Mingyu stomped down the ramp of his ship, steam still billowing off the cooling thrusters. He was annoyed. More than annoyed, he was angry.

  His ship the Moonlit Destiny had pnned for a six-month deployment in Gliese 667’s outer belt to look for aract preetals. Less than three weeks into the trip, he received a unication to return. And for nothing other than some pompous core worlder here to throw his weight around. The Destiny’s sensor officer had picked up the ships when they burned for the station. They hadn’t been subtle about their approach. But he wasn’t on duty, and pirates wouldn’t have been so brazen, so he ighem.

  Mingyu wasn’t blind. He had seewo gunships sitting menagly off the station as his ship docked, their turrets on full dispy. It didn’t impress him. He had been a sed lieutenant in the Coalition Navy and had served aboard the fgship Ivanov. And while it hurt him to admit, not parable to the STO’s fgships, the Ivanov would have been more than a match for these peashooters the Omni rep had brought as a warning. Not that Petrov Station couldn’t defend itself. The Omni ships could learn a thing or two from Petrov about keeping their ons hidden until needed.

  Now if they could just teach the issars to wipe their own asses without a Captain around, maybe he wouldn’t have been required to sit in on a full cil meeting. Did the issars think that the station just ran on goodwill and wishes? It took dedication, effort, and a whole lot of credit from the founding families to keep the station indepe.

  He took the elevator to the core, easily adjusting to the ge in gravity. Holy, he wasn’t sure how people could stand living in the fake gravity. He much preferred being out in space or simply aboard his ship with the gravity disabled. There was something f about just floating.

  As the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, he smirked a bit as he cmbered up the rungs easily. He had lost track of horoposals to redesign the elevator he had blocked over the years. The people at the statiooo soft. They might as well live in a gravity well for all they uood about actual space. Which is why he made sure to keep this one small reminder for the people who operated the station.

  That little memory brought a smirk to his fad lifted his spirits slightly, but it didn’t fully banish his foul mood as he crossed the aer and made his way toward the meeting room. Teically he was an hour te, but Mingyu would be damned if he was wastira fuel just to push his arrival up. He was already losing enough money just having to return ahead of schedule.

  The door swished open at his approach, and he was hit with a wall of discussion from his fellotains.

  ***

  “Na! Bout time you show up. You think we just have time to wait around for you all day?”

  “Isn’t that your normal tendency Xu!” Mingyu said with a smile before g the other man’s hand. Mingyu and Xu Yu had been friends sihey could walk.

  “Gd you arrived safely,” Ingrid Liu stated with a slight nod.

  Mingyu nodded back, even though he despised the shrewd woman. He wasn’t about to air his grievances here where it paid to be civil.

  “I think we all agree this is a colossal waste of our time,” Sergei Zhang added as he lounged against one wall with his feet up oable.

  Anastasia spped his feet off the piece of furniture and gred at the rge man. “If you truly thought it was a waste of time, you wouldn’t have returned so early. So quit trying to sound tough.” The man had the decy to look chastised by Mrs. Weiss’ words.

  Uhe five boisterous younger Captains on the cil, the two older ones remained quiet. Denis Kovalenko was in his sixties but had only started a family a decade ago. And his daughter was only nine.

  Oleg Hoffman was a bit younger, having just turned fifty. But he had also started a family ter in his life, and his son and daughter were twelve and thirteen respectively.

  The nine families were all that remained of the inal founding twenty. Some like the Liu’s had bithen their families. But that didn’t grant them additional seats on the cil. Most did it to preserve their diminishing lineages ahe station running. Some did it to solidate power. Which was ughable out here in the ass end of human-occupied space. But Mingyu couldn’t throw stones, his aors had dohe same, merging the Xinwei lih the Na.

  “If pleasantries are over with, we do have important matters to discuss,” Denis cut through the chatter.

  The room quieted as everyouro the Captain. As the oldest member of the cil, his words did carry a bit more weight. The man was also semi-retired and spent most of his time aboard the station. Which meant he was usually the first to find out about issues such as this.

  “You are all aware of our unfortunate guest?” Mutters and words of aowledgment passed through the others in the room.

  “Good. Unfortunately, I was not made aware of their arrival in the system until after they had met with the issar.”

  Sergei shot to his feet, pounding his hands oable. “What blithering idiot failed to follow the standard procedure to notify the Captain on duty first and foremost?”

  “While I appreciate your for procedures, Sergei, please sit down and trol yourself. You are a Captain, you must act like o all times.”

  The younger man flushed slightly before dropping bato his seat. Mingyu wao roll his eyes at the man’s antid the older man’s reprimand, but he knew better than to annoy his fellotains.

  “The issar responsible for this breach will receive a reprimand in his official log. But it will include the caveat that we have never had to host a VIP, so he was likely not aware of official poli how to act.”

  There were a few grumbles at that, but Mingyu approved.

  “Then again,” Captain Kovalenko tinued, “Should we treat this group as a VIP? By STO’s own ws, they do not qualify for this.”

  “Are you calling for a vote on this?” Oleg asked.

  Denis paused to think for a moment before responding. “Yes. Does anyone sed this vote?”

  “I do!” Sergei responded.

  “Very well. All in favor of stripping the Omni representative of VIP status, raise your hands.”

  Only three hands went up. One was Sergei’s, no real surprise there. But Mingyu was surprised to see his friend Xu’s hand up as well as Ingrid’s. But perhaps even more of a surprise was not seeing Denis’ hand raised for a vote he called for.

  “If you weren’t even going to vote for it why even bring it up?” Sergei crossed his arms after the vote failed.

  “Just because I believe they don’t deserve VIP treatment, doesn’t mean I believe it should be taken away. We have a delicate situation on our hands, despite some of our members reag out to personal tacts iO.” The eldest captain looked straight at Mingyu as he said that st part.

  Mingyu just shrugged. He wouldn’t apologize for calling in a favor.

  “So that’s it then?” Xu spat in annoyance. “We treat them with kid gloves and find out exactly what they are after.”

  “I’m afraid so,” Denis responded before cheg his watch. “I have notified the issar t uests by around noon. Because of Captain Na’s te arrival, I’m afraid we don’t have much time to discuss other matters. I would just like to remind you all to remain professional during the discussion. We ot give these core worlders an inch-,”

  “-or they will take a mile,” the rest of the room finished in unison. It was a tired saying that meant less and less each year. The core world mega corporations took what they wanted when they wanted. And very little could stop them. The best they could hope to do was mitigate the damage.

  ***

  A few mier the door opened and a man wearing a vacsuit, which probably ore than most made in a year, entered.

  “Greetieemed Captains. I am Theodore Pembrooke, head legal sel for Orbital Motion Navigational Innovations. I-,”

  “We know who you are,” Sergei cut the man off, earning a reproachful gre from Denis and Oleg, “get to the point.”

  The suited man’s smile never wavered. “Very well, I appreciate cutting to the chase. O.. is here iigating an instance of intellectual theft. We would appreciate it if you turhis culprit over to us along with any assets he has stolen or modified against our standard use policy. The person we are iigating is one Alexander Kane.”

  Mingyu and the other captains fered quietly amongst themselves, f the man to wait standing at the le across the room. This wasn’t strictly necessary as they had already been informed about why this individual was here. The hushed versation instead sisted of remarks about the questionable parentage of this man as well as his fear of being aboard station without his suit. Mingyu had a hard time not smiling hing during the quiet talks.

  After making the man wait what seemed an appropriate amount of time, the cil turned back toward him. Denis, as the speaker, was the oo respond. “No.”

  They all watched as the face behind the clear face shield blinked in fusion. “I’m sorry. I don’t uand.”

  “Has education in the core systems degraded to the point that you do not uand the meaning of a very basic word?” Anastasia Weiss replied dryly.

  The man’s face tightened before he responded. “I uand what no means, Mrs. Weiss. What I don’t uand is why that is your respoo our simple request.”

  It was Mingyu’s turn to speak. “It’s good to know the core systems are keeping up with their education. As to why we deed your request. That’s simple. It is against our ws. I would have thought someone in your role would have known that before ing here.”

  At the rebuke, Mr. Pembrooke’s face tightened even more. “Now you listen here. I have e here in good faith.”

  Sergei cut the man off with a barking ugh. “Good faith he spouts. What a load. Are those gunships out there yood faith?”

  “Those are merely my escort,” the man bristled.

  Mingyu stifled a smile. This had all been done on purpose to rile the man up a him to state on record that these ships were simply for self-defense. Now if he tried to use the gunboats as leverage to get his way, it could be deemed as piracy.

  “I believe we have gotten off track,” Oleg said, pying his role as the voice of reason.

  “Thank you, Captain. Now if we could discuss my inal question.”

  “That answer hasn’t ged,” Oleg stated firmly. “What you are asking for is against Petrov Station w.”

  “Are you refusing our request?”

  Denis leaned forward. “Watch your tone, Mr. Pembrooke. You may have VIP rights, but those and will be revoked if necessary.” The man shut his mouth and Captain Kovalenko tinued. “And when did we stipute we were refusing your request? You simply o gh the pral proceedings.”

  “And what would those be?” the irate man mao speak between ched teeth.

  “Arbitration,” Ingrid Liu responded casually.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Pembrooke spluttered. “You ’t be serious.”

  “The accusation you are acg someone aboard this station of is a serious offense,” Oleg remihe Omni representative.

  “That could take months. I’m not even familiar with your station's ws.”

  “Clearly,” Xu added dismissively.

  Before the man could pin further, Denis cut him off. “I suggest you either hire some station sel or start brushing up on our ws. All in favor of dismissing this meeting.”

  All seven hands went up. Denis nodded and turned back to the Omni representative. “You have four months to prepare your case, Mr. Pembrooke.”

  The door opened behind the man aormed out.

  O shut, the room fell into silence for a bit.

  It was Anastasia who first broke the quiet. “Anyone familiar with this Alexander Kane?”

  There was a collective round of shrugs or shaken heads.

  “The name sounds English,” Mingyu remarked. “Don’t get many of those out here.”

  “Would you like to take oask of finding out who this is?” Denis asked.

  “I’ll look into it,” Mingyu nodded. Not that he wao do it, although, he was curious as to what sort of persohe i of Omni.