‘Lucas,’ he instructed, his face pale and slick with sweat, ‘radio the others now. Don’t worry about breaking silence. We just need to know if they’re in position yet.’

Corso established contact with Nancy Schiller and she delivered a brief report. He then asked her to send Ray Willis to join them.

‘They had a clear run all the way around the far side of the wheel,’ he told Martinez and Lamoureaux. ‘The bridge is sealed around the other side as well.’

‘Why do we need Willis here?’ asked a puzzled Lamoureaux.

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re one man down,’ Corso explained. ‘Otherwise I’d be the only one on this side who’s both armed and uninjured. There’s three of them around the far side of the bridge, so they can easily spare Ray.’

‘For what it’s worth,’ said Martinez with effort, ‘I’m beginning to think there’s a lot fewer people on board than we thought.’

‘Maybe,’ Lamoureaux suggested, ‘they’ve got other people scattered throughout the rest of the ship. There’s plenty of room to hide.’

‘No, I think everyone left is on the other side of that door,’ Martinez grunted, pushing himself a little more upright. He looked increasingly pale and frail. ‘I’m going to try and persuade them to let us in.’

Martinez opened a command frequency to the bridge. As he spoke, his voice took on a deeper, solider timbre.

‘This is Commander Eduard Martinez hailing whoever is currently on the bridge of the Mjollnir. Please respond.’

An unfamiliar voice burst out over their shared comms. ‘I hear you, Mister Martinez. This is Luis Simenon, acting commander, addressing the boarders. You are committing an act of piracy and I demand you surrender your weapons.’

‘Luis, I need you to open up the door. You’re outnumbered, and you’re already one woman down.’

‘The last I heard, sir, you were under arrest for sedition. That means you don’t have the authority any more to—’

‘Mr Simenon,’ Martinez thundered, ‘the Mjollnir is still my commission. It’d take a special plenary meeting of the Senate to change that fact, and I don’t recall hearing anything about one taking place. That means I have every right to board my own command, and yet your people actually fired upon me and my men. Whatever explanation you have, I’m sure it’s bound to be fascinating.’

Simenon didn’t respond for at least another thirty seconds, and when he came back he sounded cold but subdued, even apologetic. ‘My orders come directly from the Senate security services, Commander, just as they did when I relieved you of command. There are fast-response teams on their way here, so I suggest you and your men surrender your weapons now, or suffer the consequences.’

‘He’s cut comms,’ Martinez said a moment later.

‘Is he telling the truth?’ asked Corso.