Satsu and Max were packed and loaded on a shuttle, alone except for Andreas in the pilot seat. He’d volunteered to fly her to Cradle, even though it meant extra flying in his down-time. Cradle was only a short hop through darkspace, but darkspace was dangerous these days and Andreas wanted to look after her.

Satsu had only had time to skim through the mission overview, just enough to figure out what she would need to pack. This was the kind of investigation that might lead anywhere, so she’d brought a little of everything. In her bag were two suits of planetary armor, three formal outfits, and piles of rugged, casual wear. Her flight suit, she was wearing.

Max, too, was bundled in a flight suit and harnessed in next to Satsu. As soon as she snapped him in, he had lain down and curled up at her feet. Max was as much a veteran as anyone; as soon as he stepped onto a ship, he knew to get rest while he could.

Hansel and Gretel, sadly, had been left behind. They were too early in their training for this unpredictable a situation. Reluctantly, Satsu had gone through the roster for any empaths who could take on new animals. It was a sad choice; passing them off at this stage of their training for the weeks she might be gone meant she wouldn’t get them back.

But the hounds were still young enough to smoothly bond with a new handler, and Satsu’s reward for finishing this and going home would be to start looking for new puppies to train.

“Settled in?” Andreas asked, setting his hands on the ship controls.

“We’re good.”

Takeoff was smooth, even with Andreas grumbling under his breath about how poorly the shuttle handled. “Flipping to darkspace,” he warned, once they had sufficient altitude.

Satsu’s stomach lurched as Andreas took them through. She never got used to this. No amount of time spent on this side erased the feeling of disconnect, that floaty nausea that the people with hikmaic adaptations seemed immune to.

“Some turbulence I don’t like. Going to have to swing wider than I expected. Estimating about an hour flight, unless I see a promising short cut.”

Darkspace was so strange. Sometimes you could cross the entire Empire in minutes. Other times, it could take hours—or days—to move between two planets in the same system. Pilots could only do so much to work around the twists and eddies that flowed out from the Dark World.

Roman was the exception, with a gift above and beyond anyone else flying. He could find currents and breaks invisible to any other pilot. Which was why, to this day, Satsu had no regrets about what she’d done to help keep him flying.

An hour was plenty of time to follow Max’s example and catch a nap. She leaned back and closed her eyes, trusting Andreas to get them safely through darkspace.

The whine of engines as they landed woke her up. She stretched, glanced at Andreas, who was focused on getting them down safely. Max, too, was awake and starting to get excited. Satsu scratched his head, sent soothing waves to him. No reason to be impatient. They’d be on the ground soon enough.

The ship settled gently and Satsu and Max were down the ramp before Andreas had even unstrapped. She stopped and took a deep breath of real planetary air. Whatever this mission entailed, at least she’d get to be outside for a while.

A woman waited next to the ship, watching Satsu, a warm ripple of amusement running through her. A beautiful woman, as Satsu gave her a second look. Tall and athletic, with intelligent eyes and rich brown skin. And giving Satsu a similarly assessing look.

“Varya Satsu?” she asked. At Satsu’s nod, she added, “I’m Rinn.”

Rinn’s name had been in the documents from Lukas, so Satsu knew they were to work together. What hadn’t been in there was anything else about this person—no background, no job information, not even a family name.

She had to come from somewhere, though. Not a Wolf—any Wolf angry enough at the clan to give up their family name wouldn’t have stayed on Cradle. A Swan or a Griffon would have bowed, or at least physically fought the reflex. Even out here on the edge of civilization, Satsu hadn’t met a single one of them who’d been able to shed those manners completely. And Rinn wasn’t a Serpent—of that, Satsu could be fairly certain.

Which left the Dragon. But a Dragon with her flames banked. Rinn was dressed quietly, standing quietly, letting Satsu come to her. A pity this trip was business, not pleasure, because Satsu could have had all sorts of fun with that.

Andreas came down the ramp with Satsu’s bags. He, too, looked at Rinn, who seemed utterly unconcerned at being sized up.

“My ship is over there.” Rinn pointed at a small, bird-shaped jet. A planetary, rather than space-craft. It stood out in the busy spaceport. “If you want to get your stuff loaded in, I’m going to go talk to the tower. Won’t take long.”

Satsu took half the burden from Dre and they walked over to Rinn’s ship. After they’d thrown her bags in, Andreas stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. “I want you to be careful. This is…unusual, and unusual is never good.”

He didn’t know the half of how unusual this was. “I’ll be watchful and wary. I promise.”

“Good.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. He wasn’t much for public affection, and they’d said their real good-byes back on Bulwark. “This Rinn—you’ll be working with her?”

“So it would seem.”

Andreas glanced back in the direction she’d gone. “Pretty. And interesting.”

Satsu slapped lightly at his chest. “You trying to matchmake?”

“Why not? You don’t know how long you’re going to be here. Might as well have some fun. No reason to be lonely.”

“We’ll see.” They’d be hunting a demon, and Satsu wasn’t about to neglect her obligations. “Either way, I’ll miss you.”

He pulled her into a rough hug, then released her. “Watch your back.”

“You too.”

He gave Max a pat, then walked away.