Maiga and Wixa flew into the un-chartered region, with the sensors once again at maximum range and ready to turn and run like hell at any sign of a trap. But they met nothing untoward, and the now stronger distress signal led them to a planetary system and a habitable world that looked almost inviting, with lush vegetation and oceans.

"No sign of civilisation down there," Wixa reported, scanning. "Plenty of life but I think it's all animals and plants, no sign of any known intelligent life forms. Breathable atmosphere."

"I'm tracking the signal. I'm sure it's an automated beacon. There's no response to our hails." Maiga set the ship's course to head towards the source of the signal and a moment later they flew low over a wide river valley. Thick vegetation on the valley floor thinned out as the land rose into mountains on either side.

"Kind of pretty," Wixa said. "Well, if the grass stuff was a bit less purple."

"Yes and - there! Visual contact." A ship lay crashed on the valley floor, half buried by vegetation. From the size it could be a small passenger transport, or cargo vessel.

"Definitely one of ours," Wixa said. "It looks largely intact, so there could be survivors. I'm not detecting any life signs inside though."

They landed the Friss a few hundred meters from the crashed vessel.

"Maybe I should go and check it out alone," Maiga suggested as they left the cockpit.

"Oh, no. You need somebody to watch your back."

"You don't have a weapon."

"Maiga." Wixa ducked down, slid a hand into her boot and straightened up again, now holding a small pistol. "Don't be silly."

"Have you had that all along?"

"I sleep with it strapped to my thigh."

"I don't think I wanted to know that. Okay, it's your funeral." She retrieved her own pistol from her gear in the bedroom, took a handheld scanner from an equipment locker and they left the ship, stepping out into a warm breeze that carried a spicy scent from the vegetation.

"Nice," Wixa said, looking around as Maiga secured the hatch. "I think we should build a resort here. If we want some real money."

"Bit too far off the beaten track. Okay, let's move." But before she did move, Maiga took Wixa's arm, making her stop and look at Maiga. "Wixa, no screwing around. We don't know what we're going to find. Right now, I'm in command and you jump when I tell you to."

Wixa nodded, her serious expression at odds with her usual amused one.

"Good, now move out, you blue-haired loon."

~o~

Dav's back room had become Bara's de-facto office on the station. He kept it open for her and supplied food and drink free. So nice to have made such a good friend. Now she stood beside the big round table and looked at the men and women who filled the chairs around it. Her first recruits for the Watch. All former MPs.

"Ladies, gentlemen. This is an opportunity for you to show the station management what the humans are made of. They think that the new arrivals are scum. And criminal scum at that. You are going to prove them wrong."

She started to walk around the table. "You are going to show them that we can police the human sector ourselves. Think of it as you would a base, or a garrison town. Reduce crime, but involve station security as little as possible."

She rested a hand on the shoulders of a man and a woman. A smart pair. Though in civilian clothes they carried themselves as if wearing dress uniform. "You two are the liaison to Station Security."

These two were as smooth talking and polite as they were smart and professional looking. Bara wished she could get access to a personnel database to check the records of all of these people. But she trusted her instincts and these two officers were the best public face for the Watch.

"If you need to, start to place guards on the doors of bars and similar establishments. Keep the undesirables out."

"Is that only in the human sector?" One man asked.

"That's anywhere the establishment is human owned. We have the right to protect our own people." She moved again, circling the table, as they turned to follow her when she stood behind them. "That is our primary purpose here. The humans need protection. From criminals among them, some of them organised, well established. And from threats from without. Exploitation of any kind. It's a noble job to do, my friends."

Bara stopped, after making a full circuit of the table.

"Of course, I will ensure that all of you receive fair reward for it. And I've rented a unit on level four, where you can set up a base of operations. I'll have it furnished with what you need. You can start recruiting at once. Now..."

She sat down and brought out her Snapper. They all produced theirs and she sent them a transmission.

"Security Chief Neex and I have negotiated the rules on how you will operate, what you are and are not allowed to do." She smiled at them, smirked in fact, couldn't deny that. "So let's go through and see how we get around those rules and do the job, shall we?"

~o~

They approached the ship that rose high above their heads, an incongruous thing on the ground, like a whale, beached and helpless. Plants had started growing up against hull, as if the ship was just another rocky outcrop.

"This has been here for a while," Wixa said. Maiga nodded in agreement. They carried on around the ship and on the other side they found what they were looking for.

A gangway, makeshift, made from welded deck plates with wooden supports, led up to a hatch high in the side of the ship. Near the bottom of the ramp stood a small lean-to shelter, made of a combination of scavenged things from the ship and natural materials. Glancing inside, Maiga found tools and animal skins hung up.

"Look here," Wixa called. She stood by a dead campfire. A couple of cooking pots lay around and a tripod stood over it, blackened now. A pit full of ashes nearby told them many fires had been lit here.

"I wonder how many survivors?" Wixa said, as Maiga joined her by the fire. "If they're still alive."

Maiga bent down and held her hand over the ashes of the camp fire and the circle of rocks that enclosed it. Still warm. A blackened stick lay nearby and she used it to poke the ashes. A glow came from underneath, as she disturbed the wood under the ashes. Even a couple of small flames licked up. This fire had gone out only a couple of hours ago.

"They're still alive." She stood up again. "I'm going to check inside. You'll stand guard at the bottom of the gangway."

"But --"

"What did I say about jumping?"

Wixa sighed. "Yes, ma'am." The voice had both sarcasm and resignation in it.

Wixa got into position, they tested the walkie-talkies, and then Maiga started to climb the gangway. She went slow and careful, but it felt solid enough, though scuffed and scratched from boots and what looked like drag marks.

The hatch wasn't locked and opened as soon as she pressed the button beside it. Made sense. Why slow yourself down, especially if the weather was bad or some local wildlife was after you? An unlocked door would keep those out, while letting you get inside quick.

Inside, she took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dark interior. An airlock first of course, the floor on a slant, but only a few degrees from horizontal. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the inner airlock door stood open, a dark corridor beyond there. Enough light came from outside to see something hanging down against the airlock wall on a cable. A jury rigged switch, the wire leading to an emergency lantern hanging from the ceiling, then out of the inner airlock door into the corridor and a string of more lanterns. Maiga flicked the switch and the lanterns came on. Power then. Probably carefully preserved. Well they didn't need to preserve it any longer. Rescue had come.

She moved inside to check the ship. It had extensive damage, but in several rooms the debris had been cleared up. The ship was obviously someone's home. A galley and dining area held food, some that must be local, some from the ship's rations. Beyond that she found the sleeping quarters, six double bunk rooms. Only one appeared to be used and only one bunk of the two. One survivor out of a possible twelve.

She explored the rest of the ship, finding the engine room a mess of cobbled together systems, devoted to only one thing now. Power for the electricity and for the distress beacon. The communications array was smashed beyond repair, so no wonder there'd been no answer to the hails they'd started to send as they approached. But the beacon not only had its own battery pack and two backup battery packs, it had been wired in to main power too. That beacon would not stop. Not until today.

Forward of almost everything else lay a passenger compartment, with rows of seats for ten people. When she opened the door into it, the air smelled stale. No lights had been rigged to work in here. The survivor didn't come in here. She used her flashlight to explore it and found the seats covered in dark stains. The seatbelts had been sliced open.

She guessed the survivor didn't go onto the bridge either. Not much they could do up there anyway, she found the systems all destroyed by the crash. And the dark stains on the carpets and seats, just like in the passenger compartment, told her another reason why.

"Maiga!" Wixa's voice came over the radio. "Get out here! Come see!"

"Trouble? Over."

"Just come and see."

"Okay. Out."

She didn't sound alarmed, just rather excited and Maiga was less worried and more annoyed with her for not using proper radio protocol. She strode through the ship, easily found her way back to the hatch and stood at the top of the gangway.

"What is it?"

Wixa just pointed, and Maiga followed her finger to see a moving figure, coming fast down the valley side. Too far away to make out details, just a dark shape really, but certainly human. And running. Running like mad. Now and again when the breeze shifted, Maiga thought she heard a sound, a yell.

She smiled and imagined the castaway's feelings. Relief, rescue at last, mixed with a terror that the rescuers would find nobody at the ship and leave again.

"I'll bet you ten credits he falls over at least twice before he reaches us," Wixa called up.

"How do you know it's a man?"

"I'm feeling lucky."

Maiga laughed. Wixa probably wasn't the only one. She holstered her gun and waved her arms back at the running figure. Perhaps they could see her. We see you too, the gesture said. Don't run and break your neck, we'll wait. She walked down the gangway to stand beside Wixa, waiting.

A few minutes later the running human was close enough to see that it was indeed a man. He did stumble and fall once, but got right back up and ran on, closer and closer. Now they could hear his yells clearly, incoherent, no words. At last he ran right into the camp and fell, just dropped exhausted, to his hands and knees. The yells died in his throat, replaced by sobbing breaths.

They ran to him and crouched down. He was about thirty, Maiga thought, a black man, dressed partly in the tattered remains of a starship officer's uniform and partly in garments made of animal skins, a surreal combination. His hair had grown well beyond regulation length and was held back in a band. He carried the standard issue Marine rifle, slung on his back.

For a while he couldn't speak, still gasping for breath after his run. He appeared in excellent shape, lean and strong, but that had been a long run, and yelling as he went couldn't have helped. Wixa spoke instead, sounding reassuring, patting his back as she talked.

"It's okay. You're safe now. We picked up your beacon; we'll get you out of here. I'm Wixa by the way, this is Maiga. What's your name?"

"Max," he gasped out, his voice, hoarse not only from the yelling, but from lack of use. "Thought... dreaming... saw your ship..."

"We're real," Wixa assured him, rubbing his arm, probably quite enjoying herself, Maiga thought, getting to pet the handsome young man.

"Are you the only one?" Maiga asked. "The only survivor?"

He turned to look at her, still panting. "Only one. Others died in crash." He hung his head and then looked up and pointed to an area ahead of the ship's nose. "Over there."

Maiga rose and walked to where he pointed. She found nine cairns of stones, marking areas of disturbed earth. Looking back, she saw Wixa had helped Max to his feet now. The sight of those cut open seatbelts in the seats in the passenger compartment came back to her. He buried them all. Brought them out of there, one by one, and buried them. She didn't like to imagine the horror of the hours and days it must have taken him to do that. Perhaps still injured himself. Certainly traumatised.

She hurried back across and took his other arm. He'd recovered from his run, his breathing more normal now, but the shock of their appearance, the relief of rescue, made him wobble on his feet.

"Let's get you inside, Max," she said. "Have a talk."

He shook off their support to walk up the gangway and the women followed him, then Maiga took the lead and led them all through to the dining area. Wixa at once started boiling water and looking for tea.

Max sat down heavily beside the table. He ran a hand over his forehead to find it came away wet with sweat. At once, Maiga found a clean cloth so he could wipe his face and hands. His gaze kept flicking between her and Wixa, as if he didn't quite believe they were real, and if he lost sight of them they would vanish.

To reassure him she offered him her hand and he took it, cautious for a moment, and then stared down at her smaller, pale hand in his larger dark one.

"You're really here." It was only a whisper, awestruck.

"Yes. Can you tell me what happened?" Maiga's voice was quiet too. She didn't want to sound demanding, he'd been without other people for so long, perhaps had given up any hope of rescue. His mind must be in turmoil now. A question to prompt him could help. "Were you part of the crew?"

"No." He shook his head. "I was a passenger, on my way to a new posting. Transfer. Four crew and six passengers on the run."

"How did the crash happen?"

"Computer system failure started it. Ended up way off course, navigation systems problems. Then the failures cascaded, they had no control of the ship, not even propulsion. Strayed too close to this planet, caught in the gravity well and couldn't regain control of the engines to get us back out. The crew, I don't know how they did it, but somehow they got the ship down almost intact. But the impact was too severe, killed everyone. Everyone else. I was just lucky."

He laughed with a hysterical edge to the sound, reliving memories he didn't want to. Maiga stroked his hand. It felt rough, like an infantryman's, not a starship officer. Roughened by the struggle for survival he'd gone through since the crash. Wixa moved over to the table, carrying three steaming cups and she sat down beside the two of them.

"It can happen that way in a crash," Wixa said, handing over the tea. "Two people can be sitting right next to each other and one makes it, the other doesn't. No rhyme or reason behind it. Just luck." She patted his arm again. Maiga wanted to roll her eyes. Just go ahead and feel his muscles, why don't you, Wixa?

"I gave up trying to figure it out," Max said. "I can't keep asking why I was the lucky one."

"I'm sure you've had other things on your mind," Maiga said, "trying to survive here."

"Yes." His voice had grown more confident now, as he got used to talking again. "I suppose that was another lucky break. I could have ended up in the middle of a desert, but this place has plenty to eat. And there were enough rations on board to keep me going while I figured out what I could eat and how to find it, or catch it. I had to remember my old survival training. I'd forgotten most of it serving on a starship."

"Looks like you managed pretty well," Wixa said. "You look healthy. In fact you look great!" She laughed and he did too, more nervously.

"Well, so do you two," Max said. "I mean, after all this time alone here, and then to be rescued by two beautiful women."

"Oh I like him," Wixa said, stroking his shoulder. "Can we take him home with us?"

Maiga laughed. "I think that can be arranged. Max, you'd better collect together everything you want to bring along. We'll take you back to Hollow Jimmy with us and you can decide what to do from there."

"Decide what to do?" He frowned. "Well, I guess I report back for duty. Do you live on Hollow Jimmy then?" He glanced at Wixa, as if that didn't surprise him about her, but it did that Maiga lived there.

Maiga went cold suddenly and she saw Wixa staring at Max, then turning her gaze to Maiga.

"Oh, hell," Wixa said, quietly.

Oh hell indeed.

"Max," Maiga said. "How long have you been here?" She'd guessed it had been months, but it hadn't occurred to her just how many, and exactly what that meant.

"About, oh, I think it's a year and a half. It's hard to keep track sometimes, but I work it out and that's got to be right."

"Oh bloody hell." Wixa groaned now.

"Is something wrong?" Max looked baffled, even alarmed.

"Before the war," Wixa said.

"Which war?"

"Even before the recall order," Maiga said.

"The what?"

"He doesn't know," Wixa said, still staring at Maiga. "About Earth. He doesn't know any of it."

"Would someone please let me in on what the hell you're talking about?" Max demanded.

"Max." Maiga took both of his hands in hers now, making him look at her. She didn't want to have to do this, tell him that his home planet was a smoking cinder; probably everyone he cared about was dead, and his people on the verge of extinction. How would he stand it? To feel the joy of rescue and then have his heart torn out all in the same day?

"Max," she said again, still putting off speaking. "There's something very important you need to know about. I'm afraid it's bad news."