“Why did no one notify me that we were launching?” I asked angrily as I stepped onto the bridge.

Zaruv glanced at me from where he stood in front of the large viewing deck, unimpressed. “You knew we were leaving soon. In fact, I believe it was you who told me I was wasting my time trying to reach Dragselian Command before launching.”

I closed the panel door behind us and Denise stood behind me. Even with her ample, luscious curves, she was likely not visible behind me.

“It’s a wonder you’re aware of my thoughts at all, since you dismiss them so easily,” I replied, frustrated.

“Can you ever just accept the situation, or must you always challenge everything I say and do?” He sent me a look of annoyance before continuing, “Karun was supposed to go tell you, but he didn’t come back right away, so I assumed you needed to cool down. Either way, we needed to leave.”

“Well I doubt I’m the only one who will have a problem with this situation,” I announced, pulling Denise out from behind me. “Contrary to your belief, I was doing as you instructed, and look who I found packed in with Ragal and Tasha’s lab equipment? Everyone, this is Denise Mercury.”

Ragal and Zaruv both turned in surprise from their positions at the controls and the deck, respectively. Jennifer and Tasha, who were seated at the strategy table above us, looked down in shock. Karun and Andie were nowhere to be seen, though I guessed they were in a much happier state than the lot of us.

“Denise Mercury?” Tasha echoed, her face scrunched in concern from behind the curtains of her long dark hair.

“Hello, Ms. Lord-Case! It’s lovely to see you again. You may recall that I interviewed you about the LCC-Holoquin merger a few months back,” she said pleasantly.

“Yes, I remember. Your piece was one of the few that didn’t cast me as the clueless, spoiled leader that so many outlets liked to portray me as,” she said, inclining her head.

“May I ask, Ms. Lord-Case, how long has LCC been working to help rebuild this ship? It’s really quite breathtaking!” she said, seeming casual as she slid in her question.

“A reporter?” Zaruv’s deep voice came from across the room before Tasha could answer. “Why is there a reporter on our ship?”

“Oh, no, what did we miss?” Andie said, coming in behind us with Karun. The two of them looked slightly disheveled and more than slightly flushed.

“So good of you to join us, Karun. You haven’t missed much except our stowaway. Of course, that might not be a problem if someone had bothered to come tell me that we were launching.”

They both looked sheepish as Denise turned to them, bubbling, “Hi! Nice to meet you. I’m Denise Mercury!” Shaking their hands, she looked at Andie, who still wore some of her militia gear, including the metal circlet around her wrist that identified her unit.

“How wonderful that our militia has been able to loan resources to assist our visitors on their expedition. How much has the militia contributed to this project, would you estimate?”

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Your questions will have to wait,” I began.

Ragal laughed. “That must feel strange, batr, to be the one saying that rather than the one being told.”

Zaruv walked toward us. “Ms. Mercury—may I call you that?”

“Yes, of course, but if it’s all the same to you, Denise suits me better. Pleased to meet you! Are you the commanding officer? Is this your mission?”

“My name is Zaruv,” he said, smoothly avoiding the question.

Denise bobbed a smile, accepting the non-answer.

“I found her, nearly suffocating in the last pallet of crates we loaded.” I turned to Karun. “I told you I smelled something out there!”

Jennifer descended the few steps from the strategy table. “Suffocated? Are you all right? Do you feel lightheaded at all?” she asked, thoroughly looking over Denise.

“Oh, thank you so much, but I’m fine. He got to me just in the nick of time! Are you a medic from the militia then?”

“Oh, no. I’m a nurse practitioner. I run the Vaxivian Free Clinic at the Outpost,” Jennifer began before catching herself as Zaruv came up to her and put his arm around her.

“How wonderful! I think one of my coworkers did a profile on yours and one or two other clinics. What you do is so important,” Denise said appreciatively.

“Thank you.” Jennifer smiled but looked hesitant to say anything else.

“Well? What are we doing standing around talking? We should turn around now before we are out of Vaxivia’s atmosphere,” I urged.

“You’re a little late for that,” Ragal put in.

“What? How far have we gone?” I asked, suddenly taking in the starry black of open space beyond the viewing deck.

Zaruv turned to Jennifer. “Perhaps Ms. Mercury could use some refreshments?” Quietly, he murmured something in her ear and she nodded. “Denise, Jennifer will happily get you something to eat and drink, and she can show you the canteen. I’m sure seeing where a group of aliens eats should be intriguing.” He smiled.

Zaruv looked pointedly at my hand, and I suddenly realized that I was still holding her wrist. Dropping it instantly, I noticed her somewhat dismayed expression at the offer. Still, she smiled despite her clear apprehension of the subtext and followed Jennifer down the hall and out of earshot.

Andie looked around at the frustrated expressions on everyone’s faces. “You know, I’m suddenly thirsty too. I think I’ll join them,” she said, taking off after them in a flash.

I turned to Karun. “This is your fault, you realize. If you and Andie hadn’t been . . . how did Andie phrase it earlier? Putting your pickle away, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We could have left Denise on the ground.”

“How could I have possibly known this was going to happen? None of us sensed her presence.”

“Excuse me? I believe I very specifically pointed out the fact that I smelled something strange, and you told me I was just imagining things out of hunger. Surely, if everyone listened to me more—”

“Believe me, we have a hard time tuning you out,” Ragal grumbled.

“Who was responsible for prepping your equipment crates at the hangar? Is it possible you have an informant that assisted her?” Karun asked, looking to Tasha.

“Considering I was working with an Infernian for the last year and a half and didn’t know it, I’d say it’s very possible that someone on my staff was capable of leaking a news story. I am not sure what good it will do at this point, but I’ll have Laniope contact my assistant, Li, so he can go over the staff logs and try to sniff out the informer,” Tasha said, referencing one of the two human crewmembers we had brought with us.

Zaruv sighed. “Well, whatever the reason, we are in this situation now. We need to deal with the issues at hand.” He looked to me and continued, “We have already traveled a good distance outside Vaxivia’s atmosphere, and we’re now passing through the outermost edges of her controlled airspace.”

Ragal nodded. “The launch was bumpy because we primed the accelerators to blast us on an express course through the asteroid belt that we suffered so much damage in when we crashed. We’re well beyond the point of possible return.”

I looked around, astonished. “You can’t be serious. We have to turn around and take her back. Aside from the fact that she is a reporter, and who knows what kind of story she is snooping for, we are going into possible battle with Infernians. She is, at least somewhat, an innocent here. It would be wrong to put her life at risk.”

Tasha added, “I hate to be the devil’s advocate here, but she likely knew the risks involved when she boxed herself up in a crate to be loaded onto a spaceship.”

Ragal agreed. “True, and don’t forget, if it was already difficult to keep our presence under wraps and avoid any further Infernian interference before, it will be a thousand times more complicated should we return, now that our launch was so clearly visible to the entirety of Steel City.”

Zaruv nodded. “More importantly, however, every pass we make through that asteroid field increases our chances of crashing once more. I, for one, am not willing to risk the chance that we don’t make it home to Dragselia in time to prevent or at least aid in fighting the Infernians.”

“If we did crash again, though we have added fortifications to the ship’s hull, what are the chances that the wreckage is as violent as the last crash? As Dragselians, we can regenerate with ease, but there are humans aboard now as well. Either way, Ms. Mercury is at risk.”

“We aren’t the first ship to go through that asteroid belt. Tasha’s company regularly mines there. Surely, there is a safe means of traveling through.”

Tasha looked reflective for a moment. “Yes, there is, but that passage only becomes available once every five weeks. I’m not positive without the data in front of me, but I believe it will be another three weeks before we could pass through without incident.”

“The only reason we were able to do so today was because I burned up a negative dipole charge that created an oppositional magnetic field around the ship, forcing the space debris out of our path. I only came prepared to do that once.”

“You’re telling me that you’re all just prepared to welcome her into the fold and make her a part of this expedition?” I demanded.

“No. We don’t know her or her motives, though she doesn’t arouse any immediate suspicions or negative instincts,” Zaruv said, considering.

“She’s not a bad person, as far as I know. I’ll see if I can dig anything up on her. She’s quite well-known and admired on Vaxivia, especially by the young men, if you catch my drift,” Tasha said, lowering her voice.

I had no trouble seeing her appeal to such a fanbase.

“Excellent. In the meantime, she needs to be kept under constant guard. She is still a reporter, so we should be careful what information is divulged, though I think the basics are probably fine at this point, since she will be accompanying us home at this point,” Zaruv said.

He looked at me. “Pavar, I want you to keep watch over her. Jennifer and I were going to use the chamber beside yours, but we’ll find another and put Ms. Mercury there. I don’t want her going anywhere on this ship alone, understood?”

Part of me balked at the order, at the feeling of having my thoughts overlooked, but another part of me thought that perhaps having a little curvaceous, spunky company on the trek home might not be such a bad thing after all.

I grumbled my agreement and followed in the direction of the canteen to take charge over my new ward.