I staggered, grabbing the wall for support. Images overwhelmed me: the creatures, three of them, stalking me through the corridor, Cage slumped lifeless against the wall. Just a few of them decimated my entire station in a matter of hours. What would a whole ship do? Omnistellar thought they could stand against the aliens. They probably didn’t care if they lost a handful of people in the process, not if they emerged on top. But I’d seen the aliens in action, and I knew the truth. Omnistellar didn’t stand a chance against them. Not unless they blew them out of the sky, and they’d never do that. It would damage their precious alien tech. “My dad,” I managed. “Does he know about this?”

“The comms didn’t say one way or another. You could ask him.” He gestured at the device on my wrist. “Of course, activating your comms would give him your exact position. Speaking of which, I did intercept one thing you might find interesting. Have you ever heard of Legion?”

I searched my memory but came up empty. “No. I’m not familiar with every aspect of Omnistellar’s operations, though. It’s a big corporation.”

“Well, whatever Legion is, it’s after you. And I suspect it’ll be here long before Omnistellar. You have a few hours at most.”

Of course. If we meant that much to Omnistellar, they would stop at nothing to find us. “Bounty hunters. Has to be.” I eyed him suspiciously. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“You have to ask?” A tremor raced through him. He pivoted to stare at the wall, his shoulders shaking with each breath, the tendons on his arms jutting out at odd angles. After a moment he spun back to me, but none of the tension had left his face; his eyes reflected my own horror. “You think I want those things here? They destroyed my planet. I escaped by luck and cowardice. Somehow I don’t think I’ll get away a second time.”

I frowned. The explanation made sense. God knew I’d go to some pretty heavy extremes to avoid seeing those creatures ever again. But I still sensed there was something he wasn’t telling me. “And what else?”

“That’s not enough?” He bit off every word, and a wave of uncertain guilt washed over me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was just a man, a slightly alien man, sure, but a man nonetheless, one living with the things he’d done to escape with his life—just like me, just like Cage.

And assuming he was at least being honest about this Legion . . . “I have to warn the others.” I stared at my comm, mulling over what Liam had said. Could Omnistellar really trace me if I used it?