There was plenty to do, and Nancy worked away on her own, keeping any communications with them down to the bare essentials. Over the next few hours, Dakota and Lamoureaux monitored the removal of almost a dozen dead or degraded drive-spines, which was a record for a single shift. The fabricators were having such a hard time keeping up with demand that the idea of having them construct copies of themselves in order to increase the overall output had been mooted. But that idea had to be shelved once it became clear that certain essential resources for the construction processes were simply not available.

<Do you ever miss it?>

Glancing towards Lamoureaux’s suited figure, Dakota instantly knew he was talking about the Magi ships and that powerful sense of connection all Magi-enabled human navigators felt with them.

A dozen spider-mechs floated close by, holding a failed drive-spine firmly in their grip. She had momentarily been staring towards the stern, and beyond it to the great band of stars where home lay.

Depends what you mean, she replied, making her way towards a cargo airlock just in time to see it disgorge yet more spiders, carrying a replacement drive-spine out of the ship’s interior.

<That feeling of just being with them – there are times I can almost put it out of my mind, but it’s hard, Dakota. It’s really hard.>

I know. She could sense the intense regret overwhelming him, because that bond was something he would never experience again. But why do I get the feeling you’ve got something else on your mind, Ted?

<What happens when we go home, Dakota? What will you do then?>

She watched as the spiders under her immediate control incrementally lowered the new drive-spine towards its magnetic couplings.

I don’t know, Ted. If you want me to be really honest, I have a hard time even thinking beyond where we’re headed. And, even if we pull this off, I don’t think there’s a place for me back home any more. Maybe not for any of the navigators.

<You’re saying we’re obsolete already? Holy shit.>

Dakota merely smiled under the viscous oil-slick of her filmsuit.

The frigate’s next jump would take them to their penultimate destination, and to the location of the extra shielding Trader wanted them to pick up. Corso had already brokered an agreement with the Shoal-member to use his yacht for the trip down to the cache. With its considerably more advanced propulsion systems and inertial dampeners, Trader’s ship would be a lot faster and safer than any other craft stowed in the Mjollnir ’s hold.

Dakota had declined to take part in those negotiations, but she was the one who would have to make the pick-up trip with Trader – and that meant coming face-to-face with him, whether she liked it or not.