“So, we need to find a way to stop them before they reach the colonists,” Amina said, as naturally as the sun rose every morning.

“How can we do that from here?” Tin leaned forward in her seat, elbows planted on her knees. “We’re hundreds of miles away.”

“But we have three days?” Nettle asked, looking to Caledonia for confirmation.

“If Mino is correct. So let’s assume her conservative guess isn’t conservative enough and go with two.”

Nettle nodded smartly. “Okay, then we need to distract them.”

“We’re still hundreds of miles away,” Tin cautioned. “Even if we set all of Cloudbreak on fire, they’d never see it. Much less care enough to change course.”

We need something they want more than the colonists. Hime sat upright. Her long hair dragged behind her, keeping her connected to Amina.

“Well, we’ve only got one thing they could possibly want more than a few dead colonists.” Amina met Caledonia’s gaze, her dark eyes as solid as a ship’s deck. She’d reached the same conclusion Caledonia had, and nearly as quickly. Caledonia nodded.

The room quieted as each girl came to understand Amina’s meaning.

“Oh,” said Nettle, deflated. “But you can’t.”

“I can,” Caledonia insisted gently. “And I will. But if we let them know I am here, they’ll know you are, too.”

Pisces inched forward on the bed, folding her legs beneath her and sitting closer to the edge. “They won’t only come for you.”

Caledonia shook her head.

“They’ll come for all of us.”

Caledonia nodded.

Pisces paused, thinking through all the implications. “It will be the biggest fight we’ve ever been in.”

“They’ll send a fleet.” Tin’s voice was awed enough for all of them.

Caledonia gave them a beat to let it sink in. She’d had all night to consider this outcome, to let her mind work through dozens of possible strategies, to anticipate all the ways Aric might come at her.

“Can we win?” Pisces asked.

Here, Caledonia moved to the edge of the bed, pushing her warm blankets away and letting her feet rest on the cold floor. “We can win,” she said. “With Hesperus’s ships and the advantage of Cloudbreak, we’ll see them coming and have time to prepare. Even if they outnumber us, I know we can win.”

“So what’s the problem?” Tin asked.

It will only be the first fight. Hime tucked her legs beneath her, kneeling on the floor in the center of them all. We will win, but it will enrage him. He’ll know where we are and who helped us. It will be the start of a war.

“And we cannot win an all-out war against Aric,” Caledonia finished. “Not with the ships and crew we have.”