I've already told you what we're looking for. Keep up. If we had a better sense of it, we wouldn't have required an explorer. You have the... piece on your ship, I imagine. It will lead you to the greater whole, irrespective of what you do.

( In this, at least, even a band of miscreants and fools is guaranteed the success of the mission they have yet to agree to. )

All we want is what we are naturally entitled to. ( A faint pause, then a wave of his hand. ) And a minor interest. For the time, resources and cost of opportunity entirely wasted. We'll take the Pariah. She looks... fitting enough. Will require upgrades, but...

( Well, what ship doesn't? ) In exchange, we will more than keep you safe, but offer you plain and escorted delivery to your destination of choice, along with a financial incentive to start you will in your new lives at shore. Your cut, if you will. Let's call it, for the sake of equanimity, a quarter of the Pariah's proceeds, and the entirety of the Queen Zanyra, if you can wrestle her from her invader. For you, as the broker, obviously, you can have one of our whores.

( The least said of Caladan Kreil, it appears, the better. And Maximilian Hawk, who has been earnestly running his mouth for the better part of an hour, seems finally depleted of that interest. )

Go. Present your offer to your people. Send me word within a few days — a private exchange.