It was three days into their slow side journey that things got interesting again.

“Heat signature,” Gaylen said out loud as his sensors took in their latest stop.

Herdis just sat in her spot, visibly ready for trouble as she awaited further information.

“A ship has passed by not that long ago,” he continued, half to himself, and worked the systems. “Passed... oh, there it is.”

It was quite faint and quite some distance off, right at the edge of his sensors’ ability to detect. But something was drifting without propulsion but with a little bit of power.

“Jaquan, how long until you’d say we’re good to leap again?”

“I really wouldn’t try again within thirty minutes at least,” his friend said through the intercom. “Is something wrong?”

Gaylen went over the facts he had. They were well away from the next system, right in the absolute depths of space. And this was hardly a typical intersection; they’d chosen the route specifically to avoid those. There was, in fact, a decent chance no one had ever actually stopped at this exact spot. And however much he tried, he couldn’t think of any way for the Browns or anyone doing their bidding to deduce the Addax would be here at this time.

“I doubt it,” he settled on. “But stay at the ready anyway.”

He hit the ship-wide comm.

“Everybody, we’ve encountered someone in the depths of space. They’re running fairly cold, but they are a good distance away and aren’t heading in our direction. There’s little reason to suspect more pirates, but I’m going to let the reactor recover fully before I attempt contact. If we’re lucky we can trade for rak-coils, and skip the whole null-world business altogether.”

“That would be a lucky bonus,” Herdis said as he ended the announcement.

“Sometimes you get those out here,” Gaylen said. “Just the same as you get disasters. And you have to be willing and ready to react to either.”

“That’s just life though, isn’t it?”

He grinned a bit, although he felt a touch of melancholy as his last days within the Federation occurred to him.

“Yeah. I suppose it is.”

“Have you had any dramatic findings on the outer lanes?” she asked, relaxing in the face of his own relaxation.

“Sure,” he said, slowed their drift, and then tilted his chair back for comfort. “The sea of stars is big, but people have also been traversing it for a veeery long time. Out here, away from the core states and packed lanes there are still plenty of spots that have been forgotten. Failed colonies, wrecks, isolated communities, automated ships long since gone cold, old battle sites...”

He got lost for a few breaths, thinking back. Then he shook himself out of it.

“Two months ago me and Jaquan had a lucky break. A ship had suffered a breakdown of its leap systems, and we got our share of the salvage reward. It wasn’t enough to buy a decent ship, but it was enough to give one a basic overhaul and pay a crew for a while. So we decided to finally make all this happen.”

He tapped his foot against the instrument panel.

“We meant to save up for a while, but then that operation fell into our laps. And now here we are.”

Herdis nodded.

“It’s better to regret failing than to regret not trying,” the woman said. “So try. It’s a lesson one of my wives keeps telling to our kids.”

“Six people with four children,” Gaylen mused out loud. “How many of you are blood parents?”

“We are... we are all their parents,” Herdis said with some displeasure, and he could tell he’d stumbled over one of those cultural taboos. He’d long since taught himself not to flinch at these run-ins. One encountered way too many cultures and subgroups on the lanes to be able to learn all their little rules and sore spots.

“Fair enough,” he said casually, and to the woman’s credit she didn’t make an issue of it. “What ages are they?”

“Three to eight.”

He just nodded, having nothing at all to add to that. He hated it when he talked himself into a corner like this.

“Do you have any of your own?” she asked.

“Oh, no. No no. I don’t exactly have the lifestyle for it. And... well, I don’t exactly lament the fact these days. A little while back it dawned on me that I was only haunted by childlessness because every damn society out there kept telling me to be haunted by it.”

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He wasn’t sure she understood, but the woman copied his nod.

“We are all different.”

“We sure are.”

In time the engine had cooled enough for Jaquan’s liking, and it was time to act.

“Right. Let’s announce ourselves.”

He sped the ship up slightly, and sent a universal hail. There was no immediate response, nor did the object shift its direction. Gaylen let the Addax drift closer and closer, and things gradually came into greater relief.

It was quite a large vessel. Not as big as the old space hulks, but Gaylen still estimated about one billion cubic metres. The shape was unusual, giving the impression that it had been cobbled together from at least two different ships, and it looked anything but agile. This was a truly old-style long journey ship, and something about its silhouette tickled Gaylen’s memory.

“How old is this thing??” Herdis said with some wonder.

“Centuries,” he replied. “At least.”

He tried a general hail again, still getting no response.

The ship itself had no power, or at least most of it didn’t. How could it, after so long?

“Looks like a salvage operation to me,” he said, and now opened up a voice call. “Hail. This is civilian freighter Addax. Please respond.”

Closer still they drifted.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ship this old,” Herdis mused.

“Aren’t there any old hulks on your world?” he asked.

“No. Anastahan was founded after that era.”

“Right. Hail, this is civilian freighter Addax! Please respond.”

Finally the Incoming light lit up.

“This find has been claimed,” said a male voice. “By the Unak Salvage Crew, licensed out of Wiraw.”

“We are not interested in salvage,” Gaylen told him back. “We were hoping to trade.”

“Trade?” said the voice.

“We are experiencing some engine troubles,” Gaylen said. “Do you have two rak-coils to spare?”

“You’re stuck drifting?”

“No. But two more coils would make things a lot easier for us.”

“And what do you have to trade?”

“For currency we mostly have Gybo-rils,” Gaylen told him. “We also have used armour, weapons, and spacer rations that we’re willing to part with.”

He really wasn’t terribly willing to part with the pirate loot, but if it meant getting to skip the null-world he’d accept it.

“What’s your name, chum?” the man asked after a brief silence.

“Gaylen Qin.”

“Pol Jon,” the man said. “I will speak to the captain.”

“Alright.”

The comm went silent but the connection remained open. Herdis looked like she wanted to speak up, and so Gaylen muted their outgoing.

“Do you think they might try to rip us off?” she asked.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Gaylen said. “But really, only because there is no point in being surprised by people out here. You meet all kinds. Of course, all kinds does include decent folk. And if they are a professional salvage outfit they’ll probably just ask a fair price. They benefit from a good reputation, same as anyone.”

“Well, after the pirates... just on balance, we ought to run into sweet darlings.”

Gaylen gave her a half-smile.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if it worked that way?”

After a little while Pol Jon returned and Gaylen undid the mute.

“I spoke to the captain, and she’s fine with it,” the man said. “But she doesn’t want you setting down in the same hangar as us.”

Pol sent an image through their link, highlighting two small hangars on either side of the ship.

“We already got basic functions going on that other one,” he said. “And set up an air corridor between. And gravity. You should be able to open it from the outside. How many are you?”

“Six.”

“Right. But no straying. That’s a hard rule, if you want those coils. The ship isn’t safe, and like I said: We have a claim.”

“Fair enough.”

“We’ll meet you halfway through. See you there.”

“Yes. See you.”

Gaylen cut the call, then headed straight for the big, old ship.

“Such a warm welcome,” Herdis said dryly.

“Well, out here in nowhere and with a major find on their hands they have good reason to show caution. Don’t take it personally.”

He tapped his gun.

“Of course, we have good reason to show caution too, and he has no business taking that personally either.”

He steered the Addax into an arc, heading around the ship and to that airlock.

“Let’s see what we have on our hands.”