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             "Don't let me stop you, Alex. Go ahead! Fuck this up for everyone! I really don't give a shit anymore. Not even one shit!" Hal screamed after me as I propelled myself down the corridor, hitching a ride on the conveyor handle towards the bridge. I passed Judith on the way, her eyes narrowing. Did she know, too? Maybe women's intuition, or perhaps something else entirely. She was a weird one. Not paying attention, the handle's path ended and slid back into the wall, leaving me floating. I let myself drift through the open hatch into the bridge, which was alive with activity. Maps and systems data, research and more were pulled up in public viewing, illustrating Nguyen's desperate search and his involvement, reckless, I thought, of the entire crew.

           "Captain, we've got a big problem. I uh... I picked up a signal from another ship. Ah, uh, they've got a grappler. They're coming for us," I stammered, not looking Nguyen in the face.

           "Fuck. What? A grappler? What's the ship? The name," Nguyen grabbed me by the collar of my green and red Lo Shipping uniform. "Now, Alex. Right now."

            "It's your father. The Sac Xiang Giang. I don't have a positive ID on the grappler, but it isn't one of ours. It's mercenary, more than likely."

           "How did this happen? We removed our tracking nodes, right?" Nguyen released me and I floated away, drops of his perspiration hitting my face. He looked panicked, not angry. Just scared, rather like a child looks scared. His own father…

          "The ones we knew about," I said, seeing his rage creeping back, "I mean, I mean, the ones we knew about! What if your father hid more? What if every piece of excavation equipment has a tracking node in it?"

           "We were taking those out, too," He growled.

           "Oh, uh, maybe... maybe it's hidden. What if it's you? What if it’s… inside of you?"

           "Bullshit. I checked. Woulda torn it out myself, bare hands, if I knew I had some kind of bug in me. I checked my teeth, behind my eyes, stomach, heart, brain, skull, every bone you could imagine. All of my implants. All of them. Even the nanos. How long do you think I've been planning this?" He clearly didn't mean it rhetorically. His eyes were wet, his face flushed. He awaited response. Nguyen Lo was, at this moment, a textbook case of bugnuts insane, had been ever since we left Om Station along the Mongol-Eston lane.

         "Years, right?" I said, forwarding my guess cautiously.

           "Did you just answer my question with another fucking question, Alex?" He moved back to his captains chair to bury himself in his maps and diagrams, plotting more courses, more possible locations for his treasure. His white fucking whale.

        "Your dad isn't gonna quit, Nguyen!"

         "Don't you call me that!" Nguyen whirled around, pushing himself off of his chair. "That is the name of the enemy, Alex. I’m Captain Lo in this damn ship, gather? Do you… gather, Alex? Because, after all, isn’t that what we’re out here to do? If you cannot gather, Alex, then what good are you? Have you ever been fired from a shipping corp in space?”

         “Yes, Captain. I… no, I understand. Sorry,” I mumbled, turning to leave. I decided that this was not an issue to press. I knew what could happen. At this point, Nguyen Lo was a desperate man, a fugitive from his own family. Lo Shipping Lines was a powerful company, or, rather, more powerful than the average. It no longer squabbled, it no longer fought tooth and nail for recognition in the Circle of Guilds. True, it was an outer fringe organization of the already outer fringe Shipping Guild, barely potent in decisions being considered by the Circle, but it still had two votes and some influence, and now that influence, those connections made by Nguyen Lo Senior, had been turned against my captain, and thus against me. Nguyen Lo and a mercenary ship, no doubt filled with crack ex-USC Marines. I had that to look forward to.
Floating past one of the exit hatches, I noticed that three men,