Page 25 of Downfall

“Tessa,” Stag repeated, touching her shoulder. Her chin turned back to him first, before her hesitant eyes followed with a flash of annoyance. She wanted to keep watch. “Get up. Let me take over.”

“You look like crap, Stag,” she protested.

“I’m fine. Get up.”

He was not fine, but he was even more not fine with her going into whatever paranoid darkness was threatening to swallow her up. She let him unstrap her harness and pull her out of the seat, then he slid into it. There was no copilot’s spot in the Raptor. The only other seat was nestled against the back wall, used for emergency passengers. Instead of going back there, she sank to the floor beside him. He reached down to stroke his fingers through her hair, keeping an eye on the radar but mostly just thinking through their next steps.

He could already imagine what was going through her mind: the weight of the realization of what she’d just done. No way did she go down to that brig, having planned for it to go this way—to assault her former comrades, smuggle him out on a stolen Raptor, and damage her station while doing so. She’d come down there to get answers so she could forget him, maybe get a little electric revenge. Instead, she threw her whole future away on a whim. What was she thinking now? Was she regretting it? Was she scared she had tied herself to him forever, this man she barely even knew?

“Look,” Stag began, “when we get toOlympus, I’ll—”

“God, I’m so relieved,” she breathed out.

Stag looked down at the top of her head. “What?”

When she craned her neck to look up at him, his heart skipped a beat. She didn’t look scared, or regretful. She looked… hopeful?

“Will they accept me? Your people?”

Stag cupped the side of her head with one hand, tracing his thumb along her cheek. “I’ll make damn sure of it.”

“You know, about us... I… I don’t expect you to suddenly—”

“Shut up, Tessa,” he said softly, and the way her mouth closed with a little frown made him smile as he bent down to press an upside-down kiss to her lips.

* * *

He course-corrected them toward his estimated location ofOlympusafter about an hour, making it a winding beeline rather than a straight shot for safety. The Raptor had been fully fueled, and he’d venture it had about five hours of flight-time total. Stag was determined to leave a safe buffer zone. He cringed at the potential irony of getting stranded in a Raptor with heragain—probably shouldn’t push their luck a second time.

“Raptor ID Aspen 9. Report your origin and intentions.” They both sat up straight, Tez rising to her feet beside him as the voice came through the comms.

“Olympus, this is Stag Len, approaching in a confiscated Raptor with two souls on board.”

“Aspen 9,repeat.”

“This is Stag Len in a confiscated Arvex Station Atlas Raptor. Two souls on board. Friendly.”

“Holy shit,” the voice on the other end crackled. “I mean, sorry. Cleared for a direct approach to Dock Alpha. Welcome home, Commander Len.”

CHAPTER15

TEZ

“I’m sorry, what?” Tez blurted out, staring at the man in the pilot’s seat.

“I’ll explain everything once we’re in,” he said.

“CommanderLen?”

“Tessa. Let me bring this ship in, alright? I will explain when we’re there.”

“You’re the descendant.” It dawned on her.Hewas the one they found, with the necessary genes to control—command—the colony ship.

Stag’s brows pinched in frustration, and Tez forced herself to shut up and strap into the seat at the back, mind reeling as she caught up, putting together all the stories he’d shared down on Arvex like a puzzle.

If he was the commander, that meant… if he’d died down there with her,Olympusand everyone on it would have stood no chance. They couldn’t survive on a ship no one could control.

As they came in for their approach, the sheer enormity of the colony ship grabbed her attention. It was hull from left to right and up to down. All hull in her vision for miles.Olympuswas the biggest thing she’d ever seen. Bigger than any station, any ship. Maybe even bigger than Arvex itself, once they’d mined it to the core. Her head spun as the colony ship’s airlock swallowed them like a beast, straight into its belly.

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