Starchildren Options

[Kane]

Constellation really is the white knight, scientific explorer's group portrayed. They're the good guys and through and while some members have darker pasts or darker tendencies, they are overall the morally high faction in Starfield.

[Kane]

Five - Among the Stars
New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

Andromeda woke up several hours later with a splitting headache. Her hands fumbled on the nightstand by her bed for the light control and she breathed a sigh of relief when her hand closed around it and the bedroom lights dimmed. As she laid in the darkness, Andromeda realized that muddled voices speaking in hushed tones were coming from somewhere close by. She pulled herself off the bed with a supreme effort, and shuffled quietly towards the door. Placing an ear by the edge where it met the frame, she listened intently.

“Are you sure about this, Walter?”

“Believe me, Sarah, I wish I weren’t, but the info came straight from Neon Security’s own database. There’s no denying it.”

“What a dreadful thing for her to have gone through. It’s no wonder Dro is having such a hard time of it. And here we thought she was just stressed about the bounty and the incident on Vectera. She even mentioned her friend being killed earlier, but I didn’t think it went quite that far.”

“Yes, well, if it’s any consolation, the Cyber Runner who pulled this together for us also included a fair bit of dirt on the scumbags that pulled the trigger.”

“Did they now?” said Sarah. “How interesting. Do me a favor, Walter, and see to it that we put that dirt to good use.”

“I’ll contact my associate in the security corps and slide the details to him. Not everyone in Neon Security is so corrupt - he’ll make sure the ones responsible for Andre Mitarn’s death are locked up for a long time.”

Just beyond the bedroom door, Andromeda could hardly believe what she was hearing. For all of her adult life, she’d thought Walter Stroud was just another rich megacorp asshole with luxury offices in a fancy tower in Neon City. And now she found that the man standing in the hallway just outside of her room appeared to be anything but. This place, and the people who called it home, were all too good to be true. There was no way she could leave. Not after everything they’d already done for her, and continued to do.

Andromeda opened her bedroom door, walked across the way to a surprised Walter Stroud, and hugged an old man she had never formally met. “I overheard you talking to Sarah,” she said. “I’d thank you, but words can’t express how much this means to me.”

Still surprised by the sudden turn of events, Walter patted her awkwardly on the back. “It’s my pleasure, Ms. Renault.” She pulled away from him and Walter extended a hand. “We haven’t been introduced yet, so we might as well start now. Walter Stroud, at your service.”

“Andromeda Renault. But for the love of god, please just call me Dro. The next person who asks if they can call me ‘Annie’ is getting kicked in the shin.”

“Fair enough, Dro,” laughed Walter. “And I’m glad I can offer you some light in these trying times. Trust me when I say that Andre’s killers will regret what they’ve done.”

She smiled at the old man through teary eyes. “It’s more than I ever hoped for.” Andromeda hugged him again before turning to Sarah. “I’m in, Sarah. Constellation has done more for me in the past day than anyone ever has. I’ve never met a group of such kind, helpful people, and if you want my help in unraveling the mystery of those Artifacts, then you’ve got it.”

“Excellent! I knew you’d come around!” exclaimed Sarah. “Now let’s see… you’ve already been given your quarters, so I think the next step is to…” She trailed off and looked at Andromeda in alarm. “Dro, are you alright?”

“Urk. I’ve been better.” Andromeda leaned against the wall with an outstretched arm and clutched at her stomach. “No, I’m definitely not alright. Bathroom… gonna be sick… too much damn booze…” She bolted down the hall for the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
“Poor dear. Walter, have you seen Noel around? I think our newest member is going to need a Junk Flush.”

* * *

The toilet became Andromeda’s best friend for the better part of thirty minutes, until the queasiness subsided and she felt like getting to her feet again. If not for the heated floors, her round of stomach expulsions would have been even more miserable than it already was. To her sweet relief, Noel had been waiting outside the bathroom door with a chem injection that Andromeda recognized at once. She grabbed the toxin flush from Noel’s hand, ignored her protests of caution, and jammed the innoculator into her upper arm with a satisfied sigh.

“My hero,” said Andromeda.

Then she kissed Noel on the cheek and headed for the lounge in search of another meal. Skipping the coffee this time, Andromeda grabbed a bottle of cola and rooted through the refrigerator until she found enough ingredients to make a sandwich. She wasn’t entirely sure what the protein in an unmarked bag was, but it smelled fine and so she tucked it into a folded naan with some lettuce and a slice of cheese. All in all, it ended up being pretty tasty. The chems helped with both her nausea and headache, leaving a somewhat refreshed Andromeda that felt up to checking out the rest of The Lodge and getting settled in. Having seen the lounge and bedrooms, she headed down to the basement. Several workbenches and a research station awaited her but there didn’t seem to be a lot of resources around, which struck her as odd.

Tucked away down a hall and through a few other rooms Andromeda found something that really caught her eye. A Constellation spacesuit locked behind a glass case. It was slightly darker and looked more slim fitting than the suit Barrett had been wearing on Vectera. She made a mental note to ask Sarah about it before heading back upstairs, where she bumped into her anyways.

“Familiarizing yourself with the place?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive all told,” said Andromeda. “Much cozier than anything on Neon. Or at a mining outpost.”

“I’m pleased you think so. Listen, take the rest of the evening to settle in and get to know everyone, but don’t be up all night. Starting tomorrow, you and I have some things to do.”

Andromeda looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t be up all night? Isn’t that a motherly sort of thing to say? What, am I sixteen again?”

“Well, I don’t know, Ms. Renault. Perhaps you should stay up all night and be dreadfully tired when I put you in the cockpit of the Frontier again. What do you think? Fancy another go at flying when you can barely keep your eyelids apart?”

“...Point taken. Wait, are you really making me go back out there already?”

“That I am,” grinned Sarah. “I like to personally see what our recruits are capable of, and we’ve got a few new leads and some loose ends to tie up. We’ll talk again over breakfast, yeah?”

Sarah retreated to a small desk near the Artifact collection and left Andromeda to her own devices. Which meant an evening coffee and a snack in the greenhouse adjacent to the main room of The Lodge, where she finally spoke at length to the one person in Constellation she’d inadvertently evaded thus far: Matteo Khatri. He was just as kind a person as everyone else she’d come to know over the last day, if on a bit of a different wavelength. A religious type felt out of place with explorers, but Matteo seemed enthralled by the Artifacts like everyone else. But getting mired down in a debate on science and faith didn’t appeal to Andromeda, and, thankfully, Noel managed to rescue her in the nick of time.

“Give Dro a chance to relax, all right, Matteo? You and I can go back and forth on that later - Sarah asked me to get her outfitted before bed.” She led Andromeda back down to the basement and opened a locker tucked away near the workbenches. “Grab one of the spacesuits and I’ll show you how to alter it at the spacesuit bench. We’ll tailor it to fit you perfectly.”

“Sounds boring,” said Andromeda, eyeing up the young woman. “Want to go for a walk under the stars instead? It’s probably nice and quiet outside now. We could grab a couple drinks from the bar on the way out, too.”

“Why go through all that when we can just used the telescope?” said Noel. “It’s far better for looking at the stars than the naked eye.”

Andromeda faltered a little bit. Was she loosing her touch? She’d never had a problem flirting in the past, but Noel skipped right by the thick innuendo she laid down just now. Andromeda felt quite certain that Noel hadn’t missed her lingering eyes, the compliments, and the unexpected kiss on the cheek.

“Not exactly what I meant, Noel.”

“I know what you meant,” she sighed. “Look, you seem like a really nice person, Dro...”

Here comes the dagger...

“...But I’m asexual.

Okay. Not what I expected.

“Now, if you wanted to connect on an intellectual level, you’d have my undivided attention. I’m just not interested in the physical aspect of relationships. Never have been.”

“Fair enough. Show me about the suit instead?”

Noel spent the next hour going over the workbench with Andromeda and showed her all the different options and modifications that were possible, should she have the right resources. By the time the lesson was completed, Andromeda had a Constellation emblazoned spacesuit that fit like a glove. Everything about it felt more comfortable than her old deep mining suit, and it even let her retain some of her natural agility.

“Thanks, Noel. And sorry if I came on strong earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you head upstairs and get some sleep? I overheard Sarah saying something about Mars. It sounds like you might have your work cut out for you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, alright.”

Andromeda headed up the second level and returned to her bedroom. Her shopping bag still unopened sat on the floor by the dresser, so she decided to put her clothes away and make the room hers officially. After finding a spot for everything, she put on some clean sleeping clothes and crashed into her new favorite place in the galaxy: her soft bed.

* * *
Alpha Centauri System

The following morning zipped by in a blur. Protein bars for a hasty breakfast and a coffee delivered from Terrabrew was all the time Sarah spared for them at The Lodge. By eight o’clock, they were bound for the MAST building to meet one of her contacts, who turned out to be a recruiting officer for the UC Vanguard. John Tuala seemed like a nice man, but the sales pitch he laid on Andromeda fell flat; she could barely fly and he expected her to join a civilian fleet? She let him down gently and stood aside to let Sarah get what they came for. Details in hand, they headed for the NAT and then the spaceport. And once again, Andromeda found herself seated at the controls of the old ship, only this time with a new co-pilot.

As it turned out, Sarah was a good teacher, and she didn’t like to rely on the robot for everything. They spent nearly three hours on the launchpad while Sarah intricately went over every system and subsystem on the ship until Andromeda could recite their uses and means of operation back to her without help. Then she sat back in her chair to watch how the rookie would fair. Andromeda took a deep breath and began flicking switches on and inputting commands to calibrate the thrusters and set their orbital destination. She checked the navigation vectors, and then the fuel levels. And then she checked them again. On the left screen, power distribution read as nominal, and all systems were green. There was nothing else for it.

“Ooookay. Here goes nothing. I can do this. I can do this. I can do... this!”

Andromeda’s finger hovered over the ‘Initiate’ button for the briefest of seconds before she pressed it. The Frontier’s engines and thrusters roared to life, and the ship slowly lifted off from the ground. Emboldened by her unassisted success, Andromeda yelped with delight, grabbed the control console, and shunted full power to the engines. They ascended into the upper atmosphere at a blistering pace while the g-forces held them firmly against the backs of their chairs. Up, up, and up they flew until the air began to thin and the blue skies of Jemison faded to the deepest black of space. A sea of stars twinkled all around them, interspersed with ship traffic, orbital satellites, and marker buoys.

“That was amazing!” exclaimed Andromeda. She turned to look at her co-pilot with the biggest grin plastered on her face. “I totally get it now, Sarah, and I’m glad you made me do that. I felt so much more comfortable with my life in my own hands, rather than trusting it to the computer.”

Sarah clapped her on the back. “We’ll make an explorer out of you yet! Now punch up the Sol System on the navigational screen - we’re bound for the red planet.”

“What’re we after?”

“Another Artifact, I hope,” said Sarah. “In the hands of a Vanguard patrol, which, hopefully, makes this a routine trip.”

“Red planet… that’s Mars, right?” asked Andromeda. She scanned the starmap to find the planet, and then linked the coordinates to the grav drive computer. “Fourth rock from the star?”

“Yes, it is.” Sarah looked over at her sharply. “Don’t tell me the importance of Sol is lost on you, Dro.”

Andromeda shrugged nonchalantly. “The education system in Neon isn’t very robust, Sarah. I only know as much as I do because I’ve always been curious. And I do know of the Earth and our origins, but not much beyond that.”

“Ridiculous. All the advancements our society has achieved and some parts of the Settled Systems still take so much of it for granted. I’m sorry the system has failed you, Andromeda. But maybe together, we can work towards a brighter future for all of humanity.”

“Failed me?” growled Andromeda. Sarah may have meant well, but the inference in that statement rankled Andromeda. “What [censored] is that supposed to mean, Sarah? Just because the schools in Neon are [censored] doesn’t mean there weren’t other ways to challenge ourselves. You think I ended up a Cyber Runner because crime is all my home had to offer? Think I’m some sort of half-educated nitwit who doesn’t know the difference between my ass and a [censored] hole in the ground? Well, I may not have a fancy degree in astrophysics or biology from a prominent university in New Atlantis, but I sure as [censored] taught myself everything I needed to know and then some!” She jabbed angrily at the buttons on her grav drive screen until it began to spool up for the jump to Sol.

“Dro, that… that’s not…” sputtered Sarah. “I’m sorry. That was a callous thing to say and I didn’t mean to imply you’re uneducated.”

“Whatever. Just get strapped in. Jump commences in thirteen seconds.”

[Acadian]

So Dro is recovered from her booze bend and took the Constellation job!

And sure enough, the next day, she and Sarah are off for Mars and an adventure. Sounds like getting comfortable flying a spaceship is a good idea. Good thing Sarah’s a good teacher and Dro seems to enjoy it. A couple bumps as the two get to know each other better but that’s okay I figure.

[Grits]

The Constellation folks seem like decent people with good intentions. It’s good to see Dro settling in to this very different environment.

Flying lessons! Whoop!

[Kane]

She'd have liked some more time to relax, but there is no shortage of things to do at The Lodge! And the bumps will mellow over time. Andromeda is still a bit on edge from her experiences.


More lessons to come, too.

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Six – On the Hunt
Cydonia, Mars, Sol System

The Frontier landed gracefully at the Port of Cydonia, the only major settlement on the surface of Mars. Inside the cockpit of the ship, Andromeda moodily mashed at the buttons responsible for powering down the various systems and securing the computer cores. The trip from Jemison had been short and mostly silent, save for the single time Sarah tried to compliment her new recruit’s flawless execution of the grav drive and received a withering glare in return. But, despite their recent clash, Constellation’s leader knew they were on an important mission and she wasn’t about to get underway without a cohesive team.

“Look, Andromeda -”

“Save it. Let’s just do what we came here to do and then get the hell out of this place.”

“We aren’t doing a damn thing until we work this out. I will not continue this mission unless I know I can count on you, and if you have a problem with that, then you can leave the ship and stay here on Mars. Constellation will move on without your help.”

Andromeda chewed at the inside of her mouth while staring out the cockpit window at the dusty red landscape beyond. Staying here sounded a bit like hell, so she swallowed her pride and swiveled her chair to face Sarah.

“Thank you,” continued Sarah. “And I meant it early when I said I was sorry. I truly did not mean to imply that you’re uneducated. It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that you’re a very intelligent woman. I just get caught up in idealism sometimes, and believe me when I say you aren’t the first member of our little team to take one of my ramblings the wrong way. You’ll have to ask Andreja about that sometime.”

“Andreja?”

“She’s our other newest recruit. Out following a lead of her own at the moment.”

“Right.”

“Yes, well, as I said; I am sorry I offended you. It was not my intention. Now how about we get cracking on what we came here for. Are you ready to take the lead?”

“Fine,” sighed Andromeda. “But you owe me a drink the next time we find a bar.”

“What a coincidence! A bar is the first place we’ll be checking here at Cydonia. Before we do that, however, you and I are going to have another round of practice.” Andromeda started protesting immediately, having spent most of the morning doing just that, but Sarah cut her off. “Not with the ship, you are picking up on that remarkably. No, this time I need to see how well you can shoot that overcompensating revolver you purchased.”

They spent the next few minutes helping each other into their spacesuits, and then headed out into the thin atmosphere of Mars. There was very little activity on the huge landing pad, so Sarah led them off to the far side and asked Andromeda to shoot at a nearby rock. The weight of the Razorback felt amazing in her hands – much more imposing than the little Eon tucked away in the ship. Andromeda raised it up, peered down the sights, and squeezed the trigger.

Sarah had been anticipating what happened next, and she plucked the revolver out of the air after the recoil forced it to leap free of Andromeda’s inexperienced grasp. Neither one of them saw where the round impacted, but that was irrelevant anyway.

“See what I mean about overcompensating?”

“Hey, I never pretended to know what I was doing,” shrugged Andromeda.

“Could have fooled me. Here, take the gun again and I’ll show you how to properly hold it.”

These lessons were much shorter, and that suited Andromeda just fine. After learning how to grip the revolver correctly and brace herself for the recoil, she emptied the chambers with varying degrees of accuracy.

“You’ll need to keep practicing, but that’ll do for now. Well done, Dro. Let’s head inside now and see if we can’t find our captain belly up at a bar.”

Cydonia offered more than The Den, that first dismal startstation Andromeda neary found herself stranded on, but not by much. The first thing greeting them after passing through the robust airlock was a sign hanging from the ceiling that read ‘Hours Without Incident: 2’. That did little to convince Andromeda that Cydonia was a place she ought to be at. Thankfully, the bar in question Sarah mentioned sat not much further in. The Broken Spear – charming name, thought Andromeda – was a dump compared to anything in Neon, and the music choice left much to be desired.

Sarah didn’t seem in the mood to mingle, and marched straight up to the bartender to buy her co-pilot the promised drink before granting Andromeda the floor.

“Gee, thanks,” said Andromeda sipping from a beer can. She turned to the bartender, Jack, and asked him about Moara.

“Haven’t seen him in weeks” said Jack. “If you manage to track him down, tell him he still owes me for his last tab.”

“You seriously have no idea where he’d have gone?” Andromeda wasn’t buying it. Neither was her newfound empathic abilities that were practically screaming that this man knew more than he let on. A sense of worry pervaded his mind. She decided to try a different tact that never failed her in the past. “Look, Jack,” she simpered. Andromeda leaned in over the bar top and twirled a loose lock of hair and widened her eyes in concern. “He’s out there somewhere, all alone. What if he’s in trouble? Space is dangerous and full of miscreants. Do you really want to let a regular – a friend – get himself killed when you could have done something about it?”

Jack set the mug that he was cleaning down and let out a long sigh. “Fine, you got me. He mentioned something about the Lady of Love. That’s all I got.”

“Venus?” asked Sarah. “That’s one planet in a massive system. You must know something more!”

“I got what I got,” grumbled Jack.

“Fine. On our way, Dro.”

Andromeda choked down the rest of her lager and then followed Sarah out of the bar and back to the Frontier. Once in the pilot’s chair, Andromeda pulled up the star charts again and pinpointed their next destination. According to the navigational information, Venus and Mars were approximately one Astronomical Unit apart. That was a long flight without the grav drive.

“So, I guess we kick back for a while?”

“Indeed,” confirmed Sarah. “Our ship is fast, but not exceedingly so. I’ll get our flight path programmed – why don’t you head to the galley and heat up something for us to eat. I don’t expect us to reach Venus until early morning.”

* * *
Sol System

Sarah’s estimation proved correct, and she roused Andromeda at just after two-thirty ante merīdiem. Anticipating a grouchy co-pilot, she also had a thermos full of freshly-brewed coffee waiting in the cockpit. Andromeda took a cautious sip of the piping hot drink and the nodded vaguely at the view beyond.

“What’d you find?”

“There’s a UC Satellite floating out there and I was able to get the ship in close enough to ping it while you slept. Picked up a comms log from Moara: he was heading for the old Nova Galactic staryard in orbit around Luna.”

“My turn at the helm, I take it?”

“Yep. I’m exhausted,” said Sarah. She sighed loudly and rubbed at her eyes to prove her point. “I already punched in the coordinates, just wake me up when we get there.”

“Aye-aye, cap’n.”

Andromeda offered a mock salute and giggled when Sarah shook her head while slouching away. There was little to do in transit, so she pulled out her slate and filtered through the few files stored in the memory cache. Her slate back on Neon teemed with books, music, and movies; but all of that was left behind, and the security guards likely kept it as evidence. Or threw it in the garbage. It would take a long time to recover all of that content.

Then one of the computer consoles in front of her bleeped and she started to wonder if there was anything fun in the Frontier’s memory banks. Her fingers tapped at the data links on her slate and connected it to the main core of the ship only to find disappointment: a collection of jazz music and two dozen books on various scientific theories.

“Well, that’s boring as [censored]. I wonder…”

Undeterred, she pulled up the starmap again and honed in on their location. Zooming out a little further, Andromeda noticed several faint, blinking lights orbiting the celestial bodies they were closest to. She flipped on the voice control and began making inquiries.

“Computer, identify those readings.”

The planet and moon names disappeared from the screen and were replaced with strings of alpha-numeric identification numbers. Andromeda selected one of them and it turned out to be another comms satellite, which is exactly what she hoped for.

“Perfect. Let’s see how tight UC firewalls are.”

As it turned out; they weren’t very tight when it came to the countless devices littering the Settled Systems. Andromeda sliced through the security protocols in under two minutes, and began transferring files and information to the ship’s core until a much broader variety of entertainment lay at her fingertips. Apparently, the satellites sucked up everything in sight that wasn’t encrypted, and stored it for access by UC patrols.

The next few hours were much more enjoyable than she initially anticipated. Sarah, however, did not appreciate the latest synthmetal songs out of New Homestead blaring from the cockpit.

* * *
Nova Galactic Staryard, Luna, Sol System

“Easy does it… slowly… slowly… aaaaaand there! Perfectly done! Dro, you have picked up on this like a master!”

Andromeda blushed profusely while waiting for her heart rate to settle. Docking with another object in space was way more intimidating than landing at a spaceport, but she’d done it anyway. With Sarah close at hand, that is. But the elation quickly faded when she Sarah pull out her own customized Solstice and give it a once over.

“Do you really think we’ll need our guns?” gulped Andromeda. Hazy memories of the last terrifying firefight she’d been in flitted through her mind. She started feeling sick again after thinking about the pirate she had killed that day. “I… I don’t know how useful I’ll be if we get in a fight.”

“That’s why I’m taking the lead this time.” Sarah holstered the laser pistol and grabbed Andromeda’s hands in her own. “I won’t lie and say this will be a walk in the park. The staryard has been abandoned for decades and it sounds like Moara was being dogged by Spacers. They’re even worse than the Crimson Fleet – no hierarchy or structure – just anarchy. We need to stick together and watch each others backs. I’m counting on you to help keep us safe, Andromeda.”

Nothing about this felt okay to Andromeda, but she supposed she should have seen it coming. They donned their spacesuits again and loaded up on med packs, ammo, and other chems that Sarah indicated would help them in the heat of a battle. The ladder up through the docking ring loomed larger than life. Andromeda climbed it shakily until they reached an airlock. The door to the Frontier shut behind them with a hiss, and another swung open before them, greeting the duo with a morbid first sight: a dead body slumped against the wall. Barely dried blood adorned the metal paneling behind the corpse and pooled up on the ground beneath it.

“Oh, [censored]. [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored],” groaned Andromeda. “Sarah, that’s disgusting! I might be sick again. I told you am not cut out for this!”

“Just breathe, dear. Deep breaths.” Sarah knelt to examine the unfortunate soul who greeted them silently. The ragtag common spacesuit he wore apparently told Sarah a lot more about this person than it did to Andromeda. “Spacers it is. Damn. Be ready for anything, and keep that hand cannon at the ready, Dro.”

They pressed on through the entryway, nerves on high alert. Everything in sight was ransacked and it looked like not a single stone remained unturned. Desks and file cabinets were ripped apart, their contents strewn about the floor. Personnel lockers had been pried open and nothing remained inside them but dirty clothes and the occasional keepsake. Sarah opened a door leading further in and the only thing greeting them beyond were flickering lights. They picked their way through a couple more deserted areas until an atrium opened up in front of them.

At the far end, laser bolts and bullets were being traded back and forth between unknown combatants.

“At least they aren’t shooting at me this time,” said Andromeda.

“For now. Only a matter of time until one side comes out on top.”

“Thanks for that, Sarah. Way to kill the vibe.”

“Hush. Move over behind that low wall and I’ll wait behind that pile of rubble directly across from you. Stay alert, and if anyone from the winning side heads our way, do not hesitate to fire at them.”

Andromeda glanced over at the wall she indicated. There was another dead spacer lying at the base of it. “Gross, I don’t want to stand next to that! Can’t you go over there?”

“It’s not up for debate. Do as I say, or go back to the ship. With any luck I’ll make it back alive.”

“Ugh, you are the queen of guilt tripping Sarah Morgan,” groaned Andromeda. “Fine, but if get the plague or something from that bastard, you’re paying my medical bills.”

She dropped to a crouch and scooted across the atrium as quiet as a mouse. The spacesuit wasn’t exactly noiseless, but her slight frame led to an air of stealthiness all the same – so much so that even Sarah seemed surprised by how deft Andromeda was. The boss gave her a thumbs up and whispered praise over their helmet comms while they readied their weapons. Then a small glint from underneath the dead spacer caught Andromeda’s eye, and she couldn’t resist the urge to see what cast it.

Placing a knee against the dead body’s shoulder, she shoved it aside with a grimace that fast became a delighted smile stretching from ear to ear. Holstering her Razorback, Andromeda reached down and picked up something new, and instantly realized she’d been approaching these situations in the wrong manner. She didn’t possess the nerve or ability for close quarters combat, and her solution finally came in the form of a long-barreled rifle complete with a short scope and a suppressor. The paint had some wear and tear but nothing that couldn’t be cleaned up at The Lodge’s weapons workbench, and the ammo readout read a nearly full cartridge at forty-three out of fifty rounds. The safety was already off and Andromeda brought her new ordinance to bear at the same time a spacer dove into the atrium seeking cover from the firefight beyond.

[Acadian]

As Andromeda grumpily continues the mission, Sarah is right to call her on it for being oversensitive and not accepting the apology. I see why Sarah’s in charge.

‘Hours Without Incident: 2’.
- - Welcome to Mars!

Dro’s empathic abilities are just beginning to show their potential value as she accurately reads Jack the bartender and coaxes more info from him. Off to Venus it is.

Well the good news is that Dro’s hacker skills remain sharp and her flying skills are progressing wonderfully. Not so much with the hand cannon it seems. Good score finding that rifle, and it seems like she’s gonna need it very soon.

[Grits]

Hours Without Incident?

An excellent use of hacker skills. Fill up those libraries!

Nice, a rifle. Funny how “gross” becomes “ooo, shiny” when there’s loot!

[Kane]

Grits & Acadian: The hours bit gets me too, lol. Cydonia is a dangerous place! Who doesn't love enjoying a drink at the bar while controlled explosions happen two hundred feet below you!
Sarah is good at what she does and we'll see her flex that leadership even more in the next part.

She'll never not have a rifle again!

This also won't be the first time her hacking skills come in handy...

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Seven - A Daring Rescue
Nova Galactic Staryard, Sol System

The spacer stumbled to his knees and when he stood up to re-orient himself, Andromeda’s eyes locked with his. A nicked rescue axe dripping with fresh blood was gripped tightly in his right hand, and he looked at the newcomer with a malice she’d never seen before. Nor could she understand how anyone whom she’d never met could feel such hatred for a complete stranger. It did, however, make what came next that much easier for Andromeda.

She raised her new rifle, peered through the scope, and squeezed the trigger. A 7.77mm self-propelled caseless round ignited to life and cut through the thin atmosphere of the station and drove a hole right through the spacer’s chest before he could stagger back to his feet. The recoil-less rifle barely moved in Andromeda’s grip, the sight still trained where her enemy had just knelt. She lowered the rifle and looked at the man’s life she had just snuffed out, but this time she felt a strange sense of pity, rather than the regret and sadness that came with the first person Andromeda killed on Vectera. She was beginning to understand how people like Sarah, or even Barrett, managed to live with themselves after taking another human’s life. The wild rage in that spacers eyes bore none of the empathy Andromeda felt in this moment, and he would have driven that axe through her skull with no remorse.

“Dro, snap out of it!” Sarah’s voice crackled into her helmet and dragged Andromeda’s mind back into readiness. “They are closing in on our position!”

This time it was an Ecliptic mercenary who rounded the corner and fell to three laser bolts from Sarah. And then two more attackers followed in just behind the first, but they fell quickly to the combined guns of the Constellation duo. Then a heavy silence fell over the atrium that filled Andromeda with an angst that was somehow worse than the constant sounds of gunfire they’d heard up to this point.

“I’m going to take a look down that corridor,” said Sarah, “Cover me.” Sarah crept forward slowly until she reached the junction and peered up and down both directions. She turned and waved Andromeda to her side, gesturing down the hall to their left. “There are more of them in either direction, but that map of the station layout on the wall next you indicates a dead end that way. We’ll go there first and make sure none of these bastards get a jump on us from behind.”

Andromeda nodded and followed her down the hall. They stayed behind cover as often as possible and were able to get a jump on just about every miscreant that crossed their paths. The rifle and her newfound rationalization against those trying to take their lives filled Andromeda with a confidence she’d never expected to find after how poorly things went at the Argos outpost. Slowly and methodically, she and Sarah swept through the Nova Galactic Staryard until not a single spacer or Ecliptic thug remained.

“Grab that slate and see what is says,” said Sarah.

They stood in the center of an unfinished ship module deep within the bowels of the station, searching in vain for signs of Vanguard Captain Moara. The indicated slate Andromeda picked up was the only thing of note they’d found thus far, except for a different slate she had found earlier on a dead spacer that told of a secret base somewhere in the Denebola system.

This one had an audio recording saved on it that crackled to life after a few taps on the screen: “This is Vanguard Moara. Sorry if I had to reclaim some UC property, but this whole staryard is overrun. I've patched up my ship, and I'm heading to Neptune. Going to put in another request to get the Fleet out here to deal with these Spacers. But until then, if any of you thugs are listening, I'm the damn ghost stealing your stuff in the night. Clear out while you have the chance.”

“He baited them to an attack?” surmised Sarah with a tone of incredulity. “Bold move. I guess he felt more comfortable fighting them on his own terms.”

“So our next stop is Neptune?”

“Indeed it is. We’re going to break protocol this time though, and use the grav drive in-system. We don’t know how much longer Moara can survive out there on his own, and it will take days to reach Neptune on sub-light engines.”

“Why can’t we do that normally?” frowned Andromeda. “It’s way more efficient than hurtling through space for endless hours and burning through all of our fuel.”

“The grav drives have a very small, nearly undetectable effect on local gravity fields, including the orbit of celestial objects. It’s theorized that too many disturbances near stellar bodies will cause catastrophic consequences such as a planet shaking free from its path around a star, or a moon from around a planet.”

“Then how can we leap to places like Jemison, or Volii Alpha without triggering those same sort of events over time? Wouldn’t that affect anyplace we jump to?”

“No, only when it’s in-system. The grav drive effects spread out from where we fold space, and the intensity weakens over distance like the ripples in a lake after you toss a stone in the water. But if you fold space twice in a localized vicinity…”

“The waves can clash before they dissipate,” finished Andromeda.

“Precisely. We’ll make and astrophysicist out of you yet, Dro. Come now – let’s get back to the ship.”

* * *
Neptune, Sol System

If Andromeda thought simply flying a ship had been unnerving at first, then nothing could have prepared her for engaging with another ship in a three-dimensional dogfight in orbit around the blue orb that was the gas giant Neptune. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened when the Frontier re-entered normal space and was immediately fired upon by Moara’s ship.

His wager went ill, and the antagonized spacers boarded his Vanguard vessel and seized control of most ship systems, including navigation and weapons. But the Captain himself retained control of comms, and immediately signaled them for help. Recognizing the dire straits Moara got himself into, Sarah took over targeting control and left the flying to Andromeda.

“Keep us in range and do not lose sight of that ship. I’ll try to disable the engines so that we can board it.”

Andromeda increased the Frontier’s speed and fired up every maneuvering thruster the ship had to help keep their target within weapons lock. “Just for the record, I think this is an even worse idea than boarding that station!” Alarms started blaring on her center console indicating a missile lock on the ship. “Uh, Sarah – what do we do about that?!”

“Don’t let it hit us!”

“Oh, really! I hadn’t thought of that!” Andromeda tried calling up some of the pre-programmed evasion plans from the nav screen but her gut didn’t trust them. Instead, she jammed a finger down on the manual control icon and grasped the steering column that rose from the floor.

“Dro, that may not be the best idea!” yelled Sarah, glancing over at her with apprehension. “You’re not exactly a flying ace!”

“Too [censored] bad! If I have to rely on a touch screen for this then our corpses will be floating in the abyss!” The missile lock alert blared louder as the warhead came within five-hundred meters of the ship. Andromeda’s face paled at the sight of it barreling towards them. She flicked the screen upwards and cast the trajectory onto the cockpit window’s HUD and counted down from three under her breath.

“ANDROMEDA, IT’S GOING TO HIT US!”

At ‘one’, Andromeda hit the engine boost trigger and veered sharply to port. The sudden increase in velocity and the errant trajectory change confused the missile’s targeting vectors causing it to sail harmlessly past the Frontier and off into the empty black of space.

“You were saying?”

“Show off. But we’re losing my lock on Moara’s ship. Get it back in our sights so that I can take another crack at it.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Andromeda. “Take the helm.”

“What? Why?”

“We’ve been doing everything your way on this mission. It’s time to try it my way before we got blown to bits by a ship that outguns us considerably. Take the helm, please, but keep us out of weapons range.”

Sarah frowned but she heard the confidence in Andromeda’s tone and decided to let the rookie do her thing. Finding out what capabilities Constellation’s new recruit possessed was the secondary objective on their little excursion anyway, so she transferred flight control to her screens and resumed chasing the captured ship. “Okay, Ms. Renault. Show me what you can do.”

“Thank you, Ms. Morgan.” Andromeda winked at her and whipped out her personal slate again, linking it back into the Frontier’s computer core.

“Dro, what are you -”

“Shh.” The minutes rushed headlong into the past while she clicked away at the screen of the slate. Putting all of her Cyber Runner skills to task, Andromeda was able to breach the subsystems on Moara’s ship, but the UC’s ship core firewall protections were orders of magnitude above their comms satellites and she ran into a dead-end against the military-grade encryption surrounding flight control. “Damn it, I need… hold on a sec.” She thumbed their own comm system switch and pinged the channel Moara had used to call for help. “Captain, do you still read me?”

“Loud and clear. Any luck getting these bastards to slow down?”

“Not yet. I need your transponder code.”

Silence interspersed with a light static followed her request. Then Moara’s gravelly voice broke over the comms channel again: “Are you [censored] serious, lady? I’m supposed to just give you complete control over my ship and pray for the best?”

“It’s either that or those spacers bring it to bear on this ancient bucket and then put a bullet in your head.”

Maora sighed heavily. “Point taken. Transmitting it now. I really hope I don’t regret this.”

“You won’t. I promise.” Andromeda closed the audio channel and called up the line’s metadata. Embedded in it were the codes she sought, and less than one minute later she had overrode the encryption on Moara’s ship and seized complete control of all its systems. “And goodbye engines!”

The engines on the ship they pursued flickered out and it drifted harmlessly through space, completely defenseless.

Sarah stared out the cockpit window at the derelict ship, her mouth agape. “Son of a… we should have recruited a Cyber Runner a long time ago. Fantastic work, Dro! You’ll have to teach me that trick sometime!”

“Don’t get too excited,” said Andromeda. “It only works if you have someone like Moara who was willing to give over his transponder codes.”

“Or if it’s piece of junk ship that doesn’t have the luxury of using MAST security protocols.”

“Um, maybe. We’ll have to test that theory out some other time.”

“Quite right. Shall we board the ship and finish off those pricks?”

“Lets. I’m ready for this ordeal to be over. That bed you gave me at The Lodge is calling my name already.”

Two minutes later, the Frontier’s airlock bridge extended and secured itself to Moara’s ship. The door unsealed itself and Sarah led Andromeda in with their gun’s ablaze only to find a skeleton force occupying the various habs and control rooms. The unorganized group of ragtag castaways had no formal training and they fell quickly to Sarah’s tactical sweep of the ship. The final miscreant dropped to the floor outside of the cockpit and the man they’d pursued throughout the Sol System finally greeted them gratefully.

“Thank my lucky stars someone decent happened along,” said Moara. “Is there any way that I can repay the two of you? Credits, ship parts, a round at the Spear?”

“None of that is necessary, we were happy to do it,” smiled Sarah. “Us regular folk need to stick together out hear if we hope to stand a chance against these maniacs. However, there is the matter of that item you have hanging over your flight console.”

Andromeda glanced over and noticed the Artifact for the first time. It looked identical to the one she picked up against her better judgment on Vectera.

“The hunk of metal? You know what it is?”

“We do. We also know you likely couldn’t sell it.”

“Everyone I took it to thought it was a scam. Couldn’t get a read on it.”

“Mm, it doesn’t play nice with scanners.”

“Hey, it’s yours if you want it. Least I can do.”

“Excellent! Dro, would you mind -”

“Abso-[censored]-lutely not, Sarah. Not after what happened last time.”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the Artifact without hesitation. A few seconds lapsed and she seemed no worse for the wear, so they thanked Moara again and headed back to the Frontier. Andromeda took the helm, un-docked the two ships, and laid in their course back to Jemison.

[Acadian]

Dro’s new rifle kills the axe-wielding spacer. Not surprising that Dro – between her newness to this stuff and her empathic ability – is distracted until Sarah calls her back into action.

Interesting discussion about the physics, pros and cons of grav drive.

Out of the frying pan and into a Neptune dog fight! Ouch – caught between trying to keep the enemy targeted while not getting killed.

Clever girl! Using her cyber skills and speechcraft to get the codes and disable the other ship!

Fortunately the baddies on board were not well trained or organized and our duo was able to rescue the ship’s rightful captain.

Another of those artifact rocks? Ahah – after seeing that Sarah was able to grab it okay, it seems Dro’s sensitivity to them is related to her empathics.

[Kane]

Eight - New Friends

New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

The bed in her room at The Lodge fast became Andromeda’s favorite place in all of the known universe. Known to her, at any rate. It was wonderfully comfortable and while this time it didn’t consume her for the lengthy thirteen and a half hours it did the first time, she slept in it for every bit of ten hours after returning with Sarah and their new paperweight. Unfortunately, a lot of those hours were spent tossing and turning.

Terrible dreams and sickening imagery from her recent jaunt through the Sol System plagued her restless mind: the dead men and women cut down by Andromeda and Sarah. She knew that every last one of them would have killed her without hesitation, yet their lifeless eyes judged her relentlessly until she’d had enough, and fished some sleeping pills out of the beside table.

When morning eventually came, Andromeda shambled groggily down to the lounge and joined Noel for breakfast. And, of course, the topic of conversation revolved once again around the Artifacts. Specifically, the newest one. That suited Andromeda just fine as she had a burning question for her colleague.

“How come Sarah didn’t have to deal with all the fancy lights and bullshit I did?”

“Good question,” said Noel. “I don’t know for certain, but it may be because so many others have touched it already.”

Andromeda suddenly imagined some poor soul wondering around Cydonia trying to figure out if someone spiked their drink with Aurora. It certainly wasn’t an experience one could ever forget.

“So, you think because Sarah wasn’t the first person to touch it, she missed out on the light show? Can it really be that easy? I should have made Heller pick the damn thing up.”

“And miss out on all of this?” asked Noel. “You’d rather still out there digging up ore on some random moon for crappy pay?”

“Not a chance in hell,” said Andromeda quickly. “Speaking of pay…”

“Sarah’s department. Besides, is the money all you care about? You don’t really need it while you have a place here with us.”

“A girl’s still got needs, Noel. I only managed to shop at one clothing boutique before getting shitfaced the last time I went out on the town. Can’t very well wear the same outfits every day, can I? I’ve also been thinking about saving up for my own ship. The Frontier feels solid, but in my brief adventures with you lot I’ve noticed there are way more advanced ships out there. We got lucky with Moara’s.”

“Fair enough. Sarah’s probably in her office downstairs. Go see what she has for you.”

“Eh, it can wait. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… you people are rubbing off on me. Anything new in the scans?”

Noel’s appreciative glow could’ve lit a dark cave on Pluto and she began poring over the figures on her slate with Andromeda, who tried her best to follow along while vaguely remembering her university science classes. They looked through the data for nearly an hour until Noel excused herself to assist Matteo with another matter.

Andromeda headed downstairs and did indeed find Sarah crammed behind an antique wooden desk just off to the side of the Artifact collection. She looked to be reviewing The Lodge’s operational documents with increasing levels of annoyance.

“Trouble?” asked Andromeda. She sat down across from Constellation’s leader and glanced at the array of paper and slates piled up on the surface between them.

“No, nothing like that,” sighed Sarah. “Just typical bureaucracy. You’d think with Constellation’s legacy and standing in this city that MAST wouldn’t be so particular about licenses, taxes, and other fees. I swear I spend more time dealing with this muck than I do in the field.”

“Want me to hack their servers? I can delete some of those headaches for you.”

“As appealing as that sounds, I’ll have to pass. Besides, you won’t be here long enough for that.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” exclaimed a panicking Andromeda. “I thought things were going well!”

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry, Dro. I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I have more work for you!”

“Goddamn it, Sarah,” said Andromeda while she leaned back in her chair to relax. “Had me all worked up for a second.”

“I’m glad you already like being here that much,” she smirked.

Sarah picked up one of the many slates and tapped on it a few times before setting it back down. Then she frowned over an official-looking letter from the government, rolled it up into a ball, and tossed into the unlit fireplace behind her.

“Nothing important, I guess?”

“Nope. Constellation doesn’t back political parties. Doesn’t stop members of Parliament from trying every chance they get.”

A few more minutes passed in silence. Then Andromeda cleared her throat. “Uh, you mentioned I was going somewhere again?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Sarah set down the latest item she was reading and folded her arms over the desk. “First of all, I transferred your pay from our mission when you had just sat down.”

Andromeda had almost forgotten that was the reason she initially sought Sarah out. Powering up her own slate, she checked her accounts and felt her eyes popping out of her head.

Available Credit Balance: $23,562

“[censored] me.” The eight thousand credits she’d been given just for getting the Frontier home safe nearly made her choke when Sarah wired it. It was vastly more money than Andromeda had ever acquired in her twenty-five years of life and she knew exactly how she wanted to spend it. But here she was, just a few days later, with more money than she knew what to do with. Guess saving up for a ship isn’t out of the question after all.

“New Atlantis doesn’t have a service for that, but you might try a nightclub,” grinned Sarah.

“Huh? What?” said Andromeda. “Oh. Wait, did you just crack a semi-dirty joke? Am I rubbing off on you, Sarah?”

“Just because I’m middle-aged doesn’t mean I’m a prude. Now that we’ve gotten to know one another, you’ll find I’m all kinds of fun when bullets aren’t whizzing past. And after a few glasses of wine have kicked in.”

“Wine, eh? Looks like I know what we’re doing tonight!”

“Hm. Maybe another time. Like I said… there’s more work that needs doing.”

“Can’t I take a break? Spend a few days milling about the city, getting to know the rest of you?”

“Or getting smashed in a dive bar again? Sorry, Dro, but this takes precedence,” said Sarah. Another document caught her eye and when she looked back up a moment later Sarah caught the fleeting looks of frustration and weariness on Andromeda’s face. “Didn’t sleep well last night I take it?”

“I did eventually.”

Sarah leaned back in her chair again and studied the young woman. Their was a touch of sadness about her features that reminded Sarah of Andromeda’s first day here at The Lodge. She’d still been grieving heavily for her friend, and she had felt like she had no place in the world. Did I push her too fast? thought Sarah. She obviously needed time, and I dragged her out into the galaxy instead. They’d been through a lot in a short time too, Sarah realized. And the visit to the Nova Galactic staryard in particular had been a harrowing experience - even for the seasoned veteran.

“Your concern is touching,” said Andromeda, breaking Sarah’s moment of introspection.

“How did - “

“Empath, remember?” Andromeda pointed at the side of her head while she spoke. “I can feel your inner turmoil.”

“That’s an impressive gift, Dro. I wish it were something I possessed.”

“No, you really [censored] don’t,” said Andromeda, gritting her teeth. “When I close my eyes, all I see are the looks of pain and surprise on the faces of the people I killed yesterday. And I felt their fear and regret in their final seconds of life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” Andromeda got up from her chair and gestured towards the stairs. “I’m getting dressed and going for a walk.”

* * *

New Atlantis thronged with crowds. Even the bench Andromeda sat on near the outskirts featured a constant flow of citizens walking by while she sipped from a TerraBrew cappuccino. A lot of them seemed to look down their noses at the pale woman from Neon City, like they knew instinctively that she came from a different stock. She found herself growing more and more annoyed by the intrusions on what she hoped would be solitude, and so Andromeda instead wondered down the footpath that led past The Lodge and out of the city limits entirely.

After a ten minute walk into the wilderness surrounding the metropolis, she sat down under one of Jemison’s odd flat-topped and leafy trees amid a tangle of overgrown, dangling vines and rested her back against it. How long she sat their contemplating life Andromeda didn’t know, but she eventually dozed off in the warm, breezy air of the summer season.

Thankfully, her nap was a dreamless affair that worked wonders on the dour mood Andromeda had set out from The Lodge with. But when she did awaken it was to a strange grunting sound, followed by sniffling. She opened her eyes timidly and found herself staring into the orange eyes of a small reptilian beast with brown scales rising to a teal shade on its back. A series of hardened plates, like those of the ancient dinosaurs of Earth, rose from its back and culminated with a razor sharp horn-like bill on its head. It continued with the small grunts and sniffling, while a long, forked tongue slid in and out of its mouth, tasting the scent of the human who intruded upon its territory.

Andromeda’s breath quickened. She’d stupidly come out here without any weapons, thinking she would be safe near the city, and now a wild animal stared her down. And then, just when she started wondering if she could outrun it back towards the city, the beast grunted loudly and flopped onto the ground at her side. Andromeda could scarcely believe her eyes - until she felt its contentment.

“No way,” she breathed. Reaching out a trembling hand, Andromeda rested it on its scaly side. “’lo, friend. You’re not afraid of me at all, are you? I guess this Empath business works with any life form, huh?”

Snort. Grunt.

“Yeah, I hear that. Life sure is strange, pal. One minute your hacking servers or chewing grass, and the next your spending a lazy morning with an odd looking creature.”

She sat there for the next half hour staring aimlessly out over the horizon while petting her reptilian friend. Then it got up without so much as a snort, and trundled off into the tall grasses.

“Bye, I guess.”

“Bye? I just got here, Dro.”

“Holy [censored], where’d you come from?!”

Noel smiled down at her and then sat cross-legged in the dirt by her side. “Sarah was worried about you. She had me track your watch.”

“You can do that?” said Andromeda. “Not sure if I’m a fan.”

“It’s saved some of our asses more than once,” said Noel. “I saw you made a new friend. Was he better company than us?”

“He? How’d you know it was a male?”

“The teal coloring. Male Cutterheads are more vibrant to attract mates. They’re also usually quite defensive. How did you get some chummy with one?”

“My new empathic powers apparently work on fauna. It felt I wasn’t a threat, and I could that it - he - was harmless, too.”

“Dro, that is fascinating!” exclaimed Noel. “I’d love to run some scans on you later, if you don’t mind. Oh, and speaking of scans…” The young woman reached into her back pocket and pulled out an odd looking device. To Andromeda, is sort of resembled a typical slate, but it had weird antenna’s on the top, and a focusing lens on the back of it. “Here, take this. It’s my old hand scanner. You can use it to analyze things on new worlds you may visit. Elements, flora, fauna - you name it. It’ll help you identify whatever you come across, and the new data will sync with the Frontier’s computer for further analysis. You’ll need it if you plan on venturing into the wilds like this.”

Andromeda turned on the screen and entered scanning mode. She pointed it a nearby flowering shrub and hit the ‘scan’ button. The screen lit up with information almost instantaneously:

Name: Broadleaf Rose
Biome: Coniferous forest, mountains
Resource: Nutrient (sap)

“I can see how this would come in handy,” admitted Andromeda. “You sure you don’t need it?”

“Nah, I just finished tweaking a new one. It’s all yours.”

“Thanks, Noel.”

“Anytime. Now, we should probably get back, if you’re up to it. Sam and Cora are home.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see,” winked Noel.

This post has been edited by Kane: Aug 17 2025, 02:44 AM

[Acadian]

Andromeda’s panic at Sarah’s comment about not being there long speaks strongly to how attached she is getting to this place. A place where it seems like she belongs and fits in.

“New Atlantis doesn’t have a service for that, but you might try a nightclub,” grinned Sarah.’

Awesome how Dro was able to sense Sarah’s concern about her welfare. She’s just beginning to figure out her empathic abilities, how to use them and. . . perhaps when to not share what she learns with those she learns it from. Unfortunately, she can also sense the feelings of those she kills. Happily, however, it also seems to work on critters!

Woot – a tricorder from Noel!

[Grits]

When a spacer brings an axe to a gun fight…

Cool, Dro can sort of talk to animals! I looked up Cutterhead to see what they look like. Kind of like a pointy chameleon. Neat!

[Kane]

Nine - Whiplash

New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

There were two new faces standing in the greenhouse when Andromeda returned to The Lodge with Noel. A handsome man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, and a young girl who couldn’t be more than twelve years old. The girl stood on her tiptoes hoping to catch sight of Constellation’s newest member while the man stepped forward to introduce himself.

“Hello, miss,” he said with tip of his wide brimmed hat. “I’m Sam Coe, and this here is my daughter, Cora.”

Andromeda felt herself go weak in the knees. Sam had a low, almost husky voice that flowed so smoothly off the tip of his tongue that she had no trouble imagining how he would end up with a kid at such a young age. The blue eyes certainly didn’t hurt either. Nor the scruffy beard, and shoulder length brown hair.

“Um, I-I’m, Dro. Er, Andromeda. Renault. Andromeda Renault.”

“Be cool, girl!” Noel whispered in her ear.

“Pleasure to meet you, Dro,” said Sam. If he had cottoned on to the smitten look she ogled him with, Sam was too much of a gentleman to tease Andromeda about it. Not that he had the chance, anyway.

“First things first,” Cora cut in. “What’s your take on books?”

“Like, stories or novels?” asked Andromeda in surprise at the pointed question. “I’ve read plenty on my slate. And I guess I read enough of them in school.”

“No, I mean physical books.”

“Only held one or two in my life, kiddo. Why do you ask?”

Cora began to answer but she was cut off by her father. “You two can get into that later. We’ve got a job to discuss - maybe over a drink, Ms. Renault?”

Andromeda gulped while Cora rolled her eyes and shuffled off with the sudden desire to be anywhere else. Nodding in agreement, Andromeda followed Sam up to the lounge where he pulled out a chair for her at one of the round pub tables. Then he went to the bar and returned with two cold beers, cracked open and ready to go.

“In the future, I prefer gin,” winked Andromeda. She took a drink from the bottle regardless and then resumed admiring Sam Coe.

“Noted. So, tell me about yourself, Andromeda. Or was it Dro?”

“The latter, if you please.”

Despite it only being midday, the two of them knocked back more than a few drinks while starting to get to know one another. Sam listened earnestly to Andromeda’s glum life story, commenting in all the right places, and even offering gentle words of consolation. But before they could move onto who he was, Sarah interrupted the ad-hoc date with a measure of impatience that greatly annoyed Andromeda for very obvious reasons.

“Did you tell her about the mission, Sam?”

“Not yet,” he sighed. “I would’ve gotten there eventually, Sarah.”

“Now would be more appropriate, Sam. We need to strike while the iron is hot.”

Andromeda let out a groan of frustration and started sniping at her boss. “Sarah, would you kindly [censored] off for an hour? Seriously. Sam and I were having a great time here and waiting a bit longer won’t change a damn thing, will it?”

Sam’s eyes roved back and forth between the leader and the upstart rookie. In all his years as a member of Constellation, he couldn’t think of a single time someone had spoken to Sarah Morgan in such a way. He couldn’t help but admire Andromeda’s gall, even if there was probably a smoother way to go about it.

“Well, I don’t know, Ms. Renault,” mocked Sarah, her voice dripping with warranted condescension. “Maybe the two of you would like to keep playing kissy face while our friend Barrett is strung up by pirates and extorted for everything he’s worth!”

Andromeda opened her mouth to retort, but Sam cut her off. “I got this, miss.” He pulled up another chair for Sarah and patted the seat of it. “Sit down and tell us what’s goin’ on.”

“Thank you, Sam.” She took the offered chair and fired a withering glare at Andromeda before continuing. “A courier just came in from Argos - they’re packing up the site after another attack. An attack that ended with Barrett and a man named Heller being taken hostage. I believe you may know this Heller, Dro?”

Worry and angst immediately crashed into the pit of Andromeda’s stomach and took up an unmoving residence there. Barrett had seemed like a genuinely nice guy that didn’t deserve to be captured by the Crimson Fleet. Doubly so for Heller. That poor guy was just a hapless miner… and one of the few friends she had.

“We need to go help them,” said Andromeda. “Now. Look, I’m sorry I was acting like a cow, Sarah. It’s just -”

“I know. Don’t worry about it.” Sarah pulled out her slate and laid it on the table and began calling up star charts. “We’ll have to split up. You and I, Dro, will go back to Vectera and see if we can’t pick up Barrett’s trail. Sam, you and Cora can head home to Akila. Start scouting for the Artifact. We’ll rendezvous at a later date.”

“You got it boss.” Sam stood up and tipped his hat at Andromeda again. “We’ll do this again real soon, miss. You have my word.”

Andromeda nodded fervently and tried not to blush. “See you,” she managed to say without embarrassing herself.

Sam left to find his daughter while Sarah flicked information from her slate towards Andromeda. “I sent the message to your inbox. Read it and then go get ready to leave. I want to be at the spaceport within the hour.”

* * *

Vectera, Moon of Anselon, Narion System

The Argos mining outpost that Andromeda lived in for almost three months was nearly abandoned already. Only the habs remained standing alongside what little valuable supplies had not been shuttled off-world by freighters to be used on the next lifeless moon the Argos Mining Company laid a claim to.

Very few people remained too, but Supervisor Lin greeted Andromeda and Sarah when they landed under the cover of night.

“Welcome back, Dusty. Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.”

“Hey, Lin.” Andromeda hugged her. She wasn’t sure why at first, but when her old boss did not pull away, she chalked it up as another win for empathy. “Have the pirates been back?” she asked after they separated.

“No, thankfully. But we didn’t get so lucky the second time. Troy, Calvert, some of the other new dusties… we lost them. And Heller…”

“That’s why we’re here, Lin,” said Andromeda. “We’ll find him.”

“Or we’ll damn well die trying,” added Sarah. “Barrett will do what he can to keep him safe in the meantime. He knows how to take care of himself and others. Do you have any leads, Lin?”

“Not really. I tried pinging a message at the ship after it left, but the comm laser got fried in the fight so I don’t know if it even transmitted. If you can repair it, there might be something to hear. No guarantees, though.”

“Sounds like a decent place to start,” said Sarah. “I’ll follow you, Dro.”

Andromeda led the way to the comms building and cycled through the airlock with Sarah at her heels. The scrubbers were still pumping o2 into the hab, so they lowered their suit helmets and breathed in the recycled air. The control room lay beyond a large window and behind a locked door that Andromeda had open in seconds. A few more seconds and the comms computer core also unlocked under her touch, and to her and Sarah’s surprise, an unread message flashed on the screen. Downloading it to her slate, Andromeda opened the audio message and pressed play.

They listened to it intently, a grin growing from ear-to-ear on Sarah’s face. It mostly consisted of Barrett and Heller bickering back and forth until it reached the end where Sarah got what she needed. Grav jump coordinates were buried in the transmission’s metadata.

“That’s what we needed. C’mon, Dro - back to the ship we go.”

“I’ll meet you there. I need to speak to Lin first.”

“Okay, just be brief.”

Sarah tossed her helmet back on and after cycling through the airlock again, she trotted back to the ship and began making calculations for their next jump while Andromeda tarried on the outpost causeway with her old boss.

“We’re going after them, Lin. I’ll make sure Heller is safe, I promise.”

“I know you will, Dusty. Just don’t get yourself killed in the process. And when you find Heller, tell him to meet me at Cydonia. I think we’ve earned a little R and R.”

“Couldn’t agree more. See you, Lin.”

“Bye, Andromeda.”

* * *
Altair IV-b, Altair System

“Sit still, you big oaf,” Andromeda half-shouted. Heller lay on the only bed in the Frontier’s hab, bleeding all over the upholstery and twitching uncontrollably. They had found the Crimson Fleet ship crashed on an icy moon, with Heller laying on the ground outside of the wreckage. A long piece of aluminum had shorn off the ship burrowed itself into his side.

“’Sit still’ she says,” grunted Heller. “Easy for you to say, Annie. You’re not the one with a hunk of metal in their [censored] gut.”

“I’m giving him more pain meds, Sarah.” Andromeda pulled another morphine injector out of the med kit, but Sarah grabbed her hand and held it at bay.

“He can’t have more without risking overdose. We need to treat the wound first - the poultice and wound vac will help with the pain after extraction.”

Still thrashing about in pain, Heller settled the argument for them by ripping the injector out of Andromeda’s grasp and jamming it into his leg. “Ahhhhhhhhh, that’s better. Can you two sew me back up now?”

Andromeda was about to smile until Heller’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious.

“[censored]! That’s what I was afraid of,” said Sarah. “We need to patch him up and hit him with a vial of Junkflush. On my mark, yank that hunk of metal out and I’ll seal the wound!” Andromeda grabbed the end of the aluminum shrapnel and readied herself. “3…2…1… pull!”

With a sharp tug, the hunk of ship wreckage pulled free from Heller’s abdomen with a sickening noise and Sarah immediately placed the sealing poultice over the spurting hole. It formed itself to Heller’s contours and automatically flushed the wound with sterilizing compounds and localized painkillers. They still needed to get him to a hospital for further treatment, but he’d at least be stable until they could do so.

Andromeda rifled through the medkit for the final injection. Her hand closed around the vial of Junkflush, and she wasted no time injecting the contents into Heller. The readout on the auto-doc screen above the bed beeped and chirped a few times before indicating he was stabilizing, and the two women breathed sighs of relief.

“He’ll be fine, Dro. You did well.”

“Least I could do for him,” she grumbled.

“It was more than that. You’re still selling yourself short, Ms. Renault.” Sarah stood up to scrub her hands clean of blood and then headed to the kitchen where she began brewing a pot of coffee. “Mind if I make an observation?” Andromeda shrugged in a non-committal sort of way while standing up to clean her own hands, and Sarah continued: “I noticed you didn’t chastise him for calling you ‘Annie’…”

“He wouldn’t have listened anyway,” said Andromeda. “But it’s more than that. We only knew each other for a few weeks, but Heller felt like the big brother I never had. He looked out for me when I had no idea what the [censored] I was doing. Took me under his wing.”
“And that’s all? There wasn’t something more there?”
“Nope. Heller is about as straight as a circle. Don’t get me wrong - he’s very handsome - but I stopped thinking about him in that way a while ago. He’s a friend.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he chose his friends wisely,” said Sarah. “Maybe we in Constellation aren’t the only ones who saw how remarkable you are, Dro.” She handed Andromeda a bulb of fresh-brewed coffee. “And he even managed to get another message from Barrett to us. Ready to jump to the Bessel System?”

“Ready.”

* * *
Ransacked Research Outpost, Bessel III, Bessel System

At least a dozen Crimson Fleet pirates patrolled the abandoned outpost’s exterior catwalks and roofs on Bessel III. Sarah landed the Frontier within half a kilometer but the only way they were getting in undetected is if the scumbags weren’t paying attention to anything - including a ship roaring down to the surface nearby.

They weren’t that lucky, and all twelve of the defenders had their laser sights trained in the direction of the newly arrived ship. Unfortunately for them, Sarah possessed a stellar aptitude for tactical planning from her time in the UC Navy. After arranging a series of stun mines among the rocky footpath leading down to the base, they drew the pirates out with errant laser bolts and bullets fired solely to gain their attention until the ingrates all charged out in a single sloppy group formation. And they ran right through the mines until not a single one remained conscious.

“What a bunch of idiots,” chortled Andromeda.

“Their strength lies in their numbers,” said Sarah. “Not their brains. But I don’t think we’ll get so lucky once we are inside. Keep your weapon at the ready.”

It turned out that the interior of the base wasn’t all that large, or very well occupied. They stole silently through a small vestibule and down a flight of stairs until voices could be heard from somewhere ahead. Crouching down to minimize their visibility, Andromeda followed Sarah further in until the voices were audible enough to discern from the hum of air scrubbers and water circulating behind the walls.

Barrett sat lounged in a chair, arms behind his head, conversing pleasantly with the pirate leader without a care in the world.

“Why am I not surprised,” muttered Sarah. She broke their cover by standing up and strolled boldly into the room.

“Sarah!” said Barrett. “And the new girl, too! It’s a regular ‘ol Constellation party now!”

Andromeda didn’t know what to say, nor was she surprised by what they found either. She’d only met Barrett briefly on Vectera, but everything that she ascertained about him on that day fit the bill for this situation perfectly. In the end, it only served to annoy her, especially after how things had gone for Heller.

“You deal with this,” she said to Sarah. “Or I’ll just end up punching him out. I’m going to check on my friend.”

This post has been edited by Kane: Aug 23 2025, 04:58 PM

[Acadian]

I see Dro is quickly smitten by Sam. . . . Aww, interrupted by another mission – to save some of her old mining pals this time it seems.

Good job patching up Heller. A vial of junkflush. Like Sarah, I readily noticed that Dro did not chastise Heller for calling her ‘Annie’.

Nice trap Sarah set after arriving at the Bessel outpost.

Wonder what the deal is with Barrett and why he’s happily relaxing with the pirate leader?

[Kane]

Acadian: that situation with Barrett is unique but should've been something BGS explored more. The pirate captain Matsura the Grim is a breath of fresh air because he isn't just an evil caricature. He's a pirate, yes, but not the devil incarnate.When you find Barrett they are just sitting around, shooting the breeze and swapping space stories, and you can just pay some ransom money and be on the way.

{+++++++}

Ten - Hot and Cold and Hot Again

The Clinic Starstation, Deepala, Narion System

“He’ll get the best care in the Settled Systems, Dro. In a week or so, Heller will be right as rain and on his way to Mars.”

Andromeda stood in a surgical theater overlooking the operating room where doctors and nurses tended to her friend’s injuries. They put Heller into an induced coma not long after being admitted, but he at least got the time to thank her profusely, even though Andromeda didn’t feel she deserved it.

I should have been there at his side, she thought. At all of their sides.

A terminal screen on a nearby wall chimed and Sarah moved off to check it. “The nurse says he’ll make a full recovery. But they’re going to leave him in the coma for a few days so that he can rest.”

“Best news I’ve had all week. I guess we can head back now. Where’d Barrett get to?”

“Still on the ship. He didn’t want to intrude.”

“Should we take him back to The Lodge first? Or go meet up with Sam?”

“Lodge. Barrett needs a break from the action, too.”

The clinic staff began to wrap up the surgery below. Heller was carted off to a recovery room while Sarah and Andromeda made their way back to the docking port where the Frontier awaited them for the trip home. Barrett was waiting in the cockpit and looked ready to depart, but Andromeda had a bone to pick with him first.

“How the [censored] did Heller end up in that ship wreckage, Barrett?”

The charming smile Barrett usually wore faded under Andromeda’s glare. He tugged nervously at his collar before fessing up. “That was my fault, cowgirl.”

“My name is Andromeda,” she spat. “We’ve been through that already. Don’t call me ‘cowgirl’ again, got it?”

“Okay, I got it,” said Barrett, putting his hands up in a placating manner. “Well, getting back to the story… I was trying to come up with a way to distract the guards, so Heller and I started a fake fight. I managed to get a gun off one of the pirates when they came to break us up but when I pulled the trigger the bullet sailed right through the pilot and struck the nav console. We dropped out of orbit like a stone.”

“And what, they just left him there? No one else was hurt?”

“A pirate died, I think. I tried getting them to grab Heller, but they figured he was a lost cause. I’m glad he held on until you found him. I’m sorry about what happened, Andromeda. Truly.”

She felt the genuine remorse in his voice, so Andromeda nodded sharply and left the cockpit to cool off for a while. The bed looked inviting after the excitement of the day, and after getting a bulb of water to drink, she laid down on it and flicked through news feeds on her slate while Barrett and Sarah began the undocking procedures.

“Just give her some time, Barrett,” Sarah’s voice floated back. “She’s been through a lot and things seem to just keep piling up. Dro is a remarkable young woman and I think you two will be good friends in no time.”

Andromeda snorted obnoxiously.

“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” Barrett called back to her in a singsong voice.

“Don’t tease her,” Sarah jabbed him lightly in the shoulder. “If anything, you owe her a drink. She prefers gin.”

* * *

New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

Andromeda still wasn’t in the best of moods when they returned to The Lodge. She swung by the kitchen and ransacked the fridge for a bite to eat and enjoyed her pilfered sandwich in the confinement of her bedroom. Sarah seemed intent on letting her be for a change, so Andromeda decided a shower was in order after the light dinner. Unfortunately, she’d yet to purchase a robe, and her filthy space undersuit had already been tossed into the automated laundry system chute.

Wagering that the others would all be downstairs, she decided to risk it, and darted down the hall wearing only her bra and panties. The bathroom and shower were free (thankfully), but Andromeda only managed to soak in the cascade of steaming hot water for just under ten minutes before someone rapped on the door.

“Dro, is that you in there?” Noel called out.

[censored]. “Yeah, what do you want?”

“Can you meet us downstairs soon?”

“Do I have to?”

“Not really. Just thought it would be nice to sit around and chat. Maybe have a drink.”

Andromeda groaned and let her forehead thud into the shower wall a few times before turning down the offer. “Not tonight, Noel. I’m just not in the mood for it.”

“Suit yourself,” said Noel.

Andromeda resumed her soak until the damnable timer ran out. After drying off, she tied her hair up in a messy bun and then headed back to her room to get dressed for bed. Still wishing she had a robe for evenings like this, she instead pulled on a new pair of panties and an over-sized shirt before flopping onto the bed and drifting off for the night.

* * *

When the next morning came it brought with it a much more amicable version of Andromeda. To her delightful surprise, she also found the rugged and handsome Sam Coe sitting in the greenhouse with a cup of coffee. She wasted no time in joining him to see how things had fared in Akila City. And to try and rekindle the sparks Sarah doused the day prior.

“Back so soon, Sam? I thought we were supposed to meet you there?”

“Change of plans, miss,” he said. “My gut told me I should be here and it looks like I was right. Vladimir’s concerned about the radio silence from Andreja, so our top priority has changed to helping her out.”

“Two people I still haven’t met,” noted Andromeda. “What’s the deal with them anyway?”

“They’re both the kind of folks you just have to meet. Me trying to describe ‘em just wouldn’t do it justice.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Sam.”

They had the greenhouse to themselves for a while and Sam finally got to tell Andromeda his own story of how he ended up in Constellation. Suffice it to say, when she heard he used to be a Freestar Ranger, her knees started knocking together under the table. Even on the streets of Neon, everyone knew the Rangers were the best of the best. Strong, confident, fair, and unerring in the line of duty.

By the time their mugs ran dry, Andromeda wanted nothing more than to sneak off with Sam and have a little fun, and the coy smile he wore suggested he had similar thoughts. Then the other shoe dropped, and the mood dried up like a grape in the hot sun.

“So, back to this business with Andreja,” said Sam. “Wanna head out there with me and the kiddo today?”

She did a double-take at that last part. Is he serious​? Andromeda had never imagined herself as a mother, but the thought of taking a child into the depths of space with no idea of what could lay ahead of them struck her as profoundly irresponsible. What if they ran into more pirates? Or those Spacer maniacs? Or some sort of monstrous alien bug?

“You want to take Cora with us?” she asked with incredulity. “On a possible rescue operation?”

“That’s right, miss. We’re a package deal. If I go then she goes, too.”

A lot of the respect Sam had built up with Andromeda evaporated in that very moment. He was serious, and what’s more… he didn’t even seem think it was such a bad idea. “Are you insane, Sam? How could you possibly [censored] think it’s a good idea for Cora to go along on something like that? What if our ship gets attacked in space? What if some nutjobs break into the ship while we aren’t there?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold up a sec, Dro.”

“No. No way, no how!” said Andromeda. She could feel herself getting heated up and knew her voice carried the louder it got, but she didn’t care who could hear them. “I’ve had my face planted in enough [censored] over the last few weeks to understand how [censored] up space really is, and it’s NO place for a child! She is not coming on a ship with me unless it’s to a settled planet. Period.”

Sam’s nostrils flared in way she would have found very enticing not five minutes ago. But there was also an anger behind his eyes that told Andromeda the same thing she felt: whatever attraction they began with had disappeared.

“Look here, miss - you don’t get to tell me how to raise my daughter. I’m her father and if I want Cora to come along with me while I explore the stars, then that’s my business and no one else’s, ya hear?”

“Oh, I hear you alright,” snarled Andromeda. “And you go do whatever you please, but it won’t be with me. I’ll figure out how to help this Andreja woman on my own.”

Andromeda left without another word. She waved a concerned Noel away and headed for the basement where she was less likely to run into anyone else for a while. She could feel her frustration rising still and she tried to subdue it by tinkering with her spacesuit at the nearby workbench. The auto-laundry had cleaned it of dust, debris, and scuff marks overnight and now Andromeda checked the seals and added reinforcements where they were needed. She didn’t pay any mind to how long she toiled down there for, but light footsteps eventually descended the stairs.

“For what it’s worth, Dro, I agree with you.”

Of course it’s Sarah, thought Andromeda. Why did I expect anyone else? “Agree about what?” she asked, not taking her eyes off her work.

“Sam and Cora. I’ve tried - in a much gentler way - to have that conversation with him and it always ends the same way. He’s much too stubborn, but Sam’s right in that he’ll do whatever he thinks is best for them. I’d advise you to not bring it up again.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“Good.” Sarah walked around the workbench to examine Andromeda’s handiwork. “Reinforced nanotubes, polymer stitching, fiber mesh underlays; you’ve done excellent work on your suit, Dro. These modifications will help you greatly in the field. Speaking of which…”

“You want to go chase after Andreja with me now that I’ve screwed things up so badly with Sam?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“Then I guess it’s the Sarah and Andromeda show again. But when this is over, I’m taking a break. A long break, got it?”

* * *

The Eye, Jemison, Alpha Centauri

The airlock cycled and Sarah led Andromeda through a heavy archway. The latter of the two boarded The Eye for the first time, gazing around in wonder at the sight of it. A long corridor encircled the station, its walls consisting of floor to ceiling glass panels that offered an incredible of space and Jemison far below. Further in another circular corridor branched off into a habitat ring that included all the amenities one could need while endlessly orbiting a planet: sleeping quarters, a gym, kitchen, showers, and a rec room.

“How the [censored] did Constellation get their hands on this?” exclaimed Andromeda.

“I called in a few favors from my time in the navy,” shrugged Sarah. “MAST abandoned the station years ago and left it floating dark up here. Seemed a shame to let such a resource go to waste.”

“You did this? I would’ve guess Walter for sure.”

“Walter’s pull is mostly in Freestar space. We can talk more about that later, though. For now…” An older man Andromeda had yet to meet approached them from the control room. Dark-skinned and muscle bound, Vladimir Sall had kind eyes and a warm smile that she took a liking to instantly. “Andromeda, this is Vladimir,” said Sarah. “He keeps the station humming and scans deep space for signs of the Artifacts.”

“We got a rook on deck!” said Vladimir. “Good to see Constellation getting some fresh blood.”

Andromeda cocked her head to the side curiously. Vladimir had a strong accent and a unique cadence to his voice that she couldn’t place. Some of his word choices were odd, too. Wonder what this guy’s story is… “Nice to meet you. Vladimir,” said Andromeda.

“Wish I could’ve been down at The Lodge to see the Artifacts come together. But I got a little lost peeking through The Eye.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still not thrilled about those goddamn things. Didn’t miss much in my book.”

Vladimir chuckled. “Probably would have just gotten annoyed at being bothered. I’ll catch a smile at our next big revelation.”

Finally someone who cares about something else, thought Andromeda. I wonder if he needs a roommate.

Sarah and Vladimir began reviewing an enormous file of data from his scopes which sounded enormously boring to Andromeda. She excused herself to poke around the station while they conversed, the idea of which didn’t seem to bother them. Vladimir had a plethora of supplies, including a well-stocked kitchen where Andromeda stumbled upon a container in the fridge that held one of her favorite and hard to come by foods: potato latkes.

She pried the lid off, set a pan on the stove, melted a chunk of butter in the bottom of it, and tossed the latkes in. Andromeda’s mouth began to water while they sizzled away, and the aroma filled the kitchen and drifted down the hall.

Five minutes later, she rejoined her friends in the control room, piping hot snack in hand. “Ah, I see you found my swill. What’s mine is yours, rook, but I would ask that you share one with me. The smell is enough to let anyone catch a smile.”

Andromeda was all too happy to share. She jabbed one with the fork and offered it to Vladimir. “These are amazing, Vladimir. If you cook like this all the time I’m liable to move in up here instead.”

“Careful with this one, Vladimir,” teased Sarah. “She’ll eat you out of house and home and drink you under the table.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “It was good to see you again, old friend. Time to go, Ms. Renault. We’re bound for Procyon III-a.”

* * *

Moon of Procyon III, Procyon System

The Frontier touched down on the cold, rocky moon of the third planet in the Procyon system. Vladimir’s scans led them down the same path of breadcrumbs Andreja had followed, and Sarah had picked up the missing Constellation member’s transponder mere seconds after entering orbit around the tiny moon.

“She’s definitely down here,” said Sarah. “Or her ship is at least.”

“Remind me who this lady is again?”

“She was our rookie before I recruited you. Tough and capable; which is why it’s odd that we’ve lost communication with her. Andreja can handled herself anywhere.”

“So, the complete opposite of me.”

Sarah paused and blinked rapidly. “Actually, that is spot on, Dro. No offense, but while you’re not great in a fight, Andreja will knock heads together all day long. She’s also very quiet and withdrawn, compared to your more outgoing nature. Yes, I would say that you two are opposite sides of the same coin.”

Andromeda grew curious at this point. The mysterious woman they sought sounded much more interesting than anyone else she’d met since joining Constellation, save for maybe Vladimir. Andreja sounded sort of roguish, which didn’t fit the bill at all for this group of idealistic explorers. Then again, Andromeda herself didn’t exactly have a squeaky clean background either.

But they had a job to do, and after suiting up and checking their weapons, Andromeda followed Sarah out onto the airless surface of the drab, gray moon. An abandoned mine sat just over the ridge beyond their ship, habs and catwalks devoid of life.

After picking through the structures for supplies like ammo or first aid, Andromeda found the controls to open a massive door that sealed the mine away from the harsh conditions of the surface. The door cycled open, and the moment they set foot inside they were greeted with gunshots and the figure of a humanoid standing over two dead bodies.

“Do not come any closer!” a voice rang out from the dim light, its owners weapon pointed directly at them. “Identify yourselves!”

“Relax, Andreja - it’s just me.”

“Sarah? Did Vladimir send you? I can take care of myself. You should know that by now.”

Andreja holstered the strange rifle she bore and moved closer so that the darkness of the cave no longer enshrouded her. The woman they’d been searching for didn’t look much older than Andromeda. Wearing a sort of wrapped violet dress, she was slightly taller with tanned skin, long black hair, and gorgeous hazel eyes. Her accent was implacable, and she carried a look of deadly seriousness.

And to top it all off, she was stunningly beautiful.

“Who are you?” Andreja asked, sizing up the newcomer.

“Holy [censored],” said Andromeda in tiny voice. “Er, sorry. Andromeda Renault. Um. Can you excuse Sarah and I for a moment? Just a sec.” She pulled her boss back a few paces and whispered heatedly at her. “Sarah! Why the [censored] didn’t you tell me she was so goddamn cute!? My hair looks like [censored] from this damn spacesuit helmet and I didn’t put any makeup on this morning!”

“Is she? I guess I hadn’t noticed,” winked Sarah.

“Goddamn it. Of all the times we’ve had together you pick now to screw with me!?” Andromeda shook her head in disbelief and went back over to where Andreja waited nearby. “Sorry about that. Anyhoo… lovely to finally meet you.”

“We can exchange pleasantries when the mission is complete, Andromeda.” Andreja frowned in thought. “This name is a mouthful, yes? I will call you ‘Annie’, in the interest of brevity.”

“I’d rather you didn’t. My friends call me ‘Dro’.

“Dro? No, I do not like that,” said Andreja. “But we are here for an Artifact, and that is what matters at this moment. Sarah, Annie… are you ready to move out?”

[Acadian]

Looks like Heller will make it.

Barrett remains only partially forgiven.

Sam’s unusual parenting style seems to have put the kabosh on any romance between him and Dro.

Vladimir and his space station are interesting. Great views I bet.

Andreja seems like quite the handful! Annie, indeed.