Nova War

'Wait, you're with that thing that tried to kill us?' Corso slumped down onto the deck, then realized he was having a life-and-death conversation with a sex toy. 'And you destroyed the derelict.' He could say the words, yet couldn't bring himself to believe them. 'Then what the hell are we doing here?'

'I know this is complicated-'

'You're not kidding.'

'Just listen to me. I only just found out how Immortal Light discovered another Magi ship in this system, thousands of years ago.'

'Christ and Buddha, Dakota, how many of the things are there?'

'Just this new one that I'm definitely sure of. But I'm begi

'Wait, you told me about the… the Librarians, some kind of controlling intelligence inside the derelict we found. Why didn't they tell you this before?'

The effigy's face crumpled, and it sat down heavily on the edge of Dakota's cot. 'I don't know. I… I need to work that one out. But we've got too many other things to worry about right now, and that's why I came looking for you. I got rescued – well, kidnapped might be a better term – by a rival Bandati Hive called Darkening Skies. They're working with the Shoal to stop Immortal Light from handing this last derelict over to a species called-'

'The Emissaries. Yeah, I know about them.'

The effigy glanced over at him with a startled expression.

'I just met an Emissary,' Corso continued, 'and I wouldn't wish the experience on my worst enemy. But I'm not sure how much better that makes the Shoal. What exactly is your friend Trader getting out of this?'

'It's partly an exercise in damage limitation. The Emissaries are pushing the borders of their empire closer and closer to our part of the galaxy, and they want to lure the Bandati over to their side. Darkening Skies and Immortal Light both want to trade on what they know to acquire more power, and the Shoal and Emissaries are happy to play each Hive off against the other. And then there's the more obvious incentive of not wanting the knowledge of the drive's nova capability to fall into enemy hands.'

'We ended up where we did because Trader wanted to kill us so badly he destroyed an entire system, but now you tell me you're working with him?' Corso reached up with both hands and grabbed at his hair, wanting to rip it out by its roots. 'Do you have any idea how this sounds?'

'I don't have any choice,' she answered, sounding defeated. 'He has me over a barrel. He wants me to get to that derelict before the Emissaries do.'

'Fine, then you could fly it out of here, and take it somewhere far away from either Trader or the Emissaries. Problem sorted.'

'No, I can't,' came the weary reply. 'He says he has the means to destroy my home world if I don't play things his way. And, before you ask, yes, I believe him. Like you said, he's capable of much worse.'

'Fine. All right.' Corso rubbed at his face, appalled by what he'd just learned. 'Listen, maybe you can tell me where I am?'

'You're on board the Piri, which is inside a Bandati warship. And that's inside something called a Godkiller-class dreadnought, an Emissary warship. It's not as big as a coreship, but it's big enough. Things are going to get nasty, Lucas. Can you stay inside the Piri for now?'

Corso shook his head. 'The Bandati made it clear they'd blow it apart, with me on board, if I didn't come back out quickly enough.'

'Okay' The effigy's head bent down as if thinking, then rose again. 'The main reason I came here is to make sure you understand how important it is that the protocols don't fall into the hands of the Emissaries. That's imperative.'

'I could have given them the full set of protocols, but I destroyed most of them, mainly to keep myself useful enough so they wouldn't just kill me once they got what they wanted.'

'Most of them? But not all of them?'

He shook his head. 'I kept enough to convince the Bandati that I could rebuild a working set for them soon enough.'

'Could you?'

'If I needed to, yes. What I don't have backed up is in here.' He tapped a finger against his head.

'And are you going to do it?'

'Yes, if I have to.'

'For God's sake why, Lucas? Don't you know what's at stake here?'

He made an exasperated sound. 'If I don't, I'm signing my own death warrant. Surely you realize that.'

The effigy's face suddenly slumped, the head tipping forward for a few seconds while the jaw hung moronically. It snapped back up after a few seconds of eerie silence.

'Shit. Sorry, but I lost contact for a second. We have to get to the Magi ship in this system before the Emissaries do. I'll be coming for you, Lucas, so be ready. If you need to speak to me again, you're probably going to have to find a way of getting back to the Piri.'

Corso licked his lips, suddenly nervous. 'There's other things to consider. What happens if you get to the derelict first and take it away? How far do you think anyone is going to want to trust you?'

'Lucas-'

'No, listen, damn it. We need to preserve the protocols, in some form, in case there are more Magi ships out there. This can't all just be down to you. With things like the Shoal and the Emissaries out here, humanity's going to need all the advantages it can get. I'll still rebuild the protocols, if I can.'

'No, Lucas, you don't understand-'

'No, Dakota, I think I do. Hey-!'

The effigy took a step towards him, but the mechanisms co

Corso stared at the effigy, then took a step towards it. It didn't move. He picked up an arm and let it drop; no reaction.

As he found his way back through the ship, he wondered – not for the first time – if Dakota had it in her to kill him. They'd come a long way together: at first reluctant allies, then lovers – and finally, he realized with resignation, they had become enemies divided by what they each sought.

Remember you're the one who wound up pointing a gun at her. He shook away the memory of those last frantic hours before they'd escaped from Nova Arctis. All he could do was wonder if he'd ever see Dakota again – and what she might do to him if he did. Ocean's Deep Twenty Hugh Moss's yacht materialized in the Ocean's Deep system in a sparkle of exotic energies, far enough away from the forces gathering within the i

The yacht's interior was humid and misty, rivulets of moisture constantly cascading down the bulkheads. Every now and then, Hugh would feel a certain ache born of a previous life when he had breathed water and, to tell the truth, the means were there to re-adapt his body to do so once again; but that felt too much like an attempt to recreate something long dead and buried, and Hugh liked to pride himself on his forward thinking.

As the yacht began its long deceleration towards the i

In astronomical terms, Ocean's Deep had suffered considerable violence throughout its relatively recent history. A wandering dwarf black hole had drifted into the system some thirty thousand years before, and had already consumed one of the smaller rocky worlds. All that remained of it was a dense asteroid belt.

After that, the same black hole had gone spi