At the very least, added Bash, it has to be worth a shot. Otherwise, you and I are going to be stuck running automated mining traffic, or having to retrain for the Accord. And even if they do decide to let us pilot nova-class ships, its not going to be like it was before. He shook his head, slow and sombre. Jumpy bureaucrats breathing down our necks all day, wanting everything we do filed in advance, and in triplicate thats not what I became a pilot for.

She turned to Tarrant. Look, all of this sounds great, but theres already a delegation from the Accord on its way here to oversee the handover.

All the more reason not to waste any time, said Tarrant, his hands clenching into fists. Let me be very clear about what we are proposing. We want to take the Beauregard immediately on a deep-space expedition to seek out the Wanderer, and then see if we can replicate what the Meridians managed on behalf of their own civilization.

So, since were doing some straight-talking, said Megan, I want to be absolutely sure of what youre saying. You want to hijack the Beauregard, with my help, and you really have Otto Schellings backing for this?

I can put you in touch with him right this second, if youre still unconvinced.

No. She shook her head, feeling a curious sensation of both terror and exhilaration at the scale of their plan. I believe you. But how do we know the Wanderer is even still out there, or where exactly it is? It must have travelled a hell of a long way since it ran into the Meridians, even moving at less than light speed.

Tarrant made a practised gesture, and a map of the local stellar arm materialized overhead. We narrowed down the Wanderers likely location to a number of possible target systems, extrapolating from its last recorded positions, he explained, as he indicated a star cluster that was clearly a very, very long way away. Fortunately, the Atn and the Shoal recorded the coordinates of their own encounters with it, and that information let us extrapolate its probable direction and speed of movement.

After this amount of time? She found herself unable to hide her scepticism. So it could be anywhere.

Tarrant grinned. Ordinarily itd be an impossibly long shot, yes. But the Meridians left some probes behind to track the Wanderer, and theyre still functioning.

So youre not just hoping its still out there.

Oh no, said Tarrant. We know its out there. We even sent out a pair of our own probes equipped with nova drives to perform a fly-by. Take a look.

The image of the spiral arm expanded, fading at the edges as the view rushed in towards a tight knot of several thousand stars that were identified by supplementary information as the Calafat-Holt Cluster.