We’re all on board. Let’s get out of here, Trader.

The Shoal-member didn’t reply, but the hatch spiralled shut behind them, sealing out the dust. Dakota pulled the other woman’s helmet off and found Nancy had passed out. Her skin was looking horribly red and blistered.

Finally Dakota answered a priority signal from the Mjollnir, that had been hovering at the back of her attention for the past minute or so.

<Dakota!> Lamoureaux yelled when she opened the link. <We saw what looked like some kind of fight going on from out here. What the hell’s happening?>

There were Emissary scouts hiding in the cache, and they just got loose. We’re back on board Trader’s ship with the field-generators, but Nancy’s been hurt.

She opened up a visual link to let Lamoureaux see what she herself was seeing. She could sense his horror when he saw just how bad a state Schiller was in.

A lot of this is radiation damage, Dakota sent. If you haven’t already, you need to get Mjollnir prepped for an emergency jump. I don’t know just how well the Meridian drones are going to hold up against a couple of hundred Emissary scouts, but if those scouts reach the frigate, we’re in serious shit.

<Okay. Just get back here as fast as you can. I’m picking you up on the external arrays, and it looks like you’re just clearing orbit.>

Dakota glanced around the crowded chamber, where everything seemed perfectly still and silent. There wasn’t the slightest clue to suggest the ship had so much as moved. Spotting her wadded-up jumpsuit, she started to pull it on, while letting the filmsuit drain itself back inside her body.

Then, for the first time, the ship rocked gently around her, sending fresh beads of moisture caroming through the air.

Trader?

<An unfortunate encounter with some Emissary scouts following us. Might I ask that you set some of the Meridian drones to defend us?>

Dakota closed her eyes and locked into the drones, immediately finding herself submerged in a chaotic whirl of data. The drones had reverted to their original programming, and were now fighting to push the Emissary scouts back down inside the cache.

She felt one of the Meridian drones die; they were a superior technology, but the Emissary scouts had the advantage of sheer numbers.