FSE

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Asteria was the one to answer the door, datapad in one hand, a fluted glass of blood in the other. She leaned against the door jamb and looked him up and down, pouting and sucking at her teeth as she studied him; this was only the second time she had seen him and his civilian wear was a far cry from his ship suit. He wasn't exactly the sight of a well turned-out captain of a decorated warship, but more of a Scav fresh from a backwater planet, his clothes worn and a wild spark in his eye.

''There's no need for the gun, Captain.'' She said, ''Nor the dagger.''

''Every spacer knows you don't leave home without a weapon.'' Trillian replied smoothly.

''Here for Angelica?''

''And for whoever else is here. I have something she might like to know.'' He replied, ignoring her aloofness.

He waited patiently, returning her scrutinizing stare. She had obviously been shopping. She wore a brand new, high end smartweave body suit and a pair of close-fitting chaps and reinforced boots. No doubt Firmament had benefitted greatly from the Thymion's impromptu visit. She finally pulled herself out of her slouch and gestured vaguely towards the main room, making up her mind.

''Care to come in? Angelica's in the shower. She'll be out in a minute.'' Asteria finally said and moved to one side.

Trillian padded in and moved across to the viewscreen on the opposite side of the room. The Undervilde task force had settled into a holding pattern, their energy-shrouded hulls stark and brilliant against Ilya's tropical vista. He slid his hands into his pockets whilst he waited and Asteria went back to her reading. He could feel her gaze boring into the back of his head every-now-and-then, but he paid her no mind, instead watching the tenders service the elven vessels. A gasp of surprise pulled him away from the sight and the moment he turned around, Angelica, wrapped in a large, plush bath towel, had locked him into a tight hug. He went rigid, trying not to offend her by pulling away as was his natural reflex and stood there silently, statue-still, waiting for her to finish.

''Welcome to our hab suite,'' She beamed, oblivious to his discomfort. She gestured to a seat, but he shook his head.

''I'm only here because I feel you need to know something.'' He looked around the room. The door slid open and Bojo, Billy and Rosemary filed in, the men encumbered with shopping bags. Asteria snorted in amusement at their flustered expressions and Rosemary looked away shyly. ''Putting Firmament's econony through it's paces, I see?'' Trillian commented dryly, thinking their timing impeccable.

''The girls discovered the boutique on level thirty, section four.'' Billy sighed and dropped the bags of clothes and trinkets to the deck. He slouched onto the sofa and sighed again, kicking off his boots.

Trillian nodded, knowing how he felt. Hollen's Boutique sold all sorts of exotic wares: clothes, perfumes and trinkets. He had no doubt that both the Ranger and the Warrior's holds would be packed to the gills with their products.

''What brings you here?'' Angelica asked. She sat down on the edge of the sofa beside Billy and started grooming her damp pinion feathers.

Bojo slumped into the other chair whilst Rosemary perched on the arm of Ateria's. Rachel emerged from the bedroom, blinking sleep from her eyes. Trillian waited another beat and when no one else wandered into the living room, he continued speaking, his words measured.

''I've finally managed to get around to sorting through my inbox and have discovered an awful lot about the inner workings of the Shadow Stalkers in this region. Whilst I can't divulge much to you, for the sake of security, I can tell you one thing.'' He took a breath, pausing to see if they were paying attention. ''Vice Admiral Gensu, the commander of the fleet I and my crew are currently assigned to is currently incarcerated for a multitude of crimes, one of which involves Thymion. Or at least, the unused sectors within the empire. He's got his fingers in all sorts of pies, one of which is trafficking. You name it, he's trafficked it. It turns out that he had picked up an unknown client out in the Mosiah Expanse who wanted some specialist workers, but didn't want to go the legal route about acquiring them. Without going into too much detail, the quickest way to get to the area of the Mosiah Expanse Gensu wanted to get to, is cutting through your territory, out on the inner fringes of the Thymion Void.

''He saw an opportunity to scope the place out with Oshanus's hunt for Xanimus and took the contract to track him so he could use the opportunity to scope the place out, to see if anyone would notice a ship cruising through under stealth and also to see how much and who was left inside. Unfortunately, all of our sensor corvettes were otherwise preoccupied and far away from that particular area of space. The Ranger, fresh from Firmament, got nailed with the contract. It's a hell of a slog to get from Firmament to Thymion, but we were his best bet, being the only closest available ship. Our contract was a stealth mission, as you know; in and out, no disturbances.'' He paused and his frown deepened, ''You all know how well that went. Needless to say, Gensu's livid the contract turned sour and he got caught. And I'm equally livid that I and my crew were used as his cover.'' He added angrily. ''None of us had any idea of what he was planning, otherwise we would have turned the contract down and forwarded the information to high command forthwith.''

''What kind of specialist workers did these people want?'' Rachel asked suspiciously.

''The Mosiah Expanse is a highly industrialised zone. It's outer reaches on the far side of the Expanse one giant flea pit where you can buy anything and everything. Their entire economy was founded and built on the black market and, out there, their rules, as a result, are slack in some areas. The specialist workers they're running short of and asked Gensu to acquire,'' He finally said, bracing himself for the reaction, knowing full well what it would be, ''are miners. They pick them up young; it's easier to break a child than an adult and get them used to a life in the mines. They get through their labour fast and are always looking for more workers. Right now, they need miners more than anything else, especially after the collapse of one of their biggest shafts. Mosiah Prime lost over five hundred workers and need to replace them, and Gensu saw an opportunity to make more money.''

A cold silence descended upon the room and Trillian looked around. Angelica opened her mouth, her expression angry. He held up a placating hand.

''Child labour? Common slavery is disgusting, but children?'' She growled.

''That's why this Gensu had a ship sent into our space? So he could set up an illegal shipping lane and send people to their deaths?'' Asteria said.

Trillian nodded, ''It is. He wanted to see how populated the empire was and whether or not he could get away with sneaking stealthed ships through. He confessed that much.''

''We need to do something about it-'' Angelica started.

''No you don't.'' Trillian growled. He had expected her reaction to be just that; righteous fury about something she barely understood. His mask of professionalism slid back into place and he instinctively affected the tone he had used thousands of times when dealing with a junior spacer who was getting ahead of themselves in a dangerous situation. The two stared at each other. Angelica's petulant glare met Trillian's cool gaze. ''You've been locked away for too long. You don't understand the nuances of things yet. You're young, foolhardy and uneducated. It's a comparatively small strip of the Mosiah Expanse that is dirty, so don't tar them all with the same brush, because if you go barreling into Mosiah to sterelize it all, you'll damage not only their economy, but thousands of others, too. You may not like it, but the Mosiah Expanse is a major source of income and trade for a great deal of people, even the Tuven Sector. Why? Because the Mosian black market will deal with anything remotely shady. They are a valuable resource and you absolutely will not mobilize against them in any way, is that clear?''

Angelica's jaw dropped and she sat, stunned, her mind working through a litany of responses. But the look on Trillian's face, his posture, his tone of voice... He would not be argued with. She looked to Billy, but he looked equally as stunned. Everyone in the room stared at Trillian in shock. Then Asteria started giggling into the back of her hand. She waved Angelica's annoyed look away. Billy placed his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back onto the sofa.

''He's right you know. We might not like it, but terrible things happen in the universe. If you went out and dealt with every vagabond, every smuggler, every slaver, every thief in the universe, then there would be nothing left.'' Billy said softly. His expression took on a pained look and he glanced away, ''I'm not excusing this Gensu guy's behaviour, nor am I arguing in favour of this Mosiah Expanse's deeds, but I understand. As much as I hate it, as much as I like taking down slavers and helping the downtrodden, I hate it. To go rushing into something as big as that would spell disaster for trillions of people, including us.'' He looked back at her, ''I've done some terrible things to survive during my time in the military. Does that mean you would hunt me down?''

She shook her head, dumbstruck by his tone and the sudden morose feel that washed over him, ''I wouldn't. You know that. I know you had to do horrible things just to be able to see the sun rise the next morning...''

''Exactly. Look, there are people just like me, just like Captain Spears... Like you were when you were little, rummaging through dumpsters for a scrap of food, living all over the place...'' Billy cleared his throat, realising he was about go on a tangent, ''What I'm trying to say is, yes, slavery sickens me. But going after an entire people just to get rid of the handful is not right. Like he said, don't tar everyone with the same brush. Life is complicated and you've yet to live yours.''

''We all have a great deal to learn.'' Rosemary whispered to her.

Angelica forced herself to calm down, sighing heavily as Rachel joined her, squeezing herself onto the end of the sofa and clasping her hand in her own. Billy gave Trillian a slight nod.

''Concentrate on your people.'' The tiger said, ''And remember; there's nothing saying you can't take down slavers who pass close to your border. It's your right to deal with unwanted interlopers who cross your border or start trouble near it. Just don't go actively hunting them all the time. You'll end up biting off more than you can chew if you accidentally rile up one of the local cartels or accidentally rumble a honey trap, official or otherwise.''

''What's going to happen to Gensu?'' Bojo asked.

''So far as I know, he's been arrested, stripped of his rank, disgraced and is waiting on some officials from his home world to show up to witness his execution.'' Trillian replied.

There was a long moment of heavy silence as they digested it all. The silence was eventually broken by Rosemary's cheerful voice. She forced a smile, cutting through the dark mood and rose from her seat, turning to Trillian.

''Would you join us for something to eat?'' She asked, trying to push aside the grim atmosphere.

Trillian glanced at the chrono on the wall. He had to meet with Harrison in forty minutes.

''No, thank you. I have a previous arrangement with the captain of the Warrior and if I don't turn up on time, she'll come looking for me.'' He replied.

He excused himself from the hab suite, thinking that it could have gone better. But it was over now. They knew why the Ranger was officially in Thymion space and now they knew the ulterior motive. He made his way to the bank of elevators at the end of the corridor and contacted Harrison, letting her know he was on his way.

~~~~~~

The repairs had been completed in record time. The month estimation had dwindled down to two weeks as the Ranger had been swarmed with repair crews, all working overtime to get the old sublight drives removed and the refurbished sublights installed. The warship had just returned that morning after it's third test run that week to check to see if everything had bedded in correctly and the systems were operating efficiently. This time, the day of hard manoeuvring had lit up several telltales on the engineering status board, but for once the problems had been minor and easily repairable. Trillian studied the final readouts, scrolling through the information on the datapad Thaslon had handed him. The horse leaned against a thick support strut, one of many that lined the wide promenade that led to the docks and waited patiently for the tiger's opinion.

''Well, I've got to admit, you beat your old record of two weeks and three days by seven hours. I owe you a keg of the finest Oletian ale.'' Trillian said, skimming the final details. The last paragraphs and bullet points were about the ship's internal lighting systems and how the overheads would continue to flicker everytime the sublights increased and decreased in speed. ''Think the lights'll cut out completely when we engage and disengage the slipdrive?''

Thaslon shook his head, ''I doubt it, but I wouldn't discount it not happening. The main junction box blew on the first test run and has fused itself to the hull. Only thing we could do was to pull what we could from the sockets and insert some crystals from an older CR-twelve box. Both me and Lieutenant Jos are of the opinion that the plugs are fucked and it's affecting the rest of the lumens system.''

''Any risk of it affecting our external lights?''

''No. Our running lights are fully functional and the replacements Firmament gave us the last time we were here are holding up nicely. I expect they'll be pulled when we get home and installed on another ship.''

He handed the datapad back to Thaslon and they walked towards the dock airlock. It was almost time to go and eighteen of his crew were yet to turn up. They stepped through the airlock and onto a dock of controlled chaos. Both the Ranger and Warrior were having supplies loaded into their holds and their crews were going about their tasks with practised efficiency. Amongst them, the crew of the Connaru frigate were busy with their own tasks, the armoured naga slithering to and from a series of large shipping containers that sat in the middle of the dock.

''Looks like they're ready to re-join the fight.'' Thaslon commented as they watched a heavy-built naga carry a pair of long, armoured grey cases towards the ship's hold.

''They got some new weapons, too.'' Trillian replied, eyeing the stacks of cases.

''A minor shipment of gauss rifles.'' Harrison said at his shoulder, ''I got talking to their captain at the wholesalers. He didn't say for who or where, but he did say they're good guns and a bargain for a thousand credits per unit.''

''I assume you also went on a bit of a spending spree at Makwen's Miltech, too.'' Trillian said amiably. He had burned an otherwise empty hour by browsing through their catalogue before he had left his hab suite and had ended up spending money he hadn't intended on spending.

''I know that look.'' Thaslon commented, ''What did you buy?''

''I needed a new pistol bow and some new power cells for my sword.'' He replied. They then looked at Harrison, who looked away, refusing to make eye contact with either of them . ''And you?''

''A rotary shard cannon.''

''Aren't they slightly illegal in most sectors?'' Thaslon asked, putting an emphasis on the word Slightly.

''Yes, but my personal ship is in dire need of a serious armarment upgrade and this cannon will put me to fifty percent there.'' She replied and quicky added, ''Not a word to anyone. This is between you, me, the Makwen clerk and my purser. High command will have a fit if they find out I've procured an illegal weapon.''

Thaslon gave a mock salute and Trillian turned away, chuckling, ''I should have known you'd have your mitts on that in a heart beat when I saw it listed.''

''I'm not that predictable, am I?''

''Only to those who don't know you.'' He replied and started walking towards a pile of bags. He added his duffel to the small mountain of luggage and looked up at the matte black cliff of the Ranger's coreward flank, his expression clouding.

Harrison checked her chrono, ''One hour left for everyone to get their asses in gear and get aboard. Four hours until the slipstream.''

''They'll get here, don't worry.'' Trillian said, his voice sounding a little distant as his mind drifted. For the first time since he had received the victory braid, the sense of unease and indicision he had felt left him. The scuffed black armour beyond the thick sheet of transparasteel before him gave him a sense of purpose and had solidified his desire to stay enlisted as suddenly as a flash of lightning. Seeing the Ranger up close, putting her through her shakedown, had flipped a switch in his head and his determination to carry out his duties became as strong as ever.

''I hear you decided to stay on.'' Harrison remarked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He glanced over his shoulder at the manticore, ''Who told you that?''

''Big, red, temperamental...'' She hinted.

''You're staying on?'' Thaslon said, his eyes wide in surprise. He had been so sure about Trillian's determination to move on, to leave the Shadow Stalkers behind, that he had genuinely believed nothing could change his mind.

''I am. I'm not letting a little bottom feeder like Gensu force me out of the only career I've ever known.''

''So... that brings up the additional question of your rank... I know this voyage was a test run, to see if you could handle being a captain...'' Thaslon said slowly, his voice unsure. He didn't want to touch upon any sore points.

''I got an official letter declaring me a full warship captain. It was signed by Steelfang himself. I've checked the records. I'm no longer Lieutenant Commander Spears.'' He grinned.

''You skipped an entire rank. That takes some doing.'' Harrison said, astonished, ''You should have said. I would have taken you to something more lavish than a back alley diner.''

Trillian shrugged, staying quiet, enjoying the descent back into a more familiar routine.

''Looks like everyone might finally be here.'' Thaslon commented, turning to look at the airlock.

They turned their attention to the airlock at the far end of the dock. A mixed group of aliens, all wearing the black and green uniform of the Shadow Stalkers, piled onto the dock, chatting noisily. The group saluted to their captains as they passed, splitting apart and heading for their ships. Trillian and Harrison exchanged some last minute chat whilst Thaslon hurried aboard the Ranger to make his own final preparations.

It was time to leave Firmament.

~~~~~~

Trillian settled into the command chair, watching quietly as First Watch filed in and took up their stations. Screens all across the bridge lit up as they signed in and bit by bit, the Ranger came back to life. The only thing missing was the faint rumble of the sublight drives sending a subtle shiver throughout the ship's superstructure. The tug, Neah, latched itself onto the prow of the destroyer and a series of dull thuds echoed throughout the ship as umbilicals and monitor cables snapped free.

''Neah to Ranger, we are ready to begin towing.'' A voice said over the comm. ''We will release you twenty kilos from Firmament. At thirty kilos, you will engage your sublight drives and no earlier, is that understood?''

''That is understood, thank you, Neah. All helm controls are being transferred to your ship.'' Trillian replied to the nose of the Connaru frigate.

''Looks like we've developed a blind spot.'' Owen commented softly.

Trillian nodded. They should be able to see the Neah clearly, but a set of external sensors that fed the viewscreens was offline and all that coul dbe seen was the Connaru frigate and its immediate surroundings.

He looked to Ensign Trat, ''Run a diagnostic on our viewscreen sensors and see if you can do something about that blind spot.''

''Aye Captain, now running diagnostics.'' The leopard replied and set to work.

''We now have full helm control of the Ranger. We will begin manoeuvres once the Warrior has cleared her dock.'' The Tuvenese voice announced.

''Copy that, Neah.''

Bracken sat back in her seat, her hands in her lap, nothing better to do and feeling a little lost for it now that the Neah was currently in control. Trillian felt the same. There was very little he, Bracken and Reana could do until they were clear of Firmament and were ready to bring the sublights online. They waited, silence blanketing the bridge, Trat's voice a soft murmur as she spoke with her backroom and engineering, trying to figure out the problem with the viewscreen sensors. The tension was slowly rising as the minutes ticked by and everyone waited to see what would break when the Ranger came under her own power once more. Trillian checked his navigation and sensors screens, watching the small, blue dot that represented the Warrior. It started shifting, slowly, crawling sideways from its original, static position.

''There she goes.'' Owen commented, looking at the viewscreen.

Up ahead of them, they could just see the battlecruiser gliding sideways out of her berth, being manoeuvred away from the dock by the tug that was clamped magnetically to its prow like a silver-grey wart, fuzor cowling blazing with heat as the tug's drives spooled up to full strength. The tug hauled the battlecruiser forward once the warship was clear and the Warrior was guided through the giant, hexagonal portal and out into the black, amongst the traffic. A text only message flashed up on Trillian's comms screen. It was from Harrison.

Race You home.

• Cpt. Harrison. A.

Trillian tapped out a less-than pleasant response and smiled at the less-than pleasant reply. He looked away from his comms screen and saw the Connaru frigate shifting to the left. The Neah was towing the Ranger away from its dock, out into the broad space between docked ships. The Neah made short work of towing the destroyer beyond the huge doors and Trillian could see the six ovals of white as the Warrior brought her sublights online and started cruising for their designated jump point. The battlecruiser's tug was peeling away fast, heading back towards the shipyard on a curving trajectory. The sensors and TacNet lit up with data, pinpointing the location of every ship in the area that was beyond the doors of the shipyard. The central viewscreen flickered, went black and then came online again in its entirety.

''We now have a full picture, Captain.'' Trat announced with a relieved sigh, ''There was a bug in the auxiliary nodes causing several blind spots all across the ship. A soft reboot has rectified the problem. I'll continue looking for more.''

''Excellent work, Ensign.'' Trillian replied, giving her a polite nod of approval.

Now they could all clearly see the Neah clamped to the Ranger, the tug's magnetic docking arms spread wide making the small ship look as if it was a beetle hugging the destroyer's nose. The tug's drives glowed hot, leaving a cherry red mark on the Ranger's armour as it poured on the power, dragging the destroyer out into its designated shipping lane. Trillian checked the readouts again.

The heatsink in that area was holding steady, so there was nothing to worry about in the way of armour warping or overheating. All they had to do was wait whilst the Tuvenese ship did its work. Trillian studied the vista displayed on the viewscreens, watching the multitude of ships slide past; military, shipyard authorities, shuttles, freighters and a passenger liner were scattered around. Some were heading towards Firmament, others heading away and the rest were itting in a holding pattern, waiting for further instructions from traffic control. Amongst it all, the sleek, golden form of the Hope's Blade sat at anchor, continuously watched by Firmament authorities, a massive dreadnought of the Ancillary Fleet being held in an overwatch position nearby. Angelica's week was almost up. It was time for her to go home, to sort her house out and to finally get her people back on the right track.

''Neah to the Ranger. We will disengage and return full helm control to you in five minutes.''

''Understood, Neah. We'll be ready.'' Trillian shut off the comm and addressed the bridge crew, ''Make sure your departments are ready to fully come online. You have four minutes, twenty seconds.''

The bridge became a hive of activity as everyone started calling their backrooms, checking in with them and getting status reports. Owen checked in with engineering and several of the orange telltales across the status boards turned green. It took less than three minutes for the Ranger to report ready for transit. There was a series of dull thuds as the Neah detached itself from the destroyer and pulled away hard.

''Neah to Ranger, you are free to spool up your drives.'' The voice said, ''Good bye and good luck.''

Trillian replied in kind, shut off the comm to the Neah one last time and counted down the time for sublight drive engagement. Up ahead, the Warrior was still sailing at a sedate 1 cee, matching the Ranger's speed. Trillian watched the engineering status board, a knot of anxiety forming in the pit of his stomach. He hoped the new sublight drives would not cause them any problems and he hoped that the slipdrive would not cut out on them this time.

''Bring the sublight drives into standby, Chief.'' He ordered, his attention fixed on the status board.

''Aye, Sir, bringing the sublight drives into standby... Sublights one-through-four are responding without issue and are now in standby.''

''Check sublight/slipdrive communications.''

''Sublight/slipdrive communications are in the green. All drives are synced up and ready to go.'' Bracken replied.

He glared at the cheerful green of the telltales, daring them to switch to any other colour. When they stubbornly held steady, he turned his attention back to the viewscreens. They were almost there, at the point where the sublights could be brought online and they could be underway once again, sailing under their own power.

''Waypoint One reached.'' Reana announced.

''Bring the sublights out of standby and take us to two cees.'' Trillian ordered.

''Aye, Sir, bringing the sublights out of standby and going to two cees.'' Bracken parroted.

Beside him, Owen stared fixedly at the status boards, waiting tensely for something to go wrong as the familiar feel of an active ship shivered its way through the decks and through their feet. The lights dimmed and came back up with the surge of power, but they showed no further signs of threatening to cut out. The engineering telltales remained resolutely green and Thaslon gave them the go-ahead to increase the speed. The Ranger slowly crept up from 2 cees to quarter sublight. Up ahead, the Warrior was doing the same, increasing her own speed when she detected the Ranger closing the gap. A giddy feeling fluttered through Trillian. All systems were holding steady and Thaslon was confident that the drives would continue to hold up.

''Incoming message from the Warrior, Captain.'' Lieutenant Lussan piped up.

''Let's hear it, Lieutenant.''

''Ah, Ranger, nice to know you're still capable of something more than a snail's pace.'' Harrison purred over the comm.

''Nice to see the Warrior's fairing well with her repairs, too.'' He replied blandly.

''I have a proposition for you and your crew, if you're willing and able.''

''Oh? And what would that be?'' Trillian asked, shifting in his seat. Where Harrison was concerned, alcohol was generally involved in some capacity. His gaze flickered to the text message. She had been serious about the race, he realised.

''Last crew to reach Blackwell's Gate gets the drinks in for the other crew.'' She replied smoothly.

Trillian looked around at his bridge crew whilst Owen quickly contacted the other department heads. A battlecruiser had a larger crew compliment than a destroyer and so it didn't take many seconds to receive an answer to the challenge.

''You're on.'' He said.

Harrison grinned and the line cut.

Even before he could get the words out, the Ranger's speed was creeping up and the slipdrive telltale turned green. He knew it would be an incredibly tight race to get home; battlecruisers were faster than destroyers, but the fact that Bracken had known the crew's answer before even he or Owen did, meant that they had a two minute head-start on reaching FTL speeds. The new sublights whined in the depths of the ship and the vibrations became more pronounced, but Thaslon was not worried and neither were his team, so Trillian forced himself to settled back in his chair and wait for the next waypoint.

''Waypoint Two reached. We are now safe to to go FTL.'' Reana announced.

''Are we ready?'' Trillian asked, his eyes fixed on the Warrior's icon. The battlecruiser had fallen just behind the Ranger and he had no doubt that Harrison was grinding her teeth and toying with the idea of going FTL before the designated jump point.

''Slipdrive is active and ready.'' Bracken said confidently.

Trillian gave the order and the Ranger sank deep into the slipstream, vanishing from real space in a burst of bright violets and gold. The lights dimmed again, flickered then came back as Thaslon had said they would and the PsyNet wrapped itself around the ship, protecting it from the turbulence of the FTL corridor as the Ranger surged forward, cruising home. There was a tense silence all throughout the ship as everyone waited for something to fail. Ten minutes slipped past and still no sign of anything breaking down. Trillian checked the astrogation chart against the route that had been plotted. Four weeks in the slipstream and they'd be home, at Blackwell's border. It was a relief to finally be done with everything the last contract had thrown at them.

Owen tilted his head slightly, his voice pitched low so that only Trillian could hear him, ''So, when are you going to tell the crew about your new rank?''

''I think, when we get dockside and everyone's in their dress uniform.'' He replied softly, a small, sly smile tugging at his lips.

The ferret suppressed a smile of his own and busied himself with a small mountain of paperwork that had built up in his inbox since leaving Firmament. A steward bot trundled onto the bridge and started handing around caf and tea to the crew. Trillian sipped at his own caf, relishing the rich flavour. It was Tuvenese moshaka, an expensive caf available only to the rich and nobility. Apparently, Firmament's quarter master and head of resupply had both dug deep in their stock if the Ranger had received a can of the stuff.

He settled into his routine, delving into his inbox. They had only just left Firmament and already he had a long list of messages to go over and reply to