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“What’s the point of this, anyway?” she asked. “There’s only two of us-”
    “Hey!” a high-pitched, electronic voice said from the cockpit’s rear.
    “Sorry, Onzo,” Sheeva added, rolling her eyes. “There’s only three of us.”
    “Thank you,” Onzo said, spinning his tiny robotic head in pleasure.
    “How are you going to take out an energy sump with only three of us?” Sheeva demanded.
    “Kari doesn’t know yet,” Garen replied calmly.
    “Doesn’t know?” Sheeva roared, looking away from the hologram so she could turn the full force of her glare on him. “What the hell does that mean?”
    “It means we have a plan that requires a bit of evolution to succeed,” Garen said with a shrug.
    His usual, emotionless manner made Sheeva’s knuckles pop with tension and she quickly turned back to her wrestling match with the tornado.
    “I don’t understand why we’re taking such a risk when we’ve been so careful lately,” she growled, ignoring a sudden urge to drive them into oblivion on purpose.
    “It was the last mission, wasn’t it?” Onzo said, his big, robotic eyes sparkling with coloured lights. “That nano-tech you stole from the Coalition is some kind of weapon, isn’t it?”
    “Yes and no,” Garen replied. “This mission is a direct result of the last, but that nano-tech was no weapon. It’s a catalyst for some kind of biological transformation. You know, Onzo. You helped me study it.”
    Sheeva heard several of Onzo’s tiny robotic appendages snick out from his body in pleasure at the acknowledgement.
    “I sure did!” Onzo squealed. “And it was advanced, Sheeva. More advanced than anything I’ve ever seen.”
    “Or me,” Garen added. “Even Kari seemed to have trouble understanding its purpose.”
    “And yet we’re headed straight into the lion’s jaws because of it,” Sheeva grumbled.
    “This tech is linked to the Helmsken somehow,” Garen continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “If I can get on board the Golgotha-”
    “Huh!” Sheeva grunted in disapproval.
    “-then we can study it in-vitro,” Garen finished. “And if Kari can understand it, we might even discover a way to take out an energy sump permanently, rather than just crippling it.”
    “So it might be a weapon?” Onzo asked.
    “It might,” Garen agreed.
    Sheeva wanted to say more, something that would convince Garen to abandon this suicidal mission, but she knew it was useless. When it came to Kari – the heavangel mentor Garen saw almost every time he took Lyquis – there was no reasoning with him.
    She noticed a change in the holographic representation that was helping her stay within the tornado’s outer layer and looked out of the cockpit window again. They were now close enough to see the Golgotha’s enormous shadow through the hydrogen clouds above them.
    It was enormous, and as it gradually filled the sky, Sheeva felt an ominous sense of dread creep into her stomach.
    She didn’t like this kind of fear. It was easy to fight the emotion when she could take matters into her own, powerful hands, but this time Garen was going in alone and it left her feeling both helpless and embarrassed at her impotence.
    Turning her gaze back to the curved edge of the tornado, Sheeva followed it up until it disappeared into one of the Golgotha’s giant influx vents.
    “ This isn’t going to end well, ” she predicted solemnly in her mind.
    “Are you ready?” Garen asked, directing the question at Onzo.
    “As I’ll ever be,” Onzo replied excitedly.
    “You be careful,” Sheeva warned the little robot. “They’ll piece-hack you as soon as they notice you.”
    “They won’t notice you, Onzo,” Garen assured him. “Just get past the shiv-grid and knock out power to one of those intake pipes. Then flag it for me and get out of there.”
    “I could come with you, boss,” Onzo offered, just as Sheeva knew he would.
    “I could definitely use the help,” Garen agreed in a kind tone, “but I