The Morrison and the Baldwin sped toward them. The distance between them shortened. On an intercept vector, no weapons lock was detected. But they were also still out of range.

“I’m sorry for the situation you find yourself in. And rest assured, these interlopers will be dealt with. But be that as it may”—Maulana looked up from scanning the report, fixing his serious and intense gaze on her—“we can’t allow you near the Orun Gate. We just voted to seal the wormhole.”

“You can’t. Once you seal the gate, no one from the other side can return.”

“The Hughes has been … lost. The Morrison and the Baldwin were on their way to Titan for a full debrief when we received the alert of your intended course.”

“Well, we’re going through.”

Maulana’s face filled her entire view now. “Stacia, I can’t allow that.”

“Then you’ll have to decide whether or not you want to fire on your own.”

“Don’t test me—”

“I appreciate you, Maulana.” Stacia cut off their communication channel.

“Stacia,” Dina said. “The Morrison and the Baldwin are closing in fast. They’re almost within weapons range.”

“We won’t fire on our own.” Stacia leaned over her to check her telemetry readings. “And they won’t fire on us.”

“That’s a big gamble.”

“It’s no gamble. We aren’t threatening them or community. And neither are they. We can’t settle differences between us by raising weapons at one another. We are either a community or Muungano is a lie that deserves to be exposed. Now we’re going through. Full forward.” Stacia took her seat and secured herself for what she knew would be a bumpy ride.

“The Morrison and the Baldwin are coming about.”

“Keep an eye on—”

“We have a weapons lock!” Dina whirled around. “They’ve launched missiles!”

“What?” Stacia shouted. “Hard to port. Deploy deterrent. Increase thrust to maximum. I don’t care if you exceed safety protocols.”

“Quantum payloads detected.” Dina double-checked her scans. “Correction. Their weapons have locked on to the Orun Gate.”

“Are they insane? Can someone calculate the effects of a quantum payload on the wormhole?”

“No one knows the full effect,” Dina said.

Paki would, Stacia kept to herself. “Damn it. Can we beat the missiles to the gate?”

“It’s going to be close.”

“Shields to maximum.” Stacia closed her eyes in silent prayer. “Brace for impact.”