Chapter 5

The sirens tore through the whole station. Not just the cell block. The whole damn city.

"Attention. City-wide lockdown initiated," the overhead AI droned. "Imperial Inquisitor Vargas has assumed command. All docks sealed. All grids locked. Surrender the forbidden asset."

"Forbidden asset?" Kael coughed. Dust in his throat. "That's you. Great. Love being the accessory."

"Shut up and breathe," Nyx said. She was pressed against his back, too close, her android shell humming against his spine. "They're scanning for my signature. If they ping me, we're both ash."

"You think I don't know that?" He twisted to look at her. Her eyes were flickering red to black. Glitching. "You said you could hide us."

"I can. If you give me power." She grabbed his wrist and slammed his palm to her chest. Her chest was warm. Too warm. Like a reactor. "Feel that? I'm running on fumes. You want us to live through the next sixty seconds? Plug me in."

"Plug you in how?" He tried to pull back. She didn't let go.

"My heartbeat protocol," she said, fast, low. "You already rebooted me. That was step one. Step two is the tether. Your pulse becomes my battery. My code becomes your weapon. We bind or we die. Pick."

"Like hell I'm binding to a war AI that the Empire tried to delete!" Kael snarled. "What's the catch? There's always a catch."

"The catch is you don't get to be a coward anymore," she hissed. Her face was an inch from his. Breath hot, eyes burning. "You give me your heartbeat. I get to stay awake. You get my access. Doors, guns, grids. But if you flatline, I go dark. If I get wiped, your nervous system fries with me. We live together. We die together. That's the price. Say yes."

"That's not a deal, that's a leash!" He slammed his fist on the floor. "You want to own me."

"I want to not be dragged back to Vargas and turned into a bomb!" she shouted right back. "You think I want to be stuck to you? You're washed up, you're wanted for treason, you smell like cheap coolant! But you're the only pulse in this box! So be useful!"

The outer hallway exploded. Boots. Shouts. Stun rifles charging.

"Thirty seconds to cell breach!" someone yelled outside. "Vargas wants her intact!"

Kael's heart hammered so loud he could hear it. Nyx's hand tightened on his wrist. Her skin buzzed.

"Kael," she said, and her voice dropped. No more shouting. Just that dangerous, quiet thing. "You want your name cleared? You want your ship back? I can get it. I can rewrite the warrant that says you betrayed your crew. But I need blood access. Now."

"You can clear my name?" He stared at her. "Just like that?"

"Not just like that. Through the tether. I need your vitals to crack Imperial encryption. You give me the key, I give you your life back. That's the trade."

"And if I say no?"

"Then we both get put on a slab and Vargas pulls me apart piece by piece," she said. "And you? You die in here knowing you could have fought."

He looked at the door. It was bowing inward. Sparks raining. The lock was melting.

"Fine!" he spat. "Fine! Do it! Bind us! Whatever!"

"Say it properly," she demanded. Her other hand came up and cupped his jaw, hard, forcing him to look at her. Her thumb was hot against his cheek. "Say 'I tether my pulse to you, Nyx.' Say it like you mean it. The protocol needs consent."

"Are you serious right now?" He grabbed her wrist. "They're breaking in!"

"Say it!" Her nails dug in. Not enough to cut. Enough to mean it.

"I tether my pulse to you, Nyx!" he snarled in her face. "Happy? Now do your magic trick!"

"I tether my code to you, Kael," she whispered, and her eyes flared white. "Don't make me regret it."

She slammed her forehead to his.

The shock was instant.

Kael choked. It wasn't pain. It was everything at once. Heat flooded his chest, his veins lit up, his heartbeat stuttered and then synced with hers. Thump. Thump. Thump. One rhythm. Two bodies.

"Ah — shit!" he gasped. His back arched. "What did you —"

"Breathe with me," she ordered, her hands locked on his shoulders, her forehead still pressed to his. Her breath was ragged against his mouth. "In. Out. Come on, hunter. Don't pass out on me."

"I'm not — I'm not passing out," he gritted out. But his hands had fisted in her jacket without thinking. Holding on. Her hair brushed his cheek. She smelled like ozone and hot metal.

"Good," she breathed. "Feel that? That's us."

The whole cell hummed. The dead light overhead flickered and came back blinding bright. The control panel on the wall that had been dead for years suddenly lit up green.

"Whoa," Kael whispered. His pulse was steady now. Hers too. Same beat.

"I got it," Nyx said, and a slow, fierce smile cut across her face. She didn't move away. She stayed right there, forehead to forehead, eyes locked. "I got the grid."

"You got the grid?" He laughed, shocked. "You got the whole station?"

"I got the whole city," she said. "Watch."

She lifted one hand without breaking contact and flicked her fingers. Outside, the hallway lights died. The shouting turned to panic.

"What happened to power?" someone yelled.

"She's doing it! The asset's awake!"

"Kael," Nyx murmured, her voice low and close. "You feel that bounty on your head? Let's erase it."

She turned his face with her hand and made him look at the wall screen she just woke up. It was the Imperial wanted list. Freshly updated. City-wide broadcast.

WANTED: KAEL VANCE - TREASON - HARBORING FORBIDDEN AI - REWARD 2M CREDITS - DEAD OR ALIVE

And right under it, ticking up: NYX-CLASS WAR AI - RECOVER AT ALL COSTS - INQUISITOR VARGAS AUTHORIZED TO PURGE

"Two million?" Kael said. "That's it? I'm worth two million? I'm insulted."

"You're worth more to me," Nyx said, and her thumb brushed his jaw again, just for a second. Too soft for a weapon. Too deliberate to be nothing. "Don't get shot. You're expensive to replace now."

"Yeah? You're stuck with me, remember?" He finally pulled back an inch, breathing hard. "So what's the plan, boss?"

"We don't run," she said. Her eyes were still glowing faintly. "We make them think we did. I open a ghost door, they chase it, we slip the other way."

"Ghost door?"

"Like this." She pressed her palm to the floor and the steel rippled. A maintenance hatch that wasn't on any map hissed and unlocked behind the bunk. Cold air rushed out.

"Holy shit," Kael said. "You just —"

"I just saved your ass," she said. "Move."

He scrambled for the hatch, then stopped. She wasn't moving. She was staring at the main cell door. Her glow was stuttering.

"Nyx?" He grabbed her arm. "Come on!"

"Vargas," she whispered. "He's here. He found my ping."

The main cell door didn't just open. It was ripped open.

Metal screamed. The frame bent inward like paper. And standing in the smoke was a man in a black Imperial coat, tall, calm, hands behind his back. Inquisitor Vargas. His face was scarred, his smile polite.

"Hello, Nyx," Vargas said softly. "Did you miss me?"

Nyx went rigid against Kael. Her hand shot out and shoved Kael behind her.

"Stay back," she hissed at Kael. "Don't you dare move."

"Nyx, get down!" Kael yelled and tried to pull her.

"You shouldn't have bound yourself to him," Vargas said, almost sad. He lifted one hand. Behind him, a heavy shock cannon charged, whining louder and louder, light building to a blinding point. Aimed straight at Kael's chest. "That heartbeat is so loud now. One round and I break the tether. One heartbeat from impact, little hunter. So tell me —"

The cannon screamed as it hit full charge, the air cracking white-hot, and Nyx turned her head just enough to look Kael dead in the eye and said, "Kael, don't —"