“Not you particularly,” said Falconi. “But they know at least four people were on the shuttle. The thermal signatures were pretty clear. It’s why the UMC put out an open contract for any ship that could rendezvous with the Valkyrie before it ended up out on the far edge of the system. Fortunately for you, we had the delta-v to spare.”

Kira felt possibilities opening up before her. If the UMC didn’t know she was alive, and Orso and the others were still in cryo, maybe—just maybe—there was an opportunity for her to avoid getting disappeared by the UMC and the League.

“How long until we make port?” she asked.

“A week. We’re heading in-system to Ruslan. Got a bunch of passengers in the hold to drop off.” The captain raised an eyebrow. “We ended up pretty far off track going after the Valkyrie.”

A week. Could she keep the Soft Blade a secret for a whole week? She’d have to; there was no other choice.

Then Falconi said, “Your flight path shows you came from Sigma Draconis.”

“That’s right.”

“What happened? Those older drives can only manage, what, point one four light-years per day? That’s a hell of a long trip to tackle without cryo.”

Kira hesitated.

“Did the Jellies hit you?” said Trig.

“Jellies?” she said, puzzled, but grateful for the extra few seconds to think.

“You know, the aliens. Jellies. Jellyfish. That’s what we’re calling them.”

A growing sense of horror filled Kira as he spoke. She glanced between him and the captain. “Jellies.”

Falconi leaned against the frame of the door. “You wouldn’t have heard. It happened after you left Sigma Draconis. An alien ship jumped in around Ruslan—what, two months ago?—and hit three different transports. Destroyed one of them. Then groups of them started popping up all over the place: Shin-Zar, Eidolon, even Sol. Punched holes through three cruisers in orbit around Venus.”

“After that,” said Vishal, “the League formally declared war on the intruders.”

“War,” said Kira, flat. Her worst fears had come true.

“It’s shaping up to be a bad one too,” said Falconi. “The Jellies have been doing their best to knock the fight out of us. They’ve been disabling ships throughout the League, blowing up antimatter farms, landing troops on colonies, that sort of thing.”

“Have they attacked Weyland?”

The captain shrugged. “Hell if I know. Probably. FTL comms aren’t exactly reliable right now. The Jellies have been jamming them all they can.”

The back of Kira’s neck prickled. “You mean they’re here? Now?”

“Yup!” said Trig. “Seven of them! Three of the larger battleships, four of the smaller cruisers with double blasters mounted—”

Falconi raised a hand, and the kid obediently stopped. “They’ve been harassing ships between here and Sixty-One Cygni B for the past few weeks. The UMC are doing their best to keep the Jellies tied up, but they just don’t have enough forces.”

“What do the Jellies want?” Kira asked, feeling overwhelmed. Underneath her jumpsuit, the Soft Blade stirred again. She struggled to calm herself. Somehow she had to find a way to contact her family, figure out if they were safe and let them know she was still alive, consequences be damned. “Are they trying to conquer us, or…?”