“You’re sure about this?” asked Ethan, walking beside Rachel as she left the meeting room and headed for the Nexus.

  “No, of course not,” said Rachel, walking fast enough that Ethan had to quicken his pace to keep up. “But we aren’t exactly brimming with options.”

  “Has anything like this ever been done before? A former Knight coming back into the fold?”

  “I’m honestly not sure, but even if it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And it’s the only real option I can think of.”

  “Are you sure?” Ethan grabbed Rachel’s wrist. She stopped and with a sigh, turned to face him.

  “What?”

  “Just seems a little odd that we’re talking about recruiting a former Knight when we still have one to reach out to.”

  “Do we?” asked Rachel. “Tom quit. He gave up on us. I’m not one for begging, so instead of wasting time, I’m going to do something productive.”

  “And you’re sure Caleb will do this? Why did he retire in the first place?”

  Rachel broke eye contact with Ethan. “He had a heart attack. The Omega Force had taken too much of a toll on him.”

  Ethan’s mouth gaped, as if it was the first time he really considered the consequences of this lifestyle. Rachel couldn’t hold that against him. The Omega Force, the Titans, all of this felt like space magic. That made it easy to forget just how real the stakes were.

  “And you want to put him in that situation again?”

  “Never said ‘want’—but it’s what I have to do,” said Rachel.

  “And what if he has another heart attack? What if this time, he doesn’t bounce back?” asked Ethan. “Are you willing to live with that on your conscience?”

  “Honestly?” asked Rachel, as she met his gaze. “No, I’m not. But if what we’ve learned of the Quantum Group is true, then I’m going to have to learn to live with a lot of things real fucking fast.”

  “I just think this is the wrong call and our time would be better spent on convincing Tom to come back,” said Ethan.

  “Didn’t he just beat the shit out of you? And you want him back?”

  Ethan grinned at Rachel. “Never said ‘want.’”

  She rolled her eyes. “Hilarious. You and the others work with Orion on some training maneuvers, and I’ll be back soon—hopefully with good news.”

  Rachel turned away from Ethan and continued down the corridor. She reached the Nexus and informed the technician of the coordinates she wanted to be transported to. He looked at her with a raised brow.

  “This place is pretty popular, huh?” he asked. “What’s so special about it?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  The technician shrugged. “You and Stone went there once before, and he just asked to go there again.”

  “He did?”

  The technician nodded. “Maybe about an hour ago?”

  What the hell’s he up to? Rachel asked herself. “Whatever, just beam me out.”

  “You got it. Get into position.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Rachel climbed onto the center platform. In her hand, she held Tom’s discarded Omega Gauntlet. She stared into it, wondering what Caleb’s reaction would be to being offered it again. Ethan made a salient point—how could she give this to him, ask him to put his life on the line again? He’d gotten out alive, that’s more than many former Knights could say.

  The Nexus flared to light, and within moments, she felt the familiar pull of the teleportation effect. She’d been through this so frequently, that she closed her eyes on reflex just before the teleportation began. Once she felt solid feet under her ground, she opened her eyes and saw she was in the same place where she and Tom had materialized the last time they visited New Horizon.

  The mile-long walk went by quick. Rachel didn’t think much about anything other than what she would say to Caleb. But as she came closer to the facility’s front gate, she heard familiar voices conversing. She put the extra Omega Gauntlet in her pocket.

  “It was a binary choice, and the other was eminently more qualified than me. It should’ve been Rachel.”

  Rachel froze when she heard her own name. And she realized that one of the voices was Tom’s. Even after his confession at the beach the other night—that he thought the Tribunal picked him out of sexism—it still felt surprising. Rachel hadn’t been certain of the sincerity of his words. Hearing him say that when he thought she was alone confirmed he’d meant what he said.

  She was about to make her presence known, but she stopped and continued listening.

  “Before you can address any of the mistakes that happened in the past, before you can start fixing things to improve the situation in the future, you have to deal with the problem in the present,” she heard Caleb say.

  That part rang particularly true to her. In some ways, Rachel and Tom were guilty of the same sin—focusing too much on what comes next. The problem in the present was what had to be dealt with first. And she could hear in Caleb’s voice that he no longer had that same fight in him.

  Both Ethan and Caleb were right—it had to be Tom. She knew that this was the time to speak up.

  “Wow…this seems a bit awkward,” she said as she walked up to the gate. Tom turned to look at her with surprise etched on his face, and she offered up a half-hearted smile. “Something tells me that Tom and I had the same idea. I was also going to try to convince Caleb to come back.”

  “You see?” asked Tom as he gestured at Rachel. “Even she thinks it’s the right thing.”

  “No, I was wrong. We both were.” Rachel came up beside Tom and gently patted his shoulder. “Caleb did his job, and he did it well. But it’s not fair to ask him to risk his life after everything he’s done to earn retirement.”

  “I don’t know if I can still do it, Rachel,” said Tom. “I was never that confident as leader to begin with. And whatever confidence I had, it’s gone now.”

  “You don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be right there with you,” said Rachel. “We can do this together.”

  “I’ll be there, too,” said Caleb.

  “Thought you were done with all this?” asked Tom.

  “With Marcus gone, you’re going to need someone in your ear to stop you all from doing something stupid,” said Caleb. “Maybe I can’t fight, but I can help out in my own way.”

  Rachel smiled. Caleb was the first person who made her feel like she could be a Knight. Having him there in a support role just felt like the missing piece. “I think we’d all like that.” She looked at Tom. “Right?”

  Tom sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” He drew in a breath. “But once we’ve taken care of Sylva and the others, we’re going to have to have some real conversations about what the Omega Knights are and just what we’re going to do about the Quantum Group. Because this stuff that’s hanging out there? We can’t let that stand.”

  “I agree,” said Rachel. “But that’s a conversation for later, isn’t it? Have to deal with the present problem.”

  Rachel reached into her pocket and took out the Omega Gauntlet. She held out her hand, offering it to Tom.

  “Here, you dropped this,” she said. “Might come in handy, don’t you think?”

  Tom looked down at the Gauntlet. His hand reached for it, but he hesitated. His gaze drifted back to Caleb, who gave a nod, encouraging him. Tom took the device and affixed it back to his wrist.

  “That’s more like it,” said Rachel. “So, shall we head back?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” said Tom.

  “You guys go on without me,” said Caleb. “I’ve gotta quit this job, then I’ll make contact.”

  Rachel held up her wrist and signaled on her own Gauntlet. That signal went back to the Nexus and told them she was ready to Return. Tom did the same on his own Gauntlet. Within moments, they were transported back to the Nexus on Sanctuary.

  Orion waited to greet them both. He looked amused when he saw Tom’s face. “About time you came to your senses, kid.”

  “You knew he’d come back?” asked Rachel.

  Orion shook his head. “Nah, I didn’t know jack shit. But I had faith he’d do the right thing in the end.” He stepped up to Tom and gave him a few solid pats on his arm. “Come on, the both of you. I think I’ve got some…news about what’s coming next.”

  “Does that mean you found the Obsidian Dreadnought?” asked Rachel.

  Orion nodded. “Oh yeah, I found the bastards.”

  “I noticed you didn’t say the news was good,” said Tom.

  “Good ear,” said Orion. “That’s where things get a little bit tricky…”