The seats were comfy, and the little lounge was arranged into individual booths with anti-sound rods, and a view of the hub.

Herdis usually spent stops roaming around, playing tourist and getting to know all the more interesting and exotic distractions of their stops. But she’d had time to do that already, so she just joined him, Kiris and Jaquan in sinking into those chairs and sipping drinks.

Bers had bounded off, like a dog chasing a ball. He only had four hours to do his dock-side drinking this time around, after all. And if there really was genuine meat here, he would be giving the booze plenty of company in his gut. Gaylen didn’t mind the absence. He’d come to like the man… in a way. But he wasn’t one for relaxation, and the language barrier remained only half-breached.

He made a small toast at empty air, then took a small sip of a local 3% brew. It was alright. And alright, as life had taught him, was just fine. Especially with his best friend in the room, and his lover leaning up against him.

“So, here we are,” Herdis said, after a couple more sips. “Almost the full original crew.”

“That we are,” Jaquan said.

“Have you guys run into Ayna on the lanes, at all?”

“Not in the flesh,” Gaylen said. “But you’ve learned how staying in touch works for spacers around here-”

“I’ve learned that reaching you, and being reached in turn, was a lucky roll of the dice.”

“Yeah. Well, but she’s left us a couple of messages that bounced around until we picked them up at ports. She’s interested in flying with us again for a bit, but also that she’d had an invitation she just couldn’t turn down.”

“And what does that mean?” Herdis asked.

“Maybe you’ll get to ask her,” Gaylen said. “If you’re going to keep coming back for tours. We just might get the full roster back for a bit.”

“That’ll be fun,” Herdis said. “I miss that fun-loving snowball.”

“With the sticky fingers,” Kiris added, but Gaylen knew there wasn’t any venom to it.

“I asked her to stay out of trouble while flying with us, and she did,” Gaylen pointed out.”

“I think it might have been the repeated asking that did that,” Kiris said.

“Heh. Maybe.”

He inhaled, and for a moment he just savoured all of this; the company, the freedom, the drink in his hand, the simple fact of being alive after an adulthood of constant danger, and Kiris’s warmth and scent.

“Still, it illustrates a point I feel is worth making: There is not a single dock where you can’t hire someone for a few leaps. But to fly with reliable people… people who have proven they have the guts and brains and character to come through when things get tough… that’s to be celebrated.”

“It sure is,” Jaquan said.

Herdis toasted at that, and Kiris’s hand found Gaylen’s left one, draped around her shoulder, and held it.

An hour passed, in casual chat, of places visited in Herdis’s absence, news from her homeworld, and further back, to some of the adventures they’d all had together. Then, with time ticking away, Herdis decided to go take one last look around the market, and add to her list of souvenirs now that she’d been able to ship the established pile home. And Jaquan said something about checking for engine parts, but Gaylen suspected the point was more to give him and Kiris some time alone. He was a good friend like that.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“They really mean it, you know,” the golden woman said. She shifted and lay down, using his thigh as a pillow, and looking up into his face. “Comradeship, fire-forged bonds. All that.”

“I know,” he said. “But these confirmations from you are always appreciated.”

“I know they are.”

“I know you know they are, and you know that I know.”

He spent a little while just stroking her hair, free and loose and long.

“Someone should make pillows out of this stuff,” he mused. “Chanei hair. I don’t understand how human hair can feel this soft and satisfying to the touch.”

“Mmm,” Kiris vocalised in a half-conscious fashion, as she simply zoned out and enjoyed the attention.

“Maybe we could do that when we get tired of flying. Settle down somewhere, and rent out use of growth tanks. You provide the samples and we let them grow. We’ll make a killing on luxury items.”

“Hm.”

Gaylen knew she was always reading people. It was automatic for her. But now she seemed to be deliberate about it.

“And do you think you will ever get tired of flying?”

He hadn’t expected a serious question, and he bought time with some more hair-stroking.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve… I’ve been in constant motion since the verge of adulthood. Ever since I had to go on the run. I don’t know how else to live. I don’t know who stationary me would be.”

“Hm.”

Her fingers found his again.

“Gaylen.”

“Yes?”

“It’s alright to be frightened and unsure,” she told him. “Trust me. I see it so much.”

He didn’t have anything to say to that. Not about himself.

“And you?” he asked. “Are you afraid of the unknown future?”

“I have found a certain peace,” she told him. “A combination of within and…”

She squeezed his hand a little.

“Without. And I’ll be happy to see you find yours, any way you need it.”

“You are quite good at getting me peaceful,” he said, and started to smile again.

She smiled back.

“Sssound isssolation,” she whispered, and packed a lot of subtle Chanei magic in the way she drew the s’s out, tingling his spine. “Ssshould we be very naughty?”

“You are very naughty just for suggesting that,” he told her.

“Mmm…”

There was yet more magic in that soft throat noise, and in the way her eyes narrowed just a tiny bit. All that overpowered empathy allowed a Chanei to tell exactly how to excite someone.

“And you’re going to punish me, are you?”

“We’ll see,” he told her. “We’ll see.”

# # #

The Addax was fully stocked, all systems were in order, everything was properly sealed up, and Bers had staggered through the airlock with bourbon on his breath and a mile-wide grin on his face. Herdis’s luggage was back in the women’s quarters, and her rifle was unpacked, assembled, tested, and in easy reach. The woman herself was back in the copilot’s chair, and once again put her hands on the defence cannon controls.

“I’m happy to leave this to you,” Kiris said, and patted the other woman on the shoulder.

“Happy to be doing it, Goldie,” Herdis replied.

The Chanei opened the hatch in the floor and went down the ladder, to join Jaquan in managing the engine. Gaylen gave all the instruments, and his controls, one last lookover. There was no excuse for being sloppy when pitting yourself against the vast void itself.

“All good?” Herdis asked.

“All good.”

Gaylen sent a signal to the dock controls, and the air was drained out before the outer airlock slid open. He delicately lifted the Addax off the floor, shifted the swivel-thrusters, and took the ship out. Black Brayer, big though it was, soon became a mere speck to the naked eye, and a slightly bigger one to the ship’s heat cameras.

He checked for incoming traffic, and finding none at the moment he aligned the Addax the right way along the local lane.

“Back to this…” Herdis said in her seat, looking excited. “Let’s see what we get.”

“Yes. Let’s.”

He activated leap, and sent them into the Other.