“That doesn’t excuse everything she did,” Corvus says. “You know that most of all. You were the one who rebelled against her when I was too afraid to. Why are you defending her now?” I stare at him, at a loss for words for a moment, and he presses onward. “You’re so quick to forget the worst parts of her. Momma was cruel. She was killed by her own greed. Not to mention universally despised.”

I brush off my doubt. Things were different back then. I was childish, weak. I can’t afford to be that person now, not with all the responsibility resting on my shoulders.

“We’re already despised. We’re smugglers, remember? Off-worlders wherever we go. Scourge of the system, and all. Nobody cares which lines we cross and which we don’t. They can’t tell the difference.” Anger surges up as I think of the Titans fighting in their endless war, and the Gaians digging up alien weaponry; of Devans crossbreeding plants capable of destroying entire ecosystems, and Paxians selling weapons throughout the system. All of them treating us like we’re the criminals. Me especially, merely for the crime of existing. “We owe these people nothing. They treat us like shit. They think we’re scum. And why should we be anything else? Why should we try to be anything better than what they expect us to be?”

“To show them we can be more than what we were!” Corvus shouts, and I flinch back at the unexpected boom of his voice, the way he steps forward like he’s ready to throw a fist in my face. But he doesn’t. He stops, and lowers both his eyes and his volume. “To show them they can do the same.” He searches my face. “Don’t you remember what I used to say? That when I’m in charge, we could be whoever we want to be. Now that’s in your hands. Is this who you want to be, Scorpia? Is this who you want all of us to become?”

“That…” A lump forms in my throat. “That was a long time ago. We were stupid. Ignorant. Being in charge isn’t about who you want to be at all.” I shake my head. “It’s about becoming who you have to be. Being willing to get your hands dirty for the sake of everyone else. Like on Gaia, when I had to lie and steal because you couldn’t. Now all of you are counting on me.”