Two weeks ago, this would have sent me spiraling. The weight of expectation, the fear of failing people I'd never meet, the crushing responsibility of being someone's hope.
But I had already faced that weight. I had held a dying man in my arms and kept working. I had accepted that my choices would cost lives, and I chose to make them anyway.
I met Lyrin's gaze. "Yes. We can use this."
Surprise flickered through the Tether. Not from Lyrin, but from all four of them. They had expected me to spiral. Instead, I was already thinking tactically.
"If Voss believes I'm the architect behind this movement, it gives the Starbreaker room to operate. It's easier to chase a ship than one person." I paused. "But I'm not sure how to leverage that yet."
"Decoys," Kaedren said. His eyes had sharpened, the grief from moments ago channeled into something harder and more useful. "We have a lot of angry women who look like you. Smuggle them to stations far from the colonies, report sightings anonymously, pull corporate forces out of position."
I stared at him. It was exactly what I'd been reaching toward, but he'd gotten there faster.
"That's good," I said. "That's really good."
"We will not put you in danger," Torvyn said.
"That's why it works," Kaedren replied. "She stays here. The decoys draw pursuit elsewhere."
I moved to the viewscreen and pulled up an overlay of corporate and corporate-aligned stations across the sector. Then I layered in the nearest colonies.
"Phase one: disinformation campaign," I said, building on Kaedren's idea. "We smuggle doppelgangers to stations far from the colonies, then anonymously report sightings. We pull corporate forces out of position."
"That will cost them time, money, and resources," Torvyn said.
"And damage their reputation and security posture," Vaelix added. "The tighter they squeeze, the more trade and commerce they disrupt."
"We make them overreact," I said. "We let them show everyone who they really are."
"The doppelgangers," Kaedren said, his voice flat again. "What happens when corporate forces catch one of them?"
"Volunteers only," I said. "Women who understand the—"
"That's not enough." He cut me off. "Understanding the risk and being prepared for capture are different things. They need extraction protocols. Dead drops. Safe houses they can reach if things go wrong."
I opened my mouth to argue that we couldn't guarantee extractions, that the whole point was misdirection. Then I stopped.
He was right.
"Okay," I said. "You're right. We build in extraction routes. Maybe not for every scenario, but for the ones we can plan for."
Kaedren's shoulders loosened slightly. Through the Tether, I felt something shift. Not quite surprise, but close. He had expected me to push back.
"I'll map the routes when I analyze deployment patterns," he said.
"Phase two," I continued. "I record messages of support. We broadcast them galaxy-wide. But I'm not sure about scope. Do we only name colonies already rebelling, or..."
"Name ones that aren't," Lyrin said quietly.
I turned to him, surprised. Through the Tether, I felt the weight of what he was proposing. And his certainty that it was necessary.
"Every colony you name becomes a potential threat in corporate eyes," he continued. "It stretches their forces. It also means some colonies might face retaliation for something they didn't do."
"You're asking us to gamble with other people's lives," I said slowly. Making sure I understood what he was proposing.
"Those people are already gambling with their lives every day," Lyrin said. "The corporations can destroy any colony they want, any time. That danger already exists. We're redistributing it. Making it visible."
I held his gaze. He wasn't flinching from this.
