Five minutes, Six. We’re five minutes out.

Five minutes. Holy shit.

“What’s he sending against us?”

He’s coming down personally. One hundred warriors, ready to go. And I’ll be there. I won’t be able to help you, Six. I can’t . . . my body doesn’t work anymore.

One hundred. That’s a lot. We can handle them, though. At least if we catch a good chunk of them when we blow up the Skimmers.

“There’s gotta be something we can do, Ella. Just tell me how to help you.”

You can’t, her voice comes back, sad and resigned. Don’t worry about me. Do what you need to do.

Adam joins me as I run towards the edge of the jungle where the others have already hidden. Instead of immediately running to our hiding spot, he took a detour into the Skimmer we flew down here and collected the vicious Mogadorian sword that once belonged to his father. The sword looks heavy strapped across Adam’s back, but he keeps up with me.

“Almost forgot it,” he says, catching me looking at the sword.

“Isn’t there an expression about bringing a knife to a gunfight?” I ask.

He shrugs. “You never know when a big sharp thing might come in handy.”

We skid to a stop at the edge of the jungle, where the rest of our group is already hunkered down behind a fallen tree. Adam turns around and watches the sky, his mouth a tight line, arms crossed. Mark is holding the detonator control for our bombs that Adam showed him how to use earlier. With Mark acting as our demolitions expert, Marina is freed up to focus on telekinetically firing the blasters we’ve hidden throughout the jungle. Sarah stands next to them, a blaster held in one hand, her other hand pressed to her temple, pale and frowning.

“I don’t accept that,” Marina says as I slide in next to her. I realize that she’s having a conversation with Ella, too.

“Accept what?” Mark asks, confused. Sarah shushes him. Taking another look at her, I realize that Sarah is also tuned in to Ella’s telepathic channel. She knows death might be coming.

“We’re going to steal his ship right out from under him. We’re going to rescue you.” I say these things out loud, steel in my voice, knowing that Ella can hear me.

I’m sorry. That won’t happen, Ella says telepathically. I can tell by the way her eyes well up with tears that Marina can hear her, too. Sarah covers her mouth and swallows hard, looking at me questioningly.

“Bullshit,” I say.

“Don’t you dare give up hope,” Marina practically yells into the empty space in front of her. “Ella? Do you hear me?”