I left Wyatt around the time the sun first peeked over the eastern horizon. Getting out of bed had never been more difficult. Leaving his warm, loving arms behind would have been impossible without the right motivation.

The right motivation lends all sorts of grit.

My clothes felt stiff and rough against my skin. Nothing fit the same as it did the day before. I wasn't the same person I was then.

I slipped out the door and eased it shut behind me.

Wang had replied to my message within seconds of my sending it.

Are you free for breakfast? I asked.

Sure. Why not? Across the street. Green door.

No. In my suite. I'll order room service.

There was a longer pause before the next message.

Just breakfast?

Breakfast and conversation.

Another pause, and then, again, Sure. Why not?

I ordered food and coffee for two and it arrived at exactly the same time Wang did. I opened the door to find him standing there next to an Earthborn pushing a cart.

"Would you like me to stay and serve?" the Earthborn asked.

Wang pushed the cart into my room, plopped into one of the chairs at the small table, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

I assured the Earthborn we'd be fine on our own and locked the door behind him after he left.

"What'd you want to talk about?" Wang asked. He pulled a plate full of food toward him and forked a pile of eggs into his mouth.

Choose your words carefully. This had to be my idea and mine alone. If things went sideways, it would be me and nobody else taking the fall. To buy some time, I sat down and poured a cup of coffee. It was too hot and too strong, but I drank it anyway.

"What we did, that was wrong."

"We were just following orders."

Rodamere had been ordered to execute Lubinski.

A Peacekeeper's first priority is to protect the well-being of the Alliance's citizens as dictated by the constitution. That duty cannot be superseded by orders from any person in the chain of command, up to and including the Prime Administrator.

On testing day, I'd started to state my belief that what happened was part of the test and Colbert silenced me. She sent me to sit with the others. And then she graduated me and sent me to Earth.

I dropped my cup against the table, sloshing coffee over the side. It all made sense now! Colbert said she was sending me to Earth on vacation because that was some sort of code to get me in with the transport runs, but she didn't do it because she wanted me to be a part of it. She did it because she wanted me to stop it. The order to kill was the final test. The judges were looking for a person who would defy orders when they ordered an unjust execution. That meant all the judges had to be in on it. Colbert, the senator, the doctor...

I wasn't fighting this battle alone. The Earthborn weren't fighting this battle alone.

"That's bullshit and you know it," I told Wang. My newfound understanding emboldened me. "No one has to follow an order if it's unjust. We have a constitution for a reason."

Wang picked up a piece of bacon and bit off the end. "You think the constitution is in play here? Keep talking like this and you'll earn yourself a whole different seat on that transport."

I leaned forward with my elbows on the table. "You talk like you don't care, like you're perfectly content to wallow in your mindless video games, but if you didn't care, you wouldn't need the kind of distraction you get from that. You don't just play like other people play. You lose yourself. Intentionally."

He kept his focus on the plate in front of him.

"We can fight. We can stop what's happening," I said.

"You talk big for a rookie."

"You know I'm speaking the truth."

He finished the rest of his bacon and wiped his hands on one of the white linen napkins. "I like you, Willow. You're brighter and more honorable than a dickweed like Santos could ever dream of being. Mad respect, but two people can't fight this. A hundred people can't fight this." He tossed the napkin back onto the cart. "Fuck. The whole fucking human race can't fight this. I've seen with those slimy fucks can do. We're ants bustling around beneath their feet. If we bite them, they'll pour boiling water down the mouth of the anthill and kill every last thing living in there."

"We can't just—"

"Sure we can," he said, standing up to leave. "Look around at the people in this place. Watch the Administrators and the Healers, the Engineers and the Pilots. Take heart in how very happy and healthy they are. If we keep doing what needs to be done, they get to stay that way. If we fight, they die in our war."

"The Earthborn—"

He tapped the tiny console in his breast pocket. "You need game recommendations? You come to me. I've got your back. You want to wipe out humanity? Call somebody else for breakfast to talk about that."

I had to convince him. We needed more allies. "I'm not alone. There are—"

"No. I don't want to know." He shook his head. "I don't care what you think you have or who you think is backing you. I'm telling you, you don't have a weapon powerful enough to defeat these aliens. You don't have a plan clever enough to bring them down. Drop it. Forget it. Ask to be assigned to guarding a senator on Europa if that will ease your conscience, but let this go before you end up in the brig or worse. I'll do you a favor and forget this conversation ever happened."

I watched him leave, and when he was gone, I stared at the closed door. Colbert sent me here with the blessing of powerful backers. I was sure of that now. Wang was wrong. He was a coward. There was a way. If there wasn't, there wouldn't have been any point in what the general had done.

But what was the way?

How was I supposed to figure it out?

I folded my arms on the table and dropped my head onto them. For the first time, I wished I'd just stood there and let Rodamere kill Lubinski.