Hex could hardly believe she was hearing this. She heard the voice of her training officers in her head; in a situation like this, faced with a new stratagem by the Ghosts, it was her job to extract as much intelligence as possible. ‘Why us?’

‘Because Aleph Force are the supreme killers in a species of killers, and you are the best of Aleph Force. Quite an accolade.’

‘And what’s this “service”? You want us to kill somebody, is that it?’ A military leader, Hex speculated, a senior Commissary, maybe a minister of the Coalition’s grand councils back on Earth - Ghosts had never resorted to assassination that she knew of, but then this was a day when nothing about the Ghosts seemed predictable. ‘Who?’

Even on this day of shocks, the answer was stunning. ‘We want you to assassinate the Black Ghost.’

II

Scarcely believing what she was doing, Hex set up a conference call involving herself, her crew, her commander at the base of Aleph Force back on the Orion Line - and a Silver Ghost.

Commodore Teel, a disembodied Virtual head floating in Hex’s blister, glared at her. In his forties, Teel’s face was hard, his eyes flat, and his scalp was a mass of scar tissue. ‘None of you should even be alive. Pilot Officer Hex, charges aren’t out of the question.’

Hex swallowed her shame. ‘I know that, sir. It was a judgement call to abort the self-destruct.’

‘Show me where you are.’

Navigator Hella hastily downloaded positional data to the Commodore. The Spear of Orion had been smuggled through some kind of hyperspace jump out of its cage of Ghosts and brought to a position at the rim of the system, where only icy comets swam in the dark. They were far from the fighting which still raged in the inner system.

Teel stared at the Ghost’s Virtual, which spun silently, complacently. ‘How did this creature bring you out here?’

Jul answered, ‘We’re not sure, sir. We didn’t monitor any communication between it and any other Ghost. The Ghost, um, broke us out.’

‘I think we’re dealing with factions among the Ghosts, sir,’ Hex said. ‘Maybe there’s an opportunity here. That’s why I thought it best to pass it up the chain of command.’

‘And this Ghost wants you to kill one of its own.’

‘This Ghost has a name,’ the Ghost said. ‘Or at least a title.’

‘I’ve heard of this,’ Borno sneered. ‘Ghosts like titles. They are all ambassadors.’

‘I am no ambassador,’ the Ghost said. This is not an age for ambassadors. I am an Integumentary.’ The Spear’s systems displayed various alternative translations for ‘Integumentary’: prophylaxis, quarantine. ‘I am part of an agency that insulates humans from Ghosts, like the hide that shields my essence from the vacuum of space.’