Much as Amena might want to forcibly adopt Eletra and drag her off to Preservation, Thiago was right.)

Arada was saying, “They were brought aboard by the raiders who tried to take us prisoner. I can let you speak to Eletra if you’d like. She’s physically well, but we know they used some sort of mind-altering tech—”

You’re talking too much, ART told her on the feed, right as I was about to say it. Overse must have thought so, too, because she made a faint noise of agreement. Arada stopped and ART added a little artistic static to give her a chance to regroup and to show her that its analysis of Leonide’s expression revealed a spike of extreme interest at the words “mind-altering tech.” Arada cleared her throat and said, “So, maybe you could be more forthcoming. We’re ready to render assistance if you need it.”

Leonide’s hesitation was more pronounced this time, and her expression said she was conflicted. She said finally, “I’m not allowed to speak further about this on a comm channel not confidential to Barish-Estranza. I’d appreciate the return of our crew member. One of our engine components was destroyed in the attack—if you could sell us replacement components, our pay rate would be fair and generous.”

“We don’t—” Arada was going to say “need your payment” and the humans and I all yelled No! on the feed. But ART had her on a one-second delay and stopped her before it got any worse.

It was a natural mistake on Arada’s part. In Preservation culture, asking payment for anything considered necessary for living (food, power sources, education, the feed, etc.) was considered outrageous, but asking payment for life-saving help was right up there with cannibalism.

Arada coughed and continued, “Of course, we’ll prepare an invoice. But…” She leaned forward. “I think we both know how bad this situation is, and how much danger our crews are in right now. If we could be honest with each other and share information, I think we can better our chances of survival.”

Yeah, she had gone there way too quickly. The other humans had stopped breathing. Amena looked at me with an oh shit expression. Yes, I know, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Arada’s risk assessment module was as bad as mine.

Leonide’s expression was complex. She said, after 8.7 fraught seconds where she might have been consulting with someone on her own feed (hopefully not a gray Target person), “Your crew is still in danger?”

Arada said, “Because I think we met your explorer. It was the ship that attacked us, and temporarily boarded us, and our wormhole capability is now damaged.”

Ratthi made a mmph noise. Thiago was pressing his folded hands against his mouth again.

Leonide’s lips set in a hard line. “I see. I still can’t speak on a nonconfidential channel.”

Arada hesitated and Ratthi whispered to me, “What—can we make the channel confidential? What does that entail?”

I told him, “Not without a Corporation Rim solicitor certified by Barish-Estranza.”