“All right. Now, what's your name, what are you doing here and why the heck did you decide to break a one-hundred year embargo."

"What?" asked Jayden, still addled by shock and tiredness, and now adding confusion to the mix.

"No-one's come to Delta 4 for over 100 years. You're the first skiff trader to arrive in my lifetime, my dad's lifetime and my granddad's lifetime. The only reason I knew what you were was because of stories my great-grandfather used to tell to my dad when he was a little boy. And my dad passed them on to me - as bedtime stories."

"My name's Jayden. I ran out of time to do a good run on my normal routes. My mother is very ill. If I don't get the money I need in the next few days, she's going to get even sicker - and I'll probably lose my boat. So I took a chance on coming to the Delta Quadrant, hoping for a simple cargo with a quick turnaround to race back home and cash in."

"Jayden huh. My name's Maggie.", Maggie said putting her hand out to shake Jayden's. Jayden responded reflexively, and was surprised by the strength of Maggie's grasp. No wonder she could swing so easily on those iron rails!

"Alright, now we know who you are, what are we going to do with you?", Maggie asked.

"Umm, I dunno. I have no idea what's going on. What am I supposed to do? How can I get my skiff back? Why did you rescue me? And how did you even know to look for me?"

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“Woah there!”, Maggie laughed, “Let’s take one question at a time. First question – I didn’t know to look for you. I was down at the docks for different reasons and heard the commotion. As soon as I saw you were heading for pier 37, I raced down and snuck behind you as you cruised under the pier. It's not like you were looking up."

"Yeah, 100% of my attention was looking behind me, making sure I didn't get shot in the back. Why are they so angry? Why do they hate skiff traders? Why were they trying to kill me?"

Maggie laughed again. "You’re sure full of questions Jayden. Probably a few too many to answer tonight. The short of it is, the last batch of skiff traders weren't very good people. The deals that they were trying to make weren't very fair. And a whole bunch of other stuff happened that made them pretty unpopular. Eventually they were told to never come back. A few of them tried. And when they arrived here, they were summarily executed. Not even a trial. It wasn't fair. But then what happened wasn't fair either.

“After that happened two or three times, people stopped coming. Which is what Delta 4 wanted.

"So skiff trading stopped. And now… you're here.

“Let me tell you, you've just stirred up a hornet's nest. We've got to find out how to hide you, preferably in plain sight, so they see you, and don't realise who you are. Otherwise we'll have to get you out of town, as far away as possible.

“The important thing is, by tomorrow morning, you better be either a local or non-existent. Because nowhere in town is going to be safe for you. There won't be anywhere you can hide, because they are going to look everywhere.

“But you're no use right now, tired and lost. Why don't you eat some of that jerky, get some sleep and let me work out what to do with you. Whatever you do, don't leave this room, or it'll be the death of both of us.

“Get some rest, and I'll go see what I can do.