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First, all communications in and out of that little room were cut off—save for their link to Caligher’s ship. Commander Collins tried calling on someone there as a last resort, and the only thing he succeeded in doing was finally waking Caligher up.
His eyes opened, serene and lucid.
They locked on Lucca through the camera feed. No one else came as the commander’s demands went through the system.
Some dancing, electric spark hummed beneath Lucca’s skin. She could swear she felt the burst and pulse of heat beneath the walls. All the little paths, the gates, the processors working with their infinitesimal magic. And when she blinked, in the warm darkness behind her lids, she almost caught a glimpse of the golden tether to that other ship—connecting her to Caligher.
She caught a dazzling, super-connected picture of everything.
The circular, interconnected orbit.
The heat flowing through the star system.
The Ternetzi sun itself.
Guiding everyone… home.
It drew her out of that dire, sad little office. Lucca had never been alone. Never once. She opened her eyes and it was just as suddenly—gone. Too large, too unreasonable, to grasp with her human hands and human mind.
But she had for a millisecond.
Other voices surrounded her. When she turned, she found the door’s single intercom activated. Alex Stephenson and Astyanax stood on the other side, arguing with Commander Collins.
Alex was no longer cowering.
The pirate was threatening this entire room from the safety of his position. He was threatening to vent it—kill them all—and get rid of Terry Collins once and for all.
Commander Collins lost his shit, shooting at the door when itstillrefused to open. Not an advisable idea—but he was desperate.
He may have been cornered, but the moment that door opened, the commander and his men would outnumber the pirate and Alex. Everyone seemed to grasp it, even Lucca.
Alex addressed Lucca. “There’s only one way to do this,” she said frankly.
Lucca understood.
Get rid of this entire room, and they could get rid of the commander. It made a sense of loss well up in Lucca—she didn’t want to die. And Alex and Astyanax were waiting for her permission.
She couldn’t stop herself from leaking a few tears as she threw another lingering glance at Caligher.
“You’ll save him?” Lucca asked, hating that she had to put her trust in the people who were about to kill her.
“Yes,” answered Alex.
Everyone ignored the escalating shouts of the commander.
Everyone on this side of the door was dead.
Caligher’s eyes moved around, taking in the room from his limited viewpoint, understanding slowly erupting. He knew what was about to happen. He knew who was standing outside. He tried to open his mouth to protest, but that was when the pain and damage wrecked him.
He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t stop it. But if Lucca didn’t agree to this, she would never get him out.
A sob bubbled in her chest, but this was what she had come here to do.
“I love you so much,” she said to him over the screen through tears. It almost seemed fitting that she had to say goodbye to him over a screen, over comms.
She collected her courage, her face burning with tears, and faced Alex.
“Do it.”
