Page 17 of Commander’s Mate

One of the women screamed. Someone vomited. I swallowed against the sour panic rising in my throat and gripped Zoe’s hand. Zoe gripped back so hard it hurt.

Scarlet leaned closer. “When the door opens, we move together. No wandering. No one gets separated unless one of us sees where she goes.”

I nodded.

Nora nodded.

Zoe whispered, “I don’t want to be brave anymore.”

“You don’t have to be,” I said. “You just have to keep breathing.”

The shuttle slammed into docking clamps with a force that snapped my teeth together. Metal groaned around us. The hatch hissed. Cold, cleaner air spilled in from beyond.

The armored soldiers moved first, forming a line on either side of the hatch. The one nearest me turned his helmeted head toward the women.

“Stand carefully. Proceed forward. Do not run.”

No one needed to be told not to run. We could barely stand.

I pushed myself up on shaking legs. My feet had gone numb from the cold deck. Zoe wobbled against me. Scarlet steadied Nora, who was trying to assist the trembling Mavrin woman and failing because she was not much steadier herself.

Then we were moving down the ramp and into the belly of an enormous ship.

I stopped for half a second despite myself.

The hangar swallowed us.

It was cavernous, all dark green-gray metal, ribbed support arches, cargo cranes, warning lights, and the smell of oil, air scrubbers, and ozone. Soldiers moved with terrifying efficiency. Some wore armor. Some wore dark green uniforms. Others carried stacks of cloth, water pouches, and what looked like sealed food packages.

The scale of the ship made me dizzy.

This was not a movie set. This was not a dream. This was not a human trafficking ring with special effects and prosthetics.

I was on a starship.

An actual starship.

And I had no idea where Earth was.

“Move forward,” a woman in uniform called. Her skin was warm brown with a reddish cast, her hair a deep blue cropped close to her head. “Medical to the left if injured. Intake to the center. Food and cover to the right after intake. No one will be restrained. No one will be separated by force.”

No one will be restrained.

The words hit harder than I expected. A sob rose in my chest and stayed there, lodged behind my ribs.

Scarlet heard it anyway. “You, okay?”

“No,” I said.

“Yeah. Me either.”

We moved into the line together.

A young Farseek woman—I was guessing now, based on the blue-gray cast to her skin and the same violet eyes I had seen in Zared—wrapped a square of soft fabric around my shoulders when I reached the first station.

It was not quite a blanket, but it was warm.

I clutched it like a treasure.