She rapped her knuckles on the old wooden door as if her being here was the most normal thing in the galaxy. She heard the squeak of an old chair emanate from within followed by the quick steps of Lucin’s lithe gait. The doorknob started to twist and Molly felt a surge of excitement rise up as she prepared to surprise the Admiral. The door opened swiftly; she stepped forward to wrap Lucin up in a hug.

“Molly?!”

One of his hands froze on the doorknob, but the other arm came up around her. Molly squeezed him tight while Lucin leaned back to see her face, obviously needing a second, confirming glance.

She obliged him by stepping back, smiling.

“Molly!” he repeated. Lucin poked his head out the door and looked up and down the hallway, then pulled her inside and shut it.

“I thought you were dead!” he exclaimed.

She tried to point out otherwise, but he continued talking.

“When you never jumped back, we tried not to assume the worst, a hyperdrive malfunction or something, but—oh, my goodness! I’m so glad you’re alive.” He clasped both of her shoulders with his hands, studying her. “I’ve been blaming myself. I thought I sent you . . . I thought I got you killed.”

He turned and glanced out the window, walked over and peered through the slits of the blinds. “How’s the ship?” It was as if he’d expected to see Parsona in the parking lot.

“It’s safe,” Molly said. “And I’m sorry to worry you. We’ve had nothing but problems since we landed on Palan.”

Lucin turned and half-sat on the far edge of his desk. He gestured to the chair by Molly and she gladly plopped down. “Safe?” he asked. “But where is it?” His forehead bunched up with worry.

Molly ignored the question, she had too many of her own to consider. “Where’s Captain Saunders?”

Lucin cocked his head. “Why do you ask?”

“We think he’s been trying to get us killed.” She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Simmons was killed on Palan. The Navy there didn’t have us in their system. There were problems with the pirates—”

Lucin waved her off. His look of relief had become impatient agitation. “I’m well aware of what happened on Palan. There’s still an investigation open, and a lot of questions. But I can assure you that Saunders had nothing to do with it. Now where is that ship? We really can’t let it fall into the wrong hands—”

“Wrong hands? I’m talking about people trying to kill me and Cole. Someone sabotaged our simulator and two cadets—” Molly stopped. “Wait. What’s so important about Parsona?”

Lucin blew out his breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then locked eyes with Molly. “What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this office. Ever. Do you understand?”

The hairs on the back of Molly’s neck stood at attention. She nodded.

Lucin swiveled to look out the window, as if at a distant memory. “Your father did not retire from the Navy to settle on Lok. He and your mother were both in Naval Special Assignments.” He turned, his face full of sadness. “They weren’t supposed to have you. I think some people in the Navy still blame your birth for what happened on that planet. Not that I do, of course. But some.”

Molly hadn’t prepared herself for this. These weren’t the answers she’d expected. She could feel her brain throbbing against her skull, forgetting why she was even there, or what had happened over the last several weeks. “What are you saying—that they didn’t want me?” Molly pressed one hand flat to her chest. “That I was some kind of accident?”

Lucin shook his head. “Gods, no. Not at all. They had you in spite of Navy orders. Your parents were on a very important mission, they knew they had some pull. But your father couldn’t know what would happen . . . years later.” Lucin’s voice trailed off and he looked down at his desk. “But I . . . I can’t get into that. What matters is that the results from their mission were thought to have been abandoned forever. Later, we realized your father had only brought you to Earth so he could set out to complete the mission. When Special Assignments figured this out, it restored some hope in their offices.”

Lucin looked up from his desk. “That hope disappeared with him and the ship. When Parsona was discovered, it was thought that a botched mission could be salvaged.”

It took a moment for any of this to settle into Molly’s brain. Then, a dozen questions flinched up within her. “If it was so important. Why send ME?!” As soon as she said this, she realized: Lucin had come to Avalon knowing she’d want to go. That she would volunteer. He must’ve already had Cole lined up to assist, and Simmons in place on Palan.

“Yes, I used you to go get the ship back,” he said, as if he could read her face. “I’m sorry. There was no other way. Very few people in the Navy know what your father was up to, or that he was even in the Navy anymore. It was supposed to be a simple mission. From what I can tell, the Palan Naval Offices had a radio out and problems with their computers. I’ve seen the video of you and Cole in the office, and it was just a misunderstanding. You guys raised their suspicions, they reacted, you reacted to that, and next thing you know Cole is zapping a Navy officer—”

“That man was trying to kill us. They were firing guns and trying to run us down in the streets.”

Lucin wiped his brow, looking up at the ceiling. “Was this before or after you guys ran and stunned one of them?”

Molly shook her head. There’s no way that could’ve been a misunderstanding. “They killed Simmons,” she reminded Lucin.

“Who killed Simmons?”

She couldn’t say. She left that line of questioning and pounced on a known lie. “Why were Jakobs and Dinks trying to frame Cole for messing with the simulator?” she asked.

Lucin’s eyes grew wide with this sudden change in topics. He looked confused or shocked. “Jakobs and Dinks found you guys? Where are they? And Molly, please stop for a second and tell me where Parsona is.”

“Jakobs and Dinks were waiting for us in the Darrin system. They tried to convince me that Cole was a bad guy, working for Saunders. They said they were working for you, but we uncovered a mess of lies. Who sent them there, Lucin?”

He didn’t answer at first. Instead he got off the desk and sank to his chair. He opened one of his drawers and looked inside, confirming something.

“I sent them,” he admitted. “I told them to get you guys to Canopus and send me a message, whatever it took. Now, where are they? And where’s that damned ship?”

“Is the ship the only thing you care about?”

“Of course not. But what’s on it could be very important. Something that could change this galaxy. A promise of—”

“There’s nothing like that on Parsona. We’ve taken her apart and put her back together again. Literally. It’s just a ship. Now tell me what in hyperspace is going on and I’ll tell you where she is.”

This made Lucin look around suspiciously, as if an invisible person had joined them in the room. “Where’s Cole?” he asked.

“He’s with the ship, in another system a few jumps from here. I came back on a passenger liner with a fake ID. Now can we please stop exchanging questions? I don’t have much more time here and I need to know if we’re safe or if we need to keep running.”

“Keep running? What—?”

“I’m not here to stay, Lucin. There’s nothing for me here. I’m going back to the Parsona so I can help a few friends out.”

He shook his head. “No. You are not. That ship is coming here, and we’re going to figure out what your father found. I don’t know what’s gotten into you or who you think you are, young lady, but you’re dealing with forces you do not understand.” He glanced back in the drawer, but both hands moved to interlock on his desk, as if they needed to restrain one another.

Molly felt Cole speaking through her, his doubts and paranoia eroding her defenses. “Have you been trying to get me killed?” she asked.

Tears immediately welled up in his eyes. “Never, Molly. Never. I told Jakobs that the Parsona and you were to be protected at all—”

“In that order?!”

Lucin let out his breath. “You cannot possibly conceive the importance of your father’s work. We need to determine how far along his mission got and what we need to do to continue it. What he found could end the war with the Drenards, Molly. End the potential for all future wars in our galaxy . . . in the universe!”

Molly glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have to leave in fifteen minutes, max. So answer my questions before I get out of here. I want to know who sabotaged our simulator before the Tchung mission. I want to know why this ship is so important. And I want to know where Saunders is so I can demand whatever answers that you don’t have.”

Lucin’s head sank; he looked defeated. It may have been the last mention of Saunders, but Molly couldn’t be sure. He reached into the desk drawer and drew out the gun she’d already assumed was there.

She didn’t flinch or try to cover herself. She had already played out this scene in her head a dozen times. Only it was always Saunders with the gun.

“Please don’t move,” he said. “I really don’t want to hurt you, you have to believe me. But if Cole kicks that door down while I tell you this next part, I will kill him. I’ll shoot him as calmly as I would if he were a Drenard.”

Silence fell over them; the clock on the wall sounded out a few ticks. Molly absorbed this promise while Lucin seemed to steel himself for another admission.

“I’m the person who sabotaged your simulator, Molly. I set you up to get expelled.”

Her brain recoiled from the thought, unable to accept it. Not even with the gun backing up his claim.

“Your father’s ship was discovered months earlier. Before the Tchung battle. I tried everything to get it back myself, but without involving the rest of the Navy, it proved impossible. I even pulled Simmons, a former student of mine, out of Special Assignments and had him attached to me, personally. When he proved ineffectual, unable to secure the ship on Palan himself, I started trying to figure out who had the requisite skills, who I could trust with this secret. Nobody in the service fit.

“Then, one day, Saunders was complaining about having a girl at the Academy for the hundredth time—and it hit me. You. You were the best pilot I knew, you were unhappy here, and you were the legal owner of the ship. I just had to get you expelled so you could claim ownership as a civilian. Once you were in the Navy, you would’ve started a mandatory five-year tour before you had the freedom to go to Palan. I couldn’t wait that long.”

“You—?” Molly still couldn’t grasp it. Cole had tried to prepare her, but she wouldn’t allow it. She stared at the gun in disbelief.

“Yes. I set you up so Saunders would expel you. Hell, I tried a dozen other things before that. It was almost impossible to get him to pull the trigger.” Lucin nodded at the gun. “Pardon the expression.

“You know, as hard as he was on you, I actually think the fat fool wanted you to succeed here. Me? I would’ve been crushed to see you in a career as a navigator. I was doing you a favor, Molly.”

“That’s a LIE!” She leaned forward, her voice shrill. The gun stiffened in Lucin’s hand and Molly fought to control herself. She still needed to know what was so important about Parsona. Everything else she could piece together, given time. The best news was that Lucin had acted alone. If Cole could hear the transmission clearly, she imagined he was breathing a huge sigh of relief. All she could personally feel was the crushing sensation of being betrayed by a good friend. For the third time? Or fourth? Was friendship a bond or some sort of tool?

“That’s a lie,” she said again, sadly.

Lucin wiped the water out of his eyes with his free hand. “It’s the truth. You would’ve been better off graduating from Avalon. If the damn rains on Palan hadn’t screwed things up, you would’ve brought Parsona back here weeks ago, I’d have picked up the trail your father left, and you would’ve graduated and claimed your inheritance. Things would’ve even sorted themselves out if Jakobs had done his damn job. But maybe this is all my fault for trying to get what I needed while keeping you safe at the same time. Maybe I’ve been wrong to put your welfare ahead of my quest to end this war.” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe it’s time to get serious.”

Molly watched the knuckles poking out from the gun whiten.

“I’ll ask you one more time,” Lucin said. “If you do not answer me, I’m going to put a bullet in your chest. I will not hesitate. And I will find that ship by other means if I have to. So. Final chance. Where is the Parsona?”

His hand came off the desk, extending the gun toward her chest. Molly felt real fear creep up in her throat. She started to speak into the recording device when someone knocked on the door.

Lucin’s eyes swiveled toward the sound, but the pistol stayed put. “I’m counting to three, and then I’ll be putting a bullet into you before I put one through the door and your boyfriend out there.”

“Lucin, don’t do this—”

“ONE!”

The doorknob was just a meter from Molly. It started twisting, rattling in protest of being locked.

“TWO!” Lucin lowered the gun and aimed it at Molly’s knees.

“PLEASE, LUCIN—!”