Instead, he turns to face me, and for the first time, I see it.
Not the warrior.
Not the killer.
Just the man.
And he looks at me like I’m not broken, either.
Like maybe, just maybe, this is the start of something real.
Something worth remembering.
CHAPTER 27
VALTRON
The second I see that battered freighter docked three berths over, I know who it is.
Nobody else in the quadrant’s dumb enough—or stubborn enough—to keep flying a cargo hauler that looks like it lost a bet with an asteroid belt. The hull’s more patch than metal, the port engine wheezes like it’s got asthma, and someone welded a decal of a naked Jarnathi dancer across the nosecone.
Only one bastard could pull off that aesthetic and call it functional: Tev Drax.
Sure enough, the airlock hisses, and there he is. Eyepatch still crooked. Grin like a knife. Smelling of engine grease, cheap spice rum, and bad decisions.
“Well, well, if it ain’t the ghost of war crimes past,” Tev drawls, striding into the station lounge like he owns it.
I don’t stand. Don’t need to.
“Didn’t think they let your kind in respectable establishments.”
He snorts. “They don’t. Lucky for me, this ain’t one.”
We clasp wrists like old soldiers, quick and tight. The kind of grip you only give a man who’s pulled your broken body out of a burning drop ship once.
“Tev,” I say. “What the hell brings you here?”
His grin fades. “Trouble.”
We sitin the dim booth of a rundown diner, booths sticky with spilled synthbrew and time.
Tev drops a datachip onto the table between us. I don’t touch it yet. I already know it’s going to suck.
“Alliance tag,” he says. “Still active.”
“Old ID?” I ask.
“Yeah. Yours. Codename designation—‘Steelwake.’ Sound familiar?”
My jaw clenches.
They only used that name when they needed something dead and didn’t want to admit who sent it.
“It’s marked ‘AWOL War Asset,’” Tev continues, voice low. “Live bounty. Mid-tier, quiet payout. Been active for three years.”
I blink. “They never cleared me?”
“Someone didn’t get the memo. Or didn’t care. Could be a deepfile agent. Could be political leverage. Point is—they’re still looking.”
