“Ashok, Lantern, meet me in the drop bay. Get suited up and armed. We’re taking out the canoe. Ship, you’re coming, too. Grab a body. Probably the hull repair drone – it’s the toughest. Bring everything you think we might need. You’re smart.”

“Am I running it remotely?”

“That’s the idea, but your signal might be blocked when we get inside, so spawn a local copy of your consciousness into the bot to act as a backup, just in case.”

“Ugh. I’d have to run so slowly, and leave most of my data behind. I hate being that limited.”

“You’ll mostly be asked to carry things, shoot things, and rescue us as needed. You won’t need to debate interstellar fiscal policy or research a legal case. You’ll be fine.” She unhooked the straps on her chair. “Stephen is in charge while I’m gone, as usual. Just wait for us. If we don’t come out in seven hours, get back to our system and report everything we know and everything we suspect to the Jovian Imperative, Earth, and anyone else who’ll listen. Stephen has a recording ready to release.”

“Ticking clock!” Ashok said. “Action and excitement!”

Callie went to the drop bay, where Lantern was back in her environment suit, and Ashok was wearing his own bright orange one. The hull repair drone squatted nearby, a hulking collection of manipulator arms, welding torches, sensors, and tools, making a whole big enough for a person to ride around on, if they didn’t mind being uncomfortable on its lumpy back. Elena was there, too, pulling on her vintage gray environment suit from the Anjou, the name of the ship written on the back in reflective yellow letters. “Whoa, whoa. You’re staying here,” Callie said.

“Hmm. Upon reflection, no.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion.”

“I’m not in your chain of command, captain, remember? I’m also the client. If I want to come along, I come along.”

Callie crossed her arms. “What do you expect to accomplish over there?”

“I’ve actually been inside the station before, so: quite a bit, actually. Besides, if the rest of the crew is alive, they’ll be happy to see my suit transponder light up on their screens. They won’t know who you are. They might hide from you.”

She sighed. Having Elena on board would split Callie’s focus, because there was no way Callie couldn’t devote a large fraction of her attention to keeping the scientist safe, but Elena did have firsthand intel that might be useful. “OK. You’re the boss.”

“That’s an interesting change.” Elena winked at her and pulled her helmet on.