Valerie perched on the captain’s chair, a leg through one armrest and a hand on the other to keep her tethered. The screens dotted about the bridge showed feeds from around the ship. There was Lebedeva outside Hart and Hixon’s room, unscrewing the metal cover of the comms panel. Valerie must have already known Naomi had left the door wedged open. Valerie’s back was to Naomi as she stared out the window at the scattering of stars. Her brown curls rose around her head like a flame.

Naomi floated closer, using the handrails. She held the pepper spray in one hand.

“Give me your pepper spray,” Valerie said, twisting her face towards her. “Should have known Lebedeva was as cowardly as the others, but well done on rigging that up, I suppose.” Valerie’s eyes flicked briefly towards the screen.

“I’m not handing you my weapons,” Naomi said.

Valerie made a sound in her throat. “Put it under a chair or something, I don’t care. You’re not going to attack me, anyway, and I’m not about to mace a pregnant woman. What kind of monster do you take me for?” She grinned.

The smooth assurance made Naomi only want to clutch her weapons closer. She slid the vial out of her beltloop and put it in the pocket on the back of Hixon’s chair along with the aerosol.

“There,” Valerie said. Her body language was relaxed. “So, you got a plan, Nomi?”

Naomi gathered her breath. “I’ve come to make a deal.”

Valerie laughed. “I’m not sure you’re exactly in a negotiating position.”

“Neither are you. Even if you managed to keep us locked up for four more months, you’re outnumbered. Eventually we’ll find a way to take you down, unless you kill all of us, but it’d be damn hard to make it on your own on Cavendish. So you have to keep up the vigilance. It’s already tiring, I’m sure. None of us are with you, not when it counts. But we could be.”

Valerie’s face went still.

“You don’t want to land on Cavendish with four prisoners you have to force to do your bidding,” Naomi continued, emboldened. “You need us until you can grow or deliver enough children, and hope they grow up to be loyal in the ways we currently are not. It’ll be years of threats and watching your back. There’s an easier way to get us on your side. To make us a crew again.”

Did the three other women have any way of hearing what was happening down on the bridge? When they were all free, would they come for her?

Valerie gave Naomi a long, cool look.