Chapter 4 #2
She lifted her chin. “It isn’t far outside known space. I’ve been told you frequently made expeditions past the outer rim.”
“Not that far out.” But Zayn’s eyes narrowed. “Could be interesting, though.”
Dathan pressed his palms against the holo-table. “Or we get attacked by space pirates, or hit some weird-ass anomaly, or worse, run into the Devil’s Nebula.”
She had no idea what the Devil’s Nebula was, but all those options did sound bad.
“Or, we find Star’s End,” Niklas said.
Dathan made a sound. “There’s no way Terran colonists could have made it this far.”
Eos felt a tingle imagining such a harrowing journey. “They did. Their captain was a man named Galileo Hawkins. He was an experienced spacefarer. There are surviving documents about his voyages to Saturn and Neptune.”
Niklas crossed his arms. “Terrans had barely traveled beyond the edge of their own system. Their interstellar technology was still in its infancy.”
“A crawling baby still gets where it’s going, it just takes longer.” She pushed her hair back. “I’ve found legends and stories recorded by the Tupi, the Solara, and the K’hori. Stories telling of colonists on a great journey who visited their planets.”
Niklas zoomed out the image and traced a finger to the planets. “Those worlds are certainly in a rough path between Beta7 and Earth.”
“The colonists could have been from anywhere.” Dathan studied the map. “Show us the mining scans.”
BEll obeyed with no comment. Thermal images filled the holo-table.
“Not great resolution,” Niklas said with a frown.
Eos gripped the edge of the table. They couldn’t pull out now. “They’re from prelim exploration scans.” Mining companies sent unmanned probes all through the galaxy, taking prelim scans of anything. Any worthwhile hits then warranted further exploration.
Though poor quality, the layout of a town was clear. A regular grid of streets and some outlying complexes.
“And look here.” She pointed to one spot. “A temple.”
Niklas leaned closer. “They called them churches. The cross shape looks right. Classic marker of a Terran colony.” Now there was excitement in his voice.
“Whether it’s Star’s End or not, we won’t know until we get there.” Dathan’s gaze caught hers. “But it’s definitely something and we’ve gone in with less info than this before.”
“The moon’s covered in several meters of sand,” she said. “The climate’s obviously changed over the years.”
“Maybe climate change destroyed the colony?” Niklas said.
Dathan flexed his shoulders. “We were raised on the desert world of Zerzura. I think we can handle some sand. The Infinitas is equipped to deal with sand, water, jungle, gas and ice.”
She nodded. “Excellent.”
Zayn shifted. “The Infinitas does need maintenance on the singularity drive.”
Dathan groaned. “That’ll take too long.”
“And you’ve already postponed it once,” said a voice from the doorway.
Eos spun. A slim man in baggy work clothes and black grease staining his face, stood in the door.
“If you’re headed out that far,” the man continued, “it’ll pay to replace the drive.”
Eos blinked at the low, melodious voice. Not a man, a woman.
Looking past the clothes and the grease, she saw a pretty face with a pointed chin and bright amethyst eyes. Her hair was as dark as Dathan’s and chopped off in a haphazard style that made Eos guess the woman cut it herself.
Those blue-purple eyes fixed on Eos. “Hello.”
Niklas moved forward. “Eos, this is our cousin and resident mechanical expert, Malin Phoenix. Mal, Dr. Eos Rai.”
Malin grabbed a rag out of her back pocket and rubbed at her stained hands. Three swipes and she gave up. She held up her dirty hands and offered Eos a wry smile instead. “Welcome to Khan. And I only answer to Mal. I take care of the scrap business while these three tour about the galaxy.”
“We’re about to plan another tour,” Dathan said with a wink.
“Figures.” Mal tucked the rag away. “Dr. Rai, I suggest you don’t listen to any of the crap these three will feed you.” When Dathan swiped out a hand, she ducked it with practiced ease. “Especially this one. He can charm his way out of a Boll viper pit.”
Eos suppressed a smile. “Thanks for the advice.”
Dathan shook his head. “Don’t listen to her. She was raised by our junker uncle who dragged her all around the quadrant scavenging scrap parts. Her manners are rusty.”
Zayn slung an arm around Mal’s shoulders. “But she’s the best starship mechanic this side of the Magellan field.”
Dathan pointed. “Surprised you aren’t drooling over your rusted metal parts.”
“I’m on my way. Got a wreck coming in. A ZT-300 light cruiser, and its turbopumps are intact. You do need to overhaul the singularity drive, though. You don’t want to end up needing speed and not having it.”
“How long?” Dathan asked.
“With Z’s help, two days tops.”
“No.” Eos leaped forward. “We don’t have that long.”
“Why?” Dathan demanded.
Mal backed up. “My cue to leave.” She tossed them a jaunty salute and headed out.
Dathan stalked closer to Eos and cocked his head. “You keep springing surprises on us, Dr. Rai, then I’m going to think you aren’t trustworthy. You see the irony in the treasure hunter not trusting the upstanding academic?”
Her nose wrinkled. “I’m sorry.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why don’t we have a few extra days?”
“I wasn’t the first person who bought the scans. The mining companies sell scans of any planet without minable resources to recoup some of their costs. They don’t care who buys them.”
“Do you know who the other buyer is?”
She nodded. “I made sure I found out, but when I searched for info on him, I came up blank. I’m guessing his name is fake. Someone called Braxton Riser.”
All brothers swore, and Eos winced. “Not good?”
Dathan shook his head. “It’s an alias that Vand Braxx uses.”
Her stomach dropped. “Oh. We really don’t want to run into him.”
“It’s more likely we’ll run into Darc,” Niklas said with a savage frown. “She does a lot of work for him.”
“Maybe they haven’t linked Beta7 to Star’s End?” Eos said.
Dathan shook his head. “Yeah, and I’m a Gaian harem dancer. Sure you don’t have any more surprises, Dr. Rai?”
“Not today.”
“Well, we’ll have to hope the drive on the Infinitas holds up.” He smiled. “Let’s go hunting.”