Targo had his own safe box on the seat next to hers, and Rathi kept her breathing even as the shuttle took off and accelerated away from Balen. A tear tracked down her cheek as hours passed and the ship ran through its first automated jump. The moment that they had resumed travel to the next jump site, she felt a hand on her skin. Looking down, there was no one there. She whispered, “Jarrod?” A kiss to her lips left her in no doubt that she wasn’t alone in the shuttle. A tiny smile crossed her lips, and she enjoyed a stroke on her cheek before a tiny movement behind her told her he was settling back to the floor. Rathi chuckled and stroked Targo. He was hopping up and down eagerly, enjoying his first space flight. The second jump was followed immediately by a third, and an hour after that, the ship began running a complex web of signals that were picked up by the satellites in orbit around Resko-Devi. The shuttle slipped through the defence grid and began its pre-programmed descent to the surface.
