“Please don’t do that,” I said, surprising myself with how calm I sounded. But as I’d recently learned, I was pretty good at submerging my anxiety and fear until they were a gnawing, raging monster in the pit of my belly, completely invisible to anyone on the surface. “My name is Kenzie Cord, and until a few weeks ago, I was a citizen of Omnistellar Concepts. I can hold my position while you look it up.”

A few seconds passed before he spoke again, this time with a touch of suspicion. “Kenzie Cord. You’re listed as deceased, you know that?”

“I’m not surprised. I was on the space prison Sanctuary, which was destroyed last month.”

“Yeah, it’s all over the network at the moment,” he agreed, sarcasm creeping into his tone. “And here you are drifting into my space in . . . what the hell is that thing?”

“That thing is the reason we’re here,” I replied, struggling to keep my voice mild. “I’m on board with the Hu twins, former prisoners on Sanctuary. The three of us escaped before the prison was destroyed, and we stole an alien ship to—”

“I’m sorry, you’re going to need to repeat that. Did you say an alien ship?”

I closed my eyes and ground my teeth. “Look, do you want us to turn ourselves in or not?”

A long pause followed. “Yeah,” came the voice at last. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot. Somehow, I don’t think you’re offering unconditional surrender, though.”

“You’re right about that. We have one condition, and one only: after you have us in custody, you destroy this ship. If you don’t have the authority to make that deal, connect me to someone who does.”

Another long pause as he considered. I glanced at Cage, who shrugged. Impossible to tell if my negotiations were working. Maybe we should have let Cage do the talking. But his charisma tended to vanish when dealing with authority figures, and belligerence wouldn’t get us anywhere.

When the voice returned, it had shed its lackadaisical tone. “Now why would I agree to something like that? You’re flying around in what you claim is an alien ship, something the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Do you have any idea how much that thing is worth to the scientific community? Not to mention the price it’d fetch on the open market.”

“I’m not asking for my own entertainment,” I growled. “Right now, this ship is broadcasting a signal to what may be an alien fleet. Those creatures are terrifying and deadly. They can rip you and your armor to shreds, and you do not want them descending on Mars. If you give me your word you’ll destroy this ship, we’ll turn ourselves in. Otherwise, well . . . I’m sure we can find another corporation willing to deal.”

The man sighed. “Give me a minute to verify what you’re saying.” He disconnected the signal, and I flew into action, pacing the confined space.