Next morning, Piper took Selena to a part of the fortress she'd never visited before.

At first, she thought it was a fun ride, a chance for them to talk and discuss things away from Nayanor guards. Mjorn had listened to Ragnar and stayed away from them, but the Hall of Earth was under constant supervision now. The women weren't left alone to their own devices for a second.

So Selena thought it was a safety measure to ensure their privacy.

After Piper hadn't said a word in several minutes and it had been more since Selena had seen another living soul but the two of them, she grew a bit concerned.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Just a second," Piper said. "Could you take over for a moment?"

Selena took the controls of the hovercarrier, still feeling weird despite the vessel doing most of the flying itself. She kept it steady in the middle of the massive dark walkway that looked... older, somehow. The stone was darker and unkempt, some statues even had moss on them. It didn't look like anyone had visited that part of the fortress in a long while.

"What are you doing?" Selena asked when Piper typed something into the control console.

"Disabling the tracker," her friend replied.

"Why?" Selena asked, frowning.

That didn't sound good. She was all for tricks that deceived Nayanors, but the last encounter with Mjorn still haunted her. Selena didn't think it was wise to provoke the captain to come after them again so soon. They had to build up some trust or else Selena suspected they would be locked up.

She hoped that Ragnar would not allow that, but she couldn't be sure. From what he'd told her, the long night was so vicious that no safety measures were discounted.

"For obvious reasons," Piper said, looking at her with a grin. "For Mjorn."

"I have a feeling we shouldn't be doing this," Selena said.

"Of course not," Piper replied, taking the controls back again. "It's just that we shouldn't be doing anything if Mjorn had his way. We wouldn't be allowed to walk around freely, talk to each other. We'd be locked up in the quarters of our fated, pushing out babies and growing old."

Selena considered that.

"Fine," she said, answering Piper's smirk. "Could you at least tell me where are we going? And how do you know how to disable the tracker?"

"Kathleen figured it out," Piper said. "I told you she's a genius. We're going to meet her and some other women."

"That sounds like some meeting of a secret union," Selena pointed out.

"It is," Piper replied.

Selena didn't know what to say about that. She just sat and waited, too curious to see what it was all about. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, however.

* * *

The secret union, luckily, didn't wear any capes and hadn't lit any suspicious torches.

It was just Kathleen and about twenty other women in an alcove of a large walkway. Piper pulled the hovercarrier over next to the others and they got out.

"I'm glad you're joining us, Selena," Kathleen said.

The wound Mjorn had dealt her was still visible on her pale skin. Every time Selena saw that, she was reminded of the brutality Nayanors were capable of all – as well as how lucky she felt to have Ragnar out of all of them.

She sat down next to Piper, looking around. Some of the women she'd met, but there were a few Selena had never seen in her life. It showed just how big the fortress was, since she'd been sure Piper had taken her everywhere.

Kathleen turned to them, her hands crossed over her chest like she was general delivering a speech.

"Most of you know why we're here," she said. "But there are some of you who are hearing this for the first time. Before I say anything, I want to make sure we are among friends here."

There were nods all around. Selena looked from face to face. Some of them were turned her way.

"Selena?" Kathleen asked.

When she turned, Kathleen's sharp piercing eyes were nailed to her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to tell me that you will not speak of a word of this to any Nayanor," Kathleen said. "Nor to any woman who you don't see here."

"Sure," Selena said, shrugging. "I won't. What's so important, though?"

"Sure isn't good enough," Kathleen said patiently. "Swear to us."

Now everyone was looking at her for sure. Even Piper gave her a quick encouraging nod.

"All right," Selena said slowly. "I promise. I won't say a word."

"That includes Ragnar," Kathleen reminded her.

"No, really?" Selena asked, a little upset that she was being questioned like some child. "I understand. He's a Nayanor. No Nayanors."

Kathleen smiled that tight, controlled smile of hers.

"Very well," she said. "I will hold you to your word. The reason why I decided to invite you here today, although you've only been here for a short time, is that I think you need help more than others."

Help? Selena thought. I don't need any help. Unless you have a ship to take me away from here, I think I'm doing okay.

"It's ready," Kathleen said then, a true smile making her face beam like a lantern. "It's done. The ship is ready to go and we will leave before the storm this year."

Selena's mouth dropped open.

All around her, the women were having a hard time containing themselves. Some actually clapped, the others were rushing over to Kathleen to hug her, who accepted the greetings in her stoic way.

Selena turned to Piper, the only person who wasn't losing her mind around them. Piper looked shocked, but she quickly gathered herself. They both waited until the ruckus had died down.

"What ship?" Selena asked loudly.

All eyes were on her again like she was ruining the event for them by questioning something.

"My ship," Kathleen said proudly, a glint of glee in her voice. "It's not a flagship, but it's warp-capable. I rebuilt it. And it can take all of us away from here."

Selena's ears were rushing.

"How?" she started to ask, hesitating then. "I – actually, no. How?"

Kathleen truly looked like a mad scientist in that moment.

"I stole the ship a while ago," she said. "Long before you came here. Years before. It wasn't easy. I had to get myself on Nayanor flagships, travel with more than a few raids before I started to make sense of how the warp travel works. I found others too. Ava was the true treasure here. The pilot of Ragnar's ship is her fated. I learned a lot from her."

She gestured to a dark-haired woman. The eyes that met Selena's were anything but happy. The woman looked like the weight of the years was literally pushing her to the ground.

It triggered something in Selena's brain. She cast a look around again and realized.

All the women there had the same look. Tired, stubborn, defiant. Some had recent-looking scars and black eyes they were wearing openly. Selena had assumed it was the handiwork of Mjorn, but all of a sudden she wasn't so sure anymore.

They were the women whose bonds didn't work or whose fateds were simply cruel. Selena had no idea. All she knew was the fact staring her right in the face.

"You're going to escape Luminos," she said.

"Yes," Kathleen confirmed the madness.

"That's impossible," Selena argued carefully, but the soft smile on Kathleen's lips told her she knew nothing about what the women had been up to.

"Until today, yes," Kathleen said, addressing all of them. "Until today, only Nayanors have known how to travel through the warp. For that reason, escape has been such a hopeless task that no one has even tried. The poor fools who rush off to die in the long night... I wish I could have stopped them, made them stay, wait a little longer."

There was terrible grief in Kathleen's voice. Selena realized she considered herself responsible.

"Now," she said, holding her head up high again although Selena could see tears glistening at the corner of her eyes. "Now we finally have a chance to hit back. We have been helpless on Luminos for so long. No more. We will take the ship back to the Union and if we succeed, I can teach them how to get here."

She looked around with a savage glee burning in her green eyes.

"Imagine that," Kathleen said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Imagine that. The look on the faces of our tormenters when the warp portals open up above their skies and the Union pours out, finally exacting the bloody revenge they deserve for destroying countless lives."

She laughed, high and cold and bittersweet.

"I want to be there," Kathleen said with joy. "I want to be on the bridge of a Brion flagship, one of those fifteen monstrous vessels that can't be destroyed. I want to see the moment when the ship rains death down on Luminos after they've saved all the women and children here. I want to see the harbinger face a Brion general, his blood –"

Kathleen's fever-bright eyes met Selena's and she quieted.

"Those are all dreams, of course," she said. "For now. But we can make them real. All we need is one chance. All I need is one chance and I promise, I will get us all home!"

A thunderous applause really broke out this time.

Selena sat wordlessly, her hands folded in her lap as she stared at Kathleen. The engineer's smile died when the other women opened a path between them.

"You are not happy, Selena?" Kathleen asked.

The sharpness in her voice finally explained what Piper had tried to warn her about. Selena had been trying to figure out why she couldn't grow fond of Kathleen, when on the surface, the woman was doing absolutely everything right.

She knew in that moment. She knew, pierced with a poisonous look.

Kathleen believed in freedom and revenge without compromise. It meant she didn't believe in any of the bonds, including the ones that worked.

Selena knew now why Piper described her fated as "fine".

"I have concerns," she said quietly.

The pack of women stared at her, looking ready to pounce on her like hyenas, but Kathleen held up her hand.

"Don't give her that look," she said. "She is new here. She hasn't followed our progress through the years. Naturally she has questions."

Selena wondered if Kathleen knew what kind of hypocrite she was when she was also clearly trying to burn her to cinders with her gaze.

"So," Kathleen went on. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters," Selena said. "Have you ever tried out the warp drive?"

A dark shadow crossed over Kathleen's face and her harsh features twisted in rage. There was her answer.

"No," Kathleen said coldly. "I can't risk the ship. You don't know the pains it took me to get my hands on that."

"The night of the escape will be the first time you test it out," Selena went on. "And you said it's during the storm."

"Before the storm hits," Kathleen specified. "When Nayanors are most vulnerable."

Selena nodded slowly.

"I get that," she admitted. "That part I agree with. Leaving Luminos, that I agree with too. Your bloody plans of revenge I'm not too sure about. The warp is my biggest concern. If Nayanors don't shoot you out of the sky first, there is a big chance you'll be lost to the warp. I know how the pilots train. Ragnar told me. They're not even allowed to try before they've observed the journey on monitors for a hundred times.

"Piper tells me you're a genius, Kathleen. Do you really think you'll get it right the first time?"

The silence that reigned when she was done was deafening. Kathleen wasn't the only one staring at her now. Even Piper looked speechless.

"Okay," Kathleen said at last, her voice a bitter hiss. "Tell me what you think we should do then, Selena? Stay here to suffer forever? You don't know what life is like on Luminos for a human. Do you know the reason why the raids never stopped although Nayanors have carried off thousands of us? It's because we're more fragile than they are.

"We die here. During the long night, during childbirth like we were back in medieval times. In accidents, through Mjorn's hand. We can't be fitted with the diadon that keeps the bastards well and happy. Only seven women have lived through the surgery to get the implant.

"Nayanors keep telling us that we need to accept our new life here, but there is no life here. All the fortresses are tombs, but the planet itself is our grave as well."

Selena didn't say anything for a long moment when Kathleen was done. She was thinking about what the woman was saying, about how it all sounded true and right. Yet the glaring problem in the heart of it wouldn't leave her mind.

"I understand," she said. "And stop saying that I'm not able to comprehend your suffering and pain. I haven't experienced it myself, that's true, it doesn't make me incapable of sympathizing.

"My problem is simple, Kathleen. I think you want to save everyone so badly you're rushing."

Kathleen burst out laughing. The sound echoed in the empty hallway, carrying out gods-knew where.

"Rushing?" Kathleen demanded. "I've been here for eight years! I've worked on this the entire time!"

"And I tell you it's not enough," Selena said calmly. "Listen to me. I want you to get these women home. I want Nayanors to get what they deserve for doing this to us. I want to believe your ship will work, but I don't. You're going to die in the warp or get shot out of the sky before you get there. All these women here..."

She gestured to the stunned audience.

"You're going to kill them because this is your first chance to take your first chance."

Selena sighed.

"And even if you succeed, even if you make it back to the Union through some miracle... Because let me tell you, I wouldn't know through sheer instincts how to locate Terra in unspace. Then you think the Brions will go through Nayanors like a knife through butter?"

The idea wasn't altogether ridiculous. Brions were the mightiest warrior species in the Union, known for never losing a war.

"Then you've forgotten what Brions are like," Selena concluded. "They're not the type you call when you need to avoid civilian casualties. Do you really believe that it will go bloodlessly? That somehow Brions will save every single woman and child on this planet. That Nayanors won't take their revenge first? Look at Mjorn and tell me he'll surrender us to the Union before killing us all for destroying his species.

"The second you leave this planet, Kat, believing yourself to be the herald of hope, is the moment you put every other woman who stays in mortal danger. And if you bring back the Union, I wonder how many will be left to save?"

Selena stood, looking at Kathleen sadly. She had never seen anyone that mad before in her life. Kathleen's chest was heaving as she tried to keep her cool, but Selena wouldn't have been surprised if she'd tried to rip out her throat at that moment.

"You want us to stay here?" Kathleen asked through gritted teeth. "Stay here to rot? Never even try?"

It hurt, because it wasn't true. Selena hated bringing down the cheer that had just burned so brightly, but she knew she was right. There were a lot of reasons why no one ever escaped Luminos and she'd counted only a few of those.

"I don't," she admitted. "But this is not the way to go. This is a mistake, Kathleen."

Kathleen stared at her and gradually, a vicious smile dawned on her face.

"I see Selena in front of me," she said calmly, relishing every word, "but all I hear is Ragnar. You are lost, little girl. You are too far gone to help."

Selena looked at her, hearing the lie Kathleen needed to stay sane after eight years of building something that was only bound to bring more death. She considered telling her that. She also considered asking Kathleen to forgive her, asking to be taken on the ship even if there was a fraction of a chance for success.

Then Selena turned on her heel and left, leaving the women and her last hope of ever escaping behind.