A different kind of pain rose at the thought of parting from Torran. I’d gotten used to his quiet presence. Maybe it was better that I hadn’t taken him to bed. I already felt too much. Letting him go was going to leave a scar.

With the ship as ready to go as I could make it without alerting anyone outside, there was nothing left for me to do but wait. I checked on Nilo—still out—and stalked through the ship, letting my booted footsteps echo in the empty halls.

When my comm implant finally crackled to life, I held my breath.

“We’re on our way,” Eli said. “We need to buy some time, though, so turn off the cargo bay lights. We’ll sneak aboard.”

I swallowed my relieved tears and focused on what needed to be done. “Will do. What’s your ETA?”

“Ten minutes.” He paused, then continued. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“You, too.”

I didn’t ask him all of the questions burning on my tongue. We’d worked together a long time. If he hadn’t mentioned the team, that meant they were okay—or at least okay-ish. My questions could wait.

I snagged a pair of night-vision glasses from our supply, then went about shutting down all the lights in the cargo bay, including the emergency backups. At nine minutes, I opened the cargo bay door just enough that someone could duck under it, then I crouched on the floor with my plas rifle and waited for my team.

I’d expected them to arrive in a transport, but they slipped across the spaceport grounds on foot. Eli, Kee, and Lexi were the easiest to spot, thanks to their distinctive heights. The rest were more difficult, but it looked like Varro had an arm around Havil, half carrying him. Chira carried Cien. The boy was awake, but he huddled against Chira’s chest like he wanted to crawl inside her to hide. Anja was next to Eli, bringing up the rear and watching over the others.

My eyes flickered over them again, searching for the person who was missing, but the results remained the same. Torran wasn’t in the group.

They ducked into the cargo bay, but I kept my eyes on the spaceport. Nothing moved. Kee stopped beside me. “He got held up with the imperial guards,” she said, her voice soft over the comm. “He sent us ahead. We’re to leave without him if he’s not here in twenty minutes—or earlier if someone tries to stop us. Without him, Lotkez will protect us on our way to Bastion. They are already in orbit.”

Even without being here, he protected me still.

I swept my eyes over the spaceport one last time before reluctantly turning away. “Is anyone injured?”