She was beginning to wish that the Fellibrag had been left behind on Arcardius, but naturally, Gilly had made sure Havoc was safely tucked aboard the ship before assuming her guard duties at the Ucatoria Ball. And now it was up to Andi to make sure Gilly’s beloved pet somehow survived the next few weeks, until they could come up with a plan to rescue her and the other girls.

“Getting the mission done is always the hard part,” Lon said, drawing Andi back into the conversation at hand, smiling morosely as their eyes met. His fingertips trailed dangerously close to the edge of the Adhiran cowhide couch, where Havoc swatted and missed.

Andi leaned back into the cushions, sighing deeply. The wound on her chest no longer hurt when she breathed, which was the only positive progress she seemed to have made in the three weeks since she’d awoken.

Andi knew she was being overly dramatic, and that they weren’t completely at a dead end. A few days ago, they’d finally had their first breakthrough. Dex had managed to secure a connection to the galactic feed, which was essential to their plans.

Unfortunately, that connection had only confirmed their worst fears.

The world they once knew was far gone. Endless propaganda now littered the feeds, Nor Solis the figurehead of this new world. Her reign of compulsive power had spread to every system, from Phelexos to the farthest reaches of Tavina. Hiding out in the nebula may have kept them safe from the virus, but that protection also made Andi feel incredibly alone.

Isolated. Hopeless.

But she would not accept defeat. Not when the lives of her girls were at risk.

“Okay, let’s lay out what we know already,” Andi said, needing everything clarified once more before they did...who knows what, she thought. They couldn’t move forward with any of the plans they’d concocted thus far without more information.

Lon tapped a command into the holoscreen on the coffee table and pulled up a picture of a young man with green hair and dark skin. He would have looked like any other person she might pass on the streets of any city in the galaxy—if it weren’t for the network of silver veins glowing beneath the surface of his skin.

Andi had seen this photo before. They all had. The first time she saw it, the sight had puzzled her to the core. She was very familiar with body modification, but had never seen anything like this in all her travels across Mirabel.