Chapter 65: Zeynn Joins the Crew

**Secured Compartment – Lower Sector of the Gorgone**

An old maintenance room, hastily repurposed into a makeshift med bay. Dim lighting. Grimy floors. Reinforced walls. Vykhor paced back and forth, the sensors on his prosthetic arm vibrating with restrained irritation.

Blue lay curled in a corner, one eye open, guarding Evelyn. Zeynn, meanwhile, sat silently on an overturned crate, watching. Watching Evelyn with a rare focus for someone his age. He’d seen too much in his short life, and the quiet tenacity of this woman—bent over a man who’d tried to destroy her—left him… puzzled.

Who was she?
Why did her hands barely tremble while healing someone who’d nearly broken her?
And why that invisible sadness behind her steady movements?

Zeynn didn’t know what she was running from. But he knew a silent escape when he saw one.
She was running. And she was running fast.

Kane groaned faintly. His fingers twitched. Evelyn placed a hand on his forehead. The stabilizers were working. He would live. For now.

He opened his eyes. Slowly. A dry smirk twisted his cracked lips.
“Still... brilliant as ever, Ashcroft…”

Vykhor immediately stepped forward, his imposing frame casting a shadow over Kane like a silent threat.
“Say one word too many, and I’ll finish what I started.”

But Evelyn lifted her hand. Just a gesture. And the Kael’tarien froze.

Kane rasped, voice gritty.
“I owe you both some answers. Even if you won’t like them.”

Silence. A heavy pause. Then he continued, each word dragged like a blade from his chest.
“The Master... the one behind Project Ashcroft... he was the true controller of the facility I ran. He funded everything. Gave the orders.”

Evelyn’s blood turned cold.
“You mean… my escape wasn’t a failure in your security?”

Kane weakly shook his head.
“It was. Your escape was the failure that brought me here. I became a pirate. Took over the Gorgone by killing its captain and turned it into a mercenary hub. But your meeting with Vykhor… that was part of the plan.”

Vykhor’s golden eyes narrowed.
“Lie again, Kane, and I’ll break your legs one by one.”

But Kane looked at him with eerie clarity.
“You were a test. You. Your faulty prosthetic. Your shattered mind. The Master wanted to see if Evelyn could… fix. Adapt. Shine.”

He turned his gaze to her.
“And you did. Maybe too well.”

Nausea surged in Evelyn’s gut. All those moments. All those encounters.
Was she ever truly free?
Or had she always just been another cog in a machine far bigger than she could see?

Kane exhaled slowly.
“The Master won’t stop. He’s watching. Taking notes. He’s patient. One day, he’ll show himself… and when he does, you’ll realize he already took everything.”

He coughed. Blood trickled from his lips.
“But he fears you. Both of you. That’s why he hasn’t moved yet.”

A long silence followed. Then Kane closed his eyes.

Zeynn stared at Evelyn, his expression somber. A low murmur left his lips.
“Is that what you’re running from? That thing behind you... that wants to take you back?”

Evelyn slowly lifted her head and met the Nytherian’s dark eyes. A child. But a survivor.
He hadn’t asked like a kid.
He’d asked like a brother of the shadows.

She gave a faint nod.
“Yes.”

And Vykhor, who had stayed silent until then, stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“But she’s not running alone anymore.”

**Isolation Chamber – Lower Level of the Gorgone**

Silence reigned at last.

Kane rested under sedation in a makeshift medpod, vitals stabilized. Evelyn, after a final systems check, stepped back. Her mind still raced at light speed, but her face remained calm. Professional.

Zeynn hadn’t moved. He still sat on his crate, elbows on knees, fingers clasped. His eyes hadn’t left Evelyn once.

When she came to sit beside him, he looked away, pretending to study a rusted pipe on the ceiling.

“You really want me on your ship?” he asked, his voice quiet. No provocation this time.

Evelyn hesitated. Then said:
“No.”

Zeynn blinked, caught off guard.

“I want you to choose to be there. Because you understand what it means.”

He squinted. “You mean... the running, the danger, people wanting your head and maybe mine?”

She nodded slowly.
“Yes. And more. Boarding the Narak’Tharr means living in the shadows, in chaos… but also with people who never give up. It means living with Vykhor. And me.”

He grimaced.
“You mean the Kael’tarien who pinned me to the wall like a bug?”

A small smile tugged at Evelyn’s lips.
“He’s... rough, I know. But loyal. And he protects those who walk his path. Even you. He tests everything he doesn’t yet understand.”

Zeynn glanced down at his hands. They barely trembled.

“And you? Will you protect me?”

Evelyn drew a breath.

“I’m no warrior. But I’m someone who refuses to look away when someone’s in pain. I proved that today.”
She nodded toward Kane.

He said nothing at first. Then finally sighed.

“I saw you. When he talked about the Master. You almost collapsed. But you didn’t.”

“That’s what we do on the Narak’Tharr,” Evelyn murmured. “We stand. Together.”

Zeynn studied her another moment. Then he stood, crossed his arms, and shrugged.

“Fine. But I’ve got one condition.”

Evelyn arched a brow. “Oh yeah?”

The young Nytherian’s gaze hardened.

“If you ever want to ditch me or drop me like cargo, say it to my face. I’ve had enough people vanish without warning.”

Her heart clenched. She didn’t yet know what he’d lived through, but she knew that tone.
That kind of wound.

Evelyn stood too. This time, she was the one to offer her hand.

“Deal. But you have to promise me something, too.”

He stared, wary.

“What?”

“No more hiding. No lies. No masks. You’re part of the crew now, Zeynn. You don’t have to hide anymore.”

A long pause. Then at last, he slid his hand into hers.

“Alright... Captain.”

She laughed softly.
“Let’s skip the fancy titles, alright? Just call me Evelyn.”

“Got it… Evelyn.”

And in that moment—despite the rust, the cold metal, and the sour scent of fresh anxiety—something else took root in that forgotten corner of the Gorgone:
a silent promise.

**Upper Level – Black Market Trading Platform**

While Evelyn secluded herself with Zeynn, helping him begin to heal, Vykhor climbed a worn metal stairwell to a hidden maintenance access. His steps were silent, precise, like a blade drawn at dawn.

The flickering lights of the black market cast a dreamlike pall over the scene. Oil, dried blood, superheated metal. The kind of place where lives and secrets were traded in equal measure.

He reached a small, elevated platform and plugged a crypted device into a discreet port behind a mesh console.

Seconds later, a blurred face appeared on-screen.

“Kael’seth. I thought you hated old networks like this.”

“I still do. But they’re useful.”

“You’re on the Gorgone?”

Vykhor didn’t answer—but silence was answer enough.

“They say the market’s buzzing. Someone’s trying to buy a very specific prey.
A woman, they say. White hair. Pale skin.
A mind too bright to be left free…”