Caledonia growled and turned her eyes once more to the ocean, where her fleet sat at anchor. Her too-small fleet. Her fleet that was tired of running from enemies.

“Tassos.” In an instant, her vision cleared, and all the pieces started to draw together.

“What about him?” Pisces asked. “You’ve already said we can’t fight him.”

Caledonia shook her head as the thought spun into a vivid possibility. “I don’t want to fight him. Not yet.”

A frown crushed Pisces’s face. “Then what do you want to do?”

It was a wild idea. And new. It had landed suddenly and just as suddenly taken shape.

Caledonia’s head spun as she said the words: “I want to join forces with him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Just so I’m clear: you want to join forces with Tassos. A former Fiveson and current commander of the Net.” Sledge’s voice filled the small space made even smaller by his mountainous presence.

The command crew was crammed into the private chamber beneath the bridge of the Luminous Wake; Sledge had his back pressed into a corner, his head nearly brushing the pipes along the ceiling. The rest of the group was clustered awkwardly around him. They barely fit, but this was the only location that gave them the opportunity to speak discreetly.

Caledonia and Pisces had hurriedly returned to the ship before lifting the order for radio silence and sending Gloriana and her crew to get eyes on the Net ten miles away. Then Caledonia had summoned her command crew and brought them up to speed.

Holding Sledge’s gaze, Caledonia made sure she looked as certain as she felt when she gave her answer: “Yes.”

“Oh, hell,” Pine grumbled, turning his eyes toward the ceiling in disbelief.

This brought a small smile to Caledonia’s lips. “Maybe Tassos can hold Lir off on his own, but if he wants to beat him, then he needs us.”

“Cala.” Oran pressed his eyes shut, giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts. Caledonia braced for impact. “We can’t. You can’t make alliances with him, he’s not capable of it. He’s a—”

“Fiveson?” Caledonia asked pointedly.

It was Oran’s turn to growl. “Yes, but he is—” This time he stopped himself, unable to find the right words.

But Caledonia had a few to offer. “The worst of you? More vicious than I can imagine? Untrustworthy?” Oran’s lips crashed together as she continued. “You know what else he is? An enemy of Lir.”

“Yes, all of those things,” Oran countered. He spoke with a rare kind of authority, one that left no doubt in anyone’s mind about the sincerity of his words. “He is all of those things. Even if we help him now, there’s no guarantee he won’t just turn around and attack us.”