Pallas's snicker followed her as she trudged after the drone. "Best catch him before he goes too far. You wouldn't want to leave your best friend behind. You have a ruse to maintain after all."
And there was the asshole she'd come to know and hate.
Kira didn't go far, only a few steps back along the path they'd trekked before she cupped her hands around her mouth. "Get back here, J1N!"
The drone stopped, swiveling in place as if trying to establish her location.
"That's right. This way," Kira called.
She waved her arms, hoping movement would help the glitchy drone figure out which way to go without her having to walk all the way back to the ship.
The drone veered to the right.
Kira dropped her arms to glare at the J1N. "Don’t make me come over there."
The J1N didn't seem to hear. Or if it did, it failed to recognize the significance of that threat.
It continued bumbling in the direction it had chosen.
Graydon stopped next to her. "Better catch it before it gets lost."
Now there was a thought. Unfortunately, not one she could pursue if she ever wanted to return Jin to his body.
Thankfully, corralling the drone didn't take long.
"Stop wandering off and just follow," Kira ordered after catching him.
"Follow. Roger."
"Not that way." Kira grabbed the J1N when it immediately set off in the wrong direction. "This way."
She steered it back onto the right path before cautiously letting go. To her relief, it stayed on course this time.
Kira trudged after the rest. Pallas and Lathan had already set off again, but Graydon waited for her to catch up. He nodded as she passed him, falling in behind her.
The group set a punishing pace as they moved over the rolling hills near where they’d landed. It wasn't long before Kira found herself wishing for some kind of specialized snow equipment.
Even with Pallas blazing a path, the going was tough with the snow reaching to Kira's thighs in some places.
Ice from last night's storm had created interesting shapes among the branches of the trees. Twisting ropes of icicles bowed the trees, their canopies nearly sweeping the ground from the weight.
It was strangely beautiful. A sight that deserved to be captured and memorialized forever.
The thing Kira was most worried about, however, was the possibility of straying into one of the numerous rivers that riddled Rothchild's surface. There was a reason this planet was referred to as the river world.
Rothchild had no real ocean. Just a series of great lakes and rivers that covered huge swaths of the planet.
Flooding during the rainy season was a nightmare.
For their purposes, though, it was the possibility of one of the rivers partially freezing over that presented the most danger.
If they stepped onto ice that wasn't fully frozen without realizing, they could fall through and drown. Even if they managed to find their way back to the surface, they faced the very real possibility of hypothermia.
Up ahead, Pallas stopped walking. He lifted his forearm, bringing up the map and coordinates Kira had given him. "Something is wrong. We should have been there by now."
Kira caught up, the J1N continuing past. The sound of icicles cracking came as it veered into a tree.
Graydon lifted his eyebrows at Kira as he and Lathan joined them.
"Are you sure what you gave me is right?" Pallas asked.
"Like I told you—the blast changed the moon's orbit. It affected the planet's magnetic field. It'll throw off any navigation you have."
She was starting to regret not allowing Selene to accompany her on this mission. Anything would have been better than dealing with Pallas.
"And like I told you—there's no way I'm trusting any humans to work on my ship." Pallas tapped his forearm, dismissing the map. "Besides, didn't you say you wanted to do this as quickly and discreetly as possible?"
Kira spread her arms to indicate the desolate landscape. "Look around, brother dearest. Does it look like we've accomplished either of those objectives?"
They were lost. Not to mention, they were being followed.
A fact all of them were aware of but had chosen to ignore in the interest of finding out more about their trackers.
They'd picked up the first a few miles back. Since then, others had joined.
Kira counted at least six out there. She'd yet to determine whether they were hostile or simply curious. It was possible they were locals who were exercising an abundance of caution. A smart choice given the current state of the galaxy.
Or they could be part of the roving bandit clans Kira had heard plagued the planet's surface.