“You sure we can trust him, even if he agrees?” asked Rune dubiously. “He doesn’t seem like the most—”

“I’m not sure of anything,” I snapped, then raised my hand in apology as she frowned. “Sorry. I know this is a risk. But our options are limited. It’s Mars Mining, the criminal underground, or Omnistellar Concepts. The criminal underground will almost certainly steal the ship out from under us and turn us in if they don’t kill us, and I have no idea what Omnistellar will do anymore.” Whatever it was, it wouldn’t give anyone else the chance to escape. I’d lied and said there were only three of us on board, hoping Rune’s confidence in the ship’s shielding was justified. “Mars Mining is our best—”

“All right, Kenzie,” the man’s voice interrupted me, and I winced, shooting an accusing glance at Rune. She’d left the channel open? Hopefully I hadn’t said anything incriminating. “Land that ship, turn yourselves in, and we’ll blow it into dust.”

My throat constricted. I swallowed around the sudden lump and said, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“I’m trying to send you landing coordinates, but the message doesn’t seem to be going through.”

“Yeah, we’re dealing with an unfamiliar system here. You’ll have to tell us verbally.”

The man sighed as if I’d deliberately used alien technology to annoy him, but he did give us the information. Rune nodded, confirming she was locked onto the landing zone, and we cut the comms.

We had absolutely no idea what to expect when this ship landed. We’d already warned the other twenty-one survivors of Sanctuary to lock in and hold tight. Once we reached the surface, they’d be in Alexei’s and Mia’s hands. If Mars Mining broke their word, hopefully Mia would rally some of them to our aid. I didn’t kid myself. Most of them would make a break for it, and I couldn’t blame them.

“Okay, here we go,” said Rune. Cage moved to a corner and readied himself as best he could, since the ship didn’t seem to have straps or belts or anything that might actually keep us safe in the event of a rough landing. We were taking a lot on faith and relying pretty heavily on Rune’s power. Who knew if this ship was even designed to break atmosphere? Then again, if it crashed in the landing and took all of us with it, I guess I didn’t have to worry about the aliens tracking our signal.

I closed my eyes and braced myself, ready to interpret any information Rune couldn’t glean directly from the AI. My hands trembled, and I locked them around the console’s edge to hide my fear. I had to hold things together. Rune and Cage relied on my knowledge and experience. If I let them see how terrified I was, all the possible ways this might blow up in our faces, they might back down. And that wasn’t an option. Not if we wanted to save Earth. Not for the first time, I wished for my commanding officer, my mom, to tell me what to do. But there was no one else. Just me and my friends and the weight of the solar system on our shoulders.