“A mutually beneficial arrangement,” Rhea added. “Safety and a new life for us, and in return we tell you everything we know.”

“The resistance could have saved us a trip, if they had known,” Eris said. She glanced at Nyx. “And if you ever point a Mors at me like that again, I’ll put a bullet in you.”

“With that ancient hunk of metal?” Nyx said mildly, nodding at the gun.

“I’ve got great aim.”

“So do I.”

“Enough dick-measuring,” Clo said in exasperation. “We’re interested in the cargo. Were you planning on using it as another bargaining chip to the Novantae?” She reached into her pocket. Nyx brought up her Mors again, and Clo made a placating motion with her free hand. She held up a swaddled object. “Someone tell me what the salt this is, please.”

Nyx crossed her arms. “Looks like a dirty, wadded-up glove to me.”

“Thanks, genius.” Clo rolled her eyes. “I mean what’s in the glove. We found a bunch of rocks in some containers near the back of the ship that set off my hazard detector.”

“We aren’t sure what they’re for,” Rhea said, coming closer. Her skirts swished against Nyx’s leg as she passed. “We thought it was explosives, ammo, something. We checked it out before we boarded the ship, but Ari didn’t have the time to look through the Oracle’s system.” She nodded to the covered glove. “Mind if we take a look?”

Clo eyed Rhea’s dress. “Unless that flimsy thing offers protection against potentially hazardous materials, you might want to either step away or put something else on before I remove the glove.”

Nyx sighed and holstered her gun so she could reach behind her and grab one of the military officer’s coats hanging on the back of a nearby chair. Every boot, glove, and uniform in the Empire was designed with internal tech to withstand most of the dangerous shit planets could throw at them. “Here.”

She passed the thick material to Rhea. The dead man’s coat covered Rhea like a blanket, but it swathed her body to protect her. It was probably a lot warmer than that dress, too.

Clo waited until Rhea buttoned the coat, then uncovered the rock. Nyx edged forward to get a better look. She’d only seen it in the shipping bay days before they’d boarded, and the light hadn’t been all that great; it had looked black. In the overhead lights of the comm center, the rock was gray with a sheen of blue, purple, and green, like multicolored feathers. The outside was rough and bulbous.

“Oooh,” Ariadne said. “Pretty! We should turn the med bay into a lab and bust it open.”

“Bust it open?” Nyx snorted. “Are you cracked? No. You don’t even know what it is.”

“But—”