The Oort Cloud passage stretched before the Triumph of Darron, reality warping around the ship as they crossed the final approach to the Solar System. Hours now. Just hours until home.

  Luca stood on the command deck, one hand braced against the railing of the upper tier. The bridge was massive, an amphitheater of tactical stations arranged in two levels, sixteen positions radiating out from the captain's chair in the center. Most of them sat empty now, waiting for the crew they were about to recruit.

  "ETA six hours to system boundary," Zoe called from the primary navigation console on the lower level. "Then we're home."

  Through the viewport, the warped starfield rippled and shifted, reality bending around their velocity. Sol waited ahead. Earth. Home.

  Luca descended the staircase to stand beside Zoe's station, glancing at the navigation readouts. Four and a half days through the Oort Cloud passage. Their old drive would have needed three weeks to cover the same distance. Half an astronomical unit per second. The numbers still didn't feel real.

  "Smoothest crossing I've ever done," Zoe said, leaning back in her chair with a yawn. "Three hundred Gs and I couldn't even nap properly. Too smooth. Kept waiting for something to go wrong."

  "Nothing went wrong," Luca said.

  "Exactly. Boring as hell." She grinned. "I'll take boring over exploding any day, but damn if I didn't miss the old ship rattling my teeth loose."

  Luca nodded, looking out at the warped stars. By dinner time, everything would change.

  Danny wheeled onto the bridge with Pixel padding beside him, the nyxocatus now large enough that her shoulder came up to Luca's waist. "Got a minute?"

  "Always," Luca said. "What's up?"

  "We're screwed on science staffing." Danny pulled up beside him, tablet balanced on his lap. "You know how hard it is to find a geologist who's level sixty, combat-trained, and willing to leave Sol to go poking around alien ruins? Impossible. That's how hard."

  Luca grimaced. "How many do you need?"

  "Twenty. Minimum." Danny scrolled through his tablet with increasing frustration. "Xenobiologists who can fight. Materials engineers who won't panic when something tries to eat them. I've been analyzing TL9 tech for four months with a chemistry degree I barely use and hoping I don't accidentally vaporize the ship."

  "Emily's targeting squad recruitment," Luca said. "Whole teams. People who already trust each other."

  "Good. Because if I have to explain one more sample to Ryan and watch his eyes glaze over, I'm spacing myself." Danny's expression softened slightly. "I need people who actually understand this stuff."

  Luca grinned. "We'll find them."

  The officers' mess was packed, all seven of them crammed around their undersized table with tablets and half-empty coffee mugs. MRE wrappers littered the surface... they'd been running low on real food for two weeks now, and nobody was pretending the rations tasted good anymore. Ryan had a balled-up napkin in his hand, waiting for Chris to look away. Danny had wheeled in with Pixel curled up beside his chair, the nixocatus watching everything with lazy amber eyes.

  "Eighty-five total crew," Emily said, pulling up her spreadsheet for what had to be the fifth time. "Engineering gets thirty, Science gets twenty, Medical gets three, Security and logistics get eight, Navigation gets five, Administration gets twelve. Plus us."

  Joey was stacking dirty plates one-handed while listening. "That's a lot of strangers."

  "Can't run this ship with seven," Ryan said, then flicked the napkin ball at Chris's head. It bounced off his ear.

  Chris didn't even look up. "Do it again and I’m knocking you on your ass."

  "How are we paying eighty-five people?" Zoe asked, her feet propped up on an empty chair.

  "Who's getting paid?" Joey asked.

  "We don't pay salaries," Emily said. "We recruit adventurers. They'll get plenty of loot, mission credits, and portal access. People who want to level and get rich doing it."

  Luca leaned forward. "XP is the currency."

  The table went quiet for a beat, everyone processing that.

  "Will they even want to join the Initiative, though?" Zoe asked. "Leaving their companies, their histories... that's a big ask."

  "Yeah, it is," Luca admitted. "But we're offering them the opportunity to break past the level cap. We're also the first successful interstellar survey. We have access to TL9 tech, access to Alpha Centauri, and for the right people, that's worth more than some company badge."

  The conversation fractured into overlapping debates. Danny pulled up class data, trying to explain Profession unlocks to Ryan, who kept interrupting with engineering complaints. Chris and Joey were arguing about medical bay placement. Zoe had her tablet out, running navigation scenarios nobody was listening to.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Emily caught his eye across the table and smiled, the kind of smile that said she knew exactly what he was thinking.

  "Alright, one more thing," Luca said, cutting through the noise. "We have to make this official for the new recruits. I know, I know, but Emily made a chart."

  "I made an organizational chart," Emily corrected, pulling it up. "Captain Luca Rossi. Chief of Staff Emily Berrow. Department heads: Engineering, Science, Medical, Security, and Navigation. Clean hierarchy."

  "She coordinates," Luca said. "I make final calls, but she handles the logistics so I don't have to."

  "Works for me," Ryan said. "Less meetings."

  "Danny?"

  "I just want to do science," Danny said flatly. "Put me wherever."

  "Joey?"

  "My medics answer to me," Joey said. "After that, I don't care."

  Chris just shrugged. "Works."

  "Zoe?"

  "Fine, but my navigation console is sacred ground."

  "Come on," Emily said after the planning session broke up. "Let's take a walk."

  She led Luca to the lift, Ryan and Zoe falling into step beside them.

  "The crew quarters," Emily explained as the lift descended two decks. "We need to make decisions about furnishing before we start recruiting."

  The doors opened onto Deck Five, and Luca stepped into a long corridor lined with cabin doors. The hallway was pristine, clean, and utilitarian with soft lighting and sound-dampening panels. Standard construction, but empty. Waiting.

  Forty cabins spread across two decks, connected by a double-decker lounge at the bow. Enough space for eighty crew members who didn't exist yet.

  Their footsteps echoed in the quiet, bouncing off bare walls in a way that made the ship feel enormous and hollow. Night cycle had the Triumph in near-silence with just the low hum of life support and the gentle vibration of the drives. Eight decks of exploration frigate, most of it empty. Two whole decks of science labs, waiting for equipment and scientists who didn't exist yet. Empty engineering workshops with requisition lists for tools and robotics.

  A ship built for a hundred, carrying seven.

  Zoe opened one of the cabin doors. "So what's the plan?"

  "Zoe, Em," Luca said, glancing at them. "You guys did amazing with the first Triumph. The leather couches in the lounge, the curtains, all of it. Made the Triumph our home." He gestured at the empty corridor. "I have full confidence you'll do just as well with this ship. Do what you do best."

  Emily smiled, making notes on her tablet. "Alright. We'll handle it."

  "Good," Ryan said. "One less thing to argue about."

  They walked deeper into the corridor, the emptiness feeling oppressive. Every door they passed was another reminder of how much space was waiting to be filled, how much noise and chaos they were about to invite aboard.

  Luca slowed, his expression shifting. "You know, we didn't exactly leave Sol on the best terms."

  The group went quiet.

  "We've got point defense now," Ryan said with a grin. "Shields. Plasma cannons. We're way better armed than—"

  "That's not the problem," Luca cut in, his voice tight. He stopped walking, turning to face them. "We had enemies when we left. Someone sabotaged our ship. Someone tried to kill us before we even made it out of Sol. The Genesis Platform got attacked because of us. And now we're coming back."

  The corridor felt colder suddenly.

  Chris frowned. "You think they're still out there?"

  "I don't know," Luca admitted. "But I'd be stupid not to worry about it."

  Zoe leaned against the wall, completely casual. "I bet Karen took care of it."

  Luca blinked. "What do you mean?"

  Zoe's expression didn't change. "You know her."

  That was all she said. But the way she said it carried an absolute certainty that whatever threat had existed four months ago, Karen Stevens had handled it with her usual ruthless efficiency.

  Ryan's grin returned. "Yeah. Fair point."

  "We'll be fine," Emily said quietly, her hand finding Luca's. "But you're right to be cautious."

  Luca nodded, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. They started walking again, footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.

  "Still," Zoe said after a moment, "nice to have the plasma cannons just in case."

  Luca's quarters were dark when they got back, the ship's lights already dimmed to night cycle. Emily followed him in without asking, the door sliding shut behind them with a soft hiss.

  For a long moment, neither moved. The viewport painted the room in warped starlight, reality still bending around them in the last stretch of the Oort passage. Soon those stars would resolve into the familiar yellow point of Sol.

  "Can you believe it?" Emily asked quietly, not looking at him. "We left almost five months ago, and now we're coming back in an exploration frigate with a completed charter and enough discoveries to make history."

  "And you thought I was crazy when I suggested this," Luca said.

  Emily laughed softly. "I thought you were going to get us all killed."

  "We almost died several times."

  "But we didn't." She turned to face him, and in the dim light from the viewport, her expression was serious. "We survived. Mostly."

  She leaned back against the closed door, and Luca crossed the small space to stand in front of her.

  "You okay?" he asked.

  "Yeah." Emily's hands found his chest, fingers spreading over the fabric of his shirt. "Just processing. We actually made it back."

  "We did." Luca's hands settled on her waist, thumbs tracing slow circles through the thin material. "We completed the survey. Found a new world. Upgraded the ship. And made it back alive."

  "And rich," Emily added, her smile wicked. "Don't forget rich."

  "Haven't collected the payout yet."

  "But we will." She rose on her toes, closing the distance until her mouth hovered just below his. "Before the shift ends, we'll be back in Sol. Back in the spotlight. Back to being public figures instead of just us."

  Her breath was warm against his lips, and Luca felt the familiar pull of gravity between them, the inevitability of the moment.

  "So we make the most of the time we have," he murmured, and closed the gap.

  The kiss started slow but deepened quickly, months of tension and fear and love finding release. Emily's fingers tangled in his hair, and Luca pulled her tighter against him, lifting until her legs wrapped around his waist.

  He carried her to the bed, following her down onto the mattress. Her hands found the seal of his shirt, pulling down his zipper. Luca returned the favor, revealing the sports bra beneath, the familiar curves he'd memorized over the previous weeks.

  Emily arched into him as his mouth traced a path down her neck, her breath catching when he found that spot just below her ear. Her nails scraped lightly down his back, drawing a low sound from his chest.

  "Luca," she breathed, and the way she said his name made his pulse spike.

  He braced himself above her, looking down at the flush spreading across her cheeks, the way her green eyes had gone dark. One hand traced the curve of her waist, fingers slipping just beneath the waistband of her pants.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed.

  Emily's hand came up to cup his face, thumb brushing across his lower lip. "We're really home."

  The intercom crackled to life, Zoe's voice cutting through the darkness.

  "Bridge to Luca. We've arrived. Deceleration complete. We're home."

  Luca froze, his forehead dropping to Emily's shoulder.

  Emily's breathless laugh vibrated against his chest. "Worst timing ever."

  "The absolute worst," Luca agreed, not moving. Of course, the intercom would go off now. Of course. Some cosmic law of terrible timing.

  Emily's fingers traced idle patterns across his shoulders. "We should probably answer that."

  "Probably," Luca said, but neither of them moved.

  Through the viewport, if they'd been looking, the warped starfield would have snapped back into familiar constellations.

  The Solar System. Home.

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