Page 15 of Zayrik

My jaw tightened. Multiple registry updates in the last six months.

Too many.

Normal for smugglers, or people trying to hide what a ship was used for.

I didn’t like it. Something wasn’t adding up, and the longer I stared at the logs, the worse the feeling got.

Behind me,Nyla shifted.

I barely noticed.Until the console flickered, kicking me out of the system.

I turned, saw the lockout notice blinking in smug red letters, and exhaled through my nose.

Of course.

She hadn’t done this. Not in her condition.

I leaned back against my chair, studying her. She was digging her heels in, trying to push me out, keep control.

She expected me to argue.

This was her damn AI.

“Nav,” I said flatly, “override the override.”

Nothing.

Then—static crackled.

“Apologies. This user does not recognize your authority.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just saved your user’s life.”

“Irrelevant to command hierarchy.”

“Okay,” I muttered, fingers flying across the secondary control pad. “Then I’m going to do this the hard way.”

I accessed the system’s diagnostic loop, traced the AI’s security shell, and keyed in a priority-level reset using the emergency override code from the ship’s default config.

The console flickered.

And just like that—I was in.

Behind me, Nyla let out a low, incredulous sound. “You just hacked my AI.”

I didn’t turn around.

“You locked me out first.”

“Nav doesn’t usually listen to anyone but me.”

“Yeah, well,” I said with a shrug, “I’m just more likable.”

She stiffened as the system flickered back to life under my access.

Nav sighed. “The two of you are insufferable.”

That was when Nyla pushed past me, reaching for the controls, too fast and too close.

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