She drew in a breath, then exhaled, letting her shoulders sag. ‘Trader’s coming along with us. I got the information about the Emissaries from him, and he also led me to the Meridian drones. He’s also the reason I know exactly what the Mos Hadroch can do. He’ll rendezvous with us just before our next jump.’

Corso’s mouth worked helplessly for a couple of seconds before he could get anything out. ‘What? Are you fucking crazy?’

She stared back at him defiantly. ‘See, this is why I didn’t tell you straight away.’

‘No, why would you not want to do that?’ he yelled, throwing his arms wide. ‘Because I’d have said you were out of your fucking head!’ He was shouting, and the sound of his voice reverberated from the bulkheads around them.

‘At least hear me out,’ she said quietly. ‘I haven’t failed you yet.’

Corso stood, staring off down the long corridor, then shook his head before looking back at her directly. ‘All right, then, go ahead. Tell me why that murderous fucking fish is coming along with us.’

‘Remember how I told you I could only go where the Magi ship wanted me to go?’

Corso nodded.

‘It took me to Trader. I didn’t have any choice.’

‘Why him?’

‘Because he has the key to awakening the Mos Hadroch. Without that key, it’s useless, like a bomb without any explosives.’

‘Everything he says is a lie, Dakota.’

‘That’s not true,’ she replied sharply. She could feel her nails digging into the flesh of her palms, where she’d balled them into fists. ‘He merely twists the truth to get his own way.’

Corso gave her a pitying look. ‘Got you right over a barrel again, hasn’t he? What does he get out of this?’

‘If we pull this off, he’ll have helped turn the tide of the war. I think he’s hoping the Shoal will decide to forget he’s the one who started it.’

Corso laughed. ‘In other words, he can’t even get his own people to back him up. I can’t tell you how much I don’t like this.’

‘So what do you want us to do?’ she demanded. ‘Go ahead without him? Take our chances and hope for the best? I mean what, Lucas? It’s not like the artefact comes with a fucking manual. I’ve got no idea how to make it work. Do you?’

‘We’ve barely got this far, and already it feels like everything’s getting out of control.’