“You mind telling me how he got on board?”

Captain Hadad addressed the question to Maggie, but a brief glance at his crew suggested there would be additional questions for them later on. The smirking, playful demeanor was nowhere to be seen, yet another casualty of the attack on Freya.

“I have no idea,” the Tinker shrugged, gazing down at Diggs. The boy’s arms were crossed, and he refused to look at her, shutting her out despite her best efforts. “He must have found that hidin’ spot that first day we visited and put it to good use.”

“There was a lot of traffic before we left,” Isi pointed out. “He likely slipped in then.”

“And no one spotted him?” Remi pressed, gazing around the gathered passengers and crew. Once again they assembled on the Mess deck, the only space large enough to accommodate everyone. Everyone shook their heads, including Alphad watching from the monitor.

“I’ll go over the camera footage,” Slavko offered, “and see how he pulled it off.”

“If he can get in unnoticed, so can someone else...someone with malicious intent,” the captain growled. “I want that hole in our security found and plugged ASAP.”

“Aye Cap’n,” the gunner acknowledged, the rest of the crew nodding in agreement.

“All right then,” the captain continued, “next order of business. Where are we with repairs?”

“We still need to shut down the drive to finish stabilizing the engines,” Mairead explained, “and I’m still repairing the stress fractures on the hull, but other than that we’re in decent shape.”

“Not yet...not until I’m sure the Aggaaddub fleet won’t find us,” Remi vowed. “Which brings us to the next item. Why?” He turned his full attention to Maggie, his eyes boring into hers. “After all these years, what’s so damn important about this mystery planet that the Troika are suddenly coming after us with everything they have?”

“...I don’t know,” she said softly, dropping her gaze. “Our mission was a failure.”

“They must know something we don’t,” Alphad said from the monitor. “There’s something on this planet they want, and they’re willing to kill to get it.”

“Then why not just give it to them?” Genvass exclaimed. “We have no idea where this planet is, and it's unlikely anything we do will change that. Let the Troika have it, and maybe they’ll leave us alone. Haven’t enough people died?”

“Spoken like a true suck up,” Sergeant Kai snorted, prompting sputtering indignation from the Dharmist. “Even if we knew anything...which we don’t...it wouldn’t do any good. They sent an entire fleet against us, which tells me they’re playing for keeps. They’d kill us just to keep us quiet.”

“You don’t know that!” Genvass shouted, earning shaking heads and rolled eyes in return.

“I have to agree with our Valkyrie friend,” Blye shrugged, ignoring the outburst. “For two hundred years we’ve been pushed aside, ignored, mistreated, even killed outright, but they’ve never come at us like this. No one ever cared enough about us to make the effort.”

“Which leaves us with few options,” Samara replied. “If the Troika is coming after Humanity, then that’s it. Freya was the most powerful ship we still had, and with it gone…” Sighing, she gave them all a wan smile. “A few of us might survive, scattered across the cosmos, but the long-term odds of our existence don’t bear thinking about.”

Maggie watched Diggs as the discussion dwindled into silence. For two centuries they’d hung on...at times it seemed by their bloody fingernails...but despite the odds they’d endured.

It couldn’t all just end, could it?

Feeling her gaze, Diggs turned to look at her. He was still sullen, his mismatched eyes burning with hurt and betrayal, but as she studied him the only thought in her head was that this was wrong. Wrong on a level so deep she didn’t have the words.

And it pissed her off.

“...we took a hard hit,” Maggie spoke up, the words tumbling out of her mouth and surprising even her, “but so the fuck what?” She glowered at the group as they stared back in stunned silence. “Are we just gonna roll over? Give up? If that’s where your head’s at, fine. There’s the airlock,” she snapped, pointing at the nearby hatch. “Get it over with, so the rest of us can figure out how we’re gonna fuckin’ live through this goddamn nightmare.”

“What are you saying?” Remi asked, his curiosity piqued.

“I’m saying that for two hundred years every race in the Perseus Arm has shit all over us. The fucking Tu’udh’hizh’ak pointed the Yīqún right at Old Earth, just so they could protect their own. Did they care? Try to stop them? Hell no!” Her nostrils flared as she worked up to a good froth. “They want this secret so bad they’re willin’ to wipe us out? Fuck them! They can’t have it! It’s ours!” She jabbed her thumb into her chest for emphasis. “It was our scout that found it, all them years ago, and by Mother Terra we have fuckin’ earned it! We paid for it, with every drop of blood spilled just tryin’ to survive.”

People were nodding now, getting caught up in the moment, but then Samara leaned forward, a wicked smile on her face. “Such pretty words,” she purred, “but what makes you think you can back them up? The Troika is playing hardball now, and they’re just getting started.”

“Cause whatever this planet has that’s got them all riled up can only mean one thing…power,” she threw back in the Protean’s face. “It has to be that, it’s the only reason they’d come at us this hard after all these years.”

“So?” Rúna asked, looking askance. “What’s that mean for us?”

“We’ve got the inside track,” Maggie smirked, “cause they don’t know about the SAR Transponder...which means we can get there first.”

“And what’s stopping them from just taking it from us once we find it?” Genvass demanded. “We can’t fight the Troika.”

“No,” she admitted, “but maybe...just maybe...we can outsmart ‘em.”

“Do you have an idea in mind?” Alphad inquired, cocking his virtual head as he regarded her.

“Not yet...but just look at us all here. All seven Clans, represented. We put our heads together, pool our talents...could be we got ourselves a chance.” Maggie looked from one face to the next as she pled her case, before resting her gaze on Diggs, who stared back at her. “What have we got to lose by tryin’? We’re already fucked.”

The group glanced at one another, judging their reaction...but it was the sound of laughter that broke the spell.

Captain Hadad chortled in pure merriment. “You are utterly mad, Maggie Al-Hajjah,” he grinned. “Daring to take on the entire galaxy? Only a lunatic would sign on for such a fool’s errand.” His eyes twinkled as she held her breath. “Yes, only a fool...or perhaps someone who has nothing left to lose.” He bowed to the Tinker, and when he arose, the humor had disappeared. “Gyrfalcon and her crew stand ready to aid in your quest...My Lady.”

She glowered at the title from old habit, but after a moment she reconsidered. Like Remi said, they hung by a thread. If that honorific helped...then why the hell not?

Not everyone was on board, however.

“So, you intend to lead us to the Promised Land?” Samara snorted. “Outwit every race in the Arm? You’ll forgive my pessimism.”

“...don’t count on it,” Maggie snarled, “unless you think you got a better idea?” She made a show of crossing her arms and tapping her foot. “Come on, let’s hear it.”

The Protean smirked once more, but said nothing. “Not all races are our enemy,” Genvass protested. “The Baishain have always treated us with great respect.”

“And how many humans live on their world?” she fired back. “A thousand? Two? How many have any real power?”

The Dharmist had no response. Maggie pivoted to the rest. “Look, I ain’t got all the answers. Never claimed to. But I know this...we’re fucked if we try and fucked if we don’t. So we might as well try.”

Prash glanced at his fellow Knight and then shrugged. “Well, I have nothing else planned,” he smiled, earning him a laugh.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Sergeant Kai cautioned. “We still have to make it to Earth and find the scout’s body. Unless we can pull that off, the rest is moot.”

“Our Valkyrie friend makes an excellent point,” the Avatar agreed from his monitor. “Perhaps we should all take some time to consider her suggestion.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Maggie nodded. “Besides...I got some things I need to take care of,” she said, as she looked back at Diggs once more.

“...he needs time,” Blye explained, as Rúna kept Diggs distracted by walking around the cabin on her hands. He was still as infatuated with her as ever, watching her acrobatics with rapt attention, while Maggie and the Chevalier spoke in hushed voices. “He thinks you abandoned him, and you can’t say you didn’t know this was a genuine possibility. We talked about this very thing back on Azhakom.” The Knight kept her tone neutral, but the Tinker could hear her disapproval.

In her mind’s eye she saw him being carried away once more, his shrieks of “No! No! No!” echoing in her brain. “I can’t change what happened,” she answered at last, chagrined, “I just need to know how to fix this.”

“This isn’t an engine manifold we’re talking about,” Blye said, rolling her eyes. “It will take time. Time to regain his trust, bit by bit. There're no shortcuts here.”

“I’ll do the work,” Maggie promised, “I just don’t know how.”

“Start by apologizing,” she suggested, “and accept the fact you’ll have to do it more than once. You betrayed him, Maggie, at least in his eyes...and what makes it even worse? You took him out of the gutter, gave him everything he’d ever dreamed of...and then snatched it all away again. That kind of wound cuts deep. He won’t forgive you overnight. In fact, he may never forgive you. You’d better prepare yourself for that possibility.”

“I did what I thought was right,” she stated yet again, still steadfast in her belief. “I said from the beginning I’d try to find his people. Maybe I could have handled it better,” she admitted, “but what else was I supposed to do?”

“Your intentions don’t matter, Maggie,” Blye replied, “and it doesn’t even matter if you were right or wrong. All that matters is how he sees it.” She froze for a moment, her hand going to her swollen belly. “Take it from someone who knows,” she said quietly, “neither of you will ever get over this. Not completely. But if you both work at it...maybe you can get to a place of ‘Good Enough’.”

“I’ll try,” she whispered.

Blye smiled, patting her arm. “That’s all anyone can ask.” She looked over her shoulder at Rúna, still impressing Diggs with her upper body strength. “Come on, Jarhead, these two need to talk.”

The redhead flipped herself back onto her feet before giving the boy a big hug. “I’m glad you’re back,” she told him, giving Maggie a nod as the two women left the cabin, closing the hatch behind them.

Maggie took a deep breath and faced Diggs, kneeling down in front of him. His lopsided grin disappeared as he glared at her, the anger and pain clear in his eyes.

“I know I hurt you,” she said softly. “I never meant to do that. I was tryin’ to find your family, your real family, and…”

She sighed as she reached out to take his hand, only to have him pull it away. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. I’m tryin’, Diggs, the best I know how. Sometimes...it ain’t good enough.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a Soya bar, just like the first one she’d offered him only a few weeks ago. “You hungry?”

He fixed on the bar for a moment...and then turned away, refusing to even look at it, or her.

Bowing her head, she set the bar on the cot next to him. “...when you’re ready,” she mumbled, her eyes going misty.

Remi Hadad cocked an eyebrow at his visitor as he leaned against the open hatch. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he smirked.

“Just paying my respects,” Samara purred, moving closer to him. “May I come in?”

Inclining his head, he stepped aside, inviting her in. The Protean nodded in approval as she surveyed the cabin’s interior. “It suits you,” she chuckled. “Organized enough to locate something in the dark, with an added dash of rakish flair.” Leaning against his desk, she arched her back, smiling in knowing approval as he drank in her curves, his eyes traveling up and down her body.

“Why are you really here?” the captain asked, his pulse pounding at his throat. “A woman like you...I have a feeling there’s something you want.”

“There is,” she cackled, as she pushed off from the desk. “It’s a long journey to Earth, and I bore so easily.” Stepping closer, she placed a finger on his chest and ran it down his breastbone, her eyes twinkling with delight as she watched him shiver. “I thought perhaps we might….entertain one another.”

Remi took a long moment to clear his head. “And what if I said you weren’t my type?” he asked, a note of caution in his voice.

Samara threw back her head and laughed. “I can be anything, anyone you desire,” she said with a languid wink, taking a step backwards...and in the blink of an eye her form rippled, assuming a new appearance.

“...forbidden fruit is always the most succulent,” she murmured, standing before him in the spitting image of Xiulan, his pilot. “You’re not the type to choose pleasure over business...I see that in you...but who says you can’t have both?” With a touch at her collarbone, her clothing fell away, pooling at her feet.

A heartbeat later she was in his arms, lifting her mouth to his as he kissed her hard...while pulling him down to his bunk.