Nori shook his head. “We don’t know anything about him. He could be lying, hiding his real agenda while fishing for information. Did you notice how he started with subtle threats at first and when that didn’t work, he tried sympathy. I don’t trust someone like that. He could be here looking for the equipment we took from the moon or for the ship itself and I’m not giving up on Unity.”

Lana’s scowl eased. “I guess you have a point, but ... what if he was telling the truth?”

They’d made it to the bridge and Nori pointed at the main viewscreen, showing an arrow-shaped vessel docked next to them. The other ship was much smaller than Unity, barely twice the size of the shuttle. The muzzle of what was unquestionably an alien cannon was visible on its pointed front.

“Prudence. Let's see what we can learn about him on our own. Can you scan his ship?”

“Of course.”

The younger woman summoned her chair and accessed the controls. “Ugh, these sensors are the worst. All I’m getting from them is the ship’s id. It’s an Inthidlon ship, type Gorky-D.”

Bulco frowned. “That’s all?”

Lana’s hands flashed across her console. “From the sensors - yes. Luckily, Unity is also an Inthidlon vessel, or at least it was. It has the specs of that ship’s model in its database. My new implant makes accessing the information a lot easier. Let’s see … here we go. It’s a scout type vessel, quick, maneuverable, mounted with a light beam cannon. And … oh, shoot.”

“What is it, Lana?” Nori asked tensely.

“There’s a threat assessment chart here. If Fleak decides to attack us, we’ll be completely defenseless. Its thrusters are faster and more maneuverable than ours, and that cannon is powerful enough to punch through our hull. The only advantage we have is … oh, never mind.”

“What advantage?” Bulco demanded.

“Our null tunnel drive is stronger. Was stronger. If it was still intact, we could have outrun him.”

Bulco looked at Nori. “What do you think?”

The tall woman ran a hand through her thick dreads as she mulled over the issue. “We can’t risk it,” she said finally. “He might be telling the truth, but we can’t take the chance that he’s lying. If we tell him everything and it turns out he’s here looking for the missing equipment, he might attack us. The best thing we can do right now is to play it safe and stay away from him. At least until we deal with our own problems.”

Bulco nodded. “Agreed. How come he didn’t realize Unity was the ship he came looking for, though?”