Zinne looks like she wants to argue, but my mother doesn’t have a face that allows much room for argumentation. This woman, even with her fancy uniform and almost a dozen guns in her favor, seems to recognize that. Momma treks back to the ship’s ramp without waiting for an answer. At a gesture of her hand, my siblings and I cluster around her, our heads together and our backs to the law-enforcers.

“What’s this about?” I ask.

“That woman is Talulah Leonis’s head of security,” my mother says.

“Oh,” Lyre says, very quietly.

“Well, shit,” I say.

The twins are silent. Pol’s eyebrows are drawn together, his face blank of recognition; Drom is watching the officers and doesn’t seem to be listening to the conversation. I smack her on the side of the head to get her attention. She shoves me back and nearly sends me toppling on my ass.

“Leonis is the Gaian president, idiots,” I inform both twins, once I manage to regain my balance and dignity. “The one who thinks all off-worlders are scum? Whole family wiped out by the Nibiran plague when she was a kid?” I still remember Momma swearing and stomping all over the ship three years ago, when she found out Leonis was elected, raging about how an extremist like her was going to be terrible for business. Leonis ran on a platform of Gaian independence—aka complete seclusion. The moment this planet solves its food shortage problems, I’m sure even drone trade will be cut off entirely. Maybe eventually we’ll be cut off, too, despite Momma’s Gaian citizenship.

“Oh,” Pol says. “Yeah, shit.”

“So we shoot and run?” Drom asks.

“No shooting,” Momma says. The twins groan in unison, and I let out a breath. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but if they wanted to arrest me, they would’ve already shot the lot of you and dragged me away in cuffs. I’m going to find out what they want. The rest of you will go to Levian and meet our contact at oh-nine-hundred hours like we planned, even if I’m not there.” She turns her clear eyes to each of us in turn, waiting for a nod before continuing. “Lie low, don’t take unnecessary risks. Scorpia, you’re in charge while I’m gone. We clear?”

After a stunned moment, I break into a grin.

“Crystal,” I say. Guess she isn’t too pissed about the crash after all, if she’s leaving me in charge. Maybe she was secretly impressed by my ability to think on the spot and get us here on time. But I know this is more than some victory prize. It’s a test. It’s always a test.

“I don’t follow,” Lyre says. “You say ‘no unnecessary risks,’ but you put Scorpia in charge again? After that crash landing?”