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Chapter ten

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The walls of the facility’s hangar pressed in on Niko just as badly as the ship's had, despite everything being too big, too open, too empty.

The fluorescent lights above hummed quietly as they bore down on him.

His head squeezed tightly as a crawling pain inched its way, throbbing, along the left side of his skull.

A migraine. He knew he had likely stressed himself into developing it.

“I’m gonna go lie down for a while,” he murmured, even more guilt compounding into the rest now. He should be getting to work. Searching. Researching. Piecing together anything he could find. But the thought made his head throb even more, nausea beginning to reach its icy fingers up through him.

“It’s alright, Niko,” Elliott said. “Get some rest. I’ll take care of this. I’ll make sure they’re found.”

It was meant to be a comfort, but the words only speared more shame through him. He should be the one to be doing this right now. Niko turned his face away. “Yeah.”

“Niko,” Elliott said. He reached up and took his face in his hands, stroking Niko’s cheek with his thumb.

Niko looked at him miserably before closing his eyes.

He reached up to rest his hands over Elliott’s.

“I mean it. It’s going to be alright. I won’t let anything happen to your family.

I’ll make sure you see them safe and sound again. I’ve got you.”

“Thanks.” It was all Niko could force out, the word gravelly and thick.

He was torn between deep, humbling appreciation and gnawing guilt.

Elliott leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead before pulling away, then made his way through the hangar and into the facility.

Niko was left alone, the very air itself a relentless weight pressing into every inch of him.

He wheeled his way to the bedroom they shared, sliding the door closed behind him.

He climbed out of the chair and onto the bed, with its mess of blankets—and water bottles on Elliott’s side table—and turned down the lights until only the holographic clock interface left its faint, eidolic glow over everything.

He felt most comfortable here, buried away in a tiny, familiar space where he could close his eyes behind shut doors and try not to think.

It was so like him to hide away.

The thought made bile rise in his throat, feeding the nausea that churned within him.

Niko had liked to think of himself as some kind of—of what?

A hero? The audacity of that word and that he’d thought of it made him cringe in shame.

Someone who tried to make a difference, then, at least?

The truth, he realized, was that he was nothing.

When things got hard, he hid away and shut off.

Sometimes for years. Sometimes for a lifetime.

Now he was hiding under a layer of blankets while Elliott and, somewhere out there, Zann tried to save his father’s life.

Pathetic , his mind hissed at him. It’s all you are and it’s all you’ve ever been.

His head pounded with a blinding pain so intense it, the nausea, and the emotional agony that coursed through him were all one and the same.

His father. Oliver. Why hadn’t Niko tried to take bigger steps to prevent this from happening? Why hadn’t he thought to get him more protections? Zann had said Galapol had him under their watch and care—but why had he ever accepted that it would ever actually guarantee safety?

Why hadn’t he been smarter? Better? More?

Niko’s thoughts wandered to Zann. Zann was still out there, probably still living on Kaapra-19.

If he was clever, he would have switched up his residence to avoid being a target too, gone into hiding.

But would it be enough? Would it ever be enough?

Joining Elliott and fighting for his cause was something Niko had just done —like he tended to do anything else in his life.

Unthinking, spontaneous. Stupid. Niko had been so drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. He still was.

Zann had been so close with what he’d said about Elliott—only there had never been any manipulation involved. There was never any needed. Niko would follow Elliott anywhere. He was simply that hopeless, that enamored.

But in doing so, he hadn’t thought about how that would affect the people closest to him.

He hadn’t thought of the shockwave of horrific repercussions his family—and Loolae—were enduring.

He hadn’t even considered her, hadn’t considered that even his physical therapist might suffer for his choices.

She and Oliver were somewhere dark now, in the hands of the worst people the galaxy had ever vomited up.

Ones with a known history of making cruelty their point.

Their entertainment, just because they could.

Zann had lost his job and good standing with Galapol. And now his life was at risk, too.

Niko couldn’t leave him behind. He couldn’t let his choices bring his only remaining brother down.

He forced himself to sit up, the room spinning as his headache roared, then climbed—slowly, carefully—back into the chair.

Then he made his way through the facility, looking for Elliott, until he found him sitting in one of the lounges, pouring over several open holographic screens of research.

Elliott looked up, his features drawing into a worried frown. “Oh. Niko. Are you alright?”

Niko knew he must look like shit. He pushed away the question—it wasn’t what mattered. He wasn’t what mattered. “Hey, babe, I was thinking.”

“Yes? Come over here. You don’t look well.”

Elliott had a gift for understatement, it seemed.

Niko made his way over, glancing at the research on Elliott’s holograms, then quickly looking away. Their blue light was too intense right now and threatened to send his nausea into outright throwing up. Elliott noticed and hastily waved them away.

“My brother is still out there. And he’s at risk now too. I don’t want him hurt or dead because of me.”

“You’re right,” Elliott said slowly. “Alright. Let’s find a place where he can lay low. Where they’re not going to find him.”

Irritation spiked through Niko, hot and sharp. Wasn’t it Elliott who had just needled him not long ago over so easily trusting Baouban for shelter?

“No, Elliott, that’s not going to work. I want to bring Zann here.”

“ Here ,” Elliott said, as though the word were difficult to chew. He reached over and picked up a bottle of water, uncapping it. Niko knew exactly what he was doing, but patiently waited as Elliott bought himself time through a few swallows. “Do you really think that’s the best idea, Niko?”

“Where the hell else is he going to go? Maybe Baouban would be up for another call.”

Elliott winced. “Well, no, of course not— I didn’t mean—”

“Elliott, it has to be here.”

“We could find an isolated place. Somewhere like Sunorrna.”

“So, he’s just going to be damned to living in complete and utter isolation from here on out?”

“What about Lady Death’s compound? She’s fond of you and seems quite hospitable—”

“Are you really fucking doing this right now? You really want to stick a former Galapol agent in Dainna? This is my brother , Elliott. This is my family. He’s not safe.”

Elliott winced. The guilt was obvious on his face—as was the squirming discomfort.

Niko knew he must hate the idea, must absolutely loathe that he'd ever even suggested it at all. This was Elliott’s sanctuary, where he’d meticulously worked from the shadows since before he'd even started killing. Where Galapol could never find him. Niko was asking him to invite in the very man who had been one of Galapol’s lead investigators.

Who Elliott clearly didn’t trust—at best.

Not to mention, Zann had, after all, shot him too. Twice.

But none of that knowledge eased the deep irritation that clung to Niko at Elliott’s resistance. Nor did it soothe the growing urge to call him an asshole. The migraine definitely wasn’t helping.

“Niko, I just—” Elliott chewed over the words for a moment. “Are you certain he’s not still with Galapol? That this isn’t some kind of—”

“Some kind of what? Takedown? Trap?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not. He hasn't asked to come here. He’s not doing anything like that. He isn’t trying to stir anything up or insert himself—”

“That’s not true.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“He was clearly trying to convince you I’m someone you shouldn’t trust, and that you should stay away from me. That I’m using you. He was trying to separate and isolate you from me, maybe even turn you against me. It was quite obvious.”

Niko went still, a chill running through him. He blinked at Elliott. “How do you know that?” he asked quietly.

“I was there, Niko. I heard him say it.”

So, that’s what I was feeling. He remembered the eerie sensation of being watched on Celelast.

Niko stared at him. For a moment, his body went numb, no words to give.

Then a deep rage flared through him, quick as wildfire, devouring every inch of him.

It filled his lungs, making him clench his jaw.

The pain in his head was agonizing now, but he paid it no attention. It only fed into his anger.

“You were there? You fucking followed me? I asked to do that alone , Elliott! I told you that! I told you I needed that!” Niko had started yelling. He couldn’t help himself now, his pulse hammering against his skin. He was too angry to calm down. “ What the fuck?! ”

Elliott shrank away from him subtly. Niko’s anger seemed to cow him a bit, the other man looking nervous, if not outright scared of him. Memories of what Elliott had told him about his father’s shouting and abuse lanced through Niko’s mind and a ghost of guilt crept inside him.

“You were alone. I stayed out of your way. Neither of you even knew I was there, until I said something just now,” Elliott said quietly.