Lyra stood tall despite the visible exhaustion on her face. Her posture was rigid, but her expression was filled with a stubborn fire, and her voice didn't falter for a second.
"Yes," she answered firmly, her eyes locked onto his. "I'm ready to fight."
Rex let out a long, exasperated sigh and looked away, massaging his temples. This wasn't just reckless... it was suicidal in her condition.
{What were you thinking, Cleo!?} Rex shouted through their mental link; his thoughts sounded sharp and loud.
{Don't tell me you didn't notice someone stealing a transport ship and flying it across a war zone! It's not like she could just sneak out of a heavily fortified fortress like some street rat in the slums!}
There was a moment of silence in his mind.
Cleo's voice finally responded, oddly calm but tinged with something like guilt or maybe admiration. {She said if I didn't let her through, she'd throw herself out the hangar doors mid-flight and blame me in her final log.}
