Zoraida Cordova - A Crash of Fate

“You owe me for that bird,” Volt said, but his lips quirked when he said it.

In moments, Oga Garra’s thugs descended on them. Izzy recognized at least one of the rough-looking humans from when she and Jules were surrounded in Smuggler’s Alley. But under the bright lights of the farm, their faces were a welcome sight.

Oksan knelt with his hands behind his head and went with them peacefully, but Ana fought the entire way as a large woman carried her off in a vise-like grip.

“Oga wants them all alive,” a blue-skinned Balosar said in warning.

“I’ll find you one day, Izal Garsea!” Ana Tolla screamed. “I will remember this!”

“Don’t worry, kid,” Volt told her as he took the detonator from her open palm and carefully deactivated it.

“What about the bombs in the field?” she asked.

“They’ll have the bomb sniffer droids in tomorrow I’m sure.”

They were crossing the dark green grass back to where the two ships were docked when the silver cargo freighter belonging to Ana Tolla flashed its lights. With the ramp still down, it began taking off. Izzy wasn’t sure who was flying the ship, because it swooped up in a strange arc, then slammed back to the ground, but not before clipping the side of Izzy’s stolen ship.

Izzy groaned. Volt turned to her and cackled. “May the spires save you, Izal Garsea!”

All around her there were pockets of celebration. Izzy kept to the shadows along the side of a barn and watched the chaos begin to settle. Ana Tolla and her crew were loaded onto the speeders. She watched Damar as he was taken away, shouting her name the entire time.

Wasn’t that what she’d wanted? To watch him hurt after what he did to her? The feeling of satisfaction never came, even after the speeder was out of sight.

Volt was running around, trying to maintain his adrenaline spike while Delta laid in the grass nursing an arm injury. Fortunately, Belen and Tap weren’t hurt, even though they hadn’t been able to get the ship back to the hangar. She didn’t know what had happened to change their plan, but she didn’t see Gee-One among the others. She tried to work up the courage to walk over to them, but her old fears returned and she stayed put.

Izzy felt herself slipping away. She was part of the moment but at a distance from it, as well. She had done what she wanted to do—save Jules and the farm. He was embracing his sister, and they were joined by another man, who Izzy guessed was Belen’s husband.

Izzy climbed into one of the landspeeders and powered it up. It wasn’t stealing if she was going to give it back. She would have left then if someone wasn’t standing in front of her, blocking her way.

Tap, of all people, had found her. “I turned on the lights. I told you I’d be helpful.”

“Good job, kid.” She couldn’t help smiling. “Where’s Gee-One?”

“Belen powered her down, but she’s up and running again.”

She didn’t feel too bad about leaving the stolen ship behind. If Gee-One didn’t fly it back out of sheer will, then someone responsible like Jules would.

“You were going to leave without saying good-bye?” he asked.

“Not everyone gets good-byes,” she said. “Go back to the others, okay?”

“I don’t understand,” he said. “We won. You don’t have to go.”

“I made a promise to someone.” She was thinking of Belen. Everything Belen had feared for her brother had happened, and she’d been put in danger, too.

Izzy held out her hand, and Tap slapped it despite his protest. “I’ll leave the speeder at Salju’s, okay? Let Delta know.”

“ That’ll go well.” Tap shook his head.

Then she left, and it took all her strength not to look back.

He kept trying to slip away, but everyone wanted to thank him personally. What had he done? Yes, he’d fought, but he had not been alone. That’s how you survive—together . That’s what his father had always said. He was convinced it was how they had all been able to get out alive.

Jules found himself searching the crowd for Izzy. They had to talk. He needed to tell her that nothing had changed the plans they had made. He believed her. He loved her. He needed her.

The night was so clear, the moons shone in beams. Oga’s people carried Ana Tolla’s crew away. His eardrums were almost pierced by Damar’s screams of Izzy’s name.

Then there was another matter entirely: his ship. His new ship, which he’d never flown, was already damaged from being hit during Safwan and Lita’s attempted takeoff. If not for Delta, they would have vanished into hyperspace. When she’d run back into the crew’s ship, her aim put a hole through the Ketzalian’s wing and grazed Safwan’s good shoulder. It was enough to impede their take off.

Volt walked up to him. His two mechanical fingers twitched as he scratched the side of his face.

“Heya, kid,” he said, rubbing the shiny plane of his scalp. He looked awake in a way that only fighting made him. He clapped Jules on the back, which was the last thing Jules expected after the creature stall incident.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Jules said. “I’ll pay for the damages.”

“The girl already took care of it.”

Jules wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Something stirred in his chest. “She did?”

“She came to me for help. Naturally, I couldn’t let anything happen to you. Who would buy any of my hooch if you were gone?”

Jules laughed, and pain bloomed across his ribs. He was pretty sure he’d bruised a few when he’d rolled off the ramp after Damar’s punch.

“Tap was brave,” Volt added. More and more it felt as if his friend was trying to distract him. “I know since your father saved him from the fire you feel protective of the child.”

Jules looked at the boy as he helped Delta up from the grass and they slowly made their way to his ship. His ship. “And Izzy?”

“She’s a good girl.” Volt gripped his shoulder. “She did the right thing.”

“What are you distracting me from?”

Volt sighed. “I don’t want to see you upset. She’s gone. Took a speeder and left. And I like her—I do—but you shouldn’t chase after her.”

Jules walked away before Volt was done speaking. He stood in the shadow of the barn. When he had woken up that morning, he’d thought he would never see Izal Garsea again. There was only one time he’d wished for her, a solid, tangible wish with a piece of yarn. It had been a month after her family left, and there were no signs that they’d ever return. He’d dreamed of her, and the reality had turned out more complicated than imaginable. But he wanted her despite it all.

Now he could divide his life into two segments: before Izzy and after. How could he love someone who was dead set on running from him? He watched the smattering of stars and imagined counting the freckles on her jaw, along her arm. He could connect the dots all the way to her heart.

As he rejoined his friends and family, he had never felt so far from a future he’d almost been able to grasp—there and then gone.

Izzy pulled up to Salju’s.

The woman was still working, tinkering with a small green waiter droid under the filling station’s lights. She took off her goggles when she heard Izzy approach.

“Glad you survived a full day on the Outpost,” Salju said, too cheery for how late it was. As she took in Izzy’s damp clothes, flushed skin, and disheveled hair, she added, “Just barely, I see. And you brought a friend!”

Lucky had caught up to her, but when Izzy stopped so did she.

“It’s been a long day,” Izzy said, and plopped down beside the girl.

“I see you’ve been to Volt’s,” Salju said, and pointed the screwdriver at Izzy. “I tell you, he tried to sell me back my own tooka after Kuma went on a personal holiday once. Come to think of it, I can’t find Kuma anywhere, so maybe Volt’s about to try it again.”