Luca reached the bridge still fixing his bodysuit, hair disheveled and face flushed. Emily trailed a half-step behind him, her own uniform suspiciously rumpled. Zoe's knowing smirk said everything.

  "Communications traffic from relay probes," Zoe reported, barely hiding her grin. "Looks like Sol got busy while we were gone."

  Luca cleared his throat, trying for dignity. "What kind of traffic?"

  "Navigation beacons, shuttle traffic, freight shipping schedules." Zoe pulled up the tactical display. Dozens of small satellites dotted the outer system in a loose grid pattern. "Whole relay network we didn't have five months ago."

  Danny wheeled onto the bridge, Pixel padding beside him. "That's a lot of infrastructure."

  "Ryan, Chris," Luca said, sliding into the captain's chair. "Get to work establishing two-way comms with Genesis Platform. I want to talk to my father."

  "On it." Ryan moved to the engineering console, Chris joining him.

  Emily settled at the communications station, pulling her hair back into something resembling order. "Sol doesn't have FTL communications yet, so it'll take time for the signal to reach Genesis and get a response back."

  "How long?" Luca asked.

  Zoe checked her console. "We're in the outer system, Genesis is in the belt. Figure... four hours for the signal to reach them, another four for the response. Maybe longer depending on relay routing."

  "Eight hours," Luca said. "Great."

  "Could be worse," Emily said. "At least we're home."

  Through the viewport, Sol was barely a point in the sky. Earth was somewhere out there, a blue-green marble they'd left behind five months ago. The Genesis Platform hung floating around the Koronis family of asteroids, waiting.

  "Alright," Luca said. "Send the message. Captain Luca Rossi of the Triumph of Darron, announcing our return and requesting direct communication with Commander Athan Rossi."

  Ryan nodded. "Signal away. Now we wait."

  While they waited for the signal to cross the dark, cold void, they sought warmth.

  The pool had been Emily's idea, back when they were still planning the Triumph's upgrade. "You can't have an eight-deck exploration frigate without a pool," she'd argued. "It's bad for morale."

  Now, sitting at the edge of that pool with a bottle of Proxima b water in his hand, Luca had to admit she'd been right. She always was.

  The pool stretched twenty meters along the aft side of Deck One, floor-to-ceiling viewports offering an unobstructed view of the starfield beyond. Soft lighting reflected off the water's surface, and the whole space had the feeling of a high-end resort instead of an exploration vessel.

  They had joked that it was for physical therapy.

  Emily sat beside him, legs dangling in the water, leaning against his shoulder with comfortable familiarity. Her tablet lay forgotten on the deck behind them.

  "This feels wrong," Danny said, wheeling up to the pool's edge. "That's alien water, I should be studying it."

  "That's the point." Luca held up the bottle, the clear liquid inside indistinguishable from Earth water by sight alone. But they'd tested it, analyzed it, and confirmed it was safe. Desalinated and filtered from the ocean on Proxima b, collected when they filled the new ship's expanded water systems.

  Water from another star system, and it was safe.

  He unscrewed the cap and poured. The water splashed into the pool, creating ripples that spread across the surface. Such a small amount, barely a liter, but watching it mix with the ship's water supply felt significant. It was proof that they'd actually done it, that Proxima b wasn't just data on a screen.

  "First pool in human history with confirmed alien water," Emily said, her head still resting on his shoulder. "That's going in the mission logs."

  Zoe cannonballed into the deep end, sending a spray of water across the deck. She surfaced with a whoop, grinning. "I'm swimming in a pool on a starship between stars! Tell me that's not the coolest thing ever!"

  "We literally found ancient alien ruins," Danny said.

  "Yeah, and this is still cooler."

  Zoe did a lazy backstroke, Ryan floating on his back nearby, Chris doing laps. Danny had maneuvered his wheelchair to the pool lift, looking skeptical about the whole setup but clearly considering it.

  "Come on," Zoe said, swimming over to the edge. "Physical therapy, remember? Joey said you need to keep those muscles working."

  Danny grimaced. "Joey says a lot of things."

  "And he's usually right. Besides, when else are you going to swim in alien water?"

  With visible reluctance, Danny transferred himself to the edge of the pool. He then lowered himself smoothly into the water, and Zoe stayed close, ready to help if needed. The moment Danny's legs were submerged, his expression shifted from skeptical to surprised.

  "Okay," he admitted. "That actually feels good."

  "Told you," Zoe said with a grin, helping him float on his back. "Just relax. Let the water do the work."

  Joey watched from the edge with professional approval. "Thirty minutes, Danny. Then you're out."

  "You know what I'm not going to miss?" Ryan called out from where he floated. "Those damn MREs."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Next voyage," Luca said, "I'm choosing our supplier."

  Emily shifted beside him, her arm looping through his. "You chose those MREs. Those exact MREs."

  Luca winced. "In my defense, I didn't know any better."

  Emily snorted. "You absolutely did."

  He leaned over and bopped her nose lightly with his finger. "Well, now we know, don't we?"

  For the first time since leaving Alpha Centauri, they weren't officers on a mission. They were just friends, celebrating something impossible. They were sitting in a pool in a starship, having traveled four and a half light-years from Alpha Centauri.

  "Four hours until we hear from Genesis," Emily said.

  The communications console chimed.

  Luca was on the bridge in minutes, Emily right behind him. Ryan and Chris were already at their stations, Zoe pulling up the incoming transmission.

  "It's from Genesis," Zoe said. "Priority channel. Encrypted."

  Luca's chest tightened. Five months. They'd been gone five months, and whatever waited at Genesis, they were about to find out.

  "Play it," he said.

  The message decrypted, and a recording of Athan Rossi filled the main screen. He looked older than Luca remembered, and more tired. But his expression shifted when he spoke, and the relief in his eyes was edged with something harder.

  "Luca." His father's voice carried the command presence he'd grown up with, but there was careful restraint in his tone. "Good to see you're alive. The Triumph's signature profile... that's not the ship we watched leave. You're early, too. We weren't expecting you for another month."

  A pause, and Athan's expression shifted to something more guarded. "I'm transmitting approach vectors and updated Sol traffic patterns. Use those. Your ship is drawing a lot of attention. A vessel that size with that power signature means everyone in Sol can see you coming. There are... interested parties watching your approach."

  Another pause. "I've handled what I can on my end, but I need you to listen carefully. Stick to the approach vectors. Don't deviate. Avoid hailing anyone except Genesis. The relay network is new, and it's the only channel I can guarantee is secure."

  Athan's expression softened slightly. "I'm glad you're home, son. But we need to talk when you dock. There's been... activity since you left. Nothing I couldn't manage, but you need to know what you're walking into. Transmitting approach coordinates now. Come straight home, quarantine protocols on arrival. "Welcome home," Athan said, and the transmission ended."

  The bridge fell silent.

  Danny raised his hand from where he'd wheeled onto the bridge. "Anyone else notice he didn't ask what we found? Or details about the ship? He warned us to keep our heads down and get to Genesis."

  Joey shifted his medical kit to the other shoulder. "Maybe he's being cautious."

  "Maybe," Chris said, but his hand had drifted to the sidearm at his belt. "Or maybe the people who sabotaged our ship five months ago are still out there."

  Luca met Emily's eyes across the bridge. They'd survived Alpha Centauri. The killer drones, the ruins, the biologicals. They'd made it home.

  But home might not be safe either.

  "Zoe, plot the approach vectors he sent," Luca said. "Ryan, Chris, I want full diagnostics on our defensive systems. Shields, point defense, plasma cannons. If someone's watching, I want to be ready."

  "On it," Ryan said.

  Luca stood from the captain's chair. "Four days to Genesis. We follow his vectors, we don't deviate, and we don't hail anyone. Understood?"

  Nods around the bridge.

  "Good. Let's go home."

  The Triumph of Darron cut through the inner system, the pulse drive humming steadily as they approached the asteroid belt. The Genesis Platform grew larger with each passing hour, the massive orbital station a familiar landmark waiting in the vicinity of the Koronis family.

  Four days of careful navigation and of watching sensors, tracking other ships, following Athan's vectors exactly. They'd seen commercial freighters, shuttles ferrying adventuring teams between stations, mining vessels working the belt. But none had approached, and none had hailed them.

  The silence was worse than a confrontation.

  "Receiving updated docking instructions," Emily said from the communications console. "Genesis Platform, Dock Twelve. They're... requesting we approach via shuttle instead of direct docking."

  Luca frowned. "Shuttle approach? Why?"

  "Quarantine protocols," Zoe read from the incoming transmission. "They probably want to inspect the Triumph before allowing it into Genesis's primary docking bay."

  "Quarantine makes sense," Danny said quietly.

  Luca's jaw tightened. The spores. The infection that had nearly killed Danny after his operation. They'd all recovered, but he couldn't shake the uncertainty.

  "Ryan. Chris. Are we sure? The spores from Danny's operation... are they gone?"

  Ryan and Chris exchanged a look.

  "We ran full decon protocols after the asteroid belt facility flagged us," Ryan said carefully. "The automated systems there killed everything they detected."

  "Joey's medical pod cleared us too," Chris added. "Multiple times."

  "But we haven't gone through proper planetary decon," Joey said, his voice flat. "Only what we could do on the ship. And the belt facility's scanners were designed for known contaminants, not... whatever we might have picked up at Alpha Centauri."

  Emily's hand found Luca's arm. "They're right to be cautious."

  "Yeah," Luca said, but his chest felt tight. They'd all recovered. He remembered the fever, the exhaustion, Zoe... as Danny nearly died on the operating table while they ripped out shrapnel and broken chitin. It was all probably gone now. But what if something remained? What if they brought something home that Earth's medical systems couldn't handle?

  "We're healthy," Zoe said firmly. "We're clean. But Genesis doesn't know that. They're being smart."

  The communications console chimed again, and this time it was Athan's voice, transmitted directly. "Triumph of Darron, this is Genesis Actual. Confirming quarantine shuttle approach. Bring your team. We'll get you processed, and then we can talk. I'll be waiting in Bay Twelve. See you soon. Athan out."

  Luca stared at the blank screen. Leaving the Triumph unmanned and empty in space while 'interested parties' watched felt like a trap.

  "Leaving the ship undefended..." he started.

  "Automated defenses," Chris said immediately, already pulling up the security protocols. "Full lockdown. Nobody gets aboard without our biometric authorization."

  "And if someone tries?" Luca pressed.

  "Then the Triumph handles it," Ryan said, grinning. "Point defense, plasma cannons, sealed bulkheads. She can defend herself."

  Luca nodded slowly. "Alright. We all go. We'll take our shuttle to the Genesis platform and go through their quarantine protocols."

  "What about Pixel?" Zoe asked immediately.

  Danny looked down at the nixocatus padding beside his wheelchair, her bioluminescent patterns flickering softly. "She can go through decon too."

  "She's never been alone on the ship," Zoe said firmly. "She needs to come with us."

  "And Genesis has never seen an alien predator the size of a wolf," Luca said carefully. "We bring her to quarantine, they'll—"

  "She can go through decon," Zoe interrupted. "Same as us. She's clean, she's not dangerous to humans, and I'm not leaving her alone on the ship for however long this takes."

  Luca hesitated. "My father would never allow it."

  "Your father runs a station full of adventurers with anger issues," Zoe shot back. "Pixel's calmer than half the people I've seen at Genesis. She can go through the same scanners we do. If she's contaminated, they'll catch it. If she's not, she stays with me."

  The bridge fell quiet while everyone looked at Luca.

  He looked at Pixel, then at Zoe's determined expression, then sighed. "Fine. But she's your responsibility through the whole process."

  "She always is," Zoe said, a small smile breaking through.

  "Activate defensive protocols," Ryan said, pulling up the security systems. "Point defense on automatic targeting. Shields at full strength. Plasma cannons on standby with automated threat response. Anyone who tries to board without authorization, the ship will handle it."

  "Do it," Luca said.

  Emily caught his eye. Are we walking into a trap?

  Luca's hand brushed against hers as he passed. I don't know.

  "Ryan, prep the shuttle for launch. Everyone else, dress uniforms. Let's make a good impression."

  Their shuttle sat ready in the bay, its ramp extended. The TL9 shuttle they'd taken from the asteroid base in Alpha Centauri, sleek and more shielded than anything Sol had ever seen.

  Luca walked up the ramp last, glancing back one final time at the sealed airlock. The Triumph was locked down, armed, and waiting.