He was tired, frustrated, in pain. The last few months had felt like years. He’d grown and changed in ways he didn’t know was possible. He’d found an enormous well of strength and determination inside him he didn’t know existed. He’d learned how to sail, how to swordfight, and how to rob a crew of merchants on the high seas without firing a single shot. And on top of all of that, he’d fallen deeply in love with a person he felt like he’d known for lifetimes, only to discover he barely knew her at all. He’d found a family, only to lose them.
If the last few months had felt like years, the last three days had felt like months. The pain of loss weighed on him, threatening to drag him into an abyss. But the absolute miracle that was Yarrow and Theo kept him going. He would not lose them, too.
Looking at them now, Zander could see the same heartbreak he felt in their eyes, the same bone-deep exhaustion. The same dogged determination.
“We’d better get some rest,” he said finally. “I’ll take first watch.”
Instead of protesting, Yarrow nodded, seeming to have finally succumbed to the need for sleep. Zander gazed into the fire as they slept, thinking about all of the ways he was going to make Ignacio pay for what he’d done to his family.
Once, he was a hunter. And she was not only his prey—she was the bane of his existence.
It had been years since he started chasing her. Every other bounty hunter in the galaxy had long since given up on her capture, elusive as she was. But not him. Not his team.
It was the three of them then—Zed, Teshva, and Yuna. It had been the three of them for decades. At one point they did this job for the money just like everyone else. They did it to survive. But somewhere along the way, finding her became like a calling, a quest that would define the purpose of their lives.
For him, it became an obsession.
They lived in an endlessly frustrating cycle of pursuit, moving from place to place in their starship, working small jobs. Without fail, they questioned the criminals they brought in for bounty, bargaining or threatening to gain hints as to her whereabouts. The tips were sometimes credible. But for years, every good tip brought them to her doorstep only for the trail to suddenly go cold, like she disappeared into thin air as soon as they entered the planet’s atmosphere.
He could see it was wearing on them. She had the biggest bounty on her head in The Directorate’s history. Catching her would change their lives forever. But it was more than that. It was like some invisible force connected them, pulling them across the universe behind her. With each near miss, the tension receded, then snapped painfully back into place when she escaped. It ground them down, breaking off bits and pieces of their souls like wind eroding stone.
Yuna and Teshva were nearing their breaking point. He could see they wanted to give up. The mission required them all to sacrifice things, to give up normal lives. They became the job. But they, at least, still had each other. They had something to live for, should they leave this life behind. He didn’t know who he was without the job.
He didn’t know who he was without her.
He sat looking at his partners across the table. They pushed their food back and forth across their plates, their eyes unfocused. Years ago, they would have been full of talk. The three of them would sit for hours after getting a tip, drinking and trading ideas about what their next step should be. It was like a game.
Today, it felt old. Stale. They could smell the looming disappointment.
Desperation curled around his torso like a snake as he thought of them leaving him.
“Maybe we could fix the ship,” he said.
Yuna and Teshva looked up at the same time.
“Hmm?” Yuna said.
“Maybe we could be faster. I could replace a few things, give her a tune-up. You never know, it could be just the edge we need.”
Teshva shrugged. “Tinker away. It can’t hurt anything.”
Yuna’s mouth turned up slightly at the corner. “I don’t know about that. You remember Okshvos, don’t you? The hyperspace booster?”
Zed rolled his eyes as Teshva’s shoulders shook with laughter.
“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” he asked Yuna.
“Spending our money on a defective heating coil someone painted and called a hyperspace booster?” Yuna said. “No, no I’m not, Z. Never.”
Teshva was doubled over in laughter now. “It improves jump speed by up to fifteen percent!” he said between laughs, mocking Zed.
“Ah, knock off, the both of you,” Zed said, grinning. He stood. “I’m going to start poking around and see what needs to be replaced. And then the two of you can go to Lfthos Market and spare me the trouble.”
“You mean spare you the embarrassment,” Yuna said. Zed pushed them playfully as he walked by, ruffling their hair in mock anger.
The ship’s engine room was normally loud and hot. Now, idle as they sat parked on one of The Directorate’s outpost planets, it was cool and quiet, bathed in a soft red glow from the reserve lights lining the ceiling. Zed retrieved his data pad and started taking notes.
As he came to the maze of tubes that directed water, coolant, and lubricant to various parts of the ship, he paused. He set the data pad down and wedged himself inside the recess in the wall where each tube emerged from the floor, snaking up to various openings in the wall. Where each tube emerged, a label identified their purpose. Zed sank to his knees to getter a close look and realized each one was also labeled with miniscule instructions on how and when to flush them. He grimaced as he realized most of them were overdue.
“Well, add that to the list,” he mumbled to himself.
As he stood, his eye caught on something wedged in the back corner of the small space. He leaned forward to get a better look and his heart nearly stopped when he recognized the device.
“Tesh, Yuna!” he called as he ran back into the common space. He skidded to a stop when he rounded the corner and almost collided with them both.
“Woah there,” Teshva said. “What is it?”
Zed presented his open palm in response, a look of fierce excitement in his eyes.
“Is that…?” Yuna began.
“Yes,” Zed said. “A proximity alert. I found it hidden in the engine room. It’s probably been there for years. This is how she knows we’re coming! This is why she’s always gone when we show up!”
“Well, fucking hell!” Teshva exclaimed.
“Give me that,” Yuna said, snatching the device from Zed’s hands and rushing to their work station.
