Chapter 6

Hours shifted past. The girls stood poised in the blaster practice lanes. Practice beams bore into the targets. Eyan stood near Relda, and a screen implanted into his wrist lit up. An image of a bald creature with beige skin, wearing a Shulgar leather tunic, appeared on-screen.

"We've detected movement on Jucardi," the creature said.

"Good work, Scout," Eyan said.

"Eyan," Relda whispered. "Is something going on?"

Eyan switched his implant to sleep mode.

"Tell the girls to get their bug out bags. Get yours. Grab Raylay and Ty."

Relda lingered a while longer, watching Eyan's exaggerated gestures at the girls. In unison, they pulled the ear protectors off their ears and let them rest around their necks.

"Movement has been detected on Jucardi by one of my scouts," he told the girls. "Grab your bug out bags."

"Wait til you hear this!" A jolly announcement sounded from the hall.

Aks emerged, engrossed in a viewing screen.

"I accidentally hacked the news media airwaves," he said.

Relda gave a stiff smile.

"Well," she said. "Let's get going."

Half an hour later, the last of the clones squeezed into the passenger cabin and crammed their bags and blasters into the ceiling compartments. Shilah grimaced as Bria nudged her for sitting space.

"Mama," Ozla said. "Why are we going to Jucardi? It's Quadrant 1. We're protecting Quadrant 3, remember?"

Anthem and Daly rolled their eyes into a shared side glance.

"Quadrant 3 is crawling with Dialorians," Darrion explained. "We set up our station anywhere there, and the battle is over."

The vastness of space welcomed them, and Raylay activated the gravity feature.