Ridiculous Too

1

Tazir Alvar stared silently at the mirror across from him. He was certain it was a one-way window. But until the people watching from the other side decided to come into the small interrogation room with him, he was stuck. He glanced down at his hands, his dark fingers tapping impatiently along the tabletop. There were no restraints around his wrists, so that was perhaps a positive thing.

Another glance up at the mirror showed the disarray in his long hair, weariness under his eyes. He’d just recently trimmed his beard at least. Keeping it short kept the intruding silver hairs at bay, though he hadn’t applied the same strategy to the hair atop his head. Strands of gray sliced into the black tresses at random intervals. But he preferred his hair long and had ignored the advice of associates that maybe he should cut it short.

He continued the tapping of his fingers, hoping that his spectators would take the hint and start whatever conversation they wanted. He was getting tired of just staring at himself in the mirror. He’d been brought straight to Haruka station security headquarters from Park District. The officers had brought his two children too, though their mother had been contacted to come pick them up here.

Taz nearly groaned at the thought of dealing with their mother’s questions after this. He and their mother had been on tenuous terrain since before their separation years before. This would merely add fuel to that slow-burning fire.

There was a sudden click, and the door adjacent to the mirror slid open. A tall man in officer’s grays walked in. The hair atop his head was thinning, but Taz figured him to be about the same age as himself. Maybe late 30s, early 40s.

Taz watched as the man took a seat at the other end of the table, briskly sizing him up. He was taller than Taz, but not by much. His shoulders were broad, suggesting that he’d been born and possibly raised somewhere with real gravity, but the graceless manner of his walk suggested that he mostly relied on his natural size and not skill to intimidate others.

“Mister Anfar is it?” the officer asked.

“Alvar,” Taz coldly corrected as he leaned back into his own, hard chair. People often had trouble with his name.

“Right,” the other man mumbled. “Got into a fight at the park, huh?”

“It wasn’t a fight.”

The man’s eyebrows rose. “No. No, it was not. Report says you dropped the guy with a kick. He wasn’t able to offer his own response in kind.”

“Two kicks. One for good measure.” Taz’s eyes narrowed as he wondered what the point of this was. “The man approached my son. Tried to lead him away from the playgrounds. He deserves worse than a kick to the head.”

The officer nodded absently. “Witnesses aren’t really sure what happened.”

“Witnesses? You mean the other parents who were too busy playing on their data-streams to notice their own children, much less a kidnapper?”

The officer sighed as if with exasperation. At that moment, the door opened again, this time giving admittance to a lean woman with short hair. She didn’t wear a uniform, but Taz noticed the badge worn over her hip.

“We don’t have time for this song and dance,” the woman said, though it wasn’t clear if she was talking to her colleague or to Taz. “Stopping someone from possibly abducting your child isn’t the issue here, Mister Alvar.”

Tazs arched a brow. “Is hitting the abductor the issue?”

The woman met his gaze, her expression cool. “No.”

“I’ve given my statement. I’d like to leave and see my children now.”

“Their mother has already come and taken them. I presume that’s acceptable,” the woman replied. “They’d probably be more comfortable at home than waiting here.”

Taz tried not to show his irritation. “She’ll take them to her home, yes.”

“Ah. She was listed on their finger-IDs as an appropriate caregiver.”

“Custody is shared, if that’s what you’re asking,” Taz said.

The woman shrugged and approached the table, taking a seat next to the officer, who had produced a handheld data-stream device. She glanced down at the screen then at Taz.

“You’re a bartender, Mister Alvar?”

Taz merely stared at her. “You clearly have the answer in front of you.”

“It says you’re a bartender at the Drowning Goblet, up on Level Seven,” the uniformed officer said, not looking up from his screen. “Nice district, there on Seven. Kind of posh.”

“Apparently their mother works on the same level,” the woman added. “Different bar, though.”

“So that’s it, huh?” the officer went on. “Docking your ship in the company port? Guess it didn’t go well. What was it, a drunken one-night stand? Well, two nights, years apart if you have two kids together.”

“I don’t see how any of this is your business,” Taz evenly replied.

“Mistakes happen, Mister Alvar,” the woman answered, her own voice calm. “You’re working as a bartender and trying to build a future for children born of a mistake.”

“My children aren’t mistakes.”

“No, but circumstances leading to you wasting your considerable talents as you mix liquors for drunks is a mistake,” the woman retorted.

Taz paused. There was no way that measly station security officers had just happened upon more information about him than was available on the system net. “What talents would those be?”

The woman smiled with some sense of victory. “Mister Alvar, I’m Captain Dawes, and we could actually use your help. We’re prepared to offer payment.”

“You want me to make martinis for your office? We tend to work for tips at the Goblet, but I suppose I could negotiate an hourly rate, if you like.” Taz smiled with fake obliviousness.

Dawes and her officer exchanged weary glances with one another. “Alvar, this comes from station admin. We could use the help of a translator.”

Taz lifted a hand in the direction of the other man’s data-stream. “The D-S usually has translation features, you know. But, if you’re going to pay me for just doing that for you, then sure. Let’s say fifty an hour? Federation bits, mind you--none of those station-only credits.”

“Mister Alvar,” Dawes said, her tone taking on an icy note, “as I said, this came directly from Haruka administration. They’re under the impression that during the war, you spent some time as a...Sylva-Egger. Whatever it is.”

Taz froze in his seat. “Sylvani’Angar,” he said through a suddenly dry throat. “What do you need translated?”

“It’s not what, but who,” the uniformed officer grumbled. “But I guess it’s also a what.”

Taz continued to stare.

“Yes, Mister, Alvar,” Dawes explained. “We seem to have found an elf on the station.”

2

Taz stared at the one-sided mirror. This time he was standing on the window side, looking into a different interrogation room. A wiry figure sat on the other side, shrouded in a tattered hood and cloak. From here, the figure looked no different than any other migrant traveler one might see at the station’s docking levels. Unassuming and inconspicuous.

“Someone reported her presence on Deck Two,” Dawes said from behind him.

“How was she discovered?”

Her officer colleague shrugged. “According to the report, someone accidentally bumped into her, which knocked the hood from her head. That gave enough people a show of her ears.”

Someone bumped into her? Taz could imagine what that meant: someone tried to rob her and got a surprise. “Why is she here?”

“Don’t know,” the officer replied.

“Where did she come from?”

“Don’t know.”

“What ship brought her?”

“Don’t know.”

“Does she speak Basic?”

“Don’t know.”

Taz turned to glance at the man. “Is there anything that you do know?”

“Yeah. That she has pointy ears.”

“Just go in and see if you can find those answers,” Dawes instructed.

Taz went to the door and stepped into the room. As the door slid shut behind him, the elf only minutely turned her hooded head towards him.

She looked grimy, clearly having been traveling without the luxury of washing. Interesting. Elven ships were all equipped with washing facilities as far as Taz knew. But the port authorities would have noticed an elven ship. Everyone would have.

“Hello,” he said while moving to take a seat at the table across from her. He noticed the restraints around her wrists, binding her hands to the table.

The elf looked up at him from the mouth of her hood but offered no other acknowledgement. Her face was pale and plain, with no distinguishing features. Whatever she’d been up to, she would certainly have gotten away unnoticed if not for the apparent pickpocket’s intrusion.

“My name is Tazir. But I go by Taz. They want me to ask you a few questions,” he went on, his hand gesturing at the mirror.

Silence.

Taz stared at her for a moment. “You don’t speak Basic?” It was the most commonly spoken language, thanks to a long-ago effort by the Star League of the inner worlds--precursor to what was left of the modern-day Federation--to foster a universal means of communication between all people.

Still silence.

Taz cleared his throat. “My Sylvani...is maybe not quite good,” he tried again, this time trying to resort to a language he’d been taught years ago.

The elf perked up, her eyes widening with obvious surprise. “Sylvani? But you are human. How is this possible that you speak Sylvani’Terra?”

Taz lifted his hands, trying to indicate that she was speaking too quickly. Nevertheless, he didn’t miss her mention of Terra. He hadn’t heard his dialect of Elven referred to as such before, but it was something to ponder later. “I am...was...learned--taught--by Sylvani’Angar.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, as if in disbelief. Taz figured that not many humans knew Sylvani, and much less knew the Sylvani’Angar. His trainer had been discreet, but maybe not discreet enough. Word of his time among them might have spread throughout her people. But hopefully not. He didn’t want to stir up anything.

As she continued to study him, Taz continued: “Do you have name?”

“Estrella il’Astra.”

Taz hadn’t expected such a surname. It was more of a title than a true familial name. If his understanding was correct, it meant she was some agent of the stars. “You are Sylvani...Terran?”

Her brows furrowed. “Sylvani’Alya is my language. But I understand your Sylvani enough.” Her eyes roamed over him one more time. “You are not with the Haruka guards.”

He followed her gaze down to his clothes--a simple shirt and faded jacket paired with dark slacks. Clearly no uniform. “The police--guards ask me to...ask you things. To help.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You will help me?”

Taz shrugged. “I try.”

Estrella leaned forward. “I must reach my contact in Akash station.”

Akash was probably the nearest space station out this far, and easily the nearest touch of civilization out here. Taz had never had reason to go there, but he’d heard mostly crummy things about it. It was old, perhaps even built before the Federation, during the age of the Star League.

“Why? Why go Akash? What there?”

“I conduct important work for my people. I must inform them that Detlef’il’Abbadon approaches.”

Taz held up his hands again, trying to digest all that. He understood something like people of ruin. “The Norn’Shadarn?” When she simply stared at him, he corrected himself in Sylvani. “That what we call them. If we speak about same people?”

“The invaders from across the stars. Yes. They are coming.”

Taz shook his head. The Norn’Shadarn had come out of nowhere, taking Federation-allied inner worlds and all but crushing their united militaries. But they seemed to think that the outer habitats weren’t worth their time. Or they didn’t know about them. The Federation itself--what was left of it--seldom came out this way.

“There nothing here for them. No rich worlds. No armies to fight. Maybe your information wrong?”

Estrella gave him a cold stare. “My information is not wrong. You said you will help me. Help me and help yourself. They are coming, and I must get to Akash.”

Taz sighed and stood up. “I help. I talk to guards. Maybe they take you.” He went for the door, waited for someone on the other side to open it, then stepped through.

“What was all of that?” the uniformed officer asked, gesturing at the speaker attached to the wall next to the window. “You both were speaking a lot of gibberish. Did you learn anything?”

“Well, I didn’t see her pointy ears. But I think she is in fact an elf.”

The man glared at him.

Across from them, Dawes sighed audibly. “Alvar, what did you get? We heard you both mention Akash station.”

“I think she’s some sort of spy sent by the elf lords.”

“Why would the Lost Empire want to spy on Haruka, or Akash for that matter?” the officer asked. “Nothing important happening on either station.”

“I think she was spying on the Norn’Shadarn,” Taz explained. “She says that they’re expanding, coming this way, and that she has to get in touch with someone at Akash to warn the Empire.”

“That’s a load of drivel,” the other man grumbled. “If Shadarn ships were out this way, station admin would have already known about it. The entire station would be on alert.”

Taz would like to believe him, but the way the color drained from Dawes’s already pale face made his stomach twist.

“If she gets to Akash, her contact there can prevent the expansion this way?” the woman asked.

“I don’t know,” Taz replied. “But she did make a big deal about getting there.”

“Or it’s lying and just trying to get out of trouble,” the other man said.

“That’s a she,” Taz said. He almost added that the elves he’d previously met had never lied, but all civilizations probably had their grimy pieces of scum. But was Estrella scum? Or was she being honest?

“It’s a creature, Alvar.”

“Cool it, you two,” Dawes interrupted. “Jarek,” she said to the officer, “get Alvar some water and food and watch him until I get back.”

“What?” they both asked in unison.

“Look, I agreed to help, and I did,” Taz said. “Now, I want to go home. And I’ll be expecting that payment you offered.”

“We’re not done yet,” Dawes said sternly as she headed for the opposite door. “I’m going to pass this on to admin. Then we’ll figure out what to do from there.”

“I’m going home, Captain,” Taz said. “You can’t keep me here against my will, and I’d rather not go to the trouble of getting a lawyer.”

“Were you always such a whiner when you were a soldier?” the man, Jarek, sneered.

“I was never a soldier.”

“Figures. Federation soldiers would know how to shut up and take orders.” Jarek took a step closer, moving to put a hand on Taz’s shoulder. “You heard the woman. Take a damn seat.”

Taz narrowed his eyes, his left arm instantly arcing up to intercept the officer’s incoming hand, interlocking at the forearms, his fist raised, the knuckles pointed straight at the other man’s nose.

Jarek blinked in surprise, but Taz stopped himself before honed instinct could make him strike an officer.

“Cool it!” Dawes barked from the door. Then she was gone.

Taz silently withdrew his arm and sat back down.

Jarek smirked. “Thought so. You’re nothing special.”

“I’ll take my water cold,” Taz said without looking up.

3

Taz didn’t understand how he’d ended up here, on this cramped freighter, or with Jarek as captain of the ship. Across from him, at the navigation console sat another officer, Kaito. Making a racket somewhere in the back of the freighter was their engineer, a grim man by the name of Dunstan.

“How we doing back there, Dun?” Kaito asked into the comm unit ahead of him. “We ready to get this bucket of junk off-station?”

Taz heard something like a curse from the back, then the comm opened with Dunstan’s reply: “Dawes couldn’t get us a real ship?”

“We had this lying around after confiscating it a couple years back,” Jarek said as he leaned over Kaito to speak into the comm. “Besides, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves or to our cargo.”

Cargo. Taz glanced over at the seat next to his. Estrella stared straight down at the plain metal floor, her wrists bound together. She looked quite grim for someone who was getting what she’d wanted--a trip to Akash.

“Do I really need to be here?” Taz asked, looking up at Jarek as he towered over them. “It looks like you all have this under control.”

“We may need to communicate with that creature,” Jarek said with a movement of his chin towards Estrella. “So the admin says you’re staying until this is done. Then you get your Fed bits.”

“Fed bits?” Kaito echoed. “He gets paid with real money and my salary is Haruka credit?”

Jarek shot him a glare.

“Not that I’m complaining. Haruka’s a great station--great place to live and all,” the pilot quickly amended. “But so much for taking a vacation anywhere else, is all I’m saying.”

“Where would you go anyway?” Jarek challenged. “The Norn’Shadarn aren’t likely to welcome tourists back into the inner worlds.”

“If I make a good impression, maybe I could get an invitation to visit one of those elven planets,” Kaito said, flashing a grin towards Estrella.

The elf didn’t acknowledge him, but Jarek did. “No one knows where the elf worlds--or world--is.”

That was the popular theory, anyway. But Taz suspected that the elf lords had made some pact with the Federation or the Star League colonists long ago to keep the location of the Lost Empire off the star maps.

“An elf probably does,” Kaito replied. “Which is why I’m trying to make a good impression, Lieutenant.”

Jarek rolled his eyes then moved to the seat next to Kaito’s. “Are we clear for departure?”

Kaito worked on his console, apparently submitting a request through Haruka port authority. “Strap in, everyone,” he said through the ship’s internal comm, “we’re next out.”

Taz secured himself to the seat and clicked back the heels of his boots to activate the magnets. He wasn’t a fan of zero gravity, nor did he much care for the g’s of propulsion. At least they would just be drifting away from the station rather than needing to power through atmosphere.

“Ridiculous One,” a voice crackled over the comm, “you are clear for departure.”

Jarek shot Kaito a glance.

“Don’t look at me,” their pilot said. “It’s not my fault we didn’t change the transponder-ID after confiscating it. Besides, wouldn’t that be illegal?”

“Just shut up and fly.”

“Dun, I hope you’re strapped in back there, because here we go,” Kaito said into the comm.

Taz stared ahead at the large screen in front of Kaito, watching as the hangar doors of their berth opened up into a black sea. There was a loud clang as the berth’s magnetic clamps released them, and the freighter slowly started drifting outward.

He immediately felt the pressure of the restraints over his chest, and the grip of his boots on the floor, holding his legs in place. Next to him, Estrella’s long dark hair was spilling out of her hood, floating upwards, her body also pressing against her chair’s restraints. Apparently she hadn’t been given magnetic boots, because her feet were also afloat.

A second screen displayed the rear of the freighter and the sight of Haruka station as they cleared it. A hulking mass of rock interwoven with metal was on the screen. Haruka was built directly into an asteroid, with the intention of using the rocky layers as a natural barrier against radiation. Nevertheless, many deaths were still caused by one type of cancer or another.

There was a sudden roar and the pressure on Taz’s chest was no longer just from the restraints. The freighter fired forward, clearing the asteroid, which gradually became a tiny pebble on the rear display.

After a while of feeling like his stomach was turning inside out, the freighter reduced its speed. “All right, kids,” Kaito said, “there’re bunks in the back for anyone who needs a nap. Facilities are back there too, in case anyone’s about to crap their pants.”

“How long until Akash?” Jarek asked.

Kaito glanced down at his console. “Few days shy of a Fed week.”

“Can we get there sooner?”

Kaito’s flat features managed to take on a look of uncertainty. “Uh, if we keep a high-g momentum, sure.”

“Can this ship handle that?” Jarek asked.

“L-T, the Ridiculous One is barely space-worthy,” the pilot replied. “I’d rather not push her.”

“If I get a vote,” Taz said, “I’d rather not push it either.” Admittedly, Taz was more concerned about whether his guts could handle constant high-g travel.

“Current pace is acceptable,” Jarek said.

“Great. I’m going to see about that nap.” Taz released his seat restraints and stood slowly. “Wake me if anything exciting happens.” With one last glance at the silent elf, he stomped on back towards the bunks.

4

Taz unfastened the straps and floated from the bunk and to his feet, his magnetic heels clicking onto the floor. He opened the cabinet in which he’d stored his D-S, the device’s chronometer showing that four Haruka days had passed. He’d sent a couple messages to his children’s mother explaining that he was tied up with a project and had received a bland “Okay,” but nothing since.

After using the facilities to clean up a bit, he started towards the ship’s tiny kitchen. But a glance up the corridor showed that something was going on in navigation. Everyone was crammed in there.

“What’s going on?” he asked while approaching the cockpit. Estrella was in her usual seat. She’d sparsely used any of the

available bunks, and though Taz had tried to engage her in casual conversation from time to time, she seldom replied. He figured that was because Jarek never let her out of his sight, and the man probably made her uncomfortable.

Dunstan stood next to her but he, like Kaito and Jarek, was peering at the rear display. “Another ship seems to have the same course as us,” he explained to Taz.

“That doesn’t seem unusual. It’s not like there’s much else to head to out here.”

“Maybe,” Jarek allowed.

“Can you trace their point of origin?” Taz suggested.

Kaito switched one of the screens to depict their location on a star map. There were two blips on the screen, one representing them, the second indicating the approaching ship. “Their current trajectory aligns with ours precisely. I’d guess that they came out of Haruka.”

“Not pirates then,” Taz surmised. “See? No need to be paranoid.”

“Maybe,” Jarek repeated. “But paranoia can keep you alive.”

“Have you tried hailing them?”

“Sure did,” Kaito answered. “No reply.”

“The comms are working?” Jarek asked.

“L-T, you’re welcome to do it yourself,” Kaito answered. “But yeah, as far as I know, they should be receiving our signal.”

“Then send another informing them that we’re with Haruka security and they’re advised to steer clear of us,” Jarek instructed.

A few minutes passed, ending with Kaito mumbling, “No response, L-T.”

“How come we didn’t see them until now?” Taz asked.

“They must have been keeping far enough away.” Kaito shrugged. “The Ridiculous doesn’t exactly have state-of-the-art scanners.”

“Then why speed up now?” Dunstan asked.

“Because our comms won’t reach Haruka without a substantial delay this far out,” Jarek said, his voice tense. “We also can’t contact Akash without similar delay.”

“So they’re pirates out of Haruka?” Taz proposed.

“I don’t know what they are--but I do know that they’re gaining on us,” Kaito replied, pointing at the second blip on the screen.

“Taz.”

Taz turned, surprised to see that it was Estrella addressing him.

“Bad people.” She lifted a finger towards the display. “They will kill you. Us.”

“Alvar,” Jarek said, “what’s it saying?”

Taz glanced from the elf to the lieutenant. “She says that she thinks they mean us harm.”

“This girl’s been stoic since I’ve met her,” Dunstan said. “If something’s got her spooked, I’m all for joining the paranoia fleet.”

“It could be her friends, coming to take her,” Jarek suggested.

“Elves are too arrogant to use human ships,” Taz replied.

“Same could be said for the Norn’Shadarn, I hear,” Kaito offered.

“So what?” Dunstan asked. “Mercenaries, then? Pirates, like Alvar said?”

“Are they close enough for you identify the ship?” Jarek asked Kaito.

The star map display shifted, switching to a schematic of the pursuing vessel. “Looks like a freighter,” the pilot answered. “Definitely human, but larger than us. Damn, L-T--look at the size of those thrusters! I bet that thing can really get going.”

“Weapons?” Jarek asked, his stony composure unflinching.

“The transponder-ID shows that it’s just a freighter, Tempest by name,” Kaito said. “But...wait. It’s getting close enough for us to get a better scan.” The pilot’s expression fell as the schematic display suddenly lit up along various points.

“So it’s armed,” Jarek said.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Kaito muttered miserably.

“It does if they fit it with guns post-factory,” Jarek said.

“Well, do we have weapons?” Taz asked.

Kaito frowned at him from over his shoulder, saying nothing. His silence was answer enough.

“Okay, what about shields?” Taz went on. When no one answered, he added: “Can’t you just out-maneuver them?”

“Allie,” Kaito said. “Weapons? Energy shields? The only thing keeping radiation from cooking our insides is that our hull is reinforced with lead. As for maneuvering them, this is a junk freighter, not some fancy Federation warship.”

“They will board us,” Estrella said suddenly. “They will take me and kill you. We must fight.”

“Now what’s it saying?” Jarek asked.

“Same as before. She thinks they’ll board us to abduct her.”

“Why? What’s so important about her?” Jarek pressed.

“I don’t know,” Taz said. “You’re the one in charge of taking her to Akash. Don’t you know what’s going on?”

Jarek paused in thought. “All I know is that station admin didn’t want to risk the ire of the elf lords. They decided to err on the side of caution and just take her to Akash rather than earn the enmity of the Lost Empire. But for all we know, she’s lying about her mission for them.”

“Whatever’s going on, it looks like we’re about to have a fight on our hands,” Dunstan mumbled.

“L-T!” Kaito shouted. “We’re in their weapons’ range.”

“If they are after the elf, they won’t risk blowing a hole in our hull,” Jarek said. “Still, I want everyone to suit up in vac suits. Alvar, there are rifles in the back. I trust you can use one?”

Taz merely stared at him. “Yeah. I can shoot.”

“Good. Then go suit up. You, too, Kaito.”

Estrella lifted her bound wrists, grimacing. “I can help. You must let me fight.”

Taz glanced from the elf and to the lieutenant again. “She wants to help.”

“More likely, it’ll turn on us the second our backs are turned,” Jarek hissed.

“I get the feeling that she doesn’t want anything to do with them,” Taz said, but he turned back to Estrella. “Do you know...who? Who are they? Why they after us?”

She shook her head. “They harbor no good intentions. That is obvious. I can help. I need my swords.”

Taz blinked.

“What now?” Jarek demanded.

“She says she needs her swords.”

“Like hell I’m going to hand over weapons to it.”

“Elven swords?” Kaito echoed. “Like in the stories? You actually have elven swords, L-T?”

“I was instructed to return them to her when we reach Akash. Not a moment before,” Jarek said.

“We don’t know who we’re about to fight,” Taz said. “But elves revere their swords and those able to wield them. If she can use elven swords, she could be helpful.”

“L-T!” Kaito cried again. “They’re firing across our bow.”

“What?” Jarek barked.

“I guess they want us to stop moving,” Kaito suggested.

“Right, so they could board us.” Jarek looked from Taz to Estrella. Then with gritted teeth he pressed something on his belt. Estrella’s restraints drifted away from her wrists. “Her swords are in the weapons locker. Keep an eye on her, Alvar. Whatever she does, it’s on you.”

Taz looked at Estrella, but her face, as usual, revealed nothing.

5

Jarek and Dunstan had released the magnetic locks on a few of the freighter’s supply crates, allowing them to strategically place and relock them down near the two airlocks. Jarek figured that their attackers would be coming from the top airlock, aft of navigation, to drop down on them.

Everyone had dressed in the gray vac suits. They were Haruka security issue and featured some miniscule armor plating.

“Kaito,” Jarek was saying, his voice coming through Taz’s helmet comm, “keep yourself locked in nav. If we manage to repel them and dislodge their airlock tube, I want you to take us out of here as fast as you can.”

“Got it. Hide and fly, L-T,” came Kaito’s response.

“The rest of us,” Jarek continued, “if they come in this way, I’ll unseal the hatch so they don’t have any reason to cut through. Don’t want to risk any unnecessary damage to the ship. On that note, make sure your mag boots stay on and pick your targets wisely. We don’t need to puncture our own bulkhead.”

“Got it,” Dunstan replied, moving to crouch behind a crate on the other side of the airlock.

“Alvar, translate for the elf so it doesn’t mess things up. I’ll have Kaito kill the lights in a moment.”

Taz turned to Estrella, who was similarly dressed in a vac suit, her face hidden behind the helmet’s visor. She remained stationary, her suit’s mag boots locked onto the floor. In both hands she held a pair of long, curved slivers of gleaming metal. Sylvani script was written along the length of both pieces, but he hadn’t the chance to read them.

He gave the gist of the plan to Estrella, who nodded and moved to hide behind another crate.

The ship rocked as their pursuers latched a tube over their airlock, its magnetic clamps holding fast.

“Kaito, lights,” Jarek instructed.

The entire corridor went dark. His helmet display instantly started providing thermal readings, which would be useful so long as their attackers were made of flesh and blood--warm blood, for that matter. A chill went down his spine, but the Xetarin had all been eradicated long ago, their extinction heralding an age of relative peace, until the Norn’Shadarn appeared.

There was a knock on the airlock hatch above as the intruders started testing the lock. Jarek must have already unsealed it, because they pried it open a moment later without the need for cutting or explosives.

Taz saw two figures drift down into the corridor, flashlights attached to their own helmets. By the look of their bulkiness, their black vac suits were actual combat armor. Two more drifted down behind them, their boots clamping onto the floor with solid clicks, audible through the still-pressurized corridor.

A shot suddenly rang out, and Taz realized that one of the intruders had fired at the crate Dunstan had gone behind. They had either glimpsed him or had thermal sensors of their own.

Another rifle boomed from across the corridor, where Jarek was. The intruders let loose, firing their own rifles into the surrounding crates. Taz took a breath then lined up his own rifle over a crate, pressing the trigger. He didn’t wait to inspect his accuracy before lining up another target, firing again.

Two more invaders drifted down into the corridor, their own weapons spraying bullets into the crates. Taz heard a grunt over the comm, though he couldn’t tell who it came from.

He crawled around another crate and fired again, this time seeing the bullet smash into the faceplate of the closest attacker. The visor cracked open, lazily freeing a small geyser of blood into the air.

There was a roar over his helmet comm, and he saw Estrella leap out across from him, her mag boots disengaged. She propelled herself directly into the invaders before they could react, her swords flashing in a brilliant dance of silver under the glare of their helmet lights.

Taz tried to offer some support fire, but she was too close to them and he didn’t trust his aim completely, not while she spinning about like that, her blades crackling with bursts of electricity upon every impact.

It seemed like several minutes, but he knew it must have been mere seconds before she stopped her bloody ballet. Four bodies drifted around her, knocked from their magnetic locks on the floor. Two others remained standing alongside her, though their arms floated lifelessly at their sides. Taz recognized one as the intruder he’d shot in the head.

Estrella ducked beneath the floating mess of gore, securing her mag boots and walking towards Taz.

Dunstan emerged from behind his own crate, whistling into the comm. “Damn.”

Taz turned away from the pair and started to where he figured Jarek was. Sure enough, the lieutenant remained crouched behind a crate, blood drifting from a breach in his own vac suit.

“Crap,” Dunstan muttered. “L-T’s been hit.”

“You still with us, Jarek?” Taz asked, kneeling over the other man.

“Not dead yet, Alvar,” came Jarek’s strained response. Taz found the breach along his stomach and grabbed Jarek’s hand, moving it to press against the wound.

“Look at this,” Dunstan said suddenly. He’d lifted one of the invader’s rifles and made to fire it at one of the floating corpses. Taz cringed, expecting another round of wet gore to come spewing out into the air, but nothing happened.

“They must have some sort of ID-lock on their guns,” the engineer added. “But how? Attached to their gloves? Or coded to their specific suits?”

“Does that really matter now?” Taz asked.

“What’s the plan?” Kaito asked over the comm.

Taz looked down at Jarek.

“We have...to dislodge...the airlock tube,” the lieutenant said through labored breaths.

“You’re in no condition to go up there,” Taz said.

“We go,” a female voice said over the comm.

All eyes turned to Estrella.

“Taz, we go,” the elf said through an odd, thick accent. “More will come. Soon. We go now. We fight. We take ship from them.”

“Well crap,” Dunstan mumbled. “She speaks Basic after all. Kind of.”

“No time,” Estrella insisted before Taz could process everything. “We go now. Before more come.”

He shook his head. “We don’t know how many of them are up there.”

“It don’t matter. We surprise them. We kill them before they kill us.”

Taz glanced back down at Jarek. “I’m...not...objecting,” the lieutenant muttered. “Kill the bastards.”

“Okay, fine.” Taz climbed to his feet. “Kaito, retrieve the lieutenant and seal yourselves back in nav. Dunstan, help Kaito with Jarek, then...if you feel up to it, come join us up there.”

“Oh yeah, that sounds a lot more fun than hiding down here,” Dunstan said. Taz couldn’t tell if he sounded sarcastic or excited.

“Taz,” Estrella said, lifting a sword towards him, pommel first. “You use this? Yes? You are Sylvani’Angar?”

He stared at the offered weapon. It had been a long time since he’d held an elven blade. He knew what they were capable of, and what warriors skilled with them were capable of.

“Sylvani’Angar,” Estrella insisted, thrusting the sword towards him.

“Sylvani’Angar,” Taz agreed, taking the weapon.

“Alvar,” Jarek muttered, his free hand removing his sidearm holster and offering it too. “Do me a favor and...find out what...what this is about.”

Taz nodded. “Dunstan, get him to Kaito.” Taking a breath, he released his mag boot locks and floated up with Estrella towards the hatch and the tube beyond.

6

Taz squeezed the rifle’s trigger while running down the corridor. The armored man across from him went down, but another appeared from around the corner. He let the rifle fall to the pirate ship’s faintly simulated gravity and ducked from the man’s ensuing gunfire, all while slashing ahead with the elven sword.

The gleaming blade sliced through the new man’s armor-plating, but Taz saw two more emerging from the same adjacent hall. Behind him, Estrella launched herself onto the wall, using her mag-boots to push herself off and onto the still-ducking Taz, her back rolling along his own. From her left hand, her sword lashed out, cutting into the neck of the nearest man’s vac suit. Her right hand simultaneously glided over Jarek’s sidearm holstered at Taz’s hip, drawing it and firing it into the remaining man’s faceplate as she completed her spin in a crouch.

Yet another armored figure appeared at the end of the hall. Taz was about to reach for his drifting rifle when a bullet zipped by, striking the newcomer with such force that his mag-boots lost their grip on the deck. Taz glanced around in the direction he’d come, through the crimson haze of idly swirling blood in the air.

“You two sure are painting one horrific picture up here,” Dunstan murmured through his helmet comm, taking in the macabre scene. “All right, then.” He shouldered his rifle and started towards Taz and the elf.

“How’s Jarek?” Taz asked.

The other man shrugged. “He’s not the kind to talk about his feelings, but I think he’s doing pretty crummy.”

“Right.” Taz took a moment to catch his breath. “Kaito, judging by the schematics, how big of a crew would be manning this ship?”

“Allie, that ship’s transponder is putting out the wrong info,” came the pilot’s voice in his helmet. “But I suppose a ship that size could probably fit maybe twenty crewmembers comfortably.”

“Minus the six down on the Ridiculous,” the engineer said.

“And the five in this corridor,” Taz added, “plus the two Estrella got near the airlock.”

“Seven,” Estrella said. “If your pilot accurate. Seven left.”

“Not all of them should be armed fighters, though,” Dunstan suggested.

“Let’s just keep heading towards navigation,” Taz instructed.

The three of them continued along the corridor without further incident, until they reached navigation. Another armored guard stood by the closed door. Upon seeing them, he lifted his sidearm and started firing.

“Does no one on this ship care about stray bullets?” Dunstan asked as the trio ducked into what looked like a bunkroom.

“The bulkhead’s probably durable enough to withstand them,” Taz ventured, though it was more of a hope than anything else.

“Taz,” Estrella said as she peered through the hatch. “Keep guard busy. I return.” With that, she ran out into the hall, heading back the way they’d come.

“Jeez!” Taz flung himself at the hatch, opening fire in the other direction to keep the remaining guard from shooting Estrella in the back.

“Not much for words, is she?” Dunstan ducked at his side, also firing.

“Taz!”

Taz turned around, watching in stunned horror as Estrella bounded back through the hall, this time dragging two armored corpses in the air behind her. She swung them around then, with a leap, kicked both into a lazy course towards the guard.

The guard also seemed stunned, not sure if he should try to shoot through the drifting bodies of his team. His hesitation wasn’t shared by the elf, who used Jarek’s sidearm to fire through the gore.

Taz and Dunstan followed suit, and soon the man had joined his companions as a drifting ruin.

Taz approached the door to navigation, choosing not to comment on Estrella’s grim diversion. Instead, he knocked on the door. “It’s over. If you want to live, open the hatch. We won’t harm you.”

No response.

Dunstan tried the console beside the door.

Nothing.

Estrella grabbed the guard’s body, peeled off his gloves, and pressed his bare hand against the console. The hatch popped open and--before Taz could so much as blink--she was inside. Her sword plunged into the chest of the unarmored man sitting at the pilot station before slashing into the throat of the other man at the remaining station.

There was no one else.

Taz stared at the two bodies. The kills had been so quick.

“So much for finding anything out,” Dunstan mumbled. “What the hell was what?”

“They enemy,” the elf explained, turning a cool stare towards him. “They dead now.”

“But--”

“Let’s worry about that later,” Taz said, stepping in between them. “We need to search the rest of the ship for any more crew.” He turned a pointed stare on Estrella. “We’re going to question anyone we find.”

“If there’s anyone left,” Dunstan remarked.

“You not dead,” Estrella said. “But you not happy. Odd.”

“Later!” Taz repeated before they could continue.

7

The search of the ship had turned up a small sickbay, a kitchen, more bunks, engineering, and an armory. No other survivors, and no one left to answer questions.

With both ships no longer accelerating and the airlock tube still attached, Taz had suggested bringing Jarek aboard into the sickbay. He hadn’t regained consciousness, and his wounds hadn’t been properly drained during the limited-gravity skirmish. Taz wasn’t hopeful about his recovery. He and Kaito had gone through the bay’s cabinets, but neither were trained in field medicine.

“He is dead,” Estrella, her helmet removed, had announced when she’d come to join them in sickbay.

Taz hadn’t realized when it happened, but he knew she was right. Jarek had passed lying there, strapped into a medical bed. Afterwards, he advised Kaito to go to nav and stabilize the ship’s gravity and asked Dunstan to help clean up the mess.

“Fine, but she has to help,” the other man said. “It’s mostly her mess anyway.”

Estrella’s expression remained blank, but Taz nodded for her to go with Dunstan.

“Any useful logs?” he asked of Kaito when he finally left Jarek’s side and made his way to nav.

“Nothing, Allie. No records on the crew. No flight plan. Nothing--” the pilot suddenly whistled. “Well, looks like I found detailed diagnostics of the ship, at least.”

“We should check the comm logs,” Taz said.

Dunstan suddenly appeared at the hatch. “All the bodies have been stripped and moved to the starboard airlock,” he said.

“Why stripped?” Kaito asked before Taz could.

“The elf insisted,” the other man said with a shrug. “Makes sense, actually. If we can patch up their armored vac suits, we could use them ourselves.”

“Did you find anything on them?”

“We didn’t take them to sickbay and individually run scans for ID-chips, if that’s what you’re asking,” Dunstan said. “I guess if we keep the bodies, we could do that when we get back to the station. But the elf figured out how to reprogram their guns for us, at least.”

“How?” Taz asked.

Dunstan paused. “She cut one’s hand off and used his fingerprints to get her access to the armory terminal. From there, we were able to open the locks on their guns. We could probably match the weapons to each of us, if you want.”

“I think she used the same hand to gain me access up here,” Kaito said. “Or maybe it was a different one.”

“Why is she cutting off hands?”

“Probably easier than dragging whole bodies to every terminal for access,” Dunstan guessed.

“Are we claiming this ship or something?” Taz asked, glimpsing Estrella approaching from behind Dunstan.

“Allie, look at this thing,” Kaito said with a gesture at a screen depicting the Tempest’s list of features.

“Federation law lets you claim unoccupied ships as legitimate salvage,” Dunstan said.

“Unoccupied?” Taz echoed. “It was plenty occupied.”

“Until you and our lovely elf friend unoccupied it,” Kaito agreed. “Guess you both have equal claim.”

“They attacked us, remember,” Dunstan added. “And I’m not going back to the Ridiculous. This thing has guns.”

“Guns and--get ready for this Allie--energy shields!” Kaito grinned. “I mean, it looks like they’re not military-grade, so not constantly running. But still. Shields! Just what you wanted, right?”

“What are we going to do with the Ridiculous One?” Taz asked.

“I can set it to follow our flight path remotely,” Kaito suggested.

“What is our flight path?” Dunstan asked.

Silence.

“We should send a message back to Haruka, to Dawes,” Kaito said.

Taz swiveled idly in his seat, thinking. “The Tempest came from Haruka shortly after we departed. They were after us.”

“All the more reason to report to Dawes, right?” Kaito asked.

“Who else knew about this trip?” Taz asked.

“According to Jarek, just Dawes and the people she spoke with in station admin,” Dunstan said.

“So someone on Haruka doesn’t want Estrella reaching Akash?” Taz pondered aloud.

“Someone like Dawes?” the pilot asked with obvious skepticism.

“Or someone in the admin,” Dunstan muttered.

“Well...darn.” Kaito shook his head miserably.

“So what do we do?” Taz asked.

Everyone, including Estrella, merely stared at him.

“I’m not an officer,” he reminded them. “I don’t have any rank here.”

“I’m an engineer with basic training,” Dunstan said. “Kaito’s just a pilot.”

“Thanks,” Kaito grumbled.

“I’ve seen you fight,” Dunstan continued. “And you’ve got kids to get back to. So you’ll probably do what’s best for us all to get home okay.”

“You barely even know me,” Taz said to the two of them.

“I barely knew Jarek,” Dunstan replied. “But Dawes said he was in charge, so I followed. Now he’s dead, and I want to go home without getting killed along the way.”

He glanced from one man to the next before his gaze settled upon Estrella. The elf merely stared back, though an eyebrow lifted slightly.

“Fine,” Taz sighed. “Kaito, see about getting the Ridiculous One to follow this ship so we can collapse that airlock tunnel. We’re too vulnerable attached like this, and we need to get Estrella to Akash. Those were Jarek’s orders, and we’re going to finish his mission.” The lieutenant might have been abrasive, but he didn’t deserve to die out here like this, without even knowing why. Taz would at least finish the man’s last mission.

“Dunstan, we can’t fly around with our transponder identifying us as a ship whose owners want to kill us. If we run into anyone who knows this as the Tempest, it could get complicated.”

“Captain,” the engineer said, “tampering with transponders is illegal, and I’m a Haruka officer.”

“You said Estrella is capable with this stuff? Just help her do it.”

Dunstan shrugged. “I guess if the elf submits the final change, then I’m in the clear. Sure.”

“What you want new name be?” Estrella asked as she moved to the communications console.

The group paused.

“I’m partial to Ridiculous Too,” Kaito offered.

8

Taz rummaged through the kitchen. Built into the counter was a small machine that he was certain was a coffee maker. But he had yet to find coffee. He unfastened one last cabinet, revealing exactly what he sought--a wealth of bagged and ground beans.

It was another challenge figuring out the coffee maker, but he finally got it to brew. Unfortunately, the ratio he’d used was off, and the coffee wasn’t strong enough--not for the tumultuous week he’d had so far. Then he had to locate the waste receptacle. He didn’t feel good about dumping coffee or water, but there was no way he was going to drink coffee-flavored water and not real coffee.

After a second try, he managed to get a whole pot of steaming dark coffee.

He sat at the table, breathing in the roasted aroma. He opened his eyes to see Estrella staring at him from the corridor. She had washed and dressed in loose-fitting clothes found in one of the bunks, though she’d also tossed her same ragged cloak over herself. Her swords were fastened over her hips. No one had tried to disarm since the battle.

“Coffee?” he offered, nodding towards the pot.

She helped herself to a cup and sat across from him, saying nothing. She took a sip from her cup, winced, and set it back down warily.

“So,” Taz began, “you speak Basic.”

Her eyes snapped onto his, but again she said nothing.

“You know, if you’d told those officers back on Haruka that you understood them, that you could talk to them, I wouldn’t be here.”

She continued to stare.

“I’d be home right now with my kids. Instead, I’m out here, being shot at by people I don’t know, for reasons I don’t know.”

Her eyes dropped down to the black liquid in her cup. “I...I sorry, Taz. Did not...trust them.”

“But you trusted me?” Taz asked before taking a sip.

Estrella merely shrugged. “Surprised by you.”

“And if those officers had never brought me in to talk with you, what then? What would you have done?”

Another shrug. “Don’t know. Did not think that far.”

“Do you think you might tell me what’s going on?” he asked. “Why are people trying to kill us? What kind of information do you have that’s so important?”

The elf shook her head. “I...I sorry. Can’t.”

“So you don’t trust us,” Taz surmised.

Annoyance briefly flashed in her face. “Mission. Can’t tell outsiders. Not matter of trust. Matter of duty.”

Taz paused. Logically, he could understand that argument. But he didn’t like it. People had died over this. His own life was in danger over this.

“Hey, all,” Kaito cheerfully said as he strolled into the kitchen. Then, with a whistle, “Oh! Coffee! Well, don’t mind if I do.”

“Help yourself,” Taz said.

The pilot poured himself a cup from the pot and took a sip--and spit back into the cup. “Damn, Cap. What is this sludge, some kind of unholy demon blood?”

“Coffee.”

Kaito and Estrella seemed to exchange glances. “Ah, I’ll just add some more water. You want some water in your sludge--coffee, too, hon?” he asked her.

The elf graciously offered him her cup.

“Whatever,” Taz muttered, standing from his seat and heading out the corridor. Cup still in hand, he continued down to navigation. The consoles were vacant, the Ridiculous Too continuing towards Akash on a pre-set flight path.

On the aft display, Taz glimpsed the Ridiculous One still trailing behind. He took a seat at the communications console and simply stared at the forward display and at the welling blackness ahead. Despite the coffee, he almost fell asleep at the station--until Kaito walked in.

“Oh, what in the name of everything is going on there?” the pilot muttered, staring at the display.

Taz blinked his eyes open and followed the other man’s gaze. An adjacent screen depicting a star map indicated that they were coming upon Akash station. But the forward screen showed a hulking mess.

Akash station, unlike Haruka, was an entirely metal-made station independent of any asteroid. Instead, it orbited the gaseous planet Akash, lurking within just enough of the world’s atmosphere to help shield it against radiation exposure. But one of the massive wheels at the station’s far axis didn’t seem to be spinning. And it looked like parts of the station were venting air. Other ships were also drifting about, but from this far out Taz couldn’t see if they were damaged or had just been somehow rocked from their berths.

“What the hell is going on over there?” Kaito asked.

“We need to call everyone in here,” Taz said.

“I’ll do that,” Kaito said. “You go back and secure that cup in the kitchen. No one wants a coffee cup cracking their skulls if we need to maneuver.”

Taz downed the rest of his coffee, ran to the kitchen, and then ran back to nav.

“Well, this has been a consistently shitty few days,” Dunstan was saying. Estrella was also there, staring at the screen like everyone else.

“I’m getting a distress signal from the station,” Kaito announced.

“What does it say?” Taz asked.

“Nothing,” the pilot said. “Just an auto-distress beacon. No actual message.”

“I don’t like it,” Dunstan said.

“Do we have enough fuel to get back to Haruka?” Taz asked, earning himself a pointed glance from Estrella.

“The R-Too’s still good on fuel, Cap,” Kaito answered. “We’ve mostly been going on our initial propulsion since the battle. But R-One was going to need a pit stop at that station.”

Taz leaned in closer to the display. “Are those ships occupied? Or do you think we can…”

“Loot them for fuel?” Dunstan finished.

“We don’t really need the Ridiculous One, but I want to know what our options are,” Taz explained.

“I’ll try hailing them,” Kaito said.

“I must go there,” Estrella cut in. “To Akash. I must be there.”

“I don’t think anyone’s docking there right now,” Dunstan replied.

“It doesn’t look all too stable,” Kaito added. “If something attacked them, I’d rather not have the R-Too attached to it and unable to maneuver.”

The elf looked frustrated, but she said no more.

“But the Ridiculous One is expendable,” Taz pointed out.

“But we only have one pilot,” Dunstan countered.

“Yeah, Cap,” Kaito said. “I can’t fly both ships at the same time. Unless you want me to take her down there in the R-One and leave you guys up here with auto-pilot?”

“No,” Taz answered, shaking his head. “If there is a threat out here, we’ll be easy prey if we can’t fly this ship.”

“I fly,” Estrella interrupted, drawing all eyes to her. “I fly R-One. Dock on Akash. You all stay here in R-Too. You go home.” Her gaze went to Taz. “Go to your children.”

“She’s a fighter, a technician, and a pilot?” Dunstan asked. “Is this an elf thing or just a her thing?”

Taz was quiet for a moment. “Kaito,” he said finally, “line up our airlock with Ridiculous One. Estrella, go suit up. Take one of the armored suits if you find one that fits.”

The elf paused to look around the room. “Thank you,” she said to them all before running back down the corridor.

“We’re not really going to let her go out there on her own, are we?” Kaito asked. “It could be dangerous down there.”

“If people are trying to get off that station and she docks there with a working ship, she’ll be overrun,” Dunstan said. “I know what desperate people do. They’ll claw at each other to get to that ship.”

“If there are people there that need our help, we’re going to help them,” Taz said. “We said the Ridiculous Too should fit about twenty people comfortably. So we can cram in a lot more uncomfortably. Hail those other ships, Kaito. Then keep trying the station.”

“What are you going to do?” Dunstan asked as Taz started to leave.

“I’m going to suit up to board R-One.”

“Aw crap,” the other man muttered. “So what do you want us to do?”

“Try to help those people and figure out how to salvage fuel. We can save a lot more people with two ships.”

“I wish I had coffee,” Dunstan mumbled.

“Allie made some in the kitchen,” Kaito offered. “Well, he calls it coffee.”

9

“This bad idea,” Estrella said, glancing warily at Taz’s combat armor as he joined her in Ridiculous One’s navigation. “Maybe dangerous on Akash.”

“Yeah,” Taz agreed, taking a seat at the comms terminal.

The elf, similarly armored, kept her eyes on him before sitting at the pilot console. “You not pilot, Taz. If trouble on Akash, you get stuck maybe.”

“You’ll just have to fly me back to the R-Too,” he replied.

“Your children…”

“Are presently safe on Haruka,” Taz interjected. “Those people on Akash might not be safe. And you might not be safe if you go there. So we’re going to do the right thing and help whoever we can.”

Estrella hesitated. “What if others leave with R-Too?”

“They won’t.” Nonetheless, Taz used the console to hail the Ridiculous Too. “Hey, guys, don’t leave without us, right?”

“C’mon, Allie,” came Kaito’s voice over the comms, “we’re practically family now. Who abandons family?”

“Well, I’m here with you all and my kids are back on Haruka,” Taz pointed out.

“Way to go, idiot,” Dunstan’s muttered comment came through, talking to Kaito.

“Right,” Kaito allowed. “Naw, Allie. We’re stayin’ put right here.”

“See?” Taz said to Estrella.

The elf gave one of her typical blank stares but used the controls to start veering away from the Ridiculous Too and towards Akash station.

“Allie, we’re getting all kinds of signals off the station,” Kaito said over the comm. “Music and other entertainment feeds. But no one’s picking up from the control tower.”

“So is no one manning the port communications, or are they just too busy to answer us?” Taz asked.

“No idea, but you all are gonna’ have to line up your own tube with one of the station’s airlocks. No point in trying to get a regular berth, since they might not even acknowledge you.”

Taz glanced at Estrella, who merely nodded. They both strapped in as she gave the freighter a jolt of thrust, taking it in a roll through the field of dislodged ships in the search for an appropriate airlock.

“Cap,” Kaito said over the comm. “Scanners show that those ships aren’t damaged. Maybe they were just let go by the station’s docking clamps?”

“Any response to the hails?”

“Seems like most aren’t occupied. We had a couple bites, though. They’ve got no more of an idea about what’s going on than we do.”

“This may be bad,” the elf said while pulling up the schematics for the station on one of the screens.

“Life can sometimes be bad,” Taz murmured.

Estrella briefly glanced his way before looking at the screen, still searching for an airlock. “Yes.”

“But friends help make it less bad,” he offered.

“Kaito not here. Now you talk all the time.”

Taz tilted his head, wondering if she was joking with him.

“There.” She pointed at the schematic’s lower docking areas. There was an airlock not far from the main berths. It made sense since there should be enough room there to maneuver the Ridiculous One.

“Hopefully there are people around to open the hatch for us,” he said.

The elf nodded grimly. “If not, we cut in.”

Taz didn’t like the idea of further damaging the station’s structure, but without the port authority answering hails, it was the only way they’d get in.

Estrella rolled the freighter around as they drew nearer to Akash, apparently deciding to line the station up with their aft airlock hatch. “Tube extending.”

Taz secured his helmet in place before unfastening his restraints and drifting up from navigation and towards the rear hatch. After the airlock cycled, he released the hatch and treaded out into the waiting tube. Across from him, he glimpsed a small porthole in the Akash hatch. In the thick glass, he saw a set of eyes peering out at him. Someone had noticed them attaching to the station.

He knocked on the porthole, hoping the person on the other side would be able--and willing--to open the hatch. There was a hiss, and the door opened for him. Taz tentatively stepped through.

The person on the other side was dressed in the gray uniform of station security. He looked young, perhaps barely over twenty Federation years, his limbs long and lanky from an artificial gravity upbringing. “Who is you?” he asked in the fractured Basic typical of the outer habitats while glancing warily at Taz’s armor and the rifle strapped over his shoulder.

Since the other man wasn’t wearing a vac suit, Taz figured that this part of the station was still pressurized. He clicked a button on the side of his helmet, sliding the faceplate visor open. “We’re from Haruka station security,” he said with a glance back down the tube, making sure Estrella was coming out to join him. Unlike him, she kept her visor in place.

The Akash officer stared agape. “Haruka?”

“We were sent here for an unrelated assignment,” Taz explained. “But it looks like you need some help.”

“That sure right,” the Akash kid said.

“What happened here?” he asked.

When Estrella was through, the kid closed the hatch and gestured down the corridor, towards the direction of the main berths, if Taz remembered the schematic correctly. “This way,” he said. “Callum, he be able to tell you more.”

Taz fell in behind him, Estrella at his side. They could hear the clamor of voices, the wailing of distraught people echoing through the halls.

“Callum!” the kid called when they rounded another corner. People were bustling all over, some in gray uniforms, but most without. Probably stranded crew members of those ships that had been tossed into space.

“Troy, what?” a similarly lanky man in a security uniform demanded as he turned away from what looked like an argument with a couple of non-uniformed people. Upon seeing Taz and Estrella, he froze. “Who are these?”

“Say they’re with Haruka security,” Troy explained.

“Uh-huh,” Callum mumbled.

“Look, we’re here to help,” Taz said. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”

“See, what going on is gravity at B-terminal went down. Or up. However you like to look at it.” Callum snorted. “Decks along way to the B-wheel losing pressure. We don’t know why, but it’s popular theory the NRM responsible.”

“NRM?” Estrella echoed, her voice muffled through the helmet’s faceplate.

“New Republic Movement,” Taz explained. “People who think that the Federation’s declaration of martial law in the inner worlds is unwarranted and who want to form a united democratic government or something.”

“Yeah, or something,” Callum agreed. “Like terrorism.”

“The NRM hasn’t ever done anything like this,” Taz said. Nevertheless, he was glad that this wasn’t related to Estrella.

Callum merely shrugged. “You got any better idea abouts who done this?” When Taz didn’t answer, he went on, “So what Haruka got people here for anyway?”

“Say they on an assignment,” Troy offered.

“We couldn’t get anyone to answer our hails about docking in the main berths,” Taz added.

“Control’s going crazy,” Callum agreed. “They have us here, working the crowd.”

Taz noticed Estrella studying a screen depicting the various decks of Akash. They were near the middle of the cylindrical station, not far from the main berths. The berths were up above, closer to the B-wheel and the troubled decks Callum had described. This deck was probably within the influence of the still-functioning A-wheel, though, since the simulated gravity here was working.

“Must go there,” she said, pointing a finger at one of the decks along the B-terminal.

“What happened to all the people on that side of the station?” Taz asked the others.

Callum shook his head wearily. “When B-wheel go out, people thrown around. Maybe all still drifting up there. Or maybe they all smashed into bulkheads. I don’t know.”

“It depressurizing up there,” Troy added. “Don’t know the casualty count.”

“Is Akash admin doing anything to restore pressure?” Taz asked.

Callum shrugged. “Mostly low-level types live up that way. Day laborers and other folks admin don’t consider important enough for prioritize. But last I hear, engineer team couldn’t get that far. Not sure why. But, I only charged with crowd control on this deck. So I’m out of loop on that.”

“Taz, I must go there,” Estrella insisted.

“Damn,” he grumbled, realizing that her contact must have a residence on that side of the station, and that maybe this was related to her and her mission. Turning back to Callum, he asked, “How do you have so many crowds here anyway?”

“When mag-locks crapped out, the folks taking shore leave here found themselves without ships,” Callum replied. “Others managed to escape B-terminal before things get really crummy there. But we’ve got nowhere to funnel them. Can’t just herd everyone to the A-side.”

“We have a Haruka freighter attached to the airlock down the other corridor and are willing to ferry people out,” Taz said. “We have another ship orbiting the station and could take in even more people to help manage these crowds. But in return, we need to get to the B-terminal--and we’ll need fuel for our freighter.”

“Ain’t my call,” Callum said.

“Just take us to whose call it is,” Taz suggested. “Maybe also have some of your people try to organize the crowd into a group we can ferry out to our orbiting ship.”

“All right, Haruka man.” Callum called a couple more grays over to relay instructions. Then he and Troy led the way up another long corridor.

As he and Estrella followed the pair, something occurred to Taz. “People might board our ship,” he murmured, “while we’re stuck doing this.”

The elf shrugged. “If they activate ship, they deserve it.”

“What does that mean?”

“While you talk in airlock hatch to boy, I set lock on R-One pilot console.”

“I didn’t think the Ridiculous One was sophisticated enough to allow for that,” Taz said.

“R-One is garbage, yes. But I also unhook wire from console to thruster control.” Estrella shrugged again. “If intruder try to fly, maybe take long time to figure out.”

“Why do she talk like that?” Troy asked from up ahead.

“Why do you talk like that?” Taz countered. “Maybe her parents never taught her proper Basic.”

The boy scoffed, but despite the explanation, he noticed Callum slowing down, a hand moving over his sidearm. “Those not Haruka security vac suits,” the other man pointed out.

“No, they aren’t,” Taz agreed, also noticing Estrella’s fingers going for the swords at her hips. “We could either fight or you could just help us help your people. I don’t think we have time to do both.”

“Who are you really?” Callum asked, turning to face them.

“Like I said, we came from Haruka security and we’re trying to help you.”

Troy looked from one to the other before saying to Callum, “Maybe we trust them? Got little options. What more harm they do?”

Callum moved his hand away from the sidearm. “Yeah, that good point. Akash maybe falling apart anyway.” He sighed heavily. “Come.”

They continued down another series of bland corridors before coming upon a much longer hall with a vast, spherical ceiling. Up ahead was a group of chattering people, some in gray, others in green.

“What’s this?” a dark woman in green demanded. She wore a badge with the name Rekha.

“They from Haruka security,” Callum explained. “Want to help.”

“What brings Haruka out this far?” the woman asked, turning to Taz and Estrella. She lacked the lanky limbs of the others, and her dialect clearly suggested planetary upbringing.

Taz repeated the same explanation he’d given Callum. “We can help, but we need access to the B-terminal and fuel for our freighter.”

Rekha nodded, seeming to consider his offer. “We could use help, sure. But I don’t see how two Haruka security people are going to get through when we can’t.”

“What exactly is stopping your team from making it to the other side?”

She sighed with obvious frustration. “Security won’t let engineers through. They say it’s too dangerous.”

“Security?” Taz glanced from Callum back to the woman.

“Not our security,” she explained. “The admin hired a new outfit to handle policing. Apparently some contract unit. Supposedly it’s more cost efficient to outsource policing than doing it in-house nowadays.”

Callum shrugged. “They not nice.”

Taz looked at Estrella, who remained silent. He was certain he wasn’t going to like the answer to his next question, but he asked anyway: “When did this new unit take over security?”

“Just this week,” Rekha answered. “Maybe only a few days ago. At least, that’s the first I heard of them.” She eyed him and Estrella a bit more closely. “Come to think of it, they have the same vac suits as you both.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Taz mumbled. “We were attacked by these people after departing Haruka. They boarded our freighter and killed our mission captain. We managed to repel them, but we have no idea who they are or why they attacked.”

At this, the rest of the gathered personnel turned from their tasks to listen to him.

“This crazy,” Troy said, eyes fearful.

Rekha lifted a hand to keep the others from asking their own questions. “Why do you think they want to keep us from fixing the B-terminal?”

“I think they might have sabotaged it themselves,” Taz suggested. “Maybe to hinder us.”

“What’s so special about an assignment from Haruka police?” the woman asked with apparent effort to not roll her eyes.

“I don’t know,” he said helplessly. “All I know is that it might involve the Norn’Shadarn.”

Silence filled the hall, interrupted only by a few uncomfortable coughs.

“Maybe mercenaries hired by Shadarn sympathizers,” Estrella suddenly offered.

Taz didn’t know if she believed that, or if she was just trying to convince them to let her through. “Maybe,” he allowed.

“They won’t like it if we barge through,” the woman said. “And if they really don’t want us fixing the station and helping the people on the other side, they might open fire. They’re all in combat armor. They might not care if they puncture a bulkhead.”

Taz took a deep breath. “Tell your team to suit up.” Turning to Callum, he added, “Get us some of your security people. Also with vac suits and firearms.”

“If we start shooting bullets on the other side of that door,” Rekha said with a glance at the far hatch, “we might kill the people we’re trying to save.”

Taz was about to answer when his helmet comm crackled. “Hey, Allie,” came Kaito’s voice. “Thought you might like to know that there’s another ship out here.”

“Yeah, we saw other ships drifting around,” Taz replied, looking at Rekha apologetically.

“No, no,” Kaito said. “This one’s a modified freighter.”

“You mean like the Ridiculous Too?”

“Oh, yeah. And they’re hailing us.”

“Shit.”

“Problem, Haruka?” the woman asked.

“Your friends brought company,” Taz explained.

“If we want to help your people, we do it now,” Estrella cut in, marching towards the far door.

“Shit,” Taz hissed again.

“Ah, so you got problems down there, too, huh, Cap?” Kaito said.

“Kaito, see what they want.”

“And if what they want is a fight, Al?”

“Then give it to them,” Taz said through clenched teeth.

“Well, I’ve been meaning to see what this bird can do.”

10

Taz and Estrella went through the hatch and into the corridor that led to the main B-terminal airlock. A single man in combat armor stood before the next hatch, rifle in arm. “No one’s allowed this way,” he said in a voice muffled through his helmet. “B-term’s not secure yet.

Taz and Estrella continued forward. That was when the man hesitated, seeming to realize that their combat armor was like his. “Who are you--”

Just as he finished the question, the elf closed the distance, throwing herself upwards, a leg smashing into the man’s head, knocking him from his feet. As he crashed into the floor, Estrella repeatedly slammed her heel into the back of his helmeted skull, cracking his visor against the unforgiving metal deck.

Behind them came the engineering team, escorted by some of Callum’s security people.

“The area’s probably depressurized beyond this hatch,” Rekha, dressed in a vac suit like the rest, informed them. “We won’t have gravity either.”

“Mag boots,” Callum instructed his troops. As Rekha went for the hatch, he glanced from the downed body and to Taz. “Maybe we get in trouble with station admin for this.”

“We’re trying to help people,” Rekha said. With a menacing hiss, the hatch peeled open.

Clicking on his own boots, Taz walked with Estrella into the large opening beyond. It opened into some kind of plaza with little shops scattered throughout, separated by swaths of artificial foliage. The air was littered with all kinds of objects and merchandise. But most noticeable were the bodies. So many bodies drifted lazily throughout the plaza, like some horrific tableau.

“So many people,” Taz said through a dry throat.

Estrella merely continued forward, but the rest of the team paused, taken aback by the grim sight.

Rekha grabbed him by the shoulder, then pointed across the plaza. “That way,” she said over the main comm channel.

He nodded, figuring access to the terminal wheel was that way. The group slowly followed after Estrella--but the elf suddenly stopped. She lifted two fingers at Taz and then pointed at one of the patches of artificial trees and foliage.

Sure enough, two armored figures were walking from that direction. One of them noticed the group and drew his rifle.

Just as his partner was lifting his own rifle, Estrella tossed one of her swords. Her mag boots kept her in place, but the sword itself speared ahead and straight into the second man’s breastplate as his finger went to the trigger. Bullets sprayed upwards, cutting into the nimbus of floating, lifeless bodies.

The Akash team scattered, and Taz opened fire at the remaining man. The man tried to throw himself aside, but a bullet pierced his suit, releasing air and blood. He returned fire, but Taz, having released his mag-locks, threw himself up and fired another round downward and into the mercenary.

Smashing into the nimbus of corpses, he tried to push off them and return to the floor.

“More!” Estrella warned. She was standing over her victim, reclaiming her sword.

Taz settled back onto the deck and lowered himself into a crouch. “Get your people to that wheel,” he ordered Rekha. Then, to Callum, he said, “Flank the engineers and protect them. We’ll distract the others.”

More shots were fired at the Akash team as they hurried towards the access corridor. Their security escort returned fire, but most of those carried only sidearms and not rifles. A couple were hit instantly, their vac suits unable to shield against the barrage.

Taz followed Estrella through the cluster of foliage and shops, both of them trying to pick targets wisely, lest they unwittingly draw more fire down upon them. The mercenaries were everywhere, firing even from open walkways several decks up.

“We probably should have done some scouting before we committed to this,” Taz remarked.

Estrella merely grunted. They were almost at the other side of the plaza. The Akash team had made it through to their corridor, but Taz realized she wasn’t heading after them.

“Where are you going?”

She gestured down another pathway.

“We told them that we’d help them,” he pointed out.

“We did help.”

With a sigh, he followed her from the plaza and around the next pathway, this time coming out into a housing district. More bodies drifted about, their eyes open, their faces frozen in agony.

Estrella abruptly shoved him aside. He almost hit the bulkhead, but that was preferable to hitting the bullet he’d just dodged. He quickly threw himself forward, firing at the two mercenaries coming around the corner.

The elf hopped from the deck and to the opposite bulkhead, running along its length while Taz kept firing ahead. Before the couple could notice her, she launched herself from the wall, a sword smashing into the nearest man’s faceplate with such force that the visor shattered into a dozen floating pieces.

His partner tried to turn on the elf, but Taz continued his assault, blasting the mercenary’s shoulder. The man stumbled right into Estrella’s waiting sword.

“This not good,” she said. “These people all over.”

“Searching for your contact?” Taz surmised.

Through the faceplate, her face maintained its customary blank expression. But he thought he caught a glimpse of distress lurking in her eyes. They continued on, wandering around the ghostly silent halls.

As they walked along a path, an armored man suddenly emerged from within a home. Taz struck first--thrusting a fist for the other’s gut. But the mercenary dropped an elbow to intercept the strike, then swung his opposite elbow around and into Taz’s helmeted head.

Taz twisted himself around, bringing up a leg in a sweeping kick for the other man’s feet. The man stumbled, and Taz propelled himself up against the home’s metallic facade and bounced off, rolling one leg after the other in a series of kicks into his opponent’s head.

He landed in a crouch just as another mercenary stepped out of that same home. The man drew his gun, and Taz threw himself to the side. He saw Estrella about to intervene when a third armored figure stepped out of yet another home.

The man with the gun turned to Estrella, thinking her the more immediate threat. But before he could fire, Taz launched himself at the mercenary, smashing his body into the other’s. Estrella used the distraction to go after the third man, swords raised.

As Taz wrestled with his adversary in the limited gravity, he saw Estrella’s opponent draw his own weapon. This was no rifle. Instead, a sword crackling with power slashed out to greet her incoming blades.

The elf, surprised, stumbled and her opponent pressed the attack, slashing this way and that. She frantically swiped her swords in every direction, desperately trying to keep the other’s weapon away.

Taz’s own opponent was trying to get a shot off, but he’d grabbed the other man’s wrist in both arms, throwing the man’s arm up high while he himself ducked low. Thrusting a knee into his adversary’s gut, he then spun on the ball of one foot, bringing an elbow around and into the other man’s neck. Just as the man reeled back, Taz grabbed him by the helmeted head and viciously yanked it over his shoulder, the motion jerking the other’s neck violently.

Across from him, the remaining mercenary was forcing Estrella back step by step, his weapon a sparking blur. He struck the sword in the elf’s left hand, forcing it out wide, then twisted himself around, his right heel coming up to smash into her stomach. Though her mag boots kept her in place, her torso bounced back with the impact.

As he brought his kicking foot back down, his sword came around for a swipe at her head. Her right hand was just barely quick enough to bring its blade up in a hasty block. The mercenary held his sword against hers before bringing it back, flipping it around, and suddenly hammering the pommel into her visor.

This time the mag boots didn’t hold, and Estrella slid along the deck. She scrambled, trying to regain her footing. Her adversary rushed her, his sword slashing again for her head. She ducked and brought the sword in her right hand around in a swipe for the mercenary’s ribs, but his sword immediately dived down, intercepting the attack. The sword in her left came in with its own slash, but the man threw himself up and twisted in the air, his shin crashing into the side of her helmet.

She tumbled onto the deck, almost losing her grip on her weapons.

The mercenary loomed over her--and Taz opened fire. His rifle had drifted away during his own fight, but he’d drawn his sidearm. While not as powerful, the shots struck against the mercenary’s armor with enough impact to get him to stumble back and away from Estrella.

The figure pounced off the deck, grabbed onto the edge of a home’s facade, and whirled himself down into another walkway.

Taz rushed over to Estrella, who was slowly regaining her bearings.

“You didn’t beat him,” he said with genuine surprise.

“Neither did you,” she snapped.

“He had an elven sword.”

She simply stared at him. “Yes.”

“But an elf wouldn’t use one of those things against their own,” he murmured.

“No.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a great conversationalist?”

Estrella replied with another of those blank stares.

“Xetarin?” he quietly guessed. He’d never seen a Xetarin, but he’d heard that some had been trained similarly to Sylvani’Angar, and that they had waged their own bloody war with the elves before crossing the Federation.

Estrella grunted angrily. “No. Federation kill them all.”

“Then what?”

“Don’t know. All I know is he strong fighter. Very strong.” She held one sword out to him, hilt first.

“What?” he asked, surprised.

“Two maybe better than one, and you know how to use this.”

“I’m still concerned about how that person knows how to use one,” Taz remarked. “It’s not like your people advertise schools for this sort of thing.”

Annoyance flickered in her eyes, and she switched to Sylvani to better convey her frustration: “Somehow you learned.”

“I thought I was a rare case.”

“I know of no other human with such training,” she replied, still pushing the sword his way.

“Which only encourages my Xetarin suspicion,” he mumbled while taking the weapon.

Estrella said nothing as she started down the same path as her mysterious opponent. He figured that she simply needed to believe that the other fighter wasn’t Xetarin. The conflict between her people and theirs had been horrific.

As they explored the next block of silent homes, Rekha’s voice came through on his comm: “Haruka, where are you?”

“We got tangled up in a fight with mercenaries,” Taz answered. “How are you doing?”

“My team’s working on pressurizing the terminal, but we won’t be able to restore gravity on this end, at least not from here,” she responded. “Looks like the gravity wheel was struck from the outside.”

“Outside…” Taz sucked in a breath and quickly switched to the Ridiculous Too channel. “Kaito?”

“Oh, hey there, Allie. Sure is nice hearing your singsong voice all of a sudden.”

“I’ve been on a channel with a team of Akash people,” Taz explained. “We’ve encountered resistance but are trying to restore pressure and air to half the station.”

“Yeah, we’ve got some resistance out here, too, Cap.”

“That ship you mentioned,” Taz said, “I think they’re responsible for the damaged gravity wheel.”

“I’d say that’s pretty likely,” Kaito replied. “They’re trying to be responsible for poking R-Too full of holes at the moment.”

Before he could reply, Estrella grabbed him by the arm, pointing at a window in a lounge they were walking by. Out the window, against the pale yellow backdrop of the planet Akash, he could see the cylindrical Ridiculous Too rolling end over end, spraying railgun fire over the shadow of the station’s paralyzed wheel. Advancing from the other end of the panorama was another ship, unleashing its own stream of gunfire.

The R-Too dived close to the station before whirling away. The deck under Taz’s feet trembled as the station took the force of the other ship’s assault. Kaito was apparently using the station as cover.

Taz’s comm beeped and he switched back to the Akash line. “Haruka!” Rekha was shouting. “What the hell is going on?”

“My people are engaging the ship that shot your B-wheel,” Taz said.

“Think you can tell them to take the battle away from the station?”

Before he could reply, Estrella grabbed him again, forcing his attention back to the window. The Ridiculous Too had pushed its way above the mercenary ship and was rolling through the field of dislodged vessels, one of which took a barrage from the attackers, its hull ripping to shreds.

Kaito stopped the R-Too’s roll and opened fire, his rounds going over the damaged craft and straight into the mercenary ship, whose own pilots seemed to be struggling with the debris in their path. He had no idea where Kaito learned to fly like that, but the maneuver worked perhaps better than expected. The mercenary ship took several shots into its hull and began to turn away too slowly from the ruined vessel drifting in its path.

“Oh crap,” Taz hissed.

“We should run,” Estrella suggested.

“Rekha!” Taz shouted into his helmet comm. “Get your people away from the wheel!”

“What? Why?”

“Evacuate the terminal! Now!” Even as he gave the command, the elf took his arm, dragging him back the way they’d come.

As they were crossing the plaza, the roof several decks above split open and the hull of the mercenary ship came smashing through. Metal beams went this way and that, and lifeless bodies went up into the empty embrace of vacuum.

Both Taz and Estrella were held in place by their mag-boots, but metal shards were spraying every which way, accompanied by brief conflagrations, the flashing of several explosions. Screams filled his comm channel. He switched back to R-Too. “Kaito!”

“They crashed into the other ship before hitting the station, Cap,” the pilot informed him.

Taz sucked in a breath.

“Dun and I evacuated most of those drifters, Allie--the ones without their own pilots anyway. Didn’t really see them crashing into the station, though. Glad you’re still alive. How’s our lovely elf friend doing?”

“Was tired, now angry,” Estrella answered for herself. “The other agent of my people will be hopelessly lost in this ruin.”

“Uh, what was that?” Kaito asked.

Taz translated loosely: “She says she’s had better days.”

11

“So many dead,” Dunstan mumbled.

Taz, also sitting in nav, didn’t know what to say.

“At least we’re able to help them,” Kaito offered. “Ferrying people to Haruka here on Ar-Too and Ar-One.”

Taz appreciated the positivity, but it really was the very least they could do. Akash station could no longer support its total population, so he had offered to take refugees to Haruka for temporary resettlement. Rekha had survived the collapse of the B-terminal and had organized other survivors into a political coalition to oust the station’s administrators.

“How’s the Ridiculous One?” he asked. Their own passengers were strapped in either the bunks or the kitchen area.

“Remote link’s good to go,” Kaito answered. “Estrella reconnected the console and they also have a pilot aboard to take control in case anything goes wrong.”

“Knowing our luck, that’s almost a guarantee,” Dunstan remarked.

“It’s not all so bad,” Kaito said. “At least Allie got a ship out of this whole adventure. Not many civilians have their own ships, you know.”

“I imagine Dawes will probably confiscate it when we get back,” Taz remarked.

“Nah,” Dunstan replied. “Kaito and I will vouch for you. It’s definitely yours and the elf’s.”

Taz glanced at Estrella. Throughout the exchange, she’d remained silent at her seat by the communications console. Taz thought that despite her typical stoic demeanor, she seemed a bit sullen. The emotion was warranted. A lot of people had died, probably even her contact, and their group had achieved nothing. Even the Ridiculous Too’s communication logs had turned up empty.

“When we get back to Haruka, I’ll release my claim on Ar-Too,” he said suddenly, drawing a curious glance from the elf. “Take this ship and deliver your message to your people.”

Everyone stared at him.

“Alvar,” Dunstan said into the uneasy silence, “the Ridiculous Too is worth more than whatever Dawes is going to pay you.”

“Yeah,” Kaito chipped in, “no matter how good a bartender you are, there’s no way you’re going to afford another ship.”

Taz kept his eyes on Estrella. “She needs it more than I do.” Then to the others, he added: “Besides, I’d never be able to afford Haruka docking fees on a bartender income anyway.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Kaito mumbled.

Estrella replied with a solemn nod. “But is long trip to Avalon. Help would be acceptable.”

“Whoa--what?” Dunstan asked. “Avalon? Like in the old Terran fairytales?”

The elf shrugged. “I don’t know this.”

“Avalon is the name of the elven homeworld?” Kaito added with a whistle.

“Is this an option?” Dunstan went on. “Are you asking us to go there with you?”

She shrugged again. “You good mechanic. Kaito good pilot. Plus, maybe good to bring humans.”

“Whoa, hold it, Dun,” Kaito cut in. “We’ve got jobs back on Haruka.”

“Who cares?” the other man argued. “We’re talking about possibly seeing something out of a fairytale! The Lost Empire! I bet not many people can say that.”

“Wait, why would it be good to bring humans?” Kaito asked.

The elf hesitated. “To convince lords to help Federation.”

“Alvar,” Dunstan said, “maybe you should think about staying on for this.”

Taz felt Estrella’s stare on him. He could only shake his head apologetically. Dunstan caught it and added, “You’re a fighter. This is clearly something you’d be good with.”

Before he could reply, the elf answered: “Go to your children. They need you more.”

Silence followed. Taz could only imagine why she would want the help of Federation citizens to deliver her information to her people. Whatever she knew, it clearly would affect the Federation, and maybe it had something to do with that mysterious swordsman. Maybe her refusals had just been stubborn denial--maybe the Xetarin weren’t all dead. That information alone would certainly mobilize the Lost Empire into action.

“Well,” Kaito said into the awkward silence, “until we get to Haruka, you’re still captain, Allie.”

“Let’s just hope for an uneventful trip,” Taz mumbled.

“All right, kiddos,” the pilot said, “back to the beginning.”