He leaned back in his chair again. “I haven’t seen fighting like that since… Well, it’s been a while. I had a friend once who was good, but he wasn’t as good as you.”

I hadn’t trained with another Aunare since I was six. I wasn’t sure how I’d measure up so that I took as a compliment. “Thank you.”

“Most people look tired after a battle like that, but you took down damned near twenty IAF, and you look like you’re ready to take on a hundred more.”

He was right. The fight made my blood sing with energy. It made me feel like I could run ten marathons and not feel it. And despite the violence, it made me feel at peace.

Carl nodded and, finally—after all the craziness—took the paper off the table. His low grunt as he looked it over and quietly folded it, handing it back to me, made my heart race.

He stared at me again, and I waited. It felt like we sat there for hours but was probably only a few minutes at most.

“Okay,” he said finally. “You chicken out or wash out, that’s it. No second chances. You’re back to your old duty. But you want to try this stupidity, far be it from me to stop you. Especially with the shit job you’ve had so far.”

A weight lifted off me, and I could finally breathe again.

I wasn’t going to chicken out. This was my shot. I wasn’t going to mess it up.

“Meet me in 12WA. Oh-six hundred sharp. Don’t be late.”

“I won’t be.” I stood and gave him a nod before stepping over a few guys to get to the door.

As soon as I got to the hallway, I took off running back to my bunk.

My plan had come together. Ahiga had been right. Two days. Everything was coming to a head, and I wasn’t going to have to go back out on the planet’s surface.

With any luck, I’d be off this godforsaken planet before Jason Murtagh knew what happened.

Hope bloomed brighter in my chest, and I planned to hang onto it for as long as I could.

Chapter Thirty-Two

My wrist unit helped me find 12WA after my early breakfast. News had traveled fast on the base about my run-in at the officers’ bar, thanks to the bartender. Everyone knew that I’d moved to mining duty, and now the betting had taken a new turn. How many runs would I get in before blowing myself up? How much crystal would I haul in on my first run? Would I quit an hour in?