His words settled over us with the weight of a shroud. Before anyone could ask any more questions, Liam rushed on. “I headed for Mars. One way or another, I had to know the truth. I called in every favor I was owed on Obsidian to hack the comms and figured out exactly who you were and what you’d gotten your hands on. The second I got the details, I knew you had the right idea: to destroy that ship. But I wasn’t sure you’d be able to do it before Omnistellar showed up, so I headed to the planet to make sure. I was monitoring Mars security, so I knew when you attacked, and we arrived on the landing strip at about the same time.” He gestured to a backpack at his feet. “I had some explosives with me, but you had a walking flamethrower. Once we destroyed the ship, I didn’t feel like leaving you behind at corporate mercy.”

I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on my knees and dragging my hands through my hair as I struggled to process this new information. It was too much to take in. Earth knew we’d survived Sanctuary? How? They should have assumed we’d all been blown up with the station. I opened my mouth to ask the question, but Liam wasn’t done yet.

“As for how I knew about the aliens,” he continued, glaring at Mia, who’d already opened her mouth, “I’d think that was obvious. They destroyed my planet.”

Complication, Legion. I believe we’ll need your involvement after all.

Well, color me shocked. I would never have guessed.

Can the mockery. Intel says the subjects are headed to Obsidian.

So, your source is working. Nice. Do they have the ship?

No. That’s been destroyed.

Then how in the name of corporate bliss . . . ?

Does that really matter, Legion?

I guess not. We’re on an intercept route. We have a little surprise in store for your brats.

I’m sure you do. Just try not to cause too much damage before the cavalry arrives.

Copy that, base. Legion out.

FIFTEEN

VARYING DEGREES OF SHOCK GREETED Liam’s comment. We’d known we weren’t the only ones the aliens had attacked. When I’d scanned the files on their ship, I’d found plenty of evidence that they’d done this before: injected their DNA into a planet, allowed it to fester a few generations, and then harvested the results as a sort of genetic terraforming. But that meant . . .

“You’re an alien?” Jasper demanded bluntly.

Liam shrugged. “Depends on your perspective, I guess.”

“How’d you get here?” I challenged.

“Not sure of that, either.”

“So, you just woke up. On Mars.”