Tyra stood at Nico’s bedside and watched the boy sleep. He was resting quietly after the procedure, and by the time he woke up, the minute incision she’d made wouldn’t show at all. She’d left the tattoo for now.

She checked his vitals one last time, then left him to take another look at the microchip she’d removed. It looked so harmless now. It was smaller than the one Dante had been injected with, which she assumed was because it was only made to carry information, not explosives.

Later, she’d give it to Eric to look at. Of course, she’d have to tell the others what she’d done, first, starting with Dante. Once he’d finished scolding her for keeping her plan a secret, he’d help her find the right way to inform the commander.

When the med-bay door opened, she assumed it was Dante. She set the chip down and turned to greet him, only to stare in confusion. There was no one there.

“Well, that’s odd,” she muttered to herself and turned away.

“Not odd. Just good tech.” A woman’s voice came out of thin air somewhere to her left.

Tyra spun in that direction in time to see the air dance in distorted waves to reveal Dr. Downs with a blaster in her hand and a cold smile on her face. “Hello, Dr. Li.”

Tyra kept her shock at bay long enough to position herself between Downs and Nico. “I don’t know how you got in here, but you can’t have him. Nico deserves so much better than anything Bellex could ever give him.”

Downs actually looked surprised. “You think I’m here for the boy?”

“You’re not? What else could you want? I’m damned sure you can get your hands on a sample of cobalt anytime you like.”

“You’re right.” Downs’ calm confession hit Tyra like a runaway comet.

“I’m… what?”

“Right. About all of it. Bellex, the cobalt, the hellish and probably very short life that boy will have if he goes back to the company.” She waved a hand at herself. “They own me, too. At least, they did. You’re going to help me change that.”

“Like hell I am.”

Downs lowered the blaster slightly. “I don’t have time for this, so I’ll make it simple. You managed to get the chip out of the kid’s neck, and now you’re going to remove mine. That’s all I want.”

“How did you know about that? And how the fraxx did you get in here?” Tyra’s mind was racing as she tried to make sense of everything.

Downs growled in frustration. “There’s no time. Right now, your teammates are distracted, and so is Everest. This is my chance. My only chance. Whatever tools you used to get that thing out of the boy, grab them and come with me.”

“No.”

“If you don’t, I’ll kill him.” She stepped to the side and pointed the blaster at the bed where Nico slept. “You can try to stop me, but it will take the others a while to get here, and I’m a decent shot. The odds are not in your favor.”

Tyra knew that if she went with the other woman, the chances of her living to see another day were close to zero, but she wouldn’t risk Nico’s life to save her own. Dante would understand. If the worst happened, he’d take care of the boy. In fact, he’d be the perfect protector and mentor. The thought gave her pause. If she lived, she’d have to give that more consideration.

She nodded. “I’ll go with you, but only if you leave him alone. And he stays here. If you want a hostage, you’ll have to make do with me.”

Downs lowered the blaster. “Like I said, he’s of no interest to me. Get moving. We don’t have long.”

Tyra went to the sterilizer, pulled the instruments out she’d need, and placed them in her med-kit. While she was doing that, she managed to pull her comm out of her pocket and tuck it into the kit without Downs noticing. “You still didn’t tell me how you got in here, or how you think we’re going to walk out of here together.”

Downs patted a small device attached to her belt. “It’s called a personal shield generator. I don’t understand the technobabble, but basically, it bends light around the wearer, making me more or less invisible. Very handy little gadget. We’re not going to walk out of here—you are. At least, that’s what the ship’s sensors will think.”

“You’re not hiding at the moment, though.”

“No need. This ship’s AI was very helpful. It explained that it was monitoring the corridors of the off-limit areas, not the rooms themselves.”

There hadn’t been time to activate the distress beacon on her communicator in the second she had to smuggle it into the kit, but eventually, Downs would let her guard down. All Tyra had to do was be ready to move when that moment came. She closed her med-kit and set the strap over her shoulder. “I’m ready. Where are we going?”

“Not yet. Where’s your comm?” Downs demanded.

“On my desk, along with the chip I took out of Nico,” she lied.

“I’m surprised you didn’t call for help the second I showed up.”

“I was distracted by the crazy lady pointing a weapon at me and an innocent child.”

“I’m not crazy, I’m desperate. This chip in my neck contains an explosive. Fun fact, they designed these things to heat up to over one hundred degrees before they go boom, which means if I screw up, I don’t just die, I die screaming. I’ve seen it happen, and I’m not going out that way.” Downs gestured to the door. “Move it. And remember, you’re walking alone. Nice and casual. No trying to attract attention, no sudden moves.”

“Got it. Since I can’t see you to follow you, you’re going to need to tell me where we’re going.”

“Deck two. Shuttle bay four. I need to put as much distance between me and this fraxxing place as I can before they figure out what’s going on. I don’t know what the range is on the detonators, but it can’t be that far, or they wouldn’t have sent Chad on this mission.”

“Chad? What detonators? You still haven’t told me how you knew I removed Nico’s chip, either.”

“You are full of fraxxing questions, aren’t you?” Downs touched a switch on the shield generator, and a second later she had vanished from sight, with only a faint shimmer marking her location. “I’ll make you a deal. Do what I tell you when I tell you, and I’ll answer all your questions once you’ve got this chip out of me. After that, I’ll tell you every Bellex secret I know.”

Tyra walked into the corridor and set out for the shuttle bay, hoping with every step that she’d cross paths with someone so she could signal them for help. She held onto that hope until she stepped on board the Bellex ship and the door sealed behind her with an ominous thud.

“Strap yourself in. It’s going to be fast launch. Once I’m sure we’re in the clear, you’re going to take this thing out of my neck and give me my life back.”

Tyra took her seat without saying a word. She hugged the med-kit to her chest and tried to work out a plan. If she activated the beacon now, the team would stop Downs, but Downs would have more than enough time to kill her before they got inside. Once she removed the chip, Downs would kill her anyway. That is, if she managed to remove it without setting off the explosives and killing them both. She needed to time this carefully if she wanted to get out of this alive.

The only thing she was certain of was that the moment she hit the beacon, Dante would come for her. No matter what happened next, she wasn’t alone anymore.

Dante left the briefing room and headed to Eric’s domain, a cubby-sized room aft of the cockpit. Inside the heavily-shielded room resided the electronic brain of the ship, along with an ever-expanding collection of partially repaired systems, tools, and spare parts that Eric affectionally referred to as his hoard.

He considered stopping by the med-bay to update Tyra on his way but decided against it. Dax would want a full report on what Everest’s odd fashion accessory was and how it worked, and he’d want it soon. Dante had let his temper get the better of him back there, and that meant he needed to stay on target for the next while or he’d be on the receiving end of a verbal ass-kicking from his commander.

Eric was in his usual spot, reclined in a chair, feet propped up on the desk. His eyes were closed, and his slack expression clued Dante into the fact Eric was jacked directly into the Malora’s system even before he spotted the telltale cord trailing from his arm jack.

He smacked Eric’s boot. “Wakey-wakey, Magi. Commander’s got a job for you.”

Eric’s eyes snapped open, and he held out a hand expectantly. “And hello to you too, Buttercup. Whatcha got for me?”

“A new toy for you to play with. I think it’s some kind of weapon, so try not to blow us up while you’re figuring out what it does.”

Eric sat up and took the band from Dante eagerly. “Oh, shiny. Where’d this come from? Details, big guy. I’m going to need details.”

“You weren’t listening in?”

“Not this time. I’ve been running surface scans trying to find a match to the chemical signatures your Daisy gave me earlier.”

“My Daisy? Please tell me that’s not the nickname you’ve chosen for Tyra.”

“You like it? It was that or Tiger Lily, but she seems more like a Daisy to me.”

“What is it with you and the nicknames? You need a hobby. Get out more. Maybe try talking to people in the real world instead of that tribe of digital delinquents you call friends.”

“The last time I tried that, it didn’t go well for me, remember?” Eric’s words were colored with hurt and regret. “I should probably stick to the digital world for a while. The real world is a little too real for me these days.”

“You couldn’t have known. You were only just getting to know her.”

“I should have known something was up. That’s our whole fraxxing job, and I didn’t see it. Maybe if I had, she’d still be here. Maybe they’d all still be here.”

“Yeah, and if wishes and buts were candy and nuts, no one would ever go hungry.”

Eric’s lips quirked into a momentary grin. “That’s your sage advice? Really?”

“My mother wasn’t big on wisdom.”

Eric scoffed. “Or empathy, apparently.”

“Not so much, no. Now, if we’re done discussing the many ways the women in our pasts have let us down, can we get back to your new assignment?”

“Tell me about this shiny gizmo and what I missed while I was hooked in and tuned out.”

Dante leaned against the wall, the only spot he fit in the cramped space, and recounted the highlights of the meeting with Downs and Everest. He included his recollections of his brief captivity. Eric interjected with occasional questions that helped jar loose a few more snippets of memory, and by the time he was done, he was even more certain Everest and the man he’d met on the surface were closely related.

“You got access to the DNA we pulled off me after I was taken?” he asked out of the blue.

“Yeah. Most of it belonged to the guys who gave you that beatdown.”

“Any of it unmatched?”

Magi held up a finger and closed his eyes for a few seconds, scanning through the digital records through his data port instead of doing it manually. When his eyes opened again, he was grinning. “How’d you guess?”

“Playing a hunch. I’ll ask Rossi to get a DNA sample from Everest and run it against our mystery match. They have to be connected somehow.”

“It’s worth a shot. I trust your hunches more than most people’s facts.”

“Thanks. I’m going to leave you to it. I need to talk to Rossi, and then I want to let Tyra know what happened.”

“Say hi to Daisy for me,” Eric gave him a jaunty wave before picking up the wristband.

“She’s going to hate—” He was cut off by a strident alert erupting from his communicator, as well as Eric’s.

“That’s the emergency alert!” Eric exclaimed, dropping the band and activating a holographic display that filled the air around him with streams of data.

“Is it the ground team or Dax? Where do I need to be?” Dante itched to be moving, but he needed a destination before he took off running, and Eric already had the information flowing directly into his mind.

“Neither. It’s Tyra. Son of a starbeast, when did that happen?”

“When did what happen? Damn it, Magi, what’s happened to Tyra?” He tried to lock down his emotions and think clearly. He grabbed his own comm and checked it. There was no mistake. The emergency beacon was from Tyra’s device, and it was…

“When did she leave the fraxxing ship?”

“Hang on, big guy, I’m trying to figure that out.”

“Do it fraxxing faster and tell me when you know something. I’m headed to the cockpit.”

Eric merely nodded and kept working as Dante headed for the cockpit, dropping into his chair with enough force it groaned in protest. He ignored it and got to work, activating the standard drive engines while ignoring the computer’s attempts to make him follow the required checklists and procedures. After a few seconds of fighting with it, he slammed his fist down on the edge of the console and snarled. “Computer, pilot override code gamma-seven-delta-three-zero-strike-zero. Authorization Strak, Dante. Confirm.”

The computer chattered in what he swore was the electronic version of alarm and then replied. “Override code accepted and confirmed. Pilot has full manual control.”

“Finally.” He watched the displays show the engines wind up to full power. Not that it mattered. He couldn’t go anywhere until he had a destination. Tyra was out there, and he needed to get to her. Now.

“Magi! Get me some fraxxing coordinates,” he roared, not bothering with the communicator, or even turning around in his chair.

“Are we going somewhere?” Dax’s voice cut through the red fog of anger and worry that clouded Dante’s mind.

“Tyra’s distress beacon went off. She’s not on the ship, sir!”

“I know. Which is why I’m here. You’re about to head after her in my ship, leaving our ground team unsupported on the planet.” Dax clapped a hand on Dante’s shoulder. “Take a breath, Strak. You’re no good to her if you’re not thinking clearly.”

He sucked in a lungful of air, exhaled sharply, and turned to look up at Dax. “Now can I go after her, sir?”

“Now we can go after her. Permission to leave orbit granted…once we have her location.” He raised his voice to a shout. “Magi, we need coordinates.”

“Got ‘em! Should be coming up on your screen right now.”

Dante locked the coordinates into the nav-computer. She was headed out of the system on a damned fast ship. Luckily, the Malora was faster. He hit the maneuvering thrusters, turning the ship end over end and pointing her away from the planet, then opened the throttle. “I’m coming for you, sweetheart. And when I find you, I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”