“Are you sure? You looked like you were going to be sick the last time you helped with the healers.”

“I think it’s important,” Leanne insisted. “So what if it’s hard. I need to learn.”

She tried not to let Resek’s look of pride get to her. To be honest, she didn’t want to go back to the healers, no matter how important it was. That was the only place she could think of where she may be able to talk to people and find out the kind of things she needed to know if she was going to get out of here.

Olia seemed pleased to see her. But Leanne wasn’t sure if that was simply because they didn’t have enough healers, rather than she’d done anything particularly well the last time she was here.

Once she was there, it was almost impossible not to get drawn into everything. She had a plan, and she needed to implement it, but it was hard when there were people all around her in pain.

Finally, she made a small start. “Do you know of any way to get off-planet?” she murmured quietly to a soldier whose arm she was bandaging.

She’d originally planned to be stealthier about it, leading into the question, and gauging first who she could trust not to tell anyone. It quickly became apparent that she didn’t spend enough time with any one person to do that. She’d have to hope that the soldiers she asked were either too out of it to remember, or would hesitate to sell out the woman who patched them up when they were hurt.

“No, not with Greli ships everywhere,” he answered. “Do you know how much it took to get the ship with you and your friends in undetected? We can’t afford to expend those kinds of resources regularly.” Leanne tried to read from his expression whether he was going to tell Resek about her question. But his face was covered in blood and soot, so she couldn’t tell.

She repeated the question with the next soldier she helped and the next. She got a wide variety of answers. Many said there was no safe way around the Greli ships. Some said that a Wescra strike force could probably get through. Of course, that wouldn’t help her, as she doubted Resek would allow his men to form a strike force for her escape, but she didn’t tell them that. If she could avoid raising their suspicions, she would.

Her best lead was a badly injured man who said that some off-the-book parties may be able to get someone out. Leanne asked him to elaborate, but he passed out before he could say anything else. Then one of the more experienced healers took over helping him.

She didn’t hear anything else useful, and by the end of the day, she had a head full of nightmarish images and very little information to go on. Olia said that she was improving and would make a good healer one day. Leanne had never wanted to be a doctor and wanted to be a battlefield healer even less, but she kept those thoughts to herself.

She tried to hide the worst of her state from Resek. If he thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown going to the healers regularly, he wouldn’t let her go, and she still needed a lot more information before she could act on anything.

The healers themselves may be able to help, but Leanne didn’t want to risk asking them. Most of the injured soldiers who came through were in shock, or high on hastily applied pain meds. They could easily forget her questions and not say anything to Resek. The healers had to be highly focused. Nothing could pass under their attention, or people would die. They’d be much more likely to remember and report her questions about getting off the planet.

That night, Resek sat her down and told her that if she’d rather be a healer than a fighter, they could arrange it. Leanne tried not to let her horror show. She’d rather be cannon fodder than a healer. She didn’t know how they did it.

“No, that’s alright. I need to know basic first aid, but I think training with you for battle is the best way to go.”

Resek looked relieved at that, and Leanne quickly changed the subject.

It had taken three more days before she had enough information to go on. One man confirmed that the off-the-books transport was smugglers, who would get anything off or on the planet for a price. One of the rare female soldiers whispered a name – Resaku.

Leanne retreated to her stolen communicator and worked on trying to contact the smugglers. She tried searching "Resaku" with no results, which didn’t entirely surprise her. She’d have to find out more. That meant more time with the healers.

It took another week before she finally got what she needed: a contact name. Edil. From what she understood, Edil was his legal name, but Resaku was the one he used among the smuggler rings.

Leanne waited up late until her eyes were itching with tiredness, but she couldn’t risk Resek hearing the conversation. Once she was sure he was asleep, she searched for Edil, and the communicator managed to connect to him without any further problems.

“Edil speaking.”

“Hi Edil, my name is Leanne.”

“How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for transfer off the planet.”

She had to admit, he was very good. Had she not known who he was, his tone of polite confusion would have taken her in completely.

“Well, I suppose you should log a request with the ground-space authority. I’m just a soldier. I don’t have any jurisdiction there.”

“Actually, I was looking for something a little less official. I heard that Resaku may be able to help me.”

“I’m sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else.”

“I’ll pay,” Leanne blurted out before he could hang up the phone. “Whatever you want. I’m not interested in turning you over to the authorities. I just have to get out of here.”

He hesitated, and she took advantage.

“I’ll hardly be any trouble. All I want is to get away from this awful war, and I’d be happy to pay you for your trouble.”

Another pause.

“Transport doesn’t come cheap.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to. I can have a payment ready to go in three days.”

“I’ve got a ship leaving tomorrow. If you have sufficient payment, you can hop on that one before we leave.”

Leanne wasn’t sure if she could have everything sorted out by then, but it didn’t sound like the date was exactly open to negotiation.

“Thank you. Where should I meet you?”

They made arrangements to meet, and Leanne hung up, buzzing with excitement and nerves. Of course, she didn’t have any money, but she had that part worked out.

Resek had been mentioning for a while that he needed to go be with his soldiers for a day for some kind of strike mission. Now, Leanne had to persuade him to do it the very next day, or all her plans were off.

“You should go tomorrow, to be with your soldiers. I need a day’s break anyway, and I’d like to watch the monitors of you fighting again. I learned a lot last time.”

“Tomorrow… that could work. A bit of a short notice, but we can make it work. Good idea.”

To her surprise, Resek leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. That bothered her. There was nothing sexual about it. It was just a sweet gesture of affection. Tomorrow, she’d be leaving him and any potential they had between them behind.

The next day, Leanne waited anxiously for Resek to leave. She watched him until he was out of sight, then went to his room, trying not to let parts of last night flash into her mind. She scrambled onto the bed and reached up for a glass case in the wall.

The Wescra hadn’t used swords in years, but they were still symbols of warrior’s past. Resek had a jeweled ornamental sword in a case, proudly displayed right above his bed.

Leanne hesitated. She didn’t want to steal from Resek. That sword was her ticket home, though. She put her qualms aside and opened the case, which was unlocked. Resek had brought her here. He may not have kidnapped her himself, but it had been on his orders. She didn’t owe him anything.

Somehow, her heart felt differently. But she ignored it, taking the sword down and making sure it was firmly in its jeweled scabbard. She wrapped it in a cloak, then set to the second part of her plan.

She wasn’t sure if Edil would feel comfortable taking a human, and she didn’t want to find out. She’d raided the kitchen and bathroom cupboards until she’d found what she needed: ingredients to make blue dye.

One of them was a cleaning product, and the other she thought was body cream. Mixing the two together, she managed to get a close approximation of Wescra skin. She just hoped the cleaning product wouldn’t start burning her skin.

After spreading the blue cream over all of her exposed parts, Leanne waited a few minutes for it to dry before setting off. She dressed in her combat uniform. Hopefully, if people thought she was a soldier, they’d assume she was on important business and not bother her.

She made it to the shipyard unmolested and found Edil’s ship quite easily. As he’d said, it had a green flag hanging from the door. He looked around before ushering her inside.

“First, payment.” He held out his hand.

“Here.” Leanne held out the sword to him. “This will be more than enough.”

Edil unwrapped the sword, and for a moment he lit up, his eyes gleeful. Then he blanched and thrust the sword back at her.

“Are you insane?” His voice hissed as his eyes darted toward the door.

“What? That – that is enough, isn’t it?”

“This? This is a small fortune, enough to buy you your own ship, but no one in their right mind would do something like that. What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you not know what this is? If you got it from some black-market source, you had better return it right now before you’re caught with it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This is a highly valuable ornamental sword, passed down from Commander to Commander for centuries. It currently belongs to Commander Resek. Believe me, you do not want to cross him.”

“So – so you’re not going to take it as payment?”

“Of course I’m not! Now get it out of here at once!”

Leanne stayed where she was. She didn’t know what to do. This was her only option.

Maybe she had bigger problems. Edil was eyeing her suspiciously. “What’s this?”

Before Leanne could stop him, he swiped at her arm, and some of her cream came away on his fingers, leaving a smear of pale, human skin underneath.

She hadn’t thought it was possible for Edil to look more terrified than he already was, but he did. “You’re her. The iluni girl.” He gaped at her, seemingly incapable of saying anything else. His shaking hands found a communicator, and he made a call.

“Commander Resek, please. Tell him it’s urgent. I have his woman and his sword. We’re at the shipyard.”

Leanne tried to slap the communicator out of his hand, but it was too late. “You’re insane!” she hissed, echoing him. “He’ll realize what’s going on here. You’ll be ruined.”

“Being caught for smuggling is nothing compared to letting any harm come to you, or letting this sword get lost.”

Leanne had heard enough. She turned to run, but Edil had been expecting it and took off after her. He was taller than her, and his long legs were soon making up for her split second’s head start. Leanne tried to lose herself in the maze of ships, but before she could get out of his sight, Edil had her.

He tackled her to the ground and dragged her back to his ship.

“You shut up.” He snapped at her as he tied her up. “We’re both going to wait quietly here for the Commander and hope he’s feeling in a forgiving mood today.”

His fear was infectious, and Leanne struggled fruitlessly against her bonds. What would Resek do when he found out she’d tried to escape again? She didn’t think he’d hurt her, but by the look on Edil’s face, he may as well be facing the gallows. What if she’d misjudged Resek? What was he going to do to her?