Alarms blared throughout the Mjollnir as this flash of energy overwhelmed its external sensor arrays. Down on the surface of Redstone, technicians and officers in both the Freehold and Uchidan territories were roused from their sleep inside armoured subsurface bunkers, as early-warning systems mistook the sudden flash for an attack.

The missiles meanwhile were reduced to spatters of molten metal that registered on the bridge’s overhead display as fuzzy-edged splashes of colour rapidly fading from white to orange.

Dakota opened her eyes and let her breath out slowly.

She had saved their skins, and she had not needed the Magi ship to do it. The Meridian drones had responded to her commands with deadly efficiency, whispering to her of attack and defence, strike and counter-strike.

For the first time, she began to believe they might actually be able to take on the Emissaries.

Dakota

The air inside the petals tasted warm and slightly metallic. She sat motionless, alone in the darkness, and enjoyed a brief moment of silence.

Dakota can you

She let the last of the air out of her nostrils and waited for her heart to stop thumping.

hear me?

‘Dakota! I . . .’

Corso paused in mid-sentence as the chair’s petals folded back down. Dakota surveyed the bridge, full of light and sound and motion.

‘I took care of it,’ she said, slowly lifting herself out of the interface chair and stepping carefully down from the dais. ‘There won’t be any more missiles.’

‘How?’ Corso demanded, his face damp with sweat. ‘I mean, I saw it on the overhead. It was incredible. But . . . how?’

She looked past his shoulder to see a man she didn’t recognize standing by one console. He studied the data scrolling in front of him so intently it was obvious he was deliberately trying not to look at her.

‘I told you,’ she said. ‘I got my hands on some weapons – very old, very powerful weapons left behind by a dead civilization.’

‘We’re being hailed from the ground, Senator.’

Corso turned to the man by the console and nodded distractedly. ‘Any news?’

‘There are more missiles on their way. They say they won’t pull them back unless we stop and surrender.’

Dakota walked past Corso to join the other man sitting at the console. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Dan Perez.’

She nodded to the console. ‘Please.’

He shrugged and stepped aside. She studied the data displayed there and frowned.

‘These missiles aren’t tacticals,’ she announced, looking over at Corso. ‘This is the kind of ordnance that could vaporize the frigate. It doesn’t make sense.’

‘Why not?’ asked Perez, still standing beside her.

‘Because they’ve lost,’ she replied. ‘There’s nothing to be gained in destroying the frigate.’

‘You haven’t spent a lot of time around Freeholders, have you, Ma’am?’ suggested Perez. ‘Apart from the Senator here, that is.’

She turned to face him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’