By the time Kai reached Bay 7, the pack was already there.

  Working.

  Sanyog sat cross-legged on the deck plating beside Taniwha's berth. Anya crouched beside him, dried blood crusted under her nose, one hand pressing a cold compress to her temple. Alexandra stood behind them, talking to Anya, arms crossed. Mikki leaned against Orochi's flank with her arms folded, watching everything with the stillness of a cat tracking a bird through glass.

  They'd moved here on instinct. To their Dragons. The only space that felt defensible.

  Kai said nothing. Sat down on the deck beside Sanyog and waited.

  "The defensive response followed a pattern," Sanyog said, not looking up. His voice carried the flat precision of a man reading diagnostic output. "There was a twelve-second activation sequence. And it targeted me, not the Dragon."

  "Override and protection are different functions," Anya added. Her words came fast, tumbling. "One takes control. The other prevents investigation. They're layered. Whoever built this assumed someone would eventually probe, and they built a guard dog." She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. The compress came away pink.

  "Twelve seconds." Alexandra's fingers stilled on her leg. "That's the window."

  Kai sensed the Humanware ping of a familiar presence approaching.

  "Chase," Kai said.

  The maintenance corridor door hissed open thirty seconds later. Chase walked in with Dr. Salma Gamal two steps behind him.

  The temperature in the room changed. Mikki's head turned. Alexandra's posture straightened. Sanyog's working hand went still. The pack scattered, casually, to surround the newcomer.

  Gamal stopped inside the door. She was smaller than Kai expected. Mid-forties, dark hair pulled back, Hardin-Zim contractor badge clipped to a lab coat that looked like she'd slept in it. Her eyes were already on the Dragons.

  Kai watched her look at them. At Bahamut's silver mass, the slow expansion and contraction of radiator wings that meant the Dragon was breathing, cycling heat through bio-ceramic vents. At Taniwha's sensor-studded hull catching the overhead light. At Orochi, whose crimson-black scales seemed to absorb illumination rather than reflect it.

  By her reaction, Kai guessed she hadn't seen them in person before. Her lips parted. Her hand rose halfway to her chest and stopped. The scale. The heat shimmer. The undeniable presence.

  These were alive.

  "Dr. Gamal," Kai said, stopping five steps away from her. "We finally meet."

  She didn't smile. But she came closer. Her eyes kept drifting to Bahamut. To the other Dragons. "Lieutenant Sterling said you wanted to talk."

  "I wanted you to see them." Kai leaned back next to Bahamut, resting his weight on the wall. Casual. Open. A surfer on a beach, not a pilot in a war room. "The first time I touched Bahamut, his consciousness hit me like a wave. Biggest swell I'd ever felt. And somewhere in the middle of that, I stopped being scared of him and started being scared of losing him."

  He paused. Let the silence work. "When you wove those override pathways into the neural matrix, did you think about whether he could feel them?"

  Gamal's jaw tightened. "The Neural Oversight Relay is a safety system. Monitoring pilot integrity during high-stress operations.” Bahamut growled, distracted her. “Emergency shutdown capability if a bonded pilot enters an uncontrolled Feral state and threatens…"

  "Twelve-second activation sequence," Sanyog said quietly, behind Gamal. "Neural signature mapping. Individual override targeting."

  Gamal turned and looked at him. At his glitching arm. Then at Taniwha, grumbling quietly.

  "You traced the subsystem."

  "We traced the subsystem."

  "And it traced us back," Anya said, getting closer too.

  The silence stretched. Through the bond, Kai felt Bahamut shift. A long, slow breath that warmed the air by two degrees.

  "Admiral Pohl requested pack-synchronization capability," Gamal said. Her voice had changed. Quieter. Clinical, still, but the edges were gone. She took a step towards Bahamut, but doubted, and stopped. "Simultaneous override of all five units. I haven't completed the modification."

  Alexandra was taking notes, looking from the other side of the room. Kai noticed her stylus stopped moving. Her eyes lifted from the datapad.

  "Individual targeting only," Gamal continued. "One unit at a time. The activation sequence requires twelve seconds of neural signature mapping before override can engage."

  "Why haven't you finished the pack-sync?" Alexandra asked, approaching.

  Gamal didn't answer for a long moment. Her eyes were on Bahamut again. He was showing her fangs.

  "I see. You're going to resist," Gamal said, turning to Alexandra.

  Mikki pushed off Orochi's flank. Took one step forward. "Wouldn't you?"

  "I'm not a jailer." She looked at Sanyog's arm, at the dried blood under Anya's nose. "This is for your own protection."

  Gamal held her gaze for three heartbeats. Then she turned and walked out of Bay 7 without another word. Chase followed her. He crossed a look with Kai.

  The door closed behind them.

  "That was risky," Alexandra said. "She'll report us,"

  "Maybe." Kai shook his head. "Maybe not. Doesn't change what we do next."

  He looked at his pack.

  "Sanyog. I need you to build something."

  Sanyog's head tilted. "Specify."

  "A neural mirror. If Pohl activates override on one of us, I want to record everything. Neural patterns, command frequencies, override sequences. Every piece of data the activation generates."

  "You want to map the attack in real time."

  "Can't stop it the first time." Kai met his eyes. "But we can learn from it. And fight it the second time."

  “And then we kill it.” Mikki added.

  Sanyog's cybernetic hand opened and closed. Processing. "Distributed monitoring across all five neural links. Each Dragon records the others' states during a potential override event." A pause. "Clutch. Whoever gets taken won't benefit from the data we collect."

  "No. But the rest of the pack will." Kai looked at all of them. "And the next Dragon pilots after us will."

  Alexandra’s stylus froze. "So. To defend ourselves from the backdoors it’s required one of us to be... disabled. Possibly permanently." The clinical tone couldn't mask the reality. "We are calibrating our weapon using a live subject. Ourselves."

  The silence that followed was different. Heavier. Mikki cracked her knuckles. Anya pressed her lips together and nodded once. Alexandra exhaled through her nose and started typing.

  "Whatever. I'll build a dual-track mission plan," she said. "I already have the official assault parameters. But we are going to need a shadow contingency if there is an override activation.”

  She paused. “Forced desynchronization is the only resistance method I can think of."

  "That will fail," Sanyog said.

  Alexandra looked at him. "It creates neural shock. The Dragons will interpret it as a medical emergency and initiate protective shutdown.

  “We'll ground ourselves." Sanyog’s hand twitched. "That’s desperation masquerading as tactics."

  Mikki smiled. "Desperation is all we have."

  Anya spoke into the quiet. "You know, if we execute the mission perfectly, follow every parameter, she won't have cause to activate…"

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  "Probability of activation given strategic value of live combat data exceeds eighty-five percent," Alexandra said. "Hope is not a tactical asset."

  "She's gonna flip the switch." Mikki's arms were folded tight against her ribs. "I can feel it."

  Kai looked at each of them. "We prepare for worst case. And we fight like we still have a choice."

  Alexandra pulled up the tactical holo. The Arm of Justice rendered in blue light, rotating slowly above the moon. Gorizia's surface visible beneath it, city grids and civilian density overlays. The Righteous Fury hanging over the larger planet in the distance, a second blade aimed at a second throat.

  "Communications relay," she said. "Primary and secondary nodes. Both must be hit within a thirty-second sub-window or the backup transmitter alerts the Righteous Fury. That means someone breaks from the pack. Solo approach. Ninety seconds exposed with no web support."

  "I'll take it," Mikki said.

  Nobody argued.

  ***

  The briefing room filled with uniforms at 0900.

  Thorne stood at the central holo, the Maribor system spread before him in miniature. The Arm of Justice hung above Celje's moon like a splinter. Gorizia pulsed beneath it. 1.2 million heat signatures rendered as a soft amber glow.

  "Mission parameters," Thorne said. His voice carried the particular weight of a man who'd sent people to die before and never gotten comfortable with it. "Disable the Arm of Justice. Force Commander Voss into surrender posture. Zero civilian casualties."

  He let that land.

  "Zero."

  Kai felt it settle over the room. Spines straightened. Jaws set.

  "Pegasus squadron on standby as contingency," Thorne continued. "Commander Holt has tactical authority to execute alternative strike profile if primary approach fails."

  Holt sat three rows back, arms folded. Old-school pilot, face like a topographical map of bad decisions. He gave a single nod.

  Alexandra took the floor. Professional. Precise. Every word placed like a round in a magazine.

  "There are two important countdowns for the mission. There is a four-minute window to disable the communications array. Primary and secondary relay nodes must both go dark within thirty seconds of each other. Past those four minutes, the Righteous Fury will receive a distress signal and the chances of Captain Zhev initiating a retaliatory strike on the city of Radvanje double." She let the number sit. "I repeat again. There are three point eight million civilians on the city."

  Nobody felt like commenting.

  "After that, there is a seven-minute window before the Arm of Justice's adaptive defense drones complete pattern analysis on Dragon flight characteristics. After seven minutes, drone combat effectiveness increases by approximately three hundred forty percent. Pack survival probability drops below twenty percent."

  She brought up the assignment overlay.

  "Mikki and Orochi: communications disruption. Solo break-off, both relay nodes within four minutes. Sanyog and Taniwha: shield generators. Anya and Apophis: weapons grid neutralization. Tiamat and I will handle engine clusters. Kai and Bahamut coordinate the approach, maintaining cohesion across all four assault vectors, and, if required, will attack the bridge of the ship."

  Holt leaned forward. "Four minutes." His voice was gravel and skepticism. "With a secondary relay hardened against EMP. Your pilot breaks off alone, exposes herself to point defense, hits both nodes in sequence, and does it all before the drone screen adapts." He looked at Mikki. "That's suicide math."

  "What’s the Pegasus alternative?" Alexandra asked.

  "Missile saturation and full squadron strike. It will work. Always does.”

  “The debris scatter alone will cause massive damage.” Alexandra replied.

  "We are soldiers. Those are acceptable losses."

  The words hung in the air like smoke.

  "Then you've already lost," Kai said.

  Holt turned his gaze. Kai didn't flinch.

  "Acceptable losses are not winning. That's recruiting for the other side." He kept his voice level. "We do this clean and fast. Take one ship out of combat. War gets shorter."

  Holt studied him. "Idealism gets you killed, Lieutenant. History is written by the side that calculated the correct amount of cruelty."

  “But…” He paused.

  "...If you're willing to die for zero casualties, Lieutenant," Holt said, "I'll let you try." He looked at Pohl. "Pegasus will assist with the drone screen."

  Pohl nodded. "Dismissed."

  Chairs scraped. Personnel filed out. Chase appeared at Kai's elbow, holding a data chip with the casual body language of a man passing flight telemetry.

  "Walk with me," Chase said.

  They made it three steps into the corridor. Chase palmed the chip into Kai's hand. His voice dropped.

  "Gamal activated her team thirty minutes ago. Deck 9. It's live."

  Kai's fingers closed around the chip. His face didn't change.

  He pocketed the chip and kept walking.

  ***

  Kai found Mikki in the gym.

  She wasn't working out. She sat on a weight bench, turning an emergency salsa packet over between her fingers. The gym was empty, overhead lights at half power, the quiet hum of ventilation the only sound. Her hoverboard leaned against the wall behind her.

  Kai sat on the bench across from her and waited.

  "Mining barge," Mikki said. She didn't look up. "Before I enlisted. Pressure breach. Forward section." The salsa packet turned. "Twelve crew behind me. Two in front. Bulkhead between us."

  The packet stilled.

  "Sealed it. Less than a second." Her jaw tightened. "Saved twelve. Lost two."

  She was quiet long enough that Kai thought she was done.

  "I see their faces. Every time I close my eyes fast enough." The packet turned again. "That's why I'm fast, Clutch. Slow means I make that choice again."

  In Bay 7, through the bond, Kai felt something shift. Orochi's presence, usually a coiled current of heat and aggression, settling into focus. Dragon and pilot aligned.

  "Both relay nodes," Mikki said. She looked up. Her eyes were clear. "I'll be faster."

  Kai nodded. She'd already decided. The decision didn't need validation. It needed a witness.

  ***

  He found Sanyog in the medical bay, a drone perched on his shoulder emitting a soft diagnostic chirp. Sanyog's cybernetic arm lay open on the workbench, diagnostic feeds scrolling across the exposed circuitry. Beside him, flat on the steel surface, a sketchbook.

  Real paper. Pencil lines.

  "May I?" Kai asked.

  Sanyog pushed the sketchbook toward him.

  The pack. All of them. Rendered in graphite with an intimacy that made Kai's chest tight. Mikki mid-laugh, head thrown back, teeth bared. Alexandra in profile, one strand of hair loose across her cheek. Anya gesturing wildly, fingers blurred with motion. And Kai himself, hand on the back of his neck, looking at something off the edge of the page.

  "I draw when the systems are unstable," Sanyog said. His cybernetic hand opened and closed. "Analog. Memory made permanent."

  He touched his drone gently with his organic hand.

  Then, quieter: "If the override activates and I become something else, remember this version."

  Kai closed the sketchbook and placed it back on the workbench. He didn't make promises. Sanyog wouldn't have believed them anyway.

  "Show me the mirror."

  Sanyog pulled up the holo. The neural mirror protocol, nearly complete. Five Dragon cores linked in a web of light, each one recording the others' states. Taniwha's sensor arrays fed the data backbone. The architecture was elegant. It used the same pathways as the backdoors themselves.

  "Elegant," Kai said.

  "Taniwha contributed the sensor framework." Sanyog blinked slowly. "The Dragon understood the requirement before I finished explaining it."

  ***

  In the adjacent lab, Anya worked on the final integration layer, her and Sanyog's protocols weaving together. Her hands were steady. The nosebleed had stopped. She was humming something off-key, pop music, the kind she only listened to when she thought no one could hear.

  She stopped when she saw Kai.

  "Don't tell anyone about the singing." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Ghost says the protocol is solid. Four to seven seconds of detection before override can engage. I've tested it against every activation model I can simulate." Her words came fast, the way they always did when she was building momentum. "Espera… let me show you."

  She pulled up the integration holo. Her work nested inside Sanyog's mirror architecture. Clean. Precise.

  "The previous cohort," she said, quieter. Her hands paused over the holo. "Three pilots died because the interface I designed couldn't handle the feedback." She didn't look at him. "This protocol. This mirror. It's my answer to that. Kai, I won't let my work kill anyone else."

  Through the bond, Apophis's presence pressed close. Watchful. The Dragon who had fired inside a pressurized corvette with surgical precision. Anya rested her palm against the wall that separated her lab from Bay 7, where Apophis waited on the other side.

  "Whatever happens," she said. She met his eyes. "We're not just linked. We're together."

  ***

  He found Alexandra in the observation gallery overlooking Bay 7.

  Her hair was down. The regulation bun loosened, red strands catching the ambient light. She stood at the viewport with her arms at her sides, no datapad, no calculations. Just watching the Dragons breathe.

  "Forty-one percent," she said without turning around.

  Kai leaned against the viewport frame. "Context."

  "Survival probability if backdoors activate during engagement, factoring in Anya's detection protocol and the mirror's recording capacity." She paused. "Forty-one percent."

  "I've beaten worse."

  She turned her head. Green eyes, sharp as targeting systems. "I know. That's the only reason I'm still here."

  Neither of them spoke for two minutes.

  "Six months ago," Alexandra said, "I would not have gotten out of bed for forty-one percent."

  "And now?"

  "Now I'm planning to fly into combat on it." Her lips quirked. "That's not scientific."

  "No," Kai said. "It's pack."

  She held his gaze for a beat longer than analysis required. Then she turned back to the viewport, and Kai left her there with the Dragons.

  He went to Bahamut.

  The hangar was quiet. Maintenance crews had cycled out for shift change. Just Kai and the Dragon, silver scales radiating warmth in the dim light. He pressed his palm flat against Bahamut's flank, feeling the pulse beneath the bio-ceramic plating. Steady. Patient. Vast.

  Through the bond, everything sharpened. The pack's presence in the neural web like distant stars.

  "We're walking into it anyway," Kai said.

  Bahamut understood territory. That was enough.

  And the Dragons had chosen.

  Whatever was coming, they would face it together. Because the pack chose its own battles.

  Kai pressed his forehead against Bahamut's scales and breathed.

  ***

  The pack stood in Bay 7. Flight suits sealed. Helmets in hand. Dragons powered up around them, five massive forms cycling to combat readiness. The harmonic of their cores vibrating through the deck plating, through boot soles, through bone.

  "Neural mirror active," Sanyog reported. "All five Dragons cross-linked. Theek hai." His organic hand brushed Taniwha's jaw. "If override engages on any unit, the others record full neural signature."

  "Official mission plan loaded," Alexandra said. "Shadow contingency standing by."

  "Detection protocol online." Anya's voice was steady. "Twelve-second warning if backdoor activation initiates."

  Mikki checked her harness. Tugged a strap. Nodded once.

  "We're it." Kai met their eyes. "Stay with the pack. Whatever happens."

  "Whatever happens," Mikki said.

  They turned to their Dragons.

  Mikki pressed her forehead against Orochi's snout. The Dragon's crimson scales caught the light. She whispered something too quiet to hear, and Orochi's tail flicked. Once.

  Sanyog placed his organic hand on Taniwha's jaw. His drone lifted off his shoulder and landed on the Dragon's head, chirping softly. Sanyog touched the drone one last time, then climbed into his Cradle.

  Anya rested both palms flat against Apophis's scales. Stood there for a few heartbeats, eyes closed. Then opened them and smiled.

  Alexandra paused beside Tiamat. Instead of a touch, she placed her helmet on the deck, knelt, and pressed her ear against a specific scale near the Dragon's heart chamber for precisely three seconds. Standing, she retrieved her helmet, her face a mask of resolved certainty.

  Kai pressed his hand against Bahamut's flank one more time. Felt the warmth. The steady, alien patience.

  "See you on the other side."