“Kat?” Leo said. “Do you know where she is? Is she okay?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Gareth glanced over to the window and motioned with his hand. The gesture was followed by a rap of metal knuckles on the door, a knock that didn’t wait for an answer. Pirates didn’t ask for permission.

Katarina Corea strolled in, wearing the same uniform Leo had seen her in last—no Coalition khaki for her, though she had her leather jacket back, looking even more bedraggled with a brand-new hole in its left shoulder. Leo could only guess that was his fault, the new bloodstain his as well. “Welcome back, ship rat,” she said.

Leo sat up straight, wincing at the effort, but that didn’t keep him from smiling. He was afraid she’d be locked in a brig somewhere. Or worse. He knew what the Coalition did to the pirates they caught.

Clearly exceptions were made for pirates who helped save the world.

Kat pointed at the bandage across Leo’s chest. “I told them to just cut off the whole arm and give you one like mine, but they said it would heal just fine. Your loss.” She sat down in the empty chair beside Leo’s bed. He noticed she was unarmed. It was an unusual look for her. “How’re you feeling?” she asked.

“A little lost,” Leo admitted. “Been out of it, I guess.”

“Understandable,” she said. “Maybe I wasn’t clear when I told you not to get shot.”

“You told me that?”

“It was heavily implied,” Kat said. “A good thing we found your dad in time. Didn’t know he was such a deadeye.”

Leo looked at Gareth, who nodded. “Dad was the one who took out the Djarik soldier that attacked us, if you can believe it. Saw him come on board and came charging in after him.”

Leo tried to picture his father pulling the trigger. He was pretty sure the man had never held a gun in his life. There has to be another way, he always said. A better way. But then sometimes you really don’t have much choice.

I’ve got you, Leo. I’m right here.

Kat leaned across the bed and stole the stuffed bunny from Leo’s elbow, setting it in her own lap—another total pirate move. “The good news is, you made it,” she said. “And in one piece . . . more or less.”

“What about the others?” Leo asked.

Kat stroked the rabbit’s faux fur ears. “Zenn bailed as soon as we rescued your father. Turns out the EDF wanted to question her about some past indiscretions, including breaking into a Coalition outpost and kidnapping a certain someone.” Kat glanced at Gareth, who shrugged. “She split before they could take her in, but she said she’d track us down if she ever needed us to return the favor.”

She’d track them down. Of course she would. Leo found the thought both frightening and strangely reassuring. On the one hand, she’d threatened to kill him once. On the other, she’d failed to collect the bounties on either his or Gareth’s head, instead helping to bring the Fenders back together. Perhaps that made her the worst bounty hunter in the universe. If so, she was in good company. “What about Crayt?”