The Broken Silence burned through realspace in the vicinity of an unnamed, uninhabited star. An unspectacular young sun on its own, it was accompanied by a magnificent backdrop - the Maron Nebula. The star sat in the viewport to the left and the nebula filled the right, a hand of red tendrils pin pricked with stars.

Despite its astronomical speeds, the ship seemed to hang in space, waiting. Tension strung through the bridge like a spider web, waiting to ensnare its victims.

Crew scurried around the command centre, arguing and fiddling with the ship’s machinery in the leadup to the jump. Devlin stepped in to bang a few heads, restoring order.

Devlin’s cousin Rowena was seated in the captain’s chair, inspecting the layout of the system and the ships and signals across it. A comms officer was speaking with the other members of the convoy, ensuring they were all travelling safely.

Kik and Aire observed from their seats at the back of the bridge, shaking out their cramps from the long trip. Their job had mostly finished when Aire had secured them a place as an escort in the Merchants Association convoy. The frigate they replaced had been reluctant, but gladly accepted when he learned he could take their pay plus complete another job before continuing as escort.

Now that they were in the convoy the task was in the hands of the Silence’s crew, and they seemed up to it. They were unruly but they knew what they were doing.

A group of unknown ships that had appeared earlier had long jumped out, gravity signatures rising as they fired their void cannons. They represented the only distraction in the lonely system other than idle chatter from the other ships.

Now, finally, their own jump out point was approaching. They had slingshotted around the target asteroid short hours ago, angling their heading towards the destination star. They were lined up behind the prior ships in the convoy, going through final checks before jumping out. Crew were rushing about, calling out numbers and inspecting monitors. Rowena was querying the comms officer about the ship ahead of them.

“Its name is the Ready Steed, captain.”

“And its cargo?”

“Half is data. The other half is mining explosives.”

“Number of crew?”

“Three.”

Devlin stepped up, examining a copy of the ship’s specs. “They have nothing but a few lasers for self defence. They’re ducks, ready to be plucked. The perfect bait. I’d order an attack myself if I didn’t know better.”

“Well we’re here to stop that happening,” Rowena said. “We have more valuable prey.”

As the final hour before the jump drew to a close, Aire headed towards the chair for a more involved look. Rowena looked over at her as she stepped forwards, stretching. “Your information had better be on the money. If nothing happens then you’re paying for our fuel.”

“Oh, shut it, Rowena. You know as well as I do that you get a reputation by sticking close to merchants like this. I’m doing you a favour.”

“But you’re not earning us money. You’re going to owe us one.”

“And how many times have I hauled your ass out of trouble until now?”

Rowena subsided into grumbling as Aire retreated, and Kik began to wonder about their history. It did make sense for a smuggler to know a privateer, but he couldn’t imagine what it would take for one to get a privateer in their debt. Money was probably involved.

“Alright, captain, the first ships have started their jump,” the comms officer called out. “We’re going to reach our jump point in a few seconds.”

“Give the head of the convoy our regards and prepare to break formation,” Rowena replied. “Aire, time to find out if your info is on point.”

“Starting jump sequence!” another officer on bridge called out.

“Alright. Continue as planned.”

Kik could feel the gravity shift as the void cannon’s fuel was pulled towards the nose of the ship. He could feel the pull of acceleration grow stronger now that the gravity generators weren’t counteracting it. The difference was much more pronounced aboard a larger ship with more dark matter in its fuel tanks.

The moment of the jump grew closer. A crewman started a countdown. “Jumping in five… four… three…”

“Alright, cancel it,” Rowena called. “Slow down and return to normal flight. That should put the fear of the void in case someone chose to attack when our back was turned.”

The ship’s sensors turned to static for a moment as they passed through the spot where the previous wormholes had been opened. The crew held their breath for a handful of heartbeats as the ship drifted, dead to the outside world. At last they reentered normal space and the signal disturbance cleared out.

“All sensors, give me a sweep!” Rowena called out. “Man battle stations. I don’t want to come into this one unprepared.”

The small bridge crew jumped into their duties with zeal. The bridge retracted back inside the ship, the windows replaced with images from cameras on the hull. The ship itself thrummed with power as the fusion generators increased their output.

“Ready Steed remains in the system, captain.” The sensors officer was the first to report. “No other major energy signatures. Their wormhole was confirmed closed during the jump sequence, but the ship remains.”

“So the wormhole closed before the ship entered. And it just happened to be the last merchant in the convoy. I think we hit jackpot.”

“The Ready Steed is calling, captain,” the comms officer said, his voice uncertain. “They’re requesting extra fuel so they can continue their jump to Rymez.”

“Tell them we’re eliminating the attacker first, and to not stray too far. Then ignore their hails.”

“Yes, captain.”

“That’s not…” Kik said before Aire elbowed him in the gut, winding him.

“Don’t start something,” she hissed at him between gritted teeth.

He gasped in a breath as he desperately tried to return air to his lungs. “What?”

“This is her ship, you live by her rules. You’re not even a crewman, let alone an officer. Don’t try and tell the captain what to do.”

“But she should…”

Aire held up a single finger. “Not. One. Word.”

Kik nodded and she turned her attention elsewhere again.

“I’ve found them,” the sensors officer called out. “Directly ahead. They increased their engine power. They’re trying to get to a departure heading.”

“What class are they?”

“A destroyer… no, they’re a large corvette.”

Aire slumped in her chair. “Why not a destroyer… we haven’t had a good catch in forever. Gunnery, their engines, if you please. Low power. We want them salvageable, not fried.”

“Yes, captain.”

The generators increased their humming for a moment as the prow-mounted lasers fired. There was no other indication that anything happened - no shudder through the ship, no explosion far off in the distance, not even the ionised particles that you could sometimes see from lasers in thick atmospheres.

“One hit, three misses,” the gunnery officer announced. “Adjusting for the next shots.”

Two more calm volleys were all it took before he made the announcement. “Their engines are gone. They’ll need to cool down for a few hours before they can use anything but attitude thrusters. No leaving the system for them.”

“Good. Target the rear-facing weapons next. They’ll start firing once they realise stealth is useless.”

Small patches of metal on the hull glowed red as Aire spoke. The enemy lasers shone like focussed spotlights upon the hull, heating the metal to near melting temperatures. But the heat was distributed well by internal convection and the hull soon cooled down. The occasional fuel tank on the outside cracked and burst but the corvette’s weapons were not strong enough to break through the plating in a short amount of time.

The only noticeable damage was one of the bridge’s cameras being destroyed. A blinding flash of white shot across the screen like a new star before the view was replaced by darkness. Another backup camera turned on moments later, covering the same patch of space.

“Their weapons are down,” the gunnery officer reported. “Shall we close in for the kill? Cripple them?”

“No. Prepare boarding teams. We’re taking the ship.” She turned from her chair to face Aire. “Are you heading in straight away? Or are you waiting for the second wave?”

Aire waved her hand. “They’re a corvette. Your men can handle them. We’ll head off to the launch bays and prepare.”

“Alright.” Rowena turned back to the bridge crew, waiting on her orders. “Launch fighters to take out their weapons. And despatch the first assault shuttles. Come on, stop sitting around!”

Kik and Aire’s shuttle was one of the two launched in the second wave. There were four other soldiers crowded aboard. Kik would have counted the pilot but there wasn’t one - the shuttle was piloted using the same remote control device as the Silence’s fighters. Fortunately, it didn’t go as fast. Acceleration on the level of the fighters would kill any passengers aboard.

The ship’s two fighters had already destroyed the other external weapons on the target ship. Once its rear weapons were down from the Silence’s bombardment, they took full advantage of the blind spot, sweeping in from the undefended angle and taking out the rest of the defences.

The other shuttles had just landed and commenced the boarding. Their own shuttle was starting its deceleration, five minutes behind. It was an agonising fifteen minute trip across, hoping that a stray meteorite wouldn’t strike them. It was unlikely this far in empty space, but always possible.

In the last few minutes of the trip, the passengers finished their preparations. Void suits were checked and double checked. Comm frequencies were linked with the rest of the assault team. Weapons were prepared and locked in holsters. Tools and equipment were clipped down.

Kik and Aire checked each other’s suits, and across the craft Devlin did the same with his own partner. The reason for Devlin’s presence was unclear - he didn’t seem to be here for fighting. His only weapon was a pistol on his belt, compared to the others’ assault rifles and knives.

Then again, why was Kik here? Looking around, he was struck by tension. They were preparing to go out and kill people. He had put together his weapons without thinking, and now the reason for it had finally struck him. His heart started beating faster, and he gripped his collapsed vibration staff.

Aire noticed his lack of motion and tapped his helmet. “We’ll be fine. We’re not doing any fighting. The first group will have cleared that out.” She spoke over the group radio channel, the rest of the shuttle looking over to see what they were talking about.

Kik calmed his breathing and nodded. “Thanks.” With the single word, he focussed again.

Without any warning, the engines cut out. The group inside swayed on their feet, their previous compensation now unnecessary.

“All helmets sealed!” Devlin called over the radio. “We’re going out.”

Checking his helmet, Kik confirmed it was shut properly. Once he and everyone else aboard the shuttle had checked in, the door was flung open and its atmosphere rushed out - just one more rapid decompression in the vacuum around the battered ship.

The ship loomed in front of them, dark and ominous. Only a corvette as it may have been, its silhouette was more than large enough to completely block out the sun, casting Kik and the shuttle he had emerged from into shadow.

Sections of hull plating lay in pieces, cut through by zealous boarding teams. Other places were scarred and melted by weapons fire, either from the Silence’s lasers or its fighters’ plasma.

Around the motionless ship sat three other empty shuttles. The ship was rotating beneath the craft near it, or perhaps they were orbiting it - he couldn’t tell.

Another team was entering from the opposite side of the ship, diving towards the ship with bursts from their void suits’ propulsion units.

Devlin led the way down to an airlock. It was right next to a gaping hole in the side of the ship, but when they stepped inside the environment remained pressured.

A black-suited boarder met them outside the airlock, closing it behind them. He spoke with Devlin on a private channel for a few moments before heading back into the ship.

“There are two hostiles alive on the bridge,” Devlin told them over comms. “We’ve taken out another four and cleared the rest of the ship. The last two should be finished off soon, once we break down the door.”

The soldiers put away their rifles, taken out as they breached the ship. They hadn’t been able to communicate with the teams aboard from outside, the plating scrambling the radio signals, so they were happy to find the takeover almost complete.

A few metres into the ship, they found the first body. Kik held back his disgust inside his helmet. The rest of the group just passed on. They ignored the man pinned to the wall with combat knives, his throat slit.

A pool of blood gathered beneath him, turning the floor into a mess of dark red boot prints. The blood floated off the floor in drops and fell back down as the gravity generators sputtered.

The other two bodies they found were better armed. They had managed to take hold of a blade and a rifle before being killed, bullet holes stitched in red across their dark grey suits.

Finally they reached the front of the ship, passing around depressurised sections in their attempt to get to the bridge. A team of two was slicing through the edges of the door, burning a cut through the outside. Little flecks of molten metal spat away in the low gravity. Another pair was covering the door in case the two inside tried anything.

The door was close to cut through, the end of the cut reaching within thirty centimetres from the start. Devlin ushered their group of six behind cover, standing behind doorways or shielding themselves with torn-out plating.

Kik ducked into a corridor, standing behind the trooper already taking cover there. Eyeing his armoured void suit, he reminded himself to stay behind him in case any fighting happened.

As the final strip of metal was cut through, the door was kicked open from the inside. The pair cutting their way through dodged out of the way as it collapsed. One of them made it outside the impact zone, pressing himself against the wall besides the new entryway.

The other scrambled in the wrong direction, back down the length of the hallway. The door fell on his midriff, slamming his body and head into the deck plating and crushing his legs. He lay there, shielded by the metal door but not moving.

The soldiers watching the door took aim. They snatched a potshot every now and then when one of the two defenders showed themselves. Their trigger fingers itched to fire for suppression but they held back, aware of the damage that would cause to the bridge equipment.

The occasional return shot flashed from inside the bridge, scoring the hallway walls or striking an exposed shoulder. The troopers’ armour was enough protection against the wild shots, however. The pair inside the bridge were also unwilling to stick their heads out long enough to adjust their aim.

As the standoff drew out, Devlin barked a few orders over the comms channel. Forgetting about collateral damage, one of the soldiers pulled a grenade from her belt and threw it inside the room. It bounced over the cooling edge of the hole and in between the two pirates. They desperately scrambled for cover behind chairs and beneath bridge panels.

As the pair dove away from the explosive, the trooper pinned against the door stepped through with his weapon drawn. Exposing his full body in the doorway, he fired two bursts into the room.

He stepped away, gun barrel smoking, and tossed the decoy grenade back to the soldier who had thrown it. She caught it deftly and returned it to her belt after checking the pin was still secure. People ran forward to check the condition of the man trapped beneath the door.

The takeover was complete.

Kik kept away from the bridge, trembling as he saw a faint trail of blood leading from it. He didn’t know what he’d see inside but he had a strong feeling that it would bring back memories that were better forgotten. In the sensible part of his brain, he told himself to pull away. He didn’t need a relapse.

He was shaken from his reverie by Devlin speaking.

“I’ve opened a private channel for us three. We’ll now discuss the distribution of resources between the interested parties. It’s already been agreed that you would receive the ship and any unidentifiable devices aboard, but the fates of the other items aboard are yet to be decided.”

“Alright. What’s your initial proposal?” Aire asked.

“We take the contents of the armoury, cargo hold and navigation charts. You can have the rest.”

“Not going to happen,” Kik said. “We need charts or we may as well not be warp capable.”

“He means any charts outside the usual ones, Kik,” Aire said. “Obviously they won’t take the standard, readily available route charts from us. Look, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, just stay out of the conversation.”

“So now that’s been cleared up, these terms are acceptable?”

“Not quite. I don’t know what’s making you push so hard, but I’m suspicious now. Show us the contents of the cargo hold and the armoury.”

“That’s not an option, unfortunately. We’re transferring the goods to the shuttles in five minutes. We’ll need to be ready for the ship to arrive, and so you need to decide quickly.”

“And if we can’t agree by then?”

“Holding another person’s property without permission is piracy. We just happen to be pirate hunters.”

Aire gave Devlin a long stare. “You have no reason to threaten me. Does this mean that much to you?”

He didn’t reply, and before long she gave up. “Ah, fine. You get the armoury, cargo hold and charts. But we get a copy of the charts, with the understanding that we won’t sell them, and whatever we can carry on our person from the armoury. And Rowena owes us another favour.”

Devlin hesitated, then nodded. “Agreed.”

They shook, and Aire sighed. “So it was the cargo hold you were after, wasn’t it? Guess I miscalculated. How much could they really be storing on a small ship like this?”

Devlin switched back to the public channel and smiled. “Quite a lot, it turns out. Perhaps enough to cover our repairs and buy our entire crew a drink.”

The boarding party cheered.

Kik sighed, looking through the racks of weapons too big for him to carry. A pair of laser pistols hung from holsters at his belt, shiny and new, with a spare in his storage in case one of them broke again. A concealed blade was sheathed beneath his left glove, replacing the projectile weaponry he had taken from the man on Icros. It only had seven shots left, and he wanted to save it in case he really needed it later. In that respect, lasers were preferable - with a few batteries and a charger, unlimited usage was well within view.

Looking over at Aire, he was jealous of her as she donned a suit of armour and slung multiple rifles over her shoulders. After her strength was improved by combat armour and working in the low gravity, she was strong enough to carry the load of a full cargo crate, and she took advantage of that as much as she could. Meanwhile none of the suits and few of the weapons even fit Kik. He could take a rifle, and had fired one before with Vist, but didn’t think that carrying a rifle around was worth the attention. People with comparatively oversized weapons tended to draw attention.

Even worse was that Devlin’s men had quietly moved the packages of explosives from the room before they had arrived. After all, the pair couldn’t carry them out of the armoury if they weren’t in the armoury in the first place. Kik would have liked to get his hands on a few of those, a fact Devlin must have been aware of.

“You done?” Aire called, hefting a disposable rocket launcher over her shoulder. “If you’re not going to take anything out, you could at least carry some more for me. Grab another of those shotguns, will you?”

Kik sighed and nodded, pulling the combat shotgun and its box of ammo from its place on the weapon rack. He slung the strap over his shoulder, letting it swing behind him as he walked. Hesitating for a second, he thought back to the ambush back on XM-180. There were, he reflected, some places where he would be better off carrying guns, and obvious guns at that. He grabbed another for himself.

The journey back into the atmosphere above XM-180 had been rough as the corvette and its escort descended. The two had jumped into the system together, the corvette piloted by Devlin as Aire and Kik wandered around and tried to understand the inner workings of the craft. Most of it was routine for void dwellers such as Kik and Aire, both of whom were used to working on ships. There was, however, one major difference.

Half of the craft’s bottom level was dedicated to machinery, but it wasn’t familiar devices like fuel converters or life support of some kind. Instead it took the form of a dome, half of which was inside the ship. Wires stretched between it and dozens of other monitoring devices.

It had luckily remained unharmed in the takeover, despite the entire lower deck of the ship depressurising, but the monitors were dead and nothing anybody did seemed to bring them back online. Aire even gave them a few “technical knocks”, hoping it would make some difference. It didn’t.

And thus they returned to XM-180, the new ship in tow. The three ships landed in hangars up the height of the structure structure. Silf had given them permission to land in his bays, gladly yielding his docking space when he heard that they had a prize in tow.

The shipwright in question met Kik and Aire as they disembarked from the ship. His eyes ran over the scratched, cut and melted hull while his tongue clicked. “You’ve sure done a number on this girl. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get radiation poisoning with this little shielding left.”

“It’s not as bad as my ship, right?” Aire asked. “And I survived that, didn’t I?”

Silf sighed. “I’m supposing you’re going to want me to drop everything and work on this?”

“Pretty much. I can give you an extension on my ship’s contract if this one gets fixed.”

“That’s the very least I’m going to need. With all the extra materials, hands I’ll have to hire to get this done in anything nearing a reasonable deadline…”

Kik stepped forward. “You want something, right?”

He grinned. “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed by now, bringing back a prize like this. I want a look. And I want to get the specs.”

Aire started to shake her head, but Kik beat her to it. “Agreed.”

“Good. I’ll get straight to work then.” Silf practically ran up the ramp past the two.

Aire turned on Kik. “Why did you agree? We could have gotten a better deal than that.”

“How do you intend to get this thing working?”

“What?”

“Who can figure out what it does? The only people who knew how are the people who we took the ship from. Given that they’re in bodybags a sector away, I don’t think they’re going to be giving us any advice. We need this ship for a reason, remember?”

“I see. So you want him to figure out how it works for us.”

“Exactly. And if he’s jumping at the chance, maybe we shouldn’t give him time to reconsider his offer. He may realise how much we stand to gain.”

Aire turned away and thought about it. “Fine. You get passing marks for now. But don’t mess around when I’m bargaining, even if you think you’ve realised something I haven’t.”

She turned and strode away. Once Kik was sure that she was out of earshot, he mumbled under his breath. “You’re just annoyed you didn’t think of it yourself.”

He hurried to follow after her, a few steps behind.

Aire headed to another hangar where the Broken Silence was berthed, Kik on her trail. Unsure of what he should be doing, Kik looked around the hangar as Aire headed off to speak with Rowena.

Fuel for its sublight engines were being pumped into the craft. Crew were standing about, a few inspecting the outer hull and fixing the light damage it had sustained in the attack. A fuel lead had been snaked into its open hangar bay on the spine, refueling the shuttles inside.

There was a second ship in the hangar, smaller and also refuelling. It must have docked at the same time as the Silence or shortly before, although Kik couldn’t see its crew anywhere.

Besides the two ships and the crew scuttling around them, the bay was surprisingly empty. There were none of the usual landing or repair teams that he would have expected of a shipyard. Perhaps the Silence’s crew were capable of fixing any external damage they had received in the brief combat and the landing.

The wind that had caused that damage was held outside of the hangar bay by a double blast door. The silicate crystals and dust were scattered across the ground where the winds from outside had blown them in during landing.

Kik rejoined the conversation as Rowena patted Aire on the shoulder. “Our role in this job is done,” she said. “We have our prize - from here on it’s your show. Go ahead and have your glory.”

Aire scoffed. “We’re going to need the glory with how little else we’re earning from this mission.”

“Says the person who walked away from the bargaining table with a corvette. We’ll be departing momentarily - no need for repairs. I want to get our prize registered for payment, and arriving in perfect condition would raise questions. We also need to discuss a raid on that pirate base with the navy.”

“Prize?” Kik asked from behind Aire. “What prize?”

Rowena gazed at him for a moment. “The second ship we stole from the pirates, formerly a charter transport for the Merchant Association.”

“But there were no other ships around, they all jumped out. Unless you mean…”

Aire stepped between them. “Kik, go back now. Don’t take this any further.” Her eyes met his, a silent warning.

He stared at her for a second, taking a step back. But then he turned to Rowena. She was smiling faintly, a sight which wiped the thought of backing away from his mind.

“The only ship around was the Ready Steed. But that was under your protection, wasn’t it? What makes you think it’s your ‘prize’?”

Rowena shrugged half-heartedly. “It was boarded by pirates while we were occupied with the other vessel. The crew were killed. Since it was seized by pirates, as pirate hunters our duty is to reclaim the ship and return it to its rightful owners, in return for a deserved fee.”

Kik brushed past Aire’s half-hearted attempt to hold him back. “So you let them get boarded by pirates and stepped in afterwards to take the ship for yourself?”

“There was nothing we could have done,” Aire said with a shrug. “Our scanners only picked up their shuttle when it was too close, and our own shuttles had already been launched.”

A few of the nearby crew had slowed their work and were eying the conversation. Kik, however, was too distracted to care. “So a frigate full of privateers couldn’t stop an attack from a single shuttle of pirates? No, you let this attack happen. And that makes you no better than the pirates - if anything, you’re worse, because at least they’re honest about their intentions.”

Kik reached for his water canister, then rethought and pulled off his helmet. This had to be said face to face, not through speakers and headsets. Perhaps guessing his intentions, Rowena sat up straighter and looked him straight in the eye.

“You know, kid, if you do this, you’re going to regret it.” There was perhaps a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“Tell that to someone who actually cares.”

Kik sucked saliva into his mouth, gathering it. He let it sit there a moment, empowering it with his disgust and feelings of betrayal.

“This is long overdue.” He prepared to spit, aiming for a spot right between Rowena’s feet.

Before he could make his move, however, Aire smacked him in the head, and he slipped sideways to the floor, stunned. Aire caught his head before it could hit the deck, lowering it the last bit.

Kik’s head span as he lay on the deck, trying to regain his senses. He could hear the two talking but he couldn’t hold his concentration for long enough to figure out what they were saying.

As the world stopped spinning, he lifted his head to see Rowena walk inside her shuttle and have the doors close behind her.

Aire helped him up once his sense of balance returned to normal, and the first thing she did was punch him hard enough he felt it leave him.

“Do you want to die?”

Kik coughed for breath. His gut burned from the blow. Absentmindedly, he thought about how his helper’s pain threshold was improving nowadays.

“Die… no. But do I want to work with a pirate? Definitely not.”

Aire snorted. “So you just didn’t consider the consequences of your actions. Typical.”

He straightened up and looked her in the eye, or as close as he could get. “In what way?”

“You think you can spit at a ship’s captain while surrounded by her crewmembers and expect to get away safely? Maybe you’re as big a pushover as your parents were, but don’t expect other people to follow your ways.”

“My father was a soldier. He wouldn’t...”

“But he still died, didn’t he? That’s my point. See yourself as strong or righteous or whatever, but you’re still human. And when you find a bullet on the wrong side of your skull because you were acting stupid, it’s the same blood and brains that come out. If you weren’t careful, we would have gotten to see just how righteous your brain matter is just a minute ago.”

Aire sighed and looked around as Kik stayed silent. “Either way, you’d better not be found around this shipyard until after the Broken Silence departs. Rowena may have let your behaviour slide for now, but her crew’s loyalty will probably not give you the same freedom. Lay low for a day or two until they’re away and cooling their heads in space. They hopefully won’t remember the insult by the time you next meet them. Hopefully.”

Kik looked around and privately agreed with Aire’s advice. A fair number of the crews’ glares were on display for him to appreciate.

For the next week, Kik hired a room at the hotel he had first met the Silence’s crew at. He kept to himself upstairs to begin with, just in case any of the crewmen had stayed around on the station while changing ships. But after a handful of peaceful days he started to emerge.

Ordering the surprisingly flavourful meals and sitting around, he took the first few rest days he could snatch.

On the second day, sitting on a stool at the bar and drinking a glass of distilled water, he thought on Aire’s words. How complacent was he being? If he had thought a bit, he could have recognised the signs. Looking back, they had been there all along. Talking about “prizes”... really, what were the differences between pirates and privateers in the first place?

This train of thought led him to the obvious next point - Aire, the one who had hired the Silence. How much could he trust her? He could trust her when working with him was in her favour. But what if he came into conflict with Rowena and her crew again? He wasn’t sure he could count on Aire’s support if that happened.

Returning to his room from the common space, he lay back on his bed and stared at the rusty spots on the ceiling. And what if Aire was forced to put herself in danger to help him? Would she support him? Could he believe her past performance? His best option was to never force her hand either way.

His introspection was broken by a tap on the door. Sitting up halfway, he wondered who it was. Even the innkeep rarely disturbed him, and when he did it was by opening the door a crack and calling through.

“Silf wants to see you,” the bandanna wearing man at the doorway called. Half of his head stuck through the doorway. “Says he’s done with whatever he was working on.”

“And who might you be?” Kik called. He had never seen the man before.

“I’m Victor. Silf’s assistant. Didn’t he mention me?”

“Maybe. I never met you before though. Hey, if you’re Silf’s apprentice, why don’t you know what he’s working on?”

Victor shook his head. “Silf has his pet projects. He’ll show me when he’s finished. I’ll say though, whatever he’s working on in there has got him excited.”

“I suppose he is a secretive man,” Kik said.

“Sometimes. But don’t dally here. He’ll be waiting for you, and even if you’re a customer, he doesn’t like his pace disturbed.”

Kik sighed. “I’ll be there.”

The door closed with a creak, and Kik swung off the bed. Despite his worries about Aire, he was interested by the potential that the new ship presented. Whatever it was capable of, he wanted to find out.

The unnamed corvette was not pretty, but it was airtight. Beaten plates almost worn through by weapons fire sat alongside fresh layers of ablative shielding. Half of the weapons systems were still bent and broken, as Silf had judged them unnecessary. The sensors, engines and other delicate machineries were untouched, however, and the missing airlock doors had been restored.

The interior hadn’t been treated much better, but at least it was clean. The pools and sprays of blood hadn’t slipped past Silf’s attention. Bullet impacts and damaged grating had been filled in, but not in exactly the same style, giving the interior a similar patchwork appearance to the outside.

The biggest difference was the lower deck of the ship. Where previously it had been dark, with silent and mysterious machinery filling the level, now it was well-lit and bedecked in small paper notes. The terminals that nobody had been able to activate were now lit with strange shapes and patterns, perhaps some kind of holding screen.

Kik checked a few of the notes - they were written in a scrawling, rushed form that he assumed was Silf’s handwriting.

“Main jump control.” “Particle energy control.” “Directional mapping terminal.”

Stepping past the seemingly inane notes and the seemingly empty terminals which they marked, Kik pressed on into the mess of technology. He found Silf hunched over an out-of-the-way screen, buried in the lines of text and few diagrams that he could bring up.

“Silf?” Kik called, then repeated it louder when he didn’t respond. “Silf? Are you done?”

The engineer nodded, half-turning his head. “I’m just fine-tuning the controls so they’re ready for departure.”

“So where’s Aire?”

“I’ve already spoken with her,” Silf said. “She’s preparing for departure.”

“So we’re ready to leave?” Kik asked.

“More or less,” Silf said. “You’ll want to transfer over your belongings. Other than that, there’s no sense in dallying. There’s nothing we’ll gain from waiting.”

Kik nodded, then hesitated. “You said we?”

“Of course I’m coming.”

Kik shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

“Alright then, do you understand how to activate the system right behind you?”

“Definitely not,” Kik said. “But I might be able to figure it out with a bit of effort.”

“Please don’t insult my job. I like to think it requires more experience than you have.”

“I definitely don’t have any real reason to deny you,” said Kik after a moment of hesitation. “But what is this device anyway? You still haven’t told me.”

“A speed of light particle transmission device.”

“One of those prototypes?” Kik asked. “I’ve heard of them before. But that won’t help us then, since we have no target gate to reassemble us.”

But Silf was already shaking his head. “This one doesn’t need a gate. The device handles both transmission and reconstruction.”

“How does it do that? I mean, the device has to transmit itself, which could be problematic.”

“It actually contains two transmission devices, one to transmit the rest of the ship and then one to pull the first device over once its job is complete. That’s what the containment shielding is for. It does mean that technically the jump completes at one third of lightspeed, but since most of the ship arrives at…” He noticed Kik’s blank expression. “Uh, anyway, it works. That’s most of what you need to know.”

“So that’s that. But what’s with all these blank terminals standing around?”

“I don’t know. I’ve rigged a bypass through this terminal, but using them is beyond me. It’s a shame we didn’t get any of the crew, they might have given me a hint on how they’re supposed to work.”

Kik raised his eyebrows. “So you can reverse engineer a matter teleporter but you can’t figure out how a terminal’s interface is supposed to work?”

“Those aren’t just simple terminals. I haven’t opened any up but I scanned the contents and they have some juicy equipment inside. Honestly, I want to have some time together with them later, but for now just knowing that I shouldn’t touch them is enough for me.”

“Or maybe you just can’t use software and don’t want to admit it.”

“Look, if you want to take that attitude, I’m confident I can rig this machine so it will leave behind a certain brat when it jumps…”

“So you’re confident in modifying a reverse-engineered matter teleporter… but you can’t figure out an interface?”

Glad to get in the last word, Kik chuckled and dashed off to collect his belongings. Silf returned to work, grumbling. He may have seemed gruff on casual inspection, but to a close observer, he was half-smiling beneath his bluster. Smiling despite the harsh task that lay before the ship’s crew.