The armor tightened around my body, and I groaned. Breathing wasn’t getting any easier. I panted, sucking in shallow breaths. I couldn’t believe I’d survived a decade of war just to die in an underground bunker on Valovia itself.

Clearly, the universe had a dark sense of humor.

Below me, I heard plas pulses ricocheting around the room. One hit the ceiling above me and fine dust rained down. Not being able to breathe properly wasn’t fun, but not being able to see what was happening was almost worse.

I kept straining against the hold, until my muscles trembled. If I was going to die like this, then I was going to fight until the end.

I felt a pop, and then I fell. Torran snagged an arm around me before I hit the ground and his support allowed me to get my feet under me. I felt bruised from head to toe, but I lifted my rifle and looked for a target. A soldier wearing full FHP armor was down at the far edge of the room. A dead man in Valovian armor—without a helmet—lay next to them.

My focus had snapped during the telelock, so I couldn’t see any auras. “Is the telekinetic dead?”

Torran shook his head. “I broke her hold on you, so she retreated, but she’s just licking her wounds until the next fight.”

He sounded weary in a way I’d never heard before. “Are you okay?”

His chin dipped. “I will protect you.”

That wasn’t what I’d asked, but now wasn’t the time to argue. “Can you sense Cien?”

“No.”

Delving deeper into an unknown structure where a telekinetic waited for us was a nightmare scenario, but I firmed my resolve and sucked in a deep breath, beyond glad that I could breathe. With the telekinetic pressure gone, my armor had returned to its previous shape. And without the armor, I would be dead.

It was a sobering thought. I’d skated close to death before, but it never got any easier. I let the adrenaline drown out the terror and signaled for my team to move to the left. We’d need to keep an eye on this main room, or the kidnappers could slip out while we cleared the rest of the building.

Unless they already had a secondary way out.

Unlike the rest of us, Kee carried a rifle and no other weapons. Instead of a pistol or blade, her slate was strapped to one leg and the other had a small case of gadgets that she thought might be helpful. On the inside of her left arm, a mini comm screen displayed real-time data from her linked slate. Varro, Nilo, and Lexi watched over her as she pulled a pair of tiny drones from the case she carried.

She unfolded the drones and activated them, and they hovered in the air, waiting for her command.