Eventually her breathing evened out and she dropped into sleep.

What was I doing? I could smell Nadira next to me. She’d cleaned up since I’d broken her out of the lab, but even when she'd been dirty and terrified, I could smell her essence underneath it all. She was sweet and clean.

Good.

Not for me.

The layers of fabric she wore had kept my hands from her skin as I lifted her, but it didn't matter. I craved her touch.

And that wasn't a distraction I needed right now.

“Are you sure?” Erich said from the corner of the room.

I sat up, carefully, so as not to disturb Nadira, but she slept on.

The dark blond hair tangled across Erich's face, like it always had. His mouth twisted into a smile, ready to call me out for being stupid, being a stickler for orders. Just like nothing had ever changed.

“Of course I'm sure. There's a mission on.”

"Ronan, sometimes missions change. You know that."

For all the times he was right, this couldn't be one of them. I didn't have to close my eyes to see the pit, to feel the knife in my hand, at my throat. To watch them all fall.

"What do you think Doc would say?" Erich sat on the bed next to me, looking at Nadira. “I think she'd like her.”

Void, the idea of two bossy doctors in my life. But that wasn't right, was it? Doc wasn't in my life. And Nadira couldn't be.

"Go to sleep, Ronan." Erich walked away. "If for no other reason than you're no good to anyone wounded. Not her, not me, not the others.”

That at least was right. Nadira’s arm had fallen out from the covers. As I lay back next to her, I allowed the back of my hand to rest against hers. Just the lightest of touches, but it was enough.

A sharp thunk startled me from sleep, then another crash.

I grabbed Nadira’s shoulders, pushing her into the back corner of the bed while I wheeled to face whatever was attacking.

"Ronan, the rocks. It’s Loree."

Rocks. Loree. Right.

She wiggled past me on the bed and waited at the door. “Aren't you coming to see what she found?”

I carried the extra chair over to Loree’s room. She better have found something good to make up for that bit of embarrassment.

“You can tell us while I check you out,” Nadira ordered. “And you better have found enough to make you happy, because you’re going to take a rest for a while.”

“No argument from me,” Loree said. She looked better than when she was in the cage, but not by much, to be honest. I figured that observation wasn't worth making aloud, and waited to hear what she had to report.

“The ship’s name is the Pyrian Star. You were right about when it launched, if it matters. I've gotten into their comms, but there’s something strange.”

Nadira looked at me. “I thought the Hunters got orders directly?”

Loree answered first. “If you mean the black androids, I think they might. It was weird, the ship received the message and acted like a relay, retransmitting it short range.” She looked at me for confirmation. “The Hunters have receivers on them? In them?”

“More or less,” I nodded. “But that’s as much as I know.”

“That explains one mystery. But not the big one.” She tapped the panel again. “The message made no sense and I haven't gotten into navigation yet to figure out where we’re headed.”

“Start with what you have. What did it say?” Nadira asked as she finished dosing Loree up.

“‘The Daedalus experiment has been terminated. Return to the compound for further instructions.’” She shrugged. “That was it, no explanation about what the experiment was, no explanation about this compound, no coordinates, nothing.”

But I didn't hear anything past the first part of the message. The Daedalus experiment. That would be us.

Terminated.

I swallowed and tasted dust coating my throat.

Whoever the hell was giving orders, we weren’t terminated yet. Not as long as I was alive.

Nadira laced her fingers through mine and, with a mental push, I shifted back to the conversation at hand.

“I think we need a new plan,” she said softly.

I shook my head. “I can't allow-”

“I agree, we can't let the Hunters or whoever’s controlling this to touch them. But if we got your brothers away, could you think about another option?”

“Wait,” Loree’s eyelids fluttered open. “Brothers? You have so much to explain later.” Her eyes closed again, though I suspected she wasn't all the way under yet.

“If I promise to help you keep them safe, will you help us escape? All of us?” Nadira’s gaze pinned me while she waited.

The weight of the decision hung on my shoulders like bricks of permisteel. But she was right.

If there was a chance to find out who was giving the Hunters their orders, where this compound was, then killing all the Hunters in the universe wouldn't be enough.

“We need a ship.”

“Could we take control of this one?”

I rocked back in the chair, considered. “A possibility, but I'd be hesitant to try. If the enemy has had it all these years, they could have back doors in all the systems. Even if we took it, I don’t know if we could keep it.”

Nadira nodded, apparently unconcerned. “Then we need a different ship. They either brought us here on a shuttle, or one of those Darts you mentioned, right?”

“Probably, but I don't think we should trust anything of theirs. I’d hate to think we’d gotten away, and then realize they could control navigation remotely, bring us right back to them.”

“You’re not the only one. So, we need a different ship.”

Logical, I’d admit, but it begged another question. “How, exactly, do you plan to do that?”

“Send a distress call. While the Imperial forces are thin out here, surely there are other crews who might be persuaded to pick us up.”

I scrubbed my hands through my hair, wincing a little at the tangles. “I know you're not from out here, honey, but people on the Fringe mind their own business. You'd have to offer a lot to get someone to come and get us all off this thing. Not to mention we don't have control of the airlocks. And let’s not forget, we’re in jump space.”

“One thing at a time,” she said primly. “I think with a carefully worded message, we could convince someone to get us. But they might not be the nicest people.”

I grinned. “You get a ship here; I’ll get us on board. Leave that part to me.”

“Won’t the Hunters notice the transmission?” came a mumble from the bed.

“Do we have a choice?” was the only answer I could give.

Nadira frowned at us both. “Loree, I thought you were going to sleep.”

“Soon. Can’t help it.” The redhead had brought the commtab back to life. “First we’ve got to get out of jump space.” All the information stayed flat in the screen, but the weird display didn’t seem to bother her. She flipped and tapped it until she let out a satisfied grunt. “There, that's the way to get to the engine rooms.”

I looked at the diagram she pulled up, matched it to my mental map of where I’d already explored. “I don’t think I’ve been that way. Hard to tell.”

“It’ll be an adventure.” Nadira sagged into her chair. “We need more of those, right?”

“Like how to disable a jump drive?”

“I have schematics, not an operating manual,” Loree muttered. She silently flipped screens, and then hissed in victory. “‘Emergency procedure instructions.’ This should do it.”

Nadira waited, curled small in her chair. I kept my grumbling to myself.

She should be back in bed, resting. There wasn't any reason for her to be up and listening to this. Loree could tell me and then I'd go do the whatever, and then we’d come up with the next step of the plan.

But, before I could say anything, Loree looked up, biting her bottom lip.

“To take the ship out of jump manually, two people are required.”

Hell.

“That makes sense, some sort of failsafe.” Nadira’s voice was even, but I could hear the strain in it. “Just tell us what to do.”

I muttered to myself while Loree ran through it and then we studied the map again for the best way to get down there.

By the time we were done, Loree had drifted off again. “It's all I can do. Tell me when you're back.”

Nadira tucked her in carefully and then turned to me with a bright smile on her face.

“Ready to go blow things up?”