Page 28 of Heart's Keeper

"A good point," Xilya agreed.

"And why would they be asking to speak to Xolis? That can't be right."

"It is suspicious. There is another recording just sent as you arrived. Loading it now." Xilya tapped once more on the screen, and the man's voice was replaced by another. This time a woman's who, to Lana's confusion, did not speak any language she recognized. As she spoke, however, Lana saw Xilya grow very still and let out a loud hiss.

"You recognize it?" Lana asked.

"It is Xolian. She is speaking Xolian." Xilya looked at Lana, concerned. "I know that voice."

Lana's eyes widened. "Who?"

"One of the women I dropped off at a human settlement. Her name was Kate."

Lana felt a strange chill. "What is she saying?"

Xilya's expression darkened as she listened. "Similar to the man's message. She says those from Xolis must come to station eleven. That they must talk."

"Does she say what for?"

"No." Xilya's eyes narrowed. "It may be hard to notice, but I can gauge by her tone that she is frightened."

Lana stared up at the map and shook her head. "This makes no sense. They can't possibly be trying to negotiate..."

"Maybe they are. Or maybe," Xilya's eyes brightened, "they just want Xolis to find them for another reason. Regardless, I think we have a new heading."

Lana glanced back at her, shocked. "You think the Xolis ships will head there?"

"With a signal that big sending out a recording like that, yes. I do. The hunters will catch on to it if they haven't already. Thankfully, this particular system will be in the way of Earth's territories, so they will most certainly head to it first to investigate, assuming they believe it to be a human settlement.

Lana crossed her arms. It was bizarre that her people should be sending a signal out on some lone planet. It would seem smart at first to pick a planet outside their territory if their plan was to negotiate, however meeting face to face seemed too much of a risk. Especially if they had a human woman involved. And knowing what she and the others knew, the Xolians weren't looking to negotiate. Unless...

Lana turned her eyes back to the glowing system with a frown. Something didn't feel right. But whatever the people there had planned, her team had a very good sense of where the hunters would end up, which meant they wouldn't have to wait to track and find their ship.

"All right, we have a new heading," Lana said. "Inform the others. We leave at first light.”

Chapter Eleven

In the little time it took to travel to the system, Lana tried to keep herself busy, planning out several scenarios with the team if they should find themselves in any sort of conflict when they landed. She talked with Elise also about the recording and where they were headed.

"I haven't heard anything about it," Elise said through the ship's call system. "I knew we were preparing ourselves for the threat but nothing about anyone trying to negotiate with Xolis or setting up a place to do so."

"And this planet, you haven't heard of anyone stationing on it or anywhere else outside Earth's domain?" Lana asked.

"No, nothing. Grayhart had pulled all of their ships from travel last I remember, when the threat of the hunters came to light. The military has been on high alert, and the government has been making sure no ships leave or travel outside known bases. All base and civilian planets have been tightly monitored for some time. It's hard to believe they would leave out those stationed on a non-registered planet outside Earth territory."

"It is odd, which is why we are going to investigate. You and Nezka should prepare yourselves in case of any danger," Lana suggested.

"Will do."

When she'd done all she could to prepare them, Lana watched and waited as the planet came into sight. The closer they got, the more the blue planet started to resemble the homeworld she hadn't seen in many years. It looked so much like Earth, in fact, that if one didn't know better and was lost in space, they might have mistaken it for the real deal. Only when they were able to observe its landmasses could Lana tell the difference as the land was smaller than Earth's and seemingly all connected together in a chain of continents, surrounded by islands. Also, judging by its scale, it was larger than Earth by several thousand spans. It was a shocking sight to see, at least for her as the others didn't understand. But the planet left her with many questions and filled her with even more anxiety.

Her heart beat faster the closer they got, and she found herself checking on the monitors every few minutes to see if Xerus had stirred in his holdings. She had a feeling he wouldn't be up to see them land and it bothered her to know she'd have to go on without him.

Based on the signal's origin, they had a mark on station eleven's location, but they would not land right near it in case of any hostile individuals that might be inside. Instead, they would land a few miles out from their target and go in on foot.

Finding a large open field to land in, they set down with ease. Lana stared out the window to see a world that looked very familiar even though she'd never set foot on it before. Vast forests covering mountainous hills that seemed to stretch on in every direction. Far off in the distance was a large snow-capped peak and not far to the left was a clear lake with a stream. Judging by the data on the terminal, the oxygen levels were only slightly higher than what she remembered Earth's to be. And it looked naturally made. There were no signs of terraforming (such as the colors of the plants being off or smaller and less leafy or the water being slightly grayer or greener), but that did not readily mean it hadn't been terraformed. If it had been, it would have taken years if not decades judging by the abundance of life and vegetation.

"Our map reads that the station is only a span or two to the north," said Sithe.

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