We cut the black wire, Leo thought. Also we’ve essentially destroyed the planet’s entire supply of ventasium. He wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about that part, though he knew, in his heart, that it was worth it.

Baz obviously knew it too.

Kat continued to fly right at the giant Djarik mother ship, her eyes burning. “You can thank us by helping us. We believe Dr. Calvin Fender is being held somewhere on that command ship. He’s part of the reason that planet of ours is still in one piece. I’m requesting your assistance for an extraction.”

“Extraction?” Gareth repeated. He looked at Leo with wide eyes.

“Captain Corea, you are not authorized to—”

“I’m not asking for your authorization, Commander,” Kat hissed. “I’m asking for your assistance.”

“I’m not sure what help I can give. My ships are badly damaged already and our allied Aykari forces appear to be in full retreat.”

“They’re bugging out already?” Gareth said. “Are you kidding me?”

Leo wasn’t surprised. Not anymore. He thought of the Orin and their crumbled world. Of the stones he’d helped put back in place. What do you do when the well runs dry?

Kat didn’t seem to care if the Aykari stuck around or not. She wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Just clear a path, disable that ship’s guns, and unload as many soldiers as you can into its main hangar because that’s where I’m headed.”

“I don’t think I can risk the forces I have left to save one m—” Marcellis began to protest, but Kat shut him off.

She turned to Leo. “Baz told you he’d help you get your father back.”

Leo nodded.

“This time we’re not leaving without him, understood?”

He nodded again. He pictured his father in cuffs, bracketed by Djarik soldiers; he didn’t think his dad would refuse rescue again.

“So what’s the plan?” Gareth asked. “After we get on board?”

“Easy. Guns blazing,” Kat replied. “And death to anyone that stands in our way.” She hailed the bounty hunter whose starfighter was now flying alongside them. “Zenn, we’re going after Dr. Fender and we could really use that rifle of yours, if you’re up for it.”

“Just as long as he’s worth it,” the bounty hunter said. “The past couple of Fenders I’ve gone after have been kind of a bust.” Leo took that as a yes.

Commander Marcellis must have decided that Leo’s father was ultimately worth saving as well, because soon their ship was flanked by a dozen EDF vessels, including two landing shuttles and a phalanx of fighters. “The cavalry,” Kat said. “Now we’re in business.”

The Djarik, sensing a new threat, sent a mob of its own starfighters to intercept the incoming boarding party, but the EDF escort formed a spearhead in front of Kat’s borrowed ship, scattering the enemy with a salvo of missiles. Leo flinched as blasts of deadly energy sizzled around him, but the human pilots were up to the task, clearing a path to the command ship as requested. Our kind have to stick together, Leo thought, remembering something a floating brain once told him.