“I rarely say things I don’t mean. I knew that Declan had to be awake soon and my message to the Aunare was going to get to someone. It was only a matter of time, and the clock had already been ticking. It’s been ticking since we landed on Abaddon.”

“All right. I have to go,” Declan said. “I need to look into this weapon, and I’ve got some calls to make. I need to see if I can hold off the Aunare army because Lorne isn’t listening to me anymore. He… And then I need to make some preparations for running. We’ll need this ship quickly refueled if we have any shot of making it to international space before… It’ll be tight, but…”

He looked at Ahiga. “If my father is keeping something this big from me, even with all of our spies, then the whole network is useless. We might have to pull all our people out of SpaceTech. I don’t know if anyone’s compromised and I won’t have time to find out today.”

Ahiga grunted. “Might be for the best. I’ll get started.”

“You’ll keep an eye on her?”

“Of course.” Ahiga stood up from the desk. “But she doesn’t need me to watch over her. Check out the videos.”

“From her suit?” Declan paled. “I can’t watch those.”

“You should because she’s a survivor. I don’t know if I could’ve lived through what she did. But there’s some from the gym, too,” Ahiga said. “Those are worth checking out for sure.”

I sent a look to Ahiga that I hope conveyed how fucked up I thought that suggestion was, and then turned to Declan. “Don’t look at any of it. I’m fine.” I spit out the word. It was a lie, but I didn’t care. “No one needs to see me almost boiling to death in those stupid suits, especially not you or my father.” I rose from my chair and placed my hands on the desk. I gave him a stare that I hope conveyed that he shouldn’t fuck with me on this.

“If you find them, delete them before you watch.” My tone was cold but didn’t care. “I kept my word. I survived. So you do this for me. You delete them.”

“You survived. It’s more than I can say for myself.” The last bit was more of a soft mutter, and I wasn’t sure he intended us to hear him. “Okay.”

“Declan—”

“Gotta run, but I’ll be with you tomorrow in your coms.”

The screen went black, and I sighed. “He’s not going to forgive himself for this.”

“Should he?”

I stared at the blank vidscreen. “Yes.” At least I thought so.

Ahiga grunted. “You’re too nice.”