The system whirled, and suddenly Jax gasped, his back arching off the gurney, hands curling into fists, and fell back again. The life support clicked again, and he inhaled, then exhaled.

Inhaled. Exhaled.

A soft, steady beep filled the medical ward.

Jax’s heartbeat.

He was alive.

Robb slowly sank to his knees beside the gurney. A bead of sweat curved down the side of his face, and he wiped it away with a shaking hand.

Ana fell back into one of the chairs. “Goddess” was all she said.

He felt about the same.

When the blood had stopped rushing to his ears, he realized everything was quiet. The firefight was done, and that could only mean the Dossier had escaped the schooners.

The intercom crackled and Siege’s voice came through. “Report—how’s Jax?”

Finding his legs, he pushed himself off the floor, stumbled around the gurney to the intercom, and pressed the button to feed him through. “Captain, we had to put him on life support. He—he stopped breathing and . . .”

And the longer he is on life support, the less likely he’ll ever be off it again. And we don’t even know why he stopped breathing.

But it seemed like the captain already knew what he didn’t say.

“Aye. Lenda, take the helm. I’m coming down,” the captain said, and ended the connection.

If it weren’t for the wall, Robb wasn’t very sure he would still be standing. This felt too much like his mother’s death, and his father’s.

He was powerless to stop any of them.

The captain appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later and surveyed the cargo bay. Elara and Xu were sitting in front of the skysailers, Viera in the doorway to the engine room. Things had been tossed around and knocked over, supplies scattered like confetti. Her hair simmered orange-red, accented by her brown skin. Talle came out of the doorway behind her, following as Siege shrugged out of her red murdercoat and hung it on the end of the stair railing.

Robb met Siege in the doorway to the medical ward. “He stopped breathing and we don’t know why and Ana and I tried to—I had to—the life support was . . .” His shoulders hitched as a sob escaped his throat.

“Oh, darling.” The captain sighed and brought him into a hug.

He buried his face into her shoulder and tried to keep himself together, and he felt like he was the only one unraveling. “H-he’s . . . he’s not . . .”

But he couldn’t get the words out.

So Ana spoke for him. “We don’t know why he stopped breathing—it doesn’t make sense. He’s perfectly fine, but . . . he just stopped breathing. I think—I think he needs a doctor.”

Talle shook her head. “There isn’t a hospital that’ll serve us.”

“Xourix?”

Siege sighed. “We just got word it was raided last night. By Messiers.”

Ana gave a start. “And everyone in Xourix?”

“Arrested or HIVE’d.”