“When did you put those measures in place? And why?”

“Ages ago, and because I watch really unconventional pornography in here sometimes while I’m working.”

“Ashok. Eww.”

“You asked. But right now I’m using my shame-based countermeasures because I found something seriously disturbing out there on the hull. Look, here’s footage from my suit camera.” He snagged a cable out of the sleeve of his suit and plugged it into a console.

Callie joined him at the screen and frowned. She knew the contours of the White Raven well, and there was something bulbous, made of glass and metal and shaped like a bathysphere, clinging to the underside near one of the energy weapons. She was pretty sure it wasn’t part of the weapons upgrade Warwick had authorized; this was something new. “What the fuck is that clinging to my ship? We got space barnacles now?”

“It’s one of the boarding pods the Liar ship fired at us,” Ashok said. “I looked inside and it’s empty, but there’s a hole cut in our hull – the pod is acting as a patch, keeping the ship sealed.”

“I thought we shot all those pods out of the sky.”

“Me too, but we clearly missed one.”

Callie looked around the room. “You’re telling me there’s a Liar somewhere on this ship? Where? Hiding in the walls?”

“Seems likely, cap. No telling what it’s doing in there, either. Could be patched into the communication systems, listening to every word we say, which is why I’m doing all this super secret spy stuff.”

Callie thought furiously, and then nodded. “This is good. I wanted to take one of them alive. I have many questions.”

“Liars aren’t famed for their usefulness as interrogation subjects.”

“Maybe no one’s ever asked them properly before.”

“I’m pretty sure the various human militaries who have questioned the Liars over the years used every trick you know and a bunch you’re too good-hearted to even think of. Drugs don’t work on them, you can’t hypnotize them, torture is bad and anyway most Liars can control their pain sensors anyway,” he shrugged.

Callie nodded. “We have evidence of a Liar conspiracy, though. The situation has changed. Once we get word to the authorities, their whole species will be treated as a hostile force. Hiding the bridge generators from us, and keeping us limited to twenty-nine systems like we’re children in a playpen, could be chalked up to their version of national security. But blowing up Meditreme Station to keep their conspiracy a secret? That’s a war crime. We’ll offer this squidling the chance to flip on its cohorts in exchange for not spending the rest of its short and unpleasant life in a Jovian Imperative black site.”

Ashok shook his head. “Ugly business, but I guess that’s where we are. How do you propose we flush the little guy out?”