Page 27 of Salvaged By the Alien Pirate

NICE SETUP, VALKYRIE. I RECOGNIZE THOSE ENCRYPTION LAYERS. REMEMBER WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO BUILD THEM?

Her voice—or rather, her digital presence—fills my neural space, familiar yet distorted, like looking at a reflection in broken glass.

YOU TAUGHT ME THE BASICS, KIRA. BUT I'VE LEARNED A FEW NEW TRICKS SINCE THEN.

I reinforce our defenses, adding layers of complexity that even she might struggle to penetrate. But she adapts quickly, her attacks evolving, shifting to target unexpected vulnerabilities.

YOUR KYVERNIAN IS DYING, YOU KNOW. I CAN SEE HIS BIOSIGNATURE FROM HERE. THEBOND-SICKNESS IS QUITE ADVANCED. TICK TOCK, VALKYRIE. HOW MUCH TIME DOES HE HAVE LEFT?

I refuse to let her distract me, focusing instead on tracing her digital signature back to its source. If I can pinpoint which Eclipse ship she's on, we might have a chance to evade them more effectively.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, KIRA? THE ECLIPSE KILLED KAI, NOT ME. THEY'RE USING YOU, JUST LIKE THEY USE EVERYONE.

Her response comes as a vicious digital assault that nearly breaks through my innermost defenses. I gasp, physical pain radiating through my neural pathways as I struggle to contain the attack.

THEY SHOWED ME THE TRUTH. YOU HESITATED. YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HIM, BUT YOU WERE TOO AFRAID. TOO CAUTIOUS. AND NOW YOU'RE DOING THE SAME THING WITH YOUR CAPTAIN. WATCHING WHILE HE BURNS FROM THE INSIDE OUT, TOO SCARED TO COMMIT, TO TAKE THE FINAL STEP.

Her words hit harder than they should, striking at insecurities I've tried to bury. Is she right? Am I letting history repeat itself, watching another person I care about die because I'm too afraid to act?

No. This is different. This is—

"Neon!" Cirdox's voice cuts through my internal struggle. "They're charging weapons. We need those engines at maximum."

I force myself back to the present, splitting my consciousness between defending our systems and assisting with the ship's functions. "Rerouting power from non-essential systems," I report, fingers flying across the interface. "You'll have fifteen percent more thrust in three... two... one..."

The ship lurches as the additional power hits the engines, accelerating us toward the relative safety of the asteroid field. Through the viewports, I can see the first massive chunks of rock looming ahead, their jagged surfaces reflecting the dim light of the system's distant sun.

"Eclipse vessels in weapons range in thirty seconds," Zara announces, her voice tense but controlled.

"Evasive pattern Delta," Cirdox commands, his wings shifting with suppressed pain as he leans forward in the command chair. "Neon, status of our digital defenses?"

"Holding," I manage, though it's taking every ounce of my concentration to keep Kira at bay. Her attacks are becoming more sophisticated, more targeted—she's not just trying to breach our systems now, she's trying to trap me in the digital space, to isolate my consciousness from my physical body.

YOU CAN'T WIN THIS, LITTLE SISTER. SURRENDER NOW, AND MAYBE I'LL LET YOUR PRECIOUS CREW LIVE. KEEP FIGHTING, AND I'LL TEAR THIS SHIP APART FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

I ignore her threats, focusing instead on implementing the trap I've been carefully constructing while she thought she was winning. It's a risky move—if it fails, she'll have direct access to our most critical systems. But if it works...

NICE TRY, KIRA. BUT YOU FORGOT WHO TAUGHT *YOU* A FEW THINGS.

I spring the trap, a complex digital snare that uses her own momentum against her. For a brief, glorious moment, I feel her consciousness caught in my web, her digital presence struggling against the constraints I've woven around her.

Then pain—white-hot and all-consuming—lances through my neural pathways as she turns my own trap against me. My vision whites out, my body arching in the tactical chair as electricity seems to course through every nerve ending.

"Neon!" Cirdox's voice seems to come from very far away, distorted as if traveling through water. "What's happening?"

I can't answer, can't even breathe as Kira's counter-attack tears through my neural defenses. She's using my own connection to the ship against me, feeding back corrupted data that my implants interpret as physical pain.

DID YOU REALLY THINK IT WOULD BE THAT EASY? I'VE EVOLVED BEYOND YOUR SIMPLE TRAPS, BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS YOU STILL CLING TO. SURRENDER NOW, OR WATCH YOUR PRECIOUS CAPTAIN DIE IN AGONY.

Through the haze of pain, I become aware of alarms blaring across the bridge. The ship shudders as the first Eclipse energy weapons find their mark, depleting our shields and rattling the hull.

"Direct hit to port shield generator," Zara reports, her voice steady despite the chaos. "Shields at sixty-eight percent and falling."

"Continue evasive maneuvers," Cirdox commands, his voice strained but determined. "Get us into that asteroid field!"

I force myself to focus through the pain, gathering what remains of my strength for one final, desperate counter-attack. Kira thinks she has me trapped, defeated—but she's forgotten the most important lesson we ever learned together.

Never fight fair when lives are on the line.

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