“Agreed.”
“I mean it. No arguments, no hesitation. If something goes wrong?—”
“I’ll run. I promise.” She squeezed his arm. “Now stop worrying and dock this ship.”
He muttered something under his breath that the translation bug mercifully didn’t catch, then turned his attention back to the controls.
TheVagabondslipped into the abandoned docking bay like a key sliding into a lock. Darkness swallowed them, broken only by the ship’s external lights illuminating dust motes floating in the air.
“Atmosphere?” she asked.
“Surprisingly, yes. Thin, but breathable.” He frowned. “That’s... unexpected.”
“Unexpected good or unexpected bad?”
“Unexpected suspicious.” He powered down the engines, the ship settling onto what remained of the docking platform with a gentle thud. “Mining stations don’t usually maintain their atmosphere after they’re abandoned. Power for life support is expensive. Someone’s been keeping this place running.”
Her stomach tightened. “The Grorn?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He rose from the pilot’s seat, his hand moving automatically to the weapon at his hip. “Only one way to find out.”
He crossed to a panel on the wall, keying in a sequence. A compartment slid open, revealing an array of equipment and he took out a light, plus a small device she didn’t recognize, before turning to her.
“I need you to stay on board with Ari until I find out why there’s an atmosphere.” He held up the device. “This is an emergency beacon. I can contact you if anything happens.”
“But you said?—”
“I know what I said, but until I know what’s going on, I can’t take her out there and we can’t leave her here alone. You’ll be safe on the ship. The security protocols are active. No one gets in without my authorization.”
She wanted to argue, but the thought of taking Ari into an unknown, potentially dangerous environment was far worse than leaving her in the safety of the ship. And every maternal instinct in her body rebelled against the idea or leaving her alone, even for a moment. What if something happened? What if they didn’t come back?
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Let me settle her first.”
She carried Ari back to the nursery, laying her gently in the crib. The baby stirred but didn’t wake, her silver skin shimmering faintly in the dim light. Then she rejoined Doren at the airlock, where he was running final checks on his equipment. He looked up as she approached, his expression softening.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
He nodded, then keyed open the airlock.
Cold air rushed in, carrying the smell of dust and metal and something else—something faintly organic that she couldn’t identify. The docking bay beyond was dark, illuminated only by theVagabond’sexterior lights. Shadows pooled in the corners, black and impenetrable.
“Seal the door behind me,” he ordered, then stepped onto the ramp. She waited until he reached the bottom, then forced herself to close the door and seal it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The corridor stretched ahead of Doren like a throat, dark and narrow and faintly organic in its proportions. Mining operations carved functional spaces—straight lines, efficient angles, no wasted effort. But time and neglect had warped this place into something else. Dust coated every surface in a grey shroud. Cables hung from the ceiling like entrails. The air tasted stale, recycled too many times through filters that should have failed decades ago.
Someone’s been keeping this place alive,he thought, his hand resting on the plasma pistol at his hip.The question is why.
He’d spent years exploring places like this. Abandoned stations, derelict ships, and ruins that hadn’t seen living beings in centuries. He knew the rhythm of such spaces—the silence, the darkness, the particular loneliness of places where people had once lived and worked and died. He’d always found it oddly peaceful. No expectations, no complications, just the hunt for treasure and the satisfaction of discovery.
But now, with Emma and Ari waiting on the ship, the darkness felt threatening in a way it never had before.
Get in, find what you’re looking for, get out. Simple. Clean. The way all jobs should be.
The corridor opened into a junction with three passages branching in different directions. He paused, consulting the schematic on his scanner. The device struggled to penetrate the asteroid’s composition, returning only partial readings, but he could make out enough to navigate.
