Maggie was poring over her study materials when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. “This is Captain Ngô to all hands. All crew members are to report to duty stations, while all passengers are to remain in their cabins. Troisième Niemi, please report to the Mess Deck.”

She looked up from her tablet to her mentor. “Master, what’s happening?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, “though I‘m certain they will inform us as soon as they are able.”

“But why ask for a Knight?” she persisted. “Unless it’s some sort of Medical Emergency?”

“Perhaps,” Master Schnoebelen allowed, “but we should avoid idle speculation at all costs. That’s how rumors start, and a rumor can become a poison, seeping into everything and destroying morale,” he admonished, before tapping on her tablet. “Focus on your studies.”

“Yes Master,” she mumbled, bowing her head, as she pulled up the schematics for Katabasis’ navigational system. Her mentor had ordered her to study the Corsair vessel as they made their way to Earth, seeing it as an excellent way to improve her knowledge and skills. He and the ship’s engineer Radoslav Parish had crossed paths sometime in the past, so he’d enlisted his help to further her training. With a trace of reluctance, she returned her attention to the diagram, memorizing the system.

A short time later the hatch buzzed for attention. Master Schnoebelen rose to answer it as Maggie looked on in curiosity, staring in surprise when the hatch slid open to reveal Captain Ngô.

“Captain, how may we assist you?” he asked.

“I need your expertise,” the captain replied. “Radoslav told me you’ve assisted in several investigations in the past.”

The Master raised an eyebrow. “I have,” he confirmed. “May I ask what the investigation is about?”

The Corsair considered that for a moment, then shook his head. “I’d rather just show you.”

“Then by all means, I am at your disposal,” he said...only to turn his head as Maggie coughed into her hand. A smile creased his eyes as he asked, “May I bring along my apprentice?” her mentor asked, sudden hope filling her.

Captain Ngô shrugged. “As long as she stays out of the way,” he nodded, as she all but jumped to her feet. Master Schnoebelen chuckled at her eagerness as the captain led them both through the corridors, arriving minutes later at one of the other cabins. Engineer Parish was busy examining the hatch as one of the Valkyries looked on, his expression a stony mask. The fellow Tinker stood up as they came to a halt.

“Radoslav, what’s going on?” Master Schnoebelen inquired.

“I need your help, Daniel,” he explained. “Look at the hatch’s locking mechanism and tell me what you see.”

“Certainly...if you tell me what I’m supposed to be looking for,” he said.

“I need to know if it was forced,” Captain Ngô answered for him. “It’s important.”

“Very well,” the Tinker answered, before taking the small penlight from the engineer along with a simple probe, as he knelt down to inspect the device. Several minutes went by as he poked and prodded the latch before he stood back up and handed the tools over to Maggie. “Take a look, and tell me what you find,” he told her, in neutral tones.

“What’s she going to spot that you two didn’t?” the captain demanded, as the junior apprentice squatted down to look at the latch, gnawing on her lip as she searched for whatever it was her mentor had wanted her to notice. It was almost ten minutes later that she bowed her head in defeat.

“I’m sorry Master...I didn’t find anything,” she mumbled, unable to meet his gaze.

“...neither did I,” Master Schnoebelen admitted, catching her off guard. “I thought maybe you might catch something I hadn’t.”

“So it wasn’t forced then?” the captain asked.

“Not that I can discern,” he replied. “Now will you tell me what this is about?”

The Corsair took a deep breath. “Sergeant Dina Wong was found dead on her bunk an hour ago.” He looked to the PFC standing watch with sympathy. “It appears to have been a heart attack. The compartment was locked from the inside.”

“A heart attack? But...she wasn’t much older than me!” Maggie exclaimed.

“Hence the reason for my taking precautions,” the captain replied, ignoring the impertinence of her outburst. “I’ve asked the Knights to perform an autopsy, but given the equipment they have available…” He spread his hands as he shrugged once more as the young private winced.

“I’m sorry, captain,” Master Schnoebelen apologized. “I wish I could do more.”

“I don’t like this,” the Corsair snarled with sudden fury. “I dislike having people die on my ship...and I absolutely detest not knowing why.”

Maggie rubbed at her eyes as she sat up from her bunk, glancing over at the still sleeping Valkyrie, and the tiny figure curled up beside her. Diggs still refused to even acknowledge her and was prepared to sleep on the steel deck rather than share a bunk. Rúna had convinced him to bed down with her instead, not that he took much convincing. The boy was still nursing a crush over the redhead, who was handling as adroitly as she could ask for, making sure to not embarrass him or break his heart.

No, she admitted to herself with a twinge, she’d already done a fine job of that on her own.

It didn’t matter that she’d had good intentions. That she’d done her best to do the right thing. All Diggs could see was her abandonment, how she’d handed him off to a stranger and hadn’t even bothered to prepare him. She’d told herself again and again it had been the right decision...and it didn’t matter one damn bit.

Sitting up, she swung her legs over and placed them on the cool metal deck plate, beginning her morning ritual by working out the kinks. Every year it took a little longer to get going, and with a start she realized she was now the same age as Master Schnoebelen had been the last time she’d seen him.

The same age he’d been when he’d died.

She winced at the memory, still as painful as ever, before giving out a sigh and pulling on her clothes. She didn’t want to disturb the pair still asleep in the other bunk, so she held her boots in one hand as she tiptoed out of the compartment like a thief in the night, closing the hatch behind her.

The situation with Diggs wouldn’t resolve itself. She knew that. And it wasn’t up to him to fix what was broken between them. She knew that, too. Sneaking away from the problem like this would make things worse, and she was painfully aware of that as well. So why the hell was she doing it?

The answer was simple. She was scared. Or maybe fucking terrified was more accurate. That someone like her, who’d lived the life she had, would find herself reduced to a pile of quivering jelly by a silent boy who maybe weighed thirty kilos dripping wet was downright ludicrous...but there it was.

Not knowing where else to go, she found herself on Mess Deck, sitting down as she started pulling on her boots. Isi was busy making something that smelled intriguing in the small Galley, while on the opposite end of the table Prash and Sergeant Kai were playing a game of cards. They both looked up as she plopped herself on the bench.

“Where’s Rúna?” the Valkyrie asked.

“Still sleepin’,” Maggie replied. “Didn’t want to wake her.”

“And Diggs?” Prash inquired.

“He’s sleepin’ too,” she mumbled. The two men shared a look, saying nothing, as Isi arrived and set down a bowl in front of each of them.

Maggie leaned in and took a tentative sniff. “What’s this?”

“Thinly disguised Soya and Protein,” he answered, as Kai chuckled and dug in with his spoon. “I could call it something fancy I suppose, but I never saw the point.”

“It smells great,” the Tinker nodded. “Thanks.” She chewed quietly, eating in silence, until Prash cleared his throat.

“Look, Maggie...it’s none of my business, but…” he began.

“...you’re right...it ain’t,” she snapped, glaring at him from across the table. “So maybe you’d best let it drop.” The young Knight flinched as if she’d slapped him, before returning his attention to his meal. Kai regarded her for a moment, as if he were debating whether to add his own opinion, before focusing on his own breakfast instead. She snorted, flaring her nostrils, jabbing her spoon into the bowl as if she were stabbing it, before letting out a heavy sigh and facing the Chevalier.

“Sorry Prash,” she mumbled. “Not havin’ my best day.”

“It’s all right,” he answered with a gentle smile. “Want me to get Blye so you can talk?”

“No...not just yet,” she told him, shaking her head. “Reckon I’ll seek her out when I’m ready.” Prash bobbed his head as he went to polish off the rest of his chow, as Mairead appeared in the compartment, out of breath.

“There you are,” she panted, grabbing Maggie’s arm. “Come on, Cap’n wants us on the Bridge.”

“Can I finish eating first?” she growled, irritated at the interruption.

“No, you damn well can’t,” the engineer fired back. “We’ve got ourselves a situation.”

That got her attention, and as Maggie rose to her feet, she saw Prash and Kai standing up as well, all three of them following Mairead as she led them to the Command Deck. Remi Hadad swiveled around in his chair, raising an eyebrow at the others. “I only requested her presence,” he said.

“What can I say...they tagged along,” Mairead shrugged.

The Corsair captain frowned, before waving it off. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not as if we could keep this a secret.” Turning to Maggie he asked point blank, “Can you increase the range of our sensors?”

She just stared at him. “Why?”

Tapping an icon on his console, he brought up an image on the main screen. “Because it appears we may have picked up a shadow.” He zoomed in on a faint smudge, barely visible. “It’s at the extreme edge of our sensor envelope, and it’s intermittent...but it’s there. I’d stake my life on it.”

“...is it Aggaaddub?” she whispered, her hand going to her chest.

“I doubt it,” Remi answered. “After what they did to Freya, I don’t think they’d bother hiding from us, which is why I need you to increase our sensors’ range and sensitivity.”

“How the hell did they find us?” Kai demanded.

The captain looked back at Maggie. “Care to answer that?”

Maggie’s face twisted in sudden fury. “I knew it was a mistake!” she shouted. “We should have shut down for repairs!”

He gave her a withering stare in return. “Too dangerous. We took a chance.”

Prash did his best to follow the rapid-fire back and forth of the conversation, before giving up. “What does that mean?”

“It means that to bleed off enough energy to keep us from fuckin’ explodin’, I had to pump out a crapload of Gamma and X-rays,” Maggie cursed. “A blind man could have spotted us if they was lookin’ our way.”

“What’s done is done,” the Corsair replied, though the look in his eyes was growing dangerous. “Can you make the improvements or not?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” she answered, throwing up her hands. Crossing over to a console, she threw up the sensor schematics to another monitor, eyeballing the various systems. “Not much I can do with your optical array,” she muttered half to herself, “and the Mass Detector is too fiddly for me to touch. Might be able to do something with the software though…” Zipping through several more screens, she paused once more. “Hmmm...the EM Band cluster I can maybe fine-tune...but the damn neutrino detectors…” She shook her head, still scrolling, before looking back up at last.

“I can give you a little boost...say, ten percent above what you got right now,” she explained. “But most the improvements would be in the software, real finicky stuff, and I ain’t the girl for that.” She leaned against the instrument panel and crossed her arms. “We need to bring Alphad in on this.”

His expression flickered for a moment, long enough for her to see his obvious distaste at the suggestion. “Whatever it takes,” he said through gritted teeth.

Maggie typed in a memorized sequence of letters, characters, and symbols, the pseudo-angel image of the Avatar appearing on the display, evicting the circuit path diagrams. “You rang?” he smirked.

“Need your help,” she explained, not bothering with formalities. “What can you do to upgrade the sensor software?”

“To keep better tabs on the tail we seem to have picked up, I’m guessing?” chuckling as Remi bristled. “My program is being stored within Gyrfalcon’s mainframe,” he explained, “so how were you planning on keeping this from me, Captain?” Put that way, it was a bitter pill they forced the Corsair to swallow. “I’ll see what I can do,” he continued, spreading his wings wide as he sat down on an old stump. “I should be able to wring out more performance.”

“Keep me posted,” Maggie instructed him, as she took another look at the blueprints, before cursing under her breath. She shot a look over to her fellow Tinker. “You know what this means, right?”

“I do,” she nodded. “I’ve got a spare suit that should fit, and I think the rad count has died down.”

“Bloody fuckin’ hell,” she hissed, as they left the Bridge to suit up.