[?]

  As he made his way to the deck after feeling the jump end, he noticed the station filling up the view screen.

  ‘These new engines are certainly fast, but the unpleasant ride makes up for it.’

  Needs must though. The ping had been pure shock, a line tossed because it didn’t cost much at all but with almost no hope of catching anything.

  What a twist that had been.

  “Handshake finished already? High hopes?”

  He looked at the pilot, the hope of a quick mission dying as they shook their head.

  “’Fraid not. Nothing that fits the description on the sensors. Could be wrong of course. It might be a big deal but never seen it myself. Lotta blips around a station like this one. Engines are nice though. Both FTl and sub-light are incredible. If you don’t mind the bumpy ride.”

  He doubted those blips meant anything, both there and not.

  They were lucky. More than lucky. With these experimental engines, no one would bat an eye at them for coming screaming into the system like they had. Just blame it on the testing phase and move on. No one had to know why they were really here.

  He kept his mouth shut.

  He didn’t even know what the pilot had been told.

  “Guess we’ll find out once I get on station. As fast as we got out here, we can’t be that far behind.”

  “True enough. Take your time chatting. I’ll have to do a lot of maintenance to make sure these babies don’t scatter us across the void. We pushed them to their limit.”

  He grimaced. That wasn’t exactly a good thing, any way you put it. If what they were after wasn’t here, they needed to get back on the trail quickly.

  ‘I suppose ‘scattered across the void’ is technically on the trail, but I would prefer to follow it in more or less one piece.’

  “I’ll leave our ride to you then. I’m off to gaslight people. Doctors’ orders.”

  He left the bridge to a light chuckle and made his way back to his quarters. By the time he changed and made it to the air lock, they had docked and he had clearance to disembark.

  ‘I suppose the industrial hub is my best bet. Dock workers love to gossip. That and bribes.’

  He made his way to the security checkpoint, plastering on a bored smile and taking an unhurried pace.

  “Just checking in. Permits here.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  He handed over his weapons permit and identification. Best to stay legal until he couldn’t. It opened more doors.

  “Seems pretty empty. Not a spot for heavy shuttle traffic, huh? Figured with a planet they would be back and forth at all hours.”

  The guard snorted as they processed the permits.

  “Heh, I hope not. This is a nice post. Not a lot of traffic on this side and the ones that do come in are all easy. Planets not got much on it. Some kind of sanctuary. Keeps things quiet.”

  “That’s good then. Not a lot happening around here, sounds like. Guess you’d expect that for a sanctuary planet though.”

  He took the paperwork back as the guard handed it over.

  “That’s the best way to be. Poor shmucks on internal had to clean up that mess earlier, but I got it easy out here. So long as the flotilla doesn’t let a pirate dock at least.”

  He nearly broke his casual pace as he perked up internally. Odd things happening were a good sign.

  For him at least.

  “Mess? Not something I need to worry about I hope?”

  “Nah, someone left a body. Not a big deal, gotta deal with bodies now and again. People don’t live forever. The mess was the fact said body had a lotta expensive tech on it. Started a frenzy. Should be cleared out now though.”

  He nearly salivated at such a juicy rumor. He needed to find out what tech was there.

  And retrieve it if required.

  ‘I hope we aren’t late to the party.’

  “That’s good to hear. I won’t worry about it then. Have a nice day friend.”

  He nodded as he walked away. It seemed that the industrial section wasn’t his best bet after all.

  He hastily made his way back onto the ship and pinged the sensor net.

  “That seems too much of a hurry to be a good thing. Engines aren’t at a spot I would call ‘optimal’ yet, just so you don’t ask.”

  The lack of a ping at the far edge dampened his haste a bit.

  “How ‘not optimal’ is that spot, exactly?”

  “We won’t be doing any ludicrous speed in the near future. She can fly though, if we need to go somewhere. You got a plan?”

  He knew what to look for now. Knew he had been this close.

  “Can you continue making repairs on the fly? Not in FTL, but in sub-light around the star?”

  He didn’t get an exact location from the rumors, but he could get close enough to not search the entire sky.

  “Sure. I can do a lot if we aren’t in FTL. Finished the outer repairs while you were out, it’s just tweaking and inside stuff now. I won’t be able to fly and do that all at the same time though.”

  “It’s fine, I can take the ship around at sub-light. There’s a reason they picked us specifically.”

  “I’m off to the back then. You got the bridge.”

  As his partner of chance made his way back towards the engine compartment, he started the procedures to leave the station.

  In reality, it didn’t take that much time, no more than a few hours to get out to the rim, but every second felt like it was grinding. The longer he took here, the farther his quarry ran. It was too much to bear just sitting still, so he made sure the cockpit was locked and pulled the device from his jacket.

  Attaching it to the special comms unit, he activated them and waited.

  “If you are using this thing it must mean you have something worth reporting. Don’t disappoint me.”

  The deep feminine voice tinkled out of the comms. Still the most commanding thing he had ever heard, even distorted as it was by the distance and electronics.

  “Of course, Mistress. We have their trail. The ping wasn’t a false positive and I should have a heading within the next few days, depending on luck. We are less than a week behind them.”

  He felt like bowing, even though he was sitting. His excitement was clearly infectious as well.

  “Mmm, yes, that is worth a report indeed. Have you discovered any news about our errant friends?”

  The delighted tinkle in the voice raised his spirits, before the question itself brought him back down.

  “Nothing worth taking your time for madam. I couldn’t verify anything. Only the presence and the rough direction of travel. The rumors ranged anywhere from a young family to monsters.”

  It had been a headache filtering out verifiable facts. The guard hadn’t been kidding about a mess.

  “A shame. I will have him in my presence as early as possible, yes? I find I very much dislike the lack of my peer.”

  “With all haste possible Mistress.”

  He would make sure of it.