The unspoken words, still unformed, shattered on the edge of my psyche and disappeared. I didn’t resent Cage for running to his sister, not for a second.

But God, did her timing suck.

Rune blinked as if returning to reality, seeming to take a moment to focus. Then she said, “You’d better listen to this. I tapped into the ship’s comms.”

A second later, Priya’s furious shout filled the room. “. . . docking ring, do you understand me?”

The answering voice was female, cold and impassive, lightly tinged with a Russian accent. “You understand me, Legion. We have an unexplained hull breach and no contact with the residents of that sector. No one is leaving this station until we know what happened.”

“You’re going to have to answer to Omnistellar if they don’t get their prisoners.”

The other woman chuckled. “Right now, that is the least of my problems. Obsidian out.”

Reed and Imani gasped as one, the sound echoing through the enclosed space. My knees weakened, and Cage and I turned to each other, our faces identical masks of horror. My mouth went dry. Hull breach.

This was exactly how the alien attack had started on Sanctuary.

TWENTY-NINE

“MOVE.” AS USUAL, CAGE WAS the first to find his voice. “Move. Now. Rune. Come on.”

Rune released the console and Priya’s furious cursing faded into oblivion. At the same moment, Mia, Jasper, and Alexei appeared in the doorway, their drawn faces reflections of my own. “Hull breach?” Mia demanded.

“We were too late,” Imani whispered. Her eyes were pools of terror. “They killed my sister, and now they’re back. We didn’t destroy the ship quickly enough. We were too late.”

The room erupted into a babble of chatter, but Cage’s powerful voice cut through everyone else’s: “All right, calm down! So far, all we know is that there’s a hull breach. Don’t go jumping to conclusions. Let’s get off this ship and take it from there.”

“Off this ship?” Reed shrieked. “Dude, if there are aliens on Obsidian, then off this ship is the exact opposite of the direction we should be going! No wonder the hunters didn’t come for us! They don’t think we’re stupid enough to run toward the danger. We should be booking it to the other side of the solar system.”

“With the bounty hunters?” Cage demanded. “The ones determined to hand us over to Omnistellar, who plan to attack the aliens for their tech? Great plan.”

“Don’t be a jerk,” I muttered. He spun on me, his jaw dropping in surprise, but I ignored him. So much for that moment. Aloud, I said, “Whatever we’re going to do, we can’t do it here. Let’s move.” Without waiting for the others, I strode into the hallway—

And crashed right into Matt, with the Asian woman, Bian, at his back.