The Nordic Troll sailed silently through space, her destination a small bright half-disc directly in front of her. Throughout the ship the passengers were packing their things in preparation for departure in several hours.

Gerrin entered the cockpit, moving slowly. “Hey, flygirl”, he greeted Loomie as he sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.

Loomie sat, piloting the ship, staring out the window in front of her. “Hey, cap’n”.

“I heard you had some trouble while we were gone”, Gerrin said.

“Yeah, nothing major”, Loomie responded matter-of-factly.

“You kinda went full burn back there”, he commented. “You okay?”

“Yeah”, she shrugged. “I just had a bad day, that’s all”.

Gerrin looked at her for a second before starting “You know, if I’d known about this earlier-“

Loomie held up her hands “I’m shiny, Nick. Really. I knew you’d have our backs, somehow”.

“Yeah”, Gerrin conceded. “Just took a little longer than I wanted”.

Loomie smiled at him. “Worked out in the end, though, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did at that”. Standing, he said “Let me know when we’re about to hit atmo”. As he turned toward the ladder, he gently squeezed Loomie’s shoulder as he passed. She reached up with her hand, squeezing his in return.

Reilly stood with Doc in med bay, handing her the green bottle he had borrowed from her when he had “escorted” “Jeffe” into the woods. “You were right”, Reilly told her. “He got about half a click into the jungle when the stuff hit him and he was out like a light”.

Doc eyed him. “You only used the dose I told you to, right?”

“I’m a thief and a grifter, Heather, not a killer”, he admonished her. “Besides, we had nothing to gain by taking him out. Letting him go gave the Alliance something to chase after”.

“Right”, she agreed, putting the bottle back into its drawer. “But remind me again how