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“Your sister?” I said, swivelling round, “Why does she sound like she hates you? You know, your sister hating you is much more depressing than Overseer hating me.”

No it is not

“Quiet, you. Bonfire?”

She stared blankly at the screen, trembling ever so slightly, “I… I would rather avoid confrontation with her, if at all possible.”

I groaned, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

I flicked the switch to open the comm channel again and said, “Mantis, this is Princess, we cannot hand our passenger over until we arrive at Reverie station–” I held a finger to my lips when Bonfire looked like she was about to furiously interrupt, “We have an arrangement. I didn’t trek to this backwater station for the good of my health. Once we dock, we can talk. Over.”

Compel: Miss

Burn Momentum: Weak hit

“Fine. On one condition– The Poltergeist docks first. Over.”

“Copy. Over.”

I turned the comms off and leaned heavily back in my chair, heart pounding, “Bleedin’ hell. I thought she was about to turn us to space dust.”

“I presume you have a plan for how we are to handle this?” Bonfire said, voice strangled.

I shrugged, “I’ll come up with something. Gotten out of worse scrapes than this. Just know said scrapes are usually better dealt with on a vessel a tad more sturdy than the Nomad. But. That’s not the issue at hand - you never said shit about being chased by anyone. Got enough folks on my tail, I can’t be worrying about people on yours, especially when you don’t bloody tell me about them.”

That was, perhaps, not the best thing to reveal to a Bounty Hunter. But I was already in too deep, “You need to start talking,” I said, “Because I’m about this close to losing what little trust I had in you.”

Compel: Miss

“I owe you nothing. I am paying you to take me to Reverie station safely. Avoiding my sister is now simply a part of that.”

Endure Stress: Strong Hit

I grit my teeth, “Well then. If that’s how it is.”

“It is.”

“Let’s get you to Reverie.”

Test Relationship: Strong hit

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It took half an hour for The Poltergeist to dock at Reverie, time which I spent preparing.

First, I set the Overseer to scanning passenger logs in the weave to try and figure out if there was anyone readily impersonate-able.

Secure an advantage: Weak hit

Then, I retreated to my cabin, telling Bonfire I was going to change out of my flight suit, which I technically did if you were the kind of person who counted putting on a jacket as getting changed. After that, though, I took a seat on the edge of my bunk and breathed out slowly, focusing on the thin thread of energy seemingly always present at my core.

Gather Energy: Strong Hit

Embers flared at the tips of my fingers as the thread strengthened. There. Now I was ready. Not that I was going to be using this particular ability unless absolutely necessary.

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Ash, The Poltergeist has docked.

I went to the cockpit where Bonfire was waiting. She looked a little better than before and had gotten herself a cup of tea from the galley to clutch at, “I thought you said you were getting changed?”

I flicked the collar of my jacket up. “The hell do you think this is?”

There’s no use reasoning with him, Mistress Bonfire, so don’t even try.

Ignoring Overdickhead, I found the channel for the port authority and hailed them, “Reverie Port Authority, this is Princess of the Ornither class vessel Nomad seeking permission to dock, over.”

“Copy Princess, please stand by. Over.”

They disconnected, leaving us in tense silence.

“So… what is our plan?” Bonfire asked eventually.

I cracked my knuckles, “An old trick I’ve used a few times. See, whenever someone docks at a big station like this, they get given a docking reference. Docking references aren’t generally public information, but they’re usually pretty easy to access for anyone even slightly determined. If you get the docking reference, you can tell exactly which docking ring someone’s hooked up to, and usually a lot of other info that the port authorities like to collect. We don’t want your sister doing that, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

I reached into one of the draws and pulled out a data chip, “Now this is a nifty little programme that lets us not do that.” I didn’t tell her that I had no idea how it worked, “If we sneak this this into the data packet that the port collects about our ship, it should, with any luck, completely fuck up that record.”

“Won’t they notice that their records are a mess?”

“Sure, if they bother to check ‘em. Which, at a port this big, nine times out of ten they won’t. And if they do, they’ll probably put it down to their own systems playing up.”

“Princess, this is Port Authority, send us your ship data, over.”

I grinned, “Copy, sending now. Over.”

Face Danger: Weak hit

We settled in the wait as the port completed their procedures then, very slowly, extended the docking ring out to us.

There was a grinding screech as the ring locked on, and Bonfire and I both winced.

Ash, you’re breaking the ship.

I winced. It wasn’t wrong, “Nothing to worry about!” I told Bonfire quickly, “The docking ring just isn’t quite sure what size we are.”

Withstand Damage: Strong hit

There was a satisfying clunk as the ring finally managed to properly lock onto the airlock, “See!” I told Bonfire, “All sorted, let’s go!”

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Our first look inside Reverie station wasn’t particularly exciting. We’d ended up docking in ring thirty two, bay twelve and it was about as out of the way as those numbers would imply, tucked away beside a door labelled only ‘septic’.

In accordance with Reverie Station regulations regarding civilian attire, Bonfire had stripped her full body armour down to only a light chest plate worn over a long sleeved shirt made from some kind of soft reinforced fabric. He blaster hung prominently from her hip, and her dark hair was pinned tightly to the back of her skull.

“You know this is a mining station, right?” I said as we waited for the airlock to open, eyeing the gun nervously.

“So? I am not a miner.”

And, well, there was no real way to argue with that.

Soon after, a representative of the port authority arrived to let us in properly. “You the crew of the Nomad?” he said upon seeing us. He was a larger man, muscles sculpting his arms nicely beneath his Reverie crew uniform, which was a green flight suit, a Quint family crest gracing a shoulder beneath the Reverie crest proper.

“That we are,” I said, “Callsigns Princess and…” I glanced at Bonfire, “Mouse.”

Compel: Miss

He paused, looking us both over, “You two don’t look like the usual sort. What’s your business on Reverie?”

“Err…” I scrambled, and Bonfire stepped in.

“Courier service. I am his bodyguard. We are only passing through.”

I nodded quickly, “Yeah, you know how it is, too long out there and the drift starts getting to ya. Started hearing stuff yesterday, figured it was time to stop over a few nights before trying to make it to the scorched gap.”

Compel: Miss

“Now, I’m not sure what you two’re about, but I don’t appreciate being lied to. Why don’t you follow me to the port master’s office and we can sort this out proper?”

I grit my teeth. Bonfire’s fingers twitched toward her blaster, but I stopped her with a hand to her arm, “Of course sir, apologies. We’ll be right along.”

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