Devon stood in the middle of the pilot’s nest and stared out the view port. Jupiter rolled like a strange, swirling marble just outside, impossibly big and daunting. Devon felt altogether small staring at it, like he could be swallowed whole if he ventured too close to its gaseous surface. He suppressed a shudder and looked to the console. The readout showed they were positioned behind Ganymede, holding a tight orbit in the hopes no Consulate patrol ships happened by.

He went through the list of instructions Seach had given him prior to making his run, scowling the more he thought about it. Should he get an emergency signal from his father Devon was to pilot Zephyr down to the settlement on Ganymede, unlock hatches two and four to gather provisions, and disappear with their passengers.

Just like that, he thought. Abandon Zephyr and the people who had raised him and never look back.

Devon rubbed his face and paced through the nest. He knew Seach meant well but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to do that. They hadn’t abandoned him in his moment of need, how could they expect him to just walk away?

Then again, he had been meaning to leave them for University but he told himself that was different. That was when he’d only thought they were pirates and as far away as University might be he’d always envisioned holidays with them. They were a part of him, foster parents or no, and he could not imagine life without them.

“Lieutenant Seach has docked,” Zephyr reported.

“Get ready to launch escape vessel Charlie,” Devon said, focusing on the controls. Paul was already in place, ready to finish the mission.

“Abort,” Seach ordered through the communications system. Devon could hear that he was running. “Abort now and find a secluded place to land.”

“What? Why? What happened?” Devon asked, hands hovering over the controls. A sick knot settle in his gut as Seach ran into the nest, looking angry and determined. “Dad, what’s going on?”

“It’s a set-up. They knew we were coming.” Seach shouldered Devon away from the controls and took over.

“How? I thought you said they’d be waiting for us at Saturn.”

“Yeah, well, looks like someone tipped them off.”

Devon felt the ship start to move, diving down toward Ganymede’s pale surface. Zephyr shuddered as they entered the atmosphere. He gripped the console as the floor jerked under him, his mind stuck on Seach’s last statement.

Someone on the ship had betrayed them. But why? Didn’t they all want the same thing? Didn’t they all want out of Consulate space?

“No,” Devon said. “That can’t be true.”

“Relo and Movax are here, Dev.” Seach growled the words. “Do the math.”

Devon’s chest squeezed tight with fear. Johnathan Relo, a Grey Man, was here. That couldn’t be coincidence.

“But who …” He started to ask and then had to hold on as the ship jostled to the ground. Outside the viewport he could see skyscrapers climbing tall against the horizon. They passed them by and swooped over to land somewhere outside of the settlement. “And how?” He asked as the ship settled and Seach began powering off several of the flight controls.

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Seach said tersely. “And I think it’s time to ask your girlfriend what she was doing when she locked herself in the nest.”

“Kenzie wouldn’t do that. She wants to keep Zoe safe.”

Didn’t she? He tried to remember their conversations, tried to look for any little sign that might point to betrayal, but there was nothing. Kenzie was just a girl.

Paul stepped into the nest. “What has happened? Where is the Captain?”

“Jorry’s been caught,” Seach said. “Where are the girls?”

Paul’s eyes widened in horror and he whispered a prayer that Devon barely heard. “Oh, God help us.”

“The girls,” Seach said again.

“I left them in the central chamber, why?” Paul said.

Seach pulled the galvanizer from his belt and headed for the door. He looked purposeful and quite deadly and Devon exchanged a nervous glance with Paul before hurrying after his father. Ganymede’s added gravity made his movements feel labored and it took several steps before Zephyr released the magnetic hold on his boots. He had to fight back a wave of nausea as his body acclimated but he managed to catch up with Seach.

“Are you sure Mom’s been caught?” Devon asked, following closely. “She’s pretty good at fighting. Maybe she got away.”

Please, please let her have gotten away.

“She’s extremely good at fighting untapped soldiers. But this is Relo. Even if she could get around the fact that he’s our former Captain, Relo is especially talented at hand to hand combat and always has been. The bastard probably took her down in twelve seconds.”

Devon’s stomach dropped with this announcement. Twelve seconds? Nobody could take Jorry down in twelve seconds. Seach had to be wrong.

He frowned as they entered the central chamber. If Relo was here then this had nothing to do with Zoe. This was about his parents. But Agent Malone had specifically asked about their passengers, he remembered that quite clearly. Confused, Devon clenched his fists and focused on the room.

Kenzie stood beside the central table, her green eyes wide with fear as Seach leveled his galvanizer at her chest. Zoe squeaked in alarm and hurried to hide behind her sister. Seach hadn’t said anything yet but his intentions were quite clear. Devon moved to stand by the table, eyeing the pronged point of the galvanizer. He was mostly certain his father wouldn’t shoot an underage girl but a dark doubt played in the back of his mind.

For Jorry Seach might do anything.

“What did you tell Movax?” Seach asked.

“What?” Kenzie looked to Devon and he felt his stomach drop for the second time. “What’s he talking about?”

She was a terrible liar. Her guilty expression was so plain that Devon winced.

“I will shoot you,” Seach said before Devon could answer her.

“This is crazy! I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Lieutenant, there must be a mistake …” Paul tried to intervene, coming in from behind them.

“There’s no mistake. Movax is here and the only way he’d know where to find us is if someone told him. Zephyr has you all on constant surveillance. The only two who had the opportunity to send communication are the girls,” Seach said, his tone firm and certain. “This is your last warning, Kenzie.”

Kenzie stammered and glanced at Devon again, looking conflicted and lost. Devon stared back at her, anger flaring up in his chest. She’d actually done it, she’d betrayed them. Devon clenched his fists, felt his knuckles ache with pressure, and imagined his mother at the mercy of the Consulate.

“Why?” Devon demanded. Kenzie jumped at the sound of his voice and met his eyes. “Why’d you do it?”

Her face twisted as though she were in pain, pretty eyes suddenly dark with regret, and Devon leaned forward to grip the hub with both hands just to keep from strangling her.

“Please understand, Devon,” she said. “They promised to leave Zoe alone if I helped them.”

He held tighter to the hub, felt its cold, smooth surface under his fingers.

Eleven weeks, five days and twenty hours, he thought. That’s how long he’d known her. That’s how long she’d been lying to his face, prepared to betray them all just to keep Zoe safe.

“I get it. My mother for your sister,” he said, barely holding his temper. “Never mind the fact that she could have helped you.”

“She’s not your real mother, Devon. Neither of them are your real parents.” Kenzie said. “But Zoe … Zoe is real. And I have to keep her safe.”

He stood polarized for a moment. Kenzie knew about his real parents. Devon glanced at Paul, who looked both alarmed and sheepish all at once. Paul’s expression changed when their gazes caught. His face contorted into an apologetic frown that quickly vanished as Seach took another step forward. Devon refocused on his father, whose hand held steady on the weapon aimed at Kenzie. He saw a muscle jump in Seach’s jaw and knew he was struggling for control.

“All they want are the soldiers,” Kenzie went on, shielding Zoe with her body. “They’ll leave the rest of us alone. Don’t you see, Devon? Paul knows your mother. You can find a real home …”

“I have a home,” Devon snapped. “It’s here, on Zephyr. And I have two very real parents. Now tell my father exactly what you told Movax before he shoots you.”

Kenzie looked stunned. Her mouth opened and then closed, her eyes widening as his words sunk in. He glanced at Seach, who still hadn’t moved, but he thought maybe he saw a flicker of pride in his father’s face and relaxed.

“She told him we’d be stopping at Jupiter,” Zoe said, stepping around her sister to face them all. “She said she’d put a beacon up when we stopped so that they could find us, but I took it down.”

Zoe opened her hand to show a small triangular device. An unlit red light sat in the center of the device and he could see where it had been dismantled at the edges.

“Zoe!” Kenzie cried.

“Don’t be mad at her. She just wants to protect me.” Zoe said, ignoring her sister.

“Zoe!” Kenzie said again, grabbing her sister by the shoulders and turning her. “Zoe, you don’t understand! You don’t know what they’ll do to you!”

“I know I’d rather be caught by the Consulate than betray my friends,” Zoe said, her face scrunching up into a frown. “We should have told them before. I told you we should have. They’ll help us.”

“No, they won’t.” Kenzie shook her head. “You heard Uncle Movax. Nobody will help us. Mom and Dad are Offenders now. Nobody in their right mind …”

“Kenzie,” Paul said gently, stepping closer to the pair. “When did your uncle talk to you?”

Kenzie straightened, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. Devon tried to imagine what it must be like for her, to feel responsible for Zoe and all alone in that responsibility. He met her obstinate glare and grimaced. If she’d only trusted him they might have avoided all this. Jorry would have fought tooth and nail to help her, he just knew it.

“Back on Pluto, just before we left.” Kenzie said. “He promised the Consulate would leave us alone if we had something else to give them, but he said I had to have proof.”

“Proof?” Seach asked.

She looked uncomfortable for a moment. Then she sighed and stared at the table as she gave the last of her confession.

“I lied at first. I couldn’t find anything on the ship that was worth telling them. Devon was clean, I could see that. But the two of you were hiding things. I just couldn’t access anything on the ship that would prove it.”

“But you told Movax that you had found something before we got to Neptune. That’s why the Agents took us,” Seach said.

“Yeah, like I said, I lied. Gave him some nonsense about religious pamphlets because that’s what I thought he wanted to hear.” Kenzie shrugged. “Though after Neptune I had more than enough proof. Even before I’d seen the Captain’s discs there was the hidden weapons cache and everything. I figured that was enough proof for Uncle Movax.”

Seach glared down the sights of his galvanizer and Devon felt his stomach drop. Half of him wanted his father to shoot the girl. He kept thinking of Jorry in the hands of the Consulate, undergoing some surgery that would forever alter her. Jorry fighting. Jorry in pain. Jorry resigned to the idea that she would never be free again. His heart ached at the thought and he suddenly wanted to hit Kenzie, which was wrong on so many levels. Hurting Kenzie wasn’t going to solve anything, the girl was protecting her sister. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but he understood it.

“Dad,” he said quietly. “What are we going to do?”

Seach lowered his weapon and cursed. “First, we lock Kenzie up where she can’t do any more damage.”

“Don’t hurt her!” Zoe pleaded, moving to shield her sister. She looked ridiculous, small and vulnerable in her attempt to protect Kenzie.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Seach said irritably.

“There’s no use fighting,” Kenzie said, putting a hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “It’s the Consulate. They’ll catch you eventually. Just give yourself up and maybe something good can come of it.”

“Kenzie Torda!” Paul said, moving to stand in front of the hub. “How could you say such a thing? These people have done nothing but help us.”

“I can do a lot of things when it comes to Zoe,” Kenzie said with a scowl. “Watch me.”

Paul looked taken aback at this statement. He glanced between the two sisters and shook his head sadly. “You could have tried a little faith,” he said.

“My parents had faith. Look where they are now.” Kenzie said bitterly and for a chilling moment Devon heard his own heart in her voice. Wasn’t that what he’d thought of Peter and Melanie?

Kenzie turned back to Seach. “Please, just let them take you and they’ll leave Zoe alone. Movax promised.”

Seach shook his head; “You’re a fool, Kenzie. Movax lied.”

“No, he’s family,” Kenzie said again. “He wouldn’t lie about this.”

The argument kept on and Devon just watched. He saw his father run a hand through his hair as he said something snide to Kenzie. That was why Jorry was the Captain, he thought. Jo wouldn’t tolerate this level of chaos on her ship. If Jo were here, Kenzie would be unconscious and locked in a chamber already. Not hurt – not much anyway – but subdued just the same.

His thoughts drifted to his last real conversation with his mother. She’d asked him why he wanted to know about God. He could see even then that she hadn’t wanted to tell him. He had to know the depths of what he was asking before she told him. He understood that now. He needed an underlying reverence, a bone-deep respect for the answer.

Because it was a truth that could change the Universe.

“It’s true,” Devon said suddenly.

Seach stiffened beside him and stopped talking. Devon glanced at his father’s shocked face before focusing on Kenzie and Paul. The two were still fighting so Devon slammed his palms into the table, startling them both into silence.

“I said it’s true, Kenzie. The reason why the Consulate took out the Tapped soldiers. It’s true. They really can see something.”

“Dev …” Seach said, fear in his voice.

“No, Dad. I think they should know why they’re about to die, don’t you?”

“Die?” Kenzie asked. Her green eyes flickered with fear as he stared her down.

“Yes, die.” Devon said. “The truth is, Kenzie, you signed Zoe’s death warrant the moment you stepped into this ship. The Consulate’s not going to just let us go. Not after having contact with two Tapped soldiers.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Kenzie protested.

“It makes perfect sense,” Paul said. Something in his voice pulled the attention of the room to him. Devon watched as Paul crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Kenzie like a recalcitrant schoolgirl. “Think long and hard about your history lessons, Kenzie. They say the Tapped were relieved of duty and left the Galaxy for more promising endeavors. But you know that’s not true now. You’ve seen Grey Men and you’ve seen the Captain. They have identical discs. The Tapped didn’t leave, they were made into something else.”

“But why?” Kenzie asked.

Seach gave her a look of contempt and she glanced away from him. The chamber simmered with tension but it was different now, it wasn’t the unmitigated fury that had been fueling them all along anymore. Fear, he thought, was starting to settle itself into them.

“We can’t see God,” Seach said at last. “But we can see something that … works through people.”

Kenzie frowned at Seach. “That makes no sense.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not here to try and explain it to you,” Seach snapped, beating his weapon against the side of his leg. “Honestly, I’m not sure why we haven’t locked you up yet.”

“The point is,” Devon raised his voice before Kenzie could respond, “Whatever they can see the Consulate wants kept quiet. So they won’t hesitate to kill you and Zoe just for being in the same room with Tapped soldiers.”

Kenzie paled. She pulled Zoe into her side, holding tightly. “That’s not true,” she whispered.

“Movax lied,” Seach said again. “Now tell me what you told him.”

“That’s it, I swear. Just the weapons and the discs,” Kenzie said. “Without the beacon in place they shouldn’t be able to find us.”

Devon let go of a breath.

Just the weapons and the discs, he thought. If Movax was clever he likely researched the Tapped, found the same pictures Devon had run across and pieced it all together. No wonder Relo was here. The Consulate probably thought it was poetic justice to catch Seach and Jo with their former Captain.

He swallowed hard, thinking of his mother. Would they have already done the final surgery? No, they’d want information out of her first. Before they wiped out her mind they’d try to find Zephyr, make sure the whole threat was extinguished.

He shuddered and tried hard not to think of how they might extract information from her.

“Dad,” he said, staring at the black surface of the hub as visions of Agent Malone swirled through his mind.

The attention of the room swerved to him. Devon straightened and faced his father. His father. Yes, his real dad was dead but blood relation could only count for so much. The bonds that made a family had not been forged between Devon and Peter and Melanie, they’d been forged by Devon and Seach and Jo. And if there was one thing in this Universe worth fighting for, it was family. Kenzie had that much right.

“Dad, we have to get Mom out of there.”

“Son,” Seach said, his expression pained. “Your mother is probably …”

“I’m not relying on ‘probably’, Dad. We’re going to get her and that’s all there is to it.”

“Dev …” Seach moved to rest his palms on the hub. “They’ll have taken her down to the Consulate stronghold on Europa. That’s a military facility. It’s not like a Jumper station.”

“Yeah, and you’re a Tapped soldier. Last I checked that’s two against one.”

“Assuming they only brought Relo,” Seach said. “And assuming Jo is well enough to fight.”

“Give her a shot of adrenaline like before and she will be,” Devon said, remembering how quickly she’d gotten to her feet before.

“A mega shot,” Seach said with a frown. “And that only works if she’s conscious.”

Devon forced himself not to think of his mother unconscious.

“She’ll be awake.”

“You can’t know that for sure, Dev.”

“I’m not leaving Mom here,” he said. He glared at Seach, unwilling to relent. “So either you help me get her out or I’ll do it myself.”

“They’ll kill you,” Kenzie said.

“Nobody is dying today,” Devon said fiercely. He gave Kenzie a look and hoped to God she could hear what he was saying. He wasn’t going to let anyone on this ship die. Not his mother, not Zoe, not anybody. He might not be the Captain, but he was the Captain’s son and it was time he started acting like it. He turned back to Seach. “I’m not asking, Dad. I’m telling you. We’re getting her out.”

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