Amelia ducked into the dubious cover provided by a dismounted cannon that had been blasted sideways off its carriage. Laslock fire splashed off the metal, sending sparks flying. She raised her head long enough to shoot back towards the pirates who had taken the centre and forward areas of the gun deck and were clearly massing for a second push. She saw a handful of them produce grenades and shouted a warning to her spacers to get down. A gun deck was a poor place to throw the otherwise-deadly weapons, however – the low ceiling foiled overarm throws and the floor was so strewn with the detritus of battle to defy attempts to bowl the silver spheres along the decking. Amelia saw one grenade bounce off a roof beam and send the pirates scattering before it went off in their midst. Another made it to the Imperial positions but was scooped up by a quick-thinking spacer and hurled out a gunport before it could detonate. The others fell into the spaces between the guns and their cracking blasts made Amelia's ears ring. She forced herself to raise her head again to send another brace of shots down the deck in order to keep the pirates at bay. One who had tried to take advantage of the grenades to advance caught two of her bolts and fell to the ground with a jerk. Amelia gave a hiss of satisfaction and took cover again, checking the power level on her pistol. She could hear and feel the heavy guns on the lower deck still firing. The carronades up on deck were thundering as well, and the Malevolence was responding shot for shot.

"Ms Amelia!"

She looked around at the sound of Arrow's voice. The big marine was at the bottom of the companionway with a group of his soldiers behind him. She grinned.

"Get your troops into position! Spacers, covering fire!"

The marines ran to take cover alongside the spacers, who sent a flurry of laslock fire towards the pirates. The fire was returned and Amelia saw a marine go down before making it to shelter and one of her spacers was knocked to the floor, screaming and clutching at where his hand used to be. Arrow dropped into cover next to her behind the displaced cannon and opened fire. He was carrying a blaster rifle, a cumbersome weapon with four laslock barrels set into a round blast shield at the end of a heavy rifle stock. It was a weapon designed for shipboard combat, but was not well-liked by most soldiers due to its weight. Arrow was handling it like a light carbine.

"Glad to have you with us, captain," Amelia tried to sound casual.

"Happy to be of service, ma'am." Arrow's face was grim.

"What's the situation up top?"

Arrow grimaced. "We're hard up and close aboard, ma'am. Sergeant Ko is holding the forecastle and the carronades are trying to clear the enemy's decks."

Amelia nodded. "I'm sorry to have called you away from all the fun."

Arrow laughed. "Not at all, ma'am. The entertainment down here is first rate."

Amelia flinched as fire spattered off the cannon again. "Well, we've stopped them, but that's not enough. We have to push them back."

"Marines! Suppression fire!" Arrow roared. "Corporal Bock, cover the port front!"

It bought Amelia a moment to think. They had no grenades and she wouldn't have risked them on the gun deck anyway, but small arms alone weren't enough to dislodge the enemy. More pirates were arriving, pushing through the broken hull and racing into cover, trading fire with the spacers. More than a few died before they made it, but their numbers were building fast.

"Hold your ground, men!" Arrow shouted. "Let none pass!"

"Amelia!"

Amelia's ears raised as they heard the familiar voice. She looked around and saw Jane cowering behind the questionable shelter of the companionway stairs.

"Jane! What the blazes are you doing here?"

"I came to help!" Jane ducked as a stray laslock bolt blew a chunk of timber out of the stairs near her head. She saw a wounded spacer propped up against a cannon and scrambled over with her medical kit.

"Stay in cover, then! Stay low!"

Amelia cursed and slotted a fresh magazine into her pistol before she realised something. The cannon she and Arrow were sheltering behind had been knocked nearly ninety degrees off its mounting and was now pointing almost straight down the deck towards the enemy. She glanced at the breech block and saw that it was sealed closed. An idea flashed into her mind as she realised that this could only mean that the gun was loaded.

"Mr Arrow! Cover me!"

Arrow opened fire. Amelia ducked down to check the cannon's power cables and saw to her joy that they were still intact in the midst of the twisted gun carriage. She sat up again and nodded to her friend.

"Captain! Your assistance, please!"

"Ma'am?" Arrow lowered the blaster and frowned.

Amelia patted the cannon. "The gun's loaded with case shot! If we can fire it down the deck..."

"Fire a cannon inside a ship?" Arrow raised his eyebrows.

"What other choice do we have!" Amelia snarled.

Arrow smiled and nodded. "Stand clear, ma'am!"

"Marines and spacers! Covering fire!" Amelia scrambled clear as he put the blaster aside and put his broad arms around the cannon. He braced himself and heaved hard, the seams of his red coat tearing under the strain. The heavy metal of the gun clanged as he dropped it into position and threw himself clear. Amelia grabbed the firing lanyard and looked around.

"Stand back! Firing!"

The blast of the cannon in the confined space was a physical force. It knocked the breath from her body and blinded her with smoke. The view forward along the gun deck vanished in a sheet of flame and flying metal. Amelia, dazed, looked up as the smoke cleared and saw the scene of carnage that now lay before her. The forward section of the gun deck was riddled with case shot pellets. Bodies were strewn left and right while some appeared to have disintegrated altogether in the hail of shot leaving nothing more than charred scraps of flesh and clothing. Her ears ringing so much that she could barely hear her own voice, Amelia stood shakily and pointed her sword.

"Spacers and marines, forward! Hold that breach!"

They rushed forwards with a cheer. A handful of pirates were still alive, but bayonets and cutlasses soon did their work. Amelia collected her pistol again and took a deep breath. Jane caught her sleeve.

"Amelia! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Amelia shook her head. "See to the wounded!"

Jane saw the blood running down Amelia's face. "But you're hurt, too!"

"I said I'm fine!" Amelia straightened her coat.

Jane thought about arguing for a moment, but Amelia's eyes were blazing with aggression and her teeth were flashing dangerously. "I...I see..."

Amelia saw Jane blanch and look away, and immediately regretted her attitude. She put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and tried to make amends.

"I promised you I'd be all right, didn't I? And I'm keeping that promise."

"So I see." Jane smiled.

Amelia smiled back and turned to follow her spacers, calling out new orders.

"Mr Arrow! Secure the breach! Mr Jackson! Take three men and check that the forward magazine is secure as well! Starboard gunners, back to your positions and resume fire!"

"If I may suggest, ma'am!" Arrow shouted, "The way to the enemy is clear!"

Amelia glanced through the hull breach. The space between the two ships was ablaze with fire. Guns so close that their muzzles almost touched were firing as fast as their surviving crews could handle them. Locked together, the two capital ships tore and gouged at each other in a relentless exchange of blows. Mutual destruction beckoned as the only outcome unless something was done to tip the balance. Amelia nodded.

"I believe you're right, Mr Arrow. Marines! Fix bayonets! Spacers, prepare for combat! Let's take the fight to these bastards and show them how the Navy does it!"

There was a ragged cheer. Amelia nodded to the nearest gun crews.

"Case shot and charge!"

"Ready, ma'am!"

Amelia glanced back up the gun deck to see Jane tending a wounded marine. She took a breath and set her shoulders square as she looked back and tightened her grip on her weapons.

"Fire!"

Three cannons fired simultaneously. Amelia didn't wait to admire the results.

"Resolutes, charge!"

She led the way across the plank bridge, not daring to look into the conflagration that raged on either side of her, and dropped into the dark interior of the corsair ship. A shadowy figure barred her way and she struck out with her cutlass, feeling it bite deep into flesh and strike bone. Arrow loomed behind her, blaster in hand, powerful electric blue bolts sending the pirates scattering. The marines crowded in behind them, rifles blazing. A second pirate appeared in front of Amelia, striking out with a spiked hatchet. She caught the head of it with the hilt of her sword and flung it aside before she staggered the man against the mast with a trio of pistol shots. Looking around for the first time, she saw that the interior of the Malevolence was, for all its brutal exterior, much like the interior of any Imperial warship in layout and she turned to Arrow.

"Secure this position, Mr Arrow! If we lose this, we lose it all!"

"Aye, ma'am! Corporal Bock! Get your squad into position and stand firm! Hold this breach at any cost!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Send word back to the Resolute and call for reinforcements!" Amelia shouted. "Mr Arrow! Let's move them out!"

"Marines! Blasters and bayonets!" Arrow bellowed, moving into position and hefting his own weapon. A laslock bolt flashed past Amelia's shoulder and struck down a spacer as he came through the breach. She glanced around and saw Jane kneeling beside the stricken man, only to realise that he was already gone.

"Miss Porter! I suggest you take cover and stay back!"

"I go where the fighting goes!" Jane said, moving up. "Your people will need me!"

Amelia thought about arguing, but realised that she didn't have the time. Arrow's blasters began firing their volleys down the gun deck, scattering the pirates, and the advance began. Jane had never seen combat like this before. The sheer intensity of it was stunning. Spacers and soldiers fought hand-to-hand for every inch of deck space, clambering over cannon to get at each other. Laslocks fired at point blank range and the clamour of battle filled the roofed space. Amelia was leading her spacers aft towards the companionway to the main deck above, but the pirates' resistance was stiffening as they fell back and more of their comrades joined them from the lower gun deck. There was a loud splintering noise and a crash of wood above their heads and Jane guessed that a mast had fallen, but whose mast she was unable to discern. Gathering up her courage and straightening her pith helmet, she dived across the catwalk to help a marine who had fallen under one of the guns. Laslock fire pitted the timbers behind her and burned a hole in her dress. She pulled herself under cover and set to work, trying not to notice the fighting that raged around her as a surge of enemy spacers charged down the stairs and met Amelia's spacer's head on.

"Mr Arrow! Maintain the advance!"

Amelia parried a boarding pike that was thrust in her direction and ran her assailant through up to the hilt of her sword. Arrow, swinging his heavy blaster like a club, nodded.

"Aye, ma'am! Keep moving forward, men! Give no quarter!"

Jane flinched at the clash of metal. Laser fire still flickered through the air, almost drowned out by shouts and screams. She tied a bandage around the wounded marine's injury as tight as she could to staunch the blood flow and moved on to a tangle of bodies that lay between two cannons. She searched them frantically for any sign of life, but found nothing and scrambled on to the next victim of the fighting. More Royal Navy spacers were arriving now, answering Amelia's call for reinforcements, but the pirates were crowding down the companionway now, using their height to fire over the top of the melee, and the Imperials were losing as many men as they were killing.

"We've got grenades, ma'am!" Petty Office Bryce, leading the reinforcements, called to Amelia.

Amelia snarled. "Forget them! Just get stuck in there, damn it! Push them back!"

Jane looked up at the sound of her voice. She saw Amelia's eyes focus on her and then saw her laslock come up, almost pointing straight at her. Jane cried out in shock and ducked as the bolt flashed past her shoulder. There was a truncated yell behind her and Jane looked around in time to see the body of a pirate she had thought already dead collapsing against the cannon. She swallowed nervously and looked around.

"Th...thank you!" she shouted, hoping that Amelia could hear her.

The side of the ship behind the mob of pirates blew inwards in a shower of splinters and flame. For a moment Amelia, looking around sharply, assumed that the Resolute's guns had been at work, but then she realised that the fire had torn into the Malevolence's port side which was facing away from the battle. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked out of one of the breaches and saw a welcome sight – the black and white hull of the Entreprenante cruising past no more than a stone's throw away, heavy guns firing rapidly but methodically. The corsairs' return fire was unimpressive, with so many of the bigger ship's cannon disabled and with their crew fully engaged in repelling the Imperial assault, and the frigate was able to stand off and pummel her target with near impunity. The rear ranks of the pirate crowd had been cut down and the rest were dazed by the hail of high explosive. It was the chance for a breakthrough that she had wanted.

"Mr Arrow!" she shouted.

"Yes, ma'am!" Arrow drew himself up to his full height. "Marines, present! Fire!"

As one, the marines levelled their rifles and began blazing away. The pirates reeled and fell back up the companionway to the dubious shelter of the upper deck. Jane climbed out of cover and hurried forwards to join the group as they began pressing the surviving pirates into the bowels of the ship. She could hear the sounds of fighting on the upper deck as well, now, and there was a crunch of timbers as the Entreprenante came up hard aboard the corsair to join the boarding action. Unbelievably, she could still hear and feel cannon firing as the battling ships pummeled each other and the floor shook as the shells tore into the crippled raider. Jane looked down the stairs to the lower gun deck, but could see nothing but a nightmare of fire and explosions.

"Grenades, ma'am?" panted Bryce.

"Oh, yes, Mr Bryce," said Amelia. "Grenades."

Bryce nodded to his spacers. A handful of the deadly charges clattered down to the lower gun deck, detonating with a series of cracks. Behind them, a metal door opened and a shell-shocked pirate reeled out, screaming incoherently. He got three paces before Arrow shot him, the impact of the blaster fire throwing his body into the wall.

"Gun deck secure, ma'am!" Arrow smiled triumphantly. Amelia grinned back.

"Indeed it is, captain! Mr Bryce, hold these stairs and then take our spacers forrard and clear the bows. Mr Arrow, it sounds like we're wanted on deck."

"Aye, ma'am!"

Amelia turned to Jane. "As for you, Miss Porter, set up an aid post on this deck. Get any wounded who can move back across to the Resolute."

"Yes, yes, of course." Jane nodded, trying to get her racing heartbeat under control.

"Very good." Amelia smiled. "Now then, gentlemen. Let's finish-"

Her eyes went wide with pain as a laslock fired up at them from the lower gun deck, the white-hot pulse slashing across her midriff. Jane cried her name as Amelia stumbled back against the nearest cannon and sank to the deck. She dived forward to help, hardly noticing as Arrow and Bryce turned their men to face the new threat, pouring fire into the lower deck.

"Amelia!"

She saw the ugly scorch mark across her blue coat and tore it open to try to find the wound. Amelia gritted her teeth and looked up, breathing hard.

"I'm...fine...Miss Porter."

Jane shook her head. "She's badly hurt, Mr Arrow! I need to help her!"

"Get her into the after carronade magazine," said Arrow, pointing to the small metal-doored room that the disorientated pirate had emerged from. "We will stand guard."

"The hell you will!" Amelia hissed. "Carry out my orders, captain! Win this!"

"Ma'am, if I may-"

"That was an order, captain!" Amelia looked up with a snarl. Arrow's face was impassive for a moment before he nodded and set his jaw.

"As you command, ma'am. Marines, to me!"

Jane put her arms around Amelia, helping her to her feet. The young felinid's breath was now coming in short, shallow, painful gasps as they moved into the small room. The walls were panelled with copper and one wall was occupied by the machinery of the shell hoist to take the ammunition up to the carronade mounted on the deck above them. There was a rack of shells set into the opposite wall, and the floor was scattered with debris. Jane kicked it aside hurriedly before she helped Amelia down against the base of the rack. She knelt beside her, hurriedly casting aside Amelia's weapons before opening her waistcoat and shirt.

"It's a glancing blow rather than a direct hit," she said quickly. "But I need to see how deep it went. It might have gone deep enough to damage your..."

"I know." Amelia's lips were parted in a grimace of pain. "Just do it. We can't stay here."

"Why not?"

Amelia looked up at the rack of shells above them. The ordnance glinted dully in the light, ominous and threatening. Jane swallowed nervously.

"So...all of that could go up? Could it destroy the ship?"

Amelia shook her head. "There's only case shot in here for the carronade. Lots of shrapnel but not much explosive or propellant...it won't destroy the whole ship, but it'll turn this little part of it into matchsticks if it takes even a stray shot. There wouldn't be enough of us left to bury."

Jane nodded determinedly. "Well, this won't take long. Once I know how badly hurt you are, we can get you back to the Resolute, just like you ordered."

"Good. Good...we can't stay here...just make it quick..."

Amelia closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall, resisting the temptation to curl up in a ball of agony to allow Jane access to the wound.

"Do it, then."

Jane nodded and tried once more to lower her heart rate and stop her hands shaking as she took up a probe from her medical kit and began exploring the wound. It was an ugly gash burned through Amelia's tan fur, its sides blackened and cauterised by the heat of the bolt. Tears rose up in Jane's blue eyes as she worked, seeing Amelia flinch as the probe went deeper.

"I'm so sorry, Amelia," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. Stay with me. Please stay with me."

Even though Amelia's eyes were closed, her hand found Jane's and gripped it tight.

"I'm not going anywhere..."

Jane felt the probe meet firm tissue and withdrew it, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You're going to be all right, Amelia," she said. "The shot didn't damage you internally. But I need to pack the wound before we can move you or we could open it up even worse."

Amelia gritted her teeth again and nodded. Jane reached for her medical kit and found a sterile pad, but to her horror she couldn't find a bandage.

"I...I must have used them all," she muttered. "All my bandages!"

Amelia reached for her coat pocket with some difficulty and produced something black and shiny. As she pressed it into Jane's hand, Jane recognised the silk cravat she had bought in Loyalty.

"H...here..." Amelia smiled weakly. "Looks like...this came in handy...I was carrying it...for luck."

"Oh, Amelia." Jane smiled and unrolled it. There was more than enough material to go around Amelia's slender midriff, and she began snaking it around her.

"Well, well, well...what have we here? Two devoted little servants of the Queen."

The voice was smooth and condescending, but there was a current of menace underlying it. Jane started and span around. Amelia opened her eyes wide. There was a dark figure in the doorway, the light glinting off a long sword. Jane snatched up Amelia's fallen laslock and pointed it shakily.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Or what?" The figure stepped into the pale orange light of the magazine. Inigo Scalten, the Crimson Corsair, was a giant of a man, wearing a broad cloak of dark material with a hood that framed his face. His skin was pale green and his face had a sunken nose that gave it a terrifyingly skull-like appearance.

"Or I'll shoot you! I swear I will!"

Jane saw the long, single-edged sword in the renegade's hand. Its blade was chipped in places and she saw that it was already marked with fresh blood. She felt her heart quail at the sight. The pistol shook in her hand and she wished she had time to hand it to Amelia, but she knew that she couldn't turn her back for even a moment. Scalten's eyes burned red like a pair of smouldering coals in the depths of his hood, dark red and perfectly matching his adopted name.

"You barely know how to hold it," Scalten said contemptuously, as if reading her thoughts. "You can't even be sure that you'll hit me. And if you miss, I promise that it will go very hard for you..."

"I said don't come any closer!"

Jane's wide eyes glanced from side to side as she backed away. They spotted the rack of shells on the wall and she quickly aimed the laslock at them as she remembered what Amelia had warned her about the danger the ordnance posed.

"Don't make me do it! I swear you'll regret it!"

"You'll...what?" Scalten raised the sword. "Pull that trigger? Consign us all to oblivion?"

"Exactly! Exactly!" Jane fumbled with the grip of the gun. "I'll do it! Don't think I won't!"

"Of course not." Scalten lowered the sword slightly. "But I wonder...have you?"

"Have I what?"

"Thought about it. About any of this." Scalten waved his free hand, indicating the rest of the ship where the sounds of battle still emanated. "What it's all for. Why it's even happening."

"It's happening because you're a traitor, Scalten," Amelia hissed.

"The lackey speaks," said Scalten dismissively. "I expect no better from the likes of you. But you, girl...what is your name? How did you come to be here?"

"My name is Porter. Jane Porter, Captain Scalten." Jane swallowed nervously.

The corsair smiled. "I see we are now even on the question of names, Jane Porter."

"I know who you are!" Jane said. "I know who you were! Captain Inigo Scalten, of the Royal Navy! You were a hero!"

Scalten considered for a moment and then laughed. "A hero! Do you know, I suppose I was. A hero...lauded on a dozen planets for my exploits. A Captain of the Empire...but never more than a slave."

"A slave?" Jane blinked on confusion. "But..."

"A slave to the Empire. You seem surprised. Oh, you haven't seen a fraction of it," Scalten said darkly. "The Empire's banners wave above a hundred worlds...and how many of them saw it raised in freedom? How many of those worlds wanted it? Did you think that all hundred worlds joined the Empire willingly? You haven't seen what it means to bring a world into the Imperial fold. But I have. I've seen ships burn. Towns and cities burn. Whole civilisations ground to dust. Entire species subjugated by the cannon and the bayonet. Colonies spreading like plague boils across new worlds."

"Don't listen, Jane," Amelia snarled. Her sword was within reach and she contemplated going for it, but knew that Scalten could strike before she would be able to get herself upright to use it, if she was even physically capable of tha now. Her head was starting to swim and she could hear her own heartbeat in her ears.

"It's not like that!" Jane protested.

"Of course it is." Scalten lowered his sword, but kept the tip pointing at her. "And for what? Who benefits? The Queen, in her lofty majesty, safely sealed away in her palace from the blood that is shed in her name? The Parliament of fools to whom power over other living beings is a kind of card game? The Eastern Iridium Trading Company and its ilk? They are like maggots in the corpse of the galaxy, living off the death and putrefaction that the Empire's wars bring. The gallant Royal Navy pushes the pirates out of the Nebula, and the Company moves in behind them to reap the rewards."

"You made a deal with them," said Jane. "With Mr Callario! We know all about that!"

"Of course! Why shouldn't I? If it wasn't Callario it would have been any one of a hundred other so-called agents of the Company. Men and women who would sell out their own for a cut of the profits. They had what I needed. And I was able to buy it." Scalten gave her a patronising smile. "Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know, Jane? About this Empire that you and your friend there defend? Doesn't that show you the kind of cancer that can grow as it cowers behind the shield of your valour?"

"We're no friend of traitors," Amelia snapped.

"Yet by your service you create the opportunities for them," said Scalten. "Didn't you ever consider that? A traitor, by definition, rebels against a system. But if there is no system, there can be no traitors..."

Jane hesitated, the laslock shaking in her hand. "So...is that why you did it? Became a pirate?"

Scalten laughed again. "A pirate! I am no such thing. A pirate kills for profit and opportunity. In that respect they aren't so different from the Company. Profit doesn't interest me, Jane Porter. It can be a useful motivator...but it is a means to an end, not an end in itself."

"So what are you, then?"

"A renegade, Jane Porter." Scalten smiled. "I answer to nobody. Follow no code. I simply oppose. I rebel. The powers of this galaxy need to be taught that they can't impose their order on us all."

"And leave people prey to the likes of you?" said Amelia.

"Oh, I mean you no harm personally," Scalten shrugged. "But you serve a system that would see me hunted down and destroyed. You leave me no choice."

"No? And what about the Preston Castle?" Amelia snarled. "Did they give you no choice as well?"

"I would have released that ship freely if you hadn't tried to intervene," said Scalten calmly.

"And the captain? The man you killed just to keep the dirty little secret between you and Callario?" Jane demanded.

"Don't presume to lecture me, Jane Porter." The Corsair's tone went steely, his red eyes flashing. "How many lives have you seen sacrificed? Dozens just today. And if you've been running with the Navy for long you'll have seen far more than that. Lives, bought and sold, spent like common currency. The only currency, in the end, in which the likes of the Empire trade. Nothing but sacrifices on the Imperial altar."

"Those sacrifices aren't made in vain," Jane insisted.

"Of course they are. Think about it, Jane Porter," Scalten said. "Sacrificed to protect that rotten edifice of the Empire. To protect the Company. And now you stand before me with that pistol in your hand and you tell me that you're willing to sacrifice yourself as well. Are you really willing to die to protect all that? To give the likes of Callario the chance to plunder the carcasses of the valiant? Willing to die for this Empire of blood and corruption?"

"No." It was no more than a whisper. Jane lowered the laslock for a moment. Her gaze went to Amelia, lying in the corner of the small room. She ran her eyes over Amelia's face, drawing strength from its familiarity. "No...I wouldn't die for that."

"Common sense at last." Scalten stepped forward, raising his sword.

Amelia saw the look in Jane's eyes change. The laslock came up again in one swift movement, aimed at the rack of shells once again but this time without shaking or hesitation.

"But," Jane said firmly, steel showing in her voice, "I would die for her. And I suggest you back down, Captain Scalten, before you make me prove it."

Scalten paused. Time seemed to stop as they eyed each other, Jane's gaze as steady as her aim. In the ringing silence that followed, Jane realised that the sounds of battle had finally ceased. No guns were firing.

"It's over, Captain," she said levelly. "It's all over. Your rebellion is finished. You have nowhere to go."

Scalten smiled sadly. "So it appears, Miss Porter."

Footsteps sounded behind the corsair. The metallic sound of weapons being readied filled the silence and Scalten turned calmly to face a row of Imperial and Company bayonets and blades. Arrow stepped forward, raising a pistol. There was a clatter as Scalten dropped his sword onto the deck and raised his hands. Jane saw an ironic smile on the Crimson Corsair's face.

"Just another sacrifice on the altar..."

"You will step out here, sir," said Arrow. "Sergeant Ko? Secure the prisoner with the others."

"Aye, sir." Ko stepped behind Scalten as he went forward, and levelled her rifle at his back. The bayonet dripped blood onto the deck. "Move slowly, now, traitor. Move very slowly."

Arrow watched them go and then looked back to Jane, noting the pistol in her hand.

"Miss Porter? Are you and the Lieutenant all right?"

"Yes, we're both all right." Jane put the laslock aside gratefully and looked around at Amelia. "Both of us."

Amelia smiled weakly up at her. "Yes...yes, I think we are..."

Jane knelt beside her again. Amelia smiled up at her. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was Jane smiling back at her.