The petals began to fold around her once more, and Corso began yelling and cursing as he moved out of their way. She knew he wouldn’t meanwhile try to take control of the frigate away from her; if he did, he’d only be making it into an easy target.

Once the petals had enclosed her, she opened her eyes to see the universe unfold around her.

She could feel the different parts of the frigate as if they were parts of her own body. The mass of electronics and machinery linking the frigate’s drive-core to the external drive-spines was a tangled nightmare, but at least it was functional.

Dakota took one last glance at the Magi ship. It was now spinning out of control, its drive-spines shattered, unable to leap out of local space. She queried it tentatively, but there was no reply.

The drones struck again. They finished the job, and the Magi ship began to descend towards the upper reaches of Redstone’s atmosphere, where it would start to burn up. Hot salt tears ran down her face, and she gripped the armrests so hard she thought she might break them.

The drones were already racing back towards the Mjollnir. She waited until they got nearer, drew them close against the hull and activated the drive-core.

Redstone vanished instantly from the overhead display. They had crossed more than sixty-five million kilometres in a fraction of a second.

It was going to take time to power the drive up for the next, hopefully much longer, jump, but for the moment they were far away enough to be safe.

She let the petals fold back down, and slumped forward in her chair. The sweat was literally dripping from her. She found Corso waiting for her, his expression furious.

‘What the fuck just happened there?’ he demanded.

‘There are things I know,’ she replied, ‘that you don’t, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet.’

‘You destroyed your own ship and you don’t feel like talking about it right now?’ he bellowed.

Perez sat tight-mouthed, and clearly unsure of what was going on. Dakota stared back defiantly at Corso. ‘We’re out of range of Redstone, and we’re going to jump again in a couple of hours. That’s all you need to know right now.’

‘And what happens when we get within range of the Emissaries?’ he grated through clenched teeth. ‘What the fuck are we supposed to do without your Magi ship? How are we going to get past their defences—?’

‘We’ll do fine with the weapons I brought with me,’ she snapped. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

She met his eyes and saw for the first time how frightened he was. She nodded towards Perez. ‘Who else is on the ship?’