“Well, when you put it like that, maybe we deserve everything we get. Whatever that might be!” Apalkov chuckled heartily. He carried on chatting about what this reunion of the Cradle and the object they’d found might mean. Freyr just chewed one of her nails nervously, staring into space. Ordinarily, she would have argued the Cradle’s corner out of instinct. Now, she didn’t know what to believe - all she wanted right now was to extract her family from this situation in one piece, and then run a trillion miles.

Their sphere glided over the first couple of concentric circles, before swooping down alongside a platform in the open Mono terminal. Rows of similar orbs waited to leave on multiple different tracks outside the main terminal building. Blue sparks flew in an adjacent yard as spidery droids repaired vessels and other equipment.

Freyr leaned forward to get a better look at the people waiting for them. Rareth stood out like a sore thumb, next to the mess of Humans. She was pleased to see two of her senior researchers next to the Datius, armed with data-pads for them to get caught up from. Freyr vaguely recognised one of the CraSec people, though she couldn’t recall where from. Apart from that, there was one well-built, bald man in a black uniform and about a dozen CraSec soldiers and suited spooks, all armed to the teeth.

"Here we are! Make sure you've got everything, and follow me." 595 ordered, eyeing up one person on the platform in particular as the doors opened.