Chapter 14

"Winera?"

I groaned and half-opened an eye. A bright light attacked the lens and I snapped it shut again.

Someone shook my shoulder. "Winera, wake up."

It sounded like Zenla.

I forced both eyes open and squinted at the two figures bent over me. 

Zenla and Reaga. 

"What happened?" My voice was raspy.

Zenla helped me sit up, relief growing on her face. "I saw you charge that bounty hunter, and Reyjin was busy with that Malarkey-girl, so I ran back to the ship to find Reaga and Kristern."

"Kykkin was carrying you away somewhere." I turned my head and found Kristern sitting in the pilot's chair in my ship's cockpit. 

So that's where we were.

Kristern gestured at her forehead. "He had a pretty fancy bruise. From you?"

"Yeah." Talking hurt. I massaged the area under my jaw and swallowed. "Do we have any water?"

Reaga handed me a bottle. I uncapped it and took a long swig, but couldn't calm an uneasy feeling in my gut. I glanced around the ship and finally placed it. 

"Where's Reyjin?"

Reaga's lips thinned into a line. "We couldn't find her. I'm sorry."

"They... took her?" My eyes darted to Zenla, who nodded sadly. I swung off of the bench I'd been sitting on and strode to the cockpit, ignoring how my head spun. "Then we gotta go back to get her."

"We'd be going in blind." Kristern folded her arms and didn't budge.

"Weren't we going in blind before?"

"That was different," Reaga explained. "We had surprise on our side."

"It's definitely a trap now," Kristern added.

I glared at her. "I don't care about traps. I care about my sister."

"There may be a solution to both," Reaga broke in. She pointed out a viewing port. "We've been orbiting around Dantooine for a bit now, waiting for you to wake up."

Zenla joined her. "As we were leaving the atmosphere, the scanners picked up a Trade Federation flagship also orbiting the planet."

"I managed to hack into the system." Kristern held out a small device to me. "There's at least one prisoner onboard."

I scanned the screen and blinked at the information. "A Jedi?"

Reaga nodded. "Either Aera or Reyjin."

"It could be someone else," Kristern whispered.

Reaga turned and frowned at her.

"What? It's true! We're in the middle of a war, people are getting captured all the time."

"Scooch." I nudged Kristern out of the pilot's chair. "That's my seat."

Zenla squeezed my shoulder. "You sure you're up for this? We can call for help."

"We're going to free whoever's on that ship."

"It could be fake." Kristern shrugged. "You know, bait for a trap."

I smirked. "We could go on and on like this, guessing everything is a trap. Does it really matter? If it's a trap, let's go spring it!"

Alright, so I am TERRIBLE at posting on time. I was going to make this chapter a whole lot longer... but I forgot when I had time... and I wanted to give y'all something to chew on for a bit. I can't make anymore promises, but you WILL get another chapter... at least before the end of the year. 

Feel free to rail at me in the comments. I deserve it. ☹☹☹