“Nova to base!” he shouts. “We got pirates incoming!”
I duck instinctively, then roll my eyes. “What kind of pirates, lieutenant?”
“The tickle kind!”
He pounces. I shriek, laughing as he tackles my side with sticky fingers and a war cry. For a second, I forget everything. For a second, I’m not the woman who used to command cadets and file black-sector reports. I’m just Nova. Mom. Home base.
Verzius sighs, theatrical. “Should I even bother warming the synth stew, or shall I prepare for pirate casualties?”
Later, Dar’s knocked out cold in a tangle of blankets and plushies. His chest rises and falls slow and even, thumb still half-tucked into his mouth. I kneel beside the bed, brushing his curls back with one hand.
“You’re too much like him,” I whisper.
Not bitter. Not sweet. Just… tired.
Kaz never met him. Never knew.
He probably thinks I betrayed him and walked away.
And maybe I did.
But I also saved his life. And this one—this little life snoring softly beneath my palm—that’s the piece of him I couldn’t lose.
The encrypted job offer hits my inbox just after midnight.
Subject:CONFIDENTIAL – FLIGHT ANALYSIS POSITION (ALX COMSEC 3/Theta)
It’s loaded with redacted strings and triple-authenticated seals. High pay. Short-term contract. No questions.
I stare at it.
Verzius leans over my shoulder, sipping purple tea from his “World’s Okayest Babysitter” mug.
“Well, that looks suspicious.”
“It’s probably military.”
“You swore off the military.”
“I also swore I’d never date a fellow pilot, and we saw how that went.”
He hums. “Touché.”
I close the message. Then reopen it.
Dar’s tuition is due in two months. Rent’s climbing. And the job pays more in two weeks than my current gigs in six.
I enter my biometric key and hit “Accept.”
Verzius doesn’t say anything when I pack the flight tablet and lay out my old uniform jacket. He just folds a small pair of socks into Dar’s overnight bag and hands me a stim patch.
“You’ll be back by morning?”
“That’s what the brief said.”
“And if you’re not?”
“Then tell Dar his mom’s off chasing stars. He’ll believe you.”
