"And giving people a reason to believe resistance is possible," I finished.
He nodded once.
Silence stretched across the bridge.
Then Vaelix's eyes lit up. "That will stretch their fleet farther than they want."
"It also gives us freedom of movement," Torvyn said.
"We take responsibility for how this spreads," I said. "And we use that leverage to save as many lives as we can."
Torvyn nodded once, decision made. "We have our strategy. Let's execute."
He turned briskly. "Kira, can you canvas the crew for decoy volunteers? Make sure they understand what Kaedren said about extraction protocols."
"I'm on it."
"Kaedren, analyze corporate frigate deployment patterns. Identify stations farthest from fleet concentrations and map extraction routes for the volunteers."
"Already running the calculations," Kaedren said, his fingers moving across his console. A faint smile crossed his face. He liked this. The challenge of it.
"Vaelix, reach out to your contacts inside corporate space. Find ways to push both Kira's message and the Kappa-7 broadcast onto corporate-owned stations."
"I have three possibilities in mind already," Vaelix said. "One of them owes me a significant favor."
"Lyrin, compile a list of target colonies. Cross-reference with known frigate locations. You know what we need."
"You'll have it within the hour."
"I'll write a script and record the messages," I said. "That way, Vaelix has something ready to send."
Torvyn looked at me. Pride flickered through the Tether. Quiet recognition.
"Are we missing anything?" he asked.
"If we are," I said with a small grin, "we'll find out soon enough. But we have a plan. Let's move."
My Knights nodded and went to work.
I lingered on the bridge as they dispersed to their tasks, my eyes drawn back to the frozen image on the viewscreen. The woman from Kappa-7 stared out at me, chin raised, exhaustion carved into every line of her face.
She was fighting because she believed rescue was possible.
Because of what we did.
I hadn't asked to become a symbol. None of us had planned this. Not just me, but Torvyn's tactical mind, Lyrin's quiet strategy, Kaedren's insistence on protecting the people we put at risk, Vaelix's network of contacts that would carry our message into corporate space.
We had just been honest together. Named the truth aloud when everyone else was pretending it didn't exist.
Maybe that was enough. Maybe that was everything.
We would know soon enough.
Chapter 9
The crew dining hall held maybe thirty people. Less than usual, but it was past dinner service.
I pushed synth-grain around my plate, watching the room without watching it. Two days since the uprisings had started spreading. Two days since I’d stood on the bridge and chosen strategy over retreat.
