"Calm down!" Akio cried, though no one heard it over the sounds of their own voices around the conference table. "I said." Akio stepped up on top of the table. "Calm." She rose her bow into the air. "Down!" She slammed it into the table, sending wood splinters flying in all directions.

The room fell into silence, besides the nervous twitch of fingers and tap of feet.

Akio forced a tight smile on her weary face. "Thank you." She continued to stand on the table, not wanting to risk losing the attention she had to break wood to gain. "Now, as most of you heard, the Commander is coming to the planet in search of me. But I know for a fact he won't stop there. I could give myself up and grant you a few days, a few weeks, if that. He would still find this place and slaughter everyone within it. Our best chance is to stay together, to gather resources, outside help."

"And how do you intend to do that when showing your face could bring the entirety of the commanders on you?" Chester asked, standing up and placing his hands on the table. "Everyone wants you dead. Everyone. And after the mole—"

Hushed whispers started circulating around the room.

Chester stared down at the table, hurt clear in his expression. "How do we know who we can trust? How do we know if we can trust you? Bolivar was my friend. He was like a brother to me, and he stabbed us in the back."

Akio sighed. She knew this would bring more conflict. But if she kept that information a secret, and someone found out from anyone other than her then there would only be further discord in the group. "He was a friend to many. I don't know his intentions, but it's likely that he betrayed the group because of my presence. Not because of anything the rest of you did. Unless he's always been a traitor from the start."

"What about Eris? Do you think she knows? She might be in danger," Greomoire stated, her gerbul nose twitching in anxiousness and fear.

Swallowing, Akio glanced down at the table. Hard calls, that was her duty as a leader. Knowing she would have to make this call hurt. Eris was her friend, someone she cared deeply for, but she couldn't risk the safety of everyone here for her. "If Bolivar finds out that we know of his doing's, we risk him killing Eris. If by some chance she isn't involved, which is also a possibility, we cannot interfere." Akio clenched her hand around the bow in her hand, forcing her voice to stay strong, void of the emotion threatening to surface. "Both Bolivar and Eris are banned from returning to the mansion under the penalty of death."

"How could you betray her like that?"

"I thought she was your friend."

"You're sentencing her to die."

"Heartless weapon."

"This is why weapons shouldn't be leaders, they don't care for anyone but themselves."

The onslaught of accusations was predictable. Akio knew this wasn't a call anyone would appreciate. In time, they would understand. That wouldn't lessen the hurt it caused to anyone close to Eris, it wouldn't lessen the hurt threatening to make her break down in this conference room full of vigilantes. Strong. Akio needed to be strong. If she couldn't handle a meeting like this, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Fuck you, you selfish pieces of starshit," Indra spat, marching into the room and whacking a few with her cane. "You will not disrespect our leader like this. Eris was her friend too, she was my friend. Letting her back in risks everyone dying if she's a traitor. Get your head out of your asses and hold your tongue."

Akio shook her head, unable to express just how grateful she was for her girlfriend at that moment. Stars. Indra always said what Akio wished she could. "Thank you, Indra. As I was saying, we need to reach out and get more groups on our side. With the Commander seeking blood shed, it's only a matter of time before this turns into a war. If this is all that stands in his way, it will be as infants to the slaughter. He'll slay us in our sleep with futile resistance."

"I don't condone killing. I hate it. I hate taking the lives of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, and at one time, it was all I did," Akio said, looking across the sea of faces. "But I won't stand by and let the commander's march in here to slaughter you, my troop, my friends, my family."

Akio straightened her posture, appearing as the leader she needed to be, strong, unbeatable despite the sling on her arm. She grabbed her pistol, holding the handle carefully, making sure not to touch the trigger. "We are here to protect those who cannot stand on their own. To rise up against injustice. I vow, as your leader, that I will fight till my last breath to ensure that there will be a tomorrow for us. To ensure that this planet will no longer be under the hold of the Commander's iron grasp."

Indra's brow furrowed as she cocked her head to the side. "Akio, you don't mean to say—"

"We're going to war."

Silence fell across the room, more desolate than a battlefield of corpses.

"I can't force you to fight alongside me. I can't ask you to raise a gun to the head of a family member. I won't force you to march against a force led by an unbeatable Harken that is known across the galaxy for the amount of blood he's painted the ground with," Akio declared, looking out across the many beings she had come to know over the last year as their leader.

"Tonight, for those who still aren't known to associate with this group, I will give you a chance to leave, to return home and forget this conversation ever happened. But know that once you leave, you will never be allowed to come back."

Half the table rose and left the room.

Akio swallowed. She knew this would be a divider for many, but she hadn't predicted that she would lose that many. Starshit. That was half the main counsel she had handpicked and assembled.

Indra stood up, climbing up onto the table. She grasped Akio's hand in her gloved one. "I'll stand by you in this decision." She stared blankly ahead and swung her cane around. "If any more of you leave, I will see to it that you receive a thrashing before you go."

"Indra. This is their choice. This is my compromise," Akio whispered. "Please respect it."

Scoffing, Indra placed her cane on the table. "Fine. I'll only beat most of you."

Uncomfortable laughter broke the tension of the room.

"I don't know who I should fear more, a blood thirsty Harken, or Indra armed with a cane," Chester said with a nervous chuckle.

"Both," Indra and Akio said in unison.

... ... ... ... ...

"When you mentioned gathering supplies and support, I didn't think you meant now," Indra stated, leaning into fluffy as her and Akio ventured into the tunnels.

"Well, this was one I had already planned a few days ago. Reached out to one of Haim's old contacts for weapons and general supplies. They agreed to meet in sector five," Akio declared, allowing the glow of her bow to guide her.

Indra's footsteps faltered. "The volcanic sector? That's over a day's trek from the mansion. Why didn't you tell me that's where we were going?"

Akio sighed. "Because if you knew, you probably wouldn't have accompanied me."

"You're starshitted right I wouldn't. This is because you want to talk isn't it? To sort everything out and learn my life story?" Indra asked, her voice sharper than knives. "Be prepared for a long walk in silence. This is not an okay way to go about this."

The box in Akio's pocket that Indra had given to her weighed heavily, pressed against her body. "I have to know." Akio stopped and turned around. "I have to know why you want me to remember Saso. I have to know why you are suffering every time I touch you. I—I'm your girlfriend, Indra. I have to know."

Recoiling, Indra pushed further into Fluffy's side. "No. You don't. I would have told you when or if I was ready. Being close to me entitles you to nothing."

"Then why bring it up?" Akio asked, harsher than intended. "Why try to revive a trauma I buried because it still haunts me at night if you aren't going to explain your reason?" It was aggravating to be left with so many questions and no answers. Frustrating. Unfair. "I have fucken scars from that place. All over my body, in my head, and I try every. Starshitted. Day. To forget it."

"Because I was there!" Indra screamed. "Happy? Now you know. You forgot me. You have the ability to forget because it was a week for you. It was years for me. Fucken years. I don't get to forget. I don't get to escape it. Now you can pity the weak piece of starshit who wasn't lucky enough to get rescued. Because no one cared about me. No one fixed me."

Akio swallowed. This was worse than she thought. So much worse. And she had handled it like a total Lizzassed moron. "Indra I—"

"Don't." Indra shook her head. "Don't you dare say it. I don't want your pity. I don't want your apologies. You will never understand what that was like, to fight every day when you knew it was hopeless and just wish you'd get lucky and die. Jacque is the reason I can't stand touch. I can't even stomach telling you the things he did. Even now, I feel like vomiting at the mention of his name."

All Akio wanted to do was apologize, to make things right. But it was clear that Indra had no interest in hearing it. Who would after their girlfriend scolding them for bringing up a past event that dimmed in comparison to their suffering? Opening the box, Akio dropped it as if it were on fire.

The collar inside clattered to the ground, reflecting back at her the name He'mi.

The Se'li she'd left behind on Saso, had been Indra.