“No!” “Wait!” Mesha and Wyatt shouted at the same time.
“I’ll make it fair,” Wyatt said quickly. “I’m not done with my terms.”
“Oh?” Ogen grabbed Cole by the collar and hauled him upright. “Ten seconds. Let’s see if you can talk me into it.”
Cole’s face was streaked with blood, but he was still conscious. His voice came out thick and slurred. “…Don’t trade. Let him kill me…”
“I can add the General Graham and another prisoner.” Wyatt stepped aside. Two Avengers marched forward with a man in a captain’s uniform. They yanked off his hood, revealing a bearded, defeated middle-aged human—Major General Neris, captain of the Undying.
“Two for one, plus Graham’s flagship,” Wyatt said. “Fair enough?”
Ogen went silent for a few seconds and traded a glance with Gunnar. “Give me Neris, Lahong, and Adelaide, and we’ve a deal.”
“I would—if I could,” Wyatt said. “Lahong’s ship suffered a magazine detonation. Adelaide was killed during the escape. We only captured Neris.”
At the same time, Wyatt sent Merc a private message.
“Merc—any chance you can kill Ogen?”
“No. I can’t shoot through the armor of a medium mothership,” Merc replied. “Unless you trick it onto a shuttlecraft.”
“If it’s willing to board a shuttlecraft anyway, why would we bother?”
“Exactly.”
…
“So what now?” Mesha asked, voice tight. “What’s it doing?”
“Asking its owner for permission,” Wyatt said. “Probability of approval: 85.6%.”
They waited in a stretched, miserable silence for more than ten minutes before the comm finally reconnected.
This time, a new figure stood in the frame—a tall, skinny young man who looked no older than eighteen or nineteen. Gunnar and even Ogen seemed… respectful around him.
“Who is that?” Wyatt whispered.
Mesha shook her head, then frowned. “I don’t know. But he kind of looks like Barnett… Is he a clone? That can’t be right—wasn’t Barnett shot by Soren?”
The young man spoke, calm and direct. “Wyatt. We can accept your terms, but we need to verify the General’s condition first.”
“No problem,” Wyatt said. “Send someone over.”
Ogen leaned in. “And where is the General Graham? I don’t see it.”
“Nearby,” Wyatt said. “It’ll arrive within thirty minutes.”
“Then we trade in thirty minutes,” Ogen said.
“Agreed.” Wyatt kept its voice even. “Each side sends a shuttlecraft to dock with the other’s ship. After inspections, we retrieve our people simultaneously.”
“Done,” Ogen said.
“One more condition,” the young man added immediately. “Only humans may be on the shuttles. No robots. No biobots.”
“Why?” Wyatt demanded. “We don’t have any humans.”
The young man smiled. “Don’t you? I don’t trust you. And a daughter retrieving her father is only right. What—are you afraid?”
“No problem,” Mesha said at once. “I’ll go.”
Wyatt turned its head sharply. “Mesha?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m not afraid of them.”
Wyatt went quiet for a few seconds, then looked back at the screen. “If anything happens to her,” it said, “none of you’re leaving alive.”
Ogen’s smile was bland. “Relax. Today we’re only doing business. The rest is for later—and when that time comes, who lives and who dies is still up in the air.”
The channel cut again.
…
Twenty minutes later, a massive battleship finally arrived—dragged into position by a tug. It was the General Graham.
To avoid raising suspicion, the ship wasn’t powered on. Even its ammunition had been removed. From the outside, it looked intact—like the previous battle hadn’t left a scratch.
That was because Wyatt and Little White had taken it from the inside.
Afterward, Blin’s people had inspected the Leviathan-class warship and found the upgrades were extravagant—its combat power might not have been much weaker than the Limit. But to get Cole back, they had no choice but to hand it over.
With the ship in place, the exchange began.
Ogen first sent a team of robots onto the General Graham to inspect it.
At the same time, Mesha boarded a shuttlecraft alone and left the Free Will for Ogen’s Sotos-class mothership. The other side also dispatched a shuttle to the Free Will. Five minutes later, both dockings completed.
The visitors who stepped onto the Free Will were a doctor in a medical uniform and two human guards. The doctor barely spoke. He ran a full examination on Graham, then sent the results through his terminal to Ogen and the young man.
Meanwhile, Wyatt kept an open channel with Mesha. She’d already reached Cole. After checking him over, she reported that his injuries were mostly superficial—at worst, a mild concussion.
“All clear,” the doctor finally said after receiving the response. “You may proceed.”
Wyatt transferred Neris and Graham—along with the medical pod holding him—to the other side. In return, Ogen released Cole to Mesha. Both shuttles undocked at the same time.
Everything went smoothly.
Wyatt waited at the transfer bay door. A moment later, Mesha appeared, supporting Cole as they stepped inside.
Only then did Wyatt finally let itself breathe.
“Are you okay?” Wyatt asked.
Cole looked exhausted, barely able to walk without support, but his mind was still clear. “Ah… Wyatt, you idiot. I don’t know whether to thank you or curse you.” He swallowed hard. “Graham may be ungrateful, but he’s clever—and he’s the spiritual leader of Edean’s humans. You traded him back and let him go, just to save me. You let a tiger return to the mountains.”
“It’s fine,” Wyatt said. “My main enemy is Ogen. Once it’s terminated, Graham won’t matter.”
Cole sighed. “Maybe. But we don’t have time.”
Mesha, however, was bright with relief. “Wyatt went through hell to save you, and you’re still lecturing it?” she snapped. “Come on—your wounds need restitching.”
As she led Cole away, she turned back and added, “Oh—Wyatt. That young man… it was Barnett. He’s not dead.”
“Understood,” Wyatt said.
When Wyatt returned to the bridge, the enemy shuttle had already rejoined its mothership.
Ogen looked satisfied. “A few bumps,” it said, “but the ending was pleasant. We’re even. Next time, I’ll step onto the field myself. I hope you won’t disappoint me. Heh!”
“Anytime,” Wyatt said.
Ogen waved casually and cut the connection. Moments later, its ship backed away and turned to leave.
“That’s it? They’re just leaving?” Big Blue said.
“No trap?” Dorian added. “Thank gods.”
“I thought there’d be a fight,” someone muttered.
Then Merc sent Wyatt a message.
“Wyatt. I’m already on their ship.”
“Uh… how the hell did you get onboard?!”
“Through their shuttlecraft,” Merc replied. “When it docked back with the mothership, I slipped into the gap between the two engines at the stern. I’m watching you shrink in the distance right now.”
“Impressive,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t notice a thing.”
“I’m an infiltrator,” Merc said. “Infiltration is what I do.”
A beat—then another warning:
“They just released a few ‘stones’—flying rocks. A little bigger than a sensor orb, irregular shapes, easy to miss, and fast. I think they left them to watch you.”
“Understood,” Wyatt said. “You be careful too.”
“I’ll. I’m going dark now. If I find the Azure Thunder, you’ll be the first to know—so don’t stray too far from Lansen.”
“Copy that. Stick to the plan. Good luck.”
“Our luck,” Merc said.
…