“Shouldn’t they have reached the system yet?”

“We sent out patrols for unknown ships. Unless they’re registered to the inners, we can board and search them. No problem.”

Sana shuddered at that. She imagined simple passenger ships being stormed by these masked men and women, all hoping to find her stowed away on one. For the prospect of receiving the reward, they’d storm any ship, steal whatever valuables they could find, and justify it as—no, they wouldn’t need to do that. Not here.

Mina came up beside her. “They’re going to any known smuggler or freighter, searching them. People are starting to catch on to what they’re looking for.” She didn’t say who. Didn't need to.

“They’ll tear the station apart,” Sana said. “All of them.” From what she’d seen on the trading post, they were all vultures. She didn’t want to be on a ship with any of them, nor did she want either of the people she was with being there either. Even if they could hold their own ten times over.

“Then what do we do?” Momo asked. 

Hide was her first thought, but that wouldn’t help anyone. She looked around the rusty market, still hoping to find a vaguely familiar or somewhat friendly face. In a place like this, both were next to impossible. 

“We can at least prepare,” she took both their hands, “we have enough for weapons, food, and maybe a transport.” 

Mina shook her head. “Public’s too dangerous still. We have to try once more to find someone,” she turned to the stalls, “there’re too many to fight our way out.” 

“What if you reveal who you are?” Momo suggested. “All others want you alive. The rest will be overrun.”

“And they’ll kill each other when they realise they don’t want to split that reward,” Sana replied. Then she put a hand to her mask, hoping it was secure enough. Only her eyes could be seen. Momo wore an identical one, while Mina’s covered her whole face. It was similar to most of the rest on this station. There wasn’t one person who wasn’t wearing a mask. That was illegal at home. If you tried it, that meant you had something to hide, or had done something for which you didn’t want to be caught. It made you a target. Here, it seemed that if you showed your face, you were more likely to become a target. In Sana’s case, the chance of that was 100%. 

They passed a weapons stand. The heaviest weapons and parts were near the front. Better to avoid theft. Hanging from the metal canopy were ship parts, as well as diagrams of engines and full spacecrafts. Not holograms, but large plaques. They were an ambitious stand—weapons and ships? 

Then her eye caught on a terribly familiar gun. The MZ emblem wasn’t there, nor any of their colours. Rather than purple and white, the weapon was a dull grey and black. Yet the form was unmistakeable. 

“How much?” she asked, ignoring the hand Mina placed on her wrist. She hoped her accent was right for this sector. 

The vendor looked up. The visor covered their eyes, but their mouth broke into a smile. “Twenty signals! Though we cut the price by four and add it to that of the second weapon, if one catches your fancy.” From their voice and frame, they were most likely a woman. What part of her they saw was very pale. From the outer planets of this system? Most of the other venders she’d seen this close to the central star had deep tans. 

Twenty signals. A little more than half the price of the real thing. Out here no one would know the difference. There were weapons for a hundred signals on display. That meant the original price hadn’t been cut to accommodate the market. 

“I’ve seen this sort of weapon before. An Earther model, I guess.”

“Those Minatozaki things? Yes, I remodelled it after them. Looks about the same on the outside, because they look damn good.” The smile widened. “But on the inside, they’re so much better.” 

Sana’s annoyance was replaced by a flicker of hope. She’d correct ‘Minatozaki things’ later. 

“Did you hear about the news there?” Momo asked. Sana saw the same thought process happening there. 

“With the daughter?” They adjusted the chain of bombs in the back. “You asking me if I’ve seen her or not?”

The hope plummeted. “You’ve been asked?”

“A friend was. Roughed up for the weapon she carried,” a frown, “they combed through my ship already. Raided the kitchen too, as if we’d hide her in the fridge.” She shook her head. “Best not to get involved in a gold rush like that.” 

“What do you mean?” She could hear commotion beginning to her right. It was still far enough away, but this was definitely one of their last chances to hitch a ride. The other options were to fight, hide, or steal a ship. She’d prefer to use the most legal option. This time. 

“Look around, or listen, technically,” she dropped her voice, “they’re leeches. You give away any hint of having that girl on board, you’re done for. I’m not sure if that’s worth any reward.”

That wasn’t a great sign. 

“You saying you don’t need the money?” Mina’s accent was much better than hers. She could have fit in here, until she took off that mask. 

A laugh. “Need, not really. Want, of course. Could unlock a lot of doors and ease the lot of our debts, as I’m sure it could for any of us.” She shrugged. “Want the gun or not?” She looked away when there was a scream. Then a crash. They needed to hurry. “Might be needing it pretty soon. You won’t get far with nothing on your belts, so the discount still stands.” Her hand settled on her waist. Sana saw a very scrappy looking gun, one that lacked any sleekness of her own weapons. She wasn’t even sure where a trigger should be. 

“Can you get us out of here in the next hour?” Sana asked. 

The vender drew her head back. “Say again?” 

“Would you be ready to get us off this station and into space? Before the hour is up?” She didn’t bother restraining her word choice. 

“We’re not smugglers.” A shrug. “Not always at least.”

“Then make this the exception.” Sana leant forward and pulled away her mask, just long enough for vender to get a good look. 

Their face was like stone. “You’d have a better bet over by actual smugglers.” She pointed to the back of the station. “Cosern is the most reliable, but she’ll want extra.” 

She was glad the mask hid her smile. This was exactly the reason why they needed to go with her. 

“Please. We can give you what signals we have once on the ship. Your reward can be adjusted for your whole crew.” Even if there were twenty people on that ship, it’d work. 

Their mouth was set in a perfectly straight line. It was a huge contrast to the smile from before. 

“I’ll get you off of here. Maybe to the next system, but when I say you have to find someone else, you’ll be off the ship.” She waved someone hanging around in the back over. Then she began tapping something into another device hanging from her waist. 

She really hoped that wasn’t an announcement of their location. 

“What can we do to make this faster?” Mina asked, her voice sounded strained. She wasn’t happy with Sana’s decision. 

“Pile the diagrams and take down the canopy.” The vender disappeared behind the counter. She reemerged with a pile of black sheets and unfolded them. Containers for the goods. Another design from her family, but also without the emblem. “Don’t break a thing. I’ll tell the others.” Then she was gone. 

There was more shouting now. She risked a glance, only to see a grey-clad figure in the distance. They grasped another by the collar, shouting. She heard her family name be called. 

Sana went straight to the canopy and unclasped the diagrams. They were surprisingly light. And fragile. She really hoped she wouldn’t fall over and break those. 

Two people came over, wearing matching helmets to the vender. The grey and black slacks and vests. At least they had better guns than the vender. 

“We need to hurry. They’re catching on."

“We are,” one shot back. They were tall and moved swiftly between the edges of the makeshift shop. 

“Follow me.” Another ripped the folded metal of the canopy from Momo. “Ship’s this way.” 

Sana looked back. She couldn’t see Mina. 

A shrill scream broke through the air. “She’s here! The princess is here!” It came from the direction of where the vender had said the smugglers were. 

The effect was immediate. People surged in that direction, whatever small gaps that had been there disappeared. Sana knew the cause. 

“What are you waiting for?” the vender hissed. “You were the one who wanted us to be quick. Everyone’s dropped what they’re doing.” 

“One of mine is back there.” Sana went to join the hoard, hoping desperately she’d come across the one person going in the other direction. 

Someone cuffed her shoulder, another’s shoe caught on her heel. She stumbled and was promptly kicked in the side of the head. With the metal in the hat, the pain was immense.

Then she was heaved to her feet. The person also stumbled and she heard them curse. From an adolescence spent learning as many swear words as she could, she recognised it. Korean. 

“You’ll get crushed if you’re not careful.” They let go of her immediately, as if any contact burned. “Was it the one with the full mask of the half one?” the vender asked. 

“Full.” They were still being pushed forward. 

A shot sounded. A warning. She hoped. 

“I see her.” The vender had jumped up to see over the heads. She did it again. A movement she’d never expect in the middle of a stampede. 

If Sana stretched out her neck, she could spot Mina as well. Pushing past a young man, she barely dodged the elbow he threw back. Then he strode forward to the place the call had come from. 

If only he knew. “Mina,” she grabbed her elbow, “thanks for that, but you gave me a heart attack.”

A nod. “And a couple of minutes extra.”

Together, they went to the ship. It wasn’t run down, but most of its parts were clearly from different ships, even if they were all the same colour. Much like the gun of the vender. There had to be at least two levels to it. The cockpit was signalled by a shiny black visor. It was the most uniform part of it. Black windows and grey armour. There was a theme here. She just hoped it would lift off. 

“She has friends too,” one scoffed as she helped Sana up, “wonderful.”

“We’re a package,” she snapped. 

“So are we, but we got here faster.”

The vender was the last one up. “I left them the deposit. So if anyone shoots at us, it’s not the station.” Then, in a surprisingly loud voice, she called, “good to go!” 

The entire ship lurched and Sana felt her stomach shoot into . 

“Please tell me that’s normal,” Momo said. 

“I had planned for full repairs tomorrow,” a crooked smile appeared, “kidding, but I did have some tweaks needing attention. And with the stressful and sudden takeoff, those weren’t made.”

Someone ran over to them. They were even shorter than the vender. Also with a mask. 

“They want us to stop.” 

“Station? Or crews?” Her voice was sharp again. 

“DP, BT, 4m, and ZE too,” she replied. “But Jeong saw similar requests going to other leavers, though one was anonymous.” The short girl frowned. “They’re mentioning another inspection.” 

“Send each the shallow station report of official goods,” the vender said. “And why some of it is perishable.” 

“Shallow?” Sana repeated. 

“It’s the best excuse we have. A few foods from one of the Goldilocks planets are sure to be waved on. Especially if they think someone’s waiting for them.” 

“But you don’t have that here,” Mina said. 

She scoffed. “‘Course not.” 

“But you forged a report. To prove you’re smuggling goods?” 

A shrug. “Most know we’re clear anyway, and that group knows our food was terrible. This is just a friendly reminder. We’d have picked it up during our stay on T16.” Another crooked smile. “And most’ll leave us alone ’til then. Wouldn’t want to interfere with that sort of a job.” 

“To make something like that—” Mina began.

“Aren’t these the people you’re running from?” The speaker had a casual smile on. It revealed two slightly crooked front teeth. They had a scar trailing down their cheek and another across . “This side of the galaxy, our dirty business has to be a little more obvious than you inners. You want help here, you need to get used to that."