They started walking again. ‘We have people on the frigate, too,’ Kenley continued, ‘so we have some idea what happened. The quorum sent Simenon a directive that put him in charge and gave him the authority to throw Martinez, and any of his senior officers who didn’t comply, in the brig, as well as putting the remains your man Driscoll discovered under lock and key until the Mjollnir got back to Redstone.’

‘And you think the Legislate is secretly backing Jarret?’

‘I picked up a rumour that the Mjollnir’s next stop after here is Sol. A military R&D base on Earth’s moon went silent a week back, and there’s good reason to believe that’s where they’re going to take the remains of the Atn. They’re stopping here first so they can replace the crew with more of their own people.’

‘Under Simenon’s command, I presume.’

Kenley nodded.

‘Idiots, fucking idiots. All this time wasted, and we could have cracked that damn Atn open to see what’s inside.’

‘The thing I don’t understand is why Jarret would get into bed with the Legislate like this,’ said Kenley. ‘He despises them and everything they stand for. It just doesn’t make sense.’

‘Look, we’re still losing territory to the Uchidans. The whole reason for the expedition to Nova Arctis was because of pressure to found a new Freehold colony. With the whole galaxy potentially open to us, there’s now an even bigger pressure to try again somewhere a lot farther away. My commandeering the Mjollnir gave Jarret the perfect excuse to call me out, and, if he wins, jurisdiction over the frigate then passes across to his side of the Senate House. That means control over the terms of settlement, once a new system is located, stays on their side.’

Kenley nodded, understanding. ‘And then we’d be out in the cold, wouldn’t we? But that still doesn’t explain his connection with the Legislate.’

‘The Legislate wants the remains Driscoll found, right? With me out of the way, Jarret’s going to be within his rights to hand them over. And founding a colony is a very expensive business, remember. Lots of motivation there to climb right into bed with the Legislate and get busy.’

This was assuming Whitecloud had really found something significant, and not just a pile of million-year-old junk. But Corso tried not to think about that possibility too much.

‘And you really think the other side of the House is going to just roll over and play dead if you win tonight?’

Corso breathed hard. ‘I don’t know. Maybe not. But at least, with Jarret out of the way, they’re going to have to figure out some other strategy that doesn’t make it so damn obvious they’re in cahoots with the Legislate.’