Alec checked the calendar on his terminal for the third time this shift. It still told him the same story. Six days until he could call home. Six days until he could see his wife again. Six days until he could stroke his crooked fingers on the cold, glass monitor and tell her that he loved her.

"We have incoming."

Alec closed the calendar and shot a look at his shift partner. Cynthia's face was round and flushed from the effects of null gravity, yet it still showed her concern. A drop of sweat beaded on her brow before slowly drifting away toward the nearest ventilation intake.

"We don't have an arrival scheduled today." Alec pulled up the month's flight plans, "We shouldn't-"

"It's there." Cynthia said, "Confirmed ping on something large, Pendelton-Class or larger. Profile isn't registering. Wait... we're getting a comm request."

Alec pulled up the proper menu and punched accept before Cynthia could dither over it. She was always a ditherer. She actually fit this do-nothing, decide-nothing life of an outer-Neptune fuel depot.

"Station ONFD-Polar 7, this is Captain Heymark of the Grand Return, to whom am I speaking?"

Alec punched his comm response key with a bit more force than was necessary, "Grand Return, you are performing an unscheduled arrival and WILL be fined for it. Please transmit your IonaCorp security code now to begin docking sequence."

"Negative, Station." Captain Heymark's voice shuddered with static over the line, "Grand Return is not a IonaCorp vessel."

"The fucking shit!" Cynthia shrieked and threw her headset down, "Pirates! It's bloody pirates! Arm the defenses!"

Alec bit his lip, fingers hovering over the command line for an armed response, but he keyed the comms first.

"Captain, this is an IonaCorp station. If you are not an IonaCorp indentured vessel, then we must ask you to alter your trajectory and move on."

Silence held the air for a moment, punctuated only by Cynthia's soft cursing, and the occasional burst of static from the empty line.

"Station, how long has it been?"

"...What?"

"Since you've seen your family? How long since you've been paid a proper amount?" Captain Heymark breathed on his microphone, producing a burst of static, "How long since you saw a doctor? Had a calcium transfer? Have your bones started to warp yet? Are your fingers and toes curling in?"

Alec shook as he looked at his hands.

"Grand Return has a full medical bay prepared to treat you. We also have an Earthcom transmitter onboard."

"Bullshit!" Cynthia screamed over the line, "Pirate's lies!"

"No lies. Pirates wouldn't come this far out. Nobody comes this far out."

Cynthia paused.

"Then who would?"

"In a word... revolutionaries. We want something better for the workers of the great dark."

Alec tapped his hands on the side of his keyboard, mind weighing on the calendar, his hands, the size of the ship on radar profile.

"Grand Return... You are cleared to dock."