Chapter 3
The ready room door closed behind us. Whatever had passed between Torvyn and me in there had shifted something fundamental. I could feel it in the way his hand found mine as we walked back to the bridge.
"We are changing our strategy," Torvyn announced as we stepped onto the bridge together.
The crew looked up. Then they looked at our joined hands.
Vaelix was the first to react, eyes wide with surprise.
He glanced at me, and I shot him a grin.
He nodded, just enough for me to catch it.
I looked over at Lyrin. Relief washed over his face.
He'd never been good at conflict. Finally, I looked at Kaedren.
His expression was stoic, a warrior ready to go where ordered.
"What's the new plan?" Vaelix asked.
Torvyn turned to me. "Would you like to fill them in?"
I squeezed his hand, then looked at the Knights. "We're going to run silent and keep a low profile, but we're focusing our efforts on freeing the service colonies."
"Will that actually do anything?" Kaedren asked.
"We think it will," Torvyn said. "Kira has years of experience working under corporate rule. I deferred to her expertise in making this plan. We need to hit the corporate leadership where it hurts."
I nodded. "The goal is to make them scared and uncomfortable."
Lyrin's eyes widened. "We make them rely on themselves."
"Exactly," Torvyn said. "This is a strategic adjustment, not a retreat. The corporations have focused their security countermeasures on the things they think we've assigned high importance."
"The money and factories," Kaedren said.
"Yes," I said. "They don't consider the service colonies valuable in the traditional sense. To them, what those colonies provide is taken for granted."
I'd seen it firsthand. The way corporate overseers walked past cleaners like they were furniture. The way "companion" schedules were optimized for executive convenience, rather than human rest cycles. Workers weren't people, they were infrastructure that happened to bleed.
"But this isn't just about changing targets," I said. "It's about changing what we stand for. The old way was about hurting the corporations. The new way is about who we protect. We lead with liberation, not destruction."
"Freeing laborers doesn't move the needle on the news broadcasts. Money isn't being lost. There aren't any flashy images to project to the galaxy."
Vaelix looked up from his screen. "According to my analysis, freeing five service colonies will create a chain reaction that could decimate vital services in the corporate headquarters' worlds."
Kaedren grunted. "It would also slow down repairs to their frigates. What happens when they start protecting the service colonies?"
Torvyn grinned. "That's when we hit the supply chains and production centers. We use the money we... liberate... to pay off the bounty hunters chasing us and give them new targets. Thoughts?"
"We'll need to select our targets carefully," Vaelix said, already pulling probability matrices onto his screen. "If we liberate too many service colonies in one sector, we'll increase our odds of being captured or destroyed by forty-seven percent."
"Our medical bay is already close to full capacity," Lyrin said, concern underlining his words. "We'll either need to move our current patients to allied worlds, which I hate, or reconfigure a supply bay. These people need stability."
"I'll need to double-check our weapons stockpiles and recalibrate the shields," Kaedren said. He didn't look happy about it. "Our shuttles will need to be inspected as well. We'll be leaning on them hard, and I don't trust anything that hasn't been tested under fire."
Torvyn nodded. "Excellent. We have our plan. You all have your assignments. It's time we take the fight to the corporations. Dismissed."
I cleared my throat.
Torvyn looked at me. I raised my eyebrows, jerked my head toward the ready room, then jerked it back toward the Knights. Torvyn threw up his hands and shrugged.
Kaedren, Lyrin, and Vaelix stood there, each trying to shield the awkward feelings radiating through the tether.
I sighed. "Torvyn has one more thing he wants to say about what happened earlier."
Understanding washed across his face. "Ah, yes, of course.
" He cleared his throat. "The way I spoke to Kira earlier was unacceptable.
I was disrespectful in both my tone and words.
I want to make it clear that I was wrong in how I approached her, and it will never happen again.
She is our equal and deserves to be treated as such. "
He looked at me, hands clasped in front of him, thumbs fidgeting. I let the moment breathe. Let the crew see what it looked like when a Knight admitted fault. Let them understand that this wasn't just about words, it was about what came after them.
A minute passed.
Then another.
No one moved. No one spoke. The silence was its own statement.
"Thank you, Torvyn." I turned to the viewscreen. "Okay. Any thoughts on our first target?"
The shift was immediate. Vaelix's shoulders dropped half an inch; tension I hadn't realized he'd been carrying. Lyrin's hand moved to his chest, fingers pressed briefly over his heart before falling away. Even Kaedren's jaw unclenched, just slightly.
They'd needed to see this. They needed to hear an apology, and to witness accountability.
The bridge felt different now. Lighter.
"There are three service colonies nearby that provide resources to the corporations. Colony Alpha-16, Colony Zeta-3, and Colony Sigma-9," Vaelix said as he pulled all three planets up on the viewscreen.
Kaedren leaned forward, studying them. "Zeta-3 is too close to a shipping lane. If the guards send out a distress call, a corporate frigate could respond through slipspace in less than thirty minutes."
"That might not be the best option, then. What do you think, Kira?" Torvyn asked.
He'd asked my opinion in front of the crew, not as courtesy, but as acceptance.
The weight of that hit me harder than I expected.
I nodded. "What about the other two?"
"Alpha-16 has a smaller population than the other two," Lyrin said.
"What are their specialties?" I asked.
"Looks like mainly sanitation services and some redundant maintenance operations," Vaelix said.
"I don't think that will make enough noise, at least not right now. Let's keep it on the list for future consideration. What do you think, Torvyn?"
"I agree. What about Sigma-9?"
Vaelix looked up at us. "It's an intimate services colony."
My stomach dropped. Forced companionship.
Coerced touch. Women, and sometimes men, trapped in contracts they couldn't refuse, serving executives who treated consent like a luxury item they could buy.
I'd never been assigned to one of those colonies, but I'd known women who had. Some of them never came back the same.
"That would make noise," Kaedren said quietly.
"Too much noise, Torvyn?" I asked, though I already knew my answer.
He walked closer to the viewscreen. The planet rotated slowly in the projection; small, densely populated, its surface mottled with the gray sprawl of detention infrastructure. Numbers scrolled beside it: population density, slipstream proximity, estimated guard response times.
The bridge hummed quietly around us. Recycled air whispered through the vents, carrying the faint metallic scent that permeated every ship corridor.
Somewhere below, the Starbreaker's engines maintained their constant low vibration, a presence you only noticed when you stopped to listen.
The tactical console cast soft blue light across Torvyn's face as he studied the data, shadows shifting across his features with each data scroll.
I watched him think. Watched him weigh lives against logistics, safety against strategy. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. A muscle worked in his temple. This was the part of command I was still learning. The calculations that kept you awake at night. The choices that followed you into sleep.
Torvyn studied it in silence.
"It has two large detention camps. We'll only be able to free one," he said.
"Even with an additional storage bay converted to a med bay?" I asked.
Torvyn shook his head. "Space isn't the issue. It's the shuttles. We'll have enough time and capacity for one camp. The second camp is located on the opposite side of the planet. It'll take too long to rescue both."
"So we have to choose who to save and who will pay the price."
The words sat heavily between us.
I thought about the people we wouldn't reach. The ones who would wake up tomorrow still trapped, still waiting for rescue that wouldn't come. They'd hear about the Western Continent camp being freed. They'd know someone had been close enough to help, just not close enough for them.
My throat tightened.
"Revolutions require hard choices." Torvyn's voice was steady, but I felt the weight he was handing me through the tether. Solidarity. He'd carried this burden before. Now he was sharing it. "Who do you want to save?"
I turned to Vaelix. "Which camp has the most detainees?"
"The camp on the western continent."
I took a breath. Held it. Let it out slowly.
"Then we go to Sigma-9 and save as many people as we can."
Love and support surged through the tether. I closed my eyes and sent a wave of thanks and love back to them, feeling the bond settle around me like armor I hadn't known I needed.
"Open a ship-wide communications channel, please," Torvyn said.
Kaedren pressed a button, then nodded to him.
"Crew of the Starbreaker." Torvyn's voice carried through every corridor, every bay, every quiet corner of the ship.
"You have, by now, seen the corporate announcement.
We are all wanted beings, and the corporations will stop at nothing to bring us in.
Understand what this means. We are in danger.
We are not safe. We are being hunted. If anyone aboard wishes to leave this crew, we'll provide passage to a secure port and three months' salary. There is no dishonor in that choice."
He paused, and I felt the weight of what he'd just offered. This was the Starbreaker’s new doctrine: no one would fight who hadn't chosen to. No one would risk their life without understanding exactly why they were risking it. It was the opposite of everything the corporations stood for.
"For those who choose to stay, please understand that I cannot guarantee your safety. But I can guarantee you'll make a difference. Our new mission, planned exclusively by Doctor Vale, will be freeing intimate service colonies."
He nodded to me. I smiled, though my heart was hammering.
He'd just made me visible to the entire crew. Not as a medic. Not as a consultant. Not as someone who offered suggestions from the sidelines.
As a leader. As the architect of our resistance.
"We will protect those who cannot protect themselves.
We are the light to the corporations' darkness.
We will free those who have shackles they do not wish to wear.
We are the Starbreaker. We are emissaries of the Zorathi Reach.
We are protectors of the innocent." His words rang with pride.
"I am implementing a yellow alert across the ship.
Proceed to general stations and prepare to receive wounded and those in need of treatment.
All hands stand by for engagement. We'll be leaving slipspace in three hours.
Check in with your supervisors for your assignments.
Fortune Favors the Bold, and you are all bold. "
He signaled for Kaedren to cut the transmission.
He turned to the Knights. "You know what to do. Let's get moving."
I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed. "Thank you," I whispered.
He squeezed back.
When I pulled away, the Knights were already moving; Vaelix to his console, Kaedren to weapons systems, Lyrin toward the medical prep stations.
The Starbreaker was transitioning from planning to action, crew voices rising in controlled urgency as yellow alert stations came online throughout the ship.
I could feel the shift in the air itself, the way a ship changed when it moved from rest to readiness.
I needed to do the same.
I touched Torvyn's arm once more, then turned toward the exit.
I exited the bridge and headed to Shuttle Bay One.
I was wielding the wrench again.
And Voss had no idea what was about to hit him.