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The walls of the bay lit up with columns of symbols that ran from the deck to the ceiling high above us. They blazed with blue light so bright that I squinted. The symbols also appeared around every doorway, including the one through which Gitto had entered, and even around the massive docking bay exterior gates.

“Aforuti mai,” Byx said to Gitto. His tone managed to sound both reverent and like a threat. “Beyond our homeworld, we make our temples in our places of work because when we work, we serve our gods in heart and deed. You are ignorant not to know this.”

A flash of uncertainty showed in Gitto’s silver eyes before her expression steeled once more. “Be that as it may⁠—”

“No,” Byx said with finality. “There is no other truth or power greater here than that of my gods. I have granted sanctuary and by the laws of the Alliance, you must respect my decision or face the wrath of my people.”

In all my years of traveling the galaxy, I had never been granted sanctuary by an ordained…whatever Byx was. Protector of the Infinite Spiral and Speaker of the Immutable Word, apparently. And judging by the way Gitto looked like she’d just bitten into something sour, she’d never been thwarted by such a move.

I neither believed nor disbelieved in either Farina’s thread-spinning goddess or Byx’s gods, but power was power, and if it kept us from taking on a dozen highly trained Alliance specialist soldiers, I was more than willing to go along with it.

“You realize this ‘sanctuary’ only protects you from me within this bay?” Gitto said to Jarrix, her expression haughty. “It will do nothing at all to stop the bounty hunters who will no doubt converge on this place once word gets out. This safe haven will become a slaughterhouse.” Her eyes flicked to me and her gaze turning appraising. “You are no fool, Tal, but perhaps you have become one.”

My hunch that they knew each other became a certainty. Was she from the GAIS? It would explain her heavy-handedness and why she had an opinion on Jarrix’s level of foolishness.

As much as I wanted to demand what the hells this was really about, I kept my mouth shut. Anything I said would be to Gitto’s benefit, not ours.

“I am not a fool, so do not treat me like one,” Jarrix said. His voice was colder than I could have imagined it could be. “I take it you haven’t spoken to Bruska.”

The shape of Gitto’s eyes changed. It was the most minimal of reactions, but for those of us whose lives had long depended on reading the tiniest of tells, she might as well have shouted.

“You have.” If possible, Jarrix’s tone had flattened even more. “And yet, you’re here.”

Gitto’s aura of cold command cracked. The soldiers, who she had yet to tell to stand down, reacted by adjusting their aims ever so slightly.

“You are my asset,” she hissed. “And you do not stray from mission parameters without my leave!”

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Her tone and expression reminded me of being back in the arena facing an overzealous trainer who’d been warned not to go too far punishing one of us but fully intended to do so anyway the moment the boss’s back was turned, knowing we could do nothing about it and would lie if we were asked about our injuries later.

Seemingly unperturbed by her outburst, Jarrix indicated his wristcomm with the hand not holding a plasma gun. “Everything that’s transpired in this bay since you arrived has been recorded and is ready for immediate transmission directly to Bruska. And I can assume our illustrious Deckmaster can make a similar promise?”

“I can,” Byx said, and gave Gitto the kind of too-big smile that probably made most beings take an uneasy step back. “At a moment’s notice.”

“So you have a choice,” Jarrix said, his stony gaze never leaving Gitto’s face, which now had a green tinge of fury. “Take your leave from the outpost without further antagonizing a venerated Wundi grandmale and risking your…position, or make the wrong decision and we’ll have to settle this in a more energetic way.”

For a long moment, I thought Gitto was going to opt for the latter. I dropped a dagger into my empty hand and waited for anyone in her group to so much as twitch. Byx and Jarrix’s tension increased as well.

Finally, Gitto’s long-fingered hands both clenched into fists. “I will not forget this,” she spat.

She signaled with two sharp hand movements. The soldiers took a collective step back toward the door that led to the rest of the station. Their rifles didn’t lower a millimeter, though. “Whatever arrangement you’ve made with Bruska by going over my head, it won’t keep you alive. Either of you.” She turned her glare on me. “I look forward to hearing your bounty has been claimed.”

It was a transparent and rather feeble attempt at triggering an angry reaction, which showed how well Jarrix and Byx had outmaneuvered someone who wasn’t used to being outmaneuvered and how personally she was taking the situation—as if the latter wasn’t already abundantly clear.

We’d made a spiteful enemy today. Those were the most dangerous kind to have.

I didn’t see Byx move, but someone unlocked and opened the docking bay doors behind Gitto’s group. A third of her elite soldiers spun instantly to face the empty corridor beyond, weapons at the ready, while the rest remained focused on us.

“The corridors between here and your ship are clear,” Byx said. “Your vessel has ten standard minutes to depart. And at a running pace, it is a seven-minute journey to the docking port.”

With a final stare at Jarrix that promised retribution, Gitto spun on her heel and left not at a run but a walk, surrounded by the soldiers. The rear guard kept their weapons on us until the doors closed and locked between us.

For several beats, no one moved.

Slowly, I lowered my gun to my side and returned my dagger to its sheath on my forearm.

Every muscle in Jarrix’s body was whipcord-tight, his jaw so rigid it made mine ache. And now that Gitto was gone, his tail lashed the air so rapidly that the movement was audible.

I wanted to touch him, to offer support and calming comfort the way he’d done for me. It wasn’t something I’d done since being separated from Calla, and not something I really felt comfortable doing in public…yet.