Oh, here we go.

Ratthi made a faint “oof” noise. Thiago’s jaw started to drop but he stopped it in time. Amena folded her lips in and glanced worriedly at me. Overse grimaced and rubbed her eyes. Arada looked like she wasn’t exactly surprised. She did a quick silent-communication expression thing back and forth with Overse, then she said evenly, “I see. What do you want?”

I want my crew back.

Arada’s brows lifted, like she was relieved it wasn’t something worse. “What happened to them?”

The hostiles stole them, forced me to cooperate by threatening their welfare, infected my engines with interdicted alien remnant technology, installed adversarial software, and then deleted me.

I was still mad, right? But there were a lot of keywords there that invoked involuntary responses.

Thiago kept his expression neutral. “But how are you talking to us if—”

I saved a backup copy and hid it where only a trusted friend could find it.

I was looking at the wall, watching everyone and the display with Amena’s drones. Trusted friend? “Oh, fuck you.”

That still counts as speaking.

Arada and Overse looked at each other again. Overse widened her eyes and did a slight shoulder movement. Arada’s mouth set in a grim line, then she took a breath and asked, “Is SecUnit right, did you plan to attack our facility?”

It was not my plan.

Overse’s eyes had narrowed. She said, “But it was your idea.”

I said, “Don’t humor it.”

Arada’s tone was still even. “It wasn’t your plan, but you made it happen. You sent those people after us—after SecUnit.”

ART said, I did.

Of course it did.

“You knew where we were?” Ratthi frowned. “How?”

When I arrived through the Preservation wormhole, I sent messages inquiring after humans who I knew were associated with SecUnit. The Free Preservation Institute of Discovery and Engineering was most helpful when I asked for a possible meeting with Survey Specialist Arada. They sent me complete information on your itinerary and team.

Of course they had. I had heard ART pretend to be human on the comm before, on the RaviHyral transit station.

Ratthi groaned and covered his face. Arada and Overse stared at each other incredulously. Overse muttered, “We have got to talk to them about that.”

Arada rubbed a spot over her left eye like it hurt. She said to ART, “So you knew when we’d be coming back to Preservation space.”

You were early.

Arada was sticking to the point. “But why did you want to kidnap SecUnit?”

I needed someone who could kill the hostiles.

Everyone looked at me. I dug my fingers into the edge of the med platform. The skin on them itched, too, where the surgical suite had fixed the burned parts. “You told them I was a weapon, that they could use.”

I built a trap, they entered it of their own accord.

“But who are they?” Amena said, frustrated. “Where did they come from? Are they supposed to look like that? Did something happen to them to make them this way?”