"Eighteen years ago," I whispered. "When I was seven. They killed my parents in front of me—said it would teach me the value of cooperation. Kelloch did it himself. Enjoyed every second." The admission tasted like poison. "My 'escape' was just a transfer to another facility. I was re-catalogued and spent the next fifteen years as property in their system. I've never forgotten. Never stopped planning to go back."
The temperature in the cockpit seemed to drop. When Talon spoke again, his voice carried something cold and lethal that made the hair on my arms stand up.
"He's going to die slowly."
It wasn't a question or a promise. It was a statement of fact. The matter-of-fact brutality of it should have frightened me. Instead, I felt something dark and satisfied unfurl in my chest.
"Then we don't have much time," I said, my voice regaining its strength. "If that financial system goes live, whatever is in that vault will be locked away forever. The Maw is our only chance."
"How do you know so much about their operations?"
"Because I've spent eighteen years on the inside," I said, the admission becoming the only solid thing in the room. "Listening in mess halls, pulling whispers from data streams, trading favors in the dark. I've been planning to hit The Maw for years, but I could never get close enough. Their security is too tight for one person. But with your skills..." I met his gaze. "We could do it. Together."
The silence that followed was loaded with possibility and danger in equal measure. I could see him processing the information, weighing the risks against the potential rewards. His plan had just become exponentially more dangerous—but also more possible than it had ever been.
"You're certain about the location?"
"I could navigate to The Maw in my sleep," I said. Then I gestured to the flickering console. "But not in this ship, not right now. She's barely holding together. We need a place to make proper repairs, get supplies, and come up with a real plan of attack before we go anywhere near that fortress."
He nodded once, a sharp movement that sealed our alliance. "Then we find a place to disappear."
As I moved to the navigation console, my hands steady despite the magnitude of what we'd just committed to, I felt something shift in the dynamic between us. For the first time since he'd cut through my hull, I felt like we were truly on the same side. Not captor and captive, not predator and prey, but something else. Something that felt dangerously close to partnership.
I had given him the truth. His failed plan was suddenly viable again, but only with my help. The power had shifted into my hands—I now controlled both the location and the approach knowledge, making me irreplaceable. For the first time since I'd lost everything, I felt dangerous.
And I was going to savor every second of it.
TALON
Istared at the coordinates glowing on the screen, my mind running scenarios while another part of me—the part that had kept me alive hunting my master's murderers—assessed the woman sitting across from me.
Tamsin had just handed me the location of the real Regalia. But more than that, she'd given me something I'd never expected to find: a partner whose hatred burned as deep as my own.
This changes everything,I thought.I need to get a message to Rylos, update the mission parameters.But the comms were still dead. That would have to wait.
"The Maw," I said, testing the name. It felt appropriate—a place that devoured ships and lives with equal hunger.
"Kelloch's fortress." Her voice carried the kind of controlled hatred that took years to perfect. "He's turned that asteroid into a monument to suffering. Processing levels, holding cells, training facilities where they break people into compliant property."
The details painted a picture I'd seen before, in other facilities run by other monsters. The Conclave's network of allies was vast and cruel, each one finding new ways to monetize human misery.
"The approach will be tricky," she said, pulling up a star chart. "The electromagnetic interference that hides the station also blinds sensors. We'll have to navigate by visual reference and dead reckoning for the final approach."
"Can you do it?"
She looked at me with something approaching incredulity. "I've been studying their approach vectors for years. I know every asteroid field, every navigation hazard, every sensor blind spot between here and The Maw." Her confidence was absolute, unshakeable. "The question is whether you can get us inside once we arrive."
I considered the problem. A fortress built into an asteroid, defended by paranoid slavers with everything to lose. It would require precision, timing, and no small amount of luck.
"What do you know about their security protocols?"
"Standard Kythara operating procedure," she said, calling up a schematic from memory. "Automated defense platforms in the outer approaches, manned patrol ships in the middle zone, and layered screening at the station itself. They'll scan for weapons, contraband, anything that doesn't match their manifest expectations."
"And inside?"
"That's where it gets complicated." Her expression darkened. "Kelloch doesn't trust anyone, not even his own people. The station is compartmentalized—different security zones, limited access between levels. The Regalia will be in his personal vault, deep in the core where only he and his most trusted lieutenants can reach it."
The scope of the challenge was becoming clear. This wasn't just a theft—it was a surgical strike against one of the most paranoid crime lords in known space.
