The starboard side of the HMS Valediction captures our view. We are unable to see any of the surrounding stars as the berth of my home ship blocks it all. Her enormous name spans the side of her sleek hull. HMS VALEDICTION.

"When we're gone so long, I forget how big the Val is," I say.

"No matter how big the cage, the rat will always feel trapped," Moon says.

"What fortune cookie gave you that gem?"

"Five hundred years of miserable life experiences."

I used to flinch every time Moon used his brutal past on the Olympi to manipulate me into feeling bad for him. Doesn't work anymore. "Can the rats be a little less mopey, please? I'm actually excited to be home."

"You asked."

"I regret it."

As we enter HMS Valediction air space, we are welcomed warmly from the tower. It took a while to get used to new protocols that were infinitely more lax than the militia training I received, but it still felt good to have a procedure.

"Welcome home, Lorn."

"Thank you, Dock. We're thrilled to be back," I say. "Entering hangar seven."

My landing is so light, we barely tap the deck as my ship touches down. Even in the clunky nature of Xani machinery, my flights are like cream. I quickly unharness myself and rush to the exit, John tik tik tik tik tik-ing at my heels. Behind him is the ever-present muffled whirr of Moon's mechanical bones. I close my eyes waiting for the click—that perfect docking noise of fitting into place and being stuck there for as long as I allow it. My hangar door shuts out the field of stars. I don't feel the woosh of the hangar pressurizing outside my ship, but I watch the pile of limbs LEDI had once used for a surrogate body jostle as the air knocks against it. When his movement stops and the green light above the hangar door ignites, I slap my hand against my port and strut down the gangway. The smell of my hangar is the same as when I left it—ignited with pungent fuels. I inhale a lungful and exhale away my stress.

We stride through the hangar and receive our customary homecoming welcome. Smiles and waves greet us around every corner and hang from every high rafter of the HMS Valediction docks. Stories above our heads, people peer from around the metal they're scrubbing, or the drop ship they're fixing.

I nod in response to their honest joy. I don't sweat under the attention like I used to. Moon walks like the perpetual rod up his ass has wedged itself an inch higher. He practically runs past the halls when HMS residents peer from their cabins to welcome us back.

"Good to see you again, Captain!" they say.

"The place hasn't been the same without you, Lorn. We're glad to have you back in one piece," others say.

As we leave the long narrow halls from the hangars, we squeeze into the elevator. John crawls up to the ceiling and perches there as we ride up. In the quiet ascension, I fiddle with the zipper on my jacket.

"You're nervous," Moon says.

I can tell he's staring at me, but I don't look his way. "No."

"You two haven't gone this long without reconciling. Could this be the end of your doomed romance?"

I bury the flinch down as far as it will go. "We're fine."

Moon places his finger on the emergency stop button hidden in the elevator console. We jolt to a stop.

"What the hell!"

Ledi's tinny elevator voice picks up over the speaker. "Captain Moon—do you need assistance."

"No." He cuts the call and rounds on me. "Nuna forgives easily. What have you done to earn a cold shoulder for this long?"

"It's none of your business."

"As Nuna is my first mate, I'm making it my business."

"Do you have to bring this up a few seconds before I'm going in to see her? We had how long together to talk about this privately in my ship?"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! I did nothing."

His hand remains steady on the panel. After a long pause, he releases it. We resume our ascent. "You're wrong together."

"Don't start this."

"You, in particular, are damaged beyond repair."

I shake my head to bat away the tired message. "Here we go."

"Nuna is too stupid or too kind to tell you, but you're a fucking wreck. I suspect she's finally come to her senses and realizes that you're incapable of giving her what she thought she'd find with you."

The searing comment slides off my skin, but not before leaving a few shallow gashes. "Please, by all means, Love Doctor. What is it she's looking for that I can't provide?"

The elevator stops and with a hum, the door slides open to an opulent, white room with silver and cerulean garnet inlays sweeping across the walls. The icy atmosphere is perfect for our reunion.

I shoot Moon a final loathing glare. "Don't answer that. Bring it up, and I'll stab you where I know it still hurts."

"Welcome home!" Teeno strides to us, grabs Moon by the shoulders, and squeezes them.

Moon doesn't move. He doesn't reciprocate the gesture, step closer to make it easier on Teeno, and doesn't seem to want to be standing there at all. "I've returned your precious Gunner unscathed this time."

In Teeno's wake, Hux barrels out. He runs, swinging his arm wildly as he launches himself at me. I scoop him up as he leaps into my embrace.

I close my eyes and inhale the sweet smell of his freshly washed hair. I squeeze him and press my cheek up against his head. His little grip tightens around my neck.

"I missed you so much," I say. I hold him at arm's length to get a good look at the kid who won't stop growing. Not for a second. "Did you grow another foot taller?"

He giggles. "No."

"Did I shrink, then?"

Teeno smiles. "That must be it."

No one pays attention to Moon as he mopes away. But in our sweet reunion, I notice someone isn't present. "Where's Nuna."

"She had other matters to address, my dear. She will be back for the debrief and dinner."

"What other matters?"

"We'll discuss at the debrief, Lorn. For now, let's have a happy moment to rejoice in the fact that the two of you have returned home without a new scar." Teeno nods to my neck as he bends down to gently nudge Hux back into his office.

My fingers trace the pattern. The raised scarring is too complex to discern one reprimand from the other. It's an intricate weave of large circles like the first reprimand when I was commander of ARC10. There are a few half-moons and a series of vertical lines that connect them all. I wear my rap sheet on my skin so the ports know exactly who is entering. Not like I had a choice, though.

"Don't look so self-conscious," Moon says. Only through my elevated hearing do I hear his whispered, "I know you like it."

"Not as much as you." I follow as we enter Teeno's suite.

A quick scan around the room presents immediate disappointment. Nuna isn't here. I sense her lingering scent—the floral one she always wears. Patchouli, she said once. She was here. Maybe blips before me, but she isn't here anymore.

"Before you ask," Teeno interrupts before I have a chance to get a sound out, "she is busy and couldn't meet. Since the two of you have been out searching for the ARCs, Nuna had managed the weight of both of your unfinished work. She is glad you're home as I'm sure it will be a welcome reprieve for her."

"I don't believe you," I say as I take my regular seat in our square. I sink into the supple black leather and lean forward, my elbows resting on my knees. Nuna's empty seat to my right bothers me. I avoid looking at it.

Moon stands at his trademark spot at Teeno's bar cart, completely avoiding his designated spot across from me. He pours himself a glass of whatever potent spirit Teeno has on rotation and throws it back. He pours himself another and then one for me.

I take it and nurse the amber drink. Before Teeno dives into his eternity of pleasantries and small talk, I lean forward. "You said Coodi reached out?"

"Ah, yes. Ledi?"

"Yes, sir?" the crisp voice of my least favorite Artificial Intelligence chirps through the hidden speakers around the cabin. I hate feeling like he's everywhere.

Hux hurls himself into my lap.

"Ledi, play back the recent message from Vesta."

The lights in the cabin dim. In the center of the table, a holographic image of my old friend rises from a pile of digital pebbles. Her thick black brows furrow and her long, dark eyelashes blink away sleepiness from her red, tired eyes. She appears older than when I turned my back on ARC10 and ditched them all on the Olympi. Her lips purse. This is Coodi in her anxious state—the one I'd only glimpsed a handful of times. She bristles and her features turn sharp as she salutes me. "Commander Lorn."

I shudder. No one has called me that in ages.

"I hope you have received my previous missives. Fleet commander Moyra White's continued absence has impacted our exports as we are unable to protect assets during delivery." Her gaze is focused forward, but I am sure she's crumbling internally.

Across the table and through the hologram, I catch Teeno turning to face Moon at the bar cart.

"We are vulnerable. Our export liaisons have gone missing or have been returned mutilated since our security detail is not nearly as trained as Moyra and her operators." She averts her gaze to something on the ground. "If I may ask, how is the HMS Valediction handlings these drop-offs? We find there is a new hostility toward us that we haven't experienced."

She takes a deep breath—one I know she uses to steady herself. "I have had no contact with Moyra. I don't know what to do next. I..."

My insides yearn to rush to her as I watch her struggle to hold herself together.

"I miss her so much. Please, help me."

Teeno pauses the feed. "Well?"

"Well, what?" I sit back and hide my frown behind my glass as I take a long sip. Moyra had disappeared on all her loved ones once. All of our searches came back fruitless. She will show up when she's ready, but seeing Coodi is like holding a mirror up to past me when I first experienced the agony of Moyra's death.

"Are you experiencing increasing aggression?"

I glance at Moon. The scars down my neck itch with the memory of our brawls. "Do you think anyone has been any more hostile to us lately?"

Moon snorts into his glass.

A shadow stretches over my head. The shape it casts is curvy and familiar. Speaking of hostile—

"We have witnessed progressive events of dissent. I have documented three occurrences already, but no altercations ensued. It was mostly elevated security on arrival. This is irregular behavior from our most trusted clients." Nuna's voice adds ice chips to the room. She doesn't look at me as she takes the seat at my side.

Teeno leans back and picks a flyaway thread on the arm of his chair. "What do you think this means?"

We stew in our silence. It grows thicker and heavier with time. Teeno picks at his chair, Moon pours himself so many libations, he practically becomes a water feature in the room, and Nuna's intense focus on the floor is so heated, it could burn a hole right into the deck below. I know she's trying to be professional, but I can feel her anger radiating off her body like solar flares. I squirm. I ignore them. I gulp back the rest of the fiery drink.

"This is unproductive. Call if you need me," I hoist myself from my chair and stop at the chair where Hux is busy drawing with his finger on a digital notepad. "What do you say we play hooky and get the hell out of here?"

His wide grin shows the absence of another tooth that was still there when I left. I'm missing too much.

I grab his hand, and we whirl away. He runs, pulling me ahead so I have to jog to keep up with him. I know where he's leading—it's his favorite spot in the entire ship—on this vessel where he has lived his entire life. It pains me to remember a similar spot being a past favorite of mine.

We dance wildly in place to a song he sings on the short elevator ride up. When the doors slide open, he takes off running and cartwheeling on his one arm down the long stretch of corridor. The harvest engineers smile and step sideways to not get in his path. I smile and wave in thanks.

On the top floor, there is nothing above us but glass giving us a perfect view of the starry expanse. Despite having just returned from nothing but stars, I still can't tear my gaze away.

"Come on, Mom!" Hux is at the gravity lock and washing his hand before entering the vegetation silos.

I peer through the port hole into the Silo-A. The two, enormous, cylindrical chambers house all of our greenery on the HMS Valediction. Using all the self-sustaining systems we used in the United Resistance of Earth with lots of high-tech upgrades, the engineers in the HMS Valediction had no trouble keeping the people alive and thriving.

While all of this was a snooze-fest for me, Hux is obsessed. Especially with harvest procedures.

He slips off his shoes and pads over in his socks. "Can we? Can we? Please?"

I step on my heel to pull off my unlaced boot. "How many apples do you think I can fit in my shirt?"

"Mom." He shakes his head, hiding his grin.

Barefoot, clean-handed, and excited, we approach the airlock. Hux holds onto my leg as I grab the strap above my head. "Ready?"

"Ready."

I ignite the gravity lock.

It's an experience I've gotten so used to, my stomach doesn't flip anymore when we make the quick transition to null gravity. My feet lift from the ground and I hold the tether bar tight. We float, me dangling from the hand holster while Hux grips my leg tighter. The door behind us swooshes open. Hundreds of shades of green and the humid air greet us I push us into the silo. We drift in wonder as we watch workers pruning, harvesting, and maintaining the lush scape. Hux clings to my leg as we float from the door. When we arrive at the grove of trees with thick, intertwining roots, he releases me and grabs a branch, disappearing into the thicket.

The harvest bots breeze by with their loads of fruit and vegetables. A few engineers pass and wave as they float by. Grabbing the branch of a nearby apple tree, I hook my arm around it and sway. With my eyes closed and the soft background hum of bots and whirring machinery, and rustling leaves, I find peace.

Until a detect the very familiar scent of a flower I didn't know existed until I met her. Guess we're going to have this conversation now.