“We’re seeing some pretty heavy damage on you, Astrum Vitae. Do you need assistance docking?” asked a flight controller aboard West Gate Station.

  “It’s mostly superficial- we didn’t lose anything vital. We shouldn’t have any trouble,” Miliam responded personally.

  “Acknowledged, Astrum Vitae. Transmitting flight path to you now.”

  “Thank you Control; Astrum Vitae out.” Miliam cut the channel and waited for Aoibhe to handle the rest. The familiar image of West Gate Station grew in the viewport as her ship approached it.

  Several weeks had passed since the events in Delta Bo?tis. After being chased out of the system by an Unnac Imperium cruiser and taking a hit on the way out, the rest of the way home had been blessedly uneventful. Or cursedly, depending on one’s point of view. With the lounge destroyed there hadn’t been much left in the way of recreation besides personal devices and a couple decks of cards; the twins were especially morose about that since they hadn’t been able to bring any of their own gaming console with them when they fled home.

  Coming all the way to West Gate Station instead of stopping at a closer location might seem a questionable choice at first glance, but Miliam hadn’t really had a choice. She simply didn’t have the money on hand to have her ship repaired immediately. Her only way of acquiring those funds was to make it back to Kappa Ceti, or at least to make certain Abigail did. While that could have been accomplished by sending the scholar ahead on a separate ship, that would have greatly complicated the negotiations with her employers and made getting repairs take much longer; possibly even weeks or months.

  Although Miliam could have auctioned off the data obtained in Delta Bo?tis from anywhere, she didn’t currently have any method of accessing or copying it. She was depending on the university to figure that out for her; some important conditions she planned to ask for in exchange for the data was a full copy, rights to auction off said copy, and agreements to not use it for anything but research purchases until the buyer’s own rights lapsed.

  So it was that the Astrum Vitae had been forced to limp all the way back to Kappa Ceti.

  “All hands,” Miliam said into the intercom once she saw the docking clamps were in place, “I’m going to have a short conversation with Abigail, then I want to hold a crew meeting in the second deck’s hallway in…ten minutes, tops, so please wait for me there. You’re all good to leave your stations.”

  Miliam stood and stretched before heading out the door and going for the stairwell. She descended to find Abigail already waiting near the airlock with her luggage and gave a wave in greeting.

  “Thank you again for your services. When I made this request I had not anticipated the amount of danger it would entail, but you and your crew did a remarkable job in getting us all through alive,” Abigail said gratefully, giving a half-bow.

  “I probably would have said no if I knew it would have been so dangerous,” Miliam admitted with a small shake of her head. “But I guess it all worked out in the end. Are you sure about leaving most of the data with us?”

  “Indeed. Only a single drive should be required in order to analyze the storage method and find a means of making our systems compatible with it,” Abigail assured her. “It is most gracious and trusting of you to even allow me to take one prior to an agreement being struck to begin with.”

  “Well, it’s one out of nearly a dozen anyway. And I think by now I know you well enough that I can expect you to be true to your word,” Miliam replied with a slight smile. Abigail nodded and returned the expression.

  “In any case, I will report to my employer and arrange to have someone meet with you about the purchase. I will likely not be allowed to be involved in that process this time on account of our friendly relations, but I do not anticipate whomever takes my place to negotiate in bad faith. Nevertheless, ensure a third party you can trust reviews the contract prior to signing,” Abigail advised as she hefted the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

  “Thanks, I’ll do that. Don’t be a stranger.” Miliam waved towards her grimoire. “You’ve got my contact information.”

  “I will endeavor to maintain contact, not to worry,” Abigail agreed before giving a smile Miliam found almost sultry- or perhaps hungry. “And now that we are no longer involved in a business relationship, we can get to know each other in another way.”

  Without waiting for Miliam to reply, but almost certainty satisfied with the flustered state she’d been left in, Abigail turned and disembarked. Miliam pressed her heated cheeks against the cool metal of the hallway and waited for the blushing to subside before going to meet with the crew.

  Upstairs, she found everyone waiting in the corridor like she’d asked. Tessa was talking Engineer’s ear off, while the twins were quietly chatting with each other near the door to the bridge. Aoibhe was off to the side, staring at the ground.

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  “Good, everyone’s here,” Miliam observed, clapping once for attention. “Before we get down to business, I thought now would be a good time to acknowledge everyone’s hard work. You all did well in spite of all the surprises we ran into.”

  As she spoke, Miliam found herself starting blush once again for entirely different reasons. She knew thanks to her studies that praising her crew for good work was important and drastically improves moral, but openly praising people to their faces was anxiety inducing and embarrassing. It was very different than the sort of public speaking she’d been forced to practice in school where all she had to do was give a speech or read off a report she’d written to the class.

  “Engineer, if it wasn’t for you, we would have been dead in space before reaching True Eden. Your work jury-rigging the reactor in particular was amazing,” Miliam began. The dragonewt merely nodded their thanks for the praise. “Eun-ji, Min-ji, I don’t have a good understanding of your work myself, but Aoibhe went over your logs and told me your performance in Delta Bo?tis was exemplary. It’s no exaggeration to say that if we’d had anyone else on those stations we wouldn’t have gotten out alive- you’re far better than I possibly could have hoped to get on my crew.”

  “Oh, um…” “…thanks,” Eun-ji and Min-ji said in sequence, unable to handle being extolled so directly. While their words hadn’t synched up, their body language did. Both dokkaebi clutched their hands together and looked down in embarrassment.

  “Tessa, I don’t think you’re the type, but don’t feel upset about the few missiles that got through. Stopping as many as you did was an incredible performance, particularly with four point-defense lasers offline. Good work,” Miliam continued, powering through the awkwardness eating at her. She might have stuttered a few times already, but she was making a conscious effort not to notice that.

  “Thanks, captain! I probably could have shot’em all down with the full array, though. I hope I get a chance to prove that next time. Or should I just be hoping there isn’t a next time? Is it rude to wish for that? I’m pretty sure even if we get shot at again we’ll be just fine though as long as we have all the point-defense lasers and we’re not being shot at by too many ships and oh I guess I can’t really do much about-” Tessa rambled, going on to talk about lances, railguns, barriers, and all manner of things that didn’t really have much to do with point defense. Noticing she’d lost Tessa’s attention anyway, Miliam just moved on.

  “That just leaves Aoibhe. Your timing on that maneuver I suggested was perfect. You probably know already, but if you’d been too quick or too slow, the cruiser would have seen what we were doing,” Miliam finished by addressing the pilot, rounding out her accolades of the crew. “All of you will be getting a bonus in addition to your agreed-upon pay from whatever’s left over after I have the ship repaired. I have no idea how much that’ll be just yet, but it won’t be small.”

  Even more so than the commendations, that got a reaction. Everyone was excited by the promise of more money- even Engineer, or so Miliam thought. Eun-ji and Min-ji cheered and gave each other high-fives with both hands, Tessa started bouncing up and down, and Aoibhe had a pleased look on her face despite her otherwise muted reaction.

  Inwardly, Miliam worried about the bonus she’d be giving out, though. If the final amount ended up being high enough- and this was likely just a mix of overly-high hopes and pessimism- there was a possibility it could actually backfire and cost her crew members. Why continue working at all with enough money to retire immediately? Granted, anyone could retire at any time in theory, but a life without any luxuries was a dull one, and prices for those had only spiked as the value of necessities dropped and production of high-value goods moved back into the hands of craftsmen rather than assembly lines.

  On the other hand, though, it may not have been something to worry about with these crew members. The twins were on the run from their family and remaining out of sight would likely prove either very costly or very miserable. Engineer was a mystery, but they probably weren’t in a position to live large given their exile. Tessa, Miliam suspected wasn’t here for the money in the first place so much as for the thrill. Aoibhe could be an exception, as she’d never shared much about her background or life goals, but Miliam didn’t think she’d leave unless she was fired.

  “And now for the…mixed news,” Miliam sighed. “Everyone knows the ship is pretty badly damaged. We’re going to be in port for a while and we’ll also need to stay in a hotel once I have the money to get the repairs done. I’ll hopefully be able to cover the bills for that, and we’ll but them under my name for you in particular, Eun-ji, Min-ji. I guess you can consider it a bit of shore leave.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tessa noted. She might have just been setting Miliam up for the next part though; they’d discussed it ahead of time.

  “I’m not done. Aoibhe, I’ve decided on your punishment.” At those words, Aoibhe straightened up, her face a mask of acceptance. She’d take whatever Miliam said next without question. “You’re on Tessa duty. Any time she’s off the ship you’re responsible for making sure she doesn’t get lost, wander off, or try to bring a pet aboard.”

  The look of horror on Aoibhe’s face told Miliam she’d managed to hit on a penance the fay woman would never want to experience again. Miliam wasn’t entirely comfortable using one crew member to punish another like this, but Tessa was ecstatic about the idea when Miliam asked her about it. During the ship’s first game night the elf had let slip some of her trickster personality, and it had only become more evident during subsequent games on the way home.

  While Aoibhe didn’t hate Tessa, she could certainly only handle her in small doses. Spending an unspecified amount of time with her would be absolute torture. Tessa wasn’t likely to be on her best behavior during that time either.

  “A-aye,” Aoibhe stuttered in response. Forcing the words out seemed a trial for her on its own. “Understood, cap’n. I’ll…keep her out of trouble, you have my word.”

  “Great!” Miliam said sunnily. “That’s all I had. I’ll let you all know as soon as I’ve got an update on the repairs and pay, but for now, you’re all dismissed.”