Grace grabbed the trophy and pulled it out. She was now holding a fortune in…. Well, she couldn’t quite believe it valuable piece of precious metal and gemstones. Even if she were to melt it down, it would still be worth more than the ship Dryden stole, and there would be someone willing to pay twice that in this condition.

Assessing her situation, she glanced down. She was above the trophy case and above the sinkhole in the floor, and she climbed down and prepared to jump across. She took a deep breath but feeling much more nervous; she now had a lot more to lose, specifically the trophy, but also her life.

She threw the trophy across, hoping it wouldn’t get too damaged. It landed gently on the other side and bounced a couple of times, rolling back towards the gap in the floor. Had she gambled and lost everything? But it came to a stop a few centimetres shy of the edge.

Grace took a few more deep breaths while trying to control the pounding of her heart, she took a few steps back, then ran, leaping into the air. Her feet pushed away from the edge of the hole, sending her through the sky. Only then did she feel the sensation in her stomach that comes with freefall and she realised, like an idiot, she had missed. The hole rushed up at her, and she desperately attempted to grab the edge with her fingers, the tips scraping the edge only to slip away.

She waited for her life to flash before her eyes, expecting the ground several floors below her rush up to meet her.

A yank on her right wrist broke her desperate thoughts and looked joy overwhelming her as the face of Lieutenant Commander Chase stared down at her. She held onto his forearm as he hauled her up, grabbing her left arm as she came over the precipice. She lay there speechless for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Good to see you again, Grace,” he said with that smile of his. He wasn’t alone. The other archaeologist, Wokoma, was with him, and that fucker Dryden, among other naval personnel. His crew had expanded since the last time she’d seen them.

“Lieutenant Commander Chase, you’ve gone up in the world,” she said.

“Well, I suppose,” he agreed, looking her up and down. “What exactly are you up to, anyway?”

Grace felt her cheeks go red. He was as close as unexplored space came to a police officer and he wasn’t exactly about to let her walk out with it after all that.

“Oh, I found a trinket I had left in here,” she tried, looking him in the eyes while biting her lower lip, attempting to look innocent. For a split second, she thought it might actually be working.

“Holy shit, that thing’s worth more than a solid gold asteroid,” said Wokoma. “You get back to the cluster with that, you’d never have to work another day in this or your next life!”

Grace couldn’t tell if she was impressed or disgusted. Grace took a step over and leaned down to pick it up.

“Hold on. No, you don’t,” said Chase. “You don’t have an export permit.”

“What are you talking about?” Grace asked. “There’s no planetary government. What paperwork?”

“Nice try,” said Chase, “but according to Naval code 456, anything being taken off an undesignated world needs clearance with the ranking Navy commander.”

“You’re making that up,” Grace said.

“He is,” Wokoma agreed, “but naval code 4774 is pretty much what he describes.”

Grace was pleased to not be dead, but otherwise wished these guys hadn’t come. Dryden was just watching her, that smug look on his face. She felt mortified.

“If you let me take it, I can cut you both in?” she asked.

“Nice try,” said Chase, pulling out his communicator. “Trafalgar, we’ve found her. We’re heading back now.” He put the device back on his belt. “Now, what’s this about a weapon?” he asked.

Grace lifted the slate from her belt and unfolded it, loading the message to show him. “It’s this.”

“Really?” asked Chase, coming over to examine it.

“I don’t know what it does,” said Grace. “Everything about it indicates it was extremely powerful, but I’ve got no clue how it works. I haven’t been too keen to test it out alone on a planet. Way too many things can go wrong.”

“You were smart for once,” said Chase, and Grace smiled before reaching into her back pocket and handed it over.

“We’ll take it back to the Trafalgar and see what we can find out,” said Chase.

It was spherical with dials and interfaces, but had no obvious purpose.

“Any ideas?” he asked the Wokoma, who simply shrugged.

“Not one,” she replied. “Sorry.” He handed it to her. They made their way back through the stadium building towards the street, giving Wokoma time to analyse the piece of tech. She ran it under her slate, but looked even more confused.

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“I’m not getting any power readings at the moment or any indication of what it might be. The casing comprises a carbon alloy, which doesn’t give any extra clues,” she said.

“What next? Poking buttons?” asked Chase. “It’s dangerous; it could be a bomb.”

Grace snatched it back and held it at arm's length. Wokoma instinctively trying to grab it back as she held it just out of reach. In so doing, tapped the button at the first end of the cylinder.

Several lights lit up across its surface in various greens and reds. Wokoma and Chase both noticed and stepped back. Chase indicated to the rest of the team to do likewise.

“You idiot,” said Wokoma. “You had no idea that wasn’t about to go bang,” she said, getting right in the younger woman’s face.

Grace shrugged, not reacting to her proximity. “And I know that you’re in such desperate need for any weapon that you cannot sit around with it in a lab for the next ten years safely figuring out what it is.”

Chase stepped between the two women. “Grace, you’re not wrong, but that wasn’t your place to risk everyone here.”

Grace shrugged. “Maybe not, but it’s done now.”

“That’s not the position that you should be taking,” he said.

“Lady Prostitute,” said Wokoma.

“The hell did you just call me?” Grace yelled. She pushed Wokoma, almost knocking the device out of her hands.

Chase looked at her rage taking over. He had never seen her lose her temper before.

“Careful,” he said.

“She called me a—” Grace began.

“Grace, I heard what she called you. You’re overreacting,” replied Chase.

Wokoma looked confused. “What does she think I called her?”

“A lady sex worker,” Grace corrected, “sounds fancier but is just as insulting.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t,” said Wokoma. “I said, ‘Lady Prostitute.’”

“She said it again,” said Grace. Wokoma looked confused. She held up her slate, displaying the word ‘Putain’.

“No, I was speaking French. It means fuck,” replied Wokoma, throwing her arms up in frustration. She handed the cylinder to Chase.

“But you called me…” continued Grace.

“It’s French. That’s the literal meaning, I swore in French, I do that sometimes. You speak a bit of Spanish, Commander Chase?”

He shrugged, “Not really.” Chase paused for a moment. “Three beers, please?” he said.

“She asked if you speak Spanish and you’re ordering drinks?” asked Grace, who was completely confused.

“In Spanish” Chase replied.

“I think we got a translator,” said Wokoma.

“The hell?” said Grace. “They said it was a weapon.”

Wokoma shrugged. “Clearly, some people consider words more deadly than weapons.”

“No one thinks that,” said Grace though her face lit up . “But this is incredible.”

“This would allow us to open a dialogue, find out what they want, why they’re doing this,” said Chase. “Command made several attempts at communication, but nobody has been answered.”

They reached the edge of the stadium and stepped back out onto the street. Dawn was breaking over the ruined city. There was a piece of graffiti thrown over a nearby wall. Wokoma walked over to it and waved the device at it. Nothing happened.

“I was hoping it might work on this,” she said, tapping a button on the side. A wide beam, like a flashlight, projected out the end of the device. The graffiti in the middle of the beam flickered for a moment before being replaced with English wording. The text now indicated that the street was under the jurisdiction of a gang called Purple Vengeance.

“Holy shit,” said Grace. “It does work.”

“Yes, it does,” agreed Chase. “We’ve got to get the Trafalgar back to HQ. We might just be able to put a stop to all this before it truly starts.”

Wokoma nodded. She switched the button on the end again, and the lights faded.

“We’ll have to figure out how it charges,” she said. “There’s no telling how much power is left in it. No point letting Grace swear in Spanish before we can deal with the big problems.”

“Agreed,” Chase said.

“I feel singled out,” said Grace.

“You are singled out,” said Wokoma snidely.

There was a shuttle waiting at the end of the street. Chase headed over to it. Grace stepped up, following behind Wokoma, and grabbed the translator.

“This is mine. You will let me keep it,” she said.

“The trophy is yours, but I’m hanging on to this one,” said Chase but he didn’t take the translator from her, he didn’t have to Wokoma had already moved and kicked out the back of Grace’s knee and knocking her to the ground.

“Fuck!”