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Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. MARAUDER
  3. HISTORICAL ARCHIVES SUBSECTION C/5 category ALPHA
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. EPILOGUE
  46. TIME LINE
  47. SHOAL TRILOGY
  48. EVENTS FOLLOWING EMPIRE OF LIGHT AND PRECEDING MARAUDER
  49. Acknowledgements
  50. Also by Gary Gibson

Well make sure it doesnt find out. And even if one day it does, with luck itll be long after the Alliance finally has the chance to achieve its full potential, without outside interference. He took a sip of his drink. Recent findings on Alyeska make it clear that the Meridians advanced far more within a few generations of encountering the Wanderer than we previously suspected. With power like that, the Three Star Alliance can, under my command, become the Hundred Star Alliance and perhaps, one day, the Thousand Star Alliance. The Accord will fade into memory, just like the Consortium before it.

Megan pulled herself back into the chair with unsteady arms. None of the three men made a move to help her. I saw the girl, she said. I recognized her. Shes the Demarchys Speaker-Elect. What does she have to do with any of this? Or do you lot just kidnap religious leaders for the hell of it?

Because, said Schelling, we need to have something actually to offer the Wanderer, dont we?

Sir, said Tarrant, struggling to keep his voice level, she does not need to know about

Shut up, Gregor, said Schelling. If shes going to negotiate with the Wanderer for us, she needs to know exactly what it is we have to offer. And well negotiate those terms before we even depart Redstone, Miss Jacinth.

Which means, thought Megan, that Bash is almost certainly somewhere close by. Then tell me about the girl, she said.

We took her on the eve of Ascension Day, said Schelling. Im assuming, since you know who she is, that youre aware of the significance of that day?

Its when the Speaker-Elect goes to the Magi ship in Dios, said Megan, struggling to control her deepest emotions. The one the Demarchy likes to call the Ship of the Covenant.

And then, said Schelling, his voice assuming a mocking tone, if things had gone to plan, she would have ascended bodily to Heaven, in front of a select group of witnesses who would testify to that fact.

Sifra snickered quietly from the other side of the room.

Or at least thats the official explanation, Schelling continued. Gregor posed undercover as the girls personal guard for some years, and thus uncovered the truth. It turns out that this process of merging with the ship in reality wipes the Speakers personality and replaces it with that of a woman called Dakota Merrick. Are you at all familiar with that name?

She recovered the first Magi ship, Megan replied, in a monotone.