《Drifting Dark》


 Chapter 1: Onboard

    "Where the hell is everyone?" Cassie muttered to herself as she ducked through an open doorway. Her footsteps echoed through the long passage as she stepped onto the metal grating on the floor. This section of the ship looked exactly the same as the last. She wouldn''t have even known the difference if not for the regularly spaced emergency doors.


    Reading the schematic was one thing. Being inside the thing was completely different. She''d never felt the scale of a ship this large before. It was making it impossible to get her bearings. The lack of any kind of signage or markers wasn''t helping either.


    She''d been wandering around for half an hour and all she''d discovered so far was that the ship looked as ancient on the inside as it did on the outside. Which didn''t mean that she hadn''t seen a lot of it so far.


    Lots of wires, some completely covered in electrical tape. Lots of pipes marked up with handwritten notes in illegible script. Lots of cables. Lots of rust. Lots of dust. An apparent endless collection of bare, grey-orange corridors that looked exactly the same.


    But no people.


    No one to ask for directions, and she was certain that she was completely, utterly lost. Her first day was not going well so far.


    The grating creaked as she took another step. She glanced into an open doorway. Another empty room. Another room without anyone inside.


    She tried to tell herself that the lack of people was the only reason why the whole place felt so empty.


    It was goddamn spooky.


    She made a right turn, to enter another almost identically looking corridor. Without any markers, or even sounds, she had no idea if she was going in circles. She could make out the faint humming of the artificial gravity generators, the high pitched fans in the ventilation shafts and even the soft hum from some of the old fashioned warm lights, but none of that was helpful. Her exasperated sigh was soon added to the audible mix.


    And the loud hiss right above her.


    "Ah!" Cassie nearly jumped out of her skin, her hands shooting up to protect herself, as the blast of air brushed by her hair. The air jet died down a second later, leaving her standing there frozen, her heart pounding a million miles a minute, and completely unharmed.


    "Just air. Totally normal. Nothing to be afraid of. It''s just the ship," Cassie muttered to herself nervously. She squinted upwards to look at the air pressure release valve. Manual setting. Not digital. Ancient.


    "This thing should be in a museum," Cassie complained aloud as she started walking again. She figured that as long as she kept walking, she''d have to make it to the front eventually. This place couldn''t go on forever.


    It just felt like it did.


    "Hey!"


    The voice echoed through the hollow corridors. Cassie would have heard it easily even if he hadn''t been shouting at the top of his lungs. She stopped and turned around to see a tall man jogging towards her, hopping over the airlock frames sticking out of the floor as if he''d memorized them.


    The first thing she noticed was that he wasn''t wearing a standard uniform like her, not with a red shirt like that. The only colours they came in were brown-green and teal-blue, even though the grease stains made Cassie''s look a little browner than usual. Her pants were bordering on a dress code violation, but his grey ones were definitely out of bounds.


    Grey and black were space born colors. Green and blue were planet born. Those were the only two sides that mattered.


    Only civilians didn''t have a dress code. She frowned, slightly confused. This was unexpected. She hadn''t known they had passengers on board.


    The Saint Joan was a military cargo ship, after all.


    But he was still someone. Maybe she''d finally get some directions through this maze. "Hi, um¡ª"


    The man interrupted sharply. "This is a restricted ship, you can''t just wander on board."


    Cassie bit her lower lip nervously. She''d barely gotten on board and already managed to get in trouble somehow. "Um, sorry¡ª"


    He eyed her uniform, clearly searching for a rank that didn''t exist. "Who do you report to?"


    Cassie shifted from foot to foot, unconsciously adjusting the straps of her heavy backpack. "Um, I don''t know?"


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    It was obvious that he didn''t believe her, even though it was the truth. She opened her mouth, about to explain.


    "Give me your ID," the man snapped, towering a full foot over her.


    Cassie knew that tone.


    She shut her mouth and quickly searched through her numerous pockets, trying to remember where she''d put the thin metal card. She was in such a rush, that it fell right out of her side pocket, right towards the metal grating below. The holes were probably too small for it to fall through.


    Cassie didn''t want to take any chances.


    She quickly grabbed it out of the air, throwing her off balance for a moment. She stood up straight, readjusting her bag, and handed it to him.


    He took it and looked at it closely, making no attempt to hide that he was verifying it''s authenticity.


    Cassie stood there awkwardly, unsure if she should say anything else. She''d barely said two words and apparently that had already caused problems.


    "Cassandra Wylen?" He eyed her skeptically. "Wait, aren''t you our new mechanic?"


    "Um, yes, trainee mechanic, actually." Cassie shifted from foot to foot. "And you can just call me Cassie, everybody does."


    "Sure, Cassie." He handed her ID card back. "I''m Mike. Welcome on board the Saint Joan."


    "Thanks," Cassie mumbled. "Sorry, I know I''m a little later than expected, but the space station is really big then I got lost and this ship is really big."


    Mike chuckled. "Oh, we were expecting you, I just wasn''t expecting you to walk right onto the ship."


    "Um, if you don''t want people walking in, then you should probably close the big open doors." Cassie gestured vaguely behind her.


    "The cargo bay is open?" Mike asked seriously.


    Cassie nodded, a tiny motion.


    Mike swore under his breath. "Shit. Idiot needs to stop doing that." He hit the button behind his ear to turn on the radio. "Geoff."


    Cassie stood there patiently, wondering if she ought to be turning on her radio as well.


    "You left the bay door open," Mike continued. "Well, close it."


    Cassie reached up to her earpiece, tuning into the active channel, the same channel as Mike, in seconds.


    A new, gruff voice came through the tiny speaker. "We''re still loading up."


    "Either watch it or close it." Mike glanced at Cassie. "Our new crew member just walked on board completely unobstructed."


    "The greenie''s here? What''s he like?" Geoff asked immediately. "Tell me it''s not another Danny. One is insufferable enough."


    Cassie stood there uncertainly, silently as a smirk grew on Mike''s face.


    "I don''t think she''s going to be anything like Danny."


    "Ohhhh." Geoff fell silent as Mike winked at her.


    "Get that door closed, then you can join the welcome party," Mike ordered, an edge of finality in his voice.


    "Fine, fine," Geoff grumbled lowly.


    Mike reached behind his ear to turn the radio off, turning his attention to the new recruit. "Let''s go, you should meet our captain, and it''s a long walk."


    Cassie followed his lead, struggling a little to match the much taller man''s pace. "Um, you don''t seem very worried about that door, or, well, stowaways?"


    Mike chuckled. "Stowaways aren''t really a risk. Nobody wants to go where we''re going."


    "The dark zone," Cassie whispered.


    "That''s right," Mike answered plainly. "The rumours are wild enough to keep any uninvited guests away."


    "So... is there any truth to them?" Cassie asked hesitantly.


    Mike laughed. "No, absolutely not."


    Somehow that didn''t calm her nerves. "Then you''ve crossed dark space before?"


    "Plenty of times," Mike answered with a smile, acting as if crossing the warzone spanning the solar system was no more dangerous than a regular ferry run between Earth and Mars. "It''s nowhere near as scary as everyone makes it sound."


    Cassie fiddled with the right strap of her bag. "I heard only half the ships make it."


    "That''s an exaggeration," Mike replied, rather amused. "Propaganda to make the rebels seem scarier than they really are."


    "But a passenger freighter was just taken out last week, it was on all the news feeds." Cassie glanced about at the uncovered wiring and taped up pipes. "And this ship is way... older."


    "That''s a good thing. Older is better. These ancient systems may be outdated, but they are impossible to pick up on sensors once we go dark," Mike explained. "But our dark generator is new, if that makes you feel any better."


    Cassie rushed to catch up to him. "I don''t think they even had invented energy cloaks back when this ship was built."


    "Possibly." Mike slowed his pace a little. "And speaking of ancient technology, you should know that this ship does have a gravity flip in the middle." He took a left turn. "Have you ever seen one of those before?"


    "Um, no," Cassie mumbled.


    "Just be careful, you''ll be fine." Mike smiled knowingly. "And don''t try to do a backflip the first time you go through the switch zone."


    Cassie tried to smile through her nerves. "Uh, why do I get the feeling you''re speaking from experience?"


    Mike chuckled. "Because I am." He grinned. "In my defense, it was on a dare."


    Cassie gave him a worried look.


    "You''ll get used to it," Mike added. "I''m sure Aqeel will make sure you''re very familiar with every inch of this place."


    "Who¡ª?"


    "Our engineer," Mike clarified. "It''s pretty safe around here. Just watch out for the depressurized sections, the cargo hold preserves everything in zero atmo."


    "I read the manuals," Cassie said confidently.


    "I don''t know how accurate those are going to be," Mike replied uncertainly. "The area we depressurize has sort of... expanded over time."


    "What?" Cassie exclaimed worriedly.


    "You''ll figure it out." Mike shrugged. "The doors are locked anyways. Don''t want just anyone walking out into space."


    Cassie''s eyes lingered on the frame of the emergency airlock as she stepped over the raised metal on the floor. Her gaze flickered up to the next one, only a hundred meters in front of them. "Um, okay."


    "It''s not as bad as it sounds. Really," Mike said confidently. "This is a good ship, you got lucky with your assignment."


    Cassie felt exactly the opposite of lucky. She tried to avoid looking at everything around her that was in a state of disrepair, or half-repair, or barely-held-together-with-duct-tape repair. The last one she''d never even considered as an option before today. But this was the ship, the mission, she''d been given.


    It was still going to fly. She still had a mission to complete, a mission that she would complete. She wasn''t a coward, she wasn''t about to quit just because the place was a little rusty.


    After all, fixing things was what she was good at.


    Even so, she couldn''t help glancing about skeptically as they made their way through the ship.

 Chapter 2: Flipped

    Cassie stared at the hole in the floor as Mike began climbing down the ladder. It creaked under his weight. The rusty nuts might have shifted, or it could have been just her imagination. He had to pull his shoulders in to squeeze through the opening.


    She leaned over the side to peer past him. The tunnel went right through the ship. All six stories.


    It looked like a long drop.


    In reality, with the grav flip, it would only be three.


    It looked worse than it actually was.


    Cassie gripped the sides of the ladder firmly. She looked at the rung below. The yellow paint was flaking away. It was mostly black now. It probably wouldn''t break under her weight, things rarely did. Benefits of being small and light.


    She found herself testing it anyways. Force of habit.


    It held. It didn''t even creak as she shifted her full weight onto her foot. Her boots gripped the metal securely.


    This was beginning to feel familiar.


    She began to climb downwards, falling behind Mike again as she struggled with her heavy bag. One floor down, and she was already starting to regret packing so much. Another floor down, and the weight seemed to be disappearing. It took her a moment to realize that each step was easier than the last.


    Cassie glanced down at Mike, who was almost half a floor ahead of her by now. "What''s happening?"


    "The grav flip is coming up," Mike explained. "We''re climbing down right down, but we''re going to be climbing up in a minute."


    Cassie stopped, glancing downwards at the floor below, the divider between the two halves of the ship. It didn''t look any different, save that the ladder below them looked cleaner, the bright yellow standing out against the brackish walls.


    But gravity wasn''t exactly something that could be seen.


    "So how does it work?"


    "It''s microgravity in the middle. Then it switches on the other side," Mike explained as he continued downwards. "The two middle decks are actually half grav, but we don''t use them for anything except storage. You won''t have to learn the pains of working in low grav."


    "Great," Cassie replied absentmindedly.


    Mike paused right above the opening. "Here we are." He glanced up at her. "Just be careful when you fall to the other side."


    Cassie''s brow furrowed. "So I just... fall?"


    "I''ll show you, it''s easier than it sounds." Mike grabbed each side of the ladder, his feet floating in the air. "If you launch yourself at just the right moment..." He yanked himself downwards, letting go at the same time, and launching himself precisely through the hole in the floor.


    On the other side, he began to pull his legs in as he leaned back. In less than a second, he''d smoothly completed a half backflip. She watched carefully as his descent slowed, stopped, then he was slowly floating back towards her.


    No, not towards her. He was floating towards the ceiling of the level below her, just opposite the ladder. As he straightened out, he twisted halfway around, just so his feet hit the floor pointing towards the ladder. All done in one smooth motion.


    From her perspective, he was standing on the ceiling of the deck below her, looking up at her, smirking up at her.


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    "Wow," Cassie whispered, her grip on the ladder shifting, adjusting. "I want to try."


    "Uh, maybe you should take it slow..." Mike started to say, but Cassie had already pushed off the ladder.


    In the wrong way. In the wrong direction.


    Mike took a couple steps back as Cassie flew through the opening, watching with mild amusement rather than concern as she flayed about.


    "Woah!" Cassie tried to twist and flip at the same time, trying futilely to control her aimless trajectory. She''d managed to rotate about halfway upwards when her bag banged into the wall to the left of the ladder. The half grav kicked in and she found herself steadily sinking towards the floor.


    Cassie landed on her butt. "Oof." Her backpack hit the floor with a thunk. The fine black dust that had been covering the floor was no longer just on the floor.


    Mike was clearly trying not to laugh. "It takes some practice, but at least the landing isn''t that hard."


    Cassie frowned as she tried to wipe her hands off on her brown pants, but the black particles didn''t want to come off easily. Distracted, she didn''t notice the older woman who''d just appeared in the doorway in front of her.


    "What''s going on here?"


    "Just introducing our new trainee to the grav flip." Mike gestured towards Cassie.


    Helen looked down at Cassie, still sprawled on the floor, and chuckled. "I didn''t get it on my first time either."


    Mike smiled. "Cassie, this is our captain, Helen."


    Cassie scrambled to her feet as her cheeks turned bright red. The rules must be lax if not even the captain was wearing a proper uniform, but she didn''t want to test those limits today. It was always better not to make any waves.


    "Cassie Wylen. Reporting for duty." She tried to stand as straight as she could. It didn''t do her any favours.


    Helen gave her a brief glance over. "Glad to have you on board."


    "Thank you, ma''am," Cassie said quietly, fiddling with the strap of her backpack.


    To her relief, Helen turned her attention back to Mike. "Did you get the latest data from intel?"


    "I''ve got the updated map, it just needs to be uploaded into the computer," Mike answered.


    "Good. Goeff is almost done with the cargo. Then we''ll have our prelaunch meeting." Helen''s gaze shifted back to Cassie. "That''ll be a good chance for you to meet everyone."


    Cassie nodded eagerly, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do right now.


    "We''ll head to the hall right after the tour."


    "I''ll see you there." Helen gave Mike a pointed look. "I think our medic can keep you safe until then."


    Mike shrugged. "Of course."


    Helen shot him a skeptical look as she walked, almost bouncing, back the way she came in. She moved with the practiced ease of someone who''d spent a lifetime in space.


    Mike moved back towards the ladder awkwardly. He walked too heavily, fighting against the bounce rather than embracing it. Like someone who hadn''t spent much time in low grav environments. Like someone who had spent most of their life planetside.


    Cassie tried not to think about it. Instead, she shifted from foot to foot, getting a feel for the new grav level. This wasn''t too low for her tastes, it was even comfortable.


    But the grav flip, that was weird. Even the oldest stations had long converted their artificial gravity generators to unidirectional. While bidirectional was technically a more efficient gravity field setup, consuming the least EL-240 in the long run, it was definitely inconvenient.


    Even then, it didn''t even save that much EL-240. Not compared to what the engines, or the cloak, would be using on this trip. Grav fields were cheap, but they needed fuel, which was always in short supply. More so now, since the spaceborn controlled nearly all the stations capable of mining the rare, extraterrestrial element.


    It was still hard to believe that stocks had gotten so low that ships were resorting to tactics like this. Everyone in space knew how important it was not to waste anything, not when you could be trapped in a closed cycle for days, months, even years. Air, water, food, were all so precious.


    She raised herself onto the balls of her feet and let her heels drop, feeling the lack of weight there, the lack of gravity.


    Clearly sometimes even they took things for granted.


    Cassie hadn''t even realized that she was staring downwards, her eyes glued to the empty space where the grav flip existed.


    "You can try it again later, you''ll have lots of time to play with it." Mike stepped on to the ladder, climbing upwards. "We''ve still got the rest of the ship to go through."


    "Right," Cassie said agreeably.


    "But next time, it might be easier to try it without the backpack full of rocks," Mike advised.


    "They''re not rocks," Cassie replied defensively. "They''re tools."


    "We have tools here, you know. Didn''t have to bring your own," Mike commented as he stepped off the ladder only one level down.


    "I just wanted to be prepared," Cassie said quietly as she stepped onto the solid metal floor, feeling the full weight of her bag settle once again. "I like mine."


    "Why don''t we head to crew quarters next then?" Mike eyed the bag weirdly. "So you can drop that off."


    Cassie gave him a grateful smile. "That would be nice."

 Chapter 3: The Plan

    Awkward introductions: Complete.


    Awkward personal questions: In Progress.


    The hall that was their supposed meeting location had turned out to be the kitchen. Or galley. Or something like that. It was a place to eat food. At least, there was a little rehydration and reheating station in the corner. The basic kind that any child could figure out how to operate.


    That seemed to be the only standard piece of equipment in the entire room.


    The tables and chairs scattered about the room were all mismatched styles and colours. None of them looked new. Several of them seemed to have additional lighting installed underneath them, with no obvious purpose other than to give the dirty floor a warm glow. Even the window had a faint blue glow around the edges. It felt like someone had been trying to make the place feel more homey.


    She understood the feeling.


    But it had not what she had been expecting. It almost made her wonder if she''d been assigned to the wrong ship.


    It wasn''t, unfortunately. The huge map on the wall was a big reminder. Even if the original title had been scratch out and "Saint Joan" scribbled over top.


    The diagram showed a detailed overview of the long, thin ship. It was almost a rectangular prism, except for at the rear. There, the engines stuck out on either side, the engineering deck added another three levels below the ship and the shuttle bay jutted out on top. Or vice versa, depending on how you looked at it.


    The middle of the ship was all made up entirely of modular storage units, popular back when ships were prefabricated planetside and assembled on-station. Each one had it''s own set of maneuvering thrusters and airlocks, allowing temperature and atmospheric controls to be adjusted for each cargo section individually. On the exterior, interconnected corridors and tunnels allowed crew members to traverse the length of the ship without ever having to enter the cargo hold.


    She''d gotten lost in that maze earlier. At the time, it had seemed to be the better option. The alternative had been to walk along the huge conveyors of the hold, filled with gigantic shipping containers, which could have begun moving at any moment.


    Either way, it was a long trip from the cargo doors at the back to the main habitation area at the front. She hadn''t been imagining the distance, which she''d now be covering on daily basis.


    That wasn''t what worried her.


    All over the map, sections were marked off with big, red Xs. A red X was never anything good. There were a lot of them.


    She''d took one look at the map when they came in, then ignored it. Staring at it wasn''t going to make her feel any better. Besides, she''d already memorized the whole thing. Frustratingly, it was about the only useful piece of information about the ship that she''d found so far.


    But it wasn''t the only interesting thing in the room.


    On the opposite wall, there was a large display mounted. It was cycling through a catalog of photographs, showing a random assortment of landscapes and other planetary surface features. Earth and Mars. Occasionally, people in the background, or foreground. Some of them were crew members. A blue lake with red sand, hills, mountains, oceans...


    She kept having to tear her eyes away. It was way more interesting than the current conversation, which had somehow drifted towards recreational activities, or the other crew members lounging about. Everyone else was scattered about the dining area, which struck her as quite oversized for their current contingent.


    Danny was at the far end, feet propped up on a chair, engrossed in his portable screen. He''d returned to it the instant he''d finished introducing himself, and hadn''t looked up since. He hadn''t even moved, as far as Cassie could tell, except to occasionally rub at the silver stud through his left ear.


    Two tables over, their pilot, Shrey, and first officer, Brendan, had collectively given her about thirty seconds of their attention before returning to their card game. At least those were their primary jobs, it seemed like this was a ship where everyone had way too many jobs. Like everyone had done everything at one point.


    That was small crews for you.


    Almost every job, everything except engineering, the only thing she was actually interested in. No one seemed to really know how anything worked. Or managed to keep working. And they didn''t care, as long as it kept working.


    A typical planetborn attitude.


    What she really wanted was to talk to their engineer, but he wasn''t here yet. So instead of getting a better picture of this ship, and it''s non-standard "modifications", she was stuck here, in an awkward conversation with two of her new crew members.


    That was a nice way of putting it. Mike and Geoff had been interrogating her for the last ten minutes. That may have been an exaggeration, but that''s what it felt like. Until they got distracted talking about themselves anyways. Or really anything that caught their attention.


    This seemed to be one of those crews where everyone was friends.


    She didn''t like it.


    It wasn''t just because she was the outsider of the group, that wasn''t why she wanted the distance. She was there to work. She just didn''t need to know their life stories. They didn''t need to know hers.


    They didn''t need to be friends for her to do her job.


    But she still had to make an effort to fit in, which meant attempting to muddle her way through their questions.


    "Zeegee football?" Geoff guessed, snapping his fingers soundlessly.


    "It''s still around," Cassie answered uncertainly. "But, uh, it''s not that popular."


    "Really?" Geoff raised an eyebrow. "It''s always on the station channels."


    Even if he hadn''t mispronounced the name horribly, everyone knew about zero gravity football. It was basically the only sport planetborn and spaceborn shared. In fact, micrograv sports were pretty much the only ones she was familiar with. Despite the impression she was giving, she hadn''t been living under a rock her whole life.


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    "Well, you need antigrav generators to play planetside," Cassie explained. "People planetside just aren''t very good at it."


    Both men gave her skeptical looks.


    "It''s more of a Moon thing," Cassie added hastily.


    Geoff nodded, stroking his brown goatee thoughtfully, as if this had never occurred to him.


    "What about hoverboard races?" Mike suggested next.


    Cassie shook her head.


    "Huh." Mike''s tone was almost pitiful.


    "Um, I don''t really pay attention to sports, at all," Cassie added after a moment.


    Geoff''s expression was gradually shifting from curiosity to sadness. "There''s got to be something the kids planetside do for fun nowadays."


    Under the table, one of Cassie''s hands began picking at the busted seam of one of her many pockets. "We, um... are all really focused on school. Everyone is trying to get good grades."


    Blank stares.


    "You know, to get into the academies," Cassie elaborated quietly.


    "Grades. I can''t believe it." Geoff shook his head sadly. "Kids these days."


    Mike gave him an odd look. "It''s to avoid conscription."


    Cassie nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly. The atmosphere had gone sour. The space was silent, save for the faint audio from Danny''s entertainment device and the quick shuffling of cards, accompanied by the constant, repetitive clicking of an annoyingly loud fan.


    Awkward silence: Accomplished. Three for three.


    "So, what are you planning to do when we get to Phoebe Station?" Mike asked suddenly.


    "Uh..." Cassie uttered weakly as her mind went blank.


    She had absolutely no idea how to answer that.


    Thankfully, she was saved from answering the question by Helen''s arrival. The tall, squarely built woman entered with zero warning. Her head swiveled, making the streaks of silvery-grey in her black hair glint, as she took a quick head count.


    Cassie subconsciously touched the tight, low bun that she''d pulled her own long black hair into that morning.


    So she was the only one with long hair. She was the shortest. She was the youngest. She was the only one in uniform.


    So much for blending in.


    "Where''s Aqeel?" Helen asked, to no one in particular.


    "Down in the engine room," Brendan answered as he put down another card. Shrey scowled as he glared at the table, his lanky form hunched over it in concentration.


    Helen placed a hand on her hip. "This a meeting for the whole crew."


    Brendan shrugged. "Said he needed to tune the ion amplifiers or something. He''s not coming." He smirked as he put down a second card, pushing it across the table smugly.


    That caught Cassie''s attention. Mainly because this class of ship didn''t have ion amplifiers. It couldn''t, not at this size. She was about to speak up, then thought better of it.


    She''d embarrassed herself enough already today.


    "That''s that then." Helen walked over to Cassie''s table. "Aqeel is our engineer, you''ll meet him soon anyways." She turned a chair around, the back leaning against the metal table, and sat down, her arms resting on the top. "Let''s get started."


    Their pilot spoke up, finally diverting his attention from the card game. "Can we start with why we''re still here? We were scheduled to leave two hours ago."


    "Some cargo got delayed." Helen wasn''t looking at Geoff when she said this.


    Several people threw accusatory looks his way anyways.


    "Hey, it wasn''t my fault," Geoff said defensively. "Not this time anyways." He pointed at Danny. "The stuff wasn''t on the dock, blame him."


    "The docking clerk messed up, a few containers went to the wrong place," Danny explained, finally putting the device down. "It''s all sorted now."


    "So we''ll be leaving as soon as we get clearance. Then it''ll take us about a day to reach the edge of the dark zone," Helen continued. "Danny and Geoff, make sure the cargo hold depressurization goes smoothly, double check the seals along those busted sections." She waved vaguely towards the map on the wall, towards the scribbled Xs. "Shrey and Mike, take a look at those new maps from intelligence. Make sure they did their jobs right this time."


    "Got it." Danny got up to leave, suspiciously eager.


    "Stick around," Helen said firmly. "We''re going over the procedure for dark mode."


    Danny reluctantly sat back down. "We all know this already," he complained.


    "We do have a new crew member today," Helen reminded him.


    Cassie sat up straighter. The rest of the crew slumped in their seats a little.


    Helen didn''t wait for a response. "While we''re in the dark zone, we do need to keep Ellidium consumption down to minimize our risk of exposure. However, the dark generator covers most of our energy usage." Despite her earlier statement, it was evident that this wasn''t news to anyone other than Cassie. "Generally, the ship continues to operate normally. Gravity, life support, recycling, all those systems run at full capacity."


    Cassie nodded, in relief. She knew firsthand what water rationing due to power restrictions was like, and had no desire to experience that again. It was a nice surprise.


    Helen shot a warning look at Danny, who had been not-so-subtly inching his fingers towards his entertainment device. "The biggest difference will be that all long range communications will be cut off while we''re passing through."


    "Meaning we''ll be disconnected from the interplanetary network," Mike clarified unbidden.


    "I knew that," Cassie mumbled under her breath.


    Geoff leaned back. "What she really means is that if you want to grab anything to watch off the network, do it now."


    Helen ignored them. "That ban is for everyone''s safety, and it includes personal transmissions." Her tone was nothing less than serious. "Most importantly, if you have any devices that have long range transmission capabilities, turn them off before then."


    "Oh, I didn''t bring anything like that on board," Cassie said honestly.


    "Good." Helen smiled. "As long as no one does anything stupid." That comment seemed to be directed at Geoff. "Then we''ll get through just fine."


    Helen glanced about at her bored crew, minus Cassie, who was listening attentively. "That''s it. You''ve all got your jobs."


    Everyone started to get up as Cassie abruptly half-raised her hand.


    Helen raised an amused eyebrow. "What it is, Cassie?"


    Cassie noticed everyone was staring at her and quickly lowered her hand. "Um... but won''t the enemy scout ships see us? Even with an energy cloak, those engines are huge. Can the cloak really hide them?"


    Helen almost looked impressed at her question. "That''s correct, the engines consume too much Ellidium to be concealed by the dark generator," she confirmed. "Once we reach the edge of the zone, we''ll turn off them off."


    Cassie took a second to process that, ignoring the metallic scrapping of the furniture around her.


    So this is how it was done, literally launching the ship into the extremely dangerous war zone with no engines and no controls. One fraction of a fraction of a degree off and they could find themselves flying out of the solar system. The idea was terrifying.


    "So we''ll be unable to change course?" Cassie asked uneasily.


    "Our thrusters are classic propellant, oxidant based, so we can use those for course correction," Shrey answered, picking up the last of the cards.


    "We can turn the engines on once we reach the other side," Helen added. "We just have to get across without anyone spotting us."


    "...and what happens if they spot us?" Cassie asked nervously.


    That made everyone stop moving.


    Helen''s face softened. "As long as we follow the plan, it''s extremely unlikely that any ship will spot us."


    "...but if they do?" Cassie pressed.


    Geoff smiled. "We run like hell, that''s what."


    The tension popped like a bubble. Laughs and snickers filled the room as people began moving again. The joke had made everyone smile, even Danny.


    Everyone except Cassie, who just sat there looking very puzzled.


    "We''re a cargo ship, not exactly built for speed," Shrey explained. "Or fancy evasive maneuvers."


    "We try to avoid other ships as much as possible, but our best defense out there..." Mike gestured vaguely at the window, which was showing nothing except the expansive blackness of deep space. "...is stealth."


    Cassie''s confused expression didn''t fade. That couldn''t be all they had. No escorts? No defense? No escape route? This was the most dangerous area in the entire solar system. She just couldn''t believe that they didn''t have some kind of backup plan.


    There was no way they were that stupid.


    "Weapons?" Cassie suggested hopefully, optimistically.


    "Nope," Shrey replied flatly.


    Cassie couldn''t tell if he was serious. She twisted around to look at him, and still couldn''t tell. "Not even for asteroid deflection?"


    Geoff scoffed. "That''s what the hull''s there for."


    Cassie''s expression shifted as she began to grasp their situation, their reliance on this single piece of equipment.


    If that cloak failed...


    Helen cleared her throat. "This vessel is a little older than what you''re used to, but it''ll get us there. Just like it has dozens of times before."


    It was clear to Cassie that the statement was supposed to be reassuring, that it was supposed to make her feel better.


    It didn''t.

 Chapter 4: The Heart

    Cassie was not out of breath by the time they walked into the engine room.


    She was almost out of breath. And trying to hide it.


    The trek back through the entire length of the ship had taken them almost an hour, and they hadn''t even gotten lost once. Helen clearly knew this place like the back of her hand, confidently leading them to the subdecks that housed the major systems. The hum of working machinery was getting louder. Power generation, propulsion, environmentals, it was all up here.


    This was the heart of the ship.


    But not a healthy one.


    Once they''d gotten up the ladder, she''d quickly lost count of how many shoddy repairs she''d been able to spot so far. And those were only the ones that were visible. And she hadn''t even gotten to the main systems yet.


    She peeked into a room as they walked by, distracted by the familiar sharp, acrid scent of rubberized metal. It looked like it housed one of the oxygen scrubbers, one that didn''t seem to be working. The workstation screen was silently flashing red with errors, begging for attention. Part of the complex network of pipes and chemical vats had been dissembled... and not in an organized fashion.


    Along with the parts scattered on the floor, she spotted a laser torch, just lying on the ground, as if forgotten. Not recently either, given the thin coating of dust. And there was no sign of anyone in there.


    "We''re almost there," Helen called out ahead of her.


    Cassie ducked under a low hanging cable, moving onto the next room, which was completely packed with machinery. Even Helen had to slow down here, taking care to avoid tripping over the thick cables snaking across the floor as she made her way deeper into the inanimate jungle.


    Cassie followed, carefully navigating the narrow throughways, which had some alarmingly sharp edges sticking out. If there was some sort of path their captain was following, Cassie couldn''t see it.


    The hum was louder here and, unlike the rest of the ship, this place smelled. Not a lot, but enough for someone used to clean, filtered, scrubbed air to notice. She couldn''t quite identify the metallic tang lingering about, or the faint smell of burnt toast.


    The smell shouldn''t have been there. The filters in the ventilation system should have removed it. But she liked it. It was real. It meant stuff was working.


    It was comforting, like home.


    One of the free hanging cables brushed her sleeve, leaving a greasy, black smudge. She didn''t even notice it, the colour easily blended into her stained uniform, and she was focused on avoiding an exposed gearbox on her right.


    Cassie made a mental note to never let her hair down in here.


    It wasn''t the only thing around here that had had it''s guard removed. Or modified. Some equipment seemed to be constructed entirely out of patchwork, so much so that she was beginning to wonder how much of the original ship was even left.


    Helen slowed to a stop. "So this is our maintenance hub." She raised her voice above the noise. "You''ll be working here."


    Cassie nodded, eager to finally get started.


    "Aqeel?" Helen called out, sticking her head between two humming metal boxes.


    There was frustrated muttering from the depths of the mechanical jungle.


    Cassie couldn''t make out any of the words over the cacophony.


    Helen stuck her head further in, raising her voice. "We''re getting ready to undock, is everything good?"


    "Yes, yes, all good." A gruff voice answered, sounding slightly muffled. "Minor tuning. All finished now."


    "Good," Helen yelled back. "I brought Cassie down."


    Something metal clanged in the distance. "Who?"


    "Our new trainee." Helen''s yelled response sounded more that a little annoyed.


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    "Oh, right." Aqeel''s voice came back. "Send her in."


    Helen pulled her head out, looking at Cassie. "He''s in there somewhere. I''ll leave you two to finish the preflight checklist together."


    Cassie nodded again, before stepping sideways into a tiny nook, so Helen could pass back the way they''d come. Cassie continued onwards. It was beginning to feel like she was solving an intentional maze, even though it had one very obvious clue.


    All she had to do was follow the smell of burnt toast.


    She almost tripped as she walked into the small clearing. In contrast to everything else, it was a relatively clean, open space free of machinery. This was the eye of the only-slightly-metaphorical storm.


    Where Aqeel had clearly made himself comfortable. There were scattered tools and workbenches with half-finished projects. There was a toaster, paired with a plate of blackened bread. That in itself was a mystery. She had no idea where he might have gotten actual bread, considering how all their food came in dehydrated, prepackaged portions.


    Aqeel was leaning back in a well-worn, comfy looking chair. From this angle, all she could see was the dusty grey hair on the back on his head. He hadn''t noticed her yet, his attention still focused on the many screens in front of him.


    Some of them showed the status of the ship and it''s systems. Some of them showed sensor readings from outside the ship. Some of them were displaying diagrams.


    Some of them showed old zero g football matches.


    Suddenly, Aqeel swiveled around to face her. To her surprise, he was wearing the uniform, very stained, almost black. She had a feeling that he used it purely for the pockets, which were stuff with a whole manner of tools, widgets and kinknacks.


    As he moved, a slinky fell out of a pocket on his calf. He ignored it, touching his short, peppery beard as he looked her over. "So... you''re the fresh meat."


    Cassie squirmed under the scrutiny.


    She didn''t like how that sounded. It was worse than greenie.


    But maybe it was more accurate.


    "Um, yeah," Cassie almost whispered, nearly a squeak. She cleared her throat, trying to stand up straighter. "But this isn''t my first ship, I was assigned to the Queen Margret before this. So I''m familiar with spaceships."


    Aqeel didn''t look impressed, if anything he looked rather bored. "I''ve seen your resume."


    "Oh, right," Cassie mumbled, sticking her hands in her pockets.


    "This place is nothing like the Queen Margret." Aqeel tossed an elastic band ball into the air and caught it. "We don''t carry passengers, for starters."


    "Yes, of course, that''s not-" Cassie bit the inside of her cheek, thinking about what to say next.


    The others seemed to believe that she was competent, if a little clumsy. But the others also knew jack shit about how this place actually worked. She might have been able to fool everyone into thinking that she actually knew what she was doing.


    Everyone except Aqeel.


    If anyone was going to be able to sniff out her inexperience, it would be him. And he''d just seen right through her opening. She couldn''t afford to make another bad impression.


    Cassie took a breath, picking her next words carefully. "I just meant that... I think I can be useful, but I am ready to learn."


    "Hmmm..." The ball had disappeared into another pocket just as quickly as it had appeared.


    Cassie stared at her boots. Her eyes traced the scuff marks, the exposed metal visible through numerous small tears, the rusted eyelets barely holding the frayed laces in place. She tried not to look nervous as she waited out the silence. Her stomach felt like she was going through the grav flip again.


    "Did you read the manuals?" Aqeel asked out of the blue.


    Cassie blinked once before her brain managed to fully process the question. "I didn''t have a lot of time, but-"


    "Good," Aqeel interrupted. "Because I don''t use them anyways."


    Given their surroundings, that probably should not have surprised her. But it sounded like progress. She was beginning to shift into cautious optimism. "Um, okay?"


    "And I don''t have the time to explain every little thing to you," Aqeel went on, still sounding rather bored. "Just watch and learn."


    Cassie nodded. "Yes, sir."


    "Knock that off," Aqeel snapped. "We''re not that kind of ship."


    "Sorry," Cassie said softly.


    The look he gave her was just as disapproving. But at least he didn''t say anything.


    "So... um... when do we start the preflight?" Cassie asked tentatively, hoping to change the subject.


    Aqeel finally smiled, bringing out the deep laughter lines around his eyes and mouth. "It''s all done."


    Cassie''s brow furrowed. A preflight for a ship this large could take hours. "Huh? How?"


    Aqeel shrugged. "I finished it right before you got here."


    "But I thought you were tuning the... ion amplifiers?" The words felt wrong coming out of her mouth, she knew that couldn''t be right.


    Aqeel smiled mischievously.


    "Which was obviously not what you were doing because..." Cassie hesitated. "...this ship doesn''t have ion amplifiers."


    "Smart girl." Aqeel winked conspiratorially. "A ship this size would never have ion amplifiers, but our fearless captain doesn''t know that." He smirked triumphantly. "That was just an excuse to avoid another boring meeting."


    "Oh," Cassie uttered quietly.


    Aqeel leaned back lazily. The chair creaked.


    Cassie''s eyes flickered around, the chaos around them finally sinking in. This place was feeling more intimidating by the second. "So then... where should I start?"


    "Come!"


    That was all the warning she got before the old man bolted out of his chair with way more energy than she''d thought he''d had in him. He slipped out of the area through a small passage on the other side, an opening that she hadn''t even noticed earlier. She followed him through to find herself right at the entrance to one of the main corridors.


    No complicated navigation required.


    Cassie glanced back at the well-hidden entrance in confusion. She didn''t have the chance to ask him why they hadn''t just entered this way in the first place, because Aqeel was already halfway down the corridor.


    "Where are we going?" Cassie called, racing after him. She caught up to him as he was beginning to climb down the ladder at the end of the hall.


    "To see the most important piece of tech on the boat."

 Chapter 5: Critical Hardware

    "It''s the dark generator," Cassie whispered, her hands resting on top of the railing.


    Aqeel kept going, taking the rickety steel stairs down a level to the shuttle bay floor. He made his way over to the computer terminal attached to the giant metal cylinder. He left Cassie leaning over the metal bar, with her mouth hanging wide open.


    But she couldn''t help staring at it.


    The thing was huge, nearly reaching the ceiling of the bay, and even wider than the room she''d be bunking in. It made the shuttle in the adjacent bay look small by comparison. As if it wasn''t already imposing enough, the entire generator was glowing purple, giving the whole area a surreal atmosphere.


    She hadn''t been certain about what to expect, information on dark generators was highly classified, but it wasn''t this. At the same time, she could hardly believe that she was finally here, about to get first hand experience with equipment that others could only dream of.


    It was even newer than she''d hoped, definitely newer than anything else she''d seen on the ship so far. Plain steel panels covered most of the structure, hiding almost all of the internals. Plain except for the rivets along the edges and the air vents dotting the surface. Despite the internal temperature regulation system, this place probably got a little chilly when it was up and running.


    Because dark generators didn''t only consume Ellidium. They also consumed heat.


    She didn''t pretend to understand the physics of it all.


    She just needed to know what kept it running, what might cause it to break down. Her eyes fell on the heavy-duty oval-shaped door, the maintenance access portal, with it''s big red locking wheel. Like the thick metal exterior, it wasn''t just there for aesthetics.


    Earlier dark generators had been known for their tendency to implode.


    Nowadays, that was a rare occurrence. Newer designs, with improved safety protocols, had resulted a huge drop in accidents. People still tended to feel uneasy around them anyways.


    Partially because of the propaganda surrounding the restricted technology.


    Both planetary governments argued that they were still too dangerous to be used on passenger vessels, but everyone knew that was just an excuse to keep the technology secret and under their control. It was one major advantage the planets held over the independent stations, their ability to develop new technology. The cloaks the rebel ships used were less effective and much less efficient. Not that the stations were concerned about efficiency, considering their fuel surplus since all trade had come to a halt.


    The dark generators from Earth were supposed to be better, safer. She didn''t buy that either.


    Putting an inch of steel around the thing made everyone feel better, but that was it. There was no physical shielding that could protect you from an implosion. The real keystone was the automatic shutdown protocol, which could react much faster than any human, was way more reliable, and would turn the whole thing off before a runaway reaction could even begin.


    That was what she''d bet her life on, not the shiny metal shell, a very planetborn design choice.


    This was their style, hide all the dirt underneath a fancy exterior, no matter how impractical it was. Knowing them, any minor repair to this thing would probably require crawling around tiny tunnels while trying to interpret overly complicated schematics. Even something as simple as swapping out a busted valve probably had a hundred different, very detailed steps, making a job that should take ten minutes into an hours-long endeavor.


    That was the problem with these high-precision, triple-redundancy systems.


    Even though the generator itself seemed to be state-of-the-art, the installation looked anything but. Loose cables and pipes ran across the floor to disappear into the main body of the ship. Support beams had been welded between the shell and the walls of the bay, the extreme discoloration along the edges an obvious indication of a very rush job.


    The supports were a reminder that this thing wasn''t just large in volume, but also mass. Not that it would make much of a difference to a ship this large.


    Just like the power consumption.


    A generator this size wouldn''t even draw a tenth of what the engines needed, a portion easily given up when the propulsion systems weren''t running. The engineers wouldn''t have even needed to upgrade the power systems when it was installed.


    Probably why this ship had been chosen for such an upgrade in the first place, even if there had been barely enough space to put the thing in.


    Her eyes darted over the monolith, scrutinizing it closely, as she slowly walked down the stairs. She carefully stepped over the heating pipes and avoided the old-fashioned space heaters scattered across the dark grey floor. She came to stand right in front of the access door.


    She could reach out and touch it.


    "It''s not that impressive," Aqeel said suddenly.


    Cassie craned her neck to look up at it. The cloak generator seemed even larger up close. "It''s just... so much bigger than I thought it''d be."


    Aqeel glanced up from the screen for an instant to throw her an odd look. "It''s no bigger than a swimming pool, but upright."


    Cassie nodded, as if that made sense to her.


    "Only a tad bigger than the shuttle we had to throw out to stick it in," Aqeel went on. "It''s putting the heating stations down on the other side of the ship, that''s the strange bit."


    Cassie was only half-listening. "The excess heat from the ship isn''t enough?"


    "Not with a crew this small," Aqeel answered, analyzing the screen in front of him. "Even after it cools down the ship, needs to be heated up a fraction to keep the temperature stable. One is solely a backup."


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    "Right," Cassie mumbled.


    "Else it would freeze," Aqeel stated bluntly. "That would be very bad."


    Cassie shook off the feeling that she was being patronized. "So what''s the problem with the heating stations being down by the engine room?"


    Aqeel waved vaguely towards the shuttle next door. "They would have easily fit up here."


    "Then you wouldn''t have any shuttles," Cassie pointed out.


    Aqeel snorted. "We never got any use out of them anyways. Station to station transit only for the last decade."


    "Isn''t it still good to have?" Cassie asked naively. "You never know when you might need it."


    "You can be in charge of keeping it in working order then," Aqeel retorted lowly, slightly annoyed.


    "Sure," Cassie replied absentmindedly. She was still staring.


    Aqeel noticed. "I thought this wasn''t your first rodeo?"


    "Uh..." Cassie purposefully tore her eyes away, making a mental note that staring at standard equipment was not a smart way to blend in. "This is my first ship with a dark generator," she admitted.


    Aqeel nodded understandingly, taking a moment to look up from to screen to the huge piece of equipment in front of him. "Ah, well, it is a marvel of modern tech. Not a simple matter to hide in plain sight."


    "It doesn''t turn the ship invisible." Cassie spoke without thinking.


    "Close enough." Aqeel''s annoyed undertone was back. "It''s not as if someone could target us visually."


    Cassie nodded, then she pressed her lips together. "Can I ask a question?"


    "You just did," Aqeel replied dryly, without looking away from his screen.


    Cassie gave him an exasperated look. Clearly, being polite wasn''t going to earn her any points with him. She sighed softly.


    "Fine. Go ahead," Aqeel grumbled. "You don''t have to ask beforehand."


    Cassie opened her mouth. Then closed it again. She didn''t want to ask a stupid question.


    "It would be odd if you didn''t have a boatload," Aqeel mumbled under his breath.


    Cassie looked up at the generator, her brow furrowed. This had been bothering her since they''d walked in. It just didn''t make any sense.


    "Why is it..." Cassie said slowly, still feeling like this was an incredibly dumb question. "...purple?"


    Aqeel burst out laughing. The rich, deep sound echoed through the entire shuttle bay. He leaned against the side of the metal shell, grinning widely.


    Cassie regarded him with outright confusion. "Uh, did I... say something wrong?"


    "No, it''s a great question, just a funny surprise." Aqeel wiped the water from the corners of his eyes. "Those lights aren''t for anything," he explained. "Brendan put them up. He thought they looked cool."


    Cassie blinked, processing. Up close, she could see the tiny light strings wrapped around the midsection. Just like the ones in the mess hall, the quarters, the halls...


    That actually explained a lot about this ship.


    "It''s Brendan''s idea of modern decor," Aqeel added, still smiling. "It''s not exotic radiation or warning lights, just our crazy first officer."


    Cassie took a step back. "Wait, can it emit radiation?"


    "No," Aqeel answered swiftly. "Technically, there''s less radiation inside, since it absorbs everything."


    "I thought it absorbed energy?" Cassie asked, her tone unsure.


    "Almost all energy at the edge of the field," Aqeel corrected. "Enough that those bastards won''t know we''re there even when they could reach out and touch us." He rapped his knuckles against the metal casing. "Keeping this baby running is our most important job."


    Cassie stood there, looking confused. "I thought life support was always the most important?"


    Aqeel snorted. "Bah, not out here." He met her puzzled gaze. "If the oxygen scrubbers conk out, you can last hours while shallow breathing. If a rebel ship spots us, we''re dead like that," he explained, snapping his fingers for added emphasis.


    "Really?" Cassie still looked puzzled. "But if we fix it, then we''ll be invisible again."


    Aqeel shrugged dismissively. "Don''t matter one bit. They''d be able to map our trajectory and find us later."


    "We can''t just... change course?" Cassie suggested uncertainly.


    "Maybe if we were one of the those fancy little fighters they''re sending out now." Aqeel waved his hand about in a sarcastic gesture. "But no, a cargo ship this size can''t change course fast enough to make a difference. Too much mass."


    "So we have to stay hidden," Cassie agreed quietly, putting it all together.


    "And that''s why this." Aqeel snapped his fingers and pointed upwards at the purple panels. "Is the most important thing on this boat."


    Right then, the entire vessel groaned. The dark floor rumbled under their feet as sharp, metallic creaks reverberated through the air. In the background, there were several low, heavy-sounding thuds.


    Cassie grabbed on to the handrail of the metal staircase, really to brace, her eyes scanning everywhere for damage. "What''s that?"


    As soon as the noises had begun, they vanished.


    "Relax, we''re just undocking," Aqeel said calmly, undisturbed. He, still standing in front of the computer, cycled quickly through several screens. "We''re on our way now."


    Cassie shot a suspiciously glance at the enormous shuttle bay doors before slowly releasing her iron grip on the steel bars. "So... that always happens when the ship starts up?"


    "Hmmm... sometimes." Aqeel rubbed his beard, mixing more black into his white hair. "Shrey usually does a better job of bringing us out." He shrugged, then opened a nearby filing cabinet and started rifling through the contents. "Eh, I''ll check the starters later. Not a big deal."


    Cassie would have liked to believe him.


    She went over to the other computer, the workstation connected to the ship, not the one connected to the dark generator. With only a few taps, she''d brought up the Saint Joan''s status information.


    Her stomach sunk with dread.


    The screen was filled with orange.


    Her eyes became laser focused on the pixels in front of her. She raced through the lines one by one, but her shoulders relaxed as she made her way down the screen. Each alert was one she''d seen before.


    There were no new alarms. Just the usual ones.


    She''d gotten used to having "normal" errors far too quickly, far too easily. Her status screens used to be green, sometimes with a touch of yellow, but mostly green. Not orange. But this was Aqeel''s definition of "fine" for the Saint Joan, as crazy as that was.


    But she felt like there was something off.


    "So we''re flying now..." Cassie shifted her weight from foot to foot. "But I don''t feel anything?"


    "Our acceleration is low. It can be tough to notice," Aqeel explained. "Even at max thrust, you couldn''t feel much."


    Cassie jumped up and down. "It''s so smooth. It''s great."


    "That''s my ship." Aqeel''s voice was laced with pride. "As long as we take care of her, she''ll take care of us."


    Cassie sat down on the bottom step of the staircase as she watched Aqeel search through the drawers of the filing cabinet as he huffed and muttered. "So do we turn the cloak on now?"


    "Not yet." Aqeel''s answer was muffled, his head still stuck in the drawer. "It''ll be almost a day before we reach the edge of the dark zone."


    Cassie went back to staring at the dark generator.


    "Found it." A moment later, Aqeel was handing her a heavy clipboard. "You''ll need this."


    "Paper?" Cassie uttered, unable to cover her surprise at being handed such a fossil unexpectedly.


    "And a pen," Aqeel said with mock amazement as he put the writing utensil down on top.


    Cassie grabbed it before it could roll off, trying to remember how to use it. It had been ages since she''d even touched one of these, and her handwriting was abysmal. She''d learned typing long before even picking up a pencil.


    "Always stick with the tried and true." Aqeel tapped the top page once before he turned his attention to the door of the generator, using both hands to turn the wheel.


    Cassie hid a scowl as she started flipping through the pages.


    Newly printed. It was shocking to see such a waste of resources on something so simple. Water, wood, ink, all spent on something that could have just as easily been done on a tablet. Or the computer nearby.


    They really did live in luxury over here.


    Cassie kept flipping. The list went on and on. "This... is going to take a while."


    Aqeel chuckled as he pulled the heavy steel door open. "I knew you were a smart cookie. Better get started."

 Chapter 6: Going Dark

    Helen tapped the side of the console silently, leaning back into the well-used, cushioned chair. A few feet ahead of her, Mike and Shrey were working away on their own workstations, running through their checklist. Unlike them, she wasn''t paying attention to the screens in front of her, instead, her gaze was forwards, on the wide view screen located at the front of the flight deck.


    Even though it was black.


    That''s was all the camera outside could see at the moment. The dark zone was aptly named. She glanced sideways at one of her own screens, set to scan the area. Their sensors also confirmed there was no one out there. No one they could see.


    It was a good sign. No ships was a good sign.


    They were far past the point where any Terran or Martian civilian ship would dare to go. Nobody went this close to the dark zone, unless it was a military vessel, or they intended to cross.


    Everything on this trip was looking normal so far.


    "We''re approaching the border," Shrey announced. "We should turn on the cloak soon."


    Helen nodded. "Let''s take one more look at that new flight plan before we head in."


    Shrey hit a few buttons and the viewscreen switched from the camera view to a limited map of the solar system. The Sun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. All the major asteroid stations were labelled. Their ship was represented by a small green triangle, not to scale, and their journey up until now marked with a solid white line.


    They were almost at the border of Mars'' territory, the edge of the asteroid belt, an area completely covered in red. The overlay showed the sections of the solar system under enemy control or currently disputed, based on the updates from military intelligence. A few seconds later, a white, dotted line appeared on the map, showing their projected course to Phoebe Station, a path directly through the red area.


    "Everything is matching expected trajectories. No stray asteroids as far as I can see," Shrey announced. "We''ll pass by Jupiter, giving it lots of space, then it''s right on to Phoebe Station."


    Helen leaned forwards in her seat, silently studying the image.


    "It''s not a big change from our original flight plan," Mike added. "Adds a couple days, but that''s it."


    Helen tapped her chair''s armrest. "And what was wrong with our usual route again?"


    "Someone else got themselves spotted on that path," Mike answered. "It''s been swarmed, according to the latest intelligence reports."


    Shrey leaned back and crossed his arms. "Weren''t we the only ones using it?"


    Mike shrugged. "I guess not."


    Helen got up and the screens of her station dimmed to black, just like the other empty workstation to her left. She stepped up just behind the two pilot seats, resting her arm on top of Shrey''s headrest. "What do we know about this route? Anyone flown it recently?"


    "Not according to intel," Mike answered. "They''re eager to get their hands on our sensor logs as soon as we get to the other side."


    Helen scowled. "They''re using us as a test run," she muttered irritably. "We''re not one of their damn spy ships."


    "And the extra fuel is going to cost us," Shrey remarked. "Those Ellidium prices aren''t going down anytime soon."


    "How do you always manage to find the negative side to everything?" Mike said in mild annoyance, but there was no real heat behind it.


    Shrey smirked. "It''s a talent."


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    "He''s right." Helen''s scowl had only deepened. "This is going to eat into our cut."


    "Try telling intel that," Mike muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat. "Look, we can make it up on the next run." A smooth, dotted curve appeared on the map, connecting their destination to another friendly station marked in the asteroid belt. "We fill up at Phoebe, at half the orbital station price. Phoebe to Pallas is an easy trip." Another line appeared from the asteroid back to the Mars station they''d departed from. "One big loop."


    "Pallas is going to be even more dangerous than usual." Shrey scrolled through a long list of reports he''d brought on his own console. "They practically get attacked every day now."


    "That''s nothing new," Mike pointed out. "It''s the largest planet-controlled mining operation in the asteroid belt, it''s always been a major target."


    "It''s also got five cruisers hanging around at all times," Helen added. "No matter how badly the rebels want to cut off our main source of Ellidium, they aren''t going to be taking it out anytime soon." She pointed at the section of the asteroid belt in the middle. "It''s getting past that blockade that''s the tricky part."


    "Phoebe will have more up to date info on that," Mike suggested. "I''ll see what I can find once we get there."


    Helen tilted her head. "That''s a good idea, we don''t have to figure everything out right now."


    Shrey''s console beeped once. "So are we taking this route to Phoebe? It''s not like we can change our minds later."


    Helen stared up at their projected path across the solar system. "There''s no other options, we''ll just have to keep our eyes out for any nasty surprises."


    Mike nodded in agreement. "Our sensors are limited in dark mode, but we should be able to spot any other ships long before they spot us."


    "Unless they also have a cloak, then we crash into each other at a million miles an hour before either one of us can blink," Shrey stated plainly.


    Mike shot Shrey a look. "The odds of that are near zero."


    "I was thinking more along the lines of minefields," Helen clarified.


    Mike raised an eyebrow at her. "That''s just unsubstantiated rumors."


    "You put too much faith in intel," Shrey stated bluntly. "The rebels don''t care about minimizing casualties."


    "They wouldn''t," Mike repeated confidently. "There''s too much of a risk of friendly fire, on both sides." He twisted around to look at Helen. "This is the safest route."


    Helen nodded. "Then that''s what we''ll take." She exhaled softly. "But let''s make sure there''s always someone up here. Between you, me, Geoff and Brendan, we''ve got more than enough to set up a rotation."


    Mike looked at Shrey. "You want to go first?"


    "Sure," Shrey agreed, shrugging. "I''ve got some stuff to catch up on."


    Helen tapped the back of his chair. "Just make sure you set up the audio alerts before you turn this place in to a movie theater."


    Shrey smiled apologetically. "Already done."


    Mike and Helen looked skeptical.


    "The computer will make a very loud, annoying noise in the event that anything shows up on the sensors," Shrey explained. "And stop whatever''s playing automatically."


    Mike glanced over at Shrey''s screen, now open to the media library. "More Moon of Horrors?"


    "Nope, got canceled after just one season," Shrey answered sadly. "I''ve got all eighteen seasons of Mayday: Deep Sea instead."


    "You''re going to watch a show about sinking ships while we''re on a ship?" Mike asked curiously, his brow gently furrowed.


    "It''s not the same, we''re not in the middle of the ocean," Shrey replied quickly, almost defensive. "Besides, it''s all historic. Wooden boats and such. Stuff that would never happen today." He leaned over the armrest. "In one episode, a ship gets sunk by an iceberg."


    "Isn''t that a little unrealistic?" Mike asked doubtfully.


    "Based on a true story apparently," Shrey said as he turned back to the screen, scrolling to the next page. "It''s on the shared media drive if you want to watch it."


    Mike smiled politely. "I''ll pass."


    "So are we ready to turn the generator on?" Helen interjected.


    Shrey switched his screens back to the ship status. "Ion drives are offline. We''re at full speed." He scrutinized the display closely. "All good here."


    Mike glanced over at the console on his left. "The generator is ready."


    Helen looked up at the screen. They were rapidly approaching the red area, the unofficial border of the dark zone. Waiting any longer would only increase the risk that an unfriendly ship would spot them.


    "Buckle up," Helen slid into one of the empty seats behind them. "We''re going dark."


    The cockpit filled with silence.


    Shrey and Mike shared a puzzled look.


    "Uh, we don''t have seatbelts?" Shrey asked slowly, his gaze switching between Helen and Mike.


    His current copilot seemed just as confused. "Yeah, what on Earth are you talking about?"


    Helen sighed. "It''s a figure of speech." She leaned back and crossed her arms. "You know, some of us still remember the time when space travel wasn''t so luxurious."


    "Ah, yes, the luxury of rehydrated mush and recycled air," Shrey agreed sarcastically. "Living like kings out here."


    Mike smirked. "Don''t forget the amazing drink options. Cold water, hot water and lukewarm water. Pure luxury."


    They both cracked up laughing.


    Helen sighed as she rubbed her temple. "Just give Aqeel the signal to turn the damn thing on."

 Chapter 7: Noodles

    Cassie''s tablet was sitting on the table in front of her. It showed that the dark generator was running normally. No alerts, no irregularities, no problems. So far. Even so, the device was set to stay on and keep refreshing.


    Next to the tablet, there was a dehydrated soup pack that she''d just injected with hot water using the kitchen facilities. It was standing upright on her tray, valve sticking upwards, untouched. She was currently waiting for the contents to cook. Her stomach rumbled.


    She wasn''t looking at the glowing tablet. Nor was she looking at the food in front of her.


    She was staring at the photos cycling on the wall screen.


    She''d tried to ignore it earlier, but as she''d waited, her attention had been captured by the amazing landscapes. So many photos, of Earth, of Mars. Even a few of one of the lunar cities. But mostly Earth and Mars.


    It reminded her how the planets had so much. So much water. So much air. So much food. So much life.


    So many things that were so scarce in space.


    Not that she would trade her life for every other. Space was beautiful in it''s own way, in the way she liked. Even just getting to see the stars, without smoke, light pollution or clouds, was worth it. In her limited experience opinion, anyways.


    As the pictures started their cycle again, she recognized more of the crew, even though they tended to look much younger. Mike. Geoff. Danny. Brendan. Shrey. Aqeel. Everyone except Helen.


    Maybe their captain didn''t like having her picture taken.


    The red beach faded to black, replaced by a hillside of lush green grass, sheep scattered in the background. Wispy clouds were spread across a deep blue sky. Danny looked a lot younger in this one, and the man he was posing next to could have been his twin. Or a friend.


    But Danny didn''t strike her as the type of person who had friends.


    "Feeling homesick already?" Brendan''s voice came from the other end of the table.


    The snapped Cassie''s attention away from the display surface. She finally noticed the sharp, rich smell in the air. Brendan had just put down a tray with a steaming bowl of spiced green sauce coating a large number of unidentifiable meat chunks. He reached for the reddish bottle that had been sitting in the center of the table since before she''d sat down.


    She had already been hungry, but her mouth started to water, even though it was clearly a meat dish. Maybe there was something similar with vegetables in the ship''s storage. She swallowed unconsciously.


    "Oh, no, that''s not..." Cassie babbled, fiddling with the liquid input valve on the packaging of her soup. "...they''re just nice to look at." She picked up the container, shaking it vigorously.


    "Thanks." Brendan smiled slightly as he squirted red oil all over his meal. "I took most of them. I always try to take a photo or two every time I go back home.


    Cassie put the soup down and glanced back at the display again. "Wow, you''re a really good photographer."


    Brendan shrugged slightly, as his smile widened. "It''s just a hobby."


    "You''ll need to find one for yourself," Geoff chimed in, sitting down next to her. His tray had a brown, thick loaf that was covered in grey-brown sauce. It smelled like meat and looked even more unappetizing.


    Brendan nodded agreeably, his mouth full of fragrant, still unidentified curry.


    "Things can get real boring out here." Geoff grabbed the bottle of red oil that Brendan had used earlier. "So what''s your thing?" The red colour really did nothing to improve the look of his meal.


    "What do you like to do in your free time?" Brendan clarified.


    "Um... we never got a lot of free time." Cassie picked up the scissors and expertly cut open the top of the foil package, turning it into a makeshift bowl for her noodle soup. "And I''ll probably be really busy here too."


    Brendan waved off the excuse. "You''ll have plenty of downtime here, not much work to be done while we''re in dark mode."


    Cassie used her fork to stir up the noodles, causing the artificial vegetable scent to waft upwards, as she subtly bit the inside of her lip. "Uh, I like reading manuals."


    Danny snorted loudly from one table over, his feet up on the seat next to him and his tablet in his hand, playing media. "That''s not a hobby."


    He''d finished eating ages ago, but hadn''t bothered to clear the table yet, being too engrossed in his device. The leftover clear plastic packaging from his meal, some kind of mixed rice dish with meat and vegetables, was still sitting there. He had been occasionally taking sips from his flexible silver water bag, but hadn''t moved otherwise since Cassie had sat down, until now.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll have lots of time to find something better out here," Geoff told her. "And I''m sure we can help with that."


    "You could always take up gardening," Brendan suggested. "Like Shrey."


    Cassie coughed on a mouthful of noodles. "You''re serious? Gardening? We''re in space."


    Brendan smiled at her reaction. "And yet, he''s got a whole jungle going."


    "Not quite a jungle," Danny chimed in unprompted. "More like a swamp."


    Geoff nodded in agreement.


    Cassie put down her fork. "But... how?"


    Brendan shrugged.


    "He''s obsessed," Mike answered instead, sliding into the seat across from her, placing his bottle on the table. "That''s how." He picked out a bright green sphere from the small, black plastic package he was holding and popped it in his mouth.


    Cassie waited patiently for further explanation, but none seemed forthcoming. "So does he eat them or..."


    Brendan chuckled. "No, they''re just decorative."


    Cassie stared at him in disbelief.


    Danny snapped his fingers. "See, I''m not the only one who thinks it''s weird."


    "Pilots," Geoff stated as he cut up a large chunk of the brown loaf. He dipped it into the even browner sauce before shoving it in his mouth. "What''s there to say? They''re all a little crazy."


    "Don''t knock it till you try it," Brendan said, almost defensively. "You never know, you might like it."


    "Uh, I''m really better with machines than plants." Cassie scowled slightly, choosing to take another forkful of noodles.


    "Or, you could always take up running," Danny suggested brightly.


    Collective groans rose from the other members of the group.


    "I mean it. This place is huge. Best track around," Danny continued, ignoring the shaking heads and annoyed grumbling. "Takes me a half hour to get from one end to the other." He took a sip of his drink. "You guys are missing out."


    "It''s a pain, that''s what it is," Mike protested, pulling an orange sphere out of the package this time, then putting it back.


    "I already get enough exercise getting from here to my quarters, no need for any extra," Geoff grumbled.


    Cassie blinked. "Wait, there are no elevators?"


    "Oh, yes, the secret elevators that we keep hidden on the grand tour." Geoff smirked knowingly.


    Everyone chuckled. Except Danny, who shook his head and groaned.


    Cassie glanced around at the group. "But on any ship this size..."


    "Not on a ship this old," Mike explained. "The grav field flip is also a relic you won''t see anymore."


    "It''s worst than just no elevators," Geoff continued. "No bikes. No skateboards. No hoverboards." He counted off the prohibited items on his fingers. "It''s inhumane."


    Brendan put down his spoon for a moment, pausing to dose his green dish with more red oil. "All the walking keeps you fit."


    Geoff scoffed. "Skateboards keep you fit."


    "For people who can actually use them." Brendan stirred his dish, now looking much more brown than before. "You''d crash one the second you go on it anyways."


    Geoff''s scowl deepened.


    "It''s never going to happen," Mike said firmly. "You''re outvoted."


    Geoff looked like he was going to argue.


    "We all remember hoverboard incident," Brendan added, his mouth full of curry. It was probably meant to sound serious, maybe a warning, but his garbled voice ruined the effect. Even so, Geoff didn''t utter a snappy response, and focused on cutting a particularly tough part of his meat brick.


    Cassie spun more noodles around her fork, watching the conversation with interest. "This place is really different than the other fleet ships."


    "Because it''s not," Brendan confirmed. "It''s a private ship, and we used to negotiate our own contracts with the mining companies... but now we work exclusively for the military."


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Mike bit down on the red candy currently in his mouth, causing a loud crunch. "Under a contract we couldn''t negotiate."


    "Or refuse," Geoff grumbled lowly.


    Cassie glanced at the others, sensing the faint edge of fear lacing the conversation, even though they were all trying their best to hide it. "Is that true?"


    Brendan met her gaze. "They did imply..."


    "No," Danny interjected firmly. "We decided to take the contract."


    Geoff leaned forwards. "We had a choice."


    "No, we didn''t," Mike spoke up, suddenly sounding annoyed. "We didn''t have a dark generator and we could never compete with the other, much larger, inner transport companies. And you all know it." He paused, as if expecting for someone to disagree, but the group was oddly silent. "We would have been sitting in dock, racking up pointless fees, if we hadn''t taken this contract."


    "It''s not important how we got here," Brendan said, putting down his spoon, a tone of finality in his voice. "We''re in this now. We work for them, go where they tell us, but they''ve left us alone so far. We''re still running the show."


    That got some murmurs of agreement.


    "So you took this contract and the only thing the military gave you was the dark generator?" Cassie asked innocently. "No other upgrades?"


    "Nope," Brendan added hastily. "That was it."


    "Not true. They also painted their logo on the side," Geoff pointed out, with obvious disdain. "Painted a fucking target on us."


    Brendan shot his coworker a warning look. "We''re just lucky they let us keep flying it, provided we follow their orders."


    "Still a raw deal," Geoff grumbled lowly. "Half the pay, twice the danger."


    "If you hate your job so much, then quit," Danny shot back. "You just like to complain."


    "You do understand what the word ''conscription'' means, right?" Geoff retorted, arms crossed. "Lot of good that would do. I''d just end up working for them anyways."


    Brendan rubbed his forehead as he stared down at his empty bowl.


    Geoff stabbed the remaining portion of the dull brown loaf he''d been eating with his fork. "And I''d rather be a contractor than a soldier in this stupid war."


    Now it was Mike''s turn to shit Geoff a warning look. "Don''t start that again."


    "It''s true," Geoff continued, ignoring Mike''s expression. "It''s the stupidest thing ever. Why are we even fighting in the first place?"


    "Unity."


    "Bullshit." Geoff smacked the table, causing Cassie''s flimsy bowl to shake, as he glared at Danny. "It''s all about the Ellidium, that''s it. Mars and Earth will never hand over control of the supply to an independent government. People are dying over a stupid rock."


    Cassie consciously held onto the container as she continued eating, slurping up her noodles silently.


    Danny simply glared back, apparently undisturbed except for the increased tension of in his jaw. "We won''t have modern space travel without that ''stupid rock''. It''s important."


    Geoff''s fork, stuck upright in the half-eaten brown brick, wobbled slightly. "Then they should have given the stations the price they were asking. Instead, they''ve spent a ton more throwing warships at them."


    Danny shrugged, but his grip on the tablet was tightening. "The stations were negotiating in bad faith, they were never going to be happy with any price."


    Geoff stared at Danny from across both tables. "The planets thought they could strongarm the tiny stations into accepting a raw deal." He crossed his arms. "It blew up in their faces, then they had to balls to call foul."


    "They aren''t the victims here." Danny finally put down his device to look back at Geoff. "The Horizon Alliance want a monopoly, they want control. They just bullied the other stations into joining."


    Geoff shook his head. "The planets were the ones who came up with the damn ultimatum, how did they think that was going to go over?"


    "It wasn''t an ultimatum, it was a call for humanity to come together, take on the universe together. Like the old days." Danny''s tone had shifted into almost patronizing, definitely irritated. "They forget where they came from. Earth and Mars built those stations."


    Geoff waved his arm about, vaguely gesturing in an unknown direction. "And then sent them out there in piss poor conditions to mine until their bodies rot, leaving their kids to suffer from weak bones and bad food."


    "That''s not fair. Everyone thought artificial gravity would solve the health problems of long term space travel," Danny argued back. "They only found that out after the first generation, then they tried to help."


    Geoff tapped the metal table loudly with his knuckles. "Except it didn''t work, so the stations paid top dollar for new field generators that had the exact same problems as the old ones."


    Danny crossed his arms. "How does that justify starting a war?"


    "Because they didn''t have any other choice," Geoff answered, in the same patronizing tone Danny had been employing. "The planets had backed them into a corner."


    Cassie watched as the two kept bickering back and forth. It wasn''t long before Geoff had gotten up and migrated over to Danny''s table. Their conversation seemed to alternate between friendly debate and outright argument, but seemingly escalated no further.


    After a while, Brendan sighed, loud enough to be heard over the animated voices. He gave Cassie an apologetic look. "Ignore them. They''ll go on for hours."


    "Or days," Mike added, tiredly. "It gets old real fast."


    "Oh, I don''t mind," Cassie mumbled, focused on slurping up more noodles.


    "So..." Brendan stared at her curiously. "...what''s your story?"


    Cassie started hastily eating her lukewarm soup, the noodles long gone. "There''s no story to tell."


    "Everybody has a story," Brendan pressed.


    Cassie shrugged, stirring her soup to bring up the stray pieces of tofu from the bottom.


    "Let''s start with the most important question," Brendan suggested. "Earth or Mars?"


    Cassie stared at her meal. Tofu chunks were falling from the surface, disappearing into the murky depths. "Ummm... Mars."


    "Oof." Brendan dropped his spoon into his almost-empty bowl, holding nothing except a shallow pool of green-brown sauce.


    "Told you so." Mike smirked as Brendan reluctantly tossed him a small candy bar. "So you went to one of the orbital academies?" He ripped open the colorful packaging, taking a big bite of the bright blue substance.


    Cassie nodded, stirring her soup again.


    Brendan picked up his spoon again. "What was that like?"


    "It was... very hard to get in," Cassie said hesitantly, in a quiet voice. "I know I''m very lucky to be here."


    "Why do you say that?" Brendan asked curiously, as he began to finish off his curry.


    Cassie bit the inside of her cheek. She''d said too much. This was too... close to home. "My family gave up a lot to send me here," her voice was almost a whisper. "I just hope I can pay them back." She carefully picked up her packaged soup, just broth now, and drank it dry.


    Mike nodded understandingly, munching on his winnings happily. "The pay is decent, Geoff just likes to complain."


    "Yeah, don''t listen to them." Brendan tilted his head the other two men, who''s argument seemed to be losing steam. "You''ll get paid well, this work isn''t going to make anyone rich, but you''ll definitely be able to help your folks out."


    "And you''ll get it in Martian credits," Mike added. "So no need to worry about the currency conversion fees when you send it down to the surface."


    By then, Geoff and Danny had stopped arguing and turned their attention back to the conversation.


    Geoff put a hand on Mike''s shoulder, leaning over the table. "I heard something about money?"


    Mike brushed his hand off. "We''re just trying to convince our newest crew member that she''s going to get paid."


    "Oh." Geoff''s expression softened. He sat back down at their table, in his old seat next to her. "It''s not as good as it used to be, but it''s not bad. Still buys some decent booze."


    Danny pulled up another chair, yellowish and stained. He sat down at the end of the table, next to Cassie and Mike.


    Mike raised an eyebrow at Geoff. "I thought you were still trying to make your own?"


    Geoff reached inside his light jacket. "Not trying, succeeding." He pulled out an old fashioned flask and waved it around dramatically. "The fine fruit of storage room C."


    Brendan frowned slightly, disapprovingly. "You''re not supposed to be doing that."


    "Shut up, you got your cut already." Geoff unscrewed the top and took a deep sniff. "Plus, this batch has turned out pretty good, if I say so myself."


    Brendan scowled. As if he disagreed. As if he felt like he''d gotten the short stick of this arrangement.


    Geoff took a long drink before offering the flask to Mike. "Want a taste?"


    "I''ll pass." Mike leaned away from the table. "Your last experiment was too close to gasoline for my liking."


    "I''ll do it." Danny grabbed the silver flask, taking a swing without even smelling it. He was a lot faster than Geoff and smacked his lips together afterwards. "It''s an improvement."


    Danny handed the flask back, then Geoff offered it to Cassie.


    Cassie looked at the battered container dubiously. A faint scent was starting to grow in the air. It didn''t smell good. She didn''t like how everyone was watching her either. Her fingers started running over a particularly deep gouge near the edge of the metal table.


    "Are you even old enough to drink?" Brendan asked suddenly. There was weight behind the question.


    Cassie thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "In some places? I''m seventeen."


    "That''s pretty young to be a spaceship mechanic," Mike commented.


    "Conscription starts at fourteen," Geoff pointed out. "They''ve got fifteen year olds piloting fighters. Like that''s not insane."


    "Thanks for the reminder," Danny said dryly. "Because we all didn''t know that already."


    "You''re welcome." Geoff smirked back, before turning his attention back to Cassie, still holding out the booze. "Don''t worry, there''s no drinking age in space."


    Cassie gave the flask another skeptical look.


    "That''s not true. At all." Brendan pulled the alcohol out of Geoff''s hand, picking the silver cap off the table.


    Geoff let their first officer take the questionable contraband without any resistance. "Old enough to die fighting, old enough to die drinking," he said pointedly. "That''s what I say."


    Brendan just shrugged as he screwed the cap back on before handing it back to Geoff.


    "You should try it. It''s good." Geoff immediately offered Cassie the closed flask, for the second time.


    Irritation flickered across Brendan''s face. Mike suppressed a smile.


    Cassie smiled politely, but didn''t make any move to take it. "Thanks, but I don''t drink."


    "Smart girl," Brendan said approvingly. "You''ll definitely have money to send back home soon." He pointed at Geoff and Danny. "Don''t let these two suck you in."


    Cassie smiled slightly as Geoff tucked the flask away, after taking one last gulp.


    "These two?" Danny objected immediately. "Hey, I''ve got nothing to do with this bootlegging operation."


    Mike and Brendan shared a knowing glance.


    "I''m no chemist," Danny argued. "I just drink the product."


    Neither Mike or Brendan looked at all convinced.


    Danny tilted his head thoughtfully. "And accept it when he runs out of cash at the black table every week," he admitted.


    "Not true," Geoff said hastily, wagging a finger at Danny. "And I''ll prove it this Friday."


    Danny shrugged. "I''m sure you''ll try." He looked at Cassie curiously, almost as if he were mentally strategizing. "You''re invited to join too."


    "Woah," Brendan jumped in. "Don''t steal all her money right away. Girl''s got a family to support."


    Geoff looked offended. "Hey, we don''t do that."


    "Yeah, this is an honest game," Danny protested, though it lacked sincerity. "We always play fair."


    "Sure," Brendan replied, extremely skeptically. "And what happened with Shrey?"


    Geoff snickered.


    Danny couldn''t hide his smug smirk. His eyes slowly drifted over to Cassie as he started fingering the single stud on his left ear. "Well... I''m sure she''s better than Shrey."


    Mike stifled a scoff, covering it with an not-so-inconspicuous cough.


    Brendan gave Danny a rather unamused look.


    "Um, I probably won''t be there," Cassie finally said quietly. "...I''m not a big gambler either."


    "We''ll be able to fix that soon." Geoff winked at her conspiratorially.


    Cassie shifted in her seat, just enough to cause the microwrench sitting in her busted pants pocket to slip out. It hit the floor with a sharp clang and she nearly jumped out of her seat. Her elbow hit the edge of her tray and her makeshift bowl wobbled dangerously, she grabbed it before it could tip over.


    She exhaled in relief, before realizing that the container had been empty anyways, and wouldn''t have made a mess even if it had tipped over.


    Before she could pick the tool up off the floor, Danny had already grabbed it. He put it on the table, with exaggerated gentleness, and slid it towards her. "A little jumpy, are we?"


    Cassie flashed him an apologetic smile as she took the tool back, putting it in a different pocket. "I''m just a little on edge... you know, with the dark zone and all," she admitted softly.


    "Don''t be," Danny told her bluntly. "There''s nothing to be afraid of out here."


    Cassie glanced around the group. "Are none of you worried that we''re going to run into anyone else out here?"


    Geoff took another swing of his flask. "Nah."


    Mike nodded, finishing off the last tiny piece of his candy bar. He tossed the wrapper on the table. "You''ll see, this place gets boring real quick."


    Cassie looked to Brendan, who had been silent so far.


    "They''re right," Brendan finally agreed. "Nothing ever happens out here other than the trouble we make for ourselves."


    Before everyone could react to that, Cassie jumped again as the radio in her ear beeped twice, signalling a shipwide alert. She managed not to elbow anything this time. Helen''s voice came through the earpiece.


    "Everyone to your stations. We''re going to be passing real close to a cruiser in about ten minutes."


    Another beep signaled the message was over. Chairs started to scrap as people began to move. Geoff sighed, moving slowly. Danny had disappeared before she could blink twice.


    Cassie sat up straight, very on alert. "What''s going on?"


    Brendan patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It''s nothing to worry about. Just procedure."


    Cassie glanced around at everyone leaving, still seated. "Um, where do I go?"


    Mike had a thoughtful look, which then morphed into a smile. He gestured for her to follow him. "Come watch the show."

 Chapter 8: On The Radar

    Cassie stood in the middle of the room as Mike took a seat next to Shrey up at the front. She had never been on a flight deck this cramped, where she could easily touch all four seats from where she was standing. There was an empty chair to her left, but she didn''t take it, not wanting to unwittingly step on any toes.


    Helen was already at the right rear station, cycling through various screens. Shrey barely acknowledged Mike''s arrival, the pilot looked to be intensely focused on his work. Up on the main display, the ship''s status information was being continuously updated.


    Helen looked up from her screen, her brow furrowed slightly as she saw Cassie. "Cassie? What are you doing up here?"


    Cassie tucked her hands into her spacious pockets. "Um, I didn''t know where my station was supposed to be."


    "I told her to come up," Mike said, twisting back around. "Thought the greenie should see what those spacer cruisers really look like."


    Helen briefly raised an eyebrow at him before he turned his attention back to his console. "Cassie, your station is the engine room with Aqeel."


    "Oh, sorry ma''am." Cassie took a step back, her heel on the edge of the doorframe. "I''ll head down there right away."


    "No, don''t bother," Helen told her. "We''re almost there. You can stay and watch." A small smile appeared on her face. "Just this time."


    Cassie nodded, lingering in the doorway awkwardly.


    Helen smile vanished and she turned back to Mike and Shrey. "What''s our status?"


    "We''re looking good," Shrey answered. "Dark generator is at full."


    "I''m only picking up the one ship so far," Mike added. "Readings are coming in now."


    "What are we dealing with here?" Helen asked.


    Mike worked away at his console for a minute before the viewscreen switched, a dark ship against an even darker background taking up less than a quarter of the display.


    Everyone''s eyes went to the big screen. Everyone except Mike.


    Cassie took an unconscious step forwards, squinting at the image. It was nearly impossible to make out that it was even a ship.


    "It''s Destroyer class." Mike scrolled through the sensor logs, searching them carefully. "Looks like the Horizon Alliance. Holding position. Nothing unusual."


    Helen nodded, glancing at the screens of her own workstations. "Log it along with the rest of the scan data. We''ll pass everything off to intel later."


    Cassie silently sat down on the edge of the free seat. The station''s screens flickered to life automatically. She ignored them, her eyes still glued to the image of the rebel spaceship.


    "Already done," Mike declared, a little prideful.


    "Giving them all this data, we''re not exactly proving that we aren''t working for intel," Shrey said, mildly annoyed. "If we keep doing this, they''ll really start to think of us as one of their damn spy ships."


    "Hey, we''d make a great spy ship." Mike flashed a cocky smile. "We''re sneaky. We''ve never gotten caught so far."


    Shrey frowned slightly. "I prefer to stay out of the line of fire."


    Helen nodded slightly, her expression unchanged. "How long now?"


    Shrey looked at another screen. "Entering the bubble in about two minutes. It''ll take us another ten to get out."


    Mike and Shrey kept watching their own screens.


    Cassie shifted. Her cushion squeaked.


    Mike looked behind him, his expression changing as his eyes fell on Cassie. "Come look at this." He gestured forwards as the ship on the screen enlarged. The image blurred in and out as Mike fiddled with the settings.


    Cassie got up, stepping up behind Mike''s chair, staring up at the blocky, almost cube warship as it snapped into focus. It wasn''t even a quarter of the size of the Saint Joan, and probably a lot lighter and a lot faster. They''d never be able to outrun a ship like that.


    She instinctively held onto the metal pipe frame behind the seat, feeling the need to hold on to something, anything.


    It wasn''t cloaked, it wasn''t meant to be. Red lights on the ship exterior pulsed slowly, as if anyone could notice them out here. This was the Horizon Alliance staking their claim to the asteroid belt. It was still too far away, too far to be visible to the naked eye, but the camera made it look like they were within spitting distance. Only the digital static kept her from making out the finer details.


    The laser cannons underneath the blackish hull were not a fine detail.


    Her eyes were drawn to them like a beacon. Five of them, in a neat row, each as big as a shuttle. A newer model, a weapon that could take their whole ship out at it''s lowest setting.


    They weren''t the only modification the ship had.


    The huge sensor array jutted out the side, antennae reaching out into the void, casting an unseen net across the sky. A net where every strand was specifically tuned to search for the ton of EL-240 in their fuel stores. If the dark generator failed, even for a fraction of a second, it would have their position instantaneously.


    While Earth and Mars had developed the technology, the miners were the ones that knew how to use it. Not that anyone had seen this war coming, on either side. The detectors had been originally created for locating deposits of EL-240 on extraterrestrial bodies, but had proved just as useful at locating ships.


    This was the piece of technology that had changed space warfare forever.


    Nowadays, the only options were to get up close and dirty as fast as possible, or hide. There were no shields, no armour, no covering fire. That was reality when your enemy could blow you out of the sky from half a million kilometers away.


    Cassie swallowed, her mouth unusually dry. "Is that... a spacer ship?" She already knew the answer.


    "Yeah," Mike confirmed. "Doesn''t look so scary does it?"


    Cassie nodded automatically, even though she didn''t really agree.


    "It can still blow us to pieces," Shrey commented dryly.


    "Buzzkill," Mike muttered the retort, so low that Cassie could barely hear the words.


    "Sugarcoating the situation isn''t going to help anyone," Shrey responded.


    "But they''re not going to..." Cassie trailed off as she stared at the screen.


    "We''re going to fly right by them," Helen said confidently. "They won''t even see us."


    The cockpit feel into silence as they waited. Cassie stayed still, watching Mike and Shrey''s screens over their shoulders. No matter what they said, Mike and Helen weren''t as relaxed as they pretended to be. All three of them were focused, the situation at hand had their full attention.


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    Everyone was uneasy.


    They were trying to hide it.


    Shrey''s screen flashed and Cassie peeked over at the map he had on display. "Entering the bubble now," he announced before everyone fell quiet again.


    Cassie didn''t even realize she''d been holding her breath until her lungs started to burn. She took in a deep breath, trying to relax, but the small space was suddenly feeling even more cramped and close. The feeling that they were being watched wouldn''t go away.


    Helen was the first to break the silence. "Status?"


    Cassie almost flinched. Her grip on the metal frame tightened. Helen had spoken at a normal volume, but it felt like air horn had gone off in the room. Something inside her made her feel like they should be whispering.


    Even if there was no logical reason to do so.


    "No sign they''ve spotted us," Shrey replied immediately, speaking normally. "It''s holding in standby."


    Helen nodded. "Just as expected."


    The seconds inched by. The image on the screen stayed exactly the same. The ship was just sitting there.


    Dark. Ominous. Still.


    "Halfway there," Shrey said quietly.


    "How close are they, exactly?" Cassie asked lowly.


    Shrey leaned back, looking up at the screen pensively. "If they looked out their windows, they could see us."


    Mike snorted. "Maybe if they had a set of binoculars handy."


    "Really?" Cassie asked curiously.


    Mike shrugged. "Maybe." He looked up at her. "Really. But who says they even have windows?" He gestured at the image on the large screen. "I don''t see any on there."


    Cassie scanned the image once again. She could barely make out the airlock door on the side, and this was an enhanced video from their own telescopic camera. Even if they could see the Saint Joan with the naked eye, they wouldn''t know where to look.


    Not while the cloak was running.


    "Let''s stay sterile," Helen reminded them. "On task conversation only."


    "Oh, right." Cassie finally let go of the chair''s frame, wiping her sweaty hands off ineffectively on her dirty pants. She quickly brushed off the beads of sweat that had stuck to the metal pipe before sitting back down. The screens came on. She glanced at them briefly. They told exactly what everyone else had, that everything was fine.


    They didn''t make her feel any better.


    "Wait, something''s off," Shrey said abruptly, his voice tight.


    Cassie''s eyes darted up to the big screen. One side of the ship was beginning to glow red. The camera appeared to be drifting off focus, the image was becoming slightly blurred.


    "Shit," Shrey breathed. "They just powered up their engines."


    "What?" Mike exclaimed, quickly scanning the information of him again. "They couldn''t have seen us, that''s impossible."


    Helen quickly leaned forwards in her seat, trying to get a closer look. Her right hand gripped the armrest. "Keep it together. We don''t know that yet," she said loudly, her tone steady. "Where are they going?"


    Both Shrey and Mike were urgently taping, typing and clicking rapidly. Cassie quickly lost track of what they were doing, she was hardly able to read a word off any single screen before it disappeared. They navigated to parts of the system she hadn''t seen before. Helen kept her eyes glued to the image of the enemy ship, her expression firm and calculating.


    Even Cassie began checking at her own workstation, not that she didn''t believe Shrey, but she wanted to see what was happening for herself. Possibly help, if she could.


    She was on this ship now, and very much invested in keeping it in one piece.


    Using the console, she couldn''t find much more information than what had already been said. The enemy ship''s EL-240 levels had spiked through the roof. It hadn''t just powered up, it was much more than that, like they''d set their engines to maximum thrust.


    They were starting to move. And fast. So fast that the computer was having trouble estimating a trajectory.


    They were hunting something.


    "They''re moving..." Shrey''s voice wavered uncertainly. "Away from us?" He glanced over at Mike.


    "Confirmed." Mike exhaled loudly. "They spotted another ship, that''s where they''re headed."


    "What ship?" Helen asked calmly.


    "Not sure," Mike replied, studying his screens. "There''s no transponder code."


    "Let''s take a look." Helen nodded to the big screen. "Bring it up."


    Shrey hit a few buttons and the new ship came up on the screen. Even zoomed in, Cassie could tell it was small, and newer than the Saint Joan. No logos, no markings, nothing at all to associate it with either side. Some kind of low-cargo freighter, that was most likely.


    A tiny ship, in comparison to the Saint Joan. If it was carrying cargo, then it probably only had a crew of two or three people on board.


    Two or three lives.


    "It''s not one of ours," Mike answered the unspoken question hanging in the air. "Unknown class."


    "Probably smugglers trying to breach the blockade," Helen muttered to herself.


    "Looks like they got their hands on a bad dark generator," Mike continued. "It''s not coming back online."


    "They''re already dead," Shrey stated flatly, almost detached.


    Cassie stared at the ship. Her chest tightened.


    He was right.


    "What about us?" Helen asked calmly. "Any signs they''ve picked up anything they shouldn''t have?"


    Shrey looked over his console again. "We''re good. Cloak is holding."


    "They''re distracted. They won''t be looking for us now." Mike''s tone was slightly grim, but there was an undercurrent of relief below that. "This is working out in our favor, they''re moving away from us now."


    Shrey nodded. "We''ll be out of range in 3, 2, 1..." He paused. "We''re clear."


    The cramped space was suddenly filled with the sounds of movement as everyone shifted and settled, tension drained out of the room. Cassie shoulder''s fell. She let herself settle back in the comfortable, well worn chair with an inaudible sigh.


    "They''re closing in on the other ship," Mike said lowly. "Power levels rising, probably powering weapons."


    "They aren''t going to bother trying to board," Helen concluded, her tone grim.


    Mike and Shrey shared a look. Shrey''s eyes flickered to Cassie for an almost imperceptible instant. The next moment, Shrey switched the main screen back to the area map.


    In a second, the ships were back to being dots on a map. A little white triangle for them, steadily moving away from the two other ships. A black square for the unknown freighter, with a bright red dot rapidly approaching.


    "The destroyer is firing," Mike announced sadly.


    They all watched as the other dot blinked once before disappearing from the map entirely. For a long moment, the room was completely silent. The hum of the ventilation even seemed to fade to nothing. Not a single one of them looked away from the map.


    "What''s the Horizon ship doing now?" Helen was still leaning forwards, her elbows resting on the console.


    "Um... it''s powering down," Mike answered after a minute. "Going back into standby mode, it looks like."


    "We''re out of it''s high sensitivity sensor range now," Shrey said, with audible relief. "It''s not our problem."


    "Still..." Helen leaned back in her chair, causing it to creak softly. "Shrey, keep an eye on that ship until we are very, very far away."


    "Will do," Shrey acknowledged quietly as he make adjustments on his station.


    Cassie wrung her hands. The danger had gone, but the atmosphere on the flight deck still felt heavy, uncomfortable. The battle had sent a chill into the air that wasn''t going to fade easily. She saw Shrey''s gaze fall on her hands and stopping moving them, awkwardly adjusting herself and finally ending up with her arms crossed instead.


    "Does that... happen a lot?" Cassie asked quietly.


    "Passing other ships? A few times each trip," Helen said softly. "Seeing a battle like that? Not so common."


    Shrey nodded in agreement. "Just be glad it wasn''t us."


    Mike kept glancing at Cassie, his expression inching towards pity. "That''s not going to happen¡ª"


    "I know. I''m fine," Cassie said abruptly. "That was just a little more... than I was expecting."


    Helen offered her a reassuring smile. "You''ll get used to it."


    Cassie glanced around. Everyone was looking at her, their expressions a mix of concern and pity. "I''ll go see if Aqeel needs me," she mumbled before quickly ducking out of the cockpit.


    She wasn''t running away, she told herself, pausing in the hallway right beside the door. Her eyes slowly shut as she leaned against the wall, her hair brushing against the peeling grey paint. Her heart was still beating fast. She took a moment to breath deeply.


    Her eyes flew open as voices from the cockpit drifted out into the hallway.


    "You shouldn''t have brought her up here," Shrey said lowly, disapproval bleeding through his calm voice. "She did not need to see that."


    "You think I don''t know that?" Mike hissed back. "But how was I supposed to know that a random ship was going to decide to decloak right in the line of fire?"


    "She should never have been up here in the first place," Shrey repeated. "This isn''t a fucking pleasure cruise, we''re not here for sightseeing."


    "We know that." Mike''s voice had lost most of it''s edge.


    "Really?" Shrey said, extraordinarily sarcastic. "Because you all like to pretend that we''re perfectly safe out here. But we''re not. We''re in the middle of a damn war. This is a battlefield."


    "We all knew that when we agreed to this mission," Mike said firmly. "And every single one before it."


    "Sure, the rest of us understand the risks," Shrey replied irritably. "But what about her?"


    Mike paused for a long time.


    So long that Cassie decided to take a cautious step down the hall, setting her boot down on the metal grating as softly as she could. It settled under her weight, making just a whisper of a creak. She frozen in place. Walking away silently wasn''t going to be easy. But she didn''t want anyone to know she was there.


    It wasn''t like she had an excuse for lingering in the hallway right outside the cockpit.


    "It''s not like we can do anything about that now." Mike''s voice was so low that Cassie could barely make it out.


    Shrey huffed. "She should never had come on board. She''s just a kid."


    Cassie swallowed nervously, consciously unclenching her hand. She slowly leaned against the bare grey metal wall. So that''s what they were all really thinking.


    It wasn''t as bad as she''d feared. She could work with that.


    "Enough," Helen said forcefully. "If you''ve both forgotten, I was sixteen when I started working on this very ship." There was a light tapping sound. "Sometimes we have to go where we''re needed. Sometimes we don''t have choices."


    "This is different¡ª" Shrey begun to object.


    "It''s not," Helen said firmly. "And I wouldn''t worry about her, she''s a tough one."


    "You''re sure?" Mike still sounded dubious.


    "Yes," Helen answered confidently, her voice coming clearly through the hallway. "I can tell."

 Chapter 9: Whispers

    Cassie''s foot dangled off the side of the crate, almost a foot off the ground. She was sitting on a shipment of spare plastic piping, that hadn''t been unpacked and stored, but had been dumped in the small space between two of the huge engines responsible for accelerating the ship to interplanetary speeds. A few feet to her left, there was a terminal for monitoring and controlling the propulsion systems.


    It wasn''t a room, not technically, but the engines'' shielding, huge curved sections of metal, almost enclosed the space on either side. There was only a few feet of flat flooring in between, and in the center of that, was a sizable round hole.


    It was a hole from which a variety of sounds were emanating. It hadn''t been hard for her to find Aqeel. She''d easily heard his banging and cursing from the maintenance hub. Now that the ship was in dark mode, the engineering decks were a hell of a lot quieter. And all sounds echoed through the place.


    Making Aqeel very easy to find, since he seemed incapable of working quietly. Whatever he was currently working on below, it appeared to require a large amount of banging, swearing and incomprehensible muttering. She still couldn''t see what he was doing, down the access ladder in the crawlspace below the floor. It didn''t seem like a smart idea to disturb him at the moment. So Cassie waited, patiently.


    Eventually, the noises stopped. Aqeel began to climb up, out of the maintenance access, but stopped before his shoulders passed the threshold. He spotted Cassie immediately, but didn''t look surprised to see her sitting there, watching him.


    "Pass me that." Aqeel pointed at a tool, sitting about a foot away from the edge of the access hatch.


    Cassie spotted the handheld laser saw after a second. It really did resemble a can opener, but was a hundred times more deadly. It was also not something that should be left on the floor, and definitely should not have the guard removed.


    Before Cassie could get up, Aqeel was already reaching out towards the miniature saw. "Forget it," he added quickly, stretching out a hand to catch the edge of the handle. A moment later, the mop of white hair had vanished back down the hole in the floor.


    "Um..." Cassie began hesitantly, clearing her throat softly. "By the way, what are we supposed to be doing during those alerts?"


    "What?" Aqeel asked loudly, as he continued whatever he was doing down there.


    "The emergency alerts," Cassie clarified.


    There was a short buzzing noise, the saw. Then another loud, heavy bang. "There was one?" Aqeel asked.


    "Yes?" Cassie answered hesitantly. "There was a shipwide message from the captain."


    "Oh. I didn''t notice," Aqeel answered, in between buzzes.


    "You didn''t notice?" Cassie repeated slowly, still processing the idea that one of the ship''s key personal hadn''t been aware of such a major event.


    "Must have dropped my radio somewhere around here." There was more rustling, more movement below. "Here it is," Aqeel said triumphantly. "So is that where you were?"


    Cassie nodded, even though he couldn''t see her. "I was in the cockpit."


    "And?" Aqeel prompted. "Anything interesting going on up there?"


    "The rebels blew up a smuggler ship," Cassie said grimly.


    "And?" Aqeel repeated.


    Cassie blinked once. "Uh... that was it."


    "So... nothing then," Aqeel replied quickly. "Right, well I have work to do." There was muttered swearing from the hole. "Pass me the damn hypertape."


    Cassie looked down at the various tools strewn about the floor. She quickly located the shiny, red roll of industrial-grade tape by the toolbox near the entryway. She jumped down off her perch in one smooth, soundless motion.


    "Just throw it down," Aqeel added between bangs.


    Cassie rolled the tape across the floor. It fell down the hole soundlessly. There were faint snipping sounds. Then more banging. Frustrated mumblings turned to content mutterings.


    Cassie jumped back up on the crate, one leg dangling, one held up to her chest. She rested her chin on top of her knee. "You''re all so chill about this." She frowned. Her voice lowered. "People just died."


    The banging stopped. The air held still. Cassie nibbled on her lower lip.


    Maybe that was a little honest. Too honest. Too different.


    She shouldn''t have said that.


    "But we''re still alive," Aqeel finally answered. The banging started up again, twice as loud as before.


    Cassie didn''t know what to say to that. She fell silent, watching her foot sway back and forth. Her knee pressed into her cheek. She jerked upright as Aqeel peaked his head out again. The mop of white spun as his eyes scanned the assorted tools around the room.


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    "Pass me that." Aqeel pointed at the laser sealer near her foot.


    Cassie jumped down to grab it. The heavy weight sat in her hand as she gripped the black handle between the round battery pack and the shielded, dirty cylinder at the other end. As she lifted it, the device beeped and flashed, indicating a low charge level.


    Aqeel made a grabby gesture to toss it.


    Cassie knelt down by the hatch to hand it over. She wasn''t about to throw something as dangerous as laser sealer. That would be crazy.


    She caught a glimpse of the dimly lit access tunnel below. The engine power regulation system was in pieces, practically dissembled. If there was any order to how Aqeel was organizing the parts, it was no system she could understand.


    One thing she could tell just by looking, the engines certainly weren''t going to be usable any time soon.


    Aqeel grabbed the sealer, without so much as a thanks, then disappeared back into the hole again.


    Cassie peered downwards, squinting. "What are you doing down there?"


    "Fixing up the turbo fusion regulator," Aqeel answered, his voice muffled once more. "Might as well do it while we''re dark and not getting any use out of the thing."


    Cassie''s brow crinkled slightly. She went over to the closest terminal and switched it to view the current alerts for the engines. Then to the past alerts. She scrolled through pages of historical data, her brow gently crinkling.


    "The diagnostics don''t show any problems with it," Cassie called out.


    But plenty of problems elsewhere. Not that she was going to mention that.


    "Ah, but they''re wrong." Aqeel popped up again, a knowing glint in his eyes. "I know it''s running wrong."


    Cassie glanced back at the screen. "How?"


    Aqeel tapped his ear, the corner of his mouth upturned slightly.


    "You''re... psychic?" Cassie guessed hopelessly.


    Aqeel looked like he wanted to sigh. "No, girl. I listen to her." He looked almost disappointed. "She doesn''t sound quite right." He rapped his knuckles against the metal flooring. "Gotta listen to my girl Serenity."


    Cassie gave him a confused look. "The classical pop singer?"


    "The ship," Aqeel clarified in a huff. He grabbed a stray bright yellow pickle fork before ducking back down.


    Cassie''s expression hadn''t changed. "Um, this ship is called the Saint Joan."


    "Bah," Aqeel spat. "She''ll always be Serenity to me. That''s a stupid name the military gave her." There was a low, unnerving hissing noise. "They changed her name. But they didn''t change her guts."


    Cassie''s nose scrunched up. "Um, ew."


    Aqeel chuckled. "Can''t be afraid to get your hands dirty."


    Cassie looked down at the black grease smeared over her calloused hands. "I''m not," she whispered.


    The hissing faded to nothing. Aqeel threw the laser sealer up and out of the hole. It landed on the floor with a solid clang right next to hole, almost landing on top of the electric screwdriver. "Anyways, the point is to listen to her."


    "It''s a spaceship," Cassie replied. "It doesn''t talk."


    Unless the warnings and alerts counted as talking. But she had a feeling that wasn''t what Aqeel was referring to.


    It sounded like Aqeel chuckled, although it wasn''t entirely clear with the loud hum of a sonic cleaner. "That''s where you''re wrong." The hum began to fade in and out as it cycled.


    "And listening... works?" Cassie asked skeptically.


    "Yep. If anything goes wrong on this boat, I''d know," Aqeel said confidently. "I know every inch of this baby." He tossed the hypertape up and out.


    It landed near Cassie''s right foot, rolling until it hit the thick shielding of the engine located behind the terminal. The sudden motion made her jump back. She tripped over a welding gun lying on the floor and fell backwards. A resounding thud echoed through the room as her butt hit the floor. Miraculously, she hadn''t fallen on top of any of the other items littering the area.


    "What was that?" Aqeel called out, still hidden from view.


    "I just tripped," Cassie shouted back. "I''m fine."


    There was a short pause before the sonic cleaner started up again, humming loudly. "Just make sure you don''t break anything you can''t fix."


    "And you could have given me some warning that you were going to be throwing stuff around," Cassie grumbled.


    "You gotta chill out. Nothing''s going to hurt you out here." Aqeel made a mockingly erie noise, that ended up sounding like a misaligned Ellidium reactor, rather unspookily. "Unless it''s a space phantom."


    Cassie didn''t respond. She turned back to the terminal, flipping through the screens, not really looking at any of them. The noise from the cleaner died off.


    "I''m joking," Aqeel said loudly after a few minutes. "We ain''t haunted. No matter what Geoff and Danny say. Those jokesters are just pulling your leg."


    Cassie scowled. She couldn''t help glancing at the darkened corridor connecting the room to the main maintenance hub. "But... you don''t think a ship this old would have it''s share of ghosts?" She fingered her shirt shirt collar unconsciously. "I mean, it just makes sense. Someone must have died on here at some point."


    "Nah, no spirits, just achey joints around here." Aqeel grunted. "That''s an old wind-snapper''s tale. Don''t put much stock in ''em."


    Cassie crossed her arms as she leaned against the metallic, curved radiation shielding behind her. Her left arm brushed up against one of the dark generator''s heating pipes, painted a bright blue and clearly marked. "I take it that you''re not the superstitious type."


    Aqeel grunted in what sounded like agreement, or he could have just been wrestling with another stiff bolt. "That Old World stuff was never for me." There was a subsequent grunt of success and the echo of something metallic falling. "Yep. Never could cut it down there. Always had an itch I couldn''t scratch."


    Cassie mumbled in agreement. She gripped her necklace through the thin fabric of her shirt.


    Aqeel poked his head out, his eyes darted over the floor, carefully searching for something. Her movement caught his eye. "What''s that thing you''re always fiddling with?"


    Cassie pulled her necklace out from under her shirt. There was a little metal disc with small, circular grey rocks ringing the edge. They had come from some asteroid. She''d never found out which one. Next to it was a charm, a small bird, the engraved details long since faded. She tucked the disc behind her neck.


    "It''s a good luck charm." Cassie held the little bird charm in her hand. "My mother gave it to me before I left."


    Aqeel snorted. "You don''t need luck out here." He grabbed the laser sealer before going back down. "Just take care of your ship and she''ll take care of you."


    Cassie was about to respond when the whole room shook. She grabbed onto a nearby pipe, unnecessarily, given that the event was more sound than motion. The sound of metallic scrapping filled the place. Much louder than when they were undocking.


    The scrapping turned into a high pitched screech. Like the vessel itself was screaming.


    Cassie gripped the pipe tightly, even though she didn''t need it to keep her balance, feeling the vibrations through the metal. There was a series of heavy thuds that followed soon after. In a few seconds, the room returned back to complete silence, back to normal.


    Except for the screen next to the engine flashing a colorful array of emergency alerts.


    Aqeel poked his head out of the tunnel. "Now what the hell was that?"

 Chapter 10: The Graveyard

    "That one almost hit the engines!" Brendan''s shouting managed to pierce through the screeching alarms. Shrey''s response was lost as a set of heavy metallic thuds were added to the cacophony.


    Helen didn''t need any extra incentive to hurry. She stumbled as the extra acceleration pushed her downwards, taking a few sluggish steps before her weight returned to normal. The artificial gravity had automatically adjusted itself to compensate. It took her a moment to register what that meant.


    All of the bottom thrusters must have just turned on. Not the engines. They were still in dark mode.


    She caught the edge of the door and swung herself into the flight deck to see Brendan and Shrey in the two front seats. Both of them were working frantically at the controls, caught up in a heated conversation.


    "We''re taking too much damage," Brendan argued at Shrey from the copilot seat. "We can''t maneuver properly with just thrusters, we need the engines."


    "If we leave dark mode then we''re fucked!" Shrey snapped back, not quite shouting, evidently trying to focus on flying the ship.


    "If we stay on this course, then we''re all dead anyways," Brendan replied. "There''s no one else out there. We need to take the risk."


    "Thrusters is all we have." Shrey paused for a moment to glare at their first officer. "And I can make it work."


    "What''s going on?" Helen asked loudly as she gripped the back of Shrey''s chair. She watched the large viewscreen, a map of the local area. The dotted line that represented their predicted course flashed once, before disappearing. It was impossible to miss that their little ship''s icon was surrounded by a huge number of objects, indistinct blobs picked up by their proximity scans.


    Slow-moving objects. Fast-moving ship.


    A dangerous combination.


    "Are they mines?" Helen asked, even louder than before.


    "No," Brendan answered, suddenly noticing her arrival. "It''s a graveyard."


    "Oh, shit," Helen said under her breath. She pointed at the viewscreen. "So those blobs on the scans..."


    "Ships, or chunks of them at least," Brendan answered, barely looking up from his console.


    "Who''s ships?" Helen asked urgently. "What''s actually out there?"


    Brendan''s eyes widened. "We don''t know."


    Helen gestured to the viewscreen. "Switch it to the camera."


    They were just dots until Brendan zoomed in. There were big ships, there were small ships. Brendan was focusing in on one section, where the debris appeared to be most dense. Then the wreckage came into focus.


    Hulls burned black by laser fire, dotted with craters the size of cars. Shuttles, nothing more than frames, burst apart by missiles. Tiny fighters, drifting dead, despite no visible exterior damage.


    Logos popped out at her: Earth, Mars, and...


    The Horizon Alliance.


    Not pre-war. But the ships were old styles. This wasn''t just an old battlefield, it must have happened near the start of the war. Meaning, those ships had been out here more than a decade.


    Helen stared at it, eyes darting across the screen as the camera began to pan. "What''s our heading look like?"


    "The computer is recalculating," Brendan answered. "It needs a few more seconds." It beeped and he swore under his breath. "And how do you plan to get through that without the engines?"


    The viewscreen centered on what Brendan had seen. A huge ship, it must have been a cruiser, was directly in their path. It had been cut by laser fire right down the middle, so that they now had two giant hunks of metal to dodge. Except it was too close for them to go around it now.


    "We can do it," Shrey stated calmly, with zero pause in between keystrokes. "Because we''re going to pass right in between."


    Brendan stared at him with confusion, until it dawned on him that their pilot was serious. "That''s crazy."


    "It''ll work," Shrey stated confidently, without looking at either one of them. "We''re long, but we''re thin. We can make the squeeze."


    Brendan went back to staring at the approaching shipwreck on the big screen, noticing how they were maneuvering to be closer to the center of the ship. "I really hope you''re right."


    Helen nodded subtly. "Brendan, close all the emergency airlocks," she ordered calmly. "Let''s try to minimize any atmosphere loss."


    "On it." Brendan sent the commands that began slamming the bulkhead doors throughout the ship.


    Helen gripped onto the metal bars behind the chairs, bracing as they began to pass between the two halves of the derelict cruiser.


    New alarms went off as the edges of the wreck scrapped their hull, causing metallic groaning and screeching to resonant though the air. Smaller, broken off sections of the main wreck caused uneven bangs as the ship collided with them.


    It was over before they knew it.


    "We''ve got damage on our starboard and top sides," Brendan reported. "Some areas lost pressure. Not a lot, so far."


    Helen leaned over his shoulder. "Turn that blasted noise off."


    Shrey silenced the alarm with a complicated series of keystrokes. "I''m going to have to make a shortcut for that," he muttered.


    "Much better." Helen took a deep breath and stood up straighter. "Now, what do we know so far?"


    Brendan switched the viewscreen from the camera to the map. It seemed like even more objects had appeared since the last time it had been up. "We''re in a debris field. A big one. Maybe twenty or thirty ships, it''s hard to get an accurate count."


    Helen studied the map closely, her brow creased more the longer she looked. "But how?"


    "We didn''t see it," Shrey said plainly.


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    "Why not?" Helen responded. "How could we miss something like this?"


    "Because we''re in fucking dark mode," Shrey answered, somewhat annoyed. "Our sensors are limited."


    "But this isn''t just a few little ships," Helen said, looking puzzled. "There are chunks of cruisers out there."


    "And they''re hunks of dead metal, not glowing ships." Shrey huffed. He brought up the map on the view screen again. As they watched, pieces of the debris field behind them were vanishing from the display one by one. "We didn''t see them until we were right on top of them."


    "I was here when it started," Brendan added. "The scans picked them up when we were less than a minute out. The alerts didn''t start until we took damage."


    "We were taken completely off guard," Helen breathed. She scowled as she watched the debris surrounding them. "What are our options now?"


    "Not much," Shrey responded with a sigh, watching as their predicted course began to update itself. "I''m trying to keep us away from the shitting big pieces. But in dark mode, I''ve only got the maneuvering thrusters. And this is a big, heavy ship." He tapped the side of the console impatiently. "Give me a few damn minutes."


    "Every second we''re in here, we''re taking more damage." Brendan pointed at the big red flashing section on the ship map. "That''s another hit. Right in the middle of the cargo section." He looked over the list of ongoing high priority alerts. "We''ve lost a quarter of the thrusters so far."


    The lines on Helen''s brow deepened. "But they''re spaced all over the hull, all down the outside of the cargo hold. That whole system is decentralized."


    "And they stick out like magnets for this fucking space litter," Shrey added. "We''ve still got enough."


    Another muted alert popped up on Brendan''s screen. "And that''s another one gone." He scowled at the display. "We''re losing more every minute."


    "It''s not just the thrusters being taken out," Helen added, zooming in on the ship map. "We''re moving fast enough that even the smaller pieces are ripping our hull to shreds." She pointed to the red flashing areas in the ship''s interior. "Good thing we closed the airlocks. We''ve already lost pressure in lots of sections along the cargo hold."


    "I know that!" Shrey snapped. "But I can''t go any faster in dark mode."


    "But you can get us out of here?" Helen asked seriously.


    "Yes," Shrey replied confidently, just as another thud echoed through the cockpit.


    Brendan gave him a skeptical look. "With the ship in one piece?"


    "Probably," Shrey amended quietly.


    "What''s that?" Helen pointed at the screen, at the one big blob on their newly predicted trajectory.


    "Oh no," Brendan uttered as he looked up. "That''s bad."


    "I see it," Shrey hissed irritably as he worked.


    "We''re going to hit it," Brendan announced airily.


    "Who''s pessimistic now?" Shrey grumbled back.


    "There''s no way to avoid it!" Brendan retorted. "And it''s big enough to sink us."


    Shrey didn''t answer, keeping at the controls.


    "Brendan, what do you mean?" Helen asked calmly.


    Brendan drew Helen''s attention to one of the screens on his station. He rotated the three dimensional map to show how their predicted course would cause them to hit a quarter of a blackened warship. "We can''t go starboard, we don''t have enough thrust to make it. Not without the engines."


    "Then go port," Helen concluded.


    "We can''t." Brendan leaned back in his chair. "We''ve lost all the starboard thrusters," he reported grimly. "We don''t have any way to avoid it."


    "Sure we do." Shrey didn''t look up from his main screen, his hands racing definitely over the entire keyboard. "Prepare to fire the starboard thrusters."


    "But that''ll send us straight towards the center!" Brendan protested, jerking forwards in his seat.


    "Just do it," Helen told him firmly, sounding calm even as her fist clenched up.


    Brendan frowned as he hit a few buttons across his console, then leaned back and crossed his arms.


    With a few button presses, Shrey changed the angle of the thrusters along the side of the ship. They all felt a jerk as the ship began to rotate. Helen smoothly recovered from a near stumble due to the abrupt motion.


    Brendan raised an eyebrow at Shrey. "How is a barrel roll going to help us?"


    "No, that''s not it," Helen spoke first, watching the three dimensional display on Brendan''s station. "You''re turning us upside down?"


    "That''s the plan," Shrey confirmed, smoothly slowing their rotation so they stopped at the optimal angle. "Now, full on the starboard side thrusters."


    Helen held on tight to the backs of the two chairs as the ship began moving to the side. Helen and Brendan watched the camera view on his console. The destroyed warship was coming up. Fast. Their trajectory was changing, albeit painfully slowly.


    They could make out the individual pieces of floating debris around the ship now. A chair. A door. A blanket. They passed out of view just as quickly.


    The nose of the ship had just made it past the wreck, so it was now out of the camera''s angle. There was a thunderous crash as the two vessels made contact. The now-familiar sound of metal on metal returned, the old vessel clawing into the side of their hull. They began to turn, shuddering vibrations running through their vessel, as the exterior layers of the hull were torn away.


    Brendan''s screen showed the rising damage count, the increasing number of hull breaches. They watched as section after section lost pressurization, the expelled gas altering their course even further. One piece hit the last cargo section, one section away from the shuttle bay that housed the dark generator.


    Brendan inhaled sharply.


    "We''re going to make it." Shrey watched his station screens, set to only show the controls system, intensely. "We are going to make it."


    No one contradicted him. No one said a word.


    No one breathed until the sound stopped.


    "We''re past it," Shrey announced in the silence, audible relief in his voice. "Still in one piece, as promised."


    Brendan exhaled loudly. "That was too close."


    "We''ve been through worse." An alert blinked on Shrey''s console.


    Helen eyed it worriedly. "What''s that?"


    "We''ve lost the remaining thrusters," Shrey reported. "We''re drifting."


    Helen glanced over the screens, with all their alerts and warnings flashing in their faces. "Anything else in our way?"


    "Little stuff," Brendan answered. "That was the worst of it."


    "Just a few more seconds... we''re out now." Shrey leaned back in his chair, grinning triumphantly. "How''s that for fancy flying?"


    The edge of Helen''s mouth curled into a hint of a smile. "Your talents never cease to amaze."


    Brendan didn''t smile. "I''m unsealing the airlocks between the still pressurized sections." He whistled lowly as he looked over the damage map. "Wow, we''re lucky that we can still walk to the back of the ship without ship suits. The cargo section is a complete maze now."


    "The bulkheads will hold, we can worry about that later," Helen said confidently, without looking at his screen, as she was still staring at the map of the graveyard. The icon of the ship was slowly inching away from all the debris. "Right now, I want to know what''s going on with our ship. And what our new course is, considering we''ve just lost all maneuverability."


    Shrey sat back up and began working again. "It''ll take some time for the computer to run the numbers."


    "Let me know when it''s done." Helen reached behind her ear, turning on her personal radio. "Engineering, I need a damage report, ASAP."


    "I''m working on it," Aqeel replied quickly. "Get back to you later."


    "I need to know what our options are."


    Alarms came through over speaker along with a series of creative swearing from Aqeel and urgent, indistinct shouting from Cassie. "Stuff is broken. Call back later." The connection cut.


    Helen sighed and turned off her microphone. She let out a long, heavy breath as she stared at the damage map of the ship. "How could this happen?"


    Shrey''s quick hands halted for a moment. "That''s a damn good point." His motions resumed, as his fingers danced across the keys with haste. "According to the map, we shouldn''t be anywhere close to any of the battle sites."


    Brendan evaluated the map critically for the first time. "So did we drift?"


    Shrey frowned as he eyed his screen, almost suspiciously. "Not this far. There weren''t any graves anywhere near our route."


    "There isn''t supposed to be," Helen responded, growing anger hiding behind her sharp eyes. "How the hell did intel manage to screw this up?"


    Brendan looked at Shrey, who shrugged as he kept working. "Ask Mike, not my department."


    "Where is he then?" Helen glanced at Brendan. "Wait, shouldn''t he be up here?"


    "He just got off shift," Brendan explained.


    "I don''t know and..." Shrey frowned. "He''s not answering his comm."


    Helen held in another sigh. "If he muted his radio for nap again, I''m going to kill him."


    "I think he said he was going to the gym?" Brendan suggested uncertainly.


    "I hope not." Shrey switched the view screen back to the ship map. Huge sections were flashing red. He pointed at a red section near the front of the ship. "That whole area was bombarded to shit. It''s completely depressurized."


    Helen''s expression shifted, suddenly concerned again. "I need eyes on that section." She reached over to Brendan''s console to turn on the microphone. "Who''s closest to the gym right now?"


    "I''m on the observation deck." Danny''s voice came through the channel to the entire cockpit. "I can be there in a few minutes."


    "There''s damage to that section. Go check it out," Helen ordered, then paused. "Mike may have been in there and he''s not answering his radio."


    "On my way."

 Chapter 11: One More

    All he saw was darkness.


    The whole section was just gone.


    Danny peered out the emergency airlock, looking at the dark grey walkway that continued on the other side, continued for three whole sections until there was finally an intact airlock. That''s all there was. The ceiling, the walls, the rooms, they were all gone, lost in the debris field. The whole top level had been ripped off.


    He squinted through the porthole, trying to make out something. This area had originally been excess living space, but they''d long since converted the extra rooms into whatever they wanted. Including a gym.


    None of the space suits were stored in that section. There was zero chance of any air pockets. Even if, by some miracle, a room had been left intact. Each section, each habitation level, could be sealed off, but the interior doors within that area wouldn''t seal. The atmosphere would escape, and anyone in there would be exposed to hard vacuum.


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    Given this length of time... there was no chance of any survivors.


    Danny reached behind his ear to turn on his radio. "Helen?"


    "Go ahead." Their captain''s voice came through with a crackle at static.


    "The gym, the whole area, it''s all gone," Danny reported lowly, painfully undertones hiding in his voice. "If Mike was in the gym, or anywhere near it..."


    "Understood." Her voice betrayed no hint of emotion.


    "What the hell happened?" Danny started, his voice rising, his tone twisting. "There''s a whole chunk of the ship¡ª"


    "We don''t have all the details yet," Helen interrupted. "Right now, we need to regroup. There''s a lot of systems down and we can''t afford to waste any time."


    "Right, of course." Danny took his time turning his microphone off, still staring out the window, his expression hard.


    There was a high pitched beep to signal a shipwide transmission. "Everyone who doesn''t know how to use an antilock spanner, make your way to the mess ASAP."


    Danny had torn his gaze away from the window before the end of the message. He turned around and walked back down the corridor rapidly, heading back towards the ladder with a growing anger resonating in his steps.

 Chapter 12: Attention Required

    Cassie ducked through the shortcut to the maintenance hub and set the toolbox down on one of the many workbenches, in the first free spot she could find. The heavy box made an inaudible thud, the sound lost in the ambient noise. If at all possible, this place seemed more disorganized and chaotic than when she first met Aqeel here. The urgent beeps and chimes coming through the speakers on the ceiling only contributed to the atmosphere of disorder.


    "Aqeel, are you in here?" Cassie asked, before realizing that even if he was here, there was no way he could have heard her with all the alerts chiming off. She sighed, went over to the computer and muted the alarms, without bothering to look at what the issues were. She didn''t need the computer to tell her what a mess the ship was at the moment.


    "Aqeel?" Cassie yelled at the top of her lungs.


    "Over here!" Aqeel called out from across the room.


    Cassie made her way over, carefully ducking under a set of annoyingly low power cables. As she walked by, a bright red laser sealer rolled out from underneath one of the huge industrial heaters that balanced the cooling effect of their Ellidium consumption. Massive fluid lines ran in and out of the top, the internals all hidden by a thick, insulated cover. There was nothing visibly wrong with it, but it''s usually low, steady hum was absent.


    It wasn''t running.


    But they were still cloaked, so the other heater must still be operational. Even so, it made sense why this key piece of equipment would be at the top of Aqeel''s priority list, even if there was a backup. She wasn''t surprised to see the tip of his black boots sticking out from under it. She knelt down beside the huge grey box, bending her head down to peer into the dark space to see Aqeel cramped into the the foot of space that separated the heater from the mesh metal flooring.


    Aqeel glanced at her, his flashlight shone in her eyes, momentarily blinding her. He said something, but it was garbled, then he took the flashlight out of his mouth. "What''s gone wrong now?"


    "Um, that''s not..." Cassie scowled slightly, unease at the thought that something else might go wrong. "I finished recalibrating the port side sensor array," she announced. "It''s not as good as the starboard one, but hopefully it''s good enough that we''ll be able to see any more ships before we crash into them."


    "We''ll have a heads up if we''re about to die, good work," Aqeel replied sarcastically as he spun a bolt loose with his free hand. "Lot of good it''ll do if we can''t do anything to avoid the shitstorm."


    Cassie''s scowl returned as she bit the inside of her cheek. It wasn''t her call, but if it came down to flying into another debris field versus leaving dark mode and turning on the engines...


    She knew which option she''d pick.


    "I know there''s still a lot of damage," Cassie said, sitting down on a stray stool. The seat tilted under her weight. "With all these power outages, too many sensors are down. It feels like we''re flying blind." She picked up a screwdriver, turning the old, battered tool over aimlessly in her hands. "I don''t even know where we should start."


    Aqeel slowly shuffled out from under the heater. He sat up and starting wiping off the greenish oil coating his hands with a rag that had mysteriously appeared from some pocket, somewhere. "Helen will start a damage assessment, we just need to concern ourselves with the major systems." He tucked the grey-green rag into a large pocket on his calf.


    As he tried to stand up, he tripped on the red laser sealer. He grimaced as his knee hit the floor, knocking a loose screw out of his greyish beard. It fell right through the metal grate to the level below, with hardly a sound.


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    Aqeel glared at the laser sealer. He huffed, then picked up the tool and tossed it aside. It bounced off a wall and rolled back under the heater. "People really need to learn to clean up after themselves," he complained gruffly.


    Cassie tried hard not to laugh, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand to hide her widening smile, which vanished as soon as a new alarm went off. It was one she hadn''t heard before, shrill and piercing, nothing like the annoying constant beeps from earlier. Even Aqeel''s eyes widened at the new sound.


    "What''s that?" Cassie asked worriedly.


    "It can''t be..." Aqeel shot up, ran out of the room and made a beeline for the main maintenance workstation, Cassie at his heels. He ignored the comfy chair, standing directly in front of the array of screens, his sharp eyes scanning the list of alerts. "Those hell damned hunks of metal."


    Cassie stood up on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder. "It''s the dark generator?"


    "It''s in the back of the damn ship," Aqeel muttered to himself as he disabled the annoying alarm. "How on Earth did that get smacked?"


    Cassie pointed at the flashing blue lines on display of the ship''s layout, on the righthand screen. "It wasn''t hit by anything. The cooling lines running though the ship were damaged."


    The pipes went from the generator, through the ship, then the heating stations then finally back to the generator. They branched out to enable temperature regulation throughout the entire ship, making the diagram it look less like a huge loop and more like a network of blood vessels. Most of the pipes ran close to the exterior of the ship and had been damaged by incoming debris, at which time they''d automatically sealed themselves off. The result was there were a lot less routes available for the fluid to flow through.


    So the pressure throughout the system was rising, which only seemed to be causing more damage. As she watched, another section of pipe near the crew quarters failed and was shut off. But that''s not what had triggered the alarm.


    There wasn''t enough fluid getting to the dark generator.


    "It''s a temperature warning," Cassie added, when Aqeel didn''t respond, now staring at the generator''s status information. "There isn''t enough heat being put into the system. The whole thing is overcooling."


    Aqeel tugged lightly on his short beard, not taking his eyes off the screen. "No need to explain my own ship to me."


    Cassie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Of course," she replied as politely as she could. In a huff, she went to the other computer and navigated to the dark generator. "But all we need to do is reroute the fluid to go directly to the heater-" Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted as she finally realized what Aqeel was looking at.


    The temperature in the pipes was steadily dropping. The temperature inside the generator itself was even lower, barely within the guidelines. There was no way they were using water, the pipes would have long since frozen and burst if that was the case. But whatever coolant was running through those pipes would hit it''s freezing point eventually.


    Then there would be no hope in getting the generator working again.


    Cassie slowly reconfigured the valves to redirect more coolant to their single running heater. It was difficult. She double checked the numbers. Then triple checked it. The numbers were good.


    She just needed to hit "Apply All".


    Her finger hovered over the button. She glanced at Aqeel, who wasn''t paying her any heed. She tapped her foot silently. Then she hit it.


    Nothing happened.


    Cassie stared at the display in confusion as the temperature continued to drop. "What?" She hit the button again. Then again, when it became clear that nothing had changed.


    Aqeel squinted at the display, ignoring her as she continued trying to send the commands from the station next to his.


    "It won''t let me change anything!" Cassie exclaimed loudly, mashing the button repeatedly. She made a low, frustrated sound as she stepped back from the console. "It''s not working. It''s going to freeze."


    "It is not going to freeze," Aqeel grumbled gruffly, sounding more determined than ever. The next moment, he was gone, out into the corridor, and Cassie sprinted to keep up.


    "Wait, where are you going?" Cassie called out, panting heavily.


    "The generator''s controls weren''t connected to the main computer system," Aqeel explained quickly, without slowing down. "The only way to change ''m is to go down there."


    Their eyes met for an instant as he turned round a corner.


    The eyes gave him away. The deep brown held only intellect, a mind sharp with age and experience, but the fine crinkles around them revealed the masked fear underneath. This wasn''t him just being dramatic. A lump began to form in her stomach.


    He was afraid.


    Maybe more than she was.