more attention.”
Dusty watched them leave. “I didn’t know you’d brought along such an… expert, Captain Clayborne.” Who is also an enormous jackass, her subtext read loud and clear.
“He kind of brought himself. He’s rough, but he does know what he’s talking about. He’s got more practical experience growing things than everyone else on this ship combined.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to keep him.” Her smile was hesitant. “I want you to know how much we appreciate you waiting for us. We’re anxious to see our new world.”
She signed off, and Denver sighed. “Me too,” he said to the empty screen. He just wished there weren’t quite so many obstacles between that new world and him.
Chapter Sixteen
The next few days weren’t as tense as Denver feared they’d be. He’d assumed Laramie and Ginn’s split would make things worse, but it didn’t. If anything, tension on board the Jiminy seemed to have lessened. Ginn spent most of her time locked in her room. On the rare occasions when she emerged, she kept her head down and her mouth shut. Sometimes her eyes were red from crying. Sometimes they flashed with anger. But she seemed to have resigned herself to being civil. After all, there was no point in picking a fight when nobody would take her side. Marit, Denver, and Spence all stood firmly in Laramie’s corner.
All that changed when they received their first official warning from the Mars militia. Denver had just finished eating and was still in the kitchen with Laramie when OPAL played the message over the ship’s speaker for all to hear.
“This is the UMS Capella, Captain Frederick speaking. We are in pursuit of your fleet. If you surrender now, you will be escorted back to Titan X and given a fair trial. If you refuse, we will be forced to treat this as an act of war. Please know, we will fire on your fleet if necessary.”
“Yeah. Who knew we could be such a threat?”
The threat brought the rest of the Jiminy’s crew to the tiny kitchen, all of them looking more scared than they had at any point so far. Treesa stood huddled against Spence’s leg, her eyes wide.
“You heard them,” Ginn said. “We should surrender.”
Denver shook his head. “Not a chance.”
Spence rested his hand protectively on Treesa’s shoulder. “Can they really fire on us?”
“Immediately? No. They’re way too far away for that,” Denver assured him. “Of course, once they catch up to us, there’ll be nothing to stop them.”
“Nothing except human decency.” Marit glanced at Treesa, lowering her voice as if it could stop the young girl from hearing. “There are children on board.”
“You saw how much good ‘human decency’ did those of us at Eyrie Tower,” Gru said. “They won’t let a few innocent young lives get in their way.”
“Don’t scare her,” Spence said.
Treesa pulled away from Spence and propped her fists on her hips. “I’m not scared.” Although the quavering of her voice gave her away. “I can be brave.”
“It’s possible to be both things at the same time,” Denver told her.
“We should surrender,” Ginn said, seeing a possible advantage. “For the child’s sake, if not our own.”
Treesa’s chin came up, her eyes flashing at Ginn. “If we surrender, they take Spence away. That’s scarier than some dumb fleet that’s too far back to catch us anyway.”
Denver smiled, looking around at them all, seeing their fear but also their resolve. “Does anybody besides Ginn want to surrender?”
Every single person on board shook their heads, including Treesa.
“Okay then. We carry on.”
But of course that wasn’t the end of it. The militia continued broadcasting their warning, although Denver told OPAL not to bother playing it on board the Jiminy unless the message changed. But every other ship in their little group heard it, and so Denver wasn’t surprised when, four hours later, Marit asked him to join her in the cockpit, where she had Dusty on screen.
When they’d spoken before, Dusty had clearly been on the bridge of her ship. Now, based on the bed and artwork on the walls behind her, it looked as if she was in her private quarters. She also seemed more frazzled than the other times he’d seen her, her black hair escaping from its tight braid.
“Captain Clayborne, I wanted to let you know that your traitor’s brother finally caught up with us. He’s on board one of the other ships,