Chapter 285: The Price

Words : 1246 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

Chapter 285: The Price Luca’s heart had been in turmoil the moment he heard D-29’s emergency prompts. He dreaded the short gap between hearing about the news and the time it took for him to get to Ollie. He felt dizzy—and only then did he realize that he had been holding his breath until he got to check on his brother. And now, having seen him safe, whole, and wrapped up in Kyle’s embrace, Luca still hadn’t let go of the deep, coiled panic that seized him. Because no matter how intact his brother looked, Ollie would still have that memory of a hostage situation. And Luca couldn’t help but blame himself. He had been too complacent. Originally, he and D-29 were of the same opinion about keeping everything under wraps. Contrary to popular belief, he only recently considered sharing it with the general public. And it was all because he got too lucky—so fortunate that he assumed everyone would be similar to the people around him. Even now, he only really learned about the gravity of the threats they encountered daily after Xavier showed him a report. It looked very simple, like nothing was amiss. But over 400 threats were on there, all averted in just a few weeks. Each one was barely a line. Just a small notation. But that meant that the others had been contending with that many threats while he sat there playing house, building farms, and making food. All of those, however, felt distant as he never even got to learn about them until recently. But this? This was too close for comfort. Because his innocent brother had been involved. These emotions felt foreign; as someone used to taking hits and drawing the shortest end of all sticks, he never imagined how it could feel like this when someone precious to him was threatened instead. The golden dragon felt like burning something. The white-hot anger. The helpless guilt. He realized that he wasn’t mad for himself—but for someone else. It was a terrifying kind of fury. One he had never really encountered before. Next to him, Xavier shifted silently and moved closer. No words of comfort were offered—just presence—a calm weight against the storm. And that was all that he did for now, for the Imperial Crown Prince knew what this was. He’d been there. Too many times. Seeing others take hits to keep him safe and always feeling like it was partly his fault. It was not a good feeling, and he knew that no words could sound sincere enough for someone in this kind of pit. So, instead of offering false reassurances and consoling words, he offered something tangible. "I’ll round them up," Xavier said quietly, "while you take care of the civilians." "Then you can deal with them however you see fit." Luca could only nod. However, one eavesdropper heard it and whipped his head towards Xavier. "Wait—wait—WAIT," Ollie blurted out, his arms still full of weapons and revive pills. "Is that allowed?!" Asked the bewildered blonde. "Yeah." "!!!" "If there’s one thing about Pirates, they’ve officially declared themselves as unaffiliated entities. That means they’re not protected by any planetary laws." It was Kyle who responded. "They have no sovereignty. No civil status. No diplomatic ties." "In short..." Kyle shrugged. "They wanted to play outside the rules, so we don’t owe them the rules." Ollie was stunned to hear this. He knew about pirate attacks but not what happens to them after they’re caught. Now that he’s thought about it, it’s because he barely heard about the pirates surviving. Now, even Luca gawked at this. "Wait, brother, do you have a third particle saw? Maybe I need a spare." Asked Ollie, who was rethinking his life choices. He had no plans to be a hero; in fact, he was going to take Kyle’s warnings and instructions about running away if anything looked off. But even then, maybe he’d feel better with a third saw to add to his two revive pills and Kyle’s cuffs, which he was holding on to for dear life. "I thought you were planning to run if things went wrong?" Kyle muttered. "I am," defended the blonde mop. "But running with three particle saws feels safer than running with two." The group stared. Even Luca’s lips twitched. "Brother, you can even have four, but can you carry all of it?" Asked Luca, who was even willing to give six. "Oh. Yeah." But just as one mechanic tried figuring out the logistics of his arsenal, one Official was having a field day. If there was a man in the galaxy currently regretting his polite streak, it was Killian Nox. Chief of Staff. Elder brother. Pinky promiser. And at the moment? Very much not enjoying his first luxury commuter ride in two years. "Of course," he muttered, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket. "Of course it would be today." The pirates had gotten antsy. Too antsy. He could hear them from where he was hiding—yelling, fighting, growling, and sure as hell hitting each other with all those thuds he kept on hearing. The bickering had escalated, and it hadn’t been even that long. And the assmuned coup was definitely an ongoing one now. He was tucked into a hidden cargo alcove behind a sealed maintenance panel, which was not exactly glamorous for the Chief of Staff. But better here than dead. Because by the sound of it, Veeka—their original mission leader—was being subdued by her own crew. And while that bought him time, it also meant he was next on someone’s hit list. He clicked his tongue against his teeth. But more than anything, maybe he should also blame himself for letting that little blonde-haired gremlin rope him into this nonsense, only for the cadet to vanish just like that. Honestly, Killian would’ve believed the kid was a hallucination if not for how expressive he’d been. That kind of presence couldn’t be imagined. And neither could the increasing number of footsteps pounding around, frantically searching every room. Like this one. Sure enough, one of them managed to find him. Again. The panel hissed as it was pulled back. A pirate with jagged teeth and an even jaggeder haircut leaned in, eyes gleaming. "Well, well," he sneered. "What’ve we got, he—" Killian moved before he finished the sentence. *CRACK.* His elbow met the pirate’s jaw with satisfying precision. The man dropped before he could scream. Another came running. Killian slid out, fluid and lethal, already flipping his coat open to pull out a concealed short blade. This one didn’t even get the chance to open his mouth. It didn’t take too long; three pirates were unconscious and sprawled like upturned mannequins. The exasperated official stood over them and exhaled through his nose. Now, am I supposed to clean these up? He sighed to himself. He was honestly planning on just getting rid of them to fit them inside a space button, but just as he crouched to reach for the slumped pirates, he saw feet. Well, boots. And lots of them. Killian squinted. A bad feeling was settling in. His gaze started from a couple of legs up until he saw who they belonged to. "Oh, come on," he muttered, practically cursing under his breath. This little shit. "I told you to answer the damn comms," He snapped. If he was able to control his blood lust earlier, he wasn’t so sure about that right now.

Chapter 285: The Price

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