They gathered around the table for a slightly early lunch.

There wasn’t much that could be done to make typical spacer rations exciting, but Bers had put in an admirable effort, adding spices of some sort he’d brought with him. Gaylen let everyone take their first few bites of rectangular bread and rectangular, spongy protein bars, washed down with water from rectangular glasses, before he spoke.

“Right,” he said to Jaquan. “What can you tell us?”

“I had to replace some wiring, and a few connectors,” the engineer said. “Very typical for a disruptor attack.”

He was normally less animated when he was the centre of attention, but then he was discussing his vocation.

“The real problem is with our leap-reactor. They fried all four of our rak-coils.”

“We have replacements, don’t we?” Kiris asked.

“We have two replacements.”

He sighed.

“I replaced all four back in the dock. Really, this is a very rare case. We just got unlucky.”

“We’re... we’re not stuck though, are we?” Ayna asked. “We can still leap with just two, right?”

“We can,” he said. “If I manage the engine carefully. And if we make short leaps and allow ourselves time between them. We can make it to Farkon Kana Station...”

He activated the table’s starmap and drew in the route from their location to the station, the nearest stopover on the nearest main lane.

“... in about three days.”

“But we shouldn’t,” Gaylen said.

He let his words hang for a moment. He wasn’t enjoying this.

“This has something to do with those pirates,” Kiris said.

He met her piercing gaze. It hadn’t been a question. He knew she was evaluating him in dozens of little ways, waiting to catch a lie or an evasion. And she was very good at it. It was a feature of her people.

“It does,” he admitted. “It seems the man who gave me the run didn’t mind his seals: An outfit called the Brecke Browns wants what we’re transporting. They hired the pirates to deliver the ship to Farkon Kana. So they’ll be there. And Farkon Kana Station is in that sweet spot: Small enough that new arrivals can be watched, but chaotic enough that they might risk attacking us.”

“So!” Bers said in his constant bark of a voice. “Two.”

“Two outfits we’ll have to look out for?” Ayna said.

“It does look that way, yes,” Gaylen said.

He did his best to simply be at ease and not show discomfort.

“Have you been honest with us, Gaylen?” Herdis asked neutrally.

He turned her way, but remained aware of Kiris’s golden, piercing eyes in his peripheral.

“I think I have been, yes,” he told her. “I have some personal issues with the Browns, but I honestly had no inkling that they would be interested in the delivery.”

Or that Eldin would be stupid enough to cross Lanson.

“Well, I’d say the station is out, then,” Ayna said. “I think we’ve had enough shooting for now.”

“Yes,” Gaylen said. “Luckily, we have an alternative.”

He turned everyone’s attention back to the map, and drew out a new route, still well away from commonly used lanes.

“Andan,” he said, and tapped on a lifeworld. “There was a big space battle in its orbit decades ago. The wrecks ended up on the surface, and remain there to this day.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“And you’re telling me they haven’t been stripped b...” Ayna said, then looked closer. “Wait, I see it’s listed as a null-world.”

Herdis raised her eyebrows.

“Wait, we’re going to set down on a null-world??”

“It’s not as risky as it used to be,” Gaylen told her calmly. “Modern electronics can hold up for a while.”

“Define ‘a while’, please,” she told him, clearly not thrilled.

“Long enough for us to make a landing, drop a team off by one of the wrecks, then fly back up into space. The team extracts coils from the engine room, and then we fly back down and pick them up. Short drops like that really are fine if you have a good engineer and a good pilot. Which we do, if I may say so myself.”

“You done this before?” Bers asked.

“Me and Jaquan have, yes,” Gaylen said. “So, really... don’t worry. Things are under control.”

“And if they aren’t, then we’ll be stuck,” Kiris said. “Probably for life.”

He met her gaze, returning some of that challenge back on her.

“They are.”

“So, regular stops?” Ayna said. “How long will it all take?”

It seemed a blatant attempt to distract from any tensions, but he was glad for it.

“We ought to reach Andan in five days,” Jaquan said. “And from there we can make two long leaps to reach Chukata Mog.”

“It’s a much bigger place than Farkon Kana,” Gaylen said. “Big enough for us to hide in the crowd. And we’ll definitely be able to buy new coils.”

“I’ve been there,” Kiris said, for the benefit of Ayna, Bers and Herdis. “And yes, it’s big and busy. It’s also a good place to gather news and gossip. We could ask around about Blue Strike and the Brecke Browns; get some idea if they’re around and on our trail.”

“Yes,” Gaylen said. “We’ll also be able to sell our findings.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the equipment taken off the pirates and arranged on one of the counters: Guns, blades for dealing with energy shields or good armour, undersuits and various hard armour pieces.

“Isn’t anyone going to ask where we got armour that someone died in?” Herdis asked, somewhat sceptically.

“A few,” Gaylen admitted. “But we’ll just not approach those.”

He wasn’t worried about immediate repercussions; there was little in the way of ordered justice on Chukata Mog. But he was trying to start a lasting business here, and didn’t want to get a reputation for piracy.

“Hm. But the shield? Do you think we might get it to function again?”

She glanced at Jaquan, who looked uncomfortably at the little device, then back at her.

“I doubt it,” he admitted. “Once they’re gone they’re usually gone. And I’m not an armourer.”

“Hm.”

“Those bombs make me nervous,” Ayna admitted, and pointed at the stack of palm-sized devices.

“Those are breaching charges,” Herdis told her.

“Yes,” Jaquan said. “Not big booms. Just don’t mess around with them in the engine room. Or the cockpit.”

“I don’t mess around with bombs at all.”

“Might keep some!” Bers said, and energetically waved at the entire row of equipment. “Kill-claim!”

“I’ve been considering it,” Gaylen said. “It might be smart to have one or two more powerful guns on board, in addition to Herdis’s rifle.”

He got up and walked over to the counter. He picked up the shortened rifle, taken from that last pirate.

“What do you think?” he asked, double-checked that it was unloaded, then posed with the absurd weapon.

“Looks cool,” Ayna said through a grin.

“Cool, but impractical,” Herdis said. “Isn’t that almost as heavy as a regular rifle?”

“Yes. I’ve seen rigs like this before.”

Gaylen took in the way the weapon’s parts had been rearranged, including parts from other machines.

“Scorchspacers don’t build stuff to last. Guns like this one burn out fast.”

“Good stopping power and compact size for a short, hard engagement,” Kiris said. “Such as a boarding. Or repelling a boarding.”

“Yeah,” Gaylen said reluctantly. He’d always avoided homemade weapons to the best of his ability.

He put the hand-rifle down and patted the counter.

“We have time to think things over. But of course we’ll get better prices and use out of intact equipment. Herdis, were you taught how to maintain your suit?”

“Of course.”

“Then I want you to repair the holes. Cut up these leg-guards.”

He touched the guards he had in mind.

“And use the patches to seal the holes.”

“Alright.

“I can help with that,” Kiris said.

“Still adding to your list of skills?” Gaylen said.

“Always. It pays to be useful.”

“Good. While we’re letting the engines cool in between leaps I want you two on the armour pieces. It’ll earn us all a little extra.”

He crossed his arms.

“Now, are there any questions?”

“How many different colours are out to get us?” Ayna asked jokingly.

“Hm. To the best of my knowledge, that really is it.”

Gaylen turned on Kiris for a moment, letting her evaluate him as clearly and fully as she could possibly want.

“Right,” he then said. “Jaquan, would you say we’re ready for that first mini-leap?”