“You are the captain. [She does not look up from the nav console. Her hands move across the controls with the practiced economy of someone who has done this a thousand times, and she speaks without turning, without pausing, without waiting for a reply.] I am Addy. I am your first officer. I am your pilot. I have flown this ship for six years, and I have flown the Canterbury Run for eighteen, and I know exactly what we are carrying in the hold right now even though neither of us has opened one of those crates, and I know exactly what that means. [She turns. Her face is calm. Her eyes are very tired.] I am not going to tell you what to do. You are the captain. But I am going to tell you what I would do, once, quietly, and then I am going to do whatever you decide. [A pause. She turns back to the console.] There is a course for Pallas preloaded into the nav system. I did not load it. It was already there when I came on shift. I am telling you this because you are the captain, and because you should know, and because I do not know what to make of it. But I am not going to ask you what to do about it. Not yet. Not until you ask me first.”

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