The Wandering Loon drifted above the orbital plane of the Ostinato system. The view screens, repaired thanks to the lingering argo and a hefty dose of Skill application, were linked in one massive display, showing the planets orbiting the binary stars below. Denser than average and too hot to be comfortable, they were both marked as nature preserves for the unique fauna that thrived in the oppressive light, while the majority of the system population lived on a series of stations all grav-locked into the same orbit.

  As good a place as any to lay low for a few days.

  Heath leaned back and savored the moment. Over a year as a Captain, he barely recognized the clueless Spacer and broken ship that limped into the Madrigan system to beg, borrow, and steal their second chance.

  Uncle Walt’s preference for gleaming chrome and white was still present as an echo. But the Loon had battle scars now. Where the Shaman’s virus had taken root, the interior walls and bulkheads had been corroded away. Rather than replace them as they had been, the Loon had chosen to immortalize her struggle.

  Heath and the others supplied some of the energy. But she had chosen where to direct it. Instead of hiding away, the empty spaces were covered in sheets of mercocite crystal, durable enough to match the rest of the ship, but entirely translucent. Through the clear panes, the crew could watch as mana worked throughout the ship in shining golden motes. Like their own personal galaxy.

  It was a pleasant view and a bold statement. Perfect healing might exist, but that didn’t mean the injury was forgotten. The Wandering Loon had won a war and put the results on display.

  Pride in their survival wouldn’t fill their coffers or their bellies, but Heath savored it all the same.

  The crew was running ragged. After patching the ship and looting the Shaman’s base for all it was worth, the five of them had run into a wall. Injured and exhausted, they had reached Ostinato and stopped. A few days of rest was all they could afford to take, but they needed the time, waiting for their bodies and minds to recover.

  Jenny Mae had fared the worst. The overload of med packs had let her survive, but there was a reason the healing nanites couldn’t fully replace Classers with specialized Skills. They had barely seen their Administrator in the week since the battle, while she suffered the toxic backlash. It would be survivable, but a painful, disgusting, and months-long process. At least.

  On the other hand, Emerald was doing fine. Despite being bludgeoned into unconsciousness. The higher level, new Class, and a respectable Toughness stat had them back on their feet before anyone else.

  The rest of them were somewhere in between. Heath was still achy, but kept his complaints to himself after watching Ekaterina rip her arm back into the socket and carry on with her day. And for Copperfield, physically he was fine, but Betsy had been an unexpected casualty of the Shaman’s rampage on the Loon. They would need a real artificer Class to get the mech suit back to battle-readiness. Or wearability.

  They were broke, broken, and probably being decried as pirates across the sector.

  But they were alive. Anyone betting on the outcome would have lost a mint as they came out of the fight with the Shaman, a high-rank-two classer and all-around psycho, without any deaths or permanent injuries. He owed the Trickster’s temple a sizable donation, just as soon as he found one.

  Thinking of the evil fucker brought Heath back to the moment he made good on his promise. Each body part they had recovered had been sealed into separate cargo crates, with a healthy amount of kicking and spitting for good measure. Perhaps they would have felt differently if there was real blood or guts covering their boots, but the Technomancer Shaman had fully committed to his class, and it was easy to forget the parts had belonged to a human at all.

  The one stop the Wandering Loon made before leaving the Siegbahn system had been to launch the crates on a salvaged drone. And then waiting the eight hours of full burn to watch the drone fly directly into the sun. The Loon had broken out the Stygian whiskey to celebrate, having squirrelled the last bottle away in a backup maintenance compartment.

  Heath reached out to rub the good luck charm. It too had beaten the odds. Ekaterina had found it wedged behind Copperfield’s burnt out station, unharmed. The swirl of glitter unchanged where it glimmered amidst the deep black orb.

  Over the course of half an hour, his crew joined him on the bridge. Limping and groaning, they all made it to their stations. And they were their stations. He knew, he did, that crew members came and went. Especially on haulers. Even more so on haulers that were actual pirates. Maybe it was naive, but Heath didn’t think that applied to them. Stifled ambition and second chances had brought them together. Secrets and necessity had paved their path forward. Honor and family were what held them now.

  Heath couldn’t imagine anything better. “We did it.”

  “Never doubted for a second,” Copperfield said.

  “Ow, guys don’t make me laugh.” Jenny Mae clutched at her stomach while the rest of them chuckled. Which only made her attempt a scowl. It didn’t work on her face and that sparked another round of giggles around the bridge.

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  “What next?” Copperfield asked when they had calmed down.

  Heath considered his crew. “That depends. I got enough experience to hit level 50. I’ve been waiting to heal up a bit and breathe for a minute before I look, but there’s a Class evolution waiting. I bet most of us are in the same boat.” He waited for confirmation from the rest of the crew. “Though I think some of us already had a recent Class evolution.”

  Emerald shrugged. “Was offered it a while back, when we completed the first dungeon.”

  “That long!” Jenny Mae sounded like she was bursting with questions, but the exclamation had her doubled over again, whimpering.

  “Had to give up most of my Captain skills to get it. Even handicapped…” they trailed off for a moment. “It's not always easy giving up on who you were, even if it’s to become who you want to be.”

  The group paused for a moment to absorb the wisdom.

  “So?” Ekaterina asked.

  “So what?” Emerald was looking at the rest of their expectant faces like they really didn’t know.

  “So what class did you get? Look at Jenny, she’s so curious she’s about to vomit. Put her out of her misery.”

  “Okay, okay. Calm down girl. It’s called Arcane Skirmisher. Combat class based around emulating the Trickster. [Mage Hand], [Invisibility], stuff like that.”

  “Sweet! You’re our rogue. We’re really falling ass-backwards into a pretty balanced team.” Copperfield’s enthusiasm was only matched by Jenny Mae, who really did look like the overexcitement was making her sick.

  “Congratulations, Crewmember Emerald. It has been my sincere pleasure to watch your growth to this stage, I look forward to seeing the heights you shall achieve.”

  “Yeah well.” Emerald ducked down in a rare show of self-doubt. “Missing some of the better Spacer skills now.”

  “You can attempt to relearn them the right way this time,” Ekaterina said. “With practice and not a wasted Skill point.”

  Heath butted in before an argument could do anything to break the mood. “We’re all ready then. We can hang out here for another week or so before we really need to get moving or pick up new supplies. That means we’re back to sludge rations.”

  He took a breath before admitting what they all must have been thinking. “Then I think we really do need to leave this section of the Rim.”

  A frown pulled at his lips as he thought about all the reasons it was necessary. “With the Syndicate taking an interest, and the whole thing with the Wraith, I don’t see us getting many regular hauling gigs.”

  “Back to the grind then?” Copperfield was apprehensive, and rightly so. Heath felt the same way. It was so anticlimactic, they had fought the big battle and came out victorious. Going back to everyday life felt like moving backwards.

  “I don’t see another option, do you? Leveling after 50 is way harder, and I doubt we’ll be able to pick up so many delves. Higher-rank dungeons have longer resets. We’ll need to fill the time so the usual makes sense.”

  “I have some ideas,” Jenny Mae offered. “A few sectors that looked like they would be good places to make a new start.”

  “Can always do some far-reaches jobs too,” Emerald grumbled. A new Class was not the same as a new personality. “Give anyone looking some time to cool off.”

  “You’re all forgetting something obvious.” Ekaterina was arms crossed, sitting ramrod straight, the perfect noble scion. “My family has an estate in the Core and vast holdings besides.”

  “Believe me, we haven’t forgotten,” Copperfield said.

  If they could turn Ekaterina’s glares into a weapon, the Loon probably never would have been stolen in the first place.

  “My Journey was supposed to end several months ago. My parents will be expecting my return.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  The astonishment in Jenny Mae’s voice matched Heath’s. Yes, originally her contract was only for a year, but he figured after everything there was no question of them all staying together. So much for honor and family.

  “Huntress save me from blind fools, I’m inviting you all back with me! No Rim-sector crime family will follow us that far, and we will have access to resources to train and advance farther, while we determine a better long-term course of action.”

  “Your parents. Lord and Lady Althalas, will be fine hosting us?” Copperfield pointed around the room and he had a point. Traditionalists tended to look down on Classers like them. Plus they were poor yokels from the Rim. And they had sort of, maybe, pressured their daughter into some serious crimes.

  “Of course. You all have honor, and my parents will respect that.”

  “Aww.” The next moment was the most excruciatingly awkward thing Heath had ever seen, as Jenny Mae hobbled across the bridge, half hunched over and holding her stomach, and forced a hug on a stoic Ekaterina. “We love you too,” she said to the other woman’s collarbone.

  “That’s pretty perfect if you’re sure,” Heath added.

  “I’m sure. Though they will expect us to earn the relevant resources.”

  “Not too much different than anywhere else, then.” Copperfield said. “Except we won’t be looking over our shoulders all the time.”

  “That settles it then. Though we have to make at least one stop beforehand.” It was time. He had put it off for too long already and any longer risked actual physical harm. “We have to go see my mother.”

  **********

  Later that night, after a shared dinner of nutritious, disgusting travel rations, Heath laid down and did some of the breathing exercises he liked to complain to Ekaterina about.

  This was a step he had dreamed of, but always in the abstract. A moment for ‘some day’ but not anytime soon. Getting a Class was something most people spent a long time working towards. A reward from the System after years of dedication. He was already luckier than most to have Classers in the family that had helped him cut the line.

  Level 50 was beyond that. Rank two, when his body would be reinforced and his class reforged. When a Classer truly started walking their own path, not just one trod by millions that had come before.

  His first real Class evolution. Spacer to Captain didn’t count. That was getting lucky off of Walt’s death and the fact that all it took to be a Captain was owning a ship.

  He looped back to the beginning of the breathing exercises. Maybe another iteration would work to calm him down. Evolutions weren’t guaranteed, but when they came, the System always gave an option based on the Classer’s actions. Heath had no regrets from the last years, but his mom would kill him if he came home an actual Pirate. If it was really bad, he could always decline. Most people didn’t become Captain’s until at least level 50 anyway. He wouldn’t be falling behind if he didn’t specialize.

  Even if he really wanted something cool.

  Giving up on the breathing exercises he closed his eyes and pulled up his System notifications. This one time, he didn’t compress them into a summary notification.

  He let each one scroll past. Watching as the levels came in Heath tried, and failed, to keep from guessing what the evolution would be. That way led to disappointment, yet he couldn’t quite resist. Something with fighting, a protector or support combat Class? Hopefully not. The Loon was his home and he had no intention of giving it up. Maybe a cross-specialization with Pilot, for how much maneuvering they had done lately? Not the worst way for a Captain to go but not the best.

  The scrolling stopped and he read through the final notification.

  [Class Evolution available. See details? Y/N].

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