“I still blame myself. How could I have missed this?” Jiana moaned.

“Don’t. If most of their world doesn’t even know, what chance would outsiders have of figuring it out so quickly?” Maius patted her on the shoulder. Then, glancing at the soul cube, she self-consciously rubbed her hand on her robe and hoped Jiana wouldn’t notice.

“I think our best chance for getting the Heartstar back would be to contact Aegis and ally with them,” Jiana said. “We know very little about their world, and the extra firepower would be helpful.”

Maius shook her head. “Even if I were inclined to favor it, the conservative elements of the Council would never agree to associate with Abominators. Besides, even they would probably want the Heartstar for themselves.”

“If we don’t get it back, we’ll all be associating with them,” Jiana snapped. “When was the last time the Ship made planetfall? Our great-grandmere’s day?”

“We will simply have to see that we do not fail,” Maius said.

Jiana looked at her for a long moment. “Right.”