Kade pulled his hood up and made his way to the declaration kiosk. He didn't want to get picked up by any Solution Guards. Besides, he hadn't planned to be here long enough to piss off control.
'Mind the queue for declaration, Terrans to the left, all others to the right,' the voice blared over the station intercom. He doubled his pace; he didn't want to get too far back in line with the fake papers he had to pass.
The guards' declaration made his chest burn, made him remember that day all too well.
The lights. Smoke. A body that still haunted his sleep. The smell of metallic air and grease. He couldn't tell if it was a memory or real.
The port noise dropped away. His ears rang with his own voice shouting into a shattered comm. It all slammed into him at once, the kind of memory that grabs you like a handshake from someone you never wanted to see again.
Then the port noise washed back over him, and the moment slipped away. Kade kept moving. He slowly squeezed his hands, trying to get the tremor to go away.
'NEXT!' the attendant barked as the crowd moved forward one space. Kade was next. He rubbed the ID card on his fingers.
'NEXT!'
"Do you have any produce or animals with you?" the attendant asked, more annoyed than official, as they scanned the ID card.
"No," Kade calmly replied as the light blinked red. He swallowed as the attendant stood up and glanced at him, scanning the card again. It blinked green.
'NEXT,' the attendant howled as they waved Kade through, and sat down again.
The cantina was wedged between a currency exchange and a repair stall that hadn't been open in years. Kade slipped inside, hood over his face, letting the noise and stale heat swallow him.
Jax Renn was already at a corner table, nursing something that smelled like it could strip paint.
"Rourke," Jax said, not bothering to stand. "Heard you're trying to crawl back toward the inner verse."
"Trying?" Kade said, sliding into the seat across from him. "I need a clean lane inward."
Jax snorted. "Clean lanes cost."
Before either of them could answer, the air in the cantina changed. Conversations thinned. Glasses stopped mid‑air.
Kesh walked past the open doorway, her robes trailing, fabric mask catching the low light. She didn't step inside. She didn't need to. Her presence hit the room like a vac-grenade, sucking the air out.
She glanced in, saw Kade, and her eyes softened. A soft, small smile tugged behind the mask, and she gave him a nod and a wave before continuing down the ring.
The cantina exhaled all at once. Voices rose again. Someone cursed under their breath.
Jax stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "You didn't tell me you were on speaking terms with." he hesitated, making sure Kade saw him." Her."
"I didn't know I was," Kade shrugged.
"So about that lane?" Kade asked once the room found its rhythm again. But his mind wasn't in the cantina anymore. He kept replaying the way she'd looked at him. He wondered what was under that mask, if her skin was blue, if her hair matched her eyes. The thought looped, caught, and wouldn't let go.
"Hey. Buddy." Jax waved a hand in front of his face. "Don't short out on me."
Kade blinked hard. "I'm fine. Vac sickness." The lie came out rough, trying to clear whatever static she'd left behind.
"Yeah, can you get me on a ship? Shit, I'll ride in a container if I have to." He joked, but he didn't laugh; his expression was blank as he leaned forward on his elbows.
"Well, that's just it." Kade didn't like the way he said that. "It's really easy to get out here right now, not as easy to get back." His words were like a hot iron poker sinking into his gut. He leaned back, his eyes shifting back and forth, scanning the room and waiting for Kade to say something.
He turned his head, looked where Kesh had just been, then back to Jax. "How hard is it? "he asked, half expecting a runaround and a gouged price.
"It's impossible this cycle. No boats," he shrugged like it was the weather or something.
"Crap," Kade mumbled the words, making that imaginary poker twist and burn.
"Only movers that are constant are military," Jax added, leaning back in the chair. The walls were closing in on Kade. There was no way in hell he was risking that.
"Look, I need to get scarce quick, but not that quick," Kade replied as he slid lower in the chair. Jax shrugged again. It seemed to be the punctuation to his lack of concern for his safety.
"Suit yourself," Jax murmured as he slammed back whatever was in the cup in front of him.
Kade nodded and slipped out the door into the corridor beyond.
"damn it," he muttered and slipped into an alley.