MIRANDA

Does he actually think this is going to work?

Mitchell shakes his head, his arms crossing as he glares at me from across the nurses' station. "You just really don't care, do you? Do other people's goals not matter to you?" His sigh carries the weight of disappointment and he turns his back on me as if he can barely stand to look at me.

Wow. He really does. And he's going all out too.

I have to give him credit. Mitchell is a lot of things, but he's not dumb. Screaming at me has never worked. Ignoring me only fires me up. But disappointment. This is new.

The problem with Mitchell is that he's a narcissist, and he assumes that just because we're fucking that I have feelings for him. He genuinely thinks I crave his validation. It would be cute if it wasn't so obvious.

This new attempt to get me to "behave" is pathetic at best, but I go along with it because at least for now, he is the bridge to the places I need to go.

"I do care about your goals. I know this is important to you."

The nurse tightens the bandage around my ankle, and I grimace at the pain that shoots up my leg. She raises an eyebrow. "It's not broken. You should be back to your usual self in no time."

Mitchell leans against the wall. "'Cause that's exactly what we need."

The nurse snickers at his stupid joke and bats her eyelashes like a schoolgirl with a crush. I don't attempt to hide my eye roll. Women melt around Mitchell, and yet he's sleeping with me because I don't.

Everything is a game to him. He needs to win me, and it drives him mad that he can't because I'm not a piece on his board. I'm the person who created the entire game.

The nurse's smile flattens as she hands me two pain pills. "Here." Even her voice lacks the spunk she just gave Mitchell.

"Thanks." I swallow the pills dry.

Mitchell turns on his smile for her. "Can you give us a second?"

Her smile is back. "Of course."

She saunters out of the room, and I try not to gag.

The instant the door closes, Mitchell's tone darkens. "Why do you have to make my life so difficult?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" So much for pretending to butter him up.

"Miranda, I'm trying to help you."

Right. I cross my arms and give him a deadpan look.

His brows furrow. "I'm serious. I know you want success in your career. I get you want to be part of things. But you're not going to get it by breaking the rules. This treaty is a huge deal. We intercepted some serious intel a few months back about the Schovali race."

This is news to me.

He keeps talking, not realizing I'm leaning into every word. "They need us more than you know."

This is fucking bullshit. Here I am, again being left out of things. When I took this job, I was told I was going to be given top-tier status. And yet, not only am I left out of meetings, but I'm not given imperative information like this.

Mitchell sights. "And the last thing Captain Cole needs is you disrupting this new relationship. The sad part is that you probably would have been invited to the signing if you hadn't acted like a child."

"You know what? You're right."

His expression breaks, shifting from anger to shock. It's a testament to my acting skills that I manage to push out my next words. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that today." I reach out, taking his hand in mine. "You just know so much, and I just admire you. And I want to work by your side."

His back straightens and his chin lifts as I blow air up his ass.

"Do you think you can forgive me?"

"Fortunately, Captain Cole knows that you did this on your own. I don't think it will reflect poorly on my position. But you need to stop breaking the rules. Just trust me. I have your back, Miranda."

My fake puppy dog eyes grow. "I know you do."

He pulls his hand away from me. "I do think that maybe we should stop sleeping together for a little while."

It takes every ounce of strength to not laugh hysterically at his comment. If this is his version of punishment, it's laughable. He really thinks his dick is godly, that I need him. "If you think that's best. I guess I understand."

"I'm not saying it's permanent. I just need some space."

He leans down and kisses my forehead and the idea of punching him in the balls seems almost too appealing. "Take care of yourself, Mer."

"I promise I'll behave." Keep smiling, keep smiling.

He blows me a kiss on the way out and the instant he disappears through the door, I'm up on my feet.

He has no idea what he's just revealed to me.

Behave, my ass.

The only thing I'm going to do is find out the information that no one on this ship thinks I deserve to know about.

***

"No—absolutely not," Jenna slides out on her back on the floor, her head poking through the open tiled panel, half her body still inside the wall.

I blink at the glare of her headlamp. "You haven't even heard my proposition."

She crawls out of the wall and flips open the cover of the broken intercom system. "Miranda, I know how this goes." Twisting a series of wires, she shuts the cover of the communication box, and the power button blinks green. "You want something."

I slide the panel into place in an attempt to help her and flick on my most charming smile. "I want us to succeed."

Her hand is on her hip as she watches me attempt to fit the wall panel back into place. The smile on her face is half-amused, half-annoyed. She grabs the panel from my hands, flips it around and seals it back into the wall.

"I would have figured that out eventually."

She snorts. "Fine. Let's hear it."

"I need to go into the record room so I can access conversations between Captain Cole and the Schovalis from last week."

Her laugh lasts way too long. She pulls off her headlamp and shoves it inside her maintenance bag. "This is funny. You're funny."

"But I'm not joking."

She lifts a finger. "You are joking. Because if you weren't, what you just suggested would be considered a crime. The kind of crime that would get us sent back to Earth."

"Jenna. Doesn't it bother you that no one takes us seriously here because we don't have a dick? I mean, come on. You have a master's in engineering and they have you fixing the intercom. We need to stick together."

"Miranda." Her voice lowers to a whisper. "We don't get taken seriously by breaking the law. I agree that there is gender disparity on this ship, but this isn't the way we fix the issues. I'm not sure when you're going to understand that."

She's not going to help me. I can't fucking believe this. We're not best friends, but I assumed we shared enough respect because we're both women working in a male-dominated field. Women help women, isn't that how that saying goes?

"Thank you." I lean over and hug her, wrapping my arms around her.

She pats my back awkwardly. "For what?"

"For being a good friend and looking out for me."

She leans back and sighs. "Just take my advice for once. Okay?"

"Okay. You're right."

I'm not an overly physical person, and it's by pure luck she didn't find it odd that in the year we've been friends, I'd never hugged her. I wait until she rounds the corner before flipping over her ID between my fingers. Removing it from her shirt was easier than I thought.

It's overtly clear to me. The only person I can rely on to get shit done is myself.

The record room is in the east wing of the ship and is easier to access than I expect. My own badge gets me to the same floor, but I have to clip on Jenna's to enter. I pull back my hair to match Jenna's pony tail in her ID photo. We don't look very similar, but a guard would need to really squint at the photo to see that.

When the door slides open, a blast of cool air whips my hair back.

To my surprise, the room is deserted.

Fuck yeah. I worried for nothing.

It takes me a second to figure out how to work the system. A projection with time stamps fills the far wall, and as I twist the dials, I scroll a week back.

There's no listing between Captain Cole and the Schovali.

"What the fuck? C'mon."

I scroll back up but pause at a title. "Schovali emergency call."

Chewing my lip, I click play.

Panicked voices blares through the speakers in the room and my heart jumps.

"—under attack. I repeat the Schovali Station is under attack." It's a male voice, and I recognize the Schovali accent. Their diction is overly crisp. "If anyone can h-hear m—" His voice goes out.

Another voice chimes in. "This is Captain Cole, picking up your emergency signal. How can we assist?"

There's chaos on the other line, metal clinking, a loud blast, someone screaming. The male Schovali is back. "The Ghengors. It's the Ghengors! They're after—"

His voice cuts off.

"Hello?" Captain Cole calls out. "Are you there? I think he's gone."

There's a second voice that I recognize as Mitchell's. "Did he say Ghengors? I think he said Ghengors."

The recording of the emergency call cuts off and my heart is pounding at what I've just heard.

It can't be. The Ghengor race supposedly died out over a decade ago. That's impossible.

Bright light suddenly floods the room, and I spin around as three guards enter.

"Miranda, you are under arrest for trespassing."

The guards grab my arm. "Wait a second...hold on."

My words are pointless...but what I've just learned is more than enough leverage than I ever thought I'd get.

When Captain Cole walks in, I'm ready.

Unlike Mitchell, he doesn't try to manipulate me with false disappointment. He has no alternative motives...but I do.

The door closes, and he throws up his hands. "Are you trying to get kicked off this ship. I mean, c'mon, Miranda."

"Do you remember what you said to me when you offered me this job?"

"What does that have to do you with anything? I forgave you breaking into a private meeting because Mitchell asked me to. Which you should really thank me for. But stealing someone's badge and trespassing into areas you don't have permission to go into is something else entirely."

"Captain Cole, I only took this job because you said I would be on par with everyone else. That even though I was the only female engineer, that I would be on the same level with the men. If you had stood by that, I wouldn't have to go find information on my own."

"That might be the case, Miranda, but you leave me no choice. You're on the next ship back to Earth."

There it is. And even though I predicted this, it still hits me like a dropped brick. I once considered Captain Cole a friend. But it's clear he's just like everyone else on this ship. And that leaves me no choice. If everyone else is going to look out for themselves, then so am I.

"I know the Ghengors are back. I heard the Schovali emergency call. So unless you want me to tell everyone on board and start a panic—then I want to be at the treaty signing. I want to do the job you hired me to do. I want to work side by side with the Schovalis."

The color drains from his face. I've won...and we both know it.