“How . . . did you say we were going to leave?” she asked absently, but Robb shook his head, because however they were going to leave, they definitely couldn’t now. Not with all those waiting outside.

E0S bleeped slowly.

Suddenly, a streak of black and chrome cut through the formation like a knife, leaving pieces of skysailers in its wake.

The Dossier.

It had arrived.

Robb took Ana by the hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back. “We’re getting out of here,” he assured her. Then he let go of her hand and leaped across the gap to the cable. The elevator had stopped two floors up, so it was a clean ride all the way down. Viera took a running start after him and followed.

The sound of the patrol came closer. The beams of their flashlights reflected off the walls, turning the red emergency lights into a murky pink.

“E0S, you go first—E0S?” Ana glanced over at the bot.

It hovered, quiet, and then it bumped its bulbous lens against her forehead—as if to tell her not to worry, something Di had done so many times in the past—zipped down the corridor, and was gone into the shadows.

“E0S!”

“Ana!” Robb called up.

She touched her forehead where E0S had bumped against her and made up her mind. E0S knew what it was doing, and she had to trust it. She jumped for the elevator cable and followed Robb and Viera down into the murky depths of the dreadnought.

Robb

The docking bay was a sight for sore eyes. A line of skysailers stretched out across the landing area, and through the glass windows of the gigantic bay doors, he could see a little of the firefight going on outside. The Dossier kept the schooners busy, but he wasn’t sure how long the captain could keep it up.

Hopefully she wouldn’t need to for much longer.

Where was Jax? He checked the holo-pad in his coat. They had less than two minutes to get out of here.

Nervously, he tapped his comm-link. “Ma’alor?”

There was only static.

I shouldn’t worry. He’ll be here, he thought, and started for the closest skysailer. “You two keep a lookout while I hot-wire this thing,” he told both Ana and Viera.

“But aren’t we gonna wait for Jax?” asked Ana, looking around again as if hoping he’d appear.

“We are—I’m just getting a ship ready.” He hit the windshield release on the vehicle. The glass dome popped open and he hopped inside, shimmying over the passenger seat. Underneath the console was a small panel that opened up to the circuitry.

Now he was having flashbacks to Neon City.

Don’t think. Just cross a few wires and—

“Is that the bridge up there?” Viera pointed toward the ceiling.

Absently Robb drew his gaze up, and wished he hadn’t.

From the ceiling, a chamber jutted downward and extended out to the tip of the dreadnought, windows on all sides. The bridge. Even though it was dark, he could make out two figures inside. And he’d know that silver hair anywhere.