By the time Scorpia finishes her explanation, my stomach feels like a ball of ice. I can see in the defeated slump of her shoulders and the tired grief in her eyes that Scorpia feels the same way I do—that she thought our fight was over, and the idea of doing more seems impossible. We’re already running on fumes. After all that we’ve been through, it only seems to get worse and worse, and the stakes higher and higher. To go against this ship now would mean risking everything. It would mean risking Pol. And we’ve gambled our lives too many times already. But do we really have a choice? If we turn our backs on Nibiru now, what was the point of everything else that got us here?

“We’re the only ones who can do anything to prevent this,” I say. Though I try to channel conviction into the words, they come out tired and flat. “We have a responsibility.”

“No, we don’t,” Lyre says almost apologetically. “This isn’t our fight. These aren’t our people. We can still run.”

“You don’t have to be the voice of reason,” I tell her, thinking back to our conversation in the engine room. “You don’t have to believe something is logical to believe that it’s right.”

She looks away, hesitating. “I…”

“What about Pol?” Drom interrupts before she can finish. “We all saw that message. Leonis still has him.” Her eyes are on Scorpia. “You said Leonis would forgive us if we struck a deal for peace. You told us she wouldn’t do anything. But now—”

Scorpia holds her hands up as if in surrender, her expression pained.

“I wasn’t lying. I really thought that was true.” She drops her hands, expression growing bitter. “Shey seemed so convinced.”

Drom looks like she wants to say more, but I shoot her a look and shake my head. She grimaces. After a moment of silence, Scorpia looks up at us again.

“We have only one ship,” she says, her voice stronger than before. “And this isn’t a decision I’m going to make for everyone. We’ll do it like last time. We vote. Either we run together, or we fight together.”

A somber silence falls. As eager as everyone was to share their opinions before, now that they know their words really matter, everyone is quiet. I drop my eyes and resist the urge to study their faces or argue for my own point. Scorpia is right. This is a decision we all need to make for ourselves. We need to decide what we’re willing to risk, and what we’re willing to live with.