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Cedric moved so quickly I flinched. For half a second, I nearly apologised before I realised he was reaching for restraints I hadn’t even known were built into the chair. He pulled one across my lap and another diagonally across my chest, securing both before I could say anything.

Several holograms opened above the fathers’ table. Whatever relaxed conversation Matthias and Cedric had been having was gone. Their attention fixed on the maps, symbols and points of light spreading through the air between them.

Samir was already crossing towards the table. “What is happening?”

Good question.

“Twelve unidentified vessels are approaching at speed,” Matthias replied without taking his eyes off the display.

“Registration?”

“None.”

Samir reached the table. “House markings?”

Matthias touched something on the display, and a man’s voice answered from somewhere beyond the room.

“None visible, my Lord.”

Through the window, the dark ship that had been travelling beside us banked sharply away just as another crossed ahead so quickly that I gripped the restraints across my lap.

“What are they doing?” My voice shook.

“Intercepting the approaching vessels.”

A streak of white light shot across the window, followed almost immediately by another from the opposite direction. Both vanished beyond my view as the hologram’s symbols scattered and our ship suddenly banked beneath me.

My book slid from my lap.

I screamed and squeezed my eyes shut, my hands locking around the restraints as a deafening roar and sharp whistle sounded around us.

Once the floor levelled beneath me again, I forced my eyes open.

Cedric, Samir and Matthias were still standing around the table.

None of them was even strapped in. Worse, the furniture hadn’t moved, although their cups and saucers lay shattered across the floor.

Right. So maybe the screaming had been unnecessary.

“What is happening?!”

Another violent jolt went through the ship. The book that had fallen from my lap skidded across the floor, then lifted straight toward me, missing my head by a few inches.

Pure luck.

Two ships firing at each other tore past the window in opposite directions, another following close behind. A shot struck one of them, bursting through its side before it rolled violently away. Pieces broke from the dark hull as it fell towards the sea beneath us.

“Whose side is that one on?” I shouted. “Who is winning?”

I looked from the window to the hologram, trying to follow what was happening, but ships were everywhere now, moving so quickly I couldn’t tell which ones were protecting us and which were attacking.

“They all look the same!”

“Our vessels are identified on the display,” Matthias said.

I stared at the mess of moving symbols.

“That doesn’t help me!”