Page 47 of Bound to the Alien King
“Not good.Our altitude is sinking too rapidly.It’s like we’re carrying that giant-ass cruise ship you’re on, Captain.”
“Uh, well, wearecarrying it.The power surge wiped out its auxiliary.”
“We’re in Klio-3‘s orbit now,” Darc continued in a tense voice, “and there’s no way theOdessacan turn us both around and carry us to safety.So we’re definitely going to Klio-3.We’ll be there in ten minutes, and I’ll do my best to get us there in one piece, but with all that extra weight…”
Nera squeezed her eyes shut briefly while her face went too pale.“Understood.Tell everyone to strap in for the landing.I’ll take care of things over here and see if I can’t get anything else to work.”
“You got it, Captain.And don’t worry about Major.He’s still purring in Philip’s lap, totally oblivious.”
“Good,” she said on a relieved exhale.Then, after a momentary hesitation of rolling her lips together, she blurted, “Ask for Rain’s help and take care of her too.Over and out.”
She ended the communication and looked at me, and the stricken look on her face said everything there was to know.
“We’re going to crash,” I said simply.
“Yeah.Probably.”Nera strapped herself in with her seat’s harness, grabbed her caterpillar jar, and then squeezed her armrests, which colored her knuckles white.“Unless Rain can make her very hard planet into a trampoline, or unless Darc can pull off some miracle stunt, this is going to hurt.A lot.”
“Let everyone else know,” I said gently as I rose from my seat.“I’ll listen out in the hall to make sure the ship’s loudspeakers still work.”
Really, I just needed to walk away for a second, to think, to not see the helpless truth written so starkly in Nera’s fathomless eyes.
This could be it for us.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
I’d sworn I would never see Nera hurt again, but this was so out of my hands that all I could do was sit idly by while my love and this whole ship went up in flames.
“This is Captain Nera speaking,” she said, her voice flowing smoothly through the ship’s loudspeaker.
Her batteries had worked.Too bad they couldn’t power the rest of the ship.
When she looked back at me, I nodded for her to continue.
“That was a power surge that hit both this ship and mine.This ship lost all power but communications, and my ship is flying us both back to Klio-3.It won’t be easy.In fact, let me give this to you straight.It will be the hardest landing you’ve ever experienced.It could even be deadly.We have ten minutes to impact.You have two minutes to strap yourselves in.”
The ship suddenly lurched, and we jostled to the side.I braced myself against the half-open door and widened my stance to lower my center of gravity.
“Now, let me tell you a little bit about my pilot, Darc.She’s the best, the best I’ve ever known.If anyone can get us through this, she can.So as you’re strapping yourselves in, think of her.Send her all of your good vibes, and then thank her on the other side of this.Captain Nera, over and out.”
She shut off the comms unit and peered back at me, the starlight outside lengthening the shadows of her lashes.“Was that okay?What do you say to a whole ship full of people who might be taking their last breaths?”
“You did just fine,” I assured her as I retook my seat next to her and secured the harness around my waist and shoulders.
A burst of static came over the comms and then Darc’s tight voice.“Thank you, Captain.”
“You’ve got this, Darc,” Nera said, but the confidence in her voice contradicted the doubt pinching her lips.She flicked her gaze to me as she turned communications off again.“She has to for all our sakes.”
The gravity of her words sank in as the ship jolted once again, and my stomach lurched as the ship suddenly started to descend.I reached my hand out for Nera’s, and she clasped it tightly.We clung to each other as we were shaken around from side to side, our bodies jolting with every impact.
The stars through the window swirled around us like a fog as we plummeted down, down to the planet below.All that mattered at this moment was survival.All that mattered was Nera.
Her eyes shone brightly as her chin trembled.“I still love you, Maxx.I always will.”
At the heavenly sound of those words, I wanted to bolt out of my seat and curl myself protectively around her while I held her close to my hearts.
Instead, I grinned.“I love y—“
Chapter eighteen
