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“Okay, now we make a plan to find it,” he said.

“That means you need to tell me about this world of spires, waterways, and bridges.”

His face darkened. “I think we need to go over all the information in your map first. See if there is anything I or my team can pick out that’s familiar.”

“You’re not telling me something.”

“Dakota—”

The comp screen flashed to life again. It was Ry, standing on the bridge. “Dare, we need you on the bridge. We have a problem.”

Dare strode out onto the bridge with Dakota by his side. There was a tense atmosphere, all his crew looking his way with worried faces.

The Nomad wasn’t moving.

Dare automatically checked the screens. The convoy ships were all still in line, waiting on the Nomad.

“What’s going on?”

Nissa stood from the captain’s chair. “A power distributor failed. We’ve lost most engine power, and there’s no way we can travel at interstellar speed.”

Dare sucked in a breath, conscious of Dakota watching him. “What happened? When was the distributor last checked?”

“Before we left Galaxy’s Edge,” Ry answered. “It was in perfect condition.”

There was silence.

Dare didn’t like the implications. “You’ve got someone down there looking at it?”

“Geneva is down there, swearing at it.”

The ship’s engineer. The woman loved starships more than she loved people.

A muscle in Ry’s jaw ticked. “Right now, she’s thinking it’s been tampered with.”

“Fuck.” Anger flooded Dare. No one tampered with his ship. Out here, it could mean death. “You’ve checked security footage.”

“Sayer’s in the security room. Hasn’t found anything.”

Dare looked at Dakota. She lifted her hands. “Wasn’t me. I wouldn’t know a power distributor from a spark plug.”

“Do we have a spare?” He looked back at his team.

Nissa shook her head. “Geneva says one is listed in inventory, but it isn’t there.”

“Dammit,” Dare bit out.

“Good news is that we’re pretty close to two planets that would have the parts,” Nissa continued.

Dare had spent time cultivating relationships with most of the planets along the convoy routes. For situations just like this.

“Rostrum,” Nissa said.

Rynan crossed his arms. “No. It’s a safety risk. Its people have been locked in a civil war for decades.”

“And Sulla,” Nissa said.

Dare’s chest locked. Damn.