his gloves protecting his skin, and then pulled. The second it gave he slapped the med-seal over the massive puncture and let it do what needed to be done. Special med gel filled the hole while nanites investigated the interior.

It would hold her together long enough to get her back on one of their ships.

Asher checked his gauntlet again and cursed when he saw the hounds on the move. He didn’t know if his enemy would come to the outskirts of this city, but the hounds didn’t have that kind of sound logic.

They would go where they smelled blood.

Tapping a command into her suit, he ran through all the possibilities while he watched the armor seal back over – repairing itself in the process. Then he slid his arms underneath her and lifted.

Asher would not lose her.

He eyed his fighter and growled his frustration. It was too small for two people and damaged from his sloppy landing after he’d panicked when he lost her transmission.

They would have to walk to another ship – per his map of the terrain there were a few close by he could commandeer, but those hounds were making their way to his location.

He didn’t have a choice.

Cradling her to his chest, Asher ran as fast as he could. He watched the map and scanned the terrain with his own two eyes. Both were what would keep them alive for as long as possible. He’d already sent up a signal for rescue – but who knew when someone would make it to the ground?

The battle still raged above them.

Asher eyed the skies as well, praying that falling debris caught in the planet’s gravitational pull wouldn’t obliterate them before he could get them both to safety.

Cursing, he stopped. The hounds must have caught their scent because they were heading straight for them rather than in hunting patterns.

A signal came through and Asher almost didn’t answer it – but then he saw it was the queen.

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