I looked pointedly at Fiona again. “And they don’t matter if you’re not gearing up an escape pod right now.”
She opened her mouth to argue but then shut it. I’d announced that it was a pod or death, and my crew knew I always meant what I said. The two were likely synonymous anyway.
“I won’t let the military take back the serum. They’ve been working on that enhancer since I was a kid, and if we stole their secret lab and their only batch, there’s a good chance it’ll take them years to create it again.” And if my freakish blood really was the base ingredient, and they’d used their entire supply to produce those thousands of fake cure-alls, which my gut feeling told me they had, then they were about to be shit out of luck.
Fiona’s brow furrowed. “How do you know they’ve been working on that serum since you were a kid?”
Ignoring her question, I informed them of my decision. “I’m taking theEndeavorand the false vaccines into the Black Widow. If you don’t want to come with me, you need to get outright now.”
The crew all looked at me with little surprise. In addition to categorically needing to keep the enhancer out of the Overseer’s hands, we were out of time, and we’d run out of chances to get away. Capital punishment or, if someone was feelingverygenerous, life in jail were our only future options. It was really a no-brainer, at least for me.
The ship groaned again, and my console flashed to indicate a breach at the starboard door. Dark Watch goons were inside the air lock. They still had to break through the safety entrance, but that door was nothing compared to the outer wall.
Bridgebane’s voice barked over the com. “I’m taking the Overseer’s lab back, and you’re all going to be court-martialed in Sector 12.”
“Tell him who you are, Tess,” Jax whispered, the scar on his cheek whitening from the tension in his jaw. “It’ll stop him. Your father…”
I laughed. It burst out of me, awful. Then I squared my shoulders and told my best friend and first mate the one thing he still didn’t know about me.
“My father handed me over to Bridgebane when I was eight years old, and only three days after my mother died, with strict orders to keep me in an air lock onDark Watch 12until the ship was out of my home Sector and then float me into space.”
Jax’s jaw dropped. Miko gasped. Shiori stayed silent.
“Who the hell is your asshole father?” Fiona asked.
I glanced at Big Guy, who was staring at me. I didn’t mind that he was here for the truth, but maybe that was because I wouldn’t have to worry about it for long.
“Bridgebane is the one who took me to Starway 8, but he said if he ever saw me again, he’d do what my father first asked.”
Jax cursed. “So Bridgebane is the good guy in all this?”
“Bridgebane is a bastard. And my name will only get us all killed faster than we’re already going to get killed anyway.”
“Who the hell is your asshole father?” Fiona practically snarled.
I wanted to snarl back what had always been in my heart.That man has never been my father!
“Who the hell areyou?” Fiona demanded.
My pulse pounded so hard I heard it in my ears. Tess Bailey was about to die along with the rest of us. “I’m Quintessa Novalight.”
My friend stumbled back against Jax’s broad chest. That was the power of a name.
The blood visibly drained from Fiona’s face. “As inGalactic OverseerNovalight’s dead daughter?” she choked out.
Clearly, not so dead after all. Yet.
Nodding, I owned up to the name I hadn’t used in years and to the family I wished I didn’t have. “Daddy is the evil overlord of the galaxy, and Bridgebane is my uncle.”
Everyone stared in shock, even Jax, who already knew who I was.
“So… No one’s leaving?” I eventually asked, not surprised, but not happy, either.
No one spoke. TheEndeavorrattled like a sick metallic animal and then groaned again hard.
“We’re as dead out there as we are in here,” Miko finally answered. No one contradicted her, so I figured she spoke for them all.
“Big Guy?” I asked, turning to the bearded man.
