“Finally,” Hu Veo said as Gaylen presented the cylinder.

“Yes. Finally.”

She received him in her office, right in the centre of the complex. The woman didn’t get up from her high-backed, lacquered chair. An aide stepped over, took the cylinder out of Gaylen’s hands, then joined her boss behind the desk and opened it.

A last hint of worry made itself felt deep within his gut as the port overseer peered at whatever this whole thing had been about. Maybe the painkillers Herdis had given him were why it wasn’t more than a hint.

But the woman simply reattached the lid without any kind of reaction, and the aide placed the cylinder on the desk.

“So, you’re satisfied?” he asked.

“With the delivery, if not the time it took,” Hu Veo replied, rather imperiously.

“I’m still within the deadline,” he replied calmly. He wasn’t surprised at the attitude. Out here someone like her rarely interacted with anyone on their own level. That, and the office itself was an ostentatious fever dream of precious metals and fancy fabrics.

“Quite, quite,” she went on in that same tone. “And I understand you flew here on the entirety of your reward for this job.”

“I did.”

A single twitch of her eyebrow made sure how little she thought of a single ship. Then a glance at the aide caused the younger woman to produce a folded sheet.

“This arrived well ahead of you,” Hu Veo said as the aide handed it over to him. “From our mutual acquaintance.”

Gaylen unfolded the sheet. It was the blueprint of a Mark II Kirian model civilian freighter. The Addax. And added to it with a red pen were two small dots. These were the locations of the two tracking devices Lanson had agreed to let him know of.

He grinned.

“I understand this fully settles matters,” the woman said, with an obvious desire to have this over with.

“It does, it does,” he said. Presumably Lanson had sent this along with other messages or items he didn’t mind being intercepted.

“Good. Then please be on your way. And I will thank you not to speak of that mess that took place beneath my feet.”

“Makes no difference to me,” Gaylen replied and stuck the sheet into a coat pocket. “Good day.”

“Good day.”

Jaquan waited for him outside the office, as did the two local employees who’d escorted them from the station’s outer section. A single nod confirmed to his friend that everything was in order, and they walked back the way they’d come.

Herdis had treated his burns more properly on the Addax, closed up the various little cuts he’d received in the rubble, and given him an anti-swelling injection. He still felt his injuries, but more as a distant throb than anything else. He didn’t care.

It was done, and the fact sank in more and more with every step he took, giving a lightness to his steps that he was almost certain had nothing to do with the drugs.

They’d done it.

Their escorts left them in the public part of the station, and soon enough they were out beneath the sky.

“So,” Jaquan said. “We’re independent now. Actually independent. As soon as we...”

Gaylen handed him the sheet.

“Oh.”

“We really are,” Gaylen told him. “As soon as you get these things out.”

“What a considerate monster, old Lanson,” his friend mused.

“He probably just wanted to wash his hands of us as fast as possible,” Gaylen said.

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By unspoken agreement they refrained from taking any of the trams, and simply walked. Ships came and went all around them, and the slowly darkening sky hung up above, filled with endless possibilities and a growing number of twinkling stars.

“We are independent,” Gaylen said through a grin. “We actually pulled it off! Can you believe it?!”

He took Jaquan’s arm and shook the man a little with childish glee.

“It’ll probably take me a few more hours, but yes,” his friend said. “I’ll wrap my head around it eventually.”

They approached the ship, and as much as the tired cynic in him tried to dismiss it as nonsense he couldn’t help but feel that the Addax had a subtly different aura to it. A different feel.

Kiris, Bers, Ayna and Herdis were gathered in the ship’s entry area.

“So, no last, last minute complications?” Kiris said, and smiled a little.

“Nope.”

Gaylen walked to the centre of the floor and clapped his hands together.

“This is it,” he said. “The first run of the Addax is completed. Your 800 G-rils are sitting in the strongbox if you want them now. Or we can hold onto them for you. If you want to stay on a more permanent basis.”

He took in these faces he’d now spent weeks with, two familiar to begin with and three who had become so.

“I know this has been a tough one...”

“Eh...” Bers vocalised dismissively, through a smile. Gaylen thought of all the marks on the man’s body.

“... but it’s over and done with. No more jobs for crime bosses, no more messing around with gangs or mercenaries. Jaquan and I are starting this thing up specifically to get away from all that. There are plenty of more legitimate or at least less dangerous jobs to be had. And I think we’ve all proven ourselves to each other. We are all pretty amazing survivors, each in our own way.”

“Awww,” Ayna said with exaggerated flair, and Herdis lightly prodded her arm for silence.

“And, honestly...” Jaquan added. “I think we’ve used up all of our bad luck for this one. Statistically, I feel we ought to have a pretty smooth ride from here on.”

“I would argue with that kind of thinking...” Gaylen said. “But yes. So, what do you say?”

“I’m on board,” Ayna said. “This is an interesting bunch, and we’re seeing interesting sights. And honestly, I don’t know what you’d do without me watching your backs.”

“I’ll try a bit longer, at least,” Herdis said. “This is proving to be a very eventful kouru. I could do with spacing events out a bit more, but we’ll try, won’t we?”

“Me too,” Bers said, and nodded as if his head wasn’t entirely attached to his neck. “Fun.”

“Pressure’s on you now, Goldengirl,” Ayna said to Kiris with playful mockery.

The Chanei turned to her with raised eyebrows, but a smile.

“I’ll stay, Snowball. For now, at least.”

She turned back to Gaylen.

“This all... this works. This whole setup. The ship, the plans and... the people.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty great,” Ayna said through a grin.

Gaylen smiled. It wasn’t a show; some part of his new role as leader. He was just happy. And the realisation felt a bit strange.

“Good,” he said. “Then let me say it again: Welcome to the Addax.”

“Plan?” Bers said. “Is plan?”

“We’re on Gveloh,” Gaylen said. “There are always small delivery jobs to be found in places like this. We can deliver medicine or fabrics to some deep-rock, or fetch minerals there for a minor company. We’ll just look up the listings and see what we like.”

“Before we do any of that...” Ayna said and held up her index finger. “I’d like to make a humble suggestion.”

“How humble is it, actually?” Gaylen asked.

“We’ve all been through quite a lot of bother. Gunfire and danger and engine troubles and I’ve had to share a diet with an ascetic warrior for days. What say we all go out for drinks, and a nice meal, and then more drinks? As a group?”

“We deserve it,” Jaquan said.

“We do,” Gaylen agreed. “Is everyone on board?”

Kiris, Bers and Herdis nodded.

“Good, good. I just need Jaquan to do a bit of quick maintenance, and I’ll go over some systems in the cockpit. Then I’d say we’re good to go.”

“Sweetness,” Herdis said. “I’m going to change into something nicer.”

“Right. Jaquan?”

“I should only take about fifteen minutes,” his friend replied.

“Alright.”

Gaylen walked through the group as it began dispersing. He was halfway up the stairs when Kiris said his name.

The golden Chanei looked at him in silence for a moment or two. Then she gave him a smile. An earnest one.

“Congratulations,” she said. “I know what this means to you.”

Given her overpowered people-reading abilities... yes, she certainly would.

“Thanks,” he said. “And thanks for staying.”

He walked on up, through the living room and into the cockpit. He closed the door behind him, then took it all with a slightly different eye than before.

Gaylen sat down in the pilot’s chair and touched the controls. This was his now. He was a freelancer.

He leaned back in the seat and punched his fists up in the air.

“YES!”