Lamoureaux complied, the galaxy fading to be replaced by an image of the Mjollnir, a colony-class frigate belonging to the Freehold. She was similar in appearance and construction to her sister-ships Agartha and Hyperion, both long since destroyed within the Nova Arctis system. She was also one of the few vessels in existence with the capacity to carry a significant proportion of Ascension’s trapped population to safety, a task for which she was currently being readied at Ocean’s Deep. Her maiden faster-than-light voyage had brought her here from Redstone to be refitted just for that purpose.

‘The Mjollnir could do it, then?’ said Corso, staring up at the floating image. ‘How long before she’s ready?’

‘She’s ready now,’ Lamoureaux replied. ‘Senator . . . at the very least, you’d need to get the authority of the Consortium’s Central Trade Council as well as the Freehold Senate. And the fact is, they’re not going to give it to us. If you think things are looking shaky for us now, I don’t even want to think about what’s going to happen if we commandeered the Mjollnir.’

‘Screw the CTC,’ Corso replied. ‘And the Senate. I don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to commandeer her.’

Lamoureaux looked doubtful. ‘How does that come about?’

‘There are specific clauses relating to overriding emergencies. Just look them up. I think that beating Dakota’s swarm to the Mos Hadroch, assuming that’s really where it’s headed, fits anyone’s definition of an emergency.’

‘It’s going to break the Fleet Authority’s back, if you do this,’ Lamoureaux warned.

‘Let me worry about that. How soon could we reach those coordinates with the Mjollnir?

Lamoureaux made a resigned sound. ‘Two weeks there, more or less. And the same again to get back home.’

Corso stared back at him, thunderstruck. ‘That fast? It’s taken Dakota, what, two years to get seventeen thousand light-years?’

Lamoureaux shrugged. ‘She didn’t go in a straight line, Senator, because she had to hunt far and wide to find the Maker’s trail. We’ve been sourcing data from the Magi ships that’s helped us greatly increase the efficiency and reach of the drives coming out of the Tierra cache.’

‘Then there’s no other recourse. Who’s in charge of the Mjollnir?’

‘Eduard Martinez.’

Corso nodded, recognizing the name. ‘I’ve met him,’ he replied. ‘Good, that might make things easier.’ Martinez was very much a progressive in Freehold politics, which meant Corso might not have to replace him in command.

‘But the Ascension relief operation?’ Lamoureaux reminded him. ‘The Mjollnir ’s scheduled to be going there in the next couple of days. How are you going to square that with the Legislate?’

‘It’s a short-term loss for a long-term gain,’ Corso replied.