“You aren’t that bad, captain!” Sebastian laughed while Robin found himself sprawled on the floor once more.

“Fuck off, damn brute!” He whimpered and crawled back to his feet. It was the morning after their departure from Gaunus and the siblings had the great idea to evaluate the combat capabilities of their captain. The sparring went exactly as well as his training sessions with Patience.

Robin limped over to the bench at the side of the small fitness room and Keran handed him a towel, a big grin on his face.

“Keep that grin to yourself or I'll let him test you, too!” Robin scowled and the man raised his hands in defense.

“I do agree with Sevastian, your training is better than one would expect from a technocrafter.”

“Was it your friend who trained you? Prudence?” The red haired man asked after he also walked over.

“Patience, yes. While she doesn’t embody prudence and definitely not patience, she is indeed a good trainer.”

“She will join as a member of the security squad, right?” Alena, who was sitting next to Keran, asked with a cold stare.

“I’m not sure yet. I hope she comes with us, but… there was a lot of shit going on in her life recently and maybe she will stay at Rucasur to regain her footing. However, even if she joins, she will not become a proper member of your squad since she has no training for such a job. She would be more like an intern or trainee.”

Alena only grunted and gave a small nod. Robin understood her rejection of the idea that Patience could join as a full member. They already had Walzor as an inexperienced leader, no need to make things even harder for them.

After cleaning himself up a bit, Robin left the training room and slowly walked through the ship. The ship was split into three decks. In the back of the ship was the engine room and a little hangar where he could store the Melody II. The BWT drone was also stored there and waited to be deployed.

After that came a big laboratory in the topmost deck that reached all the way to a meeting room at the front of the Hubble. The lower deck was dotted with cabins for the crew and a kitchen/canteen/common room.

In the middle deck of the ship were the fitness room, the captain’s quarters, a storeroom and the bridge of course.

The decks were connected by two elevators that could be found at both ends of the ship.

When Robin arrived at the bridge, he saw Happy sitting in the front left seat for the pilot. The station to the right was empty.

He sat down on the captain’s seat that was in the middle, slightly behind the other ones. Niu looked up and laughed when she saw his battered state.

“Really? You too?” He sighed.

“How was the training with Hulky?” She asked.

“Hulky? You should stop giving everyone random names.” Robin said, “Painful but educational, I’m really looking forward to the first bout between him and Patience!”

“You think she will come?”

“I don’t know, but I really do hope so… That aside, how are you doing? Any opinions on the ship’s capabilities?”

“Nothing much, no. Pretty basic design, nothing out of the ordinary. We do have a great QVT that allows us to reach Rucasur in only 5 days. That’s really fast - most other ships need between 7 and 10 days, therefore we don’t have a jumpdrive. We are decently shielded - if not to say overshielded. When push comes to shove, more than 70% of the available energy can be assigned to the shields. That should buy us enough time to run away. And we should bet on running and not on fighting. The weapons are crap.”

“How are we controlling them?”

“Shields and weapons are operated from that station.” Niu pointed at the empty seat on the right.

“Okay, I’ll assign that post to Keran and Alena.” Robin promised and hesitated for a moment.

“How are you doing?”

“No word from my family so far, if that is what you mean.” She grumbled.

“That’s a good sign, isn’t it? And what about the ship?” Robin probed.

“It's great! While it’s a pretty basic model, it’s still a nice ship!”

“Yeah sure, tell that story to someone else and be honest with me.” Robin sighed and shook his head.

“The ship really isn’t too bad, just… small?” Niu muttered after a short silence, “I’ll get used to it, no worries.”

“I cannot change it right now. But you’ll get a vote when we select our own ship after the mission, ok? There are some pretty big ships on their list already…”

That got her to perk up.

“Send me the list, I’ll start to go through it!”

“Sure, when we do this job right, they will even extend the list!” Robin said and was happy to see her cheer up a bit.

“Anything else? I really could use a shower”

“Ah yes, one more thing.” Niu said, “We are a bit understaffed. With only one pilot, the ship is always on autonomous mode when I’m asleep or not available. While that is manageable, it’s not optimal. You wanna extend your license anyways, right? Why don’t you join me on the bridge every now and then and I’ll explain how everything works. That would help you to prepare for the interplanetary license and could come in handy, when you're needed here.”

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“That’s a great idea, I would really like that!” Robin immediately agreed, not only would he be more useful on this ship, he would also have good reasons to accompany Happy on the bridge so she wouldn’t be on her own all the time.

“But now, I really need that shower!”

“See ya later, captain!” Niu waved him goodbyes.

***

“... more and more settlements get attacked and there is unrest rising in many of the galaxies at the outer rim of the Civilized Territories! The UAS has yet to publish a statement.”

“That’s horrible, Jason. Please tell me we do have at least some good news for our audience, too.”

“Well, not directly good news, but some spicy rumors! The Drel are getting more active after millennia of laying low. Lately they were seen more often in the neighboring galaxies of their homeworld. There are rumors that they lost a few of their weapon-research facilities in some kind of accident - it is suspected that they blew themselves up while testing a new bomb of sorts!”

“The Drel? We haven’t heard of them in ages. The accidents sound terrible, though.”

“Yeah, shit must have really hit the fan. The rumors claim that they not only lost the facilities, but even the whole moons they were built upon!”

“Wow! A good reminder of the deadliness of their weapons…”

Robin turned off the screen and shook his head. More disturbing news came every week. He got the feeling that something was brewing out there in the endlessness of the universe. Like a monster that began to stir in its sleep, just before it woke up.

Five days had passed since their departure and they should be nearing their destination any minute now.

Half an hour later, Robin was sitting in his captain’s seat while Niu occupied the pilot's place and Keran manned the final station.

Through the window they could see Rucasur growing bigger at a rapid pace. They already dropped out of superluminal travel and planned to land in Seka.

‘It only has been a bit more than three weeks, but it’s already strange to come home like this… as the captain of an interplanetary exploration vessel!’ Robin’s head began to spin a bit when the situation sank in for real, but quickly got his bearings again.

“Keran, contact Flight Control and get us a landing pad.” He ordered.

After only 40 minutes, Niu brought the Hubble down as soft as a feather. All around them were other ships parked and Robin realized that this was his first visit to Seka Spaceport. Since only interplanetary ships came here for trading, restocking or whatever reason they had, he never visited this place before.

“Great landing, thanks Niu!” He said and stood up.

“Let’s get out of here. Keran, can you please arrange the refueling? We are only down by 10% but there is no reason not to max out again before we leave.”

“Sure, will be done. How long will we stay?”

“Only until evening, that is… 8 hours? Walzor will meet us here then.” Robin checked the time and turned to Niu, “You have any plans?”

“Yep, I’ll bring Alena to some great places for shopping!” She giggled.

“That… okay, why not.” Robin shrugged, even so he could hardly imagine the cold Alena going on a shopping spree, who was he to judge? Great to see Niu was already warming up with the rest of the team.

When Robin and Niu arrived at the elevator that’d take them outside, the siblings were already waiting.

“Hey captain!” Sevastian greeted him.

“After beating me up every day, you really should stick to Robin and leave the ‘captain’ be - feels like you’re mocking me.” Robin laughed while the platform dropped down through a pressure lock.

“All right, Robin. You’re going to get your friend?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet up with her at my boss’s workshop and also bring back the Melody II. Please be back at the ship in 8 hours. I don’t wanna stay here longer than necessary.”

They quickly split up and Robin found himself sitting in one of Seka’s trains only minutes later. A bit of melancholy washed over him when he saw the familiar buildings of Quantum Forge District passing by. After he got off the train, Robin slowly made his way towards the workshop.

***

Standing in front of the vexed door, it was actually unlocked but refused to move on its own. Robin chuckled and pushed it open.

The hall was only dimly lit and almost empty, only the Melody II was still there, reminding one of the intended purpose of these rooms. The floor was as clean as the rest of the workshop, Robin however stopped at one particular spot and looked down. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists - anger tried to rise in him, but he fought it down. This wasn't the right place or time for that.

He let go of a deep breath and walked into the office with steady steps. The woman with the long blue hair sat on the old couch already, three drinks were waiting on the table. Robin looked at Patience for a moment and then sat down next to her. He gave her one of the cups, took one for himself and placed the last one on the chair Jim always sat on.

“To Jim!” Patience said and raised her cup.

“To Jim!”

They took a few sips and then Robin emptied Jim’s cup over the chair, soaking it in alcohol.

“How are you doing, Patience?”

“Better, I think… and you?”

“Yeah, better, too. I was able to distract myself with the preparations for the expedition… even met some Cetro on my way, but nothing substantial for now.”

“You are still on it?” She asked after a moment of silence.

“I’m not one to break a promise easily. I’ll use every method I have at hand - I even made it part of my deal for this job that the UAS supports in the search for TechnoBlood.”

“...thanks…” Patience muttered.

“I’m not doing that for you, I’m doing it for Jim… and for me.”

They continued to drink for some time, before Robin put his cup down and looked at his friend.

“How is the training with the new studio? Made any progress?”

“‘Tch, are you looking for another training session?” Patience scoffed.

“Nah, got beaten up every day on my way here. It must have something to do with your G-Anomaly that you are so violently inclined.”

“Sounds like you found yourself some worthy substitute coach!” She chuckled.

“Maybe, but I still prefer to train with you.” Robin said and leaned back, “Time is running out, Patience. Have you made up your mind?”

“Yeah, I did.” She said and hesitated, “I’ll join in on this expedition and make sure you aren’t messing this up. Also, I wanna spend some time with Happy… It has been too long!”

Robin began to grin, he really hoped she would come, but wasn’t sure until this moment.

“That’s great! I’m happy to have you aboard!” He exclaimed cheerfully but Patience raised a hand to calm him down.

“I’ll join in on this expedition and only on this one. I accepted a job as coach for juniors of RustHollow Quarters. It begins in three months and Niu said we should be back by then, right?”

“Yeah, right, but…” Robin began but was interrupted.

“This way of life isn’t for me, Rob. It’s great as a fun adventure and all, but I don’t want my whole life to be like that. I had enough time to think about this and I see my future here in my familiar surroundings… my home.”

Robin kept quiet and tried to understand her perspective. She was probably right, not everyone was hyped to weather the dangers of the universe every day. He could respect that.

“Then let’s make this last adventure count, should we?” He said with an impish grin on his face.

“Let’s make it count!” Patience agreed and raised her cup again.