"Screw the mission!" Rin shoved her. It wasn't a playful shove. It was forceful, knocking her back a step. "You think Xavier is going to let you just walk out? After everything? You think he dragged you through the mud, the blood, and the fire just so you could file a report?"

Arlen regained her balance and shoved him back, hard. Her knuckles connected with his chest plate. "He doesn't own me, Rin! And neither do you."

"He doesn't have to own you," Rin snarled, grabbing her wrist before she could swing again. "You're already his. Don't lie to me. I can hear your moans every night. I saw how you look at him and act around him. You're lovers, Arlen. Act like it." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Arlen twisted her arm, breaking his grip, and drove her shoulder into his chest. They crashed into the metal bulkhead, grappling. It was ugly. No technique, just desperation. Knees scraping against steel, breath hitching in throats.

"We aren't lovers!" Arlen screamed, pinning his arm against the wall. "It was a deal! A transaction! I used him to get out of the pit, and he used me like a fuck toy! That's it!"

She stared at him, her chest heaving, her eyes wet with angry tears she refused to shed. "It's nothing. I am nothing to him."

Rin stared back, blood trickling from a cut on his lip where he'd bitten it. He didn't buy it. He could see the lie rotting her from the inside out.

"You're a terrible liar," Rin whispered.

He raised his hand, not to hit her, but to grab her collar.

The comms unit on the wall crackled, static slicing through the tension.

"Bridge to quarters," a voice rasped. It was Jace, one of Kylus's deckhands. "We got a... situation at the airlock. Unidentified arrival. Guy looks like he went ten rounds with a grinder. Says he knows you."

Rin didn't let go of Arlen's collar. "Name?"

"Says his name is Klatos."

The fight drained out of Arlen instantly. Her hands dropped from Rin's arm. Rin frowned, stepping back, wiping the blood from his mouth. They exchanged a look—confusion, mixed with recognition.

"Let him in," Arlen said, her voice shaking slightly. "We're coming."

Klatos looked less like a man and more like a wreckage site.

He was slumped in a chair in the mess hall, nursing a cup of synthetic stimulant. His armor was shredded, exposing burns and lacerations that had been hastily cauterized in the field. One of his eyes was swollen shut.

When Arlen and Rin walked in, Klatos tried to stand, groaned, and sank back down.

"You look like hell," Rin said, pulling out a chair and sitting opposite him.

"You should see the ship I crashed," Klatos wheezed. He took a sip of the drink, grimacing. "Good to see you, Rin. Arlen."

Arlen stood by the table, arms crossed. She was back in officer mode, hiding the turmoil from ten minutes ago.

Klatos looked around the empty mess hall, his good eye darting to the shadows. "Where is he? Where's Xavier?"

"Xavier is... detained," Rin said carefully. "He went back to Helior Prime. Had to grab his gear from the hotel. He'll be back."

Klatos nodded, as if that made perfect sense. He leaned back, wincing as his ribs shifted.

"Good. Good. I was worried I beat him here."

Rin narrowed his eyes and drummed his fingers on the metal table.

"Klatos," Rin said, his voice dropping an octave. "How did you know to come to this specific ship? We didn't broadcast our position."

Klatos blinked. He took another long sip of the stimulant. "Xavier told me."

Arlen stiffened.

"He contacted me," Klatos continued, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. "Encrypted channel. Said he secured an alliance with Kylus. Gave me the frequency and the coordinates. Said to meet him here. Said everything was settled."

Rin stopped drumming his fingers.

"Right," Rin said, forcing a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course he did."

The blast doors hissed open.

Kylus walked in, followed by Reva, Viola, and his assistant, Vea. Vea was scrolling through a datapad, looking bored, her heels clicking on the deck.

"So this is the stray?" Kylus asked, looking Klatos up and down with distaste. "You didn't mention we were running a refugee camp."

"He's an associate," Arlen said quickly, stepping between Kylus and Klatos. "He's clear."

Reva stopped near the door. Her crimson eyes locked onto Klatos. She didn't speak. She just watched him, her head tilting slightly to the side like a bird of prey listening for a heartbeat.

"Well, if he's staying, he eats last," Kylus said, turning toward the galley. "I'm starving. Vea, get the nutrient paste or whatever passes for food on this rust bucket."

"It's protein synthesis, sir," Vea corrected without looking up. "And we have actual steaks in stasis. I thawed them."

"Marry me, Vea," Kylus muttered.

"Declined. I don't want a proposal like that."

The tension in the room dissipated, replaced by the mundane noise of a crew getting dinner. Kylus and his team moved to the larger table.

The mess hall was quiet, save for the scraping of metal utensils on ceramic plates. Kylus sat at the head of the table, picking at a synth-steak that was bleeding red juice onto his plate. He didn't look like a man who had just narrowly survived an orbital bombardment; he looked bored.

"So," Kylus said, stabbing a piece of meat. "The kid. Xavier. Where the hell does he come from?"

He chewed slowly, his eyes scanning the table. "I've seen freaks. I've seen genetic mods. I've seen Cultists who graft demon skin to their faces. But him? That's not a mod. You don't buy that kind of pressure in a shop. My scanners didn't pick any signals either. He is 100% human."

Viola didn't look up from her datapad. She was eating with one hand, typing with the other. "Don't look at me. My scanners broke trying to read his bio-density. He's a walking error code." She gestured with her fork toward the woman sitting at the far end of the table. "Ask Reva. She's the ancient one. She's been smelling his blood longer than any of us."