I’m wheezing so hard, I can’t even laugh anymore, holding my sides because it hurts to breathe.

“That was SO BAD!” Bran cries from the crowd. “You should feel ashamed!”

Harper presses two fingers to her lips and blows a kiss to the crowd. I mimic her and we drop our microphones, quickly vacating the stage before someone throws something at us. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand as we escape to the balcony and close ourselves outside.

“We were horrible!” she gasps, unable to stop laughing.

“But it was worth it,” I reply.

We’re grinning like two idiots.

Oh God, how I want to just be a part of this strange universe.

But you are Jessica Stone, says that voice in the back of my head, and I wish I could shove it into a box and bury it. There is no universe where this exists.

But then the other half of me, the part that remembers the look of all those Amaras through the camera lens, the contagiousness of Dare’s enthusiasm before each take we filmed, the passion behind Imogen’s eyes when she talked about saving Amara…

The view of letting go. Of being yourself.

That part of me whispers, Or this could be the best idea of your life.

“Imogen,” she says quietly, and goosebumps prickle up on my skin because, even though it’s not my name, she means me. The real me. Not the me behind the veneer of Jessica Stone. I like the sound of it.

And I like the sound of us.

My phone dings, and at first I try to ignore it. But then it dings again.

“Are you going to get that?” she asks.

“It’s just Twitter,” I say dismissively, and then I snap out of my daze.

It’s Twitter.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket and check the notification. Oh no. I think I might just vomit.

The thief posted another screenshot of the script.

@starfieldscript337

I’m happy you guys are loving this. Tomorrow, we’ll show you how legit it is. #ExcelsiCon

GENERAL SOND lifts CARMINDOR’S chin. CARMINDOR struggles against his bindings. A video screen comes to life behind them.

GENERAL SOND

That is Velaris Six, one of your colony planets on the edge of the Federation.

About six million people, wouldn’t you say?

A beam of black and purple light hits the planet. Then Velaris Six fractures apart.

CARMINDOR stares at it in shock.

CARMINDOR

NO!

GENERAL SOND

And now there are none.

The Council politely applauds.

CARMINDOR

You killed them all of them.

GENERAL SOND

Every one of them. Their leaders refused to conscript to the Path of the Sun, and so I gave them my judgement. This will happen, again and again, thanks to the powers given to me by the Black Nebula – no, gifted to me. Every planet that refuses to conscript will be terminated.

(pauses)