‘It’s the third button.’

Aryn froze, finger hovering over the controls of the resequencer in the Diamond Dust’s mess hall – or, as the computer had informed him it was called, the lounge, despite being nothing more than a few tables and chairs clustered in the centre of the ship, the ceiling open to the top deck above.

‘I’m not… I just wanted a hot chocolate,’ he stammered as he looked back at Q’ira. She was leaning against the ladder down, lips curled in wry amusement.

‘Aww. Bit of warm milk to help you sleep at 0200?’

He hesitated, and his gaze flickered to his PADD on the table, the projection of the screen still hovering above it. With a laboriously affected air of indifference, he sauntered over and killed the projection. ‘I’m getting some work done, actually.’

‘Work. You mean the reading you’re hiding from little old me?’ She put a finger to her chin, then called, ‘Computer, give me a projection of… that space… from twenty seconds ago,’ with a wave towards the table.

The holographic emitters obligingly shimmered to life, and, just as he’d snatched the PADD away, the files he’d been going through were in full view.

Aryn flushed. ‘I shouldn’t have brought that out here.’

‘I could see it in your rooms if I wanted to. You were just rude.’ Q’ira sauntered over, eyes raking over the highly classified reports discussing the Kairos Regulator. ‘You’re denying me scintillating reading material like…’ She cleared her throat and read aloud. ‘“By stabilising the phase-shifted gravimetric pulses in a controlled Schwarzschild metric, effectively warping local spacetime by a factor proportional to the derivative of the event horizon’s radius” and then a bunch of equations I can’t read out loud. Oh, but if I could, you’d have a serious intel breach on your hands.’

He cleared his throat. ‘I know you’re about to sneer at the idea of breaking laws, but I think you underestimate how big a crime it is to have records of this content on your computer.’

‘You’re right,’ she mused. ‘I do break laws a lot. What’s one more?’

‘How about trouble you really don’t need?’

She ignored him, eyes still raking over the hovering holographic display, even though he saw her gaze dance over thick sections of scientific explanations. ‘So this is the thing we’re after, huh,’ she said at last, a finger tracing the accompanying image. Now, he had some idea of the size of the regulator, a capsule a little longer than his forearm. ‘What you’re willing to play dangerous games with Aestri and Nank over, and throw money into Nank’s pockets for. Warping local spacetime. Like, a warp drive does, folding space?’

He hesitated – then stepped forward and gestured across the section she’d just read. ‘Not quite. Basically, the Regulator bends time around the person using it. It messes with the space-time fabric so that, for the user, time moves normally, but for everyone around them, it slows down. Like you set the holosuite program to advance at a minuscule pace and you’re walking around freely. You can get anything done before anyone else even realises what’s happening.’

Full lips parted in a small, worried, oh. ‘That’s nasty.’

‘And dangerous. Not just – those complex equations? It’s how it makes sure time slowing down doesn’t tear the universe apart while it’s at it. I mean, it’s more likely to just… not work… but you can’t mess with space-time casually.’

She straightened, brushing cyan hair back over her shoulder. ‘See, if you explain things like that instead of talking about a Schwarzenberg metric or something, people might understand you eggheads.’

He found himself smiling apologetically. ‘You see why this matters, though? You said you’ve had brushes with Aestri. You seemed to think she’s trouble.’

‘Well, of course she’s trouble.’ Q’ira shrugged. ‘You’re all in a tizzy trying to stop her from getting this thing. You already knew that.’

‘I have intelligence briefings talking about operations she’s run and crimes she’s committed and I see she’s a capable and effective member of the Orion Syndicate, but you could tell me any member of the Orion Syndicate wants the Kairos Regulator and I’d think that’s a bad thing we need to stop. Something about Aestri wanting it is enough to make the Syndicate turn on itself.’

She raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Oh, you want all my secrets now?’

‘You’ve just read highly classified material for which not only could you go to jail for a good few years for reading it, but I’d probably be in the cell next to you for letting you see it. I figure we’re partners in crime now.’ He tried a small smile, knowing it came off more nervous.

‘Oh, sweetie,’ Q’ira sighed. ‘You’ve no idea about my crimes.’ But her eyes fell back on the hovering display, and she bit her lip. ‘You’re right that Aestri’s just like any other Syndicate gang leader – because she is. Or she used to be. Stole shit, wrecked shit, pirated a bunch. Mostly pirated; she was a good pirate. Knew when to use the knife, knew when to hold back. Violence in that sort of life – it’s a form of communication, you know? And I don’t mean that like some weird sociopathic way where she’s just expressing herself by how much she cuts on someone…’

‘It’s about reputation,’ he surmised. ‘Image, sending a message.’

She nodded. ‘What you don’t do is as important as what you do. Restraint is power, sometimes. Except…’ Another sigh. ‘Sometime – a year ago, maybe two? – she lost that light touch. Didn’t go big and violent or anything, but started chasing bigger prizes. More cash, more wealth, taking bigger risks to do it.’

‘No more restraint?’

‘I thought it was like she stopped playing the long-term game. Like it was all short-term wins without caring about the fallout. But why would she do that?’ She went to say something more, then stopped herself. ‘I should show you how to get the actual good stuff out of the resequencer.’

He turned as she headed for the wall device and worked his jaw. ‘What is it?’

‘What? She’s bad news. And you need a hot chocolate. Treats for teacher for being good and sharing the knowledge with little old me?’

He thought the glance she threw him was meant to be coy, almost flirtatious, but even he knew an attempt to distract him when he saw it. Rosewood might have been right; he wasn’t good with women, but Aryn was very good with puzzles, and he could see her slipping things behind secret doors.

‘You asked,’ he said after a beat. ‘Pointing out that high-end quantum physics is pretty opaque is asking. You know, it’s okay to not get it; I work with some very smart people and most of them don’t know what I’m talking about half the time.’ He stopped himself. ‘That came out wrong. I’m not saying you’re not smart.’

She gave a gentle scoff. ‘Yes, you are. Your whole outfit is. Rosewood’s all smiles and thinks I’m an idiot. Cassidy barely acknowledges my existence. Don’t worry; you Starfleet boys aren’t anything special. I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for Torrad-Var. You don’t need to look at me for me to help you.’ She finished jabbing commands and turned back to him with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. ‘Though you are looking at me.’

He didn’t know if that was a singular or plural ‘you,’ and decided to swallow hard and brush past that. ‘Your quantum physics is the inside dynamics of the Orion Syndicate.’

‘That’s just people,’ she sighed dismissively, handing him the mug. ‘There, professor.’

‘Yes, I spent ten years learning how to understand that,’ he said, gesturing to the display with the drink as he accepted it. ‘How long did you spend learning to understand the Syndicate?’ As she hesitated, the corner of his eyes creased. ‘You had another thought just then, about Aestri. I genuinely want to hear it?’

Q’ira tilted her nose skyward. ‘Why? For your intelligence reports?’

‘Because I like listening to experts talk about things they have expertise in.’

She looked at him for a moment, then laughed. ‘See, that’s your mistake, Professor. I told you what I thought. Torrad-Var said that was stupid; why would Aestri give up on the long-term? Risky doesn’t mean short-sighted. It means there’s a possible big reward. And what’s the biggest reward for Orions in the Syndicate? The biggest prize?’

‘I… really don’t know,’ he admitted.

‘It would take a lot for Torrad-Var to help Starfleet move directly against another leader in the Syndicate. He’s loyal to the Syndicate. Aestri being a vague threat by drawing attention isn’t a good enough reason to draw more attention by working with you,’ she pointed out. ‘So it’s simple. He’s not just protecting the vague idea of the Syndicate in this team up. He’s protecting the highest levels of the Syndicate itself.’

‘I still don’t follow.’

‘You really did only learn about Schwarzenfeiber modulations at the Academy, huh,’ she drawled. ‘It’s simple. Aestri is making a bid for Pirate Queen.’ As realisation dawned on his face, she again tossed her hair back. ‘See? Torrad-Var’s the smart one. He’s the one who figured it out. You really don’t need to give me all of that “oh, you’re an expert,” crap just because you want to fuck me, Professor. Be smarter than that and don’t listen to little old me.’

She turned back for the ladder she’d descended from, and had a foot on the bottom rung before she said, ‘But you were polite. Most people aren’t. So…’ She looked up. ‘Computer. Delete all footage recorded aboard in proximity to our guests. And stop recording them.’

Aryn swallowed, mouth dry. The hot chocolate sounded like a sickly proposition now. ‘Thank you,’ he croaked.

‘Well. I didn’t need to accidentally rack up trouble like that. You were right.’ She glanced back and winked at him. ‘Enjoy your choccie milk, Professor.’

‘It’s… hot chocolate…’ he said lamely, but she was already gone.

And he still had a lot of reading to do before they got to Ilior. With, now, a renewed motivation in making sure they didn’t let the Kairos Regulator fall into the hands of a woman who might use it to accrue enough power and influence to run the biggest criminal network in the galaxy.