But this time, when she looked up, she saw her mother’s face clearly.

Dakota came to, some indeterminate time later, to find herself sprawled on the chamber floor.

She pulled herself to her feet and stumbled closer to the drive-forge. The Mos Hadroch had unravelled yet more, like some multidimensional kaleidoscope expanding to surround her, penetrating deep inside her body until she had no idea where she ended and the artefact began.

And in that instant, she discovered the terrible price she was going to have to pay.

‘That’s another drone gone,’ Lamoureaux cried hoarsely. ‘And more scouts on the way!’

Corso looked up at the overhead display and saw that only one of the three godkillers guarding the cache remained and, by the looks of it, was charging up for an imminent jump. But now a constellation of pixels showed an enormous number of scouts were heading for the frigate. More than they could possibly fight off.

Lucas.

‘Dakota?’ Corso spoke out loud, unconsciously reaching up to touch the comms bead in his ear. He ignored the looks he received from the others.

Are you ready to jump out of the system?

‘No, not yet. We won’t be for some time. There’s severe damage to the drive-spines, we’ve lost functionality in more than three-quarters of them. It’s not looking good.’

You can still get away in time if you stick to short incremental jumps. As long as you can stay just ahead of the shockwave, you can gradually build up enough power for a long-range jump -particularly if you can get into the shadow of one of the outer gas giants. What’s happening back there?

‘The Emissaries’ bigger ships are starting to jump out of the system, but I don’t see how they can get more than a fraction of them away from here before it’s too late. What’s happening with the artefact? Did it work?’

I think so, yes.

‘What do you mean you think so?’

It’s going to be a little while yet before it takes effect.

‘Then you need to get back here. Their main ships may be leaving, but we’ve got a force of their scouts currently on the way. Is the lander still operative?’

Lucas . . . I’m not coming back.

Corso stared across the bridge with a stunned expression. ‘What?’

I’m not coming back. I can’t.

‘Bullshit, you just told me you activated the damn thing. We won, right? So now we can go home.’

No, Lucas. I have to stay here with the Mos Hadroch. I won’t ever be going home. The artefact can’t function unless it’s merged with a living mind. In the meantime you need to get the Mjollnir as far away from here as possible.

Corso felt a sudden tightness in his throat. ‘I won’t allow this. There’s always a way.’