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He does, of course. With a few flicks of switches, the HUD appears, and the ship rumbles as the Orb-Drives lift it into the air.

There’s no seat for me in the cockpit, since Iunia and Vinicus each take spots at the Orb-Beam gunnery stations. I take position at Aelon’s shoulder and watch through the tempered glass of the cockpit as Aurelians load up Garrick’s Reaver with the huge boxes of booby-trapped Orbs.

My skin ripples with goosebumps. This is all too intense. My adrenaline is pounding harder than when I’d first been escaping the Toads – what seems like a lifetime ago, now.

There’s so much on the line right now. If we survive this, I’ve got thousands of years to spend with my triad – those three brave, gorgeous warriors who exist forever and impermeable inside my mind.

Right now, I can feel the anger and rage of these three warriors finally quenched. Those emotions are still in there – especially in Aelon – but they’re not at the overwhelming level they used to be. Now the emotions of the three Aurelian warriors have been eclipsed by a burning need forme.

Aelon expertly touches the controls, lifting the Reaver off the deck and towards the gaping loading bay doors and the vacuum of space beyond.

I grip the back of the seat as I watch through the glass of the cockpit.

My mind is racing – but one thing holds true. This rusecouldwork.

Just as Aelon and I misjudged the tactics of the Toads by thinking like Aurelians, I feel the Toads will misjudge us by assuming we’ll be thinking like Aurelians, too.

However, our plan uses the Toad way of fighting – using trickery and deception. Perhaps it’s less honorable, but if it keeps the miners and all of our crew safe, it’s what we’ll have to do.

Besides, if the Toads meet their comeuppance by falling foul to their own tactics, it’s fitting. Aelon told me he enjoyed using the species greed and hubris against them. This will be the ultimate demonstration of that.

“We’re ready.” It’s Garrick’s voice, transmitted from the other Reaver that will be following along behind us.

“You good, Sawoot?” I yell into the comms-link over Aelon’s shoulder.

“I’m good! Holy shit, let’s hope this works!”

Exactly what I’m thinking!

But whatever happens, my triad is with me. If one of us survives, we all survive. I trust them, and they trust me.

Aelon nudges the thrusters, and lifts the Reaver higher off the deck. It’s art, the way he pilots. Even by my own standards – and I’m a world-class pilot – his mastery of the controls is a thing of beauty. If I wasn’t attracted to him before, I would have been the moment I watched him punch this powerful vessel forward without hesitation. He clears the air-field at incredible velocity – the sort of speed that regulations would be appalled by.

Then, we’re out in space – hurtling towards our fate.

The Toads will be here any minute.

As we clear the huge doors of the loading bay, I feel what it must be like to be part of an Aurelian triad going into battle. The three men I’m sharing this cockpit with are strikingly different and yet perfectly complementary. Aelon represents cold, fearless leadership. I thought he’d be rage-filled and passionate going into battle – but while he’s not robotic, there’s nothing so treacherous as emotion to sway his decisions.

Aelon leads through example – piloting us towards danger like he’s flying to a vacation destination.

Iunia, at the first gunnery station, is calculating. His mind is quick – almost frantic – and his adrenaline is pulsating through the Bond. Yet, at the same time, his aura is focused and he’s totally dialed in. His body is pure tension, every muscle flexed as he sits stock still at the Orb-Beam. There’s no fluidity to him. He’s like a lion, waiting in the tall brush, as still as a statue as he readies himself to pounce into violence.

Vinicus, sitting opposite him, represents pure power. He’s not tense, like Iunia – but neither is he as clear-headed and cold-blooded as Aelon. He’s like a bull lead by a matador.

I relish in the deliciously different feelings of these three auras as they mentally prepare for battle. I let their being infuse me with their combined power.

Then, suddenly, all three of them wink out of my mind.

I was prepared for it, but it’s still disconcerting – like the feeling of thinking there’s one more step in a stairwell, and then losing your balance for a split second when it’s not there.

I never want to experience the absence of these three men again. In just a day, I’ve grown used to the emotion and awareness of these men, and the solitude of an empty mind is cripplingly lonely.

The HUD display is next to go, fuzzing out and going blank.

“They’re close,” says Iunia, vocalizing what we’re all thinking – because he currently can’t telepath it.

My heart pounds. I can’t hide my emotions behind a blank face, like I used to do as Captain of the Wayward Scythe. In those last moments before the Bond was suppressed, did my triad feel my aura as courageous? Or terrified?