Battered as she might be, this ship was mine. She would defend herself, and so would I. And nobody was setting foot outside that cargo bay until I was sure they could be trusted.

* * *

I waited outside the hold until the external doors had closed and the cavernous space had been repressurised. Then, gripping the gun tightly in my damp palm, I stepped through into the interior.

The box stood in the middle of the floor. Sudak and her bear stood a little way beyond, their box having settled on the deck plates closer to the main hatch.

“Nobody make any sudden movements,” I warned.

Sudak raised her hands. “Nothing to worry about here,” she said.

Keeping her in my peripheral vision, I turned my attention to the first box, just as the transparent door at its front slid upward and disappeared.

Alva Clay stood at the threshold, her weight resting against one of the inner walls. One of her hands was on her chest, where a tube protruded from the skin. She had a knife in her other hand. Preston and Childe stood against the opposite wall with their hands raised.

Seeing my gun, Clay let the knife fall to her side. “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”

I gave her a smile. It was unexpectedly good to see her. “Permission granted.”

She looked down at the knife she held. “I was just making sure they behaved themselves,” she explained, returning my smile despite her obvious discomfort.

I moved the barrel of the pistol back and forth between the two men and Sudak’s bear, keeping them all covered.

“Welcome back.” I made a face at the wad of bloody dressing beneath her breast. “Are you okay?”

She gave a pained nod, and stepped out onto the floor of the cargo hold. “I could do with a lie-down and some more painkillers, but I’ll survive for now.”

“And those two?”

She glanced back at Childe and Preston. “Good as gold,” she said.

“They haven’t gone back to the Conglomeration?”

She shrugged with the shoulder opposite her injury. “We haven’t had time to discuss it.” She held up the knife. “This was just to make sure.”

I looked at Preston. “I heard you talking to your dad.”

His eyes glittered. “You don’t need to worry about that, Captain.” He came forward with his hands still held up at either side of his head.

“He offered you a place in the Fleet.”

“I won’t be taking him up on it.”

“Can I ask why?”

Preston scowled. The awkward, frightened kid he’d been earlier that day had gone. His experiences had changed him, but not in any of the ways I might have anticipated. He didn’t look older or more confident. Instead, his shyness had given way to a simmering anger.