Alzigo leaned back away from him. “I strongly advise against it. An individual rich enough to fund such an endeavor would be extremely powerful. Maybe as powerful as a system lord. It’s a bad idea to anger one of them.”

“We don’t care.” Nori leaned forward. “What’s the name of the place you overheard them?”

“It … was a large space station called Hammerhead.”

“It fits,” Lana said. “That’s the name of the place our freighter came from.”

Nori leaned back. “We’ll have to pay them a visit eventually.”

“Why?” Lana said anxiously. “You heard what Alzigo said, it’s dangerous. What does it matter now? Whatever we find, it won’t undo the Calamity.”

Bulco shook his head. “Nori’s right, kid. We gotta show the aliens that they can’t mess with humans. Make an example of the fucker who did this to us.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Nori said. “But more importantly, someone went to great lengths to land us in this situation. They have a plan for us—and something tells me it’s not to shower us with candy. If we don’t get on top of things, they’ll play us like pawns. Once we take care of the Broodmother, we’ll fix the rest of the ship and head out to that station to investigate.”

Alzigo bowed his head. “I apologize for not revealing this to you before, but I honestly didn’t realize the full implications. As a token of my sympathy, you may use my name to arrive at agreeable terms with Hammerhead’s owner.”

Lana frowned. “Why would your name matter to him?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Nori said. “He’s Alzigo’s brother.”

“Yes,” the alien admitted. “I will lose face asking for his help, but I owe you this much at least.”

“That’s something. Thank you,” Nori said coolly. “Now, what can you tell us about the Kordlin? They were the ones who downed the freighter and stole the piTec container from it. There must be a connection there that we can follow.”

“The Kordlin are a difficult race,” their host said in resignation. “They are commonly thought of as thieves and smugglers. They are strong but not too cunning and often hire themselves out, mostly to handle shady deals.”

“Shady deals like attacking a freighter full of piTec, killing its pilot, and stealing its cargo?” Nori raised an eyebrow.

Alzigo nodded. “It’s possible.”

Bulco shook his head. “A powerful alien sent dozens of freighters with a precious cargo, only for some of it to fall into the hands of space pirates. It doesn't add up.”

“Just one more thing we’re going to have to figure out,” Nori said.

“Everything about you humans is so weird,” the alien said. “Your culture, your paths - even your thinking process seems to differ from the accepted standards."

“What do you mean?”