I jump into the pilot seat and guide the ship as close to the service station as I dare. I park the ship right next to the docking station on the far side, as far away from the warzone as possible. If anyone were to look, hopefully we would look like we were part of the station, or part of the floating wreckage and debris.

Hopefully, they won’t be able to see us.

On the other hand, if anyone decided to come over here and actually salvage this wreck, we’ll be in big trouble.

Luke is in the co-pilot’s seat, completing a scan of the massive facility. “This station is in in orbital decay.”

“That’s understandable.”

“No. It’s bad. It’s going down fast. Too fast. We’ve got about forty-five minutes. Maybe less.”

“And then what happens?”

“It’ll be pulled into the planet’s atmosphere. It’ll start to burn up. If we dock, if we get dragged down with it, we’ll burn up as well.”

“Okay, so we’ve got forty-five minutes to fix the AutoDrive and get home.”

“We’ve got forty-five minutes of cover. And then we’ll be exposed for about fifteen minutes before we jump to God knows where. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be exposed for fifteen minutes in the middle of a warzone.”

“Is there any way we can stop the station from going down?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What if we actually dock? Maybe we could somehow use the ship to adjust the course of the station, stop it from decaying so rapidly. Maybe that will buy us some time?”

“Maybe. Or maybe we all die horribly in an attempt to dock. Or maybe we die horribly when we can’t undock.”

Ethan overhears our conversation. “Okay, so it sounds like no matter what we do, we all die horribly. That about sum it up?”

Mason and Skylar finally make it back to the bridge. I breathe a very big sigh of relief.

“It’s about time,” Wren says. “What’s the situation in the cargo hold?”

“There is no situation,” Mason answers.

Wren cocks her head to the side. “No situation? What does that mean?”

“There was nothing back there,” Skylar says. “The ship is fried. It’s glitching out. Something must’ve happened to the ship’s systems when we jumped.”

“Either that, or we’ve got a couple of ghosts on board,” Mason says, and I can’t quite tell if he’s joking or not.

Skylar then turns to me. “Is it true. Is Jess…”

I nod my head.

Mason says, “Shoot me straight, John. Are we going to die here? Don’t lie to me, to us. I know when you’re lying.”

“I’m not going to lie to you. I promise, I can fix this. I can get us home.” I stand up from the pilot’s seat and address the group because I feel like I need to be some kind of leader right now. “But yes, we are in danger. So you need to do exactly as I say, okay? Actually, scrap that. Wren and Mason. You guys are the ones with the experience. It appears we’ve jumped into a warzone, so I think you guys should be in charge. At least for the moment. Luke, Skylar, and myself, we’ll figure out what is wrong with the AutoDrive. And the JumpDrive.”

And the fact that the ship has registered a couple of stowaways. Or ghosts. Or whatever.

“You got it, John,” Mason says, as he looks out over the derelict station. “My first suggestion would be to not dock with that currently crumbling piece of wreckage.”

I convince myself that if we listen to Wren and Mason, follow their instructions, no one else will get hurt. They’ve trained their whole lives for situations just like this.

Well, maybe not exactly like this.

Luke and Skylar are scared. They didn’t sign up for this. Ethan is probably scared as well. But right now, he’s more concerned with how much money he is currently paying in overtime.

Skylar still can’t believe Jess is gone. That she’s not coming back. “John, why were you ejected from the ship? Why was Jess ejected with you?”

“I have no idea,” I say. “One minute we were on board, the next minute we were in free fall. We must’ve fallen for five minutes, maybe longer. It felt like forever.”

Falling forever. That’s a good way to describe what is currently happening.

“But the safety protocols aren’t supposed to just eject you from the bridge for no goddamn reason.” Skylar turns to Wren, and despite Wren’s obvious height and strength advantage, Skylar goes right off. “You. You’re supposed to be in charge of security. You didn’t bother to check the safety protocols before today? You’re ex-DarkSky for crying out loud. Start acting like it. You should’ve…”

Wren does not take a backward step. “What? What should I have done? The safety protocols malfunctioned, just like everything else on this piece of junk. And besides, I’m not the one who got us into this mess.”

“And if you don’t do something soon, you won’t be around to get us out of this mess,” Skylar says.

“Is that a threat?”

“I’m asking you, begging you to help. Please. You’re an enhanced super soldier for God’s sake. You’ve got experience. Help us!”

Wren looks at Ethan. He gives a slight nod, like she was just waiting for the order. Like he was saying, yeah it’s okay to help out. Go ahead. Might as well, this is what I’m paying you for.

“Is that how it works?” Skylar asks. “He says jump and you say how high?”

“Ethan’s in charge here. Not you. Not John. Ethan is the one who paid for all of this. You need to get that through your thick cybernetically enhance skull!”

“Ethan’s in charge of this mission, is he? Does he know how to fly the ship? Does he even know how to operate his ExoSuit yet?”

“Does anyone know how to fly the ship? We’re lost! The AutoDrive is broken. And besides, Ethan is the one paying your ridiculous salary. That’s right. I know what you’re charging these days. And might I add, you are way overpriced for what you bring to the table, which is as of right now, a whole lot of nothing! So, if you want a job when you get back home, you better calm the hell down.”

“We’re in the middle of a warzone! In space! One stray hit and we are dead. We’ll all be sucked out in the cold vacuum of space, and ExoSuit or not, we will die a horrible death. You think I’m worried about my job? You think I’m worried about the going rate of astronautical engineers? I’m trying to keep us alive. And you need to do the same.”

Ethan steps between the two. “Calm down. Both of you.” But then he says, “Maybe you should be worried about your job, Skylar. Maybe you are overpaid.”

Mason grabs Ethan and throws him to the other side of the bridge. “I’d say that’s about enough of that.”

Ethan scrambles to his feet, but Mason pushes him back down. “I’ve got one simple task for you.”

“Hey! I’m paying your salary as well, Mason. You just remember that.”

“And now I’m doing what you’re paying me to do. So, do you want to know what I need you to do right now?”

“What?”

“I need you to stop making things worse. Can you do that for me?”

Mason grabs Ethan by the collar, lifts him off the ground. Effortless. Like the artificial gravity had cut out.

Wren steps forward to help Ethan, or break Mason in half. But Ethan hold his hand up, telling her to stop. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll calm down. I’m sorry. It’s just given the circumstances, I’m feeling a little stressed out. Surely you can understand that?”

“I can totally understand that, boss.”

Luke is looking up at Mason. He is in awe of his size, strength. The fact that he has been out here before, on the edge of space, the fact that he is not currently falling apart. Luke says, “I think Mason should be in charge. Sorry, John. Sorry, Ethan.”

I say, “I agree. Mason has got the experience. He should definitely be in charge. And Wren. They’re both enhanced. They’re both capable.”

Ethan shakes his head. “You want Mason to be in charge of this whole operation? He’s a grunt! And I’m not paying Wren to be in charge. I’m paying her to protect me. And everyone. The whole crew. The whole investment.”

“Nice save,” Skylar says.

“You’re right, Ethan,” Mason says. I’m a grunt. I was trained for this. Drilled for this. And with all due respect, you’ve got no other options right now. Me and Wren. We’re your best chance of suriving this. And I’m the only one who has served with the Empire. I’m the only one who has ever been out of the solar system.”

“He’s right,” I say. “Mason has served with the Empire. He has off-world experience. Military experience. Combat experience. The moment we got lost, the moment we left our solar system, the moment Jess was killed, this became Mason’s show. And Wren’s. We follow their orders. We do what they say and maybe we get out of this alive. Maybe we get home before we run out of air.”

Before anyone can further argue the point, the proximity alarm is tripped again.

The ship tells us there is someone, something on the derelict station.

It is coming this way.