He didn’t answer. His silence said enough.
She reached out, taking his hand. “We’ll find something. I know we will.”
“Your optimism is one of my favorite things about you.”
“Is that sarcasm?”
“Absolutely not.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ve spent too many years expecting the worst. It’s... nice to have someone who expects the best.”
“I don’t always expect the best. I just refuse to give up before I have to.”
“Same thing, in my experience.”
The navigation computer chimed to indicate five minutes to exit, and he released her hand, his attention shifting to the controls. His posture changed, becoming more alert, more focused. The captain taking command.
She watched him work, marveling at the transformation. In the cabin he was playful, tender, vulnerable. Here, in his element, he was something else entirely. Competent and decisive and absolutely certain of every action.
He was born for this,she thought.The adventure, the risk, the thrill of the unknown. This is who he is.
And she was beginning to think that maybe it was who she was becoming too.
“Dropping out of hyperspace in thirty seconds,” he announced. “Hold on to something.”
She braced herself, one arm around Ari, the other gripping the armrest. The lights outside the viewport shifted, swirled, and then?—
Reality snapped back into place.
Stars. Millions of them, scattered across the blackness like diamonds on velvet. A distant sun burned orange-red in the far corner of the viewport. And directly ahead...
“That’s the asteroid,” he said.
It was smaller than Emma had expected. A lumpy grey rock tumbling slowly through space, its surface pocked with craters and gouges. Nothing about it suggested importance or value. It looked exactly like what it was—a chunk of debris left over from the formation of the solar system, forgotten and insignificant.
“I’m not picking up any signals,” he continued, his eyes on the sensor displays. “No ships in range. No energy signatures from the asteroid itself.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Could be either. Could mean we’re alone. Could mean whatever was here is gone.” His fingers moved across the controls, adjusting their approach. “I’m taking us in closer. See what we can see.”
TheVagabondglided forward, engines humming softly. The asteroid grew larger in the viewport, its surface becoming more detailed. She could see the marks of old mining operations now—bore holes and excavation scars, the remnants of industrial activity long abandoned.
“There.” He pointed to a shadow on the asteroid’s surface. “That looks like a docking bay. Or what’s left of one.”
She squinted at the display. He was right—there was a rectangular opening carved into the rock, just large enough for a small ship to enter. Debris was clustered around the entrance, chunks of metal and rock that suggested the bay had seen better days.
“How old do you think this place is?”
“Hard to say. Mining operations in the outer systems come and go. Could be decades old, could be centuries.” He adjusted their approach vector. “I’m going to dock and take a look around.”
“We’re going to dock and take a look around.”
He shot her a look. “Emma?—”
“We already discussed this.” She met his gaze steadily. “Together. Remember?”
His jaw worked, frustration evident in every line of his body. But finally, he nodded.
“Fine. But you stay close, and if I tell you to run, you run. Agreed?”
