Chapter 30, part 1.

Alice was sitting with her feet on the table, the silver buckles on her boots glinting in the firelight. She was tinkering with a small short-range sensor in her hands, listening to Rodriguez whistling something that sounded eerily like one of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. He was leaning away in his chair, literally twiddling his thumbs. They'd been waiting for three hours as the day behind the tavern's window waned and darkness enveloped the village. It was seriously straining Alice's patience.

"Nova, do you ever stop working?" A familiar voice said from behind them and Alice gave a little sigh of relief, put down the device on the table and stood up, turning to face Rianna, striking in her red leather lit by the fire.

"Oh, you know, idle hands and all that." Alice shrugged and then grimaced. "And what sort of time do you call that?"

"I had things to do. Couldn't be helped," Rianna explained lightly, giving Alice a careful hug and then turning to Rodriguez to embrace him much more closely. "Hopefully soon we'll have a better way to communicate so you won't have to wait in vain for hours."

Alice raised her eyebrow. "Yeah? That would be good, because I was just about to call it quits."

"No, you weren't," Rianna contradicted confidently, winking to Rodriguez as she pulled away from the hug. "You're nothing if not reliable. That's an important quality to have."

"Yeah, yeah." Alice waved dismissively, sitting back down at the table and waving Rianna to join them. "Now tell me, what do you have for me? You wouldn't send the message so much in advance if it weren't big."

"Oh, it is—trust me." Rianna grinned. "There's someone I'd like you to meet. But we'll have to go to him." She paused for effect. "Tallis would like to see you."

"Tallis himself?" Alice shook her head, letting her inner excitement show on her face just a little. "And what do I owe the honor?"

"Well, I think this cooperation of ours has been quite beneficial to both sides," Rianna said with a smirk. "I also think it's time for the next step. Tallis agrees."

"You want me to join you?" Alice clarified, her heart beating so hard it was almost painful. Was this really happening? Finally, after more than half a year of painstakingly building her brand, gathering information, creating a network of clients and allies—was this really going to happen? "They say life in the Alliance isn't exactly always safe."

"No, but I believe in you, Nova. You've got talent, and you've got grit. You're dependable and loyal and you know how to keep your mouth shut. We've been watching you. There's just one thing we don't know—where do you live? Where do you go when the job is done?"

Alice went for a mysterious smile. "Would you ever tell?"

Rianna laughed. "And that's why I like you, Nova Ray. Yes, we want you to join us. But I have to warn you—once you're in, there's no going back. We might have started as a loose alliance of smugglers and mercenaries years ago, but it's a much bigger organization now. We've got structure, and we've got a code, and if you want to be one of us, you've gotta fall in line. You're pretty independent. Can you fall in line?"

Alice shrugged. "I guess we'll find out," she replied lightly. "You don't think I've been working so hard all this time just to get rich, right? I've got ambition, too."

"I have no doubt about that." Rianna showed teeth again. "Well, then. Shall we go meet Tallis?"

"Let's shall," Alice allowed and stood up, but Rianna stayed put. "What?"

"About the boy…" For the first time, the merc hesitated. "Tallis wants you. I'm afraid this beautiful hunk is not part of the agreement."

"It's a package deal, Rianna." Alice shook her head, serious now. "It's both or neither."

"You really trust him so much?"

"You know I'm right here, right?" Rodriguez put in, his face annoyed.

"If you trust me, you trust him," Alice replied, ignoring the lieutenant's barb. "That's how it works."

"Well, you know I like him. You're gonna have to convince Tallis, though."

"So I shall."

Rianna led them to a small Tel'tak not far from the village, where her henchmen Troy and Fola already waited, and took them into the orbit, into a large Ha'tak drifting aimlessly over the planet. They were clearly expected—Rianna flew right into the cargo bay and guided them to the bridge. Tallis was sitting in the central chair—where the Goa'uld used to give their orders from—with a couple other Alliance members hanging around the navigation and weapons consoles. He was a small man, merely a couple inches taller than Alice, and quite round-looking—though, Alice noted, deceptively so, since the fabric of his shirt hugged his biceps quite snugly. He smiled a toothy smile when he saw them coming in, throwing Alice a sweeping glance, from top to bottom and back up again. She restrained an urge to roll her eyes. The way men in the Alliance treated her was annoying her like hell.

"Ah, Nova Ray," he said, getting up and walking down from the raised platform his chair was on. "Finally we meet! I've heard a lot of good things about you."

She smirked and shook his outstretched hand. "Thanks, I've heard a lot of naughty things about you."

He laughed jovially. "All correct, I'm sure! And this must be your notorious bodyguard." He shook with Rodriguez quite willingly but his eyes were sharp.

"Yep," the young lieutenant confirmed serenely. "Where she goes, I go."

They held on to each other's hands a little too long and Alice wondered if they were doing a squeezing contest, but then they broke off and Tallis turned back to her. "I assume Rianna told you we've been observing you for a while."

Alice walked to one of the consoles, manned by a Lucian Alliance operative with pretty blond hair and the bluest of blue eyes she's ever seen, and leaned back on it, throwing the man a smile and a wink. He looked at her bottom on the console and she saw him swallow hard. Damn, I'm getting good at this, she thought to herself with satisfaction, knowing that she could do something like this only as Nova Ray—Alice Boyd would never have the nerve.

"No privacy in the galaxy these days," she commented with heavy sarcasm, eliciting laughter one more time. Rianna was grinning at her from the other side of the room, but her eyes were cautious, wary.

"Nothing escapes the Lucian Alliance," Tallis confirmed, going back to his chair. "And we like your work. You're a great deal smarter and more capable than most of the guys we're using. In fact, I think your talents are being wasted on repairing ships and little trinkets. There are bigger things for you out there." He winked at her. "How much do you know about the technology of the Ancestral Rings?"

The change of direction was quite unexpected and Alice frowned. "A fair deal," she allowed carefully. "Depends what you want."

"Have you ever heard about Destiny?" He asked, his eyes discerning.

She affected confusion. "You mean like fate?"

"No. That means you haven't. Destiny is a name of a ship—an Ancestral ship that our friends the Tau'ri have taken over. We want to take it back. I want you to help us do it."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not a warrior."

"No, you're a scientist and that's exactly who I need. See, Destiny is somewhere on the other side of the universe right now—and the only way to reach it is through the Ring, using nine chevrons."

"Nine?" She repeated, playing dumb. "I've heard about eight—that's how the Ori got here, if I'm not mistaken—but what's the ninth for?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But then again, I don't have to know. That's what I've got you for."

He got up, walked over to the console she was leaning on, the blonde guy withdrawing immediately, and he brought out a small device, similar to a crystal encased in a silver net, and put it on the screen.

"A few years ago, Commander Kiva, under the orders of Ulye, tried to take over the Destiny for the first time. It ended in a colossal failure and Ulye was… well, let's just say he lost more than his Second-ship." Tallis looked quite pleased with that fact. "We have the research Kiva used to connect to the ship, though. I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think about it." He moved to make room for her in front of the screen.

Alice, her heart beating hard, took the one step it took for her to be able to read what was being projected on the screen. She silently thanked Hailey for bringing up the subject of the Destiny to her a few weeks before, which sparked enough interest in Alice to make her do some research into all the SGC knew about the ship and the secrets of dialing the ninth chevron. Without the prior preparation, understanding the Lucian Alliance's chaotic research might have been impossible.

"Well, it's crap," she opined after a long moment.

"Excuse me?" Tallis didn't seem upset with her, but his eyes were cold.

She shrugged. "There's no rhyme or reason to it," she explained lightly. "No structure to organize the data, and the equations don't seem to have any proof on record—that means there's no telling if they're correct. It would take hours if not days to wade through all this crap to get a decent level of understanding of it."

Tallis looked at Rianna and Alice noted a silent question passing from one to the other. The female merc nodded and Tallis turned back to Alice. "I appreciate your honesty."

"I tell it as I see it," she replied dryly. "It serves no one to give you bullshit."

"Many a stronger man would be hesitant to talk to me like that," he said, his voice low, dangerous. But Alice thought he wasn't really threatening her—he must be testing her, right? She had to risk it.

"I have Levi for the stuff that needs strength," she retorted calmly. "For myself, I'm fine with being smart."

Tallis kept looking at her for a few seconds more and then his face cleared and he laughed. "You are good, Nova! I see why Rianna likes you!"

"I'm honored." She nodded seriously. Tallis seemed to like that.

"You've got good instincts," he praised, picking up the crystal device from the console. The screen immediately faded to black. "You might need to learn a little humility along the way, but as long as you keep turning in exceptional work, it's all fine with me."

Now, she understood, that was the real threat. You're only here until you're useful. The Alliance dealt with nuisances quickly and decisively.

"So what's the deal, then?" She challenged, putting the cards on the table. "Are you gonna invite us in, or not?"

He didn't miss the us and he looked around at Rodriguez. The young lieutenant responded with a steady stare.

"Levi and I are a package deal," Alice repeated her earlier words to Rianna. "Trusting me means trusting him."

"He'd be your responsibility," Tallis warned.

Alice nodded gravely. "He already is."

Rodriguez affected an exaggerated eye-roll to keep in character but, for once, remained silent.

"I don't like this," Tallis murmured, still staring at the boy. "If he gets out of line, you're both out."

"Understood."

He whipped around to face her. "Do you, really?"

"I escaped death one too many times to be intimidated that easily," she replied placidly.

He narrowed his eyes, watching her closely, but then nodded. "Fine, then. If that's your condition—I'll take it."

Alice leaned back on the console again, half-stretching her arms and shoulders, feeling a pang of dull pain in the left one. "So what happens now?"

"Rianna will acquaint you with the essentials." Tallis's voice sounded businesslike now. "There's a code you'll have to follow, and an oath you'll have to take. And there'll be a little celebration."

Alice laughed. "You're fucking with me," she said, honestly surprised.

"It's important to mark such occasions." He grinned at her. "Plus, it's an opportunity to meet the others—and for them to meet and evaluate you."

She didn't miss the evaluate part. Of course—being invited to be a part of the Alliance was just the first step. Now she needed to actually remain in this unfamiliar and hostile environment for a while—and hopefully climb up, to a place where she could get even more intel… or possibly get her hand on Tallis's Mifta. She didn't lose sight of her ultimate goal—get Jareth. He'd been very quiet lately—even the occasional strange disappearances, which were a good indication of his meddling, seemed to cease. SG-4 and SG-14 were still looking, leaving no stone unturned, but consistently came up with nothing—and recently even more nothing than previously. Alice couldn't figure out what this strange inactivity could mean. But she was sure Jareth was still out there, still scheming, and still offending her by his mere continued existence. This—the Lucian Alliance, the maskirovka, all of it—it was just a step on the road to finding him and getting rid of him, once and for all.

"I am not a particularly social person," she commented lightly, pushing the thoughts of Jareth away. They were important for Alice, but meant nothing to Nova, and she had to keep in character.

Tallis laughed out loud again. "No kidding! Krone's been telling me for months how cold and unfuckable you are." He winked at her. "At least it means you have some discernment in men. Krone's not worth it." There was a veiled suggestion in his voice and Alice's skin crawled. This must have been the worst part of the job.

"Flattered," she said curtly, hoping it wouldn't offend him—but give him a signal she wasn't interested.

He smiled in a way that made her think he didn't really care about her signals, but thankfully he didn't pursue this line of the conversation. "Good, then I'll leave you in Rianna's capable hands. You'll be reporting directly to her for now. She'll cover everything from the code to the lines of communication. I'll let her know when we can gather up to make it official."

Alice bowed her head, a little deeper than a normal nod would require. "Thank you."

This pleased him and he gave her a satisfied smile. "You're welcome, Nova. Welcome to the Lucian Alliance."

"They haven't moved their Gate," Captain Sturgess said confidently. "We'd notice—it's still where it has been for the past two years."

"What about the Lucian Alliance?" O'Neill asked, leaning back in his chair.

"The Langarans swear they're not in contact with them. They were quite offended when I asked."

"Did you talk to Jonas?" Carter was frowning.

"No, he wasn't available. Or at least that's what they're saying." Sturgess seemed a little uncomfortable with that fact. "It was the first time they haven't produced him when we asked."

"Could be a coincidence," Mitchell noted.

"Or could be on purpose because they know Jonas wouldn't lie to us." Carter shook her head. "I don't like it."

"It's possible that Tallis is only talking about a new run at the Destiny, but doesn't have all his ducks in the row yet," Alice noted. They were all sitting at the conference table in the SGC's briefing room: Generals O'Neill and Carter, SG-9's leader Captain Sturgess, the whole SG-1, Alice and Rodriguez, and Colonel Telford—whom Alice had never met before, but there was a lot about him in the mission reports. She knew he was the first who managed to infiltrate the Lucian Alliance, but they discovered him and used Goa'uld brainwashing technology to turn him. He was back on their side, she knew—and also that he was technically a Telford from an alternative timeline. Just one of those things one came to expect in the Program.

"Tallis was always jealous of Ulye's influence on Varrel," Telford mentioned now. "Destiny was really Varrel's vision. Ulye's dead now, and I'm sure Tallis would like to jump up in the hierarchy."

"I thought all the Seconds were equal to each other?" Hailey asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Only in theory," Telford explained. "Varrel holds the ultimate power, so whoever is closest to him gets the biggest part of the pie. I fell out of the circuit, so I'm not sure who that is right now."

"Bane," Alice supplanted. "But his position is getting tenuous—partially thanks to our interference. He's holding the largest number of Kassa-producing planets under him. The SG-1's recent action against a couple of them left him with a very thin advantage over Francesca."

"If we could target more of his planets, we could dethrone him, then?" Doctor Gregory—SG-1's latest probationary member—asked hopefully.

"Yes, but we have to use Major Boyd's intel judiciously," Carter warned. "We can't act unless we can confirm it via other sources, otherwise we risk exposing her cover."

"The curse of a good infiltration." Telford nodded towards Alice. "I heard they just invited you in. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir. It took some time," she acknowledged.

"Safer that way, I'm sure," he noted. "Did Tallis give you Olan's research?"

"Not yet. I just got officially introduced a few days ago, though." She shrugged. "Now, that was fun."

"If you call that fun," Rodriguez murmured.

The celebration Tallis had mentioned meant twelve hours of heavy drinking (or, in their case, pretending to drink as much as the rest), being constantly on their guard as the other members of Tallis's clan 'evaluated' them—and getting way too many of them hit on them, some rather forcefully. Even Rodriguez didn't escape it—the women in the Alliance were just as aggressive as men. But it did allow them to meet everyone in the clan and that was good for the mission, Alice told herself. Everything for the good of the mission.

"Okay, so the conclusion is, nothing's happened yet?" O'Neill summed up, leaning back in to grab the coffee pot and pour himself another cup.

"Yes, sir—nothing's happened, but something is brewing," Alice agreed.

"So what's the most likely scenario?"

"We have to be prepared for the possibility that Tallis will try to use Major Boyd and the Langarans to try to recapture the Destiny," Telford said. His voice was calm, but he was frowning, worried.

"Can we use that?" Alice wondered.

"How?"

"Well, don't we want to contact the ship?" She shrugged. "We've been trying to convince the Langarans to let us use their facility for years, right? They're still not budging on that front?" She addressed the SG-9's leader.

"No. If they are indeed talking to the Lucian Alliance, they must want something specific that we can't give them," Sturgess confirmed.

"Which would probably mean it's something morally dubious," Carter commented.

"So let's say they succeed and the Langarans agree to try," Alice said thoughtfully. "If I'm involved, I can make sure we do it safely, following Doctor McKay's new method, I just need to pretend I'm that brilliant."

"Well, it shouldn't be that hard, seeing as you are brilliant," Carter agreed matter-of-factly. "But we cannot allow the Lucian Alliance to step through."

"No, we would have to find a way to prevent them that wouldn't endanger Langara or Major Boyd's cover," Telford noted.

"And how do we do that?" O'Neill demanded.

"Something to think about." Carter stood up, prompting everyone else—minus O'Neill—to jump to their feet. She waved them back down and walked to the little table by the wall to grab a water bottle. "Perhaps we could reach out to Jonas via unofficial channels and get his read on the situation. I'm sure he'd be willing to help us out."

"But how do we contact him when they keep saying he's not available?" Sturgess sounded doubtful.

"Do we have to use the Gate?" Vala asked lightly. She was leaning back in the chair and looked uninterested in the conversation. "I mean, can't we take a BC-304 and simply beam down to the surface and find him that way?"

"Possibly. Would have to be a quiet operation, but we've done such things before," Mitchell noted.

"And maybe, in the chaos, we manage to actually send someone through?" Telford suggested. "Our people."

"Remember that whoever we send, they would have to survive on the ship with little power and no life support system," Carter reminded him, coming back to the table. "There's a good reason why the crew went into stasis."

"We can send supplies, too," Telford insisted.

"Let's not count our chickens before they hatch," O'Neill cautioned. "We still don't have a way to prevent them from coming through."

"We'll find a way," the colonel was persistent. "We must!"

"Perhaps if Alice can open the Gate safely and we prevent the Lucian Alliance from coming through, it will convince the Langarans to try again with us?" Hailey suggested.

"Perhaps—but can we count on that?" Telford shook his head. "They let us down before in the past. I say we should try right there and then."

"Let's say we can do this." Alice leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "We connect to the Destiny, there's some sort of distraction that prevents the Alliance from coming through, but we manage to push out some supplies. If we send people, these supplies would have to be enough to sustain them for a year. But how do we deal with the power problem? If they start using the life support system, they would jeopardize the ship's ability to reach the next galaxy."

"You have another suggestion?"

"Let's send someone who doesn't need to use the life support system," Alice replied, straightening back up in her chair and looking around the table. "Or foodstuffs or any kind of supplies like that. Then whatever we send could be things to be used to repair the ship. Can you imagine—the crew wakes up in a year, having reached the next galaxy, and the ship is in mint condition again, so all they need is to get into a star to recharge, no problem? And perhaps even dial home from there using Jennifer's new calculations?"

"You wanna send a replicator," Carter stated, outwardly seeming calm, but her eyes were a bit worried, Alice thought.

"Doctor McKay used one with success to get rid of the Asurans," Alice reminded her. "And our knowledge and understanding of the nanite technology has only grown since then. I am confident we can create a human-form replicator, without the ability to actually replicate, who would be programmed to repair the ship and ensure that the crew wakes up when the time comes."

Silence fell when she stopped talking, everyone mulling it through.

"I don't know about it," Telford finally said vaguely, and Alice understood that he didn't want to send people through—he wanted to go himself.

"I think it's genius," Hailey opined. "An android could safely affect repairs that would be extremely risky for a person."

"Safely is not the word I'd use in the context of the replicators," O'Neill disagreed. "I hate these things."

"It wouldn't be a replicator like the ones we've thought before," Alice explained patiently. "We can disable the replicating protocols and ensure that all the programming is ours. In the past we were reusing a lot of the Ancient's programming without truly understanding it, but we've grown in leaps and bounds in that area since then. We would of course need the Ancient Nanite creation machine and I'd need to consult with Doctor McKay—I'm sure he'd be happy to help."

"Happy to help isn't a phrase I'd use in the context of McKay," O'Neill mumbled to himself. "Sam? What do you think?" He asked louder.

"It's risky," she admitted. "But we should look into it further. There's too much we still don't know. Might never come to it."

"Okay," he agreed. "Well, okay, then. Sturgess, you continue your official efforts with the government. Mitchell, I'd like your team to do some quiet reconnaissance on Langara, talk to Jonas if you can find him. And Boyd—let's see what's Tallis's next move. Good work, so far, everyone. Y'all are dismissed," he added, ending the meeting.

"Boyd."

"You know you should stop answering your phone like that," Alice said into the microphone on her Samsung. "People won't know if they got through to you or me."

Tobey chuckled. "I don't think our voices leave much room for error. Plus, why would anyone call the SPSC and want you?"

"I get around," she joked. "I wouldn't be calling the SPSC if you were answering your cell, you know."

"My battery died and, can you believe it—no one here has an iPhone charger!"

"Oh, they're not fancy enough for your taste, huh?" She needled.

"Oh, do shut up," he replied, a little too hotly, and she thought she wasn't the first to tease him about it. "Why the call anyway?"

She sighed. "My car died this morning."

"Oh, damn, sorry to hear that. Can it be revived?"

"Yeah, if I want to fork up five K for a new engine… I think I'll just buy a new car. A new used car, actually. Even have one picked out already."

"Aaaand let me guess, you need a ride to the dealership?"

"Deanna's out in Denver visiting her mom," Alice explained. "I could get a cab but what do I have a cousin in town for?"

He chuckled again. "Aye, aye, ma'am. Message received. My shift ends in two hours—I'll come get you then, is that okay?"

"Yeah, great, thanks. Oh, and Dalia will be with me, too," she added quickly.

"Sure, sure. So, see you then!"

"Thanks, Tobey!"

Two and a half hours later they were on their way down the Norad Road towards the city. Tobey was telling Alice how cool his new assignment was.

"In my previous job, I was mostly just a supervisor," he said at some point. "Now I get to actually do stuff, you know, calibrate and redirect and play around. Griffin is very lax with such things."

Alice nodded. "Perhaps he recognizes that idle minds grow sluggish over time," she suggested. "Plus, it was playing around with equipment that got you there in the first place, he probably doesn't want to limit you in case you come up with something brilliant again."

"Well, I haven't yet—though it was utterly fascinating to watch the replay of that battle over the Pacific. I honestly wonder why they didn't give you a Medal of Honor for that."

Alice waved her hand dismissively. "It wasn't that big of a deal—I crashed, remember? Besides, if they gave it to a woman, we'd have another hundred journalists swarming to get to the bottom of it, and it's the last thing I need. I'm still in shock that the new cover story held so well after the whole hijack thing. Thank you, by the way. You know I swiped it from you."

"I noticed." Tobey chuckled. "I'm glad you found my ignorance useful. I'm even more glad to know the reality, bonkers as it is. I just wish I could know more." He mostly only had clearance for Op-Sec 1, meaning the existence of the Program and some most important parts of it—but not specific SGC missions. Alice's own New Light was classified Op-Sec 4—the ones classified Op-Sec 5 were usually those related to alternate timelines and parallel universes, which included Alice's jump to the future.

"Just be glad for what you already know," she said. "They shared the details on that Pacific action with you only because you found out about it yourself."

"I know, I know." He turned onto the ramp to get to the highway. "You could at least tell me where does Dalia come from, really, since we're supposed to be related."

"Rayah", the girl piped up from the backseat, never lifting her head up from her phone.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Great job keeping the secret, Dalia," she censured with sarcasm.

"What is Rayah?" Tobey looked back at the teenager for a second.

"The planet I was born on." She shrugged. "It's not like it'll do anything if he knows, isn't it?"

"That's not the point." Alice sighed. "Anyway, now you have it. She's from Rayah. But that doesn't really matter, because everyone else thinks she's from a cult in Idaho, and that's the story we need to keep to out there, right, Dalia?" She turned around to give her a look.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I tell everyone. It makes them all pitying and maudlin, though. I don't like it."

"Well, tough." Alice turned back to face the road.

"Who's everyone? You're not going to school yet, right, so outside of the SGC, do you know anyone?" Tobey asked curiously.

"Sure. There's Deanna and a bunch of her friends, and I'm helping out in that community service thing Alice has gotten into some time ago. There's even some people my age there, too. Some of them don't even suck entirely."

One of the unexpected benefits of Alice finally caving in and engaging in Forest Crawford's community outreach program was that Dalia, whom Alice decided to bring with her once or twice, got really into it. Alice guessed the girl was bored out of her mind, reduced to books and internet as she's been since she came to live on Earth. Community service gave her something to do and focus on, and it allowed her to meet other people—including other teenagers. That was good for her. And so Alice, unwilling as she was, kept going to their meetings and events, helping out here and there, even after the series of blood drives she'd committed herself to ended. It allowed her to keep up with Elena—who was doing better with the new therapist—and was even beneficial for her own mental health, since it took some time and focus away from other things—both her cloud of darkness and (over)working. And since Dalia would have to stay home alone while Alice was at a meeting or event, she started taking the girl along—which led to her finding a couple friends her own age. Since then, she was even more glued to her phone than before, constantly texting with Liz and Josh. She even asked once or twice to go meet them at their places. Alice promised herself they'd get Dalia a learner's permit soon, though that wouldn't give her freedom yet—they needed to wait until November, when Dalia would officially turn sixteen and could get her minor license. And then Alice could stop being her chauffeur. By then, Dalia would go to high school, and god knew what kind of new problems that would engender—Alice's own high school experience wasn't too bad, but she had her brother and friends for protection. Dalia, with her particularities and attitude, might not find American high school too welcoming a place. But, then again, she survived on her own in the galaxy, so perhaps Alice was worrying over nothing.

"How does she sound like a typical American teenager after mere months in here?" Tobey quipped and he and Alice both chuckled, while Dalia kept quiet—though Alice was quite sure there was some heavy eye-rolling going on in the backseat.

A few minutes later they turned into the used car dealership's parking lot and walked into the all-glass building to talk to the sales rep. The only one they could see was a middle aged man in a cheap suit and with a fake grin plastered to his reddish face.

"Hello, hello, what a beautiful family we have here!" He greeted them in an oily, pretentious tone. "What can I do for you? Looking for a new car? We have a really great Kombi section over there!" He pointed outside and to the right.

Alice cleared her throat. The man—he had a silver tag that proclaimed his name to be Burt—had addressed Tobey. "No, thank you," she responded, already a little irked. "I know what I want—I've checked your website before coming. You should have a nice 2010 Cadillac BLS with 2.8 engine."

Burt blinked and his fake smile grew even faker. "Oh, sweetie, that is not the car for you!" He exclaimed loudly. "That's manual transmission—stick shift, you know? And it's too big for such a beautiful young girl, you would do better with a nice automatic Honda Accord with a 4-cylinder engine—and we even have one that is the nicest shade of blue!"

Alice told herself to be calm. She turned to Tobey. "Did this just happen or did I dream it?"

"Nope, I'm afraid it did happen," he confirmed, throwing Burt a pitying look.

The man looked at them, confused, and tried again. "See, your husband will surely agree—"

Alice raised her hand. "Stop," she said, her voice cold with anger. Burt blinked again and then took a step back, his red cheeks paling just a smidge. "He is not my husband but my younger cousin," she started.

"Oi with the younger," Tobey muttered beneath his breath, but she ignored him.

"And even if he were, I am your customer. In fact, I came here asking for a very specific thing and you decided to completely ignore that and treat me like I don't know what I want."

"Sweetie, it's just that—most women—" Burt babbled, but she interrupted him.

"Most women are perfectly capable of handling themselves and if we want advice, we will ask for it," she insisted, her voice low, menacing. He took another tiny step back. "And just for your information, sweetie, I am a former fighter jet pilot. I think I can handle a stick shift. And now, please get me your manager. You're not getting any commission from me."

He gulped and scurried away quickly. Alice exhaled slowly, anger mixing with perverse satisfaction.

"Damn, girl," Tobey said, sounding impressed. "How are you so freaking scary when you're so small?"

She threw him a half-amused and half-exasperated look. "I had to learn for my job, what do you think?"

The truth was, of course, that it wasn't really Alice acting like this—she was channeling Nova. It was quite a new experience for her. Normally, she had the two characters well separated in her head. It was the first time she used Nova this way—or, at least, the first time she did it consciously.

"If you talk that way to the Alliance guys, I'm sure they don't like it very much," Dalia piped up again.

"Alliance guys?" Tobey repeated, his eyebrows raised.

"You've never heard it, so I'm not gonna respond," she cautioned and gave Dalia a censoring look.

"Whatever." The girl shrugged and pulled out her phone.

Alice shook her head. She sure hoped Dalia was still keeping all the secrets to herself with other people—that she had jumped out like that only because she knew Tobey worked in the Program now, too. She really didn't want to go over the teenager's phone.

A minute later, the dealership's owner came in, all apologetic, and without further incident Alice was able to purchase her selected Cadillac BLS and already drive it home after saying goodbye to Tobey.