Jane was absently chewing on the nail of her thumb. She sat still for a moment, but then switched places. That seat was no better than any of the other dozen she’d tried. She switched back. Then she gave up on being comfortable and started pacing as far as she could in the limited space provided by the Colibri’s main deck. .

On her ninth time past the table, she yelled, “How do you do it?!”

Vas and Reyer had a small cheap chessboard between them. They’d both been trying to ignore the doctor’s fidgeting—Reyer, out of consideration for her friend, and Vas, because he was trying to figure out how to save his queen without losing the game.

“What do you mean?” the captain asked.

Alix didn’t need clarification. “Distraction and denial. I work. I read. I don’t think about it.”

“But he’s out doing crap like this all the time!” Jane cried.

“There are a lot of books, Jane.”

The doctor grumbled something and continued pacing.

Vas leaned back in his chair. “Dr. Jane, are you actually worried about my brother?”

“Yes!”

“Like you might actually have affectionate feelings for him?”

“Adan,” Reyer chided.

It took a while, but eventually Jane said, “Of course.”

The captain crossed his arms and gazed at her.

When his insufferable smile was too much to bear, Jane snapped, “What is it?”

“I should be recording this,” Vas said. “Ciro would be touched to know how much you care.”

Before Jane could formulate a retort, there was a beep, and Lynx’s voice came out of the ship-wide speakers. “Captain, you’re needed at the controls. There might be a problem.”

Jane beat Vas to the ladder, but he made it to the top in time to hear her demand to know what was wrong. The captain pushed her aside so he could get to his chair.

Lynx said, “An incoming message has just been received by port-control. They’re looking for us.”

“Explain,” Vas said.

“They have the codes and ship identity we used to land. Your ID, as captain, has been flagged.”

Reyer made it to the top of the ladder.

“Can you intercept the message?” Vas asked.

“No, sir. I was monitoring only.”

Adan immediately began switching through his controls. “And this is why we didn’t get a motel. Buckle up, ladies. We’re getting out of here.”

“But Ciro!” Jane said.

“He’s been caught, Doctor! And if we want to save him, we have to avoid the same fate.”

Reyer grabbed Jane’s arm and dragged her over to the console chair. When Jane looked up at her, Reyer only repeated the command, “Buckle up.”

Jane fumbled to obey, while Alix sat down on the nearby bench.

“Shut the side hatch,” Adan said.

Lynx’s metal hands danced over his side of the controls. “Done, sir, but we're still moored to the deck.”

“Can you break into the network and release us?”

“It would take time, sir.”

“We don’t have time,” Jane said.

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She’d pulled up the feed from the exterior cameras of the ship. Peacekeepers were already assembling at the nearby port-control hub.

Vas sighed. “We’re going to have to blow it.”

Reyer pulled herself to her feet as Lynx said, “Are you referring to the pulse, sir? It’s never been tested.”

“We tested it once.”

“The test in question almost destroyed the ship, Captain. It required extensive repairs and serious modifications.”

Vas stood up and arched his back over his chair to reach a rarely used set of controls fixed to the overhead. “Well, we’ve got the modifications, so consider this test number two.”

“Adan,” Alix put a hand on his arm, “Open the hatch.”

“Why?”

“When there’s a malfunction, do you think the Supremacy’s programmers teach their machines to let go of things?”

“You’re going out there?”

“There’s a manual override. There always is.”

“They have guns, Alix!” Jane said.

“Not for long.” Reyer crossed over to the ladder.

“Wait!” Vas vaulted over his seat to get to her. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and clipped his com to it. “You know where the tools are?”

“I should. I put them back when I finished installing all those modifications.”

He kissed her forehead. “No dying.”

“Yes, Captain.”

She went down the ladder while Vas returned to his seat.

“Run the engines high and hot, Lynx. Are you secured, Doctor?”

“Yes! Vas, what the hell’s going to happen?”

“Even with the adjustments, I suspect you might feel a jolt.”

Reyer always had her multi-tool, but sometimes there’s no substitute for a massive piece of metal. She grabbed the largest pry wrench she could find and headed for the open hatch. The sounds of the engines were already deafening. The only people not clearing away were the security personnel, and even they had slowed their advance.

Alix was careful not to jump down the ladder. Each step was measured and cautious. Her back was already sore and protesting, and she suspected that shortly it would have some real complaints, but for now she could afford to be careful.

Once she was on the ground, she held the com up to her mouth and yelled. “Ready!”

Reyer had been there for the first test. Specifically, she and Peters had been yards away, hiding below the edge of the plateau, peering over the rim to see what would happen. She thought she knew how powerful it would be, but not even direct experience could prepare her for what it would feel like to be standing at ground zero.

In the same second, the shimmer of painfully white light bleeding out from under the thrusters of the ship dulled to a glorious blue, and the skittering scream of the engines plummeted into a booming note so low you heard it through your chest. That one beat slammed the air out of her lungs.

Reyer couldn’t feel the electromagnetic pulse, but the noise was enough to drive her to the ground. When she opened her eyes, she could see the security team, scrabbling to figure out what had happened. The Colibri’s engines sounded almost like purring compared to the chaos of the port. There was shouting and the clattering of feet on metal, but no other engines could be heard.

They would figure it out quickly. She didn’t have much time.

She half crawled, then half ran toward the first of three anchors. The lights on the mechanism were all dead. She dropped beside it and began running her fingers over the metal, feeling the seams and trying to figure out the components.

The thick metal clamp was so simple it was nearly invulnerable. Whatever opened and closed it was buried below the dead panel. Alix drew in a slow breath of hot air to quell the nerves ringing through her body.

She laughed when she noticed the scratches in the cement around the thin opening at the edge of the panel. Mechanics all thought the same. Why make something complicated when you could simply pry it up?

She jammed the pry end of her wrench into the seam and threw her body weight against it. The panel popped open. She reached in, grabbed the handle, and, while twisting, yanked it back to undo the lock. She almost fell backward when it disengaged, but she managed to catch herself.

The clamp didn’t open, but as she watched, the anchor and its entire housing started creeping up out of its place as the ship strained to pull away.

Good enough.

She picked up the wrench and ran to the next anchor. She’d barely released the third when the security team attacked. Since all of their e-rifles had been destroyed by the pulse, their only weapons were what they could scrounge from the port.

Unfortunately for them, the Supremacy never bothered to train their peacekeepers on how to use improvised weapons—whereas, Reyer had taught the Rising’s course on exactly that subject.

When the fight was over, Reyer limped to the hatch and threw her wrench and the crowbar she’d acquired into the ship before hauling herself up the steps.

She kicked the button to shut the hatch. Using the walls for support, she made her way to the ladder at the front of the ship.

From the bottom, she yelled, “Go, Adan!”

She heard Lynx start to say, “Miss Reyer, the ships sensors show the anchors—” but Adan ignored him.

The Colibri took off. The wires that tethered the anchor mechanisms to their respective slots were no impediment. When they snapped, one of the wires ripped the legs out from under a motionless bot, while the end of another sliced open the back of a peacekeeper who was still lying on the ground.

Corporal Burgos ran over and tried to stem the flow of his friend’s blood, despite the agony of his broken elbow.

A man ran up to him. “I need your com!”

“My com is dead! Along with all the other electronics in this place!”

“I know! Isn’t it wonderful!”

A port guard arrived with a first aid kit. As she took over seeing to his friend, the corporal stood to face the man. Burgos’s bloody hands were shaking.

“Who the hell are you?! Are you with them?”

“What? No! My name is Liam Antall. I’m with the military. I have to get a hold of someone back at the base.”

“Wha—why?”

“Don’t you see? They’ve figured out how to protect the ship!” As Antall ran off toward the hangar’s entrance, he shouted over his shoulder. “And it won’t be all the electronics. They have a limited range, you know!”