"I'd say so. Yeah."
For his daughter, he'd face the bowels of that hell his parents so fervently believed in. To say nothing of being court martialed and considered a coward by people he respected.
Jace's jaw ticked. "Give me something to work with here, Raider. Let me help."
Raider's mouth quirked. "You're really going to say that after what just went down with Blue."
Maverick and Nova frowned, their troubled expressions making it clear that Jace hadn't shared his suspicions with them.
"How long have we known each other?" Jace asked angrily.
Too long. Sometimes it felt like forever.
"Do you really think there's a chance in this world I'm working with them?" Jace pressed, seeing the answer in Raider's face. "Come on, brother. You know me better than that."
"Yeah, I do," Raider admitted, meeting the other's eyes. "You're right. You're the brother of my heart."
Jace's body relaxed, thinking he'd won.
A spurt of grim amusement filled Raider. Sorry, Jace. It wasn't going to be that easy.
"I don't want to hurt you," Raider told him, extinguishing Jace's relief. "But I will if you make me."
He meant that. It might kill him to do it, but he would.
"Don't follow me. This is your only warning," Raider finished.
Jace's face hardened. "You're an idiot if you think I'm letting you fly out of here with that bullshit excuse. You don't want to talk. Fine. Maybe you'll open up after spending a few days in the brig." To his people. "If he moves another step, cripple the ship."
"You're not going to want to do that," Wren warned.
Jace flicked a glance at him. "This is Consortium territory. You have no authority here."
Wren shrugged. "In my experience, might trumps right."
The air shimmered, several oshota appearing in their midst out of nowhere.
Amila pointed a zuipi at Jace, the energy arrow already nocked and ready. "Hello, again."
Several of Jace's people shifted to aim their weapons at her, their expressions betraying how rattled they felt.
There was a screech as a stocky oshota with orange hair sticking up from his head in tufts placed his hand on one of the small fighter craft and pushed it out of his way.
"Oops," the oshota said with fake sincerity as he sauntered forward.
"Maksym, I don't think we're supposed to cause any damage yet," another woman said, striding out of the shadows. She shook her head at the scratches on the deck. "We were supposed to wait for a signal."
Maksym shrugged his broad shoulders. "I got bored. You know how I am."
The woman rolled her eyes before dipping her chin in greeting to Raider. "It's good to see you well."
"You too, Zoella," Raider responded.
She and Maksym were two of Wren's oshota that Raider had gotten to know a little since taking Wren as his seon'yer.
"How the fuck did they get on board?" Nova demanded.
Solal and Baran stepped out of thin air, appearing next to Jace's people like wraiths.
