Andi’s hands slid onto Dex’s shoulders. He eased into her touch. “Mulling over our impending deaths,” he said.

She huffed out a laugh as she slid into the seat to his right, dressed in her usual black, her hair braided back to reveal the silver implants across her cheekbones. She belonged here, too, in the stars, heading toward another mission. Dex could see it in the way she moved, the way she held herself—she was in her element again.

“We thrive in the face of death, Dex,” Andi said, crossing her legs, the tips of her boots kicked up against the viewport. “I thought you knew that. Once a captain, always a captain.”

“Or a general,” Dex said dryly. “We’re really messed up, Andi. How did it come to this?”

She shrugged. “The galaxy wanted nothing to do with us. So we had to wreak a little havoc in return.”

“Speaking of Havoc,” Dex said, looking over his shoulder. Andi had insisted the creature be brought along, for when they rescued Gilly. She’d said some part of her hoped that Gilly would remember the bloodthirsty little beast. That even if the compulsion held, her love for Havoc might have remained. Dex had agreed, if only because he loved Andi—and because he’d arranged for Soyina to be the one to deliver the creature to their new ship.

He reached across the space between himself and Andi now, grabbing her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Do you truly think we’ll survive this?”

Andi’s eyes found the streaks of starlight as she spoke. “I’m really hoping so.”

“But you’re not certain.”

She smiled sadly. “Life isn’t about certainty, Dex. It’s about taking risks, and hoping that they’ll pay off. No one ever lived by playing it safe. I wasn’t going to stay down there, hiding out, while my crew’s lives were in danger. Watching the clock run down, hour after hour, until Nor swung that second blade. We had to leave that place, at one time or another. Nor just fast-forwarded the clock. Got us into motion sooner than we’d planned for.”

“I know,” he said. If he’d been in the same situation, he wouldn’t have been able to sit idly by, either. He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be by your side the whole way. And Eryn will keep us all hidden until the moment is right.”

“And I won’t hand myself over until they agree to release Breck’s and Gilly’s minds from the virus,” Andi said. “They will walk free, and then you’ll help get me out of there. We’ll get into the mansion, shut down the weapons system...and that will be the end of it all.”

“For now,” Dex said. “There’s still the matter of freeing the minds of millions of other people.”