“That certainly was... interesting,” Damon Dulel said.

“I won’t argue,” Kiris replied.

They all sat at the living room table, save for Saketa. The woman was down in the cargo hold, doing one of her workouts. Or possibly meditating. Or praying. Or something. Whatever it was, it involved painful-looking poses.

“All of their shots missed,” Gaylen said. “There’s no damage to the Addax. All this whole thing has cost us is a little bit of plasma and some wasted hours.”

“You’re very relaxed about this,” Vek commented.

The man himself was enough of a professional to not be visibly shaking, but obviously the whole matter had rattled him. Of course it had. People with sane lives would be rattled.

“It happens,” Gaylen said.

“Are you sure it’s safe to just be relaxing here?” Dulel asked. “Out of the Other?”

“I didn’t leap the direct route towards Uktena Station, or any other population centre,” Gaylen told him. “There would have been a chance they’d follow us. As it stands, they have no way of knowing where we are. As such, they probably touched down on that rogue and started making repairs. And I want to let the engine cool.”

Vek laughed a bit, the tenor of it betraying the state of his nerves.

“You were right. I did get a freelance flight.”

“You did.”

“But anyway...” Jaquan said and fixed on Gaylen. “Salvage reward? We can’t fly that crashed ship to its owners, but we can give the exact location. Heck, we even have their record keeper.”

“I think those pirates will tear through the wreck,” Gaylen said. “Since they couldn’t get what they really wanted.”

“And they’ll need to use up parts for repairs,” Kiris pointed out.

“It’s maybe worth a shot, though,” Jaquan argued.

“Yeahhh...” Gaylen said reluctantly.

“Strange,” Bers said, looking unusually thoughtful. “Pirates? Want tiny thing? Flight info?”

“Yeah, what IS up with that?” Ayna said. “And that... what was his name... spent his last seconds talking about it? If I was dying I wouldn’t be thinking about my work.”

“Ah, you don’t really do work, as such,” Herdis said, adding another shot to their little faux-war.

“Hey, my normal livelihood is quite dangerous...” the Dwyyk muttered.

“It’s the Fed spirit,” Vek said sombrely, and the two women dropped their hint of levity.

The man didn’t say it out loud, but Gaylen didn’t need to be a Chanei to recognise his desire for Gaylen to speak up for it as well. It made him angry.

“Sure is,” Gaylen said dismissively. “Good for songs and public discourse within the Fed. Not as relevant way out here.”

“I’d say brutal, uncivilised places is exactly where ideology is needed,” Vek replied diplomatically, though Gaylen suspected he wanted to argue more firmly.

“Brutal places is where people need action, not ideas,” Gaylen said. “But whatever. I’ve done the calculations and this little adventure will add six hours to our flight time to Uktena. Just so you all know.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Noted,” Dulel said.

“What are you going to do about the keeper, though?” Vek asked.

The question aggravated Gaylen. His first thought was that a passenger shouldn’t be asking it, and his second, more honest one was acknowledging that it pricked his conscience.

“Black ops make me uneasy,” he said, keeping himself civil.

“We could... just... you know, play dumb,” Ayna said. “Pretend we don’t know this has something to do with... spying or whatever. Have you looked at the data at all?”

“No. Word has it that black ops outfits fly heavily encoded keepers, that delete if accessed improperly.”

“Well, there you go,” she insisted. “We couldn’t possibly know anything people wouldn’t want us to.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “There’s someone I could talk to on the station.”

He cleared his throat.

“Let’s talk about something else.”

# # #

Uktena Station was the most notable stop for quite some distance. It didn’t lead directly to anywhere important, but intersected a great many routes to lesser places. It all added up.

Like several others of its kind, it had started out as a repurposed space hulk and additional sections had been added over time to meet demand. To the best of Gaylen’s knowledge it hosted around 9000 residents, though in these days of refugees it could be hard to be sure.

“Alright, boys and girls,” he said over the intercom. “We will be docking at Uktena in a few minutes. For those not in the know; it is a bit of a trade hub and so is relatively civilised. The ruling family maintains armed guards and there are weapons scanners at each dock. That is not to say one shouldn’t be careful in the darker, grottier corners. Especially not these days. But like any stopover of decent size, it has various services and forms of entertainment. I suggest we make use of them, after that whole unpleasantness. And for our passengers: You can get just about anywhere from here, if you plan your route well. There are lists of planned flights available, but they aren’t exhaustive. You can sometimes find a bargain by approaching spacers.”

He sent a message to the station, got a docking permit and carefully brought the Addax into a sealed bay so the cargo hold could be accessed. Gaylen left his pistol locked away; there was no need to court trouble by trying to sneak one past security. But there was also no reason not to bring a modestly-sized knife and sturdy fingerless gloves. Just in case.

He gave Iso Vek his stunner back and Saketa her large blades, and admitted he wasn’t sure how the station security felt about either. But they could rent storage lockers for a pittance.

“Can we still talk about a flight to Wembella?” Dulel said. “For my dig?”

“I’m going to see what kind of delivery opportunities are available right now,” Gaylen told him. “Once I know, then we can talk.”

“Right. And I’m going to look around for other possible flights. Do you mind if I store my equipment here in the meantime?”

Gaylen felt half-tempted to tell him not to be so bloody trusting in this part of the galaxy. But since he wasn’t planning on robbing this dope he just saved his breath.

“Sure. I expect to stay at least a full standard day here. And we have each other’s comm numbers.”

The three passengers gathered in the entry area, Vek and Saketa with their single bags and Dulel with his smallest one.

“You should maybe store most of your cash in one of those rented lockers,” Vek suggested to him as Jaquan opened the airlock.

“Ah, yes. Good idea.”

“Goodbye,” Vek said to those present. “And good luck with... all that.”

“Yeah,” Gaylen said.

Saketa just nodded, and out they went.

That’s that.

Jaquan opened the cargo ramp and they moved out two crates containing textiles. The buyer arrived, having received Gaylen’s message as he approached the station. The handoff was quick and efficient, and Gaylen closed the commission he’d taken a few stops back.

The bay had a screen linked to the station’s simple but efficient trading net, and they used it to advertise the crates of fresh fruit they’d picked up on Josi Ja. Then he glanced at the list of small-scale deliveries, making a mental note of a few of them before shutting the screen down.

“And that’s business done with,” Herdis said. “Time for some sightseeing.”

“Yes, let’s go check out some walls!” Ayna said as everyone walked to the exit. “So many walls to see on the lanes! Is anyone else excited about walls?”

Herdis playfully slapped the back of her head, and the girl giggled.

“Stations are interesting,” the woman asserted. “At least the big ones.”

“Shall we do the usual?” Kiris asked, and got a chorus of agreements.

Their usual routine on interesting stops had come to be starting with a meal or a drink at a local establishment, before people split up to pursue their individual interests or business.

It made Gaylen glad to see Kiris actually suggesting social encounters now. And of course she glanced at him and could almost certainly guess what he was happy about. Her feelings about it weren’t so transparent, though.

They walked through the exit and out into the hallway.