Her words soothed a secret worry that I’d carried for a while. I grinned at her. “As if I could ever get rid of you lot. Without me, you’d fall apart in ten minutes.”

“Probably less,” Eli agreed.

I paused before moving to the next topic, and Torran clasped my hand, offering me strength. I flashed him a smile, then turned back to my crew. “That’s not all. Torran plans to hunt Morten and the telekinetic. He thinks they’re instigating a war and he wants to know why. I would like to help, but this is not a decision I will make without your input, especially because he believes the telekinetic might be a Sun Guardian.”

My team shifted uneasily, and Lexi hissed out a curse. “Sun Guardians don’t fuck around. Hunting one is dangerous.”

“It is,” I agreed. “And if it was just the FHP at risk, I’d happily let them go down in flames. But you know that if we return to war, people will suffer. We might be able to stop that.”

She scoffed. “If they want to go to war, nothing we can do will stop them.”

“True enough. But it’s also possible that the kidnappers weren’t working on FHP orders, and if we expose them, tensions will decrease.”

Lexi shook her head but didn’t contradict me.

Eli stared at me, his expression unreadable. “Do you really think we could help stop a war?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Morten is neck-deep in some FHP plot. Maybe the empress contracted the whole kidnapping just so she’d have a reason to break the treaty. There’s no way to know unless we dig into it.”

Eli sighed. “This is a very stupid idea, but I’m in.”

“Me, too,” Kee said.

“I’m in,” Anja said quietly. “If my vote matters.”

“Unless you want off at Bastion, you’re part of my crew now. Your vote matters.”

She smiled at me. “I’d like to stay.”

Kee clapped her hands. “Yay! I never have to work with Eli on delicate electronics ever again!”

Eli snorted and made a show of rolling his eyes, but a grin hovered around his mouth.

“We’re in,” Chira said quietly. “If you’ll have us.”

“All of you are welcome,” I said. “I meant it.”

She bowed her head, her left wrist over her heart. The rest of the Valoffs did the same.

I nodded at them, then turned to Lexi. “I know you’re going to be off relieving someone of their hard-earned credits, but what do you think?”

“I think it’s a terrible idea,” she said bluntly. “But I think you’re going to do it anyway, and I would be disappointed if you didn’t. One of us has to fight for the greater good, and it’s not me.”