The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Nine

They hurried to catch up with Tila, and saw her take a left turn. When they turned the same corner, they found her standing by a window, looking out at the graveyard fleet all around them.

"It's wrong, what they've done," she said as they caught up with her.

"You mean the war?" said Malachi.

"No, I mean hiding this ship here, among the dead. The dead should be left in peace, not made witnesses of another crime."

"They're never been any peace here, Tila. Since the battle ended, since the war ended, this place has only seen crime. Grave robbers and scavengers took everything of value in the years after the war, but before there was any security to patrol it. And now everything's gone no-one comes here any more. Just people who want to hide away from the world."

"You make it sound like home," said Ellie.

"It's not the same though, not really. The Juggernaut is for people trying to start a new life because their old one has been taken away. This place..."

"This place is for people who want to destroy the lives of others," Tila finished for him. "It's not a home. It's a pit. A tomb. And we're the grave robbers." She turned away from the window to face Malachi. "Can you tell how far we've come now?"

Malachi pressed his cheek to the window in an effort to see some of the outer hull and make a guess at their location.

"We've come further than I thought. I think we've been travelling along one of the upper decks. The bridge won't be right at the front of the ship, so we might be nearly there."

"Can we get moving then, please?" said Ellie. "I don't like all this talk of graves and dead people."

Tila cast one last look out the window as they resumed their journey.

Had she looked a second time she might have noticed the transport fly overhead as it circled the ship on its way to the central docking bay, eight decks below.