"It's possible," Arrachahcak told her. "We've no idea what time passed between there and here, and we're lucky to have landed in the right millennium with that last hyperspace jump."
"The story?" Jalsa reminded them. Kirrik began, but he had only got as far as the discovery of the mysterious "gateway" across a thousand light years of space before Jalsa interrupted.
"What's that?" he jumped in. "We didn't find any hint of something else on the asteroid!"
"You've been there?" Kirrik asked.
"When you didn't return a strike group was sent in, and we captured it. They had had time to wipe a large amount of their computer system first, though. We did find a few things about the original theft that might interest you, but they can wait. The prisoners are being interrogated but we haven't got much from them."
The discussions continued for some time, but with that news a team from the Moray went straight to the Constrictor to try to extract the critical co-ordinates from its computer.
The bridge of the Naval frigate was crowded. Apart from its crew the team of Naval Intel officers who had first started out on the search for the remains of the Constrictor were present. Marchero was also there, mostly because no-one had yet decided exactly what to do with her. The shadow of a Fer-de-Lance Lightspeeder hung in space before them, captured from the asteroid base and given to Arrachachak and his crew as payment for their services. Unknown to them it had also been fitted with an advanced tracker, in case they decided to return to their previous career of piracy.
Ahead of the Fer-de-Lance were a series of broken rings, with other debris scattered around nearby. Lodged within them was the wrecked hulk of a Python freighter, holding them together. A few small fighter craft were darting around nearby, the remnants of the Gateway's forces that had been stranded here when their primary base had been attacked. Navy fighters were pursuing them, whilst other Co-Operative forces had already boarded the Anaconda that appeared to be their command ship.
"Too greedy to try to hang onto their booty," Kirrik noted sadly, as another fighter vanished in the flash of an explosion.
"And it's only a wreck, too," murmured Barbeth.
"Our link home gone?" Jalsa asked.
"Perhaps," Barbeth replied. She shook her head at the debris. "Why destroy it, though?"
"I don't think they did," Kirrik said. "We did, I think, when we tried to jump when in transit."
"And what about the other end?"
"Who knows? We were much closer to here. Lucky for us, too, otherwise who knows where we would have come out of hyperspace? Too far for our SOS to ever be heard, no doubt."
"The remains will be studied, of course," Jalsa said. "It may be possible to rebuild it."
Marchero had been standing quietly behind them. "What will that lead to?" she asked. "We certainly leapt before we looked when we went into it."
Jalsa looked over his shoulder at her. "That's what adventure is all about," he grinned. "And you might still have one ahead of you. There might be some people wanting their revenge on you. They'll blame you for that," he said, turning back to nod at the scene of the wrecked device. "But you've already come through quite a difficult situation. And from what Kirrik says, still keeping the same abrasive and unpleasant manner."
Marchero closed her mouth on her retort when she saw his grin.
"If you want to stay hidden for some time I think we'll might be able to find something for you to do during it," Jalsa offered.
Marchero's face stayed set, but without a reply she suddenly turned and walked off the bridge.