“Okay.” He gave her hand a squeeze, then returned to the pilot’s seat. “What’s the call?”
She took a moment to collect her thoughts, then looked up at him. “Let’s drop out of warp early and cruise up. See what’s going on.”
“We have no cloaking.” Jackin sighed heavily. “There’s really not much of anything on this ship.”
“Well, it’s an exploratory vessel. So one thing it has is decent long-range scanners. We’ll edge up till we can get a read and see what we’re up against.”
“Whatever you say, boss. But just so you know, when you get into Titan plan-of-action mode, without someone inside, the air locks aren’t accessible.”
“How’d you guys get in?”
Jackin gave a short laugh and tilted his head toward the cockpit door. “Kid ripped the primary air-lock door right off its track.”
“Cavalon?” she asked. He’d said he’d thrown a door at the Drudgers, but she didn’t think he’d meant the air-lock door.
“Yeah, Cavalon,” Jackin said, his tone suddenly sharp. “Or should I say Mercer.”
He stared her down. She blinked once.
“Yeah,” he scoffed, “don’t think I didn’t overhear that little slip on the comms while you two were out parading around on the hull.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back. “That was hardly a parade.”
“That kid’s goddamn royalty?” Jackin said, voice high with disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why’s it matter?”
“If he gets hurt or dies on our watch, and we end up on some Allied Monarchies’ shit list?”
“Sadly, I don’t think we’d end up on any list. I’m pretty sure that was the goal.”
Jackin’s eyebrows raised. “What?”
She shrugged. “He’s been disowned, cast out.”
“Wait, who is he?”
“The heir.”
Jackin froze, his face stiff, as if cut from stone. “Augustus’s grandson?”
“Yeah…” She narrowed her eyes at his casual use of the monarch’s first name. “Augustus?”
Jackin’s jaw skimmed back and forth slowly, and he didn’t respond, didn’t even appear to have heard her.
“Jack?” she said. “Do you know the Mercers somehow?”
He remained silent for a long time, then finally, his voice came quiet and low, in a tone she hardly recognized as his. “I can’t lie to you, Rake,” he said, turning to look at the console. “So let’s pretend you didn’t ask me that.”
Staring back at her optio, her brows knit together. She’d never seen him like this before. “Jack, what’s wrong?”
With a few fluttering blinks, he seemed to snap back into himself. “Nothing.” He licked his lips, head shaking. “Why’s he here?”
“Long story, and not mine to tell,” she said. “But basically, they wanted to get rid of him. They shipped him off to die—they probably figured he’d be dead already.”
He huffed. “Well, he might be if it weren’t for you.”
“Give him a little credit.”
Jackin pinched his fingers together and squinted through them to indicate a very, very tiny amount. “This much. I give him this much.”