Silence settled around them, Darren’s words echoing in Aiden’s head. He wanted to fight, to expose Marcus and make him pay, to tell the world the truth about the Valrais. But the people who could help make it happen, the allies they’d found, were dying. At the rate Marcus was fishing them out, soon there would be no one left.
But with this… They could run. Slip under Marcus’ nose and save so many people. Aiden still had a hard time wrapping his head around the whole multiverses thing, but… They were at the end of their rope, weren’t they? Liu’s people were getting picked out. The limited resources they had were vanishing. Marcus was already working on the ES-1.
In the last couple of days, something had shifted. There was no balance anymore, they didn’t have an advantage they could use to take Marcus down. He was always one step ahead of them. He had more people, he had more resources, more power. He controlled most of the world already, and very soon the rest was going to fall into his hands, too. Aiden no longer had a future here in this universe. And neither did Darren, or any of the people who were part of this. They could still fight, yes, they could run and hide and bide their time and live in fear, but what kind of life was that?
The simple truth was that if they stayed, they were doomed, sooner or later. But if they used Dr. Batbayar’s discovery, they could win, even if they had to forfeit this particular battle. Theycould start fresh. They couldlive. They could build a whole new world and avoid the failures of this one.
All they had to do was to let go. Like Aiden had let Claudia go so he could move on, Darren had to do the same.
“Darren,” Aiden breathed out, squeezing Darren’s arm to let him know he wasn’t alone in this. “We can do this. We might not be able to make a life here, but noting is stopping us from starting fresh somewhere else.”
What if Marcus somehow found them?But he didn’t know about the jump drive or the multiverse. By the time he figured it out and built his own jump device, if he ever did, they wouldn’t be powerless anymore. They would be ready for him.
Darren squeezed Aiden back. The atmosphere in the room turned somber and heavy, though it also crackled with anticipation. With hope.
“We’ll build the device and jump. All of us. That way, we don’t have to fight a war that we cannot win. That way, we don’t have to lose more lives. We’ll… leave this universe to Marcus and go somewhere he can’t find us.”
Darren’s voice was laced with that note of authority only true royalty possessed. It made goosebumps rise all over Aiden’s skin. Something in him settled, taking the edge off and giving him hope that the end was within sight.
Just under two months ago, his life had profoundly changed, but it felt like he’d spent years on the run. And he was exhausted. They had twice as many losses as wins, and he couldn’t imagine how despairing that had to feel for those who’d actually been living like this for more than a few weeks.
“Leonard, how long will it take you to build the jump device?” Darren asked, directing everyone’s attention Leonard’s way.
“The engine modification is straightforward. The synchronization device…” Leonard scratched his head,whispering something to himself as his eyes strayed from the camera. “We’d need onejump drive,that’s what Dr. Batbayar called it, for each of our cruisers—”
“And one for the Maine,” Darren jumped in.
Leonard nodded. “And one for the Maine.” He waved his hand at Jerry, who handed him a tablet. He typed something, frowned, then typed something again. “If we get enough people working on them, we can do it in a day. However…” With a swipe of his hand, he connected his tablet to the video call, loading up the device’s diagram with a list of parts under it. The third item was highlighted in red. “This component serves as the conduit between the engine and the synchronization device… It’s a military-grade transfusion module and there are only four companies that manufacture it. They are all subsidiaries of the DuLaurent Corporation.”
“You’re kidding me. Are you saying we have tobuyit off Marcus?” Nyle jumped in, his wide-eyed face taking center place on the screen.
“I don’t think we can simply buy it,” Kristen said, squinting at Leonard’s list that had moved to the left side. “It’s a specialized component only used in military-grade vessels, like Leonard said. This designation here”—he pointed at a bunch of numbers and letters at the rear end of the rectangular, jagged part—“is for experimental tech. Only GN-certified vendors are even allowed to buy these. That’s usually private weapons and vehicle manufacturers that are contracted under the government.”
Aiden glanced at George at the same time Darren did.
“Unfortunately, none of my fronts has such a contract,” George said, his voice and expression apologetic.
Darren furrowed his brow, glaring at the screen. “We can’t build it ourselves?”
Leonard shook his head. “No. I’d need specialized equipment even if I could source the schematics. It could take weeks or even months. I… don’t think we have that kind of time.”
“So, we can’t build it and we can’t buy it,” Aiden muttered to himself. Realistically, that left only one option.
They had to steal that component off Marcus.
Nyle clapped his hands, grinning wide. “Oh boy. We have to steal a bunch of these components off Marcus, don’t we?” He snort-scoffed. “Man, this is such a bad idea.”
“It will be tricky,” George agreed, placing his lukewarm coffee on the desk and drumming his fingers along the star map railing. “But this time you have us too, and we can provide one hell of a good distraction.”
Everyone but Aiden and George went off to make the heist on Marcus’ factory on Earth happen.
“Mr. Matsumoto.” Aiden gripped his elbow, wondering what George needed from him. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Darren… He’s comfortable with you,” George said, his eyes studying Aiden’s face. For a reaction perhaps, though there didn’t seem to be any malicious intent behind it. “It’s nothing like the image I had of him based on what Liu told me about the heir.”
“He’s comfortable with everyone on the Maine,” Aiden countered, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, I’ve seen as much.” George smiled fondly. “However, with you it’s different.”
