Jenny Mae frowned at the pile of boxes. “We have the rice seed-grains getting shipped back to the Tirkon research institute. A few raw materials samples to the bigger prospecting headquarters over on Boketo. I’m sorry Heath, I thought I could get more.”

  “Don’t be sorry, JM. I wasn’t sure we could get anything. At least we’ll be able to afford rations on the way.” His attempt at a joke fell flat as the reminder made his eager crewmember wince instead of laugh.

  The two of them looked over the mostly empty cargo bay and sighed in unison. Nothing for it, Heath’s self-imposed deadline was only hours away, and he was thinking of trying to push it even earlier. After sleeping on it, the attack had only made him more concerned. Any stray comment from the assassin could have sent more people on their trail. Heath still wasn’t sure how the man had even tracked them down, but it was safe to assume if one Classer could do it, so could plenty others.

  Tracking skills weren’t uncommon out on the Rim, where bounty hunting was a way of life. And in the wake of the Bounty Hunters came the Imperial authorities. His only choice was to keep running, and hope the Loon was faster than their pursuers. And that the Althalas family decided they were worth saving.

  “It will be enough,” he said, this time with actual conviction. “I’m going to go say goodbye to my mom. You make sure the others are ready to go afterwards. Please.”

  “Aye aye Captain!”

  “I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, Heath.” The Loon’s voice filled the cargo bay. “Your mother is outside.”

  “Open the hatch,” he called as he hurried towards the portal. The inner door and the outer airlock both opened, revealing Diane, and three hover dollies she had strung together in a train behind her.

  “Mom!” Heath jogged up to her and snuck in one more hug. “What’s all this?”

  “I know you’re leaving. I wish you wouldn’t.” Heath felt the familiar pang of guilt for keeping the whole playground incident a secret, but it was not something he wanted his mom to stew on while he was gone. “But I figured you kids might not have enough time for cargo. I know a guy who always waits til the last minute to list his jobs, and I had a visit and made him hurry it up. Then I accepted it for you from the job hall.”

  “Wait how did you –”

  “I’m your mother Heath, I can do these things.”

  “But…”

  “Say thank you.”

  “Thank you. But what is it, where does it go?”

  “I’ve already sent the details to your marvelous administrator.”

  “Thank you Ms. Stewart! This is great, can’t wait.”

  “Anyone want to let the Captain know what this is?”

  His mother hooked arms with Jenny Mae and walked outside. “I suppose if we must.”

  Heath followed, examining the hover dollies with the eye of an experienced hauler and not a conflicted son.

  Cages. The first two dollies were filled with cages, each with some sort of tiny animal, snoozing away inside. Heath couldn’t distinguish any features besides pointed snouts and tiny feet, poking out of sleeping puddles of fluff.

  “Umm, please explain.”

  “They breed like rats on one of the planets a couple jumps from here. My contact is a local Veterinarian. In his free time, he wrangles them, checks them over, and sends them to the Core to become spoiled pets for rich families that want something exotic. They’re in stasis cages right now so you don’t even have to feed them.”

  “Heath.” Jenny Mae’s voice was hushed, as she crouched down, her hands trembling as she peered into the cages. “We have to keep one for the ship.”

  “No.”

  “They are so cute.”

  “No.”

  “They need love.”

  “No.”

  “We could have adventures with it. Imagine little armor. I can learn to sew.”

  “No.”

  “I’m going to convince the Loon. Then you’ll do it.”

  “No. Loon, you’re on my side.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “I must research the idea of cuteness.”

  “Wait, Loon, no!”

  His mother chuckled at the exchange before pulling Heath aside. “You’re sure of your course.” It was a statement, not a question, and Heath didn’t respond. “Just like your uncle.”

  Heath’s smile turned a bit watery at the comparison. “I’m sure Walt never went full pirate, but I appreciate it.”

  “You’d be surprised at some of what your uncle did to get by. But he would be proud of you too.”

  “That means a lot.”

  “I know. Now. Listen to me.” She set about smoothing his lapels, then gripped his shoulders. “You will stay safe in the Core. And the most important advice I can give you there is to keep everything close to the vest. Do not trust the nobles. Your crewmember there, Ekaterina, she seems…focused.”

  “She grows on you.”

  “Maybe,” his mother allowed. “But her family is dangerous, Heath. You can’t be anything else to keep those kinds of holdings, not for as long as House Althalas. Noble houses are constantly playing games, jockeying for resources and advantage. They rise and fall on their ruthlessness. The Emperor encourages it, to keep them growing and spitting out high-tier classers. But they don’t care who gets caught under their wheels in the process.

  “Or if a family shop that had been a pillar of the community for three generations gets run out of business from a petty feud.” His mother’s words turned bitter as she looked into the distance, remembering something that was news to Heath.

  “Mom.”

  She waved him off. “Ancient history. The point is, the rules are different, the stakes are different, and if you are going into that world, you will either be useful, or you will be discarded.”

  “I’ll miss you.” It was all he could say. It wasn’t enough. The Rim, with its pirates and criminals and loose interpretation of the law was starting to look mighty cozy.

  “Well then maybe you should write home this time.” There was the mom guilt, expertly applied. Like the deftest paintbrush. Or a scalpel.

  “I will.”

  “I’ll miss you too.”

  “We didn’t even get a chance to talk about Walt. I’m sorry mom. I should have come home sooner.”

  “I’m sorry too, Heath. But I don’t want you living your life around me. That’s not what parenthood is about. I’ll always miss Walt terribly, but as long as I don’t ever have to hear the same news about you, I’ll be okay.”

  “You could come with us.” He offered one last time, knowing what the response would be.

  She snorted. “Not on your life. My shop is here. What would I sew on your ship, dozens and dozens of coveralls?”

  “I hear specialization can lead to class upgrades.”

  “Not even for you, sweetheart.” She reached up to pat his cheek. “But I did bring presents. For everyone.”

  The rest of the crew stopped pretending they hadn’t been eaves-dropping, stumbling over each other to get closer as they heard the magic words.

  Diane laughed, then pulled some cloth-wrapped packages off of the final hover dolly. “First off, new coveralls for everyone. You know I hate that mass-produced garbage.”

  Heath was well-aware of his mother’s stance on what proper spacer attire consisted of. He had been looking forward to another few outfits, to replace what had been worn down to shreds from the excitement of the last few years. What he hadn’t expected was for his mother to have somehow completed work for every member of his crew in the short time they’d been home. Without doing any sort of fitting or direct measurements. Crafters were terrifying.

  Each member seized their own packages with words of thanks. Even Ekaterina looked smug as she grabbed the one labeled for her. Not that she ever deigned to wear the standard coveralls when she was on duty, opting instead for elaborate robes in her family’s colors most of the time, and workout gear the rest.

  “I have more!” His mother was basking in the appreciation, there was no other word for it. It was well-deserved. “You’re heading to meet with some very important people, you’ll need to look the part.”

  “I’m sure my parents wouldn’t judge on clothes.” Ekaterina didn’t sound that sure as she eyed the rest of the packages.

  “Even so,” his mother continued, “first impressions matter.”

  This package Heath opened immediately. He pulled out the top item, watching as it unfolded into a knee-length coat. It was a work of art. Soft white fabric, with black feathers embroidered across the shoulders. Gleaming silver closures Heath knew would be near-impossible to make come loose. This was a jacket for the Captain of the Wandering Loon.

  He glanced around to see each member of his crew holding something just as exquisite. His mother was too tasteful to make them all match, but he could see the thread that wove through them. Silver accents and the occasional black feather, more subtle on the other’s clothes but there if he looked. In these, they would look like a crew that could stand in any room in the Empire. Even Ekaterina, who had grown up with clothes made by high-rank Classers, looked impressed. Her robe was done in her family colors, but with feathers picked out around the hem.

  “Mom, this is too much. How did you even have the time?”

  “Nothing is too much for my baby. Now, come and give me one more hug before you leave.”

  The command was ostensibly for Heath, but each of his crewmembers stopped to give their heartfelt thanks before starting to load their new cargo. Even Emerald, who suffered through the display of affection, whispering a few words in his mother’s ear, too low for Heath to catch.

  “I love you Heath. Don’t let the Core swallow you up with all the politics. Do what you need to and then come back home.”

  “I will.”

  He watched her walk away, across the dusty fields set aside for ships, back through to the city beyond. When he could no longer pick out her tiny frame amongst the masses, he turned to help the others finish loading up and securing their delicate cargo. By the time it was done, they were only an hour out from their scheduled departure time.

  Not enough for true off-duty, so they instead settled on the bridge to wait.

  “You know, I never thought I’d see the Core.” Jenny Mae said. “I wish we had gotten a chance to stop back at the ranch so I could tell everyone about it.”

  Heath cringed. She wasn’t trying to guilt trip him, but she succeeded nonetheless. “I’m sorry Jenny.”

  “Oh, no don’t be! I’m actually pretty proud of this route. I’m going to get a level in [Navigation], I’m sure of it. Besides, they’ll see once I post everything.”

  “Leaving a trail for the next assassin?” Emerald’s feet were already kicked up on their station controls.

  “I’ll wait til later.” Jenny Mae sniffed primly before fiddling with something until smooth string music started playing through the ship sneakers.

  Heath released a breath. Jenny Mae was too smart for something like that but none of them were at their best after weeks of stress. “We’ll visit. I’m not sure when, but we will.”

  “What about you, Emerald? Ever been into the Core?” Their rancher-turned-spacer deftly steered the conversation away from herself, though not to a place Heath expected to gain any traction.

  “No. Would have happily kept it that way, too.”

  “Really? You never wanted to see the capitol, or the Hanging Gardens? Maybe the Imperial Starship Museum?”

  They shrugged and hunched forward, feet finding the floor again as they went from relaxed to defensive. “Plenty to see out here. Core’s crowded.”

  “That’s true,” Ekaterina cut in. “And certain behaviors acceptable on the Rim will need to be culled from your manners before we get there. I will teach you enough so that you do not embarrass yourselves.”

  Heath made eye contact with Copperfield, who grimaced back. Their Wizard’s lessons tended to come with a healthy dose of pain. The Althalas family training program was not a proponent of positive reinforcement.

  “Clean break for me,” Copperfield announced, before Ekaterina could start their lessons right then. “The old fleet didn’t care when I left, but more distance won’t hurt.”

  They debated back and forth, on whether or not the tourist destinations were worth seeing, morphing into the favorite systems any of them had ever been to. A consensus was reached that no winners could be chosen until they returned to the unnamed coral reefs to explore. The hour slipped by and it was time to leave.

  Heath took manual control this time, hands dancing across his station to lift them out of the atmosphere. Smooth as silk, far better than his first time flying away from Barradas, when his uncle had taken a nervous sixteen year old and put him in the pilot’s chair, with no practical experience, and ordered him into space. The jerking, uneven flight had earned Heath no friends for his first few months aboard.

  This time, only watching the feeds from the Loon’s suite of sensors would let anyone know when they made it off the ground and through the atmosphere. From there, he reviewed Jenny Mae’s course and locked it in, letting the automatic controls do the rest. Next stop, the Althalas estate.