I held up a hand to stop him. “I’m not having any spooks on my ship.”

The woman looked startled. “What makes you think we’re spooks, Captain?”

“Are you telling me you’re not?”

She gave me an appraising look. “You served in the war?”

I scraped back in my chair. “If you’re who and what I think you are, you already know everything about me. So, stop playing games and tell me what you want.”

The two of them exchanged a glance. They glanced suspiciously at Mulch, and then the man spoke up.

“We want you to take us to the Gallery.”

I shook my head. “As I already told Mr Mulch here, I don’t have room for passengers.”

“We wouldn’t be passengers.” The man spread his hands. “We’re both trained in field surgery; we could be a big help.”

“You want to join the Reclamation?”

He smiled. “We want you to get us to that system. In return, we’ll do what we can to assist your rescue operation.”

“And why would you go to all that trouble?”

“We’re looking for a particular passenger.”

“On whose behalf?”

The woman leaned forward. “You were in the Outward, weren’t you?”

I made a face. “It’s no use appealing to my loyalty. I gave all that shit up when I joined the House.”

The two of them swapped another glance. With a roll of his eyes, Mulch turned and ambled over to the bar, where the barman passed him another drink and he stood, one elbow on the counter, patiently stroking his moustache with thumb and forefinger, waiting to see how the negotiations would pan out.

“My name’s Laura Petrushka,” the woman said with the air of a poker player laying her cards on the table, “and I work for Outward Intelligence. My friend here is Ashton Childe. He’s Conglomeration, through and through.”

That did surprise me. “And you’re working together?”

“We have an understanding.”

“I see.” I eyeballed Childe. “In that case, I should warn you my ship’s ex-Conglomeration. She defected at the end of the war, and I get the feeling she doesn’t take kindly to being reminded of the fact.”

Ashton Childe gave me another smile, this one strained with barely concealed impatience.

“I’m more than aware of the Trouble Dog’s resignation, and I’m not here to give her a hard time about it,” he said. “I’m sure she and I will be able to tolerate each other for the duration of this rescue.”