‘Listen up, Inéz,’ Corso instructed him. ‘Take your two friends here, head for Launch Bay Five, take one of the shuttles there, and get off this ship as fast as you can. Don’t do anything stupid or heroic, because you’ll only wind up dead, do you understand me?’

Randall nodded.

‘All right,’ said Corso. ‘Get up, all three of you. Move.’

They stood hesitantly and Corso finally got a good look at them. These were nothing more than raw junior officers who had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had obviously been brought on to the frigate to run the final checks on the ship’s primary systems.

‘Is there anybody else on board?’ Corso asked them.

They exchanged nervous glances. ‘Just us,’ said Randall.

Corso studied the man and decided he was telling the truth. ‘Then get moving.’ He waved the barrel of his rifle towards the blown-open entrance. ‘Now.’

Once they were gone, Corso sat down heavily in a chair and pulled off his glove to run one hand through his sweat-soaked hair. He watched as Schiller and Willis carried the two corpses out of the bridge, dumping them on the deck just beyond the undamaged entrance. Lamoureaux meanwhile helped Martinez on to a low couch set against one wall, then himself stepped over to the interface chair.

‘Ted,’ he began. Lamoureaux glanced over at Corso, as the chair’s petals folded down to allow him access. ‘Keep an eye on those three, and make sure they head straight for the shuttles. Also get in touch with Leo, and check if he made it to the labs okay.’

Lamoureaux nodded, peeling his suit off and dropping it to the deck before taking his position. Corso pulled his own suit off and draped it over a console.

‘There’s an evac order going through the maintenance bays around the frigate,’ Perez reported from the comms console. ‘I heard from Leo already: everything is right where it should be, according to Driscoll.’

Corso nodded and turned to Martinez. ‘Okay, Commander,’ he said, taking the other man’s arm. ‘Med-bay for you. Nancy, will you help him there?’

Nancy Schiller nodded and helped Martinez slowly out of the bridge.

‘There are some fast boats moving into orbit,’ Lamoureaux reported. Corso glanced over and noticed how he’d left the chair’s petals unfolded, and was now staring at somewhere far away. ‘I don’t know if we can manage to break orbit before they get within range. Maybe I can ... oh shit.’

Corso stood up, alarmed. ‘What is it?’

Lamoureaux licked his lips, drumming his fingers on the armrests of the interface chair. ‘It’s Dakota . . . or her ship, at least. It just showed up out of nowhere, coming in fast. She’s . . . hang on.’

Corso waited, suddenly tense. ‘I just heard from her,’ Lamoureaux continued. ‘She’ll be on board in the next couple of minutes.’