Fay's boots struck against the steel floor ahead of Elias as they walked down Resolute's wide corridors in silence.
White steel walls trimmed with ornate gold.
Broken by the occasional crimson banner.
The air was different here in a way that unsettled Elias.
It didn't carry the usual metallic scent of recycled air.
It was organic.
Like the air on the farm world he grew up on.
Crew worked around them, hands buried in open panels, equipment passed on carts.
Black veins of conduit ran across the ceilings and into the floors of the halls; the electrical work didn't match the rest of the vessel.
Borrowed technology.
Dragonkin built the interceptors.
Dragonkin built the guns that killed them.
Profitable.
Fay entered through a heavy door.
Elias's hand lingered on the door. It was old.
Dark fibers, tight and flowing like frozen smoke.
Real wood.
Solid.
Deep carvings that weren't made by machine.
Depicting the same thorned flora as Fay's armor that wrapped around a six-legged wolf-like creature, teeth bared.
The same symbol as the banners.
It didn't look cornered.
"Come in," Fay said flatly.
The room was generous, with the same white and gold walls adorned with paintings of mountain spires bathed in mist, complete with wood floors and furniture. Fay walked past the desk and sat down, crossing her legs on a settee, gesturing to the velvet sofa in front of her.
Elias sat down, but refused to lean back.
A knock came at the door, then it opened, and a woman in uniform entered with a silver kettle and cups. She greeted the captain by name, and Fay returned the gesture as she poured the hot drink, then poured another cup for Elias without acknowledging his presence in the room.
The vice captain nodded to her captain and left.
Fay dipped into a bowl with a tiny spoon, pulled white grains, and poured them into the cup, stirring the mix with a second spoon.
Fay took a sip, then broke the silence, "Drink."
Elias looked at the cup of golden liquid set before him, but didn't move.
"If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't be sitting here." Her face didn't change. "Drink."
Elias took the cup and looked it over. Then took a sip.
It was warm and savory, laced with fat and unfamiliar spices.
"What's this?" He asked.
"Broth. It's made from vegetables and animal bones from my world."
"It's good."
Fay's eyes narrowed as she set the cup down and leaned back into her chair, plated arms resting across the backrest.
"You're dosed."
A pause.
"And you fly a Raven." She said, watching him for any tells. "Same as the redlined drones."
"But you're not a conscript." She pressed her knuckles to her temple. "Crazy or suicidal. Which is it?"
"Neither," Elias said, eyes fixed on the fat sheening on the broth's surface.
"You approached a Longblood warship in a Pale Raven. We would have shot you down."
Elias's eyes moved to the table between them. "I was bleeding air. You weren't."
"So you gambled on our restraint."
"No," Elias reached for the bowl of granules, "I gambled on oxygen."
Fay watched him add a scoop to his cup and begin stirring with the correct spoon.
"What are you doing here?"
"Define 'here'." He took a sip, it was saltier now. "I could ask you the same."
His eyes lifted to hers. "My nav may be broken, but the stars aren't. This is Imperial territory."
Fay's eyes didn't waver. Didn't explain.
"You're here with a single ship," He added. "You're not here for territory."
A pause.
"You're here for a black station. "
"So you do know where you are. " She said in an accusatory tone.
"I do now. " Elias set the finished cup down. "I don't care if you approach or even dock at one of the Empire's bastard stations. "
He rose, slow and relaxed.
"But as an Imperial Mercenary, I'm obligated under law to defend it if it's attacked. Regardless of who started it."
He moved for the door. "I didn't say you could leave." She added.
"You did," he corrected. Hand already on the handle.
Her posture shifted, hands moved to the cushion. "Wait."
He paused.
"I want to hire you."
Silence stretched.
He turned to face her. "Terms?"
"Retrieve an informant. He's been feeding transport routes to a drift fleet operating on the edges of my domain. After the repairs are finished, we can mobilize the task force. Assuming you take the job." She hesitated at the last part.
"One hundred million."
Elias walked back to the sofa, specifically to the table between them.
Fay blinked once. "I could hire a fleet for that price."
"Then you should." He poured another serving from the kettle. "You'll need one when that station sees a Longblood warship and scrambles two hundred fighters." He paused long enough to inhale the broth's aroma. "That's if you can find the station."
Fay scowled. "I didn't tell you about that part."
"If you knew where it was, I wouldn't be here." He added a spoonful to the cup.
"It's still too much for what I'm asking."
"It's high-risk." He shrugged, hand still on the tiny spoon. "One hundred buys you certainty."
"Fifty million, I throw in a set of light infantry armor made by my house. You can't buy that anywhere else." She countered. "And I'll have that monster you fly repaired. "
"I'll do that for seventy-five. The Interceptor is nothing more than mislabeled ammunition,"
he added another spoonful of salt. "They are infinitely replaceable in both parts and frame."
"That's too much salt," she said.
"Difference of opinion." He said, taking a longer sip. "Seventy-five or not?"
Fay leaned back. "Deal."
"Good." His face stayed neutral as he took a seat. "Tell me everything you know about this informant. "