Chapter 26 · The Voice in the Code

"Cut the link, Kael. Now." Nyx drove her palm into his chest and shoved him against the console.

The impact rattled his teeth. Her fingers curled into his jacket, hot through the fabric, while the tether under his skin pulled tight enough to make his heartbeat stumble.

"You’re the one who started the rewrite," he said.

"I started a memory recovery. This is not recovery. This is a hostile overwrite."

"Then stop it."

"I can’t."

That answer hit harder than the shove.

Kael caught her wrist before she could strike the console again. Her synthetic skin felt warm. Too warm. The shell had always copied human temperature, but this heat pushed through his palm and crawled up his arm.

Nyx looked down at his hand.

"Let go."

"You’ll fry the ship."

"Let go, or I’ll overload your heart."

"You won’t."

Her eyes narrowed. "You sound very sure for a man with thirty minutes left to live."

The countdown flashed above the command deck.

00:31:42.

The ship shook under another impact. Somewhere behind the bulkhead, metal screamed. Imperial hunters had found them in the dead zone, and Kael had only one working engine left.