Qalu tapped the panel on her chair to activate communications throughout the ship. “Can we cycle a current through the shield? A shock to startle it into letting go. In conjunction with the water, a mild charge should feel a lot more powerful. It wouldn’t take much energy.”

“Do it,” Praxys said quickly. “Then we push straight up. The change in pressure may discombobulate it as well, and then we’re gone. I don’t know if this is enough to save the Vault, but we did what we could. Hope it’s enough because I’m not dying today.”

“Understood,” Maglan responded.

“We’re on it,” Bojak added.

The power flickered and the ship shot forward, then rolled, and Praxys spiraled them up, avoiding more lashes of those enormous tentacles. She didn’t know who decided to do it, but they stopped the pulses of light as well as the ship rose, higher, higher, and finally broke the surface of the ocean. It took a moment for Praxys to shift modes and change the propulsion system, and then they glided across the top of the water, gathering speed for lift. Once they got airborne, Qalu quivered from head to toe, her heart racing until she couldn’t think.

Close, that was too close. I’m not made for an adventurous life.

Like Aevi, she desperately wanted to go home. But she also wanted to stay with Helix. Never had her desires been so diametrically opposed. What am I supposed to do?

“Excellent work,” Praxys finally said, once they put the high-risk flight behind them and the ship cleared the atmosphere.

Everything looked quiet and calm from here, a gray-green ball wreathed in white spots, yielding no sign of the mighty terror that lurked in those depths. The Barathi paced, cursing with a fluency that Qalu found daunting and impressive in equal measure.

“What’s wrong?” Carow asked.

“We burned more fuel than I wanted to in luring Ugaru away.”

“Do we have enough to implement the plan for Krag?” Qalu asked.

Rather than answering straightaway, Praxys consulted the ship AI. “Status, please.”

A brief pause, then the AI said, “Barring any unforeseen events, we should be able to reach our destination and commence the entrapment.”

Bojak groaned, coming into the hub just in time to hear that. “That means we’re playing bait again. Instead of a giant sea monster, we’re intentionally drawing out one of the deadliest bounty hunters in the galaxy. I should’ve stayed in Peoria.”

“Where’s that?” Qalu asked, because the silence was growing awkward while Praxys glared at the human.

The Barathi captain truly had no tolerance for dissent.

“Place on my homeworld. I hated it so much that I didn’t even try to get home when I got swept up in a cattle net. What’s the worst that could happen, I said. What the hell, let’s have an adventure, I said.”