Cobb had found no reason, other than pure, uninhibited curiosity, to step onto deck 13 before now. He’d heard about the peculiar containment units on this level and also a rumour that not all of them were empty. But in possession of neither the clearance, nor the balls, to approach the one called ‘Dave’ unaccompanied, so far Zachariah had stayed as far away as possible.

But with their impending mission already a pandora’s box of confidential secrets, locations that offered the requisite security for a briefing of his senior staff were in short supply. And so it had made logical, and personally satisfying, sense, to commandeer for an hour or two the briefing room allocated to the RTF. So at a little before nineteen-hundred hours, Zachariah Cobb found himself stepping out of a turbolift onto deck 13 with all of the excitement and anticipation of a child at the funfair.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb