Marik heard a faint scream from above. His eyes narrowed, and he moved by instinct. Talon and the others were already moving as well.

Too late. It was too late.

The Rovers had come into the building pretending to be citizens in need of aid. Marik raced along one hallway, weapon drawn, as screams sounded out and the rattle of weapon fire further down the hallway rang out.

The shrieks of people who were already injured and now facing down fire from within were deafening. He darted right and then into a room to see a group of Rovers ripping possessions away from the frightened and hurt people within. Rage suffused his vision.

His weapon spat, and two Rovers went down. The others turned to him, and he fired, hitting the floor and rolling hard toward a wall. His foot hit a table, and it went down. He got behind it, using it as cover.

The Rovers had old weapons but a weapon was a weapon, and one blast splintered an entire side of the table. He swore loudly as those splinters flew through the air. Another blast tore a chunk from the other end. Marik was not sure if the man firing the weapon was toying with him, or if he was just a lousy shot.

He ducked around the table’s burned and shattered side, fired quickly, and dispatched two more Rovers.

More yells and weapon fire came to his ears. He peeked back around the table, his eyes already choosing his target. He fired, felling another Rover.

Talon and Jessica were in the room. Jessica was engaged in hand-to-hand, and Marik made it back to his feet just as he heard someone yell, “They have the healer!”

The healer. It could have been any of them, but his heart told him that it was Jenny. He went, running past screaming people. He drew down fire on a Rover who had gotten herself trapped but was still firing at everything she saw.

Death was not the business that he wanted to be in, but that Rover had made death his business at the moment.

He reached the front door just in time to see Jenny’s limp body being hauled away, tossed over the shoulder of a Rover!

Marik went after them, but a powerful blast knocked him off his feet. He looked down to see blood running from one thigh. Dammit!

He went down, still fighting, but there were Rovers everywhere. There were people to protect, and his leg was gushing blood now. Darkness swam in and out, and his hand slipped off the weapon.

It dropped away from him as he fell into pain so huge it made everything first gray out, then darken to black.

He woke to see Talon standing over him, a grim look carved into his visage. “They took Jenny, and they want a ransom to get her back.”

Marik groaned as pain lanced up his leg. “They will kill her even if we pay it, most likely.”

His fingers went to his leg. He probed at his leg, and then he felt his gift kick in and start to heal it up.

The pain was intense and terrifying. He groaned again as a salty, bitter taste filled his mouth and left him both dizzy and sick. He managed to open his eyes again to see the room shifting all around him. His injury had been more severe than he had thought and it was clear that someone had tried to help him, but the injury had been beyond their skill level.

He fell back into darkness despite his efforts to fight it back. When his eyes, gritty with fatigue and pain, came open again, he found his leg was healing but still torn and wracked with agony. The bone had knit together, and the tissues had closed, but the rest would take time.

Which he didn’t have.

He managed to get up and stagger across the silent and empty room. He fumbled his way out into a hallway and saw Jessica kneeling beside a body. He said, “He’s dead.”

“I know.” Her voice was soft and pained. “I knew him. Once. Not a friend, just someone who lived nearby when I was a child.”

She stood. Her face was gray. “They took her.”

“I know. I intend to get her back.”

Jessica nodded. “I thought you might say that. We will all go with you of course, but you should know that starting a war with the Rovers is the worst thing we could do right now. They are vicious, like dogs, and they keep growing in numbers because…well, because, goddammit, they…”

Marik sighed. “They’re desperate, and they are angry, and they are hungry, and they are ruthless. All of it or none of it. Take your pick.”

Her fingers went to her forehead, and she soothed back her eyebrows. “When we get her back, you should take her to Revant Two and keep her there. Some people are not cut out for this, and she isn’t.”

He spoke. “I think you underestimate her, and a great deal too.”

Jessica didn’t answer. She just looked back down at the body. “When this trip is over, and it is almost over, I’m going back to Revant Two. I give up. They don’t deserve us. They really don’t.” She walked off without another word.

Marik understood her pain. This was more than anyone should have to take. That made him think again of Jenny. He went down the hall again until he found Talon and the others all gathered around the maps that someone had laid out on a table.

Talon said, “There you are. We have intel that says the Rovers may be here, near the outskirts of the city, but opposite the ship docks. We have to get in there, get her, and then get all the way back. If we have a hovercraft that we can keep up, and that is a big if, given the hostility and the fighting, then we can get there faster.”

Marik said, “You’re pulling out, aren’t you?”

Talon nodded. His eyes rested on Marik’s face. “The Federation won’t help and we can’t. We have tried. We have brought in food and supplies, and healers, and all we keep ending up with is more of our own dead and lost. I can’t anymore.”

Marik didn’t argue.

Marik said, “We need a plan, and we need it now. I agree that even if we pay the ransom, they will likely kill her anyway.”

Or would they? The man who had helped to take her had once been her lover. Could it be possible that he was going to ransom her simply as a matter of survival but keep her as a matter of love? Did he think that he could demand a ransom for her and then refuse to return her?

He would undoubtedly refuse to return her. The larger question was would he kill her or keep her alive?

It was something Marik was not willing to risk.

It was possible that they could pay the ransom and that she would live. That she wanted to be with the man who had taken her.

He said so, and Talon looked at him. “She was unconscious when he carried her out of here. Several of the crew members tried to intervene, and he dropped her at one point. She was badly injured. It seems to me that if she had wanted to go with him, she would’ve walked out of here and not had to be carried out of here.”

Marik’s heart sank even further. Rage boiled up within him. It didn’t make sense, her being carried out that way, not if she had been willing to go with her former lover. The only thing that made sense was that she’d been taken against her will.

He said, “She had been looking for him. Is it possible that when he showed up that he said something that caused her to not want to go with him? Could he have told her his plans perhaps?”

Talon said. “There are so many pouring in the doors every single day that we don’t get a chance to check all of them. That’s something that we need to work on. Unfortunately, everyone who was in the room with them was part of the Rovers so we have no idea of what he may have said to her before he knocked her out and took her.”

Marik asked, “Do any remain alive?”

Talon nodded. “But I think he’s too far gone to question.”

Marik looked down at his leg. The pain was still there, and he knew it would slow him down some, but he had to get busy and try to save Jenny and soon. It could not afford to wait. “Show me where he is.”

Weapon fire had shattered interior walls, and there was rubble everywhere. Talon had to assist Marik in stepping over a large pile of shattered plaster and fragmented stairs. With every step, his leg pained him more and more, but he just kept going. There were other things that were far more important right now.

The injured Rover lay in a courtyard. More anger hit. Yes, the man was an enemy, but to throw him outside like trash? He shot a furious glare at Talon who merely said, “We don’t know if he is dangerous still.”

One look down told Marik that the man was too far gone to be dangerous to anybody. He shoved his anger at Talon’s callousness aside. This was war whether he liked it or not. Whether Talon liked it or not. He knelt beside the Rover. His hands went to the man’s chest and the gaping wound there. Nothing would save his life. All Marik needed was to know the location of the Rover hideout.

He said, “I think I can wake him. The only thing I might be able to get from him is an exact location. We can match it with your intel. I’m sure your intel is good, but we need to be precise. All things considered, we can’t afford even one mistake. We can’t even be one building off. They’ll see us coming if we go into the wrong building and they are likely to kill her then and there if they think we’re going to try to get her back by force.”

Talon said, “Do what you have to but don’t waste yourself.”

Marik had no intention of doing that. He brought his fingers together and let the power rest there in the palms of his hands. Heat blossomed and bloomed. He felt it run from his palms to his wrists and up along his arm before spreading into his shoulders and then his chest and lower still. His own body would heal faster if he did not do this but he had to. Even if it meant never being able to use his leg again, he had to find Jenny.

His hands went to the Rover’s chest. The Rover gasped and jerked. His eyes flew open. Death still stalked him and would take him soon, but he was awake now. The pain was horrific, and Marik could see that he was in pain. He hated to leave the man in such agony, but the agony was what had brought him out of unconsciousness.

Marik said, “I know you are hurting and I’m sorry. I will help you, but first I need to know where they took the healer.”

Now that he was leaning closer to the man’s face, he could see that he was very young. Maybe twenty human years. How had this human come to the decision to join the band of Rovers, those thieving and murderous humans who were gleefully taking advantage of and allowing other members of their own race to die simply to ensure their own survival?

The Rover whispered, “Let me die. It hurts so much. Please stop.”

Marik did not lift his hands away from the Rover’s chest. “Listen to me; I need you to hear me now. I need to know where they took the healer. Answer me, and it will all be over very quickly.”

The young Rover began to weep silently. Long silvery tears rolled down his cheeks. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

Dammit! Marik didn’t have time for the young man to regret his life choices and decisions. “Where is the healer going to be held?”

The young man gulped. “We were hungry, that’s all. My dad and me. We were sitting on the…” His eyes misted over. His mouth hung open.

Marik wasn’t willing to let go yet. He pressed his fingers firmly against the young man’s flesh, and the young man’s eyes jolted open again. Sweat covered his face, and his hands came up and then beat against the ground. His breath came in short and fast inhales and exhales that sent little bubbles of blood dripping down his chin.

Marik said, “If I have to keep you alive for a hundred years to ask you the same question over and over again, that I will. You will suffer for eternity if you do not answer me.”

He hated himself for saying those words, but he had to. Jenny’s life was at stake, and this young man’s was already gone.

The Rover gulped out. “They said if we came along, that if we helped, they would give us food and credits. That we would be hungry no more.”

Pity surfaced, but Marik could not afford pity just then. “Tell me.”

The young man’s eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. His voice was faint. “That house that belonged to…to the man that used to trade in exotic furs. That’s where they’re all staying. Not above, Below. They are in the rooms below the others.”

Marik said, “Rest now.”

He took his hand away and looked over toward Talon. Talon nodded his head and pulled his weapon. The young man’s eyes were still closed. The pity that Marik felt for him made him have to turn his head as Talon fired the weapon directly toward the young man’s skull.

He said, “Do you have any idea where the houses he spoke of are?”

Talon said, “Yes. It’s a good thing you pressed for more intel too, because we would’ve been at the wrong place. Our information had them one street over.”

Marik felt more tired than he could even bear but he had to bear it. “I will go with you.”

Talon said, “You must rest now.”

Marik shook his head emphatically. “Hell no. I am going with you, Talon.”

Talon said, “They have not yet made a ransom demand. We know that is what they want because they left a note behind. We will wait for them to demand a ransom. In the meantime, you can do something about that leg of yours.”

Marik’s hands balled into fists. A long vein appeared and stood up along his forehead. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing while they hold her prisoner.”

Talon said, “We are not doing nothing. I have to get the ship back to the dock. That will take some hours. We have to move. We have to get as many people as want to go on that ship.”

Marik’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

Talon gave him a humorless grin. “Well, you said you wanted to populate the planet right? I see no better way. Honestly, I think the only way to fight against what is happening here now is to fight against the Federation. We can’t save them all. We have done all that we can here. Maybe the best thing that we can do is take as many as we can, as many as want to go, with us when we leave.

“We will only be able to take from this city, however. There is no way in hell I am risking taking my ship over the other cities on this wretched planet. They may shoot me out the very sky for sheer spite.”

Marik looked down at his feet. “I see.”

Talon’s hand rested on his upper arm. “I know this is not what we planned. I know we plan to come back here and help as much as possible. I thought that perhaps having more healers here would make a difference but the truth of the matter is we would be better off taking the healers from here and putting them on our own planet. Taking the people who want a better life from here and putting them on their own planet. Those who would sit here and continue to rebuild even though it’s futile won’t change their minds. This is home to them; it will always be home to them. They will never leave.”

Marik knew that was true. His heart bled anyway. He said, “I wonder what would’ve happened if anyone had offered us assistance when our home planet was being destroyed. Would we have taken it, Talon?”

Talon said, “Circumstances are entirely different.”

Marik’s eyes met his squarely. “Are they? What if the planet had not been destroyed but merely leveled like this one has been? Would those who were left behind when the ships left have done the same thing that these people are doing? Are we so very different from these humans? I don’t know that I can just leave them here.”

Talon said, “It’s the last thing I want to do, but it is the only logical thing to do at this point. We have to fight the Federation. We have got to make people see that they cannot depend upon the Federation anymore. It’s broken. They care only for themselves. They make promises they never keep and they let people die by the millions. Not just humans but every race. If we are going to restore a real peace and safety to this universe, the Federation has to be crumbled.”

Marik knew in his heart that that was true. It didn’t make it any easier to take. Jenny was a human, and he had no idea if she would leave or not. If she didn’t, he would have no choice but to leave her. Leave her or stay here and try to help for the rest of his life.

He would cross that bridge when he got to it.

Right now, all he wanted to do was make sure that she was not murdered by her former lover.