"Tanner Dock Thirteen, if you're leaving, thank you for coming to Mythellion and w-" Victoria and I were far enough into the crowd to smother the noise before the elevator could finish, and the next wave of passengers were pressing buttons to get to their floor before the doors could close. We'd come to the docks in the minutes after the Sun Shields reopened to ensure that the concourse would be as busy as possible and let us disappear into the crowd.

The soundscape of the docks was dominated by the thrumming engines of an Anteraxi exploratory heavy cruiser consuming most of Tanner Dock's third-floor landing stations. It took up so much space on the upper floors that several research vessels had docked on the first floor to our right, despite that usually being limited to personal craft. The violent blue neon of the ship's external stabilizers coated the entire dock in their coloured light.

"What's that doing here?" Victoria asked, having broken my rule of 'keep your head down' to stare up at the Cruiser. Anteraxi combat 'Skitter' drones coated the bottom of the war machine, each as large as my ship, if not bigger.

"Don't know. Better not to ask questions."

"I didn't think they came out this far."

"They usually don't, but it's an Anteraxi port so…"

"Maybe.." Victoria didn't ask any more questions, understanding that my drift to quiet had been turning my attention back to the crowds around us. The people that were cover for us were also potential cover for the hunters. I pushed my jacket back out of the way of my Hammerhead and the bag I had over my shoulder. We'd picked up the extra firepower in case they tried something on the docks. People were, frankly, more forgiving of violence on its way off the Station than they would be of someone shooting in a shopping plaza.

"Hey, Reg," I pulled up to the valet counter, already reaching out with my PA to accept the charge for calling the ship and not collecting it, but the bill wasn't issued.

A spike of annoyance filled my head.

"Yeah, sorry. Got caught up in something last time," I offered, still staring out at the crowd instead of into the booth. The first ships that had been locked down by the sun shield were disconnecting and firing up their engines.

A second spike. I turned.

"Shit, sorry Alea," I groaned when I connected that the annoyance was from me assuming that it was Reg at the counter. Some Thirik understood that most organics couldn't tell them apart, Alea wasn't one of them. "Wasn't looking."

The third spike of annoyance was noticeable but less severe.

"Distracted," I explained before I took another check of the crowd. Victoria hadn't bothered looking at the booth at all, scanning the tops of people's heads while occasionally flicking her eyes up to the engines of the Anteraxi cruiser. "Just need to call down my ship, cover any fees if I have them."

Instead of disappearing into the wires right away, Alea paused momentarily, holding still in the air. After a second, there was a flicker of reassurance in my head, followed by Alea flashing away into the exposed wires at the back of the Station.

"Reg, you legend," I whispered to myself once I was out of earshot. I would have to let Nolad know that his spark-kin was upholding the family legacy.

"Everything okay?" Victoria asked as a Dageral slipped into line behind us, only giving enough space to show they thought Victoria and I were together.

"They're just getting the ship. Shouldn't be long."

"I haven't seen anyone yet."

"Keep an eye."

"Of course."

Just as I felt the tell-tale static tingle of Alea returning through the wires, a collective gasp erupted throughout the concourse as a splash of red light swallowed the blue for a moment for a breath, the remnants of an engine explosion. "Shit," I hissed.

The floor shook as the shockwave reached our part of the Station, a violent rumble only controlled by some of the thousands of stabilizers of the docking bays. Heads whipped around in the crowd as people tried to locate the source.

Another dock might have just had an engine malfunction but-

That would be too convenient.

A question filled my head.

"I don't know," I answered as I returned to the counter where Alea had popped into a static-y existence. Looks like something happened at another dock.

The screen below Alea flickered on, displaying the station she'd moved my ship to. Luckily, it wasn't far. I held out my PA to offer a tip.

Thankfulness.

"Don't mention it," I answered as I pulled my wrist away; it was less than I would have tipped Reg anyway. "Okay, Victoria, let's get to my ship and get armed. Then we can call Dvall and let her know that we're not taking off when this i-"

"Kingston."

I snapped my eyes to follow Victoria's and saw the two Fotuan hunters near the elevators.

"Kingston we-"

More importantly, I saw them see her.

"Let's go," I yanked on Victoria's arm to get her started, not breaking into a run but moving through the crowd without caring whose shoulder I pushed out of the way.

My ship was close to us, just a few hundred feet. There was more ground between the Fotuans and us than between us and freedom. I pointed out the ship to Victoria; in any other situation, she might have sneered at the vintage matte-gray paint job left from its days as a service vessel, but right now, the yellow-green accents were enough to make it look like an escape plan.

I clicked my PA and told my ship to get ready for launch. The sound of the engines was overpowered by the Cruiser above us, but I saw them ignite. I didn't turn to see the Fotuan's reaction, but they were probably putting two and two together.

"Incoming message from Dvall."

"Shut up. Not now." I hissed as we pushed past the last few members of the crowd between us and the currently extending boarding ramp. The door on the side of the Gunboat Diplomat was slowly creeping open, the automated boarding process much slower than doing it manually from within the ship.

Victoria stopped on the walkway's edge, peering over the edge for a second down toward the crackling white-translucent barrier separating us from space. She glanced from the abyss to the incoming gangway, back to the abyss. "Can't this piece of shit go any faster?"

"Don't be a dick about my ship when you're about to get on it." The answer was no, it wasn't going to come any faster. I spun. The Fotuans had closed some of the distance but weren't on top of us yet.

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I reached into the bag at my side and pulled out the antique Basking, keeping the barrel pointed to the ground as I pushed the bag back out of the way and set myself to shoot.

The faster of the two Fotuans caught my eyes, there wasn't any recognition, but there was understanding. We were both hired guns.

Of course, that didn't change a damn thing.

"Kingston."

"You first."

They were close now, only a dozen rows of passersby between myself and a gunfight.

The sharp metallic clang of the gangway slamming into the edge of the dock rang out, and I heard Victoria's foot hit the metal. On cue, I snapped up the Basking just as the Fotuans watched Victoria step out into the open.

People screamed.

People ran.

People scattered.

I darted up the ramp after Victoria as confusion spread through the already nervous crowd, catching a glimpse of one of the Fotuans pulling out a gun just as they were practically thrown to the side by the waves of panic.

Victoria disappeared into the mouth of the ship. I sent the command, and the gangway started retracting with me. It might have thrown Victoria off if she'd still been running on it, but it wasn't my first hot boarding.

A crack erupted behind me, and a shot sparked uselessly against the ship's shield as the door slammed behind me, the boarding ramp snapping in as it did. I saw the sparks of another shot through the door, but there was no sign of the impact within the ship.

I still wasn't about to press our luck.

Victoria was several steps back from the door, leaning against a locker door with her lungs heaving. I pushed past her, around the disorganized armoury station and into the cockpit, sliding into my seat as part of the same motion.

The screens flickered to life as I bought out the command wires, untangling two of them.

Welcome Back, Kingston.

"Initiate undocking. Hot launch."

There is an unrecognized lifeform abor-

"Approve biomets. Undock. Hot Launch."

Approved. You are not currently connected t-"

"Yes," I pre-empted the ship, and it shuddered to life as I finally got the patches on the end of the command wires stuck onto the back of my hands, the familiar tingle of the needles slipping into my skin washed over my arms as I set my hands on the manual power controls. "Strap in, Victoria."

"Pardon?"

The ship dropped out of the dock instead of floating away from it, zipping below ground level. As the video feeds for the outside of the ship started to stream to the panels in front of me, I saw the Fotuan hunters on the dock watching us as we disappeared below the walkway. The massive translucent barrier under us gave way, letting the Gunboat Diplomat and us out into space.

"More warning next time," Victoria called out from the back of the ship.

"Sorry," I offered out of habit instead of sincerity. Everyone knew standing on a moving ship was asking for a headache and vertigo. If you were sitting, the stabilizers took care of your perception; if you were standing, they had fewer touchpoints to do so.

I took a deep breath and brought up the command log for the ship, setting timers to activate deep space supports and engines. We could leave some redundant comfort systems on for a while as long as we were in solar range.

Once I had the systems lined up, I brought up the navigation as I flew the ship slightly out of the docking zone to prevent getting a fine. We didn't have the ration or power stores to get all the way to Fotul, and I was going to need access clearance to their space either way.

Victoria walked up into the cockpit now that we were idle, ducking to avoid the doorframe as she did. She glanced over my shoulder for a second before taking the co-pilot seat. Once she was strapped in, she spoke up, "Ovigaia?"

"Mhm," I confirmed that it was the planet I had brought up on my screen.

"Why are we going there?"

"Humans can't fly in Fotuan space."

"How does-"

"Ovigaia is my- Our best chance at getting access codes."

"It is?"

"Have some friends there."

"Friends like Yinde?"

I set a course instead of responding, giving the computer time to calculate.

Incoming message from Dvall.

"Accept."

"Why the fuck did ya not answer earlier?"

"Wh-"

"Kingston, what the hell? I'm here tryin' to reach ya, and you're puttin' me on goddamn 'read.' You'd better 'ave been gettin' shot at."

Victoria looked over at me, and I shook my head. There wasn't a point to trying to explain. "What's up, Dvall. Are you al-"

"I almost got fuckin' vaporized tryin' to get to that stupid ship is what's up."

"Wait-"

"Some bastard shot it in the docks, almost took out that wing of the Station. Kingston, I was about to be in that thing. What the hell were you do-"

The ship cut her off to deliver a critical message:

Incoming ballistics.

Out of the frying pan…