Page 39 of Stars in Aura

The enemy gunship kept pace, firing at the engines.

Which shifted Ki’Remi’s assessment.

Whoever the hell they were, they didn’t want them dead. They wanted them grounded.

This meant they wanted something or someone on this ship.

He risked a glance at Issa, strapped in and helmeted in the co-pilot seat. Her hands worked fast, sending him telemetry from the console.

He sucked his teeth, then jerked his head back to the view of the planet, his gut roiling.

‘Fokk! Brace,’ Ki’Remi growled. ‘We’re going down.’

The jungle below rushed up to meet them.

He engaged rear thrusters at the last second, breaking the free fall just enough before impact.

The vessel hit the canopy, tearing through massive trees, leaves, and branches, shattering against the hull.

Metal screeched, and engines sputtered.

With a flash, the world went white.

Then black.

And still.

8

Celestial Specters

Ki’REMI

The Rider jerked awake to consciousness and the acrid pall of burning components and smoke.

The ship was half-buried in the dense rainforest, thick vines and fragmented trunks tangled around the wreckage.

The entire starboard of the vessel was sheared off, letting in the jungle, creepers, rocks, and shattered tree limbs and branches.

Inside, the cabin was chaotic.

Systems flickering, emergency lights blinking.

He pushed himself up, shaking off the disorientation.

‘Everyone alive?’ he growled.

His eyes lit on a figure moving through the compartment, stepping over the carnage.

Issa, safe and sound.

A stab of relief went through him until an unbidden rush of feeling ripped through him.

Why the fokk was he so vested in her wellness?

He ignored his musing, leaping to his feet to assist.

Issa was on Zera, whose hover chair was still upright, checking vitals, pressing fingers to the Allorian woman’s throat.

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