When he first came home and heard Yulia mumbling in her sleep, he went in to che her. It was obvious from how much she was tossing and turning that she was having a nightmare. Alexahought about waking her but decided against it. She needed her sleep, and she couldn’t have been asleep for very long since he had been here not too long ago and she had yet to return home. He had worried, but he knew Dog was with her and hadn’t alerted him to any danger so he hadn’t gone looking for her.

  He did review Dog’s footage while Yulia was asleep.

  He wasn’t sure why she went to Nantil she started asking her questions. Then the girl mentioned her father and her whole demeanor ged. He was afraid this might happen.

  Alexander purposefully did not mention Yulia’s biological parents because of who and what they were. He didn’t wao think he was trying to repce them up any bad memories she might have had. It's also why he only brought up the question of why she referred to him as Alex instead of Dad that oime. He hoped in time those memories would fade from her mind and she would feel fortable enough to refer to him as something other than Alex.

  It seemed those memories had been brought back to the forefront of the girl's mind by the attack. He knew from the man’s own records that he was somehow involved in her parents' deaths because of the record with Yulia’s Mother’s picture on it. Keeping the cimed bounty records seemed to be like some sick little trophy for Dalton.

  Not wanting to leave her alone in case she did wake up, Alexander walked over to the small holo terminal in the apartment instead of going back to his workshop. He would keep an eye on her and wake her if the nightmares persisted.

  This did give him time to get his thoughts in order. He o figure out how he wao approach Matthews about w with the Char family.

  On a fual note, Alexander knew w with pirates in any capacity was a bad idea. He khis because he had bad ideas all the time, most he never carried through with though. Unfortunately, some he did. Like his pn to knoni down. Going against Omni retty bad idea, but he had a general idea of the stakes involved. The same could be said with him taking Captain Krieger, his crew, and the Dawn back to STO space. Sure it worked out in the end, but he couldn’t have known that at the start.

  That fact was made abundantly clear to him by a few people, Captain Na specifically. The only reason Alexander igheir sage advice against taking the STO people back was because he o make es. One surefire way to do that was to return their lost crew and ship, earning him some mueeded goodwill. Even then, Alexander only sidered it a viable strategy because he had a general idea of how the STO would react.

  He wasirely corre his estimation, mostly because he wasn’t aware of the politivolved.

  That miscalcution had almost resulted in a battle against a captain who had bee out to Varlen as a punishment. The chip on Captain Wilrd’s shoulder had almost ruined Alexander’s entire mission. He was sure it would have if Vice Admiral Fletcher hadn’t stepped in to put the overly aggressive man in his pce.

  Knowing what he did now, he couldn’t afford to make rash decisions. He o speak with people who khe pyers involved aheir opinions on his pn before he pushed forward.

  Alexander did have an emergen in case nobody thought his idea to reach out to the Char family was a good o was another bad idea that involved taking the Fury and Resolve and vanishing beyond the reach of Harlow.

  Giving up everything he built on Eden’s End would be a difficult decision, but he would do it in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Yulia safe. Hopefully, he came up with another pn B so it wouldn’t e to such drastic measures.

  M broke, and Yulia stumbled out of her room, looking like a zombie.

  He let the pirl wake up, eat, a dressed in solitude. She seemed to . Then he walked her to css a in search of Archie to have a long overdue chat.

  Unlike Alexander, Captain Matthews was rather social. He found the man chatting it up with some of the former Hawks outside aablishment that had bee Eden’s End’s first restaurant ssh bar.

  “Alexander!” the man stated happily as he rose to greet him. “What brings you by the Meteorite?”

  Alexander chuckled internally at the name. Someone had expined why the bar was hat way when he first asked about it. It was an inside joke that meant you hit ro. An unfortunate if apt description of the p.

  Just because he lived on Eden’s End, didn’t meaually liked the thin atmosphere and heavy sulfur tent. He could imagine most would choose a much more habitable location if given the ce. Even with most of the facility under positive pressure these days, he still heard people pining about the smell.

  “Do you have some time today? I would like to discuss some things with you.”

  The man chuckled. “I’m currently retired, Alexander. Until you get your academy up and running, all I have is free time. e, my residence isn’t too far away, we talk there.”

  “You chose to live in Atrium A?” Alexander asked in surprise.

  “I did. While I uand the reasons for you keeping your employees separate, I wao get to know the people who lived here. I also wao be close to my family when they decided to make the trip.”

  “When, not if?” Alexander asked as they walked through the quickly crowding streets of Atrium A. “The st time you spoke of your son and daughter, you weren’t sure if they would agree to e out here. Did something ge?”

  The man sighed. “No, not really. Being able to badger them daily through the Q does help though. I’ve only told a few people this, but I’ve beeranged from my kids for twenty years. My life as a captain took prece over being a father. That was something I eventually came tret but I don’t regret my choices, only what they e. My time with the Hawks was important. That being said, we all make choices that we must live with. I’m hoping that I rekindle some of the familial attats now that I’m retired. I doubt I will ever vince my ex-wife to e out here. She remarried and she hates my guts. And she has every right to feel that way. It's her loss, but if I talk even one of my children into ing here, I will sider that a win.”

  They soon arrived at a third-floor apartment. The apartments ran around the eerior of the atrium before the dome rose over the area. The third floor wasn’t the highest, but it there. He would have thought the older man would have preferred a ground-floor apartment. It wasn’t like there were elevators ihe atriums, just long winding ramps.

  As they ehe apartment, Alexahought he would find it rather Spartan given Matthews’ very rigid persona during his time as Talon’s Captain. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

  The main room had a warm feel with earth-toned furniture, and the walls dispyed an array of kniacks and keepsakes, likely from his long career. There were even pictures. One showed a fresh-faced Captain Matthews. He couldn’t have been more thay-five in the photo. o him was a stunning woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and a toddler in her arms.

  The man must have seen him staring and chuckled. “Yes, that’s my ex-wife and our firstborn.” He poio another family photo. In it, he was out of uniform. “That was the st photo we took as a family.”

  Alexander saw three kids in the photo, but the man had only mentiowo. He was sure there was a story behind that, but he decided not to pry.

  “So, what did you wish to discuss? Is this about the academy?” Matthews asked as he sat on a nearby couch.

  Alexander gave himself a mental shake and focused oask at hand. “No. What you tell me of the Char pirates?”

  The man tilted his head. “That’s an odd question. I don’t know much. They are pirates, if that wasn’t obvious. As far as I’m aware, they are the least offensive of the pirate families. I ’t say I’ve had dealings with them, but word does get around. They are also said to be one of the more profit groups when provoked. Why do you want to know?”

  “You know who Dalton worked for, yes?”

  Archie frowned. “Yes, hard not to know who Harlow Anazi is.”

  “What do you know of him?” Alexander had done his own resear Harlow but the publically avaible stuff was less than useless. It mostly paihe man as some sort of folk hero, something Alexander ko be categorically untrue. Whoever ushing that narrative was either a spy, traitor, or fool. Maybe even all three.

  “Again, not much. He was famous for strikes into STO territory before he disappeared about a decade ago. Everyohought he was dead until he returned with his atta Petrov Station and the former Coalition worlds. Now, he’s taken even more worlds, which means he’s not just some idiot. He is a man of means, vi, and at least some talent with tactics.”

  “Do you think he would simply give up on something he wanted?” Alexander asked.

  “I assume you’re asking because he wants you?”

  Alexander nodded his avatar.

  “I ’t really say. I would like to think that being on the opposite end of STO space would give you a buffer against the man, but it’s obvious he is willing to hire killers to get what he wants. If he’s willing to do that, who’s to say what the man will do? That doesn’t mean you should turn to pirates for help though.”

  Alexander chuckled lightly. He should have realized Matthews would have put two and two together. “And why not? The enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes.”

  “A stupid saying,” the man grunted. “Why not just go to the STO for help?”

  “And owe them? No thanks. Besides, I think they are busy enough with their war against Harlow as it is. As for w with Char, I don’t want to ally with pirates, but a mutual defense pact might be doable. The Char family would o make a few ges before I would agree to that though. I don’t want BSE to be seen helping pirates, but I need allies, we need allies. It’s only a matter of time before Harlow sends someone else. I make this system the most unapproachable system in human space, that isn’t going to matter o if we close ourselves off to the rest of the gaxy. BSE os to sell thrusters aually ships. If I ’t safely bring those items to market iO, we are dead ier, and Unokane won’t be far behind.” Alexander put his arms down, realizing he had beeig wildly during his little speech.

  Archie rubbed his beard in thought, not seeming at all affected by Alexander’s outburst. It was a testament to the man’s trust in him. Anyone else would have been fling back as Alexander’s arms whipped around wildly.

  “You put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”

  “I’ve had this on my mind from the moment I realized who sent Dalton.”

  “I still say this is a bad decision, but if you feel there is no other option, I suppose there could be worse alternatives like allying yourself with the corporations or the Xin. If you ever sidered either of those options, I would pack up and go back to STO space. That being said, you o e up with alternatives to this pn, because I see two options you haven’t clearly sidered.”

  “Only two?” Alexander asked sarcastically.

  Archie just gave him a deadpan look before tinuing. “The first is, what if she simply turns you down? You would be pletely out of options at that point. The sed option that you haven’t sidered is that she simply attacks you, either before you’re ready to meet with Char or when you arrive in her home system. you say for certain you could win against a seasoned ander?”

  “…I- You’re right. I hadn’t sidered either of those options. This is why I o speak with you, to tell me what I missed.” Alexander had sidered a fight might break out, but not the part where Char came back to Eden’s End before he was ready. Also fighting a skilled ander hadn’t been a sideration of his until now. His pn was to simply match them in ship numbers and hope he could deliver his message. Now he wasn’t so certain that would be enough. He also hadn’t sidered she might simply tell him no.

  While he Archie’s st words, the man tinued. “I won’t even reend you hire other merary groups to pad your numbers. First of all, I wouldn’t trust them, and sedly, most merary panies don’t have access to warships. So they wouldn’t be much help. You should bring this up with Captain Blht. I’m sure the Hawks would jump at the ce to offer more assistance.”

  “I know, and I will. I wao get your opinion oter first before I brought in my captains and the Hawks. Even with their help, that’s only three additional ships.”

  “They might be able t some more frigates. It would depend oher the Hawks sister pany fiheir mission or not. I know it’s not much, but two more ships are better than none. If you do pn on approag Katalynn Char, you o do so from a position of strength. The Char do not respect outsiders or weaklings from what I recall. If you’re deadset on doing this, I’ll support you in any way I .”

  “I appreciate that, but I’m not sure four frigates, an assault ship, and two gunships will be enough to get their respect.” He suspected he would need ser ships to even the odds, sidering how many ships she fielded against them wheacked.

  “Unfortunately, getting you more ships is not something I do,” Matthews said with a sigh.

  “I may have a way to get five more ships. I’m going to need more crew though.”

  “You have five more ships lying around? I mean, I know you are w on two more pirate frigates, but I don’t recall seeing three more ships sitting around.”

  He reached into his poud produced the five fusion activation crystals that he had retrieved from Arkonis Anazi. Ever since Shall had broken into his ste room, Alexander had kept the crystals on himself or kept them locked away in the puter core if he was on a dangerous mission. “I found these among Arkonis Anazi’s belongings wheripped his ship.”

  Archie whistled. “That is quite the haul, assuming you know where the ships they belong to are… I assume that you do since you are showing them to me.”

  “There icture ihe hidden partment. The picture was taken with the backdrop of a destroyer under stru, and a starfield behind it. I was able tute the system to three possibilities. And they are not that far away.”

  His friend didn’t look vinced. “When you say not that far away, what do you mean?”

  “A few month's travel, at most,” Alexander admitted.

  “Ok, let's think about this logically. Let's assume those ships are there, and they are pleted and waiting for the crystals. Now, let's also assume that the station is armed because it’s a pirate station, and if it were uhat would be rather foolish sidering what it’s being used for.” Archie paused to make sure that Alexander was listening.

  “Ok, I’m still with you, tinue.”

  “Assuming you take the station, without damaging the ships, you o provide, not one, but five full crews. You’re looking at three or four hundred people at a minimum.”

  Alexander had been figuring on thirty to forty people. He had pletely fotten that the pirate ships would not have superputers to help automate most of the ships' processes. This is why he needed people who knew about this sort of stuff. He could pn, but he teo miss small details like this. That wasn’t an issue when he was designing because he could just fix the design and tinue.

  “What if we just take one ship at a time?” Alexander asked, trying to find a workaround to the personnel she issue.

  “Doable,” Archie added, “But yoing to extend the time it takes to retrieve these ships by half a year or more. And that still doesn’t resolve the issue of not having enough crew to man them. Inviting Katalynn Char to Unokao have a discussion where you use the ships without crew might work, but that isn’t really a show of strength. She would more than likely take that sort of invitation as a challenge. If you wao take you seriously, you o meet her on her home ground. That means going to their homeworld of Asgard.”

  Matthews was right. Alexander also couldn’t go gavanting across space to retrieve these ships either. He had to rely on his people to do it for him. “Ok, so crew is the biggest issue. I don’t suppose you have more people that may be willing to lend a hand?”

  Archie shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Although, Captain Krieger may soon be avaible. It seems like the STO is starting to tire of parading him around. If you vince him to join up, the Hawks probably field the rest of the crew. They arely trained, but if you’re willing to offer learning modules and the Hawks agree, I’m sure I get them familiar enough with starship operations t those ships back with at least skeleton crews.”

  Alexahahe man for his wisdom and headed out. He had a lot to think about.